Pope Benedict XVI Blog

A prