By Michael H. Brown

The word we get here is that "after the war will come the great disaster." We have no idea what precisely this pertains to. We submit it for your consideration. Consider it a "prophetic utterance." 

Many years ago, we would have discounted such "words," but since that time we have read the Bible and continue to read passages that speak so fluently of visions and dreams -- especially in Joel: 2:28. All of us have intuitions, and without further detail, consider this an intuition: that there is the very distinct possibility and even probability of a war on a larger scale than Afghanistan and that if this occurs it will be closely followed by some sort of other major event.

Of course, the most immediate scenario for war would involve Iraq. We hear all kinds of talk these days about the U.S. going after Saddam. Might this be the aforementioned conflict? Would this be big enough? Or is it referring to some other war a bit further up the road? We urge caution on the part of President Bush. While it is important to defend our nation and halt terrorists, the manner in which such tasks are approached is extremely important. In 1991, right before the Gulf War, an alleged seer indicated that a decision soon to be made would have far-reaching consequences, and so it was the Gulf War (which killed 30,000 to 70,000 and was strongly criticized by the Vatican) was followed by the sudden drop in popularity for Bush's father and the onset soon after of the most liberal administration in the nation's history (along with a long chain of natural disasters, starting with El Nino and Hurricane Andrew, that seemed like forerunners to something in the future).

Will there be a repeat? Might there be consequences yet worse? These are very difficult things to decipher, and we must respect our leaders at the same time that we pray they make the right decisions. We can pray to avert disasters. We have pointed out that President Bush's decision to allow very limited research on stem cells led to an insistence from the scientific community that researchers be allowed to clone human embryos for such research and that this insistence -- this movement toward human cloning -- was the main headline in the nation's largest newspapers on the morning of September 11.

Might a war with Iraq further inflame the Muslim world -- and begin a series of events that eventually include powers like Pakistan or China. Might Israel use nuclear weapons against an Iraqi assault? 

We're glad we don't have to make presidential decisions. It is very difficult -- and President Bush needs our prayers. If we don't attack Iraq, Saddam Hussein may provide terrorist cells with nuclear or biological weapons that he is currently developing -- causing us to suffer something worse than last September. On the other hand, if we do attack him, he may provide those weapons he already has to Palestinians or other operatives and a device may be set off in a major city. Or he may simply lob something at cities in Israel.

Is this the "disaster" that would follow? Or might the disaster be something in the natural order?

We lean toward the latter: that we are approaching a time not just of one war but of a series of confrontations which one day will be looked back upon as a long drawn-out affair and that during this great conflict -- and especially after one high point in military action -- will come a highly unusual natural calamity (one that may be part of prophetic "secrets"). We are seeing the precursors in the strange storms, fires, and swerves in climate. They are precursors just as events in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Middle East are the precursors of war. Expect more unusual natural events, especially one that is of a higher magnitude than we have seen in recent decades. Only through the Holy Spirit will our leaders prevent it. As the Blessed Mother has said, with prayer and fasting we can stop wars -- and even suspend the laws of nature.

[In coming days we will explore the signs that we may be leading up to World War III, and take a look at another prophecy from 1991 that may pertain to the immediate future]