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Featured Image: Fr. Michael Scanlan and Ralph Martin while filming an episode of “The Choices We Face.”<\/p>\n
The following text is taken from a reflection Ralph Martin shared on a Renewal Ministries\u2019 YouTube Weekly Message, which can be found\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Ralph\u2019s message is also available in the following languages:<\/strong> French<\/a> | German<\/a> | Italian<\/a> | Japanese<\/a> | Spanish<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n Dear Brothers and Sisters,<\/p>\n My name is Ralph Martin. I\u2019m the president of Renewal Ministries, and I teach at Sacred Heart Major Seminary. There has been a tremendous response to my recent video commenting on a prophecy given by Fr. Michael Scanlan, who was president of Franciscan University of Steubenville for twenty-five years and who really led it into led it into being the premier, in some ways, Catholic university in the country right now.<\/p>\n In less than two weeks, 154,000 people viewed it. It\u2019s been translated into five languages so far: Japanese, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and German. It\u2019s literally going around the world helping people to understand what they\u2019re feeling, what they\u2019re experiencing, what they\u2019re seeing, understanding the response that we\u2019re being called to make, and understanding also that the Lord has his hand on this. He foreknew this, and He\u2019s got a plan to bring good out of it, but we\u2019ve got to get into the relationship with Him and with each other that He\u2019s calling us to, and that\u2019s what I emphasized in the video. If you haven\u2019t seen it, please go back and take a look at it. (You can find the video\u00a0here<\/a>.) It\u2019s important for you to hear that.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve had some questions come up from people about things I said in that video. Questions I\u2019ve had are, \u201cWhat is prophecy? What do you mean that Fr. Mike has a prophetic gift?\u201d There are Old Testament prophets that we\u2019re very familiar with: Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and the lesser prophets, whose messages have now become part of Sacred Scripture.<\/p>\n A lot of people don\u2019t realize that there are also New Testament prophets. For example, in Ephesians 4, we read Paul saying that the ascended Christ, who has gone back to the Father, is now bestowing leadership gifts on the Church\u2014apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists\u2014not to do the whole work of the Church themselves, but to equip the saints for the work of ministry to help us, the baptized. That\u2019s what they called Christians in the early days\u2014the saints, the holy ones\u2014because we\u2019ve been made holy by the waters of baptism, and the Lord Himself is dwelling in us, and we\u2019re one spirit and one body in Christ. We\u2019re temples of the Holy Spirit, so there is a basic holiness that all of us have.<\/p>\n These leadership gifts are supposed to function in the Church in a really significant way, but we haven\u2019t paid that much attention to some of them, particularly the apostles, the prophets. There are the official apostles, the hierarchy of the bishops, and there are the official teachers, pastors, and evangelists, which are the pastors of parishes, but one of the most neglected charisms\u2014charismatic, ministry gifts\u2014is that of the prophet. The main way in which Jesus actually self-identified, and the main way in which He was thought of by other people during his earthly ministry was as a prophet. I can\u2019t go into all of this right now, but I\u2019ve just written a fifty-page booklet called\u00a0Priest as Prophet<\/em>, which discusses our conformity to Jesus. (You can find the booklet\u00a0here<\/a>.) Relevant for all of the baptized, it\u2019s particularly geared toward priests. The priestly role of a prophet isn\u2019t just giving short, good, orthodox homilies. There\u2019s something more to it. There\u2019s fire to it. So, there are New Testament prophets.<\/p>\n It says in the Church at Antioch that there were prophets there. It talked about Barnabas and Paul and various others\u2014teachers and prophets. And then there was a prophetic word that came to them when they were praying and fasting, saying to set aside Barnabas and Paul, send them on a mission. So, there were people in the New Testament in the early Church who had the prophetic gift, and the prophetic gift isn\u2019t primarily about telling the future. It\u2019s primarily giving insight into God\u2019s plan and God\u2019s Word, calling us back to what\u2019s been revealed to us in public revelation. One of the ways we have to test prophecy like this is, is it in accord with what the revealed Word of God is as it comes to us in Scripture, Tradition, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church?<\/p>\n Fr. Mike\u2019s prophecy that I quoted in the last video is nothing less than what Jesus asks of us all the time in the Scriptures. Jesus says, \u201cUnless you renounce all you have, you can\u2019t be my disciple\u201d (Lk 14:33). He said, \u201cUnless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it just remains a single grain\u201d (Jn 12:24).<\/p>\n Now I\u2019m going to talk about something else that came up in a question about my last video. People said, \u201cWhat do you mean by house churches?