What would you do if you knew you had only six months to live?
Would you live differently, or would you keep doing things the same way? Is there somebody you would talk to, or say something that you needed to say, or perhaps not? Is there anything in life that, before your times comes, you would enjoy before your hour comes?
The Last Judgment, by Rogier van der Weyden
Ultimately, each day we live is one closer day to our death, that moment when man passes out of existence within time and into existence. This is the point when man in judged- and he will either pass to eternal life or eternal death. It is a harrowing- and should be humbling- thought, that with each moment we are either working towards or against God, and ultimately to our eternal destination.
Now of course, man cannot save himself. That should go without explaining for God did not descend among man without purpose- He came to save, because without Him we would all be lost. However, man takes a role in his salvation by accepting the Faith which God gives to him. It is like tossing a life preserver to a drowning man- God tosses the life preserver, and it is our job to grab it.
Jesus, divine mercy
This life preserver is the mercy of God- His gift to us that we do not deserve, but only need to accept gladly. He gives it to us out of His love for us. Drowning is the justice of God, for without Him we would drown in our own sins. As sacred scripture records,
If you, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? (Psalm 130:3)
Now, I should emphasize here that mercy is not at all license. God does not give out “freebies”- His great mercy is equal to His terrible justice, for mercy and justice are two separate but equal attributes of absolute love, which is God, because God is love (1 John 4:8). It is this reason why God says in the Book of Revelation that he hates the “Nicolaitan” sect, which if you look into this history of this group, was a heresy started by Nicholas, one of the first deacons who was ordained by the apostles themselves. He taught the infamous doctrine so prevalent among many conservative American Protestants of “once saved, always saved:”
Lightning striking St. Peter’s basilica at the Vatican on the election of Pope Francis
The battle between good and evil, Heaven and Hell, is one as old as the human race, originating in the Garden. However, in modern times, there has been a particular battle raging whose origins begin in the early 14th century surrounding the issue of usury. Put simply, charging usury has always been considered one of the worst sins that a person could commit and was always linked to sodomy, as just like sodomy, usury attempts to take a serile means of exchange (currency) and make it genitive in the same way that sodomites attempt to make a serile act (sodomy) into a genitive one through their sodomy.
Jesus drives out the moneychangers from the Temple
Since the 13th century, the Church has selectively ignored this critical teaching, and if one notices, the state of the Church has been progressively inclined towards disorder at the exact same time as the prominency of money and likewise, usury, has risen to become the god of this world today. Men have always been influenced and guided for evil ends by money, but the current status today of money in the world is like it has never before been in history, since money is generated by fiat as a form of debt and then loaned to people after which they are charged interest. Since all money today is in the form of loans, and money can only be brought into existence by means of debt, then money today represents a debt that is unpayable by its very nature. It is slavery in printed form:
“There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.”
– John Adams
Without going into further detail about the money issue (which is a fascinating query of study on its own), the influence of usury has been leveraged to rip the Faith out of society where it is found. This comes in the form of funding revolutions and deviants who, out of their malice for the Faith, could be controlled and even converted in a semi-normal situation, but with the influence of money their sinful tendencies can be agitated to the point of doing the dirty work of the moneychangers in order to consolidate their own power and to the detriment of the majority. This was evident in the Freemason societies during the 18th century that supported the French Revolution and later was behind the subsequent revolutions across Europe and the Americas during the 19th century, and has been behind many other ruinous wars, most notably the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II.
We are at a point now in history where we see the Faith under attack worldwide along with a litany of other horrific events. There is the rise of devil worship in the USA and especially Mexico. Italy just legalized same-sex marriage. Muslims are flowing into the EU. America is collapsing from debt problems. The entire world order is breaking down before our eyes. The current pope has and is supporting positions of open heresy, something not seen for almost a thousand years.
And yet, this year is strangely the year of mercy in the Catholic Church, something else never seen before, a year in which God’s mercy- divine mercy- is to be propagated and emphasized along with special graces not before dispensed from the chair of Peter.
And that is where I say, we have six months left.
If you did not know, the Catholic Church has its own calendar. The calendar begins with the first day of Lent leading up to Christmas, and ends on the Feast Day of Christ the King. This feast day is November 20th, 2016. As such, the year of mercy ends on the Feast Day of Christ the King.
Let me clarify right now what I am NOT saying:
-That the world is going to end in six months (it could, but that day is known only to God alone)
-That something terrible is going to happen on that day
-That we need to panic
What I am saying is that, things are going to start getting interesting after that day. In the words of Jaws movie Police Chief Martin Brody (played by Roy Scheider), “we’re gonna need a bigger boat”:
I wrote before on Shoebat.com, and I mentioned briefly above, about the importance of the union between mercy and justice as two sides of divine love, and that as sacred scripture testifies, mercy always follows justice. Just like when Jonah went to the city of Nineveh, he came to preach God’s mercy that the people might not face God’s justice. In the same way, God always offers His mercy to man before executing His justice, because God is love, and He will act in a way that is in accordance with His nature.
Most interestingly, it is likewise almost exactly another six months afterwards that there is another event of major Catholic prophetic significance which I have also discussed here on Shoebat.com, and that is the 100th anniversary of the first apparitions of Our Lady to the three children at Fatima.
I cannot emphasize how important Fatima is to world events today. As I have written about before (see ), Fatima is (a) eschatological, (b) approved by the Church, and (c) has been the source of a long-going cover up as to what the full message is (commonly referred to as the “Third Secret” by Catholics).
