Does anyone know how the Church has judged the apparitions of Ned Dougherty? I see he is getting new messages, and wondering if should read them... http://www.afterthewarning.com/WebPages/BeforeTheWarning/MessagesFromHeaven/NedDougherty.aspx June 1st, 2013 Our Lady Queen of the Universe Costa Mesa, California @ 10:10am My Dear Son, I come to you today as Queen of the Universe, for in these times the entire universe prays for the many souls living on your planet, Earth. All of the souls that the Father in Heaven created are praying in these times for all of you, my brothers and sisters, who are living on the face of the Earth, for your planet is in such great and mortal danger due to all of the sins in your world. Many of you are aware that you are now in the end times. This is not intended to be the end of the world literally, but the end of the world as you once knew it. It is also a time of transition for the Father in Heaven to intervene among you through the intercession of my Divine Son, Jesus Christ, who is the only Saviour of this world. Why is it that the Father in Heaven has chosen to intervene in these times? The decision to intervene was cast in stone eons of time ago, for the Father in His infinite knowledge and wisdom knew that His plan for His children in this world would be thwarted by the evil one. He has chosen this goal for each and every one of you - to assure that each of His lovingly created souls has an individual identity and personality. As a result of the choices you make during your growth as human beings, it is the Father’s desire that you renounce the evil one and his ways to unconditionally embrace the Father in Heaven. Many of you are very concerned now with the events, geopolitically and geophysically, that are taking place in the world, which are clear indications that you are indeed in the end times. It is my wish as your Heavenly Mother that you cast aside your fears for yourselves, for your family members and loved ones, and for your friends and neighbors. These are the times that you must accept the eternal journey that is your birthright given to you by divine right – that you are spiritual beings having a human experience here on Earth, and that when you return from this foreign place in which you currently reside to your Heavenly Home, as promised by the Father in Heaven, you will realize that all that you experienced, both the good and the bad, has had a purpose in your growth and development. When you reach the end of your journey here on Earth, you will realize that the Father in Heaven has held you in His loving arms ever since your creation as a spirited soul in the Eternal Realms. For when you transition through the process that you call ‘death’, you will understand in a very eternal sense that everything that you are experiencing was important for you to reach the level of spiritual growth that would allow you to transition on your journey home to the Father in Heaven. With this knowledge in mind, what is it that you have to fear during your journey here on Earth? My answer to you is that ‘There is Nothing to Fear!’ If you truly believe in your creation and destiny, and that you are in the hands of the Loving Father in Heaven, what need have you to fear this journey? Because of all the turmoil and chaos that exists in the world today, I understand your concerns for your family members and friends. Even though you may say that you do not fear for yourself, because you firmly believe that you are in the hands of the Lord, you still fear for your children, your grandchildren, all of your loved ones in this world. Allow me to put your mind at rest. All of your loved ones are also in the Loving Arms of the Lord, and He has chosen the journey that all of you must follow for you to return to your heavenly home. So fear not! Fear not for your loved ones and friends, but pray for their souls to the Father in Heaven; to My Divine Son, the Redeemer of the World; and pray for My Motherly Intercession for all of your intentions. You must accept now that your prayers are very powerful and are heard in the Heavenly Realms. It is the nurturing of prayer that will bring all of you Home to the Father in Heaven. So again I say to you: Fear Not! The time is coming soon when the Father’s plans for His children will become irrefutably obvious to all of God’s children here on Earth by a great Spiritual Awakening for all of mankind! I pray fervently for all of you, my children, as we prepare for this Supernatural Event to be bestowed upon mankind. The evil one has been too busy and too damaging to all of you here on earth. The time is coming rapidly when he will be purged from the face of the Earth, and mankind will then be able to live in an era of peace and harmony without fear of the evil one and his minions, who will be cast into the fires of hell. So I say to you once again: What is it that you have to fear – if you are living in the full knowledge and acceptance that your Heavenly Father is in charge of all of the brothers and sisters here on Earth? He will not desert His children. Thanks be to God!
