I've read all of Charlie's posts in the last 2 days also. On Christmas morning, 2013, I KNEW in my heart it was to be the last normal Christmas for awhile. To read that in Charlie's writing was a confirmation. We are all ready on this forum. We are little, but we are willing. We are dressed for battle, we will lose many, but we will not lose hope. I love you all as my brothers and sisters and have no doubt we will meet on the other side of this storm. Keep your feet firmly planted in Truth, and your eyes always toward Heaven. God bless us all.
Thankyou for this beautiful post. When we have the love of God in our heart there is absolutely nothing to fear. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+7:54-60
Charlie Johnston 19 May 2013 My friends, I need your ideas and input. I have written here about the storm, the complete and catastrophic collapse of the economy worldwide and governments throughout the globe. Think about what that really means, the real consequences of that event. There will be a time very soon when there is no power for a while, water plants are not delivering, and your money is worthless. Food deliveries will not take place to markets for a lengthy period. Though we are descendants of the pioneers, many are going to be completely lost without modern conveniences. In the panic of looting and rioting that comes with collapse and the effective loss of services we have come to consider basic, more than a few will die in the initial panic. The call to be a sign of hope is not just a call to repeat soothing words, even though they are true. It is a call to action. It is a call to form small communities of self-help and mutual support, to perform cardinal acts of mercy and charity. On Monday, May 13, I began working full-time to form a ministry to prepare for these things. I do not know how to do all this, but I am just doing a little each day, trusting God to intervene to give the growth. In that, I am thinking of very practical things. As panic sets in, each of us must be a sign of calm in the midst of that panic. So those who can, must begin to consider how to help people get food and water, get medical help when the hospitals are overrun or shut down, defend their families and their neighbors when rioting and looting takes hold. I have been thinking of different skills needed to accomplish these things – to bring hope and calm in the midst of widespread panic. There must be people who can help stock pantries for their communities as food deliveries end or are sporadic; people to teach others how to grow their own food; people to show others how to dig wells or otherwise obtain water where wells are not practical; people who can organize help for the sick when professional medical help is not easily available; people who will defend the community against looters or violent attack. I have come to believe that the basic organizational unit must be the local church or parish. Ideally, it would be a unified effort from many churches in an existing community. I look to have a core group in each of those basic units, a group that will begin to identify people who can help spread that calm now and organize them in preparation. I am indifferent to government and a bit frustrated at those who waste time wanting to set up some active opposition to government. Politics as we know it is already over. God is humbling government and he doesn’t need my help with it. He does want our participation in helping to build up those that are affected by the ongoing collapse of the state. I have been speaking with groups and people about forming these core committees all this last week and will continue to do so. What I need your ideas on are what specific types of things each of these communities will need in order to cope with societal collapse and give palpable signs of hope amidst chaos. Food storage, distribution, canning techniques, gardening, helping care for children as parents lend their talents, caring for the sick and infirm, defending the communities, educating the children…all these are important; but there are things I have not thought of that are equally important, I am sure. Please send your ideas either in a private message, as many of you prefer, or as a comment to this post. I look for the ministry to be a central resource of how to prepare for those who are working to do these things in their own small areas. Now, as I have emphasized, these communities are to provide welcome to all who honestly seek it. People need not go to Mass or worship service to participate in the community. But they do need to comport to standards of decency and honor. If someone wants to wear a t-shirt with a vulgar and filthy slogan on it, they can form their own community. John Adams was one of many who warned that “…Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." In modern times, we have lost sight of the fundamental nature of man. We treat him as primarily a consumer when he is actually primarily a creator, never completely content except when he is engaging in the work of his own hands, whatever that work may be. Part of the genius of the American founding was it systematically set up a method for encouraging that innate creativity in people, knowing that the fruit of that creativity would build up a sort of bank of civilizational capital for the entire society – that all would benefit from the fruit of each other’s creativity. Those who exercise their freedom to attack basic standards of honor and decency draw down on capital they have not created – and use the fruit of that capital to attack the very foundations that made that capital possible. They can form their own societies and try to create their own capital. We are not to care for the less fortunate as that term is currently used – which is as a condescension of the greater to the lesser. Rather, we are called to understand that we are all the less fortunate, weighed down with the burden of original sin, and are to care for each other as loving brothers and sisters. There are no children of a lesser god here. So with charity for the inevitable falls we all are subject to, we must commit to each other while resolutely rejecting systematic assaults on those standards that make a healthy, civil society possible. This is the basic form I envision. The ministry I have embarked on I call Stella Maris – which means “Star of the Sea.” It is an ancient title which mariners gave to the Virgin Mary in seeking her help guiding them through stormy seas. We have embarked upon stormy waters – and now I seek some specific ideas on what things are needed to help all of us, in small communities, to navigate safely to the harbor God intends us to get to.
