Time Out!

 

I SAID that I would write next on how to confidently enter the Ark of Refuge. But this cannot be addressed properly without our feet and hearts firmly rooted in reality. And frankly, many aren’t…

 

IN REALTY

Some people are afraid of what they have read here or seen in certain prophetic messages posted on Countdown to the Kingdom. Chastisement? Antichrist? Purification? Really? One reader asked my French translator:

Even if it the “Era of Peace” was prophesied: can we still believe in the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart when there will be millions of deaths from… the deeds of the New World Order? Who will escape? Really, it does not make you want to continue living. And what about all those small children who will experience this? Is it really Our Lord Jesus and Our Lady who accept all these horrors? And we must still pray and pray for all this to happen anyhow?

Forgive me, but I must speak loud and boldly.

I do not apologize to anyone for stating what is, first of all, in Sacred Scripture itself. The fact that many pastors prefer to skip over these difficult subjects in their homilies does not mean that they are not truths that CHRIST INTENDED US TO HEAR in the Public Revelation of the Church. In the Old Testament, the false prophets were those who told the people what they wanted to hear; God’s prophets were those who told them what they needed to hear. And apparently, Jesus felt we needed to know that there would be “nation rising against nation, famine, plagues and earthquakes… abominations, false prophets, and false messiahs…” ^[1]cf. Matthew 24 And then He simply stated:

Behold, I have told it to you beforehand. (Matthew 24:25)

That alone should tell us that Jesus was not trying to scare us but prepare us for when those times would come. That implies that He will care for His own, for He did not say: “When you see these things, despair!” Rather:

When these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. (Luke 21:28)

Obviously, then, He will care for all His children:

Because you have kept my message of endurance, I will keep you safe in the time of trial that is going to come to the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. I am coming soon; hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. (Revelation 3:10-12)

But this does not mean that God wills us to experience these “horrors” (insofar as His active Will, though these trials are indeed allowed through His permissive Will to purify and correct us, as a loving Father [cf. Heb 12:5-12])! Even now, even after a century of two World Wars and now the beginning of a third; even now after hundreds of millions of aborted babies with no end in sight; even now as a worldwide plague of pornography destroys billions of souls and violence and the demonic are glamorized on television; even now as the definition of true marriage and authentic human sexuality has been virtually outlawed; even now after public Masses are indefinitely canceled and the world descends into a police state… we would dare say that God’s ways are somehow unfair? I hear the words of Ezekiel like thunder in my soul:

You say, “The Lord’s way is not fair!” Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair? Are not your ways unfair? When the just turn away from justice to do evil and die, on account of the evil they did they must die. But if the wicked turn from the wickedness they did and do what is right and just, they save their lives; since they turned away from all the sins they committed, they shall live; they shall not die. But the house of Israel says, “The Lord’s way is not fair!” Is it my way that is not fair, house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are not fair? Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, all of you according to your ways… (Ezekiel 18:25-30)

I am frankly appalled that anyone would suggest that Our Lord or Our Lady “accepts all these horrors.” For over two centuries, Heaven has sent us one after another messengers to warn us and call us back from the precipice we are on, precisely because there was another way! Jesus said to Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta in, really, one of the most heartbreaking revelations I’ve ever read:

So, the Chastisements that have occurred are nothing other than the preludes of those that will come. How many more cities will be destroyed…? My Justice can bear no more; My will wants to Triumph, and would want to Triumph by means of Love in order to Establish Its Kingdom. But man does not want to come to meet this Love, therefore, it is necessary to use Justice. —Jesus to Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta; Nov. 16th, 1926

How can we blame God when a man decides of his free will to pull a trigger—whether it’s on a gun or a missile launcher? How can we blame God for starving families in a world overflowing with food when the greedy withold it from entire nations and the rich hoard their blessings? How can we blame God for every disorder and discord when it is we who disregard His commandments that bring life? Personally, I don’t believe for a second that “God sent COVID-19.” This is man’s doing! This is the fruit of the nations rejecting the path of God and thus disregarding the ethics and safeguards, which in past times, forbade the human experimentation and population control that has now possessed the powerful. No, what our Loving Father has been saying over and over again is “You have a free will. Please, choose the path of peace, My children, revealed to you in My Son, Jesus, and heralded again by His Mother”:

God in the beginning created human beings and made them subject to their own free choice. If you choose, you can keep the commandments; loyalty is doing the will of God. Set before you are fire and water; to whatever you choose, stretch out your hand. Before everyone are life and death, whichever they choose will be given them. (Sirach 15:14-17)

And thus:

Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. (Galatians 6:7)

At Fatima, Our Lady explicitly, clearly gave the remedies to hold back this Sword of Justice. Hear them again so that no one can blame God for the calamities that are now befalling humanity:

I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace. If not, [Russia] will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. —Message of Fatima, vatican.va

She does not say that God will cause this but man will through unrepentance—those errors that would completely destroy not only nations, but especially, the very image in which we are created.

