A CHILD'S HEART FOUND IN A ROMAN CATHOLIC COMMUNION WAFER

BEFORE YOU READ THIS SICKENING STORY, I WILL POINT OUT THAT THIS IS NOT A MIRACLE OF GOD. THIS IS ABSOLUTLY NOTHING TO DO WITH JESUS CHRIST. IF I WERE A POLICEMAN I WOULD BE INVESTIGATING THIS, I WOULD SEND THIS HUMAN TISSUE FOR DNA ANALYSIS IMMEDIATLY.

ANYONE WHO THINKS THAT JESUS WOULD PUT A HUMAN HEART BY MAGIC INTO A ROMAN CATHOLIC COMMUNION WAFER DOES NOT KNOW THE LORD. HE WOULD NEVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS, NEVER.

IT'S WORTH BEARING IN MIND THAT THE VATICAN IS INVOLVED UP TO ITS EYEBALLS IN THE SECRET FAMILY COURTS ALL OVER THE USA AND EUROPE.

By Bishop Roman Danylak

The Eucharistic Miracle of Naju (The Sacred Heart of the Divine Victim)

It looked like a heart when we first examined the photos taken September 22, 1995 during the Mass celebrated in a valley among the Naju hills in Korea. Some time in November, 1995, I showed the photos taken to a pediatrician, Dr. Helen Owen. After attentive examination, she said the heart in the photo was the size and had the exact configurations of the heart of an infant.

A tiny heart
Sebastian, the layman present during the celebration with his camera, calculated the thickness of the host turned heart in the mouth of Julia against a twig he had in hand. The heart was about 5 mm. thick. The pediatrician further noted the various particulars, the lines of the veins in the heart and other features. It was a perfect human heart, not like a valentine, but a real human heart, the size of the heart of a child.

It was Friday, September 22, 1995, when two priests, Fr. Joseph Finn and Fr. Aloysius Chang and I had concelebrated the Eucharist in an out-door celebration amidst the Korean mountains at 5 p.m. There were sixteen Korean Catholic faithful present with Julia Kim, the Korean visionary, and ourselves, participating in this Mass. We had prepared the large white host, and the number of small white hosts together with the wine for the Eucharist. The three of us had concelebrated Mass a week before, Friday, September 15 an hour later, at 6 p.m. And we had to finish the celebration by car light; it was pitch dark.

After that first Mass Julia came up to me with a question. She had seen a rainbow in the night sky at the time of the consecration, and asked me what could be its significance. The thought that occurred to me and that I shared with Julia through our translator, was that first biblical rainbow after the great flood. God used it as a memorial to the first covenant he established between Himself and renewed mankind. We had just celebrated the memorial of the final covenant in the Divine Liturgy or Eucharist when Julia saw her rainbow.

For me it was the culmination of the day. I had been looking forward to this celebration with expectation, not in view of witnessing a miracle, but just to offer my daily Mass. The only communications we had with Julia during the week were through her Korean translator, Raphael; our life in Naju was lived from moment to moment .We never knew what each day would bring. We could plan nothing.

Friday, September 22, 1995 turned out to be a day of celebration. Fr. Finn and I were treated to a festive fish dinner at a sea-side restaurant near the Pacific. Julia and the group of the little community in Naju went all out to celebrate our visit, together with Korean sashimi and squirming fresh squid. After lunch we boarded our vans and continued to travel, with me wondering when we would celebrate Mass. It was after 4 p.m. when we drove into the compound of the valley. It was only when we finally entered the valley that I knew we were to celebrate Holy Mass.

A heavenly love feast
None of us even dreamed of this other celebration that the Lord and His Mother were preparing, a heavenly love feast at the Eucharistic banquet of the Lord at one of the most awesome miracles granted by Our Lord in the twenty centuries of the history of the Church; to witness the awesome transformation of the consecrated host and wine into the very Body, nay the very Heart, and the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, through the intercession of His Mother.

The rest of us received the Eucharistic Body and Blood of Christ, but in Julia's mouth the Eucharistic species of the Host, the wafer, and the species of the wine in the chalice, changed to the species of flesh and blood. The rest of us savoured the taste of wafer and wine as we received Holy Communion. We knew with divine faith that these were the very Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. We were joined to the living and glorified Christ, renewing His mystical and real oblation, offering Himself as the Divine Victim and His Mystical Body to the Father. As Julia experienced the commingling of blood and flesh, the flesh expanding and moving in her mouth and the strong odour of blood, Fr. Finn observed the white of the host disappearing and changing into the dark red of living flesh.

In Julia's mouth the species of unleavened bread changed to the species of flesh and the species of wine changed into the species of blood. In the twilight of 5.30 p.m. that momentous Friday the rest of us observed the moving flesh on her tongue and the blood brimming under her tongue and filling the creases of her lips. It was only later, as we examined the photos, that we began to apprehend the full magnitude of the miracle. The host had changed into a living and vibrant heart.

