Someone wrote to me about Pedro Regis and the very remarkable Brazilian prophecies, which we discussed recently on the forum: Cf http://www.apelosurgentes.com.br/mensagens_ing.php Very remarkable indeed as twice lately he correctly forecast the flooding in Madeira and the earth quake in Chile. His messages, I have to say are really quite terrifying {'you will see horrors upon the face of the earth'.....'rivers of fire will rain down'} as you will see from the video below: There must now be tens of millions of messages, mystics and visionaries on the internet, the vast majority as scripture itself forecast, time and time again, false, many of them down right evil. Scripture also warns that such folks will meet a terrible, terrible fate, which indeed is their due for they are false shepherds and an abomination: Matthew 7: 21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 24: v 4-5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. Mark 13: v 21-23 And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: 22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. Acts 20:28-31 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. Romans 16: v 17-18 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. There is a system in place for discerning false prophets which the Church itself uses relying on mystical theologians such as Saint John of the Cross to differentiate from the true and the false. Basically all such Prophets fall into one of three main threads, the deluded, the down right evil and the messengers of God. This process of discernment takes time, prayer and great wisdom. Very often they are very obviously false, for instance when they contradict scripture and the teachings of the Church or when the 'messenger' shows signs of mental illness. However very often ..as is the case of Pedro things are not so clear.. But I have , after reading so many messages taken the following course . First if we are living out the Gospel Massage in our own lives, we have nothing to fear about the future. Peace reigns in our hearts as we walk towards the Eternal Kingdom. In a real sense then these messages are fulfilled by us anyway...so as the priest places the cross on our foreheads at Ash Wednesday and says , 'Repent and believe the Good news' well we are doing this anyway. SO there is no cause to loose peace. For myself I deeply believe in the apparitions at Medugorje and try to follow their message. I do not really have the time and energy to discern all messages. As for Pedro..well..... like Our Lady I am 'storing these things in my heart'. Time will tell. Please read this, if you are interested in folks like Pedro and go down the check list ticking off what you know about Pedro, it is very wise: http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/maryd8.htm Summary 'We might sum up the characteristics thus: 1) Signs of the spirit of God: fits with teaching of Church; serious; gives light to the soul, docility, discretion: no hurriedness or exaggerations; humble thoughts; confidence in God, rightness of intention, patience in suffering, self-denial, sincerity and simplicity in conduct, no attachments not even to the gifts, great desire to imitate Christ in all things (a very strong sign), gentleness, kindness; 2) Signs of the evil spirit: (the opposite of the above--spirit of falseness or lie, suggestion of useless things, curious things, impertinent things, darkness, restlessness in the soul, a bold, obstinate spirit, many indiscretions, pride, lack of hope, disobedience, vanity, self-satisfaction, impatience, rebellion of the passions, hypocrisy, pretense, attachment to earthly things, forgetfulness of Christ and of imitating him, a false charity including bitter zeal, indiscretion.' One very helpful thing about Pedro's case; he has given a long list of quite specific predictions, so the proof of the pudding,as they say will be in the eating.
Thanks Padraig. A timely reminder, for there is certainly a LOT of stuff out there. As Catholics, I think it is important to remain true to our "bread and butter", so to speak: the Eucharist, prayer, scripture, Jesus and Our Lady. If we are rooted strongly in those things, then it will be difficult for the evil one to knock us off stride with false prophets.
I was surprised to read your post Bi, because you mention the Eucharist and it reminded me of something that happened to me this morning at Mass and I wasn't sure whether or not to write about, but you hit things so much on the nail I think I will. I have always thought the Eucharist lies at the very heart of the Spiritual Life. It is the bread of heaven, the food of angels. With it we are carried on Eagles Wings, without it we barely crawl. But my own Spirituality of the Eucharist has always focused on the Divinity of Christ. I believe very much in the Real Presence , but in the past have thought of God coming in the Eucharist as God coming, of Jesus coming as God. However this morning I had a wonderful insight. At the Consecration I saw as it were a very bright light come down from heaven, beside the priest at the altar. As I looked I saw Jesus standing inside the light as a man dressed in white flowing robes. He was smiling very broadly and looking round , just as you and I would do and nodded in greeting at everyone in the congregation and nodding at them in delighted recognition. It was was very moving and pleasing , Him nodding and smiling at old friends. I am so glad He did not look over at my part of the Church as I think I might have died of joy. But it has changed the way I will look at the Eucharist forever, when Jesus comes at the Consecration I shall always see Him coming as a man, as an old dear friend and remember Him as I did this morning, smiling and nodding in delighted recognition of seeing old ,dear friends again...and in shall make me smile too and nod my head at seeing Him ..He sets the heart on fire..as indeed His own heart is on fire with love. At the end of the Mass another wonderful thing happened , I believe as a little Sign. The nuns sang a Eucharistic hymn, right out of the blue, 'You feed the hungry hearts, With gifts of finest wheat'. Ahhhhh now, He has me crying again. How now will we we not cry in heaven when we meet Him face to face? For are we not promised, Revelation 21:4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
Padraig, you are truly blessed and sustained by the Eucharist - what joy that Christ should come in his divinity and in his humanity. 'I will remain with you always' - God chooses to stay with us and sustain us in the Eucharist with his body and blood. It is a mystery that God appears to man in the most humble of ways - as a baby in a manger, as a man pinned to a cross, in the Eucharist 'hidden' in bread and wine, and in each and every person we meet 'for I was hungry and you gave me food', - Christ hides himself in so many ways and the joy is discovering Him. As for Pedro Regis I agree wholeheartesdly that time will tell - if the prophecies are true then perhaps what he is describing are events that will happen during the tribulation to come as many prophecies speak of a time of great distress and purification for the world both man made and by direct intervention from God.
I notice, Bobby in his latest message he predict disasters for Brazil and Uraguay. http://www.pedroregis.com/english/ There are some positive aspects. For instance the Church has not ruled against him and on parts of his site he encourages prayer and studying the catechism which is great/ Also he puts his money were his mouth is so to speak with precise detailed predictions. I imagine if he gets the next one right the secular media will pick up on him, which will also be interesting