\u201d Fr. Michael\u2019s prophecy said we may not be able to rely on these structures like we have been. Parishes and schools that we know are closing, and who would have ever thought that our churches themselves would close for maybe three months, all over the world? And what if that comes back again\u2014what are we going to do? I just reminded people that for the first three-hundred years of the early Church\u2019s existence, they didn\u2019t have church buildings. They met in homes, they met in courtyards, in bigger homes, in smaller homes, and that\u2019s where the life of the Church was nourished, fed, taught, and that\u2019s where the Eucharist took place too.<\/p>\n Also, in various times, in places like Japan and Korea, where priests were expelled and horrible persecution broke out, for two-hundred years sometimes, no priest was able to come, no Eucharist was able to be celebrated, but the lay faithful, because of their relationship with each other, because of their faithfulness to Christ, because of them holding on to what they were taught, kept the Church alive until missionaries were able to return. I hope it doesn\u2019t come to that, but we\u2019ve just been through maybe a little warning, that maybe it could come to that, and that we\u2019ve got to be prepared. We\u2019ve got to know that our relationship with the Lord doesn\u2019t depend on a building, and that\u2014as important as the Eucharist is\u2014even if we\u2019re deprived of the Eucharist, we\u2019re not deprived of Jesus. He\u2019s dwelling in us, and He\u2019s coming to us in his Word.<\/p>\n Now I\u2019d like to share one more thing about the first prophecy I shared with you from Fr. Mike. Remember how the questions came, \u201cAre you willing to see your money worthless? Are you willing to see the country that you love no longer be a country? Are you willing to see your churches closed?\u201d Want me to tell you what my answer is? No, I\u2019m not willing. I like the financial prosperity that we have here in the United States of America. I like our churches. I love our parishes here in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I love the church buildings. I love the frequent and easy access to the Sacraments. I love that we have a stable city here. I love that when people call 911, the police show up. I love that when crime breaks out, someone\u2019s there to protect innocent citizens and their businesses, and I don\u2019t want to see lawlessness break out. I don\u2019t want to see the police be afraid to answer calls because they\u2019re not going to be supported by the political powers that be. I don\u2019t want any of those things\u2014I\u2019m not willing for any of those things\u2014just like Jesus in the Agony in the Garden, He said, \u201cFather, if this cup that it looks like I need to drink could pass by, if there could be some other way, I\u2019d like it.\u201d But then He said, \u201cNot as I will, but as You will.\u201d<\/p>\n So that\u2019s where I end up. I hope that these things don\u2019t happen. I\u2019m not willing for them to happen, but if they need to happen for the sake of the purification of the Church, if they need to happen for the world being given a shock and saying, \u2018wake up and turn away from your idolatry, turn away from all the things you are attached to that aren\u2019t the Lord, turn away from your unbelief,\u201d I\u2019m willing, because it\u2019s about the salvation of souls. And no measure is too extreme to save one soul. No measure is too extreme for the Church to be the Church of Jesus Christ like the Lord wants it to be.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve discovered another prophecy from Fr. Mike Scanlan that I think is really important that we also need to pay attention to. It\u2019s longer, and certain parts of it are addressed to certain groups, but there\u2019s a lot of it that\u2019s really relevant, so I\u2019d like to take some time right now to talk about this other prophecy by Fr. Michael.<\/p>\n The whole prophecy is posted on our website (here<\/a>). He gave this in 1980, four years after he gave the prophecy I talked about earlier. It\u2019s rather long; I\u2019m not going to go through every part of it, but there are certain parts of it that are really relevant. Here\u2019s how it goes:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Lord God says, \u2018Hear My Word: The time that has been marked by My blessings and gifts is being replaced now by the period to be marked by my judgment and purification. What I have not accomplished by blessings and gifts, I will accomplish by judgment and purification. My people, My Church is desperately in need of this judgment. They have continued in an adulterous relationship with the spirit of the world.\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Quite honestly, for those of us who live in developed countries, those of us who live in North America or Europe in particular, no generation in the history of the world has been so blessed with so many things like we have. We\u2019ve had basically a time of peace since the end of World War II. We\u2019ve had tremendous advances in medical technology. We\u2019ve has tremendous advances in all kinds of technology. We\u2019ve had prosperity. We\u2019ve had peace. We\u2019ve had stability, by and large, in our countries. We have been so blessed. We have abundant food. We\u2019ve been blessed beyond measure.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s really strange to say, but it\u2019s really true that with the more education Catholics have had in our countries, the less they believe. The more prosperity Catholic countries like Ireland have had, the less they believe, and the less they follow Jesus. Our prosperity has been a tremendous blessing from the Lord, but many of us have responded to the prosperity by saying, \u201cWe\u2019ve got things under control. We\u2019ve got what we need. We don\u2019t need God.