The problem is worldwide!… We are experiencing a moment of the annihilation of man as the image of God. —POPE FRANCIS, Meeting with Polish Bishops for World Youth Day, July 27th, 2016; vatican.va

But few listened to such “private” revelations, especially in the hierarchy. So why are we blaming God for what is coming? Why do we think Heaven “accepts” the horrors man is doing to himself, especially when images and statues of Our Lord and Our Lady are weeping in places all over the world?

…let us not say that it is God who is punishing us in this way; on the contrary it is people themselves who are preparing their own punishment. In his kindness God warns us and calls us to the right path, while respecting the freedom he has given us; hence people are responsible. –Sr. Lucia, one of the Fatima visionaries, in a letter to the Holy Father, May 12th, 1982; vatican.va 

But even now—even now—God continues to send us messengers to convey Our Lady’s pleas: men and women who collect those heavenly tears and offer them to the Church and the world, saying: “The Father loves you. He wants His children to simply come home. He awaits you with open arms to take back the prodigal sons and daughters. But make haste. Be quick! For justice demands that God intervene before Satan succeeds in destroying all of creation!”

But what have we done? We have mocked our prophets and stoned them all over again. We say we do not need to listen to private revelation (as if anything God can say is unimportant). We say that Our Lady would never appear frequently like a “postman” and that she would only say “this” and only say “that.” In other words, she must sound like me, or she cannot be speaking! Thus we conjure up our formulas and build our little boxes and demand that God fit in them—or be damned you prophets! Be damned you seers! Be damned you who stab at our comfort zones and pull at our consciences and push against our towers of intellect.

Those who have fallen into this worldliness look on from above and afar, they reject the prophecy of their brothers and sisters… —POPE FRANCIS, Evangelii Gaudium, n. 97

For fifteen years, I have dedicated these writings to drawing all prophecy, all private revelation (including my own) into Sacred Tradition. I have quoted the popes and their stark words so that you could safely rest your head upon the bow of Peter’s Barque. I have quoted the Church Fathers so that you could trust the hull of Tradition. And I have quoted messages from Heaven, when necessary, so that you could see the Holy Spirit blowing into her sails and feel the cool breeze of God’s Divine Providence.

But it is not up to me to edit God.

Do you want me to say that everyone will go into the Era of Peace? I cannot. In fact, when the Great Storm is over, it is true, many who are here today will not be here tomorrow. Scripture clearly indicates that others will be martyred and that those who reject Him, ultimately, cannot remain on the earth in order that the “Kingdom of the Divine Will” can be established to bring the Scriptures to fulfillment.

What I can tell you is that God is with you now. That the Era of Peace already exists in your heart if you would but stop for a moment and seek the Kingdom within through prayer. That our future is and always has been Heaven. That tonight, you may die, and all your worrying about tomorrow is in vain. That “if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” (Romans 14:8).

If you are afraid of dying it is because you are not yet fully in love with the Lord.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. (1 John 4:18)

Ultimately, it is a fear of death and the suffering that goes with it. Sr. Emmanuel of the Beatitudes Community said something beautiful lately. That we should consecrate our death to the Lord. That is to simply pray (and these are my own words):

Father, I put the hour of my death into your arms. Jesus, I place the sufferings of that night into your Heart. Holy Spirit, I surrender the fears of that day into your care. And my Lady, I put the purpose of that Hour into your hands. I trust, Father, that you would never give your son a stone when he asked for a loaf of bread. I trust, Jesus, that you would never give your daughter a snake when she asked for a fish. I trust, Holy Spirit, that you would never give me up to eternal death when you are, through my Baptism, the Seal and Promise of eternal life. And so, Most Holy Trinity, I consecrate my death to you through the Most Blessed Mother and all manners and evils by which it may come, knowing that your power is made perfect in weakness, that your grace is sufficient for me, and that your most Holy Will is my food.

How many are the stories of saints who died with a smile on their face! How many the tales of martyrs who suffered tortures in a state of rapture! How many are those, even in our day, who face death with a sudden serenity they never had before because God, in His Providence, gave them the graces they needed, when they needed them!

