The Four Unpopular Last Things

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Jul 31, 2026 | In Reviews

“Despite the hundreds of references to wrath in the Bible, I don’t think I have ever heard a sermon that takes seriously and explains the reality of the wrath of God,” writes Ralph Martin in his new book, The Coming Judgment. His experience is far from unique.

When young Catholic children are taught the gifts of the Holy Spirit (if their parish religious-education program covers that topic), their teachers routinely reassure them that “fear of the Lord” does not really involve fear, but something more like awe. But that is a disservice to the students. First because the word is, after all, fear. Second because awe itself entails a component of fear.

I am in awe of the power of the ocean, therefore I fear how it could harm me if I did not respect that power. This does not mean that I am frightened of the sea. On the contrary I enjoy summer trips to the shore, for the swimming and boating and wading through the surf. I love the ocean. But if I were tossed overboard in the middle of the North Atlantic, my awe would quickly turn to pure fear, and rightly so. A man alone in the ocean is at the mercy of a power far beyond his ability to defend himself. He is, in fact, doomed—unless someone saves him.

21st-century man is loath to admit that he is powerless in the face of impending death. He struggles to postpone the end of his earthly life, meanwhile tacitly denying its inevitability. (Here I leave aside the crackpot theories about living forever in a decaying body: a fate that truly would be worse than death.) In his book Martin quotes Cardinal Sarah: “Man does not fee that he is in danger. Many in the Church no longer dare to teach the reality of salvation and eternal life.”

To hope in salvation, Pope Benedict taught in Spe Salvi, requires that one first acknowledges the need for salvation: the reality that there is something from which we want to be saved. This is the focus of Martin’s book: the unpopular truth that we need help, that without that help we are headed for…

Dare I say it? Martin dares. Without the help of our Savior Jesus Christ, we are destined for hell. This is not a controversial thesis, measured against the perennial teachings of Christianity. But it is a message rarely heard today. Church leaders are evidently hesitant to deliver a message that might frighten their spiritual children, that might upset the placid mood of their congregations. Too much emphasis on sin and damnation might drive people out of the pews.

Yet our sins can and do provoke the wrath of God, and St. Paul tells the Ephesians that “we were by nature children of wrath.” Martin reminds his readers that spoke often about the need for repentance, about separating sheep from goats, about his mission bringing “not peace but a sword.” Still, Martin remarks, “We are strongly inclined to ignore or downplay this aspect of his identity, this consequence of Jesus’s mission.”

However, The Coming Judgment is not a modern version of Jonathan Edwards’s famous “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” This is not a fire-and-brimstone volume. Ralph Martin is a very effective evangelist and a serious scholar; his book is a calm and reasonable—but urgent—argument for greater attention to the Four Last Things: death and judgment, heaven and hell. In a style easily accessible to the ordinary reader (but complemented with footnotes that encourage further study), he explains what the Catholic Church has always taught, without sensational embellishment. The entire book is heavily larded with citations from saints, pontiffs, and especially Sacred Scripture.

Martin’s fundamental message is that Christians must proclaim the hard truths of our faith, including the realities of sin and death, judgment and the reality of hell. Citing Archbishop Sheen, he reports that only a small minority of professed Catholics believe in the real existence of the Devil. (A page later he points out that roughly twice as many believe in the utility of astrology.) To overcome these errors, and revive firm beliefs in Christian truth, is critically necessary for the welfare of souls. “Now is the time of mercy,” Martin writes, “but with death or the return of the Lord, the time of mercy, the time to freely respond to the offer of salvation in Jesus, will have come to an end, and the time of eternal punishment and eternal reward will begin.”

Will that message cause lukewarm Christians to worry? Perhaps it should. But Martin argues that they are probably worried already, over things that should not preoccupy the faithful: “The characteristic feature of unbelievers, whether they are rich or poor, is anxiety over material possessions and the basics of life.” Devout Christians, buoyed by their faith in Christ, can be indifferent to material problems; they will pass.

When he mentions “death or the return of the Lord,” Martin touches on the possibility that the reign of Christ will begin before some of us die. This, too, is a subject he tackles directly, explaining that while “we know not the time nor the hour,” and should not concern ourselves with predictions, still prudent Christians should always be ready to face the Lord.

The Coming Judgment is not an optimistic book, but an exercise in realism. And Martin ends on an upbeat theme, reading the signs of the times for evidence of a revival in the Church, and finding ample reason to be hopeful. He recalls the famous vision of Pope Leo XIII, and the story was given free reign to ravage the world during the 20th century. (No doubt the current Pope, who took the same name, was familiar with Pope Leo’s prophetic vision.) We can hope and pray that with the blood-soaked 20th century behind us, the Church will rise up in evangelical fervor. In any event, we should be ready to face the future without fear—other than fear of the Lord.

[Editor’s note: See Ralph Martin interviewed about his book on the Catholic Culture Podcast.]