\u201d<\/p>\n And rather than thanking Him for the blessing, the time of peace, and good food, and medical technology, and all those other things\u2014for basic stability in our countries\u2014we\u2019ve kind of taken them for granted. Many of us have drifted away, unfortunately, into lukewarmness and compromise with the world, just like the prophecy says here,\u00a0\u201c<\/strong>An adulterous relationship with the spirit of the world.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n And then it goes on to say,\u00a0\u201cSatan goes where he will and infects whom he will. He has free access throughout my people\u2014and I will not stand for this.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>I have to tell you: I\u2019ve been aware of this for a long time. When I read Ephesians 6, and I read about the spiritual battle that we\u2019re in, and Paul says our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities and the dark places (Eph 6:12).<\/p>\n Then he talks about how, in order to counter the spiritual darkness and the spiritual warfare, and the spiritual attack, we need to put on the whole armor of God: the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of holiness and righteousness. Then he talks particularly about the shield of faith, which extinguishes the fiery darts of the evil one. Brothers and sisters, the evil one is firing fiery darts at every single person on the face of the earth today. And if we don\u2019t have the shield of faith, we\u2019re sitting ducks for deception. Satan\u2019s going to run unrestrained over our lives, our minds, our souls, our emotions, and our actions, if we\u2019re not firmly grounded in the shield of faith.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the shield of faith? Jesus Himself\u2014trust in Him, but also trust in a knowledge of his Word, which Jesus actually tells us to do. In Hebrews, it says Jesus is the source of salvation for those who believe Him (Heb 5:9). If we don\u2019t know his Word, we don\u2019t know what to do, how to act, or what to believe in. A lot of people today say they\u2019re following Jesus, but they don\u2019t pay attention to what Jesus is saying.<\/p>\n Peter Kreeft wrote a book called\u00a0Jesus Shock<\/em>, and it is really shocking to hear what Jesus says. In the last prophecy of Fr. Mike that I talked about, it said, \u201cAre you willing to let go of all these things? Will you be willing to not have them?\u201d And it sounds so radical. It\u2019s the same thing that Jesus says in the Gospel to everyone. He says, \u201cUnless you renounce all you have, you\u2019re not worthy to be my disciple.\u201d<\/p>\n Radical, shocking. He\u2019s trying to shock us into reality. He\u2019s trying to shock us into health. He\u2019s trying to shock us into holiness, love, and eternal life. If we don\u2019t pay attention to his Word, if we don\u2019t listen to his Word, we\u2019re not following the real Jesus. What prophecy does is it reminds us of the Gospel. It reminds us of the heart of Christianity. It\u2019s always a call to repentance, to return to our first love, to return to faithfulness to the covenant. These prophecies don\u2019t add anything else, other than to say, \u201cRight now is a critical time, and we need to pay attention to Jesus right now, because things are hanging in the balance.\u201d<\/p>\n The prophecy goes on\u2014this is from Fr. Mike Scanlan in 1980:<\/p>\n \u201c<\/strong>They are more determined by fear of what others will think of them\u2014fears of failure and rejection in the world, loss of respect of neighbors and superiors and those around them\u2014than they are determined by fear of me and fear of infidelity to my word. Therefore, your situation is very, very weak. Your power is so limited. You cannot be considered at this point in the center of the battle and the conflict that is going on.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n I have to tell you, brothers and sisters, if you don\u2019t know that there\u2019s a war going on, if you don\u2019t have your spiritual armor on, probably you\u2019ve been captured by the enemy and you may already have been enlisted in his campaign of deception, lies, deceit, and rebellion, and not even know it. It\u2019s time to wake up and really examine our life according to the Word of God, and be delivered from the kingdom of darkness, if we\u2019ve drifted into the kingdom of darkness, and come back into the Kingdom of his Beloved Son. It\u2019s called repentance.<\/p>\n Then the prophecy goes on to say,<\/p>\n \u201cThis time is now come upon all of you: a time of judgment and of purification. Sin will be called sin. Satan will be unmasked. Fidelity will be held up for what it is and should be. My faithful servants will be seen and will come together. They will not be many in number. It will be a difficult and a necessary time.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Let me talk about numbers here. God\u2019s always worked through a small number of people who\u2019ve awakened to his call. Remember Gideon? The Lord said, \u201cGideon, I want you to really defeat the enemy.\u201d And Gideon said, \u201cI\u2019m the lowest family in the lowest clan of Israel.\u201d And the Lord said, \u201cWell, I\u2019m calling you to do this.\u201d (See Jgs 6:14-16.) Then Gideon got together an army, and the Lord said, \u201cIt\u2019s too big; you\u2019re going to think you did it\u2014so let\u2019s send a lot of people home, because I want you to see what I\u2019m going to do, so that the glory goes to Me.\u201d (See Jgs 7:2-8.)<\/p>\n Sometimes people like Elijah said, \u201cI\u2019m trying to follow your commandments. It\u2019s so hard to call Israel back, but I\u2019m the only voice left.\u201d And the Lord said, \u201cGuess what? There are actually seven-thousand people right now who, along with you, haven\u2019t gone over to idols, haven\u2019t bowed the knee to Baal.