For the first time, human eyes saw the living Heart of Our Lord and Saviour, the Heart that had so loved the world that It offered Itself in holocaust that we might live and not be lost. All those present at this memorable evening shared the same sentiments. We were one in mind and heart. It was two months later, in November, that I finally received and read the text of the message of Jesus to Julia during her communion, in the French translation of Fr. Spies. As I read this message from our Lord during the time of communion, I became aware that the words of Jesus confirmed our conjecture. "My Mother is now showing and revealing My heart to a bishop...". What we had viewed that September evening was the very heart of Jesus.

Varied reactions
The reactions of others to this phenomenon, with whom I shared the pictures and my account of our experience - well, that was another thing. They covered a vast gamut from incredulity and disbelief, cynicism and indifference to silence, wonderment and awe before this mystery of faith; a profession of faith in the Eucharist, in the Catholic Church, in the sacrament of the priesthood, of conversion and Christian faith.

Remarks included, "How gross!" and questions, "How was a photographer so conveniently present?" Accusation, " Julia slipped a heart she had hidden on her person into her mouth!" Denial, "This is private revelation; I don't have to believe it!" And from still others, there was a total lack of responsiveness. Such were some of the negative comments and reactions.

However, I was invited to share our experiences the following weeks in the home of a Seoul business man before a group of 15 Koreans, largely Catholics. Our hostess, a Buddhist, who had some exposure to Christian and Catholic teachings, believed immediately and forthwith decided to take Catholic instruction and to be baptized in the Catholic Church. Her Korean Methodist friend believed immediately and resolved all the questions she still entertained about the Catholic Eucharist and the celibate Catholic clergy.

Bread of Life
On the other hand, others: priests, theologians, bishops and Catholic laity to whom I showed the photos, bogged down by their theologies, remained indifferent or were even horrified before this new evidence of their Catholic or Christian faith.
"This is My Body; this is My Blood", said Christ as He distributed the first Eucharist to His apostles, fulfilling the promise He had given after the multiplication of fishes and loaves on the north shore of Lake Genesareth. Jesus is the Bread of Life; He who comes to me will never be hungry, he who has faith in Me will never thirst." (Jn.6, 15) And five times Jesus repeated and
underlined and stressed that His flesh is real food, and His blood is real drink for eternal life, and that whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood, has life everlasting in Him, and He will raise us up on the last day.

The theology and the doctrine of the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches have been constant to the present day. Bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. This promise of Christ became a stumbling block for the Jews and scandal to the gentiles. It has remained so to liberal Catholics, theologians, laity and even priests and a scandal to the Protestants, even to the present day.

Yet Jesus' words are clear and He never retracted them. As the Pharisees and Sadducees, and even His disciples left Jesus - only His twelve apostles remained - the Lord, heavy-hearted, turned to His apostles with the question, "Will you also leave me?"

And from those banks of the sea of Tiberias, He scanned the ages even to this our present age, and watched as those who had come to know Him through His Church, turned away in disbelief and incredulity. His lament and His accusation of the neo-modernist intellectuals in the Church continues. "Will you also leave me?"

Jesus poured out His heart to Julia: "Many ecclesiastics want to make me known through sophisticated arguments and complex reasonings, forgetting the Eucharist, which is my very substance, and the sublime simplicity of the Gospels, which I proclaim. This is like throwing mud at simple people." (Cf. Message to Julia Kim, September 22, 1995)

Eucharistic Miracles in the Catholic Church
Observers of the pictures and of the story of the miracle have raised two specious theological counter-arguments. The first invokes the authority of the Council of Trent. The Eucharist contains the glorified and immutable body of Christ. How can the Eucharist bleed or change into living bleeding flesh, still less, change into a living heart? Secondly, what purpose can such a miracle serve?

The history of the Church records more than one hundred and sixty approved Eucharistic miracles. I invoke two. The miracles of Lanciano and Bolsena in Italy.

At the beginning of the eighth century a Basilian monk of Lanciano (near Chieti in Italy) was tormented by doubts after pronouncing the words of consecration during Mass. Before his eyes the Sacred Host visibly changed into flesh, except in the centre where the sacramental species remained intact. The consecrated wine changed into a bright red blood, that coagulated into five small clots. This miraculous host and blood have been preserved to the present day. The popes of that period confirmed the authenticity of the miracle. And in our own days the Holy See commissioned a group of scientists for laboratory research in 1970. The Osservatore Romano of April 3, 1971 reported their findings, which confirmed that the blood is real blood and the flesh is real flesh composed of cardiac muscle tissue. The flesh is heart tissue. Both the host and the blood belong to the same person. This miracle continues now for 1200 years. (For a more complete report cf. the May 1972 issue of IMMACULATA, Kenosha, Wisc.). Popes Leo X, Clement X, Leo XIII, and others have confirmed the authenticity and the veneration or cult given to this Miraculous Eucharist.