The parts highlighted in bold seem theologically problematic to me. We are not spiritual beings who happen to be having a "human experience". We are human beings who consist of both body and soul. Our physical bodies are an essential element of what we are as humans. We are not angels. I'm not sure what a "spirited soul" is supposed to be. We do know that at the moment of our of physical conception God directly creates a soul for each of us that is intimately connected with our physical bodies. The above makes it sound like we are created first as spiritual beings in Heaven and then sent down to Earth to be embodied as human beings. Sounds like some kind of spiritual pre-existence to me (which by the way is the theology of the sect I belonged to before becoming Catholic)
Don't know much about Dougherty or the messages he claims to receive. I just started reading his book and have not gotten very far. That being said, we do have to keep in mind that any messages he claims to receive are filtered through his mind, so there may be inaccuracies as a result. Out of curiosity, what is the Church's position on when the soul is created?
Good question Thomas. This is from the New Advent site. The traditional philosophy of the Church holds that the rational soul is created at the moment when it is infused into the new organism. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04475a.htm
Ned Dougherty seems to be a difficult case as far as discernment is concerned - on one hand there is the hard evidence of his near-death experience (which triggered his conversion and radical change of lifestyle from that of a hard-living nightclub owner) which seems like a genuine other-worldly encounter. In the NDE community Ned Dougherty is a major name. On the other hand, his website leaves me with very mixed feelings. He is evidently trying to act responsibly, but the frequently shrill tone gives the impression of someone whose thinking has been heavily influenced by conspiracy socio-political theories... And yes, sometimes the language of his alleged communications is sometimes theologically clumsy, which doesn't inspire confidence, although this may partly be a question of his inability to express an interior 'illumination' adequately. This doesn't necessarily mean that he has never received a genuine locution, however. I wouldn't go that far, particularly as on occasions when he says something like 'I just got this [e.g. from St Michael] and it doesn't sit easily with my own views, but I really feel I must make it public'. The messages in those instances can't just be dismissed straight off as coming from an overactive imagination, I don't think. I certainly wouldn't give him (or any visionary) carte blanche, but maybe the issues here could be sorted out with appropriate spiritual direction. So I'd be inclined to read his messages on a case by case basis.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 365 The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the "form" of the body: i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature. 366 The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God - it is not "produced" by the parents - and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection. 2270 Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life. If a human being must be considered a person from the moment of his/her conception, then it seems that the soul must also be present from the moment of conception. Can it be a person without having a soul? However, in the past some theologians thought that the soul was created at some later point during the pregnancy (see the New Advent link posted by Hope).
Yes all ongoing messages have to have ongoing discernment. I always regarded Ned as an honest Joe. I am sorry to see him going off the rails.
Ned's book "Fast Lane to Heaven, was very good. It was about his worldly life style followed by an after-death experience.
I still regard him as an 'honest Joe' - don't want to call either his sincerity or zeal into question. Nor am I suggesting that he has been untruthful about his near-death experience. The issue is the degree to which his locutions are reliable, as opposed to being coloured by his own subjective imagination. My reading is that there may be some shades of grey here ... cause for caution but not necessarily condemnation.
I am afraid for myself, Ned and me have come to a parting of the ways. Only God can judge him as to his motives,, but if ,as I suspect, 'Subjective imagination' is playing a part its time to go. St John of the Cross constantly warned about this. Its a bit like a radio station that is no longer broadcasting on the right frequency. Best left alone now , I think.
Agreed - one can have delusions of grandeur especially in the field of spirituality - the devil is a great deceiver. We see this clearly in the tempting of Jesus in the desert. There are so many false prophets today so we need to be careful. But most I believe are not deliberately deceptive but misguided - they need our prayers. Others like Maria Divine Mercy are in direct league with the prince of this age.
Definitely important to make this distinction ... The Enemy's tactic is clearly to sow some falsehood here for what I would guess are at least three purposes: a) to cause division b) to get some readers to go astray and c) to cause other readers either to ignore or condemn all private revelation so that authentic messages (which I'm convinced are out there) don't get through to those who need to hear them. In other words, he's running interference for the purpose of signal blocking. This is subtle stuff, and it needs to be remembered that by nature our Adversary is vastly superior to us - while also recalling that by the grace of Christ's redeeming work he has no authority over us.
A year or so ago, I visited Ned's web site and was less then impressed with some of what I read as well. I bought several of his books and gave them out a few years ago, but I agree that some of what he has been saying since has not been sound. There is enough sound locutions and appartions to draw from, so I have not looked into Ned's current information as being necessary.
