Let's call this "here and there around on the prophetic beat," and venture, this time, as occasionally we dare, on the terrain of (alleged) Protestant prophecy.

Most of course is not actually "Protestant" in the formal way we know Protestantism, for the vast majority of reputed visions, dreams, and "words of knowledge" from elsewhere -- away from Marian and charismatic circles -- is "Evangelical." Mainline Protestant churches (Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran) do not often generate much in the way of that particular charism.

But the Evangelical, Pentecostal, charismatic world -- the non-denominational denominations, the really Spirit-active ministries -- are full to overflowing with "prompts" about the future, as well as mundane matters such as individual health.

And a certain element of it is interesting (as when, in healing services, televangelists seem able to blurt out specific problems).

There have been some amazingly accurate cases of knowledge, for sure. And healings. Pat Robertson's "700 Club," for all the controversy he has spawned (and no doubt will), has hundreds of interesting cases.

We are not out here to degrade that in any fashion.

The Spirit flows where He Will.

But what about the precognitive stuff, extra-normal insights that pertain to the world and its future at large -- which are also highly popular in Evangelical circles?

One takes much of this with a combination of openness and pinnate furrowed eyebrows.

For example, there is the recent claim, by a well-known American televangelist named Frank Amedia, that God spoke to him about Donald Trump.

Amedia reportedly experienced it last summer, as he was "feeling challenged" about the 2016 presidential race (remember Bush, Huckabee, Rubio?) and turned to prayer.

"I really was not even thinking about Donald Trump as being a serious candidate, and the Lord spoke very clearly to me and He said to me, 'This man is going to win the nomination and I want you to be ready to serve my cause when I call you," Amedia reportedly said, in what amounts to a prophetic-political endorsement (at least in his discernment).

We'll maintain openness as well as distance -- knowing that such utterance can often be overheated inclination. The subconscious speaks!

Amedia was said to have said (during a private conversation with a Christian media owner) that an "anointing" was "breaking" over the United States in preparation for the return of Christ, and that Donald Trump was part of the preparation. Quite a claim.

Does God play (or at least follow, or even speak of) politics?

We'll leave that up to your judgment. Amedia serves now as a liaison between Trump and the "religious right" (or perhaps better said, the general body of Evangelicals). (We recently heard from a local evangelical who had received a similar "vision" -- and felt so strongly about it that he wrote to Mr. Trump.)

Peculiar stuff.

Words of knowledge? Flip a coin.

Or parapraxis: simple personal preference that burbles over into a "locution"?

There's little doubt that the faith-based communities are coalescing behind the Republican, as they normally do, and understandably, because of abortion and matters such as euthanasia and gay marriage.

There is the real apprehension of a coming persecution, and it's not helped when a major candidate so closely aligns with Planned Parenthood, which is an evil, anti-Christian, in fact anti-religious organization.

Is it time to unite against that?

Speaking of our brethren Christians, there is on the internet also the "1968 Prophecy by a 90-Year-Old Woman in Valdres, Norway." It was reported by an evangelist named Emanuel Minos, who served as a minister where this woman lived.

We'll simply quote it, as now offered in cyberspace:

"I saw the time just before the coming of Jesus and the outbreak of the Third World War. I saw the events with my natural eyes. I saw the world like a kind of a globe and saw Europe, land by land. I saw Scandinavia. I saw Norway. I saw certain things that would take place just before the return of Jesus, and just before the last calamity happens, a calamity the likes of which we have never before experienced."

She mentioned four "waves":

1. "First before Jesus comes and before the Third World War breaks out there will be a 'detente' like we have never had before. There will be peace between the super powers in the east and the west, and there will be a long peace. [Remember, that this was in 1968, when the Cold War was at its most frigid.] In this period of peace there will be disarmament in many countries, also in Norway and we are not prepared when it (the war) comes. The Third World War will begin in a way no one would have anticipated -- and from an unexpected place.

2. "A luke-warmness without parallel will take hold of the Christians, a falling away from true, living Christianity. Christians will not be open for penetrating preaching. They will not, like in earlier times, want to hear of sin and grace, law and gospel, repentance and restoration. There will come a substitute instead: prosperity (happiness) Christianity.

"The important thing will be to have success, to be something; to have material things, things that God never promised us in this way. Churches and prayer houses will be emptier and emptier. Instead of the preaching we have been used to for generations -- like, to take your cross up and follow Jesus -- entertainment, art, and culture will invade the churches where there should have been gatherings for repentance and revival. This will increase markedly just before the return of Jesus.

3. "There will be a moral disintegration that old Norway has never experienced the likes of. People will live together like married without being married. [In 1968, there was not yet the term "living together."]

"Much uncleanness before marriage, and much infidelity in marriage will become the natural (the common), and it will be justified from every angle. It will even enter Christian circles and [nurture it] -- even sin against nature. Just before Jesus' return there will be TV programs like we have never experienced. [TV had just arrived in Norway in 1968.]

"TV will be filled with such horrible violence that it teaches people to murder and destroy each other, and it will be unsafe in our streets. People will copy what they see. There will not be only one 'station' on TV, and it will be filled with 'stations.' [She did not know the word 'channel' such as we use today.] TV will be just like the radio where we have many 'stations,' and it will be filled with violence.

"People will use it for entertainment. We will see terrible scenes of murder and destruction one of the other, and this will spread in society. Sex scenes will also be shown on the screen, the most intimate things that take place in a marriage. All we have had before will be broken down, and the most indecent things will pass before our eyes."

4. "People from poor countries will stream to Europe. They will also come to Scandinavia and Norway. There will be so many of them that people will begin to dislike them and become hard with them. They will be treated like the Jews before the Second World War. Then the full measure of our sins will have been reached."

Tears were said to have streamed from the old woman's eyes down her cheeks.

"I will not see it, but you will," she putatively intoned. "Then suddenly, Jesus will come and the Third World War breaks out. It will be a short war." (She saw it in the vision.)

"All that I have seen of war before is only child's play compared to this one, and it will be ended with a nuclear bomb. The air will be so polluted that one cannot draw one's breath. It will cover several continents, America, Japan, Australia and the wealthy nations.

"The water will be ruined. We can no longer till the soil. The result will be that only a remnant will remain. The remnant in the wealthy countries will try to flee to the poor countries, but they will be as hard on us as we were on them.

"I am so glad that I will not see it, but when the time draws near, you must take courage and tell this. I have received it from God, and nothing of it goes against what the Bible tells.

"The one who has his sin forgiven and has Jesus as Savior and Lord is safe..."

That's the prophecy. What do we think of this? That's answered with another question: How could we know? Your guess is as valid as ours.

Something comes. Something.

Only God knows what that something or Someone is.

[resources: On the Brink and Sent To Earth]