The “Cliff Notes” version of the Fatima story is this- Mary appears to three poor, Portuguese children and entrusts them with three secrets about coming events in the world. The first secret was a horrendous vision of hell:
Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror.
The second secret was the rise of Communism in Russia and subsequently, the propagation of Russia’s errors, which could be stopped by the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which would lead to both a period of peace as well as the conversion of that nation to the Faith:
You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pope Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.
As Sr. Lucia said in a message she received from Our Lady in 1931:“Make it known to My ministers that, given they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My command, they will follow him into misfortune. It will never be too late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary.”
Like the Kings of France who disobeyed the heavenly King’s command by delaying the solemn consecration of France for 100 years, the ministers of the Lord who do the same in regard to the collegial consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary “will follow the French king into misfortune.”
The Third Secret of Fatima was never revealed. It was supposed to be revealed before 1960, but instead it never was in spite of the Vatican’s claims to have revealed it in 2000. There are a few people who have seen it, including every subsequent pope since the time of the Fatima children, and all have been absolutely horrified by it. According to those who have seen it, it is about the great apostasy and the apocalypse.
In spite of not knowing the actual third secret as per the Fatima message, there is an insight into the actual text per Pope Benedict XVI himself. He confirmed that another vision of Mary given to the Japanese Sr. Agnes Sasagawa, confirmed by Bishop John Ito and subsequently the Vatican, contains the essential message of the third secret. Put another way, the Akita message and the Fatima message are the same, but Fatima is more serious.
Here is the Akita message:
“As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests.
“The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres (other priests); churches and altars will be sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.
“The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.
What could be more horrible than this, except perhaps barring the rise of the antichrist and the coming day of judgment?
I go back to the message of Divine Mercy, and specifically, this “Year of Mercy” in the Church. St. Faustina was told by Jesus himself as she recorded in her diary (all of which, I should add, has been approved by the Church):
You will prepare the world for My final coming. (Diary 429)
Speak to the world about My mercy … It is a sign for the end times. After it will come the Day of Justice. While there is still time, let them have recourse to the fountain of My mercy. (Diary 848)
Tell souls about this great mercy of Mine, because the awful day, the day of My justice, is near. (Diary 965).
I am prolonging the time of mercy for the sake of sinners. But woe to them if they do not recognize this time of My visitation. (Diary 1160)
Before the Day of Justice, I am sending the Day of Mercy. (Diary 1588)
Ouch.
Now, take a step back and let’s connect these dots.
-Christendom is no more. The Faith is under attack worldwide and the Church is hated, rejected, and persecuted more than it has ever been (as we here at Rescue Christians know very well), and yet it has no more allies in governments to help it. We are awash in heresy and apostasy and are handicapped from performing our divinely commissioned mission.
-The world has been taken over, more or less, by a group of people who have used the horrible sin of usury to write the world into debt from nothing and rob humanity of its wealth, only for it to be used as a tool to bludgeon billions of people into perpetual slavery in a way that has never been seen before in history. These same people are literally involved in the most despicable, anti-Christian plans to subvert the Church and destroy it.
-Islam, the religion of the antichrist (since Islam is the only religion whose doctrine specifically rejects Jesus’ divinity) is rising rapidly and taking over the last ancient lands of the Faith in Europe, with their eyes on the conquest of Rome as part of the final conquest to usher in the death of Christianity, and throughout all this the European governments are helping this to happen.
-The Fatima message, which was about the end times, is about to reach a prophetic fruition in that its message, having not been followed, will culminate in a terrible punishment from Heaven like none seen before, and yet the year before this year comes, the Church institutes the first and only ever “Year of Mercy.” This also follows the visions of St. Faustina about preparing the way for the Final Coming and the Dies Irae.
This is why I fear, with good reason, the Feast of Christ the King this year. Because following the year of mercy, logically speaking…comes the year of justice.
Am I saying that I know this is going to happen? NO.
I am saying there is no such thing as a coincidence.
I am saying that Scripture tells us to be aware, especially of the signs in our times, and to be ready and vigilant always.
I am saying that there is a lot of this happening all at once, coming from different sources and very different times yet all coalescing around the same date.
Put another way, something big is about to go down.
The five wise and five foolish virgins from Sacred Scripture
So what am I going to do about it?
For lent this year, among my sacrifices, one of them was to get back into physical shape. I am not a lazy person, yet (a) I ate too much poor quality food and (b) did not exercise. Forty days at the end of Lent, I noticed a physical change in my body in ways I had not seen in years. I have continued this program since, and I am stronger than I have ever been in my life. I am more capable, more confident, more content with myself, and overall, the same guy I was before, but somebody I can be proud of before myself and others.
Well, I challenge you to take a 180 day challenge with me. The goal is to prepare yourself for the next year, beginning with Advent.
I’m still working out my plan, but I have a rough idea about how I want to do it:
5) Work diligently, unrelentingly, and aggressively- as aggressively as I work at lifting weights and running- at extirpating my persona vices and establishing virtue in its place.
If 2017 comes and all passes well, then I will come away with a better version of myself.
If 2017 comes and all does not pass well, I can at least know that I have done something to prepare myself.
Man is appointed to die once, but he will live forever.
If you knew, possibly, that you might be able to prepare your soul, would you?