The second miracle is the story of an unknown monk, Peter of Prague. It was the time of the Eucharistic controversies of the thirteenth century. The priest monk Peter was celebrating Mass at the main altar in the church of Saint Christina in Bolsena some time in 1263. The story goes that he was assailed by doubts in the truth of the Eucharist. He continued to celebrate. He pronounced the words of consecration over the host and elevated the host, the unleavened bread turned into flesh and began to bleed profusely. News reached Rome quickly and the pontiff, Pope Urban IV , who was in Orvieto at the time, set out for Bolsena. At the request of the pope the local bishop went to bring him the miraculous host. The Pope was so eager to observe and to venerate the miracle that he hastened to meet the returning processions. They met at the Bridge of the Sun at the entrance to Orvieto. The Pope fell to his knees in adoration of the Eucharistic Lord, whose bleeding Eucharistic Body lay on the corporal. The corporal has been preserved in the Orvieto cathedral to this present day. The following year, August 1264, the Pope instituted the feast of Corpus Christi in honour of the Blessed Sacrament and he commissioned St. Thomas Aquinas to write the office of the feast. St. Thomas' are the hymns O Salutaris Hostia and Tantum Ergo.

The Church has acknowledged the authenticity of these Eucharistic Miracles and many others. It has acknowledged similar miracles, the bleeding of the Eucharist, in Venezuela and elsewhere in this decade. There were nine significant Eucharistic miracles at Naju itself that preceded the miracle I am now presenting. The miracles began with the appearances of images of the Eucharist or the chalice in pictures taken of the weeping statue of Our Lady in Naju. Later, the Host received in communion by Julia changed in bleeding flesh, as testified by the priests and faithful present at communion. The papal pro-nuncio to Korea, Mons. Giovanni Bulaitis, was present when an invisible hand (of St. Michael the Archangel, as Julia later explained) placed the large host in her mouth.

Although the diocesan commission of Kwangju has not yet spoken on the twelve Eucharistic miracles that have taken place to date in association with Julia Kim, two bishops, Archbishop Giovanni Bulaitis, the papal pro-nuncio to Korea and I, have authenticated our own experiences. Archbishop Bulaitis, Apostolic pro-nuncio to Korea has been following the events of Naju and has presented his findings to Pope John Paul II. And to the astonishment and dismay of skeptics, the Holy Father himself was privy to the same miracle of the Eucharistic host becoming a living heart during the celebration of the Eucharist in his papal chapel in the Vatican, when Julia Kim received communion from his hands. Although the Pope has not spoken of this himself , a recent publication in English of the messages and miracles of Naju includes the report on the miracle and the texts of the messages of the Blessed Virgin.

Another difficulty I encountered with the theologians was, "what purpose could such a phenomenon serve?" We have to ask the Author of this phenomenon and miraculous event in the first place, not Julia or me. Who are we to dictate to the Author of these Miracles, the Eucharistic Lord Himself, what He is to do with the mystery of the Eucharistic miracles? In His infinite compassion for us and for the countless numbers who had and continue to have problems with the Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist, Jesus Himself gives us His heavenly confirmation. The Eucharist is truly the Body and Blood of Christ, present under the species of bread and wine.

The Truth Confirmed
In Naju, He gave us the miracles of the weeping and bleeding statue of His Blessed Mother beginning on June 30, 1985. And now He gives us these Eucharistic miracles to confirm the Catholic faith in the Eucharist and the authenticity of the heavenly messages communicated to us through Julia Kim. Heaven is serious in its warnings and calls us to repentance and to return to the fount of Divine Mercy before it is too late.

These miracles, and especially the Eucharistic Miracles, are the last appeal of Divine Mercy. Jesus wants to forgive and to save us, even at this eleventh hour of the loss of faith and growing apostasy, from the horrendous punishments that hang over the world and this sinful generation, especially of those who still claim the name of Catholic and Christian. In His message of September 22, 1995, Jesus laments over His priests; "If my priests who celebrate Mass daily, would truly believe in and seek to experience this Presence with their whole heart and would live the sublime and marvellous Divine Reality ...innumerable souls would be purified and would live in My merciful heart with a grace that is beyond all expectation."

He laments about our theological head trips and the lack of a living love response. "There are many priests...who claim to know that I breathe and live in the Eucharist, that I am present body and blood, soul and divinity, but they do not really know me well." He is speaking of those who were shown " my living presence several times (the earlier Eucharistic miracles in Naju) through my little soul (Julia)". Yet notwithstanding this, He continues, " those of my children who follow me are few." He laments about our theological sophistries: "Many ecclesiastics want to make me known through sophisticated argument and complex reasons, forgetting the Eucharist which is my substance, and the sublime simplicity of the Gospels that I proclaim. This is like throwing mud at simple people". And Jesus concludes:"Make haste to begin to live a life of devotion through prayer, sacrifices, penance so that you may attain the final victory and to make acts of reparation for the most abominable sins of blasphemy that have been committed."

"Have mercy on me and I will have mercy on you."
A young American woman who was on the same Marian cruise through the Caribbean in March, 1996 as I, approached me the last day of the cruise. She told me the Lord had given me this message to her in locutions. Why would the Lord reprimand me with such hard words? I had given witness to Him earlier that week with my account of the miracle of Naju; and now what is He telling me? As I reflected again on the message, the words of Jesus resounded in my ears: "Apostasy and infidelity are bringing this world to the brink of ruin; too many of my representatives continue to sleep. In truth, my representatives even allow themselves to be seduced by false prophets. The present disorders continuously torment me; they rend my heart, they become the lashes that endlessly tear at the Sacred and Immaculate heart of My Mother."

