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DURING NEAR-DEATH BRUSH BUSINESSMAN CLAIMS HE WAS SHOWN WARNING SPECIFIC TO THE EAST COAST AND NEW YORK AREA 

We've been in the process of discerning a number of reputed seers, as well as those who claim to have glimpsed the afterlife (and sometimes the future) during near-death experiences. We have many questions. There are many gray areas. We'll be probing some of them soon. One of those we've been considering is Ned Dougherty, a Catholic businessman who once owned the most lavish nightclub in the ultra-rich New York suburb of the Hamptons on Long Island. We have been looking at him because long ago he foresaw the wave of terrorism and expressed it in a way that closely matched what has now become reality. He expressly saw both New York and Washington as involved in an event that would change the way we live.

Now, in the wake of the decision on cloning, we're interested in what else he may have to say, and so we caught up with him yesterday as he was on the way to a speaking engagement. Ned, who now works full-time on causes of charity and discussing what he says he was shown during a near-death experience in 1984, is extremely concerned about natural disasters. He claims that during his brush with death, a woman he identifies as the Virgin Mary showed him a number of future events that will occur unless mankind reforms.

"Everyone perceives that there is going to be an earthquake in California," says Dougherty, but he believes there is also a concern with the East Coast. In one series of visions he saw massive waves striking from Florida to Long Island and believes it may be related to something we have discussed as the Gorringe fault in the eastern Atlantic near the Azores [see Sent To Earth] -- a mysterious seismological hotbed under the ocean where land heaves up and last caused a major tidal wave in 1755 (a surge that swept the coastline from Spain and Portugal to Morocco and up to England). It's located at 36.5 north latitude/11west longitude, and periodically causes quakes of up to magnitude-8.7. Ned is concerned that it could also cause a wave or backwash to North America. He believes this because in his vision it seemed like there was enough warning for people to evacuate -- "a time to get to safety." Ironically, he saw one such safe spot at a shrine called Our Lady of the Island in Eastport, Long Island, which he says is several hundred feet above sea level and located with precisely the view of the ocean he experienced in his vision. "When I read of the Gorringe," he says, "it connected with what I had seen in the vision."

Of course, prophecy is rarely specific business, and those who have legitimate glimpses are shown future possibilities: what could happen, what might be imminent at one particular point in time, but what may change. Nonetheless, it grants us certain guideposts, and is meant to energize us to prayer. Dougherty preaches that Catholics need to form and strengthen prayer groups, which he says will have more of an effect in staving off wars and other disasters than anything our political leaders can do. This he was shown very specifically by the Virgin Mary, he claims.

And so it is submitted for our consideration. He believes that those who died on September 11 at the World Trade Center did not do so in vain. "Very much a part of why they were here was that their lives had to be sacrificed for this wakeup call," claims Ned. He is concerned that if New York City doesn't realize why September 11 occurred, it will face further trauma. "I saw events in New York City that were not just from terrorism but from natural disasters that perhaps may befall New York City in the future," says Dougherty -- urging repentance. 

"Blessed Mother actually showed me a map of the globe, and it began to shake," he asserts. "As for September 11, I'm not the sure that's the worst we as a country will be exposed to. I'm not sure based on the visions I saw in New York City whether or not there will be future catastrophic events in New York City. I try not to speculate, but it seems like even though we've had a spiritual wake-up call, and more people are questioning things of the spiritual world rather than the material world in which we live, it's really up to what we do from here."

He is concerned about those "who don't pray or don't believe in an afterlife and don't believe in the existence of God or the angels and saints. 

"Simply the most important thing we can do is pray. The Lady of Light  told me that the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of humanity is prayer. Not through our political leaders or powerbrokers but through prayer we would have the ability to change the world for the better, and that's the way I prefer to see things in the future."

 The fact remains, however, that a reversion back to the way we were before September 11 can have dire consequences.  It's up to us to pull it together now. "I saw that we're not facing geopolitical events happening but geophysical events, involving what I saw as the massive tidal wave," he told Spirit Daily. "And I saw visions happening from different locations, and one of them in particular was the clearing at the shrine in Eastport which looks out into the Atlantic Ocean. From the top of the clearing, which is probably several hundred feet above sea level, her view facing south is directly out toward where TWA Flight 800 exploded and went down and it's also from that view that I saw this massive tidal wave."

Let us emphasize once more that this is only for your consideration. We are going through a discernment process just as you are. We don't necessarily accept everything any given prophet or alleged near-death experiencer says. But we believe God has always sent messengers, and there is little question that Dougherty, who has even conducted research at a seminary in Huntington (and is now a practicing Catholic), is serious. He didn't feel drawn to investigating the visions that had haunted him for years until he was drawn to the Long Island shrine, where he had additional visions and experiences, and where he believes people should go if there is ever a warning of any such event. He is concerned that if the Gorringe ridge or whatever activity in the ocean were to heave a wave, it would "destroy all of our military bases, which are all very much located in low-lying areas -- our supply bases that allow us to conduct war." 

This all gets into difficult territory. What's right to warn about and what creates unnecessary fright? Where do the legitimate warnings end and the far-out things begin? He is also concerned about the Pope and has warned that many years ago he had been shown Egyptian terrorists eyeing the Vatican and disguised in "clerical robes" at a nearby restaurant. This is chilling because after that vision, word came of an actual assassination plot by Bin Laden's men while the Pope was visiting the Philippines -- and in the hideout where bombs were being made police found clerical garb that would have been used as a disguise for the terrorists.

Dougherty remains concerned about the Pope because he says he was shown a possible terrorist strike in Rome itself -- the "same kind of devastation" as what hit New York on September 11, "a massive attack," and he believes the next several months -- as Bin Laden gets desperate -- will be especially crucial. 

Prayer, however, can stop it -- must stop it -- and that's why we're printing this today, in the wake of the unfortunate cloning announcement.

"The most important message that I understood," says Dougherty (who we will continue to discern), "was that none of these events need happen."

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