You know, we cannot escape the words of Christ in the midst of that storm in the Gospels, nor in the Great Storm that is now covering the earth:

Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep. They came and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26)

As the death toll of COVID-19 climbs, this is the day of faith. As the grip of control tightens, this is the hour of faith. As the footsteps of persecution and the torches of hatred for the Church come into view, this is the night of faith. It is the moment to trust that, despite it all, God has a plan—even to try and save the wicked in the midst of chaos (see Mercy in Chaos). Our Lady will Triumph over evil. Jesus will defeat the wicked. Darkness will not overcome the Day.

The truth is that there really is a refuge. There really is a place for all of us to rest, even in this Storm. And it’s right there with Jesus. But so long as you keep your eyes fixed on the gigantic waves in the headlines; so long as you believe that these demonic winds can overcome us; so long as you neglect all the ways that Our Lady and Lord have invited us inside that refuge, that Ark… then what more can be said?

 

THE ARK OF REFUGE

This: the ultimate Ark is the Heart of Christ. It is there where we find true refuge from the storm of justice that our sins demand. But let us never forget that Jesus made, as it were, a visible image of His Sacred Heart here on earth called the “Church.” For from within her pours forth the Blood and Water which gushed forth from the Savior’s side in the Sacraments; from Mother Church pours forth the love of the Savior in her charity to one another; and from Her issues forth the truth that safeguards her children. The Church, then, is the preeminent Ark that God has given at all times to safeguard His People in the worst of storms.

The Church is “the world reconciled.” She is that bark which “in the full sail of the Lord’s cross, by the breath of the Holy Spirit, navigates safely in this world.” According to another image dear to the Church Fathers, she is prefigured by Noah’s ark, which alone saves from the flood. —Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 845

The Church is thy hope, the Church is thy salvation, the Church is thy refuge. —St. John Chrysostom, Hom. de capto Euthropio, n. 6.; cf. E Supremi, n. 9

There is no private revelation or prophet, no matter how profound or endowed with mystical gifts, that can ever surpass this great Barque. I say this because I have been accused recently of being a follower of this or that seer; accused of being “deceived.” Utter nonsense. I am a disciple of no one but Jesus Christ.^[2]“For no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:11) If I have written something that is false or untrue, then I pray in charity that you would say so. I am responsible for what I write; you are responsible for what you read. But all of us have an obligation to remain faithful to the true magisterium and never depart from her teachings.

Even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8)

In other words, I am going to continue to obey the command of Sacred Scripture, whether some readers want to or not:

Do not despise the words of prophets,
but test everything;
hold fast to what is good…
(1 Thessalonians 5:20-21)

I think the following reflection from Cardinal Robert Sarah adequately sums up the hour to which we have arrived… a place where we have mere moments left to decide whom we will love and serve: God, or ourselves. The real deception is not the warnings in this or that private revelation; it is the idea that we can continue this “culture of death” and our indulgent way of living indefinitely. For that is all the Antichrist is: the embodiment of self-love, pride, rebellion and ruin—the distorted mirror of all that the human will has brought upon earth through its departure from the Divine Will.

It is God’s right, however He exercises it, to restore that Divine Will to His creation and creation to Himself.

This virus acted as a warning. In a matter of weeks, the great illusion of a material world that thought itself all-powerful seems to have collapsed. A few days ago, politicians were talking about growth, pensions, reducing unemployment. They were sure of themselves. And now a virus, a microscopic virus, has brought this world to its knees, a world that looks at itself, that pleases itself, drunk with self-satisfaction because it thought it was invulnerable. The current crisis is a parable. It has revealed how all we do and are invited to believe was inconsistent, fragile and empty. We were told: you can consume without limits! But the economy has collapsed and the stock markets are crashing. Bankruptcies are everywhere. We were promised to push the limits of human nature ever further by a triumphant science. We were told about artificial procreation, surrogate motherhood, transhumanism, enhanced humanity. We boasted of being a man of synthesis and a humanity that biotechnologies would make invincible and immortal. But here we are in a panic, confined by a virus about which we know almost nothing. Epidemic was an outdated, medieval word. It suddenly became our everyday life. I believe this epidemic has dispelled the smoke of illusion. The so-called all-powerful man appears in his raw reality. There he is naked. His weakness and vulnerability are glaring. Being confined to our homes will hopefully allow us to turn our attention back to the essentials, to rediscover the importance of our relationship with God, and thus the centrality of prayer in human existence. And, in the awareness of our fragility, to entrust ourselves to God and to his paternal mercy. —Cardinal Robert Sarah, April 9th, 2020; Catholic Register

 

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