Often I have spoken of the signs in nature. They occur recently with emphasis. One prophecy studied in this space, which I call the "1990 missive," said there would be "regional" events as we indeed see regional events -- and have, with gradually increasing power, since that particular year (see the 250 million affected each year worldwide by such events).

When praying about the truth of that prediction, what I have felt told is that the prophecy "is all around" us.

But I would like to concentrate -- despite the punctuation of such events these past few weeks -- on three other concerns I have raised: the current, almost inevitable forming of a new world order; the trend toward discrimination against Christians (which is showing signs of turning into the mood of persecution); and the prospect, most pointedly, of civil disruption.

This will be focused upon, among many other topics, in two upcoming retreats, planned for Philadelphia and Chicago. In this installment, let's look at civil disruption. Another way of saying it is a societal breakdown. The 1990 prophecy predicted that there will be a "breakdown of false society."

We zoom in on earthquakes and volcanoes and hurricanes while we forget how dramatic shifts in society -- in the social order -- have a long history, too, as "chastisements."

The world of McMansions and limitless credit and throwaway everything, where everyone seems "rich," where every driveway is crowded, where every car seems new, the world where obesity is the new trend, the world in which we throw away a third of our food, where we all stay in ritzy hotels, where we have cell phones sewn onto the sides of our heads, and where we are obsessed with entertainment, and lust -- the world in which computers are tossed away after a couple years of use, where athletes get thirty million a year, and where there are now millions of millionaires, where every lawyer and every broker is rich, where gouging and rudeness and answering systems are everywhere, where we discard Styrofoam after sipping half a cup -- will soon enough pass into mayhem.

Excess will lead to scarcity will lead to a breakdown in the order as we know it. Of course, natural disasters (see "Katrina") can also spark civil disturbances.

This is prophecy.

Without prayer, and conversion, I believe we are entering a time of disarray, a time when our laws will be skirted, when our institutions will further break down, when there will be disunity, when open hostilities will erupt between believers and non-believers (see this poll), when there will be enclaves of particular people, when there will be walls of separation -- religious and ethnic -- when the country may turn into a confederacy.  

Such is reality, not gloom and doom. This will happen without a return to true spirituality.

Through the sacraments, you will be guided away from the mayhem.

It is indeed all around us. There are latrines in China that are designed to look like the Blessed Mother. There is persecution in the UK -- where the Anglican Church has been officially chastised for daring to ask a prospective employee if he is an active homosexual! A priest in Holland was forced by the government to halt the morning ringing of bells this week. The church bells have literally fallen silent.

The antagonism to Christianity is becoming more blatant -- and even manifesting in a way that seems supernatural. In Namibia a Catholic church in the Kavango Region burned to the ground two weeks ago, immediately after a memorial service.

"The thatched-roof Shamangorwa Catholic Church, located some 160 kilometers east of Rundu, was completely burnt down," said a news report. "Acting Priest Michael Hausiku confirmed the incident but could not explain how the fire started. It is reported that after the memorial service for the traditional healer, mourners witnessed a strong wind that was immediately followed by what sounded like an explosion."

Spirits seem to be moving -- darkly. Note how bold atheists have grown.

Are there actual frescoes at a bank in Charlotte, North Carolina, that foresee an "Ordo Ab Chao," or order of chaos. "If you look closely at these fresco images, you can see the Pope walking around aimlessly with not a single sheep following him," claimed one observer.

Such occurs when a society or group of societies becomes excessive, overly wealthy, and immoral, we are told by history.

In that fashion, we seem primed for major such events.

Just last week, David Walker, comptroller general of the U.S., drew parallels with the end of the Roman empire. Walker, according to the Financial Times, warned that there are "striking similarities" between America’s current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including "declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands, and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government."

A time of excess. A time of materialism. When we see the breakdown of materialism, we envision collapsing infrastructures, credit woes, and dramatic taxation, which the comptroller also mentioned. That is followed by civil disruption and then a new ordering of unified -- and perhaps dictatorial -- government.

The other one issuing apocalyptic-style warnings was none other than Benedict XVI -- who during  reflections on the liturgy on August 12 looked towards the future by inviting Christians to once again "detach themselves from material goods, which are for the most part illusory" and to undertake a journey towards the "heavenly heights," ready to welcome the Lord when He will "come again in all His glory."

"Follow the 'woman dressed in the sun' against the 'dragon' of materialism, says Pope," read one headline.

Several days later, in his homily on the Feast of the Assumption, a staid pontiff once more took note of "'the red dragon, the symbol of absolute selfishness, terror and violence' to describe the story of the world as an ongoing 'struggle between love and selfishness;' and not only in the age of the Roman Empire or in 1900, but today as well," in the words of Asia News.

See too the alleged near-death vision of Dr. Howard Storm, a former atheist who has been on national television recently and who claims he was told by an angel that if it continued as it is, America would "collapse economically, which will result in civil chaos [my emphasis]. "Because of the greedy nature of the people, you will have people killing people for a cup of gasoline," he said. "The world will watch in horror as your country is obliterated by strife."

This is not to create fear but to focus prayer and to prepare so that you and your family can find protection. The Pope tells us that true peace of heart is in challenging evil.

My sense remains where it has been for many years and was reaffirmed by a recent trip by car up the interior of the nation and then down the East Coast, where I saw a nation that is both restless and rudderless -- wallowing right now in excessive wealth but headed for a time of simplicity.

That's a good thing -- simplicity --  but getting there will be difficult. There will be a break down in the order as we know it. There will be splintering in the populace -- which is increasingly "diverse." There will be lawlessness -- in some regions, something all too close to anarchy, some time this century.

There will be unrest. I see the glimmerings. I see the news of home invasions (like the doctor's family that was murdered in cold blood in Connecticut, like the folks who were killed execution style in New Jersey, like the forty shootings since just July -- in Omaha!). I see The Washington Post reporting that pockets of violence are developing in the suburbs.

In the future will be circumstances of great civil unrest, fortress-like communities, and roving gangs -- unless we pray for change in our society. I see this, not in a way that is doom-and-gloom, but as a stage in transition.

The time is coming when we will see our landscape -- our societal landscape -- shift around us.

Events will come in a way that will shake us from our current path, and in the end the result will be a splendid return to Christian simplicity.

A spirit rises swiftly. I also felt "prompted" that somewhere in a book -- written unknowingly -- is one of the secrets of Medjugorje. I have no idea if that in fact is true. Time will tell.

Signs: ignore them at your peril. In Mexico, the Masons are arising anew, attacking the Church. There is now abortion in the city that borders Guadalupe. There may be too much paranoia about Masons but they are at least symbols.

The answer?

The Pope tells us to detach from material goods.

Simplify. That is our best protection. Simplify, pray, and detach, and you will face the future with no trepidation.

8/21/07