Prophecies from all over
One has to admit that prophecies in recent months and weeks have become different in some fashion, decidedly intense, perhaps, because of the similarities -- whether in Catholic circles (where the Blessed Mother usually delivers messages) or with those reporting near-death experiences in non-Catholic settings (who claim Christ and angels speak to them).
Sometimes it's truly gripping: the similarities and the simple air about them.
From Itaparinga, Brazil, where an apparition has local Church approval (for its early but not recent messages, upon which no verdict has been issued), the seer, Edson Glauber, who in March claimed to have received a message:
"Behold your Immaculate Mother who comes from Heaven to tell you that the hour has arrived for the immediate conversion of humanity, which will be shaken by great and painful events. My maternal heart is apprehensive and embittered by swords of pain. My children, many of you are doing little and laugh at my messages, scorning them and leaving them aside. What will become of you when the great chastisement comes from the sky and befalls you? Who will be able to defend you when divine justice touches humanity with such force?
"Very soon Italy and the United States will be punished in a way never seen [before]. A great light, like fire, will be visible in the sky of Italy. Pain and sorrow will be great, and when this happens only the Rosary and my maternal heart will provide hope, refuge, and protection for many. Italy will be shaken because men did not respect what is owed to God, did not honor His Holy Name, did not obey his Holy Laws. Enormous pain will also come quickly in the United States, causing a particular region to be practically destroyed."
A volcano? (Italy is home to Etna and Vesuvius). How much is actually Mary? We hear much about fire from such putative seers; it was mentioned prominently at Kibeho (which also has Church-approbation, for three of the visionaries). Quakes? Does the commotion in the geophysics of Japan and now Ecuador portend something?
Every year, the "quickening" gets a bit quicker.
How much stock to put in seers?
During his homily today (4/18/16), the Pope admonishes us to "follow Jesus, not fortune tellers and alleged visionaries." It's unclear what he meant; immediately after, he used "seer" in regard to a "fortuneteller" who "turned the cards to me" (an apparent reference to the occult practice of Tarot).
Striking is the stridency: how drastic many prophecies are, from sources that are impressively varied and widespread as to all but guarantee they have not heard of each other.
In Hartesbeespoort, South Africa, a young boy who is said to have encountered Jesus when he lost consciousness and virtually died, suffering brain damage during a serious accident, says, "Jesus loves you so much, believe me. You are the reason why He sent me back. I didn't want to come back, but He sent me back so that you can be ready for His return."
"Together we will proclaim God's Word because He has chosen us for the end time," the boy, Aldo, said to his mother, Retha McPherson, who wrote a book about him. "I have to be a prophet who warns people that Jesus is coming back for us. We will experience the Power of the God we serve through floods and earthquakes. Mom, will you warn everyone that the floods are coming?"
Truly disparate regions and situations.
Mother Angelica used to say the same thing -- about Jesus returning. A Catholic from Louisiana named Sondra Abrahams long ago was featured in a video during which she discussed her death crossover and the future she had beheld (replete again with a series of unfortunate earthly events).
In Utah, Sarah Menet, who "died" and returned after an attempt at suicide, claims much the same. According to visions during her supposed experiences, detailed in a book called There is No Death, "There will be chaos in every part of the world. Many people ask me, 'Where will it be safe?' but I also give them great hope. I saw pockets of light on the earth. I know the power of God is greater than any army of the earth."
Still, she saw invasions and nuclear and natural disasters ahead for the West -- visions that remind us of another who died (also as a child) and returned with prophecies, James Chauncey of Georgia, who recently revised his book Eyewitness to Heaven with more detail on his claimed prophecies.
Among those details: uprisings in South America and tremendous destruction in the middle and Western parts of the U.S., as well as in Australia -- where a Catholic seer named Valentina Papagna has been warning of very similar events. We had a "special report" recently on the predictions relayed via Valentina, who claims to see Mary and to have been told of many and diverse and at times drastic events -- for our cautious discernment.
"It will probably be the economy and then natural disasters," she alleged to us. "One time the Lord took me into a supermarket and said, 'Take a close look, my child.' The next minute it was completely empty -- nothing on the shelves. He said, 'This is what will happen.' "Some parts [of the world looked] like desert, others flooded."
"It certainly looks like the elite know something the rest of us don't, as many are fleeing cities and even entire countries," notes WorldNetDaily. "'The things about which the world's wealthiest people are reportedly most worried... are civil unrest, revolution, rampant crime, and natural disasters,' observed Carl Gallups [an evangelical pastor]. 'Many of them believe these things may be more dangerously possible than ever before. With the rise of the Islamic State and its atrocities, massive refugee movements, sword-rattling nuclear superpowers, Ferguson-like civil unrest spreading, and continual mainstream media predictions of economic meltdowns and potential natural disasters like Yellowstone erupting, who could blame them?"
Menet details what she says will be small "cities" of refuge, where people pray, share with each other, and protect themselves from those marauders who will all but take over the land. We'll be having a special report on this idea of "refuges."
This is remarkably similar to a book by Julie Rowe of California, whom we spoke with recently and who has also written books about her experience. She "saw" a number of places where Christians would congregate to protect each other and live through events in mutual prayer for one another.
"I saw that we must not delay getting our lives in order," Julie wrote. "The time has come to get our houses in order and prepare for the days ahead. Time is short and we must do all in our power to prepare for every needful way.
"I was shown upcoming natural disasters on a scale unlike anything the earth has ever experienced. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis, plagues, droughts, famines, pestilence, and all manner of disease will be upon the earth in such a deep and broadened scale that mankind cannot even imagine what it will be like."
She emphasizes problems along the "Ring of Fire," where she believes one big quake will be like the first "firecracker" in a series of them, as the world beneath our feet (at least near the Pacific) is "jostled." This will trigger volcanoes in many places, she believes.
Take heed, she says, when an event occurs along the Wasatch Range (near Idaho and Utah).
It must be admitted that Julie, whose husband is an attorney, and who is Mormon (they are very big on preparation; a number of those reporting such prophecies during death experiences have been Mormon) sees virtually every major negative effect as occurring, in sort of an amalgam of so many predictions from elsewhere through the years that the mind reels: besides the natural occurrences, nuclear contamination from Japan's power plant, micro-chipping when evil men assume control, biological weapons used on citizenry, military conflicts (one started when Iran launches missiles from Libya directed at Israel), tremendous food shortages (she is big in "prepping," and even list what she believes every family should have), and so forth.
She also sees a Pope being killed, the Vatican destroyed (Chauncey saw people fleeing from the Vatican), and an anti-christ type arising as a peacemaker in the Middle East -- something that was mentioned long ago by a Marian seer in Ireland.
Is this simply what is meant by "tickling the ears" (2 Timothy 4:3) or does that passage refer not to mysticism but to false theological teachings?
Worth our cerebration?
"I have been contacted by several people who have seen many of the same things that I saw concerning the future," writes Julie. "Some were shown these things during their own near-death experiences, while others have been shown in dreams and visions. Many people have been given some of this knowledge through other forms of personal revelation, such as thoughts and impressions that have come to their minds. People from all walks of life have felt prompted to prepare both spiritually and temporally. The Lord is warning in many ways."
To whatever extent, and in whatever way, events do seem to be coalescing; this concatenation has been occurring for a long while now and obviously still has a ways to go, but it moves in a way that might be described, if not as a "quickening," as "slowly but surely."
-- MHB
[resources: There Is No Death, Eyewitness to Heaven, The Message and Sent To Earth]
[also: Special report on Valentina Papagna and Retreat: Cherry Hill, New Jersey]
[Footnote: 2 Timothy 4:3: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires."]
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