"Have mercy on me and I shall have mercy on You." These words received a strange confirmation on Friday June 30, 1996. I had called Lubbock, Texas and was speaking with Patricia Devlin's daughter, Eileen. When she recognized me, she continued. "Bishop, do you remember the message you received during the cruise: "Have mercy on Me and I shall have mercy on you"? How could I forget these words? Eileen continued. " Jesus, the Divine Infant of Prague had uttered these same words to a priest who had found the mutilated body of the statue after the sack of the Carmelite convent in Prague. And as he pulled the statue out of the heap he heard the words, "Have mercy on Me, and I shall have mercy on you."

In her message to Julia during the papal Mass, the Blessed Mother recapitulates: "The visible change of the Eucharist today was to show that Jesus came to you through the Sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist, which is a repetition of the Sacrifice completed on Golgotha to wash away the sins of the world with His precious Blood...Let all know the Sacred Real Presence of the Lord in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.. ". (Message of October 31, 1995).

Divine Faith
The unusual events around Julia, her messages and the phenomena are private revelations, that must be discerned by the Church. The weeping and bleeding in tears of the statue of the Virgin, though of the order of private revelation, are first and foremost observable phenomena, that can be perceived by our senses and by scientific examination as well. The Eucharistic phenomena are also observable facts, witnessed and testified by many, including bishops and priests. The Eucharist which changed into the flesh of the human heart and blood is an observable phenomenon, but it is also a reality to be accepted by divine faith. We believe with divine faith that every host and every drop of wine that has been validly consecrated become the Body and Blood of Our Lord. The consecrated species are signs of the substantial presence of the living Christ.

A second miracle took place in Naju; the transubstantiated species of bread and wine were further transformed into the species of blood and flesh or heart, that are also the signs of the Eucharistic substantial presence of Christ. All these are supernatural events that could be actualized only by the power of God, present in the mystery of the Eucharist.

There is one last lesson to be learned from this Eucharistic miracle of Naju. Jesus has chosen to transform the host, a sign of the Divine Bread of life, into the sign of His love, His heart. If He appeared to Saint Gertrude in the middle ages, to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 1600's, to reveal to them the mystery of His love, Jesus has chosen, in these our times, to reveal to us the living reality of that Heart that so loved us; and not only of His own heart, but the infinite and eternal dynamic and living love of the Blessed Trinity that gives Itself to us in the Incarnation of Jesus, the living love of Jesus Himself, the Incarnate Word of God who is all love, all heart, in His Eucharist, in His Eucharistic Heart. Too often even those who believe in the Eucharist, continue to think of it as merely a sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus. We find it difficult to connect this sacramental presence with the real and mystical presence of the Whole Jesus, of the Incarnate Word of God, who is Love and Who has chosen this means to become present to us, not only in sign but in His awesome divine reality. He wants to abide in us and us in Him as He abides in the Father and the Father in Him in His love, through His Eucharistic Heart. Jesus is the very Heart of the Trinity.

A contemporary mystic, and too often maligned, Maria Valtorta, describes this mystery of Love. She places in the lips of John the beloved disciple, this ecstatic vision of the mystery of Christ, the Incarnate Son of God. "You are in the bosom of the Fire that is the eternal Love of the Most Holy Trinity, its Nature, its Essence, its Real Essence.... You are the Second Person of the ineffable mystery, which is God and which I penetrated because God has drawn me to Himself...You, God the Son, You are like the Father, You, God like the Holy Spirit, You, centre of the Trinity...because if You were not the love of the Father and the love for the Father, then the Love, the Divine Love would be missing, and the Divinity would no longer be Triune and it would lack the most becoming attribute of God, His love..." (Maria Valtorta, The Poem of the Man-God, vol. 2, p. 95). And it is this love that gives itself to those that wish to receive it in the mystery of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, the Divine Victim of Love.

+Roman Danylak
Titular Bishop of Nyssa

Roman Danylak, S.T.L., J.U.D. (born December 29, 1930, Toronto, Canada) is a Canadian Ukrainian Catholic bishop. He was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1957 and ministered to Ukrainian Catholics in Canada.[1] He received a licentiate of sacred theology from the Pontifical Urbaniana University and a doctorate of canon and civil law from the Pontifical Lateran University.[2] From 1973–1990, Father Danylak served as a consultor to the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of Canon Law for the Eastern Churches.[3]