After reading a lot of this yesterday and reflecting, I randomly chose to listen to one of the 200+ teachings available in the old archives of Ave Maria Radio from Father John Ricardo. This teaching was all about having true Godly hope and not worldly hope and he shared this story that I think is so important and maybe timely for us to understand. Many of us and possibly soon could also go through what this martyr went through but we must trust and pray for the strength that this wonderful man found as he wrote is his letter. This is paragraph 37 in Pope Benedict's encyclical Spa Salvi: 37. Let us return to our topic. We can try to limit suffering, to fight against it, but we cannot eliminate it. It is when we attempt to avoid suffering by withdrawing from anything that might involve hurt, when we try to spare ourselves the effort and pain of pursuing truth, love, and goodness, that we drift into a life of emptiness, in which there may be almost no pain, but the dark sensation of meaninglessness and abandonment is all the greater. It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love. In this context, I would like to quote a passage from a letter written by the Vietnamese martyr Paul Le-Bao-Tinh († 1857) which illustrates this transformation of suffering through the power of hope springing from faith. “I, Paul, in chains for the name of Christ, wish to relate to you the trials besetting me daily, in order that you may be inflamed with love for God and join with me in his praises, for his mercy is for ever (Ps 136 [135]). The prison here is a true image of everlasting Hell: to cruel tortures of every kind—shackles, iron chains, manacles—are added hatred, vengeance, calumnies, obscene speech, quarrels, evil acts, swearing, curses, as well as anguish and grief. But the God who once freed the three children from the fiery furnace is with me always; he has delivered me from these tribulations and made them sweet, for his mercy is for ever. In the midst of these torments, which usually terrify others, I am, by the grace of God, full of joy and gladness, because I am not alone —Christ is with me ... How am I to bear with the spectacle, as each day I see emperors, mandarins, and their retinue blaspheming your holy name, O Lord, who are enthroned above the Cherubim and Seraphim? (cf. Ps 80:1 [79:2]). Behold, the pagans have trodden your Cross underfoot! Where is your glory? As I see all this, I would, in the ardent love I have for you, prefer to be torn limb from limb and to die as a witness to your love. O Lord, show your power, save me, sustain me, that in my infirmity your power may be shown and may be glorified before the nations ... Beloved brothers, as you hear all these things may you give endless thanks in joy to God, from whom every good proceeds; bless the Lord with me, for his mercy is for ever ... I write these things to you in order that your faith and mine may be united. In the midst of this storm I cast my anchor towards the throne of God, the anchor that is the lively hope in my heart”[28]. This is a letter from “Hell”. It lays bare all the horror of a concentration camp, where to the torments inflicted by tyrants upon their victims is added the outbreak of evil in the victims themselves, such that they in turn become further instruments of their persecutors' cruelty. This is indeed a letter from Hell, but it also reveals the truth of the Psalm text: “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I sink to the nether world, you are present there ... If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall hide me, and night shall be my light' —for you darkness itself is not dark, and night shines as the day; darkness and light are the same” (Ps 139 [138]:8-12; cf. also Ps 23 [22]:4). Christ descended into “Hell” and is therefore close to those cast into it, transforming their darkness into light. Suffering and torment is still terrible and well- nigh unbearable. Yet the star of hope has risen—the anchor of the heart reaches the very throne of God. Instead of evil being unleashed within man, the light shines victorious: suffering—without ceasing to be suffering—becomes, despite everything, a hymn of praise
I was just reflecting on the links I posted to this post. We have had Mark Mallett & John Martinez both on the forum (briefly) and now Charlie Johnston (hope you stick around Charlie) A sign of the times as God is weaving his threads together! Mother of God Forum is a cool place to hang around
Mark Malletts most recent post is another one that is calling us to immediate repentance and spiritual preparation. The common theme in many of these prophetic posts is not just urgency, but preparation in a SPIRITUAL way to be a light, a sign of hope, the salt of the earth. I'm very grateful to God for this time - I've been praying for greater discernment and I think it is becoming so much clearer that this is all about personal spiritual preparation. If I am well prepared it is the only way to be light and hope to my family and those around when the tribulations start.