\u201d (See 1 Kgs 19:14-18.)<\/p>\n So sometimes we can feel like it\u2019s just a few of us, but it\u2019s not really just a few of us. Maybe in the big picture it\u2019s a few, but it\u2019s more than enough for the Lord to work through. So don\u2019t worry about numbers. Worry about being in tune with the Lord. Worry about putting on the spiritual armor.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will be a difficult and a necessary time. There will be collapse, difficulties throughout the world. . . . There will be purification and persecution among my people.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n And here\u2019s a key line,\u00a0\u201cYou will have to choose what word you will follow and whom you will respect.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The prophet Elijah said one time to the Israelite people, \u201cStop straddling the issue. It\u2019s time for you to decide who you are going to follow, the Lord or Baal.\u201d (See 1 Kgs 18:21.)<\/p>\n The Lord is asking us the same question. Who are you going to follow? Who are you going to believe? Who are you going to respect? Is it people who are communicating the true Word of God as it comes to us and is taught to us by the Catholic Church and the Catechism of the Catholic Church? Are you going to pick and chose from what the Church teaches? Are you going to pick and choose from what Jesus says in the Scripture and only pick the parts that you like? That\u2019s rebellion. That\u2019s infidelity. That\u2019s creating your own religion. That\u2019s creating a god in your own image.<\/p>\n One day I was talking about some of the things that Jesus says that are challenging, and brothers and sisters, I\u2019m challenged as much as you are. I don\u2019t want these terrible things to happen, but if they need to happen to purify us and get us to be where we\u2019re supposed to be, and enable more souls to be saved, I\u2019m willing. I remember one day talking about some of the things that Jesus said about the division of the human race, between the saved and the lost, the grain and the chaff, and all of that kind of stuff, heaven and hell, and a lady came up to me afterward and she said, \u201cMy Jesus would never say that.\u201d<\/p>\n It was really hard to hear that, because she was creating a Jesus in her own image. She was creating an idol. Maybe none of us create idols, maybe all of us bow down before the one true God, the one true Jesus, and repent of any picking and choosing we\u2019ve done amongst his teachings, and embrace it. But for what we don\u2019t understand, let\u2019s ask God to give us understanding. What we don\u2019t think we can live, ask God to give us the power to live it.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/strong>You will have to choose what word you will follow and whom you will respect. And in that choice, what has not been accomplished by the time of blessing and gifts will be accomplished. What has not been accomplished in the baptism and the flooding of gifts of my Spirit will be accomplished in a baptism of fire. The fire will move among you and it will burn out what is chaff.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n This is the Gospel. This is what John the Baptist says when he introduces Jesus. Matthew 3:11-12 says, \u201cHis winnowing fork is in his hand. I am not worthy to carry his sandals.\u201d He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and He will clean his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary. But his chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.<\/p>\n The fire of God\u2019s love, the fire of his judgment, the fire of his purification\u2014all for the good. He\u2019s trying to draw us to Himself. But honestly, it\u2019s tough love, and He needs to use tough love in order to get our attention, in order to save us.<\/p>\n \u201cI will not tolerate the mixture and the adulterous treating of gifts and graces and blessings with infidelity, sin, and prostitution. My time is now among you. What you need to do is to come before Me in total submission to My Word. . . . (This is the hour to do it.) For there will be casualties. It will not be easy, but it is necessary.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s necessary for the salvation of souls, it\u2019s necessary for the purification of the Church. It\u2019s necessary for us to be delivered from deception and bondage, and set into that glorious freedom of sons of God. God loves us so much, He\u2019s speaking words like this to us. God loves us so much, He\u2019s reminding us of what Jesus said in the Scripture and what the Church teaches in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Let\u2019s respond to it. Let\u2019s ask God to help us.<\/p>\n . . . .<\/p>\n We\u2019re celebrating our fortieth anniversary as Renewal Ministries this year. For forty years, we\u2019ve been trying to communicate this message, the message of the Gospel. We have the longest-running Catholic television program right now on EWTN, thirty-five years. We\u2019ve got two daily Catholic radio programs. We\u2019re doing mission work in more than forty countries. We\u2019ve published countless booklets, books, DVDs, CDs, MP3s, MP4s. We\u2019ve really upped our YouTube Channel in the last couple of months, and the Lord is using it in major ways. We have a Facebook presence.<\/p>\n We\u2019re trying to be a clear voice, a faithful voice, a voice that just mirrors what Jesus is speaking to us. Not original speakers passing on what Jesus is saying, but passing it on with the anointing of the Holy Spirit that we believe He\u2019s offering to all of us.