Testing Prophets

 

Some 20 years ago when I was “called to the wall” to begin The Now Word apostolate, setting aside to a large degree my music ministry, few people wanted to engage discussion of the “signs of the times.” Bishops seemed embarrassed by it; laity changed the subject; and mainstream Catholic thinkers simply avoided it. Even five years ago when we launched Countdown to the Kingdom, this project of publicly discerning prophecy was openly mocked. In many ways, it was to be expected:

…Remember the words spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, for they told you, “In [the] last time there will be scoffers who will live according to their own godless desires.” (Jude 1:18-19)

Despite the resistance, I have tried to persevere in simply being faithful to St. Paul’s clear teaching that greets every visitor on the homepage of that website:

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

And it’s more urgent than ever. For now, in the wake of tumultuous world events and a controversial papacy, nearly everyone is talking about the “end times.” At the same time, as events accelerate and escalate, the Church is being faced with the increasingly difficult challenge of not only discerning an explosion of claims to private revelation, but of more specific and time-sensitive claims. As such, the danger of prophecy being discredited by errant prophecies, false prophets, and unbalanced perspectives is a growing threat. At the same time, a position of fear and paranoia toward prophecy is also unhealthy. So what to do?

It is worth revisiting the prudent and golden advice from the Magisterium herself on discerning prophets. I have covered much of this in Prophecy in Perspective, so I will only raise some key relevant points. 

 

Discernment is Public

When a seer makes credible claims to prophetic revelations, it is the duty of the Body of Christ to discern them. For St. Paul, this was not a private matter:

When you assemble, one has a psalm, another an instruction, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation… Two or three prophets should speak, and the others discern. (1 Corinthians 14:26-29)

Note, St. Paul says when you assemble. This “revelation” was something Paul wanted discerned among the Body, that is, publicly. Indeed, whenever an alleged prophet takes traction today, and if there is enough demand, the Church may launch a commission to investigate said claims and render a public decision. But the laity’s discernment is not excluded either:

Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church. —Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 67

After all, Our Lord himself said, “My sheep hear My voice; I know them, and they follow me.” ^[1]John 10:27 Thus, the late Marian scholar Fr. René Laurentin asserted:

Today, the Second Vatican Council, which revalorized the people of God, its initiative, its participation, its joint responsibility, is a invitation to carry out discernment in a collective, educational, and pastoral way. May this same people be involved as much as possible with the exercise of discernment and critical judgment. —Vraies et Fausses Apparitions dans l’Église: Exposés, (Paris, Bellarmin, 1976), p. 197

 

Balance

One of the problems today, given the almost non-existent catechesis on private revelation, is that the people of God tend to default into three categories. One is obviously rushing headlong into prophecy without maintaining a healthy perspective. Another, far more common response, is that unless the Church “approves” a private revelation, the person will have nothing to do with it. The problem with this approach (which is not taught by the Church herself^[2]cf. Can You Ignore Private Revelation?) is that it is sometimes centuries before the Church renders a decision on a body of alleged prophetic revelations. 

If all were to choose to wait, the faithful might miss the helping hand of the Shepherd, and the approach of the Holy Spirit would not produce as much fruit as it could have done. Thus a wise approach to prophecy before its eventual ecclesial evaluation seems to be one of cautious openness, avoiding constructing one’s life on the prophecy, but equally allowing it to bear fruit when the criteria seem to prove its authenticity. —Niels Christian Hvidt, Christian Prophecy – The Post-Biblical Tradition, p. 299

Hvidt strikes the perfect note here of “testing” and “retaining what is good,” of how to integrate prophecy — and that is upon the sure foundation of the Word of God, expressed in Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and supported by prophetic revelations that are deemed authentic and orthodox.^[3]“Throughout the ages, there have been so-called “private” revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history.” —Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 67 

The third category is that of scoffers who simply reject prophecy out of hand. But to these Cardinal Ratzinger reminds:

In every age the Church has received the charism of prophecy, which must be scrutinized but not scorned. —Cardinal Ratzinger (BENEDICT XVI), Message of Fatima, Theological Commentary, www.vatican.va

 

Freedom

One of the sure signs that the Holy Spirit has been left outside of proper discernment is when there is a lack of freedom to discern. On the one hand, we have probably all encountered those who are absolutely convinced of the authenticity of an alleged seer — and if you don’t agree, you are flatly condemned by them. This, of course, is a violation of Scripture itself:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Corinthians 3:17)

In his treatise Heroic Virtue: On the Beatification and Canonization of the Servants of God, Benedict XIV (1675-1758) offered this concession:

One may refuse assent to “private revelation” without direct injury to Catholic Faith, as long as he does so, “modestly, not without reason, and without contempt.” —p. 397

In other words, he encourages the faithful to “test” prophecy, not “despise” it. As such, there are times when one may refuse to assent to a certain revelation precisely because it does not pass the test. This may also be the case with seers who have an existing level of approval.^[4]This distinction is important. A purported Heavenly message may be orthodox, and therefore capable of receiving an Imprimatur without, in fact, being supernatural in origin. Imprimaturs are not affirmations of an alleged seer being a true prophet. An Imprimatur is effective in refuting one who would accuse a message of containing doctrinal error, but it does not address other concerns. Moreover, an Imprimatur received in the past is certainly not an affirmation of anything that proceeds later from the same author. As the Church’s guidelines state:

…Pope Benedict XVI explained, granting a Nihil obstat simply indicates that the faithful “are authorized to give [the phenomenon] their adhesion in a prudent manner.” Since a Nihil obstat does not declare the events in question to be supernatural, it becomes even more apparent—as Pope Benedict XVI also said—how the phenomenon is only “a help which is proffered, but its use is not obligatory.” At the same time, this response naturally leaves open the possibility that, in monitoring how the devotion develops, a different response may be required in the future. —Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena, vatican.va