In 1992, while serving as the rector of St. Josaphat Cathedral and chancellor of the eparchal chancery, he was appointed Apostolic administrator sede plena of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto and titular bishop of Nyssa by Pope John Paul II.[2] His appointment proved controversial, as the incumbent bishop, 81 year-old Isidore Borecky, refused to retire even though he had passed the mandatory retirement age of 75 established by canon law. It was also rumored that Bishop Borecky had requested a coadjutor or auxiliary bishop, not an administrator, and that Father Danylak had not been nominated for the position by the Ukrainian Synod.[4] After six years of conflict between the two bishops, Bishop Lubomyr Husar, Apostolic administrator of Lviv, negotiated a resolution whereby Bishop Borecky retired and Bishop Danylak was reassigned to special duties in Rome, resulting in the vacancy of the Toronto eparchy effective June 24, 1998. Bishop Cornelius Pasichny of Saskatoon was appointed the new bishop on July 1 of that year.[5]

Bishop Danylak is currently serving as a canon of Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.[6]

His PhD research in Human-Computer Interaction specialised in gesture and emotion. Danylak has an academic background in English Literature and Fine Arts, and has worked in collaborative Art and Technology since 1996.� Danylak has lectured in Interactive Art in the Faculty of IT at UTS and has presented papers at both local and international conferences in software, gaming, and interactive art. He has worked as a script assessor for the Australian National Playwrights Centre and published many critical reviews on Art and Design in a variety of professional journals.�Danylak has also worked in film, television, and theatre as both writer and performer.

(IS THIS THE SAME GUY?)

