Lack of awareness of the biblically unusual in our days reminds me of Matthew 16:2-3 where Jesus said: “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.”
Among the very few who seem to have read the signs of the times are the one percent richest of the world, the multi-billionaires who have created “doomsday bunkers” for themselves.
CNN has reported this, saying “the threat of global annihilation may feel as present as it did during the Cold War, but today’s high-security shelters could not be more different from their 20th-century counterparts.”
"A number of companies around the world are meeting a growing demand for structures that protect from any risk, whether it’s a global pandemic, an asteroid, or World War III — while also delivering luxurious amenities,” reported CNN in its lifestyle section.
Noted CNN: “Many of the world’s elite, including hedge fund managers, sports stars and tech executives (Bill Gates is rumored to have bunkers at all his properties) have chosen to design their own secret shelters to house their families and staff .”
The report quoted Gary Lynch, general manager of Texas-based Rising S Co., as saying that “2016 sales for their custom high-end underground bunkers grew 700% compared to 2015, while overall sales have grown 300% since the November US presidential election alone,” noting that “the company’s plate steel bunkers, which are designed to last for generations, can hold a minimum of one year’s worth of food per resident and withstand earthquakes.”
Those of us who are miserably impoverished as compared to the one percent richest of the world, such bunkers belong to the realm of dream. Which is okay if we are to have deep faith in our spirituality, especially Catholic spirituality.
A Marian visionary in Medjugorje who was aware of a bleak future because of the world’s sins, was asked whether she was not afraid for the welfare of her children. Her response was that people should always be prepared to die and face God, implying that what really matters is our eternity.
In these apocalyptic days, God has not fallen short of boosting our faith in the afterlife. Take the case of seven-year-old Josiah Cullen, from Minnesota, an autistic kid whose means of communicating was largely via his iPad.
He has been telling his parents about meeting dead relatives he never had met nor told about since he was born, and also about his trips to Heaven where mansions amid incredible surroundings were shown him. No doomsday bunkers for billionaires.
I suppose it’s God’s way of saying that people should prepare for Heaven, not bunkers, that mankind’s destiny is on the other side of the bridge so it really doesn’t make sense building dwellings on the bridge.
Cullen noted of Heaven: “huge mighty lakes of great crystals burst forth in colors might in every way. Ponds are jumbo there. Purple is greatly the purplest there. It is big to look on large nimble people and not one is old or sick or lame there.”
He told his parents about “great big mansions not motels or teepees or lodging like anything we have here.”
The boy also said that if a person loved cats, they will be in that person’s mansion. “You get a bold, great, nice hug [from these loved creatures and things]. Just think of all you really liked. You will have it in your mansion.”
In the face of apocalypse, God is offering us incredible mansions, not bunkers that offer a year-long survival.