Hence, the Disclaimer on our homepage includes the following:

We remain open to considering further developments relevant to discerning the revelations we have included, and thus are not claiming absolute certitude in each revelation on this site, even though we have decided that each is worthy of inclusion here and important to disseminate. The scope of this site’s content is intrinsically limited and nothing should be inferred from the mere absence of a given seer from its pages. —n. 3

 

Fallible

There are times when not only approved seers but even saints have been wrong on claimed revelations. St. Hannibal, spiritual director to Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, cautions:

Being taught by the teachings of several mystics, I have always deemed that the teachings and locutions of even holy persons, especially women, may contain deceptions. Poulain attributes errors even to saints the Church venerates on the altars. How many contradictions we see between Saint Brigitte, Mary of Agreda, Catherine Emmerich, etc. We cannot consider the revelations and the locutions as words of Scripture. Some of them must be omitted, and others explained in a right, prudent meaning. —St. Hannibal Maria di Francia, letter to Bishop Liviero of Città di Castello, 1925

It cannot be overstated that the faithful must approach prophecy with a certain detachment:

…people cannot deal with private revelations as if they were canonical books or decrees of the Holy See… More than once the divine operation is restrained by human nature… to consider any expression of the private revelations as dogma or propositions near of faith is always imprudent! —St. Hannibal, letter to Fr. Peter Bergamaschi

Seers are fallible instruments. If you want infallible prophecy, read the Bible. Indeed, despite his strong exhortations to the Church to embrace prophecy and discern it, St. Paul admits:

Our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect… For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. (1 Corinthians 13:9-12)

The reason is that God communicates to the soul through their context: their intellect, reason, vocabularly, etc. Thus said Cardinal Ratzinger:

…neither should [their] visions be thought of as if for a moment the veil of the other world were drawn back, with heaven appearing in its pure essence, as one day we hope to see it in our definitive union with God. Rather the images are, in a manner of speaking, a synthesis of the impulse coming from on high and the capacity to receive this impulse in the visionaries…  —Message of Fatima

So, there will inevitably be mistakes. This is not necessarily a cause to declare an alleged soul a “false prophet.” It is a matter of the greater context:

Such occasional occurrences of flawed prophetic habit should not lead to the condemnation of the entire body of the supernatural knowledge communicated by the prophet, if it is properly discerned to constitute authentic prophecy. Nor, in cases of the examination of such individuals for beatification or canonization, should their cases be dismissed, according to Benedict XIV, as long as the individual [had humbly acknowledged] his error when it is brought to his attention. —Dr. Mark Miravalle, Private Revelation: Discerning With the Church, p. 21 

 

The Imperative To Test

Enough has been said here to relay the big picture. Scripture and Church teaching are clear that the faithful ought not to despise prophecy. At the same time, it is imperative that alleged prophecy is tested. Even seers who enjoy a certain amount of “approval” ought to continue to be tested “monitoring how the devotion develops”, especially when revelations are ongoing (which is the case with almost all the seers being discerned on Countdown.)

• The first test is orthodoxy — is it in harmony with Sacred Tradition and proper reason?^[5]The revelations must be free of both “doctrinal” and “manifest” error; see Norms

• The second test is fruits — do the messages breed irrational fear, anxiety, etc. or the fruit of the Spirit?^[6]In the previous guidelines of the former Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, they highlighted the importance that claims to phenomenon “…bear fruits by which the Church herself might later discern the true nature of the facts…” — Norms Regarding the Manner of Proceeding in the Discernment of Presumed Apparitions or Revelations, n. 2, vatican.va Do they bring about authentic conversion, growth, etc.? Are their accompanying spiritual phenomena to consider?

• The third test is the life of the individual seer.^[7]“Personal qualities of the subject or of the subjects (in particular, psychological equilibrium, honesty and rectitude of moral life, sincerity and habitual docility towards Ecclesiastical Authority, the capacity to return to a normal regimen of a life of faith, etc.”; cf Norms Holiness is not a requisite to receiving revelations from God; they are a free gift.^[8]“…union with God by charity is not requisite in order to have the gift of prophecy, and thus it was at times bestowed even upon sinners; that prophecy was never habitually possessed by any mere man…” —POPE BENEDICT XIV, Heroic Virtue, Vol. III, p. 160 But these revelations should ultimately bear fruit in the one who claims to be receiving revelations.

• The fourth test is ultimately the sensus fidelium, in communion with the Magisterium:

Those who have charge over the Church should judge the genuineness and proper use of these gifts, through their office not indeed to extinguish the Spirit, but to test all things and hold fast to what is good. —Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, n. 12

The Church does not demand impeccability when it comes to prophecy, but credibility. She looks for good fruit, but not always perfect fruit. She seeks to hear the Good Shepherd, but remains aware of the wolves. 

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. (Matthew 7:15)

Today, we need to heed this admonition more than ever, the closer we draw to the end of this age and the Great Storm passing over. How does one avoid being deceived? The answer is to remain absolutely faithful to the Public Revelation of the Church, handed down to us through apostolic succession; to remain united to the Vine, who is Christ, so as to receive the sap of the Holy Spirit and an increase in His gifts of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding; to remain close to Our Lady, Our Mother, whom Christ has given as a “refuge” in these times. Indeed, after his discourse on the coming deceptions of the Antichrist, St. Paul offers the antidote:

God chose you from the beginning to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth… Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours. (2 Thess 2:13, 15)

Do not despise prophecy… but do not turn off your brain. It’s not one or the other. As Our Lord said, “watch and pray.”^[9]Mark 14:38

 

Related Reading

Prophecy in Perspective

Of Seers and Visionaries

 

 

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