June 13, 1999

A Prophetic Warning to the Church

A Controversy
The Pentecostal/Charismatic movement has undergone a huge “paradigm shift” (this was originally a New Age term utilized to explain the strategy of redefining “church” terminology into their New Age meanings. It was subsequently adopted, much to our shame, by many Charismatics as a buzz word for an alleged shifting of God’s future priorities for His church).
Unfortunately, the real shift has been towards the past and has resurrected many erroneous theological issues and beliefs long since resolved by the early church fathers and laid to rest as invalid.
Basically stated, we have shifted our purpose and our focus from the ministry and Person of Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, to that of the manifestations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In so doing we have redefined our purpose as living stones in the temple of Our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:9,10 state God’s eternal purpose for His church: “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:” It should be obvious that “all things” do not include fallen angels and those of fallen mankind who have not accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour of their lives.
Manifestations
There is tremendous controversy concerning some of the manifestations which have occurred and are continuing to occur in Pentecostal/Charismatic experiences. Failure to exercise caution within the arena of these debates will yield eternal consequences, as will impropriety in attributing some of these manifestations to the wrong spiritual source.
Continued debates, arguments and accusations create schisms, divisions and disturbances within the body of Christ. While these tactics and techniques serve the devil very well, they are totally inappropriate for members of the body of Christ, and are, in fact, counter-productive to the eternal purpose of God as stated above.
The battles have been fought, all ammunition expended, all personnel exhausted. There is no clear winner.
There is, however, a clear loser: the biblical integrity of the body of Christ.
I will here mention some of those manifestations which have occurred in theological environments which are not friendly to the biblical doctrines of the Bible. Manifestations which have occurred and are continuing to occur within the communities of the Catholic church and the New Age movement. Manifestations throughout the world that Pentecostals/Charismatics have, and also have not, experienced.
A prime source of these manifestations are the many Marian shrines presently being visited:
Lourdes, France attracts 5.5 million pilgrims yearly.
Fatima, Portugal—4.5 million people annually.
Poland’s Marian shrine “Our Lady of Jasna Gora” (a favorite of Pope John Paul II)—5 million pilgrims a year.
The Marian shrine that attracts more pilgrims than any other is “Lady of Guadeloupe,” located near Mexico City. This shrine attracts over 20 million people annually.
I would add that for those who have experienced manifestations at these shrines, those manifestations have become, by tradition, “doctrine” for them and for those with whom they have shared those experiences. These experiences are real, witnessed by many, even those who went to disprove them, and in many cases, healing testimonies have been medically verified.
We cannot simply read them and dismiss them as fantasy. These experiences, and many others, have formed a cohesive and powerful bond that transcends traditional religious teachings and doctrines for millions, if not billions, of their faithful followers. We ignore this fact at our own peril.
It will—no ifs, ands or buts—it will affect your future as a believer in Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, particularly if you are a Bible believer.
The distinctions of the religious identity and bigotry of those involved in these experiences is being blurred by an overriding sense of being one. One with God. As God. Traditional Christianity as we know it is in great danger. In danger of being liable to self-destruction by being pulled into this mass of religiosity by its exaltation of these experiences to a state of “doctrinal” acceptance by its adherents. Failure to get our biblical purpose firmly established within the body of Christ, and not focusing as members of that body on our purpose will force us to join the merging masses. Or be annihilated.
The apostasy—the falling away from the faith of Jesus Christ, and Him crucified—and the false signs, wonders and miracles, and false teachers and false prophets and false Christs we are all expecting to suddenly show up and announce themselves to us have already arrived. A long time ago. Like the frog in the kettle, we have simply enjoyed the warmer water of various spiritual manifestations, never noticing that it is inevitable that the water will reach a boiling point of multiple unbiblical spiritual manifestations. And we will be cooked. Body, soul and spirit. Cooked dead.
Catholic and New Age Spiritual Experiences
The following information was taken from various Catholic and New Age web sites.
From Catholic Apparitions of Jesus and Mary at:
http://www.Apparitions.org
The last century-and-a-half has seen numerous accounts of appearances of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Jesus, Himself, is said to speak to a few of the seers. Some of the apparitions have received official approval by the Roman Catholic Church. Common threads running through all the messages are: Jesus has been offended by the multiplication of sins against His Sacred Heart; and Mary exhorts humanity to prayer and repentance and an increased devotion to the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Confession. A simple message, but the alternative, we are warned, is a great chastisement which will befall mankind.
From the Miracles page at:
http://www.capecod.net/~mjones/miracles.htm
It has now been 16 years since the first apparition in Medjugorje. Four of the six visionaries still see the Queen of Peace almost daily. The pilgrims still flood the street of Medjugorje.
Imagine while in the village of Medjugorje being engulfed in the smell of roses. Thousands of people have reported this happening as well. The reports of the smell of roses happens both singularly and in mass episodes.
Imagine looking into the sun without injury to your eyes. Imagine watching the sun spin, pulsate, change color, or jump around in the sky. Imagine seeing the face of Jesus in the sun. Thousands have witnessed this as well.
Many Catholics say the chain links on their rosary beads change from silver to a gold looking color. This has happened to thousands of pilgrims both on their way to Medjugorje, as well as in Medjugorje.
From "Signs and Wonders of our Times" at: http://www.sign.org/
Messages via Sadie Jaramillo, Thursday, May 13, 1999 Feast of the Ascension, in Garabandal
For the Feast of the Ascension, Bishop Roman Danylak, a Ukrainian Rite Catholic bishop, was offering the Holy Mass with four concelebrating priests, and it was wonderful! Again I asked, “What more can you give me Lord?” Thursday evening we went up to the pines and joined many people from all over the world, including a group from the Franciscan University of Stubenville, Ohio. It was just wonderful. As we were in the pines praying the Rosary about 8:30 p.m., there was suddenly thunder! This was not ordinary thunder, but like thunder that might have accompanied God’s conversations with Moses! To the right of us there was a cloud of fog or smoke, or something that looked like that, rolling toward us until it reached a certain point and rolled back, all the while accompanied by thunder. Some others who were there also saw the cloud and heard the thunder. This was not a private vision! We were in the presence of God and Our Lady, and we received a multitude of graces. Over and over I heard from the others who were there that they had not intended to go to Garabandal. Just like me, many of the other pilgrims felt like they had been called there.
From Share International at:
http://www.shareintl.org/background/miracles/MI_other.htm
Tuesday miracle
On the first Tuesday of every month, crowding the highways by bus and car, people travel to Sara Piqui in Costa Rica to witness the appearance of the Virgin Mary in the sky. As well as this miraculous vision, sometimes glitter has suddenly manifested on the arms of the people present. They say it is very real—that they can pick it up with their fingers.
Lebanese statue of Mary sweats oil
Hundreds of Lebanese people have been visiting the Christian cemetery of Tyre, to pray before the statue of the Virgin Mary which, according to many eye-witnesses, is sweating oil. Many reporters and photographers, from Lebanon and abroad, are visiting Tyre to investigate the phenomenon, while the believers collect the blessed oil covering the major part of the statue’s marble surface. (Source: l’Orient-Le Jour, Lebanon)
From: The End Days—Prophecies from Catholic Saints and Mystics
(http://www.webcom.com/enddays/saints.html)
V. Marie Julie Jahenny of La Fraudais (19th century, France)
She had five wounds of Our Lord. As a result she was called “The Breton Stigmatist”. She had the marvellous gift ... recognizing Eucharistic bread from ordinary bread, objects that were blessed and those that were not; relics and to say where they came from, and finally to understand in several language hymns and liturgical prayers. During a five year period from December 28, 1875 she survived only on Holy Communion. As Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre recorded, during this whole period, there were no liquid or solid excretions. She was completely insensitive to pain or intense light during her ecstasies. Some of these ecstasies were accompanied by levitation; at that moment she was ecstatically light.
From: Our Lady of Fatima
http://www.capecod.net/~mjones/fatima.htm
Miracles and Wonders of Fatima
The sixth and final apparition, October, 13, 1917 and the promised miracle of Oct. 13, 1917
This account is taken from a book called, “A Woman Clothed with the Sun.”
Gradually the sun grew pale, lost its normal color, and appeared as a silver disk at which all could gaze directly without even shading their eyes. Then, to the astonishment of all present, rays of multicolored light shot out in every direction; red, blue, yellow, green, every color of the spectrum. Meanwhile, the very heavens seemed to be revolving as the sun spun madly on its axis like a gigantic wheel of fire, painting the rocks, the trees, the faces of the people with sunshine such as human eyes has never seen before. Three times it stopped and three times the mad dance was resumed. Then, while the crowd went to its knees in abject terror, the sun suddenly seemed to be torn loose from its place in the heavens. Down it hurtled, closer and closer to the earth, staggering, “drunkenly” as it zigzagged through the skies while from all parts of the now terrified multitude arose cries of repentance and appeals for mercy. “It’s the end of the world,” shrieked one woman hysterically.” “Dear God, don’t let me die in my sins,” cried another.” “Holy Virgin, protect us,” implored a third.”
Suddenly, as if arrested in its downward plunge by an invisible heavenly hand, it poised for a moment and then, in the same series of swirling motions it began to climb upward till it resumed its accustomed place in the heavens. Gone was the silver disk with the brilliant rays. It was once more a ball of fire at which nobody could look directly with unshaded eyes.
During that day drenching rains had left an estimated 70,000 pilgrims soaking wet. The apparition site was a pit of mud. After the miracle the weather was beautiful. While the people looked at one another, still trembling from their terrifying experience and not yet sure that some further disaster would not overtake them, a cry of astonishment was heard on every side. The rain-sodden garments had suddenly dried, someone said out loud, and the muddy pit of land was also dry.
[Note: It is reported that at Medjugorje on August 2, 1981 there was a similar experience witnessed by approximately 150 people. The sun was setting, and appeared to be spinning on its axis. Those staring into the sun suffered no problems with their eyes. The sun appeared to come towards the people and then to back off from them and it appeared to be very dark behind the sun. At the conclusion of the phenomena a white cloud came down over the mountain side of the apparition and moved towards the sun, which was still spinning. Some saw a large number of angels with trumpets coming out of the sun. Some people saw a large heart with six small hearts beneath it. It has also been reported that the word MIR, which means “peace” in Croatian has been observed many times in Medjugorje in the sky in burning letters.]
Compiled from: Kenya Times. First published in the Kenya Times, 22 June 1988.
On June 11, 1988 a man suddenly appeared before a vast crowd in Nairobi, Kenya, gathered to witness the miracle healings of Kenyan spiritual healer, Mary Akatsa. Instantly recognizing the tall, white-robed figure as “Jesus Christ,” the crowds fell down overcome with emotion. The editor of the Swahili edition of the Kenya Times, Job Mutungi, witnessed the event and wrote the article from which this information is compiled.
About 6,000 worshippers at Muslim Village, Kawangware, Nairobi, believe they saw Jesus Christ, in broad daylight on Saturday, 4 June 1988. A big, bright star was sighted above the skies by worshippers. It was unusually brighter than ordinary stars. The time was 1 pm.
At 4.15 pm the tall figure of a barefooted white-robed and bearded man appeared from nowhere and stood in the middle of the crowd. Twenty cripples managed to walk again because of the day’s blessings. In clear Swahili, which had no traces of accent, the strange man announced that the people of Kenya were blessed, especially those who had gathered at the venue that afternoon. He said Mary had an important mission to unify people of all races and tribes under the umbrella of God through Jesus. “I implore you kindly to steadfastly hold on to your faith as the world will be no more. We are nearing the time for the reign of heaven. But before that I shall come back and bring a bucketful of blessings for all of you. Please respect Mary as she is a true representative of ‘The Most High,’” the man said and reminded the crowd to live to the teachings of the Bible.
It took the crowd nearly 20 minutes to recover after the man left the meeting in a car belonging to a Mr. Gurnam Singh, who offered to give him a lift. But it will probably take Mr. Singh his lifetime to recover from the shock he got two minutes later. On reaching the bus terminus for KBS Route No. 56, the man informed Mr. Singh to stop the car as he wanted to alight and head for heaven. On getting out, he did not ascend. He walked a few paces beside the road and simply vanished into thin air. Several people who witnessed this were astonished by his mysterious disappearance.
Comment
The smell of roses, metal changing from silver to a gold looking color, glory clouds, glitter manifesting on peoples arms and sweating olive oil are all manifestations of phenomena in Pentecostal and Charismatic churches.
There is also an account of a Catholic faith healer in the United States with “heavenly power” given healing energy that burns their hands until they touch someone. Power given by the Virgin Mary during a pilgrimage to Fatima. Power given by a personal supernatural encounter with the Virgin Mary. And dying, going to heaven, sitting on God’s knee and being sent back by God to help people on earth as a holy person.
