THE LATE Pope John Paul II, now a saint, was a mystic. In his earthly lifetime, he was given the charism of prophecy and, thus, it is worth reexamining his prophetic words, because they have become more timely as ever.
Again, I ask the reader to take advantage of YouTube and search for such titles as “end times,” or “signs of the end,” and these sites will also lead to other titles comprising of actual footages of strange phenomena that somehow pushes viewers to think more seriously of, well, the biblical Apocalypse.
Indeed, John Paul II once warned: “We are now facing the final confrontation between Church and anti-church, between the Gospel and the anti-Gospel, between Christ and the Antichrist. This confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence. It is therefore in God’s plan, and it must be a trial, which the Church must take up and face courageously.”
Another time, John Paul II said : “Precisely at the end of the second millennium, there accumulates on the horizon of all mankind enormously threatening clouds, and darkness falls upon human souls.”
In view of this, he issued a call: “Every Christian must be keenly aware of the dangers to which man is subject to; in this world, in his temporal future, and in his fi nal eternal, eschatological future. The awareness of these dangers does not generate pessimism, but rather encourages the-struggle for victory of good in every realm.”
At World Youth Day in 1993, he issued this appeal: “Do not be afraid to go out on the streets and into public places, like the first apostles who preached Christ and the good news of salvation in the squares of cities, towns, and villages. This is no time to be ashamed of the Gospel…. It is the time to preach it from the rooftops.”
End time mystics, including Marian visionaries, say unresponsive mankind are headed towards an unprecedented chastisement, “worse than the flood (in the time of Noah). At the same time, the evil of our times- when assorted evils are not regarded as normal, even heroic-could lead many unrepentant to hell.
So, let me take a sudden swerve here and quote visionaries from Medjugorje who were either physically taken to, or just given a vision of hell which, they stress, is an actual place beyond the realm of limited corporeality.
Visionary Vicka was literally taken to Hell in the company of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She later recalled: “We saw many people in Hell. Many are there already, and many more will go there when they die… The Blessed Mother says that those people who are in Hell, are there because they chose to go there. They want to go to Hell…. In the center of this place is a great fire, like an ocean of raging flames. We could see people before they went into the fire, and then we could see them coming out of the fire. Before they go into the fire, they look like normal people. The more they are against God’s will, the deeper they enter into the fire, and the deeper they go, the more they rage against Him. When they come out of the fire, they don’t have human shape anymore; they are more like grotesque animals, but unlike anything on earth. It’s as if they were never human beings before… They were horrible. Ugly. Angry. And each was different; no two looked alike… When they came out they were raging, smashing everything around, hissing, gnashing, and screeching.”
On the other hand, Marija, also of Medjugorje, merely saw hell. She related: “Yes, it’s a large space with a big sea of fire in the middle. There are many people there. I particularly noticed a beautiful young girl. But when she came near the fire, she was no longer beautiful. She came out of the fire like an animal; she was no longer human… At the moment of death, God gives everyone the grace to see his whole life, to see what he has done, to recognize the results of his choices on earth… The one who lives in sin on earth can see what he has done and recognize himself as he really is. When he sees himself and his life, the only possible place for him is Hell. He chooses Hell because that is what he is. That is where he fits. It is his wish. God does not make the choice. God condemns no one. We condemn ourselves. Every individual has free choice. God gave us freedom.”
