The Seven, a prophetic novel by Michael H Brown  A coming sign? Events by a sinister personage? Disaster? In his first work of fiction, Brown pens the driving, suspenseful, and deeply spiritual story of a mysterious government property that harbors secrets relevant not only to a young cop who tries to investigate strange goings-on, but also to an equally mysterious and incredibly powerful old priest who joins forces with him to solve the mystery -- and try to prevent an end-times-like disaster!   CLICK HERE

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IMAGINE A CHURCH WITH PEWS FILLED AS PRIESTS CAST OUT DEMONS AND BISHOPS RAISE THE 'DEAD'

Imagine the scene. A little boy has seemingly just died and is placed by a distraught mother before a bishop, who lays healing hands upon him. The boy remains limp -- but during Mass, a few minutes later, revives.

A woman who has had only whites for eyes -- blind since birth -- is also ministered to. Suddenly, there are brown irises and she has seen for the first time.

A priest prays over a woman hunched over with scoliosis and her left leg begins to extend before the eyes of onlookers.

Another priest walks through a psychiatric ward -- praying deliverance prayers that set a number of patients free of "untreatable" psychological conditions.

At the border with Mexico, a prayer group trying to feed the poorest of the poor does not have enough food for all who come but somehow the food -- the soup, the sandwiches -- multiply.

These are not fabricated accounts but cases that have been witnessed by laymen and could be achieved by our hierarchy.

We have a glorious Church. It is the oldest institution on earth. It is older than any government.

But it is a Church in need of revival.

More than anything -- more than pronouncements, more than documents, more than programs -- revival must come directly from the Spirit.

It can, and we believe it will.

Psychosis. Multiple personality. The spirits of a homeless man are cast out.  Imagine a bishop performing an exorcism rite at an abortion center -- which soon closes down. Through the grimy streets of a tattoo-nightclub-leather area, deacons fan out with blessed salt -- causing a purification of the neighborhood. Once-fluorescent episcopacies are now prayer centers. The annual meeting of bishops focuses on devotion -- with a level of prayerfulness once known only to the elderly women in the back pews or those in chapels of the Blessed Sacrament. Like the old days -- as in the days of the apostles -- the ministry of the Church is invocation of the strength of the Holy Spirit -- visibly, out there in public, which causes the pews to fill. There are more men in the pews. Masculinity is drawn to power (and results).

It sounds like a fantasy but it is the way Jesus instructed His disciples. He told them to go about casting out unclean spirits. He told them to heal. He told them to pray without ceasing. With an air of deliverance, there would be less worldliness (and homosexuality) in our seminaries.

That there is power and angels around Catholicism, no one could doubt; it is even seen in a photo of John Paul II's plane arriving in Baltimore [below] or more recently in photos of the Vatican.

While there is a need for an institutional side of the Church, that side has taken over completely during the past several centuries and now there is the glaring need to return to the Church's incredible charisms -- the charisms granted by Jesus, the charisms that can be released by the Eucharist, the deliverance that can come from Confession, from exorcism, from the Rosary, the charisms that will draw disaffected Catholics back into the fold -- and eventually, evangelicals and Protestants, once they see testimony to power.

Is God allowing the division of Christians until the Church repossesses those charisms?

Are we already heading in this direction of revival (real revival, as opposed to parochial campaigns) -- as we see the rise of the lay Church or clergy in the increasing number of deacons?

Once upon a time, many duties were performed by deacons until deacons and laity were subjugated and now this is another need: resurrection of the anointed laymen and laywomen who will also go out and pronounce the gifts and wisdom of the Holy Spirit (while maintaining strict obedience).

A cripple walks. A deaf mute hears and speaks. A bishop returns to his cell after praying with thousands.

Miracles do happen. They have happened. They can occur again. They are accomplished not through formulas or theology but by complete prayer from the heart.

Our Church is tremendous and the gates of hell shall never prevail over Her, but she yearns a return to ancient devotion. She yearns for fasting -- for a leadership not afraid to don the sackcloth. She yearns for public demonstrations of miracles as Jesus demonstrated the miraculous as part of His testimony. When clergy have a deep prayer life, miracles result and problems are solved. It is the heart, not the head, that will revive us, and the solution to many current and seemingly insurmountable woes (falling attendance, abuse, modernism, aridity) is so simple: imitate Jesus.

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