Healing power “‘burning” the hands is another Pentecostal/Charismatic phenomenon.
Past History
Let’s go back several hundred years ...
Compiled from: Welcome to The Mantle
The HOME Site of The Apostolate Alliance of the Two Hearts
at: http://home.ici.net/~aath/alliance/2hearts/
St. Gertrude the Great had a famous mystical experience regarding the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1302:
On the Feast of St. John the Evangelist, the author of the Gospel of the same name, St. Gertrude had a vision of Our Lord, during which she was allowed to rest her head upon the Wound in His side. When she heard the beating of His Heart, she turned and asked St. John, who also was present, if he had heard the same on the night of the Last Supper, when he leaned upon the breast of Our Lord. And if so, why he never spoke of them in his Gospel. Remarkably, St. John replied that the revelation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was reserved for later times when the world, grown cold, would be in need of being rekindled in love.
It was to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a humble nun of the Order of the Visitation of Our Lady that Our Lord chose to reveal to the world His Sacred Heart, thus opening a New Era of Grace and Mercy in the history of the Church and the world. These private revelations took place during the years 1673-1675, and are drawn from the diary of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the witness of her fellow sisters, and that of her spiritual director, St. Claude de La Colombiere.
On the Feast of St. John the Evangelist Our Lord came to St. Margaret Mary in 1673, while she was in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, and granted her the same privilege as He had done to St. Gertrude.
After this vision (she had several more) St. Margaret Mary had this to say:
“After such a signal favor which lasted for a long time, during which I knew not whether I was in heaven or on earth, I remained for several days, as it were, on fire and inebriated (with divine love) and so completely out of myself, that I had to do myself violence in order to utter a single word. The effort I had to make in order to join in recreation or to take food was so great that it was all I could do to overcome myself, which was a cause of considerable humiliation to me. I was not able to sleep, because of the pain of the wound, which is so precious to me; it produces such heat within me that it burns and consumes me alive. I also felt such a plentitude of God, that I could not explain myself to my Superioress, as I should have wished, regardless of any suffering and confusion which the recital of these favors might cause me ...”
Note the physical symptoms: Disorientation (“I knew not whether I was in heaven or on earth”) for several days, on fire (“it burns me”), and inebriated (i.e., drunk), out of herself (loss of control), difficult to eat, couldn’t sleep because of the (burning) pain of the wound which “produces such heat within me that it burns and consumes me alive.” And confusion ...
Sounds much like many contemporary Pentecostal/Charismatic physical phenomena, but described within a 17th century frame of reference.
Present History
Could levitation, powerful signs in the sky and mysterious visitations by a healing “Jesus Christ” endorsing the Virgin Mary’s authority as a true representative of “The Most High” be the next group of phenomena which the Pentecostal/Charismatic community of believers will accept as a genuine move of God in their midst?
It is reported that the Virgin Mary has hinted that these appearances will soon be ending in Medjugorje and will then cease everywhere. After a series of warnings a permanent visible sign will be left on the mountain of the first appearance in Medjugorje. Those who are still alive will have little time for conversion. The permanent sign will lead to many healings and conversions.
Will this event then make believers out of the Pentecostal/Charismatic signs and wonders followers? And other members of the body of Christ of other theological beliefs?
Jesus said: “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before” (Matthew 24:24,25). The New Testament also contains warnings about not believing the truth and being sent a strong delusion, and many other warnings about deception.
It can’t happen, you say? Neither could Jim Jones, or Heavens Gate, or David Koresh.
Yeah, but ... Forget your “Yeah, buts” That’s one of the reasons why we’re where we’re at.
Church, this is only a small sampling, less than the tip of the iceberg of what is happening to our religious and spiritual climate and communities.
There are many, many, many, many weeping statues of the Virgin Mary, exuding tears, blood and olive oil. There are many, many, many crosses of light mysteriously appearing at different locations seen by thousands. Tears of glass crystal being wept by a young girl. Statues drinking milk. Healing wells of water, curing everything from AIDs to cancer.
In Conyers, Georgia, a town about 30 miles east of Atlanta Nancy Fowler alleges that the Virgin Mary began appearing to her in October 1990 and gave her messages. She said that the October 1998 message would be the last public declaration from the Virgin Mary delivered through her. She claimed that her final vision included a multitude of souls accompanying the Virgin Mary, which were supposedly released from purgatory into heaven in Mary’s honor.
And on and on and on...
Our Purpose and Focus
Do I need comment on the fact that the biblical theology of the Bible has been severely violated in these statements by the alleged Jesus and Virgin Mary?
My point here is that we must be very, very careful and we must draw closer to Jesus and the Father and we must exercise our God-given gift of discerning of spirits before we give credence to signs, wonders and miracles and those whose teachings and theology violate the doctrines clearly stated in the Bible.
We, in the Pentecostal/Charismatic community, must—simply must—establish our spiritual purposes firmly upon the foundation of the teachings of Jesus Christ and as expounded upon in the epistles written in the New Testament by the apostles for our instruction and guidance.
And then we must maintain our focus upon Jesus Christ, and Him crucified as we present the pure gospel as objectively stated in the word of God so that lost humanity will come to a full, saving knowledge of the truth of their eternal destiny.
And so that we may not be led astray by those things that are occurring with increasing frequency, whose source is highly questionable, and which would lead us, also, from the narrow path of biblical truth onto the broad way of universal spiritual acceptance by those who serve the god of this world.
Suggested Reading
Against the backdrop of this information I strongly suggest an article written by David Wilkerson in 1982—a period of time in which the majority, if not all, of these manifestations were not prevalent within the Pentecostal/Charismatic community.
I would strongly—even frantically—urge you to not go another minute without reading what David Wilkerson said in this 1982 article, which reads like it was freshly penned. It is as timely as today’s newspaper and more important than anything you could read in this hour, except for the Bible itself.
The prophetic nature of his article describes the biblical truth of the situation and presents a viable working solution to the problems we have created for ourselves.
The article is located at:
A Christless Pentecost! Is Christ Becoming A Stranger In Our Midst? by David Wilkerson, pastor of Times Square Church, New York City - 1982