Orangia, what is the lie you speak of? I'm puzzled. Here are recent statistics that show a very low birthrate even in the USA. I suppose we should be grateful here that immigration is the principle factor which is increasing our population. What is causing Japan's decreasing population is actually the combined factors of little immigration and low birthrate. Isn't that exactly the problem in many nations? Here is a recent compilation in the USA: The average number of children per family in the U.S. is around 1.9 to 2.0, with recent data from 2023 showing 1.94 children under 18 per family, a decline from over 2.3 in 1960, reflecting trends of smaller families due to rising costs and changing priorities. While many families have one or two children, trends show more households without children and a preference for smaller families, though some sources note an ideal family size of around 2.7 children, indicating a gap between desire and reality. Key Statistics & Trends Recent Average: Approximately 1.94 children per family in 2023. Common Family Size: Most American families have one or two children. No Children: Over half of U.S. households are childless, notes USAFACTS. Why the Number is Decreasing: Financial Factors: High costs of raising children, housing, and student debt. Changing Lifestyles: More women in the workforce and personal lifestyle choices. Delayed Parenthood: People are having children later in life. Historical Decline: This is down from 2.33 children per family in 1960.
I believe the lie he is referring to is that the populations aren't declining because they want to but instead are declining due to the policies of governments. Which I agree with, however this accounts only for the world at the physical level. Ultimately God raises and lowers nations, so who knows what is happening at the spiritual level. The second message of Fatima stated that many nations would be destroyed and perhaps we are seeing this play out. Nations of peoples dying out. Malachi Martin had wondered as to why Kiev and Russia would be part of the ultimate solution, claiming that it was God's choice. Then I saw recently that a corrupt Ukrainian Jew fled to Israel after he was caught up in corruption.
That's an incorrect statistic. The fertility rate of the USA in 2023 was 1.62... From 1972 to 2024, only two years were above 2.11 (2006 and 2007), which is necessary to maintain the population in highly developed countries with low infant mortality and general population mortality. Anything below that number makes nations die out, and above that number makes nations grow (we're talking if migration is 0). Of course, when populations are younger, then based on a large number of young people, even if you have a low fertility rate below 2.11, the population will grow for several more decades until the older generations, which are more numerous, surpass the young ones. This started happening from the 1960s onwards, mostly with the exception of the contraceptive pill. Here are detailed statistics for the USA by year... The numbers have fallen drastically in the last 10 years for Latin America, everywhere including the USA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States And one more thing, when you look at history, people today don't have more children at an older age than they used to. Rather, women today often have their first child in their late 30s and early 40s, whereas in the past they had their 5th, 6th, etc. at those ages.
Makes me think of my generous Geralyn; our Benjamin was born when she was 27, our Rachel when she was 28, our Patrick when Ger was 31 (during that span Geralyn also had miscarried no.3, Nathan), our 5th (Christopher) when Ger was 34, then our 6th (Therese) when Ger was 36, our 7th (Daniel) when Ger was 40, and then Geralyn miscarried Elizabeth (our 8th) when she was 41. Thinking back, it blows my mind! How did we do it? There we go, by the grace of God! I'm just marveling! Those were busy days! God bless my wife, well loved by her children (and me!). We can't wait to meet the 2 up in heaven. One thing that is humbling for me is that my Mom died when I was 20. My Dad died 3 months after holding Benjamin. So Geralyn and I have rejoiced to hold all of our grandchildren!
I amended the thread title to include a reference to Japan generally, as there have been a few other posts apart from the original one on Sister Agnes and Akita. There are many instances of heroic and miraculous happenings in Japan in connection with missionaries who went there and Japanese people who converted. As well as the Jesuit priests who survived the attack on Hiroshima, because they had been living the Fatima messsge, the monastery which had been built by St. Maximilian Kolbe and his community in Nagasaki was also spared, no doubt because of his deep love and devotion to the Immaculata, through whom he had felt called to go to Japan.
https://benedictinstitute.org/2021/07/st-maximilian-kolbe-in-japan/ A good article on Saint Maximilian Kolbe's years in Japan.
I was always surprised that God called St Maximilian to Japan but he was astonishingly successful there. God's ways are not ours. His death seemed such a waste on the surface. Gods way are not ours. I loved visiting the death room where they murdered him in Auschwitz.
Following the example of Saint Maximilian, the Seibo Maria mission continues to distribute Miraculous Medals in Japan. https://seibomariamission.com/
And they will be the first to convert. In Iran today the Muslim converts to Catholicism is astounding. Maybe that is why an attack on Tehran is exactly what the devil wants.
A short clip from 1949 of the Mass at the ruins of Urakami Cathedral, Nagasaki. 10,000 gather on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Francis Xavier on the 400th anniversary of his arrival in Japan.
Wasn't the Roosevelt administration later shown to be a nest of Bolsheviks and wasn't Truman a Freemason of the highest Order?
Populations can't put all the blame on government, although educational inflation and housing policy have definitely caused havoc. The people have chosen to use artificial contraception and abortion. The United States has the good fortune that the great majority of its immigrants come from Christian Central and South America, notwithstanding the over-emphasis on Somalis (a punishment the US is well-deserving of, considering what it has done to Somalia). Europe is not so fortunate and our only hope is that sufficient Muslims will convert to Christianity to prevent a wholesale Islamic takeover. Or that God will directly intervene.
As bad as it looks for Europe at the moment the power structures of the establishment are growing weaker by the day. There is hope, in that they can fall anytime. Another difference between Europe and America is the percentage of believers. However it appears that Christianity is making a comeback in Europe too. I am really looking forward to a freedom-faith based Europe with a strong Monarch who drives out evil with a strong hand. It's going to be incredible to see that unfold. Like St. Patrick driving out the snakes times 500 million.
How hard the devil has worked to stymie the conversion of China and Japan; but, when the levie breaks...
Truman was a 33' degree mason and of course the two most Catholic cities{and cathedrals} were chosen.
Following arrests in 1867 and 1868, over 3,000 Christians from the Urakami district of Nagasaki were rounded up. In 1869, many were already being dispersed to various remote locations, including Tsuwano (Shimane Prefecture), where they were tortured and starved to force them to renounce their faith. Many were confined in small cages (sometimes 3 feet by 3 feet) in extreme cold and denied food, resulting in numerous deaths. In the grounds of the Santa Maria chapel in Tsuwano there is a statue depicting one of the martyrs, Yasutaro, locked in one of the small cages known as a sanjakuro. Standing above him is the Virgin Mary. Yasutaro was often locked in the cage. Before his death in this small prison, many of the captives worried about him because he was weak from sharing what food he had with others. One night, two of Yasutaro’s friends, Senemon Takagi and Jinzaburo Moriyama, went to visit him, hoping to give him comfort. Yasutaro told them, “I am not lonely at all in this sanjakuro. For just after midnight, a lady appears, clothed in a blue gown and wearing a blue veil just like the image of Santa Maria. She tells me stories so I am not lonely at all. But please do not tell anyone about this while I am still alive.” Yasutaro said that the Virgin Mary came to visit him every night from the 7th to the 19th of January, 1869, just before his death inside the sanjakuro.
I'm wondering how large was the death room was where he and others starved? I watched and thought the movie depicting their suffering was well done.