I might add, that as I mentioned on another thread, knowing your Church doctrines (faith&morals) is essential in our time, because if you don't know them you are at risk of loosing your faith through false prophets. For instance, a couple of years ago, Pope Benedict made a comment that using a condom to prevent aids is a "first step" to caring for others. Many many Catholics bought into the the media spin that the pope allowed contraception. My children were told by their faith formation teachers as much. I knew immendiately that it was not ture, because Church doctrine CANNOT change. NEVER. Only Chruch disciplines can change, but NEVER Church doctrine. Needless to say I had to straighten out for faith formation teachers that what our Holy Father was saying was that caring for another persons well being is a first step to accepting further truths and not that contraception was a good thing in itself. My daughter asked me today, if the era of peace to come is to last only 25 years (per LaSallete messages), followed by the anti-christ (as per Maximin - LaSallete seer), how could people loose their faith so quickly. The answer is simply lack of doctrinal understanding and because of that the ant-christ will be able to fool "even the elect if that were possible".
I think, even though we are not trained theologians, if we are good Catholics and practise our Faith in truth we ahve a certain inner ear to a true accent for that which is false even if we cannot quite put our finger on it..a sense of things being out of kilt. The same goes of course if we meet somone say who is evil, we just kinda KNOW ..not always but mostly. I think that is for example why thousands of ordinary Catholics streamed to Fatima whilst on the other hand the Cardainl Arbishop of Lisbon condemned them publically at the time. The Cardinal perhaps was afraid of the political ramifications of Fatima under a Masonic Government , ordinary fok just KNEW. Padre Pio is of course another great example, ordinary fok idolised him while the Vatican learned floundered. Sensus fidelium Quoting the document Lumen gentium of the Second Vatican Council, the Catechism of the Catholic Church adds: "By this appreciation of the faith, aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth, the People of God, guided by the sacred teaching authority (Magisterium),... receives... the faith, once for all delivered to the saints... the People unfailingly adheres to this faith, penetrates it more deeply with right judgment, and applies it more fully in daily life."[2]
In another thread I quoted this prophecy of Ned Dougherty: "According to (Ned) Dougherty (and remember, this is in a book that came out in March 2001), the "Lady of Light" -- who he would later identify as the Virgin Mary -- showed him events that would first happen in the Middle East and then Italy. "I was told that these events would be acts of 'aggression,terrorism, and war, performed by self-proclaimed radical groups, supposedly in the name of God," he wrote before the events of September 11. Dougherty flatly predicted that "terrorist attacks and acts of war and aggression will continue to plague the Middle East, Africa, and Europe." He was shown a future in which violence would spread from the Middle East to Europe, and then to the former Soviet Union and to the Far East -- particularly China. The greatest threat, he was shown, would come from China and a "two hundred million army" (see Revelation 9:16). "The Lady of Light specifically told me, 'Pray for the conversion of China,'" claims Dougherty. "'The conversion of China to God is necessary for the salvation of the world.'" And here is my translation of one Russian prophecy ( by St Feodosi of Jerusalem). There is more similar Russian prophecies, perhaps I'll translate some more for you.... St Feodosi Kashin of Jerusalem (died 1948) "Was it a real war?", said Father Feodosi when he was asked about World War II. "In the future there will be a real war. It begins from East. Mystical folk tales tell about China, how it rises to begin a great war with Russia between rivers Bii and Katun in Siberia. And then enemies of Russia keep coming from everywhere and attack on it. To us Christians - who know the meaning of symbols - is clearly shown that emblem of China is Dragon. And Dragon is the ancient serpent. From very old times Russians have told that when China is rising then it is going to come the end of the world. Chinese invade Russia, or better said, attack on the Christian Church, because Russian people are God-fearing. They have kept the real Christian faith. Demons begin dismantle (?) Russia, weaken it and then rob it. Western world will in every way help with this destruction of Russia and will give all of it's Western part to China. Everybody shall think that this is the end of Russia. And then happens a miracle of God, an explosion/outburst, and Russia will be born again although it'll be a smaller country than before. Our Lord and Our Lady protect Russia."
I believe it is true that China will in fact attack Russia across the River Amur. This comes from the late myystic Maria Esperanza in an interview with Spirit Daily owner Michael Brown. Maria regarded this as a Marian Secret but kind of let it slip as Michael had already picked this up from another seer. So Ned was right in this. Thpough this was then and this is now.