I second that! Come on in Pope Francis. I promise to reply to all of your posts That would be something, huh?
I am uncertain if what ever change is ahead of us will be only spiritual or will result in economic collapse, war, possible need to hide in a refuge, shortage of food or water. One of the visionaries and Medjugorje said when asked that there was no need to be prepping in terms of food/water but only spiritually. Might be an interesting poll question. What is everyone doing to prepare?
I have been thinking of making a general confession to a good and holy Priest. Q. 829. What is a general confession? A. A general confession is the telling of the sins of our whole life or a great part of it. It is made in the same manner as an ordinary confession, except that it requires more time and longer preparation. Q. 830. When should a General Confession be made? A. A general confession: 1. Is necessary when we are certain that our past confessions were bad; 2. It is useful on special occasions in our lives when some change in our way of living is about to take place; 3. It is hurtful and must not be made when persons are scrupulous. http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/r...20-on-the-manner-of-making-a-good-confession/
Just to change the direction of the thread a little... This paragraph is what most impressed me from Charlie's 7/29, Hope Springs Eternal post, on his blog site: One of the most subtle, but enduring, impediments to union with God is our nearly unshakeable and unwarranted confidence in our capacity as intellectual architects. Give us the seed of just a little accurate information and our minds go to work setting up all manner of scenarios – and very rarely do any of them bear much resemblance to what God actually intends. Even worse, we start to vigorously and heatedly dispute with each other over whose scenario is right, acting completely contrary to God’s will, rather than humbly waiting for Him. I use the word, “seed,” deliberately. Which of us, if we knew nothing about plants, farming or botany, could accurately deduce God’s intention from a seed? Who could look at a piece of corn and deduce a tassled field? Or a dot of tomato seed and imagine a plant laden with juicy, ripe fruit? Or a little acorn and see a mighty oak? Not one of us could imagine any of these things if we did not already know, from experience, that that is what they will become. So why do we waste so much time deducing the details of each of God’s new plans when all we have to go on is a seed we have no previous experience of? Why are we so slow to learn that when God speaks on these matters, says “Behold, I am doing something new,” it is not a confirmation that our brilliant minds will deduce from the seed what the plant will be? Rather, it is an invitation to pay attention and watch with gratitude and wonder as His latest seed springs forth, grows, spreads leaves and bears fruit. May I follow you always, Lord! Psalm 123:1 To thee I lift up my eyes, O thou who art enthroned in the heavens! 2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he have mercy upon us.
I found myself checking how much pension I might get from the hospital tonight, when I should know I won't be getting any as there won't be any dough. ope however spring Eternal.
guess when I cashed everything out of the market back in July I really should have listened to this dream and exchanged them all for Swiss Francs which just went up 30% today. I read this article and immediately thought of that dream, there are no coincidences: https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/christmas-rush-cash-soaring-swiss-175252174.html
"Dear God, I want you to be my foreign currency advisor from now on. wow" I fixed your typo Seriously though, I rarely remember dreams and I vividly remembered this dream as soon as I woke up and felt it was very different, that it was a message. Then immediately saw a friend post on Facebook that he had a very very similar dream the night before about the dollar tanking and took it as a sign or message to get out of the market. Should have taken the whole step and moved to Swiss Francs, but it's all going to be worthless sooner or later anyway. However, that extra 30% would have come in nicely if we pull the trigger soon on buying the land we've been eyeing.