<\/strong><\/p>\n During this time of economic shakeup, shut down, and all that, some of our donors haven\u2019t been able to support us like they had. I know that many of you are facing economic uncertainty. I know many of you are supporting tremendously worthwhile ministries in your parishes, and we don\u2019t want to take away anything from what you are doing. But if you\u2019ve got any extra crumbs that you could pass on to us, if the Lord has blessed you with any kind of abundance right now, and you\u2019d like to share it with us so that we can continue doing what the Lord has called us to do, I\u2019d really appreciate it.<\/p>\n You can go to\u00a0www.www.renewalministries.net\/donate<\/a>. Whatever you can do would help us to keep doing what we\u2019re doing, and even do it better, and even do it more.<\/p>\n Thank you very much for being with us. Thank you very much for following Jesus. Thank you very much for passing on this word. Amen.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I hope that these things don\u2019t happen. I\u2019m not willing for them to happen, but if they need to happen for the sake of the purification of the Church . . . I\u2019m willing, because it\u2019s about the salvation of souls. And no measure is too extreme to save one soul…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":7318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" Featured Image: Fr. Michael Scanlan and Ralph Martin while filming an episode of \"The Choices We Face.\"<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n
\n
\r\n\r\nThe following text is taken from a reflection Ralph Martin shared on a Renewal Ministries\u2019 YouTube Weekly Message, which can be found\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em>\r\n\r\nRalph\u2019s message is also available in the following languages:<\/strong> French<\/a> | German<\/a> | Italian<\/a> | Japanese<\/a> | Spanish<\/a>\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\nDear Brothers and Sisters,\r\n\r\nMy name is Ralph Martin. I\u2019m the president of Renewal Ministries, and I teach at Sacred Heart Major Seminary. There has been a tremendous response to my recent video commenting on a prophecy given by Fr. Michael Scanlan, who was president of Franciscan University of Steubenville for twenty-five years and who really led it into led it into being the premier, in some ways, Catholic university in the country right now.\r\n\r\nIn less than two weeks, 154,000 people viewed it. It\u2019s been translated into five languages so far: Japanese, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and German. It\u2019s literally going around the world helping people to understand what they\u2019re feeling, what they\u2019re experiencing, what they\u2019re seeing, understanding the response that we\u2019re being called to make, and understanding also that the Lord has his hand on this. He foreknew this, and He\u2019s got a plan to bring good out of it, but we\u2019ve got to get into the relationship with Him and with each other that He\u2019s calling us to, and that\u2019s what I emphasized in the video. If you haven\u2019t seen it, please go back and take a look at it. (You can find the video\u00a0here<\/a>.) It\u2019s important for you to hear that.\r\n\r\nI\u2019ve had some questions come up from people about things I said in that video. Questions I\u2019ve had are, \u201cWhat is prophecy? What do you mean that Fr. Mike has a prophetic gift?\u201d There are Old Testament prophets that we\u2019re very familiar with: Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and the lesser prophets, whose messages have now become part of Sacred Scripture.\r\n\r\nA lot of people don\u2019t realize that there are also New Testament prophets. For example, in Ephesians 4, we read Paul saying that the ascended Christ, who has gone back to the Father, is now bestowing leadership gifts on the Church\u2014apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists\u2014not to do the whole work of the Church themselves, but to equip the saints for the work of ministry to help us, the baptized. That\u2019s what they called Christians in the early days\u2014the saints, the holy ones\u2014because we\u2019ve been made holy by the waters of baptism, and the Lord Himself is dwelling in us, and we\u2019re one spirit and one body in Christ. We\u2019re temples of the Holy Spirit, so there is a basic holiness that all of us have.\r\n\r\nThese leadership gifts are supposed to function in the Church in a really significant way, but we haven\u2019t paid that much attention to some of them, particularly the apostles, the prophets. There are the official apostles, the hierarchy of the bishops, and there are the official teachers, pastors, and evangelists, which are the pastors of parishes, but one of the most neglected charisms\u2014charismatic, ministry gifts\u2014is that of the prophet. The main way in which Jesus actually self-identified, and the main way in which He was thought of by other people during his earthly ministry was as a prophet. I can\u2019t go into all of this right now, but I\u2019ve just written a fifty-page booklet called\u00a0Priest as Prophet<\/em>, which discusses our conformity to Jesus. (You can find the booklet\u00a0here<\/a>.) Relevant for all of the baptized, it\u2019s particularly geared toward priests. The priestly role of a prophet isn\u2019t just giving short, good, orthodox homilies. There\u2019s something more to it. There\u2019s fire to it. So, there are New Testament prophets.