PROPHECY: WILL THERE BE A DAY WHEN THERE ARE TWO 'SUNS'?

Is most prophecy actual, or fantasy -- entertainment (save what comes from Scripture, of course, and approved apparitions)? It is certainly plentiful in our mailbag, where there are notions about everything from some day soon when there will be two suns to drastic forecasts of major events in the year 2012 (of which we strongly caution, based, as it is, on questionable interpretations of pagan-like beliefs or Mayan calendars).

Big red flags fly when specific years, and especially actual dates, are uttered.

But such cautions don't dispel the general "prophetic pulse" that senses major events, or trends, unfolding in coming days. It's hard to blame anyone for tuning into the signs of our time when there are weather swerves, extremes of heat and cold, inexplicably dead animals (now turtles, dolphins, octopuses), strange aerial lights around the world, booming noises that remain baffling, and -- it is said -- the arrival of the sun two days early in Greenland. Things like that.

News clip: "Residents of a town on the western coast of Greenland may have seen the sun peek over the horizon 48 hours earlier than its usual arrival on Jan. 13, sparking speculation, and disagreements, over possible causes (Live Science, January 17, 2011)." It's a fact that "magnetic" north has substantially shifted at the poles.

This is an intriguing notion -- that some day, it will seem as if there are two solar discs, or at least large luminosities -- and it may derive in part from scenarios that involve comets from the blind side of the sun and in that the sun was such an element at the final Fatima apparition -- where it seemed to move around the sky. Solar phenomena are also widely reported at more recent places like Kibeho, Betania, and Medjugorje (the latter not approved but currently under extensive study by a special Vatican commission, putting to rest notions that the local bishop had final jurisdiction of the matter).

Says one blogger: "I remembered my first pilgrimage to Medugorje, during the anniversary in June of 1993. One day, we were sitting in the gazebo behind the church waiting for Fr. Petar Ljubicic to speak. He is the priest who was chosen by [seer] Mirjana Soldo to reveal the secrets when the time arrives. Anyway, we were on the west side of the gazebo, facing Cross Mountain, in the permanent benches on the right hand side, inside the gazebo, viewing the mountain. As with most things in Medugorje, there are long waits if you want a good seat to hear a person speak. For some reason, I looked to my right, through the glass panel, and saw what appeared to be two suns -- one above the other. When I pointed to what I saw, a good number of the people also witnessed it, but not everyone. The two suns did the same thing as people experience in the 'miracle of the sun.' They moved around in circular motions and were surrounded by streaks of colored light. This continued for about twenty-five or thirty minutes, until the two suns merged together. What did that 'sign' mean? Was there a message in it? I really don’t know. I have always struggled with the purpose behind all of these phenomena."

"I dug up old pictures from my return pilgrimage to that holy place in April 1989 with a few of my co-workers," adds Lo Bisnar of Glendale, California. "After the apparition one afternoon, my husband and I were seated on a log outside the Church of St James watching the phenomena of the dancing sun with my co-workers and their families. One of them exclaimed, 'the sun split.' Immediately, she aimed her old point-and-shoot Kodak 35 mm camera at the sun and snapped it. Digital cameras were unheard of then."

The idea of two suns next year is also the speculation of Dr. Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland, who believes one of the brightest stars in the sky, Betelgeuse, is losing force and about to collapse into a supernova in 2012, or thereabouts, which for a while at least would brighten the sky like a second sun. "Two Suns? Twin Stars Could Be Visible From Earth By 2012,″ said a recent headline in the secular (and liberal) Huffington Post -- thus combing both notions: the phenomenon and that beguiling year!

Huge caution here: the occultic "prophet" Nostradamus made a famous prophecy of two suns in "century two, quatrain 41" of his famous and dubious predictions. ("The great star will burn for seven days, The cloud will cause two suns to appear: The big mastiff will howl all night When the great pontiff will change country.")

"Be meek and humble of heart. Don't leave what you have to do for tomorrow. God is in a hurry and now is the time of Grace for you. Open your hearts and accept the will of The Lord for your lives. The great and famous river that crosses the nest of the eagle will be contaminated. My poor children will carry a heavy cross. Suffering will also come for Three Falls and for the Land of Sand. Bend your knees in prayer. What I am saying should be taken seriously."

For your discernment. Our advice is always to study the Bible, more than "messages" -- while not necessarily despising them (as long as we don't get "hooked" into the wrong spirit). "Four years ago I heard my angel say 'pray Lamentations for your country,'" says a viewer from Western New York. That's probably very relevant, to this time, to this modern world, to this fragile economy, which may not be able to sustain food supplies, and which may radically shift if the dollar is no longer the reserve global currency. The Book of Lamentations: indeed!

Many worry that strange weather is being caused by government technology, such as intense radiation emitted from a project called HAARP. Conspiracy theories? (HAARP stands for High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, a government-funded program near Gakona, Alaska.) Another alleged prophecy (from July 29, 2006): "Dear Sons and Daughters, I am your Mom and I know what you need. Open your hearts and receive my appeals. I want to bring you to an ardent and continuous desire for God. Be faithful. Do your best in the mission the Lord has confided to you. Humanity has gotten away from its Creator and is going towards a great abyss. Great sufferings for my poor children will come from water and fire. There will be gaps in the magnetic field of the earth, and this will cause disequilibria in the life of humans and animals. Bend your knees in prayer."

These days, it's not unusual for secular newspaper -- especially tabloids in Russia -- to claim the dramatic: such as that President Obama and the French president have held discussions on coming food shortages or that Obama (as reported in China) is set to comment on reports of strange lights in the sky.

"The cycle of the earth will announce itself," is another from another seer, and at least, it's well said.

The movies out there! If "2012" was a totally unrealistic film, still, one wonders about what could come from beneath the earth, not just the sky. Notes correspondent Marti McCullough: "I was watching a movie with my husband when my mind wandered. I thought of the United States and the world. We pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Rosary every day and today we went to the Life March in our city of Billings, Montana. Last night there was a windstorm and the temperature dipped. I woke up many times during the night dreaming on and off of our home being shook off its foundation by an earthquake and pushed toward the edge of the bluff we live on."

Adds correspondent Joel McClain of Texas (which we will visit on retreat in March): "I get the impression from others, who are Christian faithful, that they are anticipating a 'Cecil B. Demille' event -- sky parting, earth shaking, booming voice from above-type of scenario, as evidence that God is judging this earth. It seems more likely, since the goal of Our Lord, as is repeatedly stated by the Holy Mother, is conversion and a return to faith, that the 'signs' are more likely to be internal markers. Yes, there are sun miracles and other outward signs but the goal of these things is not that men should tremble in fear, but that they should believe. As we see daily, the earth is going through unprecedented and massive upheavals and changes, but these events typically affect singular regions. It will be the cumulative effect of them which ultimately gets the attention of the world. Perhaps then, in times of dire necessity, hearts will turn, and love will burn in them instead of fires of hate, or the chill of indifference. When there is no longer 'them' but 'us' and Him, our markers will be pointed in the right direction."