Asian Tsunami Was Preceded By Prophecy And Followed By Reports Of Miracles

In the gloom -- and it is gloom -- come the accounts of miracles. A missionary escaping the tsunami with thirty students calls out the Name of Jesus as a wave sweeps into a lagoon and the wave seems to halt. This in Navalady, Sri Lanka.

There is also the young American couple at a beach in southern Thailand. Clinging to a jungle gym under a thatched roof in a play area, the man shouted prayers amid the flooding. The thatched roof lodged against the jungle gym, and they were sheltered as the last, biggest wave swept ten feet over their heads -- without touching them! "We miraculously didn't get hit," said Patrick Green. 

And then there is the Marian apparition shrine of Vailankanni in India. It had been established after a peasant boy saw the Blessed Mother there in the 1500s. During the following century, a group of Portuguese sailors got caught in a Bay of Bengal storm and pleaded with her as Mary of the Sea. The sea calmed during what was probably a cyclone and they landed at Vailankanni on September 8 -- feast of her nativity -- replacing a chapel with a stone building.

During the recent tsunami, Mary calmed the seas there once more. In a December 29 statement, basilica officials noted that about 2,000 pilgrims attending Mass were "miraculously saved" when the surging waves of the historic tsunami stopped at the gates of the shrine compound, which is near a devastated beach.

The waves -- rising as high as forty feet (six weeks later reported to be 80 feet in some areas) -- smashed hotels and homes on the same elevation!

Then there is the prophecy. As with September 11 (which is now dwarfed by this episode), there seemed to be forewarnings. Famously, Catholic seer Maria Esperanza declared that 2004 would be a special year, with both rays of heavenly light and the beginning of a run of natural disturbances. She had also seen the earth's core as "out of balance."

Esperanza already seemed on the mark with the extraordinary typhoons, climate patterns, and hurricanes of 2004, but it was the very last week of the year -- its waning moment -- when the prophetic hit seemed more like a bull's eye.

Another well-known seer from Ireland has long prophesied weather disruptions, tidal waves, and quakes, and has mentioned the earth's axis.

So did former nightclub owner Ned Dougherty, who "saw" terrorist attacks in Washington and New York long before 9/11 and allegedly was also shown tidal waves during a famous near-death experience. He has expressed repeated concerns in recent weeks about a tsunami in the Atlantic; one warning came days before the Asian event, on December 24. "A shifting of the earth's axis will create dramatic climactic changes and possibly result in massive earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and huge tidal waves on both the East and West coasts of the United States as well as around the world," he wrote in Fast Lane To Heaven. Now he says, "I am quite certain that a U.S. eastern seaboard tidal wave-tsunami is imminent."

Whatever is coming (and we have to be very careful with such things), prophecy is no longer readily dismissed. A survey by The Christian Science Monitor even before the tsunami indicates that 59 percent of Americans believe events prophesied in Scripture will occur in the near future.

Meanwhile, prominent bishops and rabbis alike are saying we should see warnings in these events.

Viewers wrote in about their own "prompting" in the spirit. Some felt a coming quake. Or they envisioned water.

Wrote one viewer from Miami: "Last week my mother had a vision of a red sea engulfing many lands. Today (12/29) a co-worker was surprised at a strange red sky. Our Church is agonizing. Our Lord is sad. At three I went to visit Him for an hour in the Blessed Sacrament. I prayed to Him asking for guidance. The response that came to my heart is that the illumination will be coming soon."

Again: for your discernment. If nothing else, the tsunami has created a clarion alarm.

"Jesus told me that the world is in great danger," wrote another viewer. "People must turn away from material things and amend their lives."

The same is true among Protestants. One had a vision that foresaw approaching judgments specifically for Indonesia, describing the ground shaking and "every eye looking toward the coast" -- where there was a small ripple followed by one that was larger, then another, and another. That was announced last November!

In recent years in Java, Indonesia, a black smoky cloud, allegedly resembling the head of Jesus has appeared over a local house and reportedly settled over the nearby church. Local Christians hailed the apparition as a miracle and thousands went on pilgrimage to the church, according to reports. A sign of the times?

On a prominent conservative political site, Free Republic, meantime, was this dire blog-note.

"I was told the following account this morning 12/31/04, by a close personal friend who works with the priest mentioned below," it claimed. "I offer this solely for the discernment of fellow Catholics, and I'm hoping for further verification of this story. I have met the priest who related this story. He is known in the USA and Rome. According to this priest, an American woman, a Roman Catholic (who is not publicly known, she is a housewife and lives in the Midwest USA) was extremely upset two weeks prior to the recent Asian earthquake and tsunamis. The priest who related this story was aware of her fears prior to the events this past week and therefore believes her to have some legitimacy. According to this priest, this woman 'knew' that a massive earthquake and tsunamis were going to strike in Southeast Asia two weeks prior to the event. She was so distraught that she pleaded to be taken to Rome to see the Pope to warn him of the impending disaster in Asia. She was taken to Rome, but I'm not sure from what I was told whether she was able to meet with him. This priest is also aware of what she has seen coming for America. He said it was so horrific that he would not discuss it further. He simply said, 'Be ready to go at any moment.' I believe he would not have related these issues if he had not personally known that she had foreknowledge of the recent quake and tsunamis. Again, I offer this solely for the discernment of fellow Catholics. I'm hoping for further verification of this story, or refutation of same."

Is that really true? Is it really that dismal? We must be careful. The devil tries to frighten us. At the same time, it's difficult to deny what is occurring around us. Alleged Protestant prophet Susan Cummings, --whose striking visions of last summer's hurricanes were also posted before they struck -- issued a prophecy last autumn that saw a final warning to mankind. We take it into prayerful reflection.

"Now the time has come and gone," Cummings said, quoting the Lord. "I showed My prophets the new day that they have now entered. I made them cry out and warn the people of their choices, and the reaping of those choices. But did any listen to My prophets? Did any humble themselves or despise their sins? No, they cast aside My prophets and told them to be silent, and discredited them. Those found rooted and ground in Me, in this hour, will be sheltered from the waves and the purging that will scourge this land. For though the waves beat upon My house, it will surely stand, and all founded in Me will stand with Me till the end. The waves have begun."

That was on November 21. We place this up for discernment, remembering that God is still and always with us -- that events may be mitigated or prevented altogether. Let us note that America is a Christian nation and that there is tremendous protection in that. Incredibly, the death toll from four ferocious hurricanes last summer, by most counts, was less than 150. But there now appears to be an urgent need for more prayer.

Let us repeat: these are reports for discernment only. Internet rumor can be just that. There are "urban legends." There are hoaxes. But, often, there is also a kernel of truth, and we are not to despise prophecy. In fact, Scripture tells us to seek it. We are to test the spirits, keeping only what is true and remembering that we are in special times. We are in miraculous times.

In special times we are to grow closer to Him. When we do, fear vanishes.

January 3, 2005

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