\r\n\r\nIt says in the Church at Antioch that there were prophets there. It talked about Barnabas and Paul and various others\u2014teachers and prophets. And then there was a prophetic word that came to them when they were praying and fasting, saying to set aside Barnabas and Paul, send them on a mission. So, there were people in the New Testament in the early Church who had the prophetic gift, and the prophetic gift isn\u2019t primarily about telling the future. It\u2019s primarily giving insight into God\u2019s plan and God\u2019s Word, calling us back to what\u2019s been revealed to us in public revelation. One of the ways we have to test prophecy like this is, is it in accord with what the revealed Word of God is as it comes to us in Scripture, Tradition, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church?\r\n\r\nFr. Mike\u2019s prophecy that I quoted in the last video is nothing less than what Jesus asks of us all the time in the Scriptures. Jesus says, \u201cUnless you renounce all you have, you can\u2019t be my disciple\u201d (Lk 14:33). He said, \u201cUnless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it just remains a single grain\u201d (Jn 12:24).\r\n\r\nNow I\u2019m going to talk about something else that came up in a question about my last video. People said, \u201cWhat do you mean by house churches?\u201d Fr. Michael\u2019s prophecy said we may not be able to rely on these structures like we have been. Parishes and schools that we know are closing, and who would have ever thought that our churches themselves would close for maybe three months, all over the world? And what if that comes back again\u2014what are we going to do? I just reminded people that for the first three-hundred years of the early Church\u2019s existence, they didn\u2019t have church buildings. They met in homes, they met in courtyards, in bigger homes, in smaller homes, and that\u2019s where the life of the Church was nourished, fed, taught, and that\u2019s where the Eucharist took place too.\r\n\r\nAlso, in various times, in places like Japan and Korea, where priests were expelled and horrible persecution broke out, for two-hundred years sometimes, no priest was able to come, no Eucharist was able to be celebrated, but the lay faithful, because of their relationship with each other, because of their faithfulness to Christ, because of them holding on to what they were taught, kept the Church alive until missionaries were able to return. I hope it doesn\u2019t come to that, but we\u2019ve just been through maybe a little warning, that maybe it could come to that, and that we\u2019ve got to be prepared. We\u2019ve got to know that our relationship with the Lord doesn\u2019t depend on a building, and that\u2014as important as the Eucharist is\u2014even if we\u2019re deprived of the Eucharist, we\u2019re not deprived of Jesus. He\u2019s dwelling in us, and He\u2019s coming to us in his Word.\r\n\r\nNow I\u2019d like to share one more thing about the first prophecy I shared with you from Fr. Mike. Remember how the questions came, \u201cAre you willing to see your money worthless? Are you willing to see the country that you love no longer be a country? Are you willing to see your churches closed?\u201d Want me to tell you what my answer is? No, I\u2019m not willing. I like the financial prosperity that we have here in the United States of America. I like our churches. I love our parishes here in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I love the church buildings. I love the frequent and easy access to the Sacraments. I love that we have a stable city here. I love that when people call 911, the police show up. I love that when crime breaks out, someone\u2019s there to protect innocent citizens and their businesses, and I don\u2019t want to see lawlessness break out. I don\u2019t want to see the police be afraid to answer calls because they\u2019re not going to be supported by the political powers that be. I don\u2019t want any of those things\u2014I\u2019m not willing for any of those things\u2014just like Jesus in the Agony in the Garden, He said, \u201cFather, if this cup that it looks like I need to drink could pass by, if there could be some other way, I\u2019d like it.\u201d But then He said, \u201cNot as I will, but as You will.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo that\u2019s where I end up. I hope that these things don\u2019t happen. I\u2019m not willing for them to happen, but if they need to happen for the sake of the purification of the Church, if they need to happen for the world being given a shock and saying, \u2018wake up and turn away from your idolatry, turn away from all the things you are attached to that aren\u2019t the Lord, turn away from your unbelief,\u201d I\u2019m willing, because it\u2019s about the salvation of souls. And no measure is too extreme to save one soul. No measure is too extreme for the Church to be the Church of Jesus Christ like the Lord wants it to be.\r\n\r\nI\u2019ve discovered another prophecy from Fr. Mike Scanlan that I think is really important that we also need to pay attention to. It\u2019s longer, and certain parts of it are addressed to certain groups, but there\u2019s a lot of it that\u2019s really relevant, so I\u2019d like to take some time right now to talk about this other prophecy by Fr. Michael.\r\n\r\nThe whole prophecy is posted on our website (here<\/a>). He gave this in 1980, four years after he gave the prophecy I talked about earlier. It\u2019s rather long; I\u2019m not going to go through every part of it, but there are certain parts of it that are really relevant. Here\u2019s how it goes:\r\n\r\n\u201cThe Lord God says, \u2018Hear My Word: The time that has been marked by My blessings and gifts is being replaced now by the period to be marked by my judgment and purification. What I have not accomplished by blessings and gifts, I will accomplish by judgment and purification. My people, My Church is desperately in need of this judgment. They have continued in an adulterous relationship with the spirit of the world.\u2019\u201d<\/strong>\r\n\r\nQuite honestly, for those of us who live in developed countries, those of us who live in North America or Europe in particular, no generation in the history of the world has been so blessed with so many things like we have. We\u2019ve had basically a time of peace since the end of World War II. We\u2019ve had tremendous advances in medical technology. We\u2019ve has tremendous advances in all kinds of technology. We\u2019ve had prosperity. We\u2019ve had peace. We\u2019ve had stability, by and large, in our countries. We have been so blessed. We have abundant food. We\u2019ve been blessed beyond measure.\r\n\r\nAnd it\u2019s really strange to say, but it\u2019s really true that with the more education Catholics have had in our countries, the less they believe. The more prosperity Catholic countries like Ireland have had, the less they believe, and the less they follow Jesus. Our prosperity has been a tremendous blessing from the Lord, but many of us have responded to the prosperity by saying, \u201cWe\u2019ve got things under control. We\u2019ve got what we need. We don\u2019t need God.\u201d\r\n\r\nAnd rather than thanking Him for the blessing, the time of peace, and good food, and medical technology, and all those other things\u2014for basic stability in our countries\u2014we\u2019ve kind of taken them for granted. Many of us have drifted away, unfortunately, into lukewarmness and compromise with the world, just like the prophecy says here,\u00a0\u201c<\/strong>An adulterous relationship with the spirit of the world.\u201d<\/strong>\r\n\r\nAnd then it goes on to say,\u00a0\u201cSatan goes where he will and infects whom he will. He has free access throughout my people\u2014and I will not stand for this.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>I have to tell you: I\u2019ve been aware of this for a long time. When I read Ephesians 6, and I read about the spiritual battle that we\u2019re in, and Paul says our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities and the dark places (Eph 6:12).\r\n\r\nThen he talks about how, in order to counter the spiritual darkness and the spiritual warfare, and the spiritual attack, we need to put on the whole armor of God: the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of holiness and righteousness. Then he talks particularly about the shield of faith, which extinguishes the fiery darts of the evil one. Brothers and sisters, the evil one is firing fiery darts at every single person on the face of the earth today. And if we don\u2019t have the shield of faith, we\u2019re sitting ducks for deception. Satan\u2019s going to run unrestrained over our lives, our minds, our souls, our emotions, and our actions, if we\u2019re not firmly grounded in the shield of faith.\r\n\r\nWhat\u2019s the shield of faith? Jesus Himself\u2014trust in Him, but also trust in a knowledge of his Word, which Jesus actually tells us to do. In Hebrews, it says Jesus is the source of salvation for those who believe Him (Heb 5:9). If we don\u2019t know his Word, we don\u2019t know what to do, how to act, or what to believe in. A lot of people today say they\u2019re following Jesus, but they don\u2019t pay attention to what Jesus is saying.\r\n\r\nPeter Kreeft wrote a book called\u00a0Jesus Shock<\/em>, and it is really shocking to hear what Jesus says. In the last prophecy of Fr. Mike that I talked about, it said, \u201cAre you willing to let go of all these things? Will you be willing to not have them?\u201d And it sounds so radical. It\u2019s the same thing that Jesus says in the Gospel to everyone. He says, \u201cUnless you renounce all you have, you\u2019re not worthy to be my disciple.\u201d\r\n\r\nRadical, shocking. He\u2019s trying to shock us into reality. He\u2019s trying to shock us into health. He\u2019s trying to shock us into holiness, love, and eternal life. If we don\u2019t pay attention to his Word, if we don\u2019t listen to his Word, we\u2019re not following the real Jesus. What prophecy does is it reminds us of the Gospel. It reminds us of the heart of Christianity. It\u2019s always a call to repentance, to return to our first love, to return to faithfulness to the covenant. These prophecies don\u2019t add anything else, other than to say, \u201cRight now is a critical time, and we need to pay attention to Jesus right now, because things are hanging in the balance.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe prophecy goes on\u2014this is from Fr. Mike Scanlan in 1980:\r\n\r\n\u201c<\/strong>They are more determined by fear of what others will think of them\u2014fears of failure and rejection in the world, loss of respect of neighbors and superiors and those around them\u2014than they are determined by fear of me and fear of infidelity to my word. Therefore, your situation is very, very weak. Your power is so limited. You cannot be considered at this point in the center of the battle and the conflict that is going on.\u201d<\/strong>\r\n\r\nI have to tell you, brothers and sisters, if you don\u2019t know that there\u2019s a war going on, if you don\u2019t have your spiritual armor on, probably you\u2019ve been captured by the enemy and you may already have been enlisted in his campaign of deception, lies, deceit, and rebellion, and not even know it. It\u2019s time to wake up and really examine our life according to the Word of God, and be delivered from the kingdom of darkness, if we\u2019ve drifted into the kingdom of darkness, and come back into the Kingdom of his Beloved Son. It\u2019s called repentance.\r\n\r\nThen the prophecy goes on to say,\r\n\r\n\u201cThis time is now come upon all of you: a time of judgment and of purification. Sin will be called sin. Satan will be unmasked. Fidelity will be held up for what it is and should be. My faithful servants will be seen and will come together. They will not be many in number. It will be a difficult and a necessary time.\u201d<\/strong>\r\n\r\nLet me talk about numbers here. God\u2019s always worked through a small number of people who\u2019ve awakened to his call. Remember Gideon? The Lord said, \u201cGideon, I want you to really defeat the enemy.\u201d And Gideon said, \u201cI\u2019m the lowest family in the lowest clan of Israel.\u201d And the Lord said, \u201cWell, I\u2019m calling you to do this.\u201d (See Jgs 6:14-16.) Then Gideon got together an army, and the Lord said, \u201cIt\u2019s too big; you\u2019re going to think you did it\u2014so let\u2019s send a lot of people home, because I want you to see what I\u2019m going to do, so that the glory goes to Me.\u201d (See Jgs 7:2-8.)\r\n\r\nSometimes people like Elijah said, \u201cI\u2019m trying to follow your commandments. It\u2019s so hard to call Israel back, but I\u2019m the only voice left.\u201d And the Lord said, \u201cGuess what? There are actually seven-thousand people right now who, along with you, haven\u2019t gone over to idols, haven\u2019t bowed the knee to Baal.\u201d (See 1 Kgs 19:14-18.)\r\n\r\nSo sometimes we can feel like it\u2019s just a few of us, but it\u2019s not really just a few of us. Maybe in the big picture it\u2019s a few, but it\u2019s more than enough for the Lord to work through. So don\u2019t worry about numbers. Worry about being in tune with the Lord. Worry about putting on the spiritual armor.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt will be a difficult and a necessary time. There will be collapse, difficulties throughout the world. . . . There will be purification and persecution among my people.\u201d<\/strong>\r\n\r\nAnd here\u2019s a key line,\u00a0\u201cYou will have to choose what word you will follow and whom you will respect.\u201d<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe prophet Elijah said one time to the Israelite people, \u201cStop straddling the issue. It\u2019s time for you to decide who you are going to follow, the Lord or Baal.\u201d (See 1 Kgs 18:21.)\r\n\r\nThe Lord is asking us the same question. Who are you going to follow? Who are you going to believe? Who are you going to respect? Is it people who are communicating the true Word of God as it comes to us and is taught to us by the Catholic Church and the Catechism of the Catholic Church? Are you going to pick and chose from what the Church teaches? Are you going to pick and choose from what Jesus says in the Scripture and only pick the parts that you like? That\u2019s rebellion. That\u2019s infidelity. That\u2019s creating your own religion. That\u2019s creating a god in your own image.\r\n\r\nOne day I was talking about some of the things that Jesus says that are challenging, and brothers and sisters, I\u2019m challenged as much as you are. I don\u2019t want these terrible things to happen, but if they need to happen to purify us and get us to be where we\u2019re supposed to be, and enable more souls to be saved, I\u2019m willing. I remember one day talking about some of the things that Jesus said about the division of the human race, between the saved and the lost, the grain and the chaff, and all of that kind of stuff, heaven and hell, and a lady came up to me afterward and she said, \u201cMy Jesus would never say that.\u201d\r\n\r\nIt was really hard to hear that, because she was creating a Jesus in her own image. She was creating an idol. Maybe none of us create idols, maybe all of us bow down before the one true God, the one true Jesus, and repent of any picking and choosing we\u2019ve done amongst his teachings, and embrace it. But for what we don\u2019t understand, let\u2019s ask God to give us understanding. What we don\u2019t think we can live, ask God to give us the power to live it.\r\n\r\n\u201c<\/strong>You will have to choose what word you will follow and whom you will respect. And in that choice, what has not been accomplished by the time of blessing and gifts will be accomplished. What has not been accomplished in the baptism and the flooding of gifts of my Spirit will be accomplished in a baptism of fire. The fire will move among you and it will burn out what is chaff.\u201d<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThis is the Gospel. This is what John the Baptist says when he introduces Jesus. Matthew 3:11-12 says, \u201cHis winnowing fork is in his hand. I am not worthy to carry his sandals.\u201d He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and He will clean his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary. But his chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.\r\n\r\nThe fire of God\u2019s love, the fire of his judgment, the fire of his purification\u2014all for the good. He\u2019s trying to draw us to Himself. But honestly, it\u2019s tough love, and He needs to use tough love in order to get our attention, in order to save us.\r\n\r\n\u201cI will not tolerate the mixture and the adulterous treating of gifts and graces and blessings with infidelity, sin, and prostitution. My time is now among you. What you need to do is to come before Me in total submission to My Word. . . . (This is the hour to do it.) For there will be casualties. It will not be easy, but it is necessary.\u201d<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s necessary for the salvation of souls, it\u2019s necessary for the purification of the Church. It\u2019s necessary for us to be delivered from deception and bondage, and set into that glorious freedom of sons of God. God loves us so much, He\u2019s speaking words like this to us. God loves us so much, He\u2019s reminding us of what Jesus said in the Scripture and what the Church teaches in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Let\u2019s respond to it. Let\u2019s ask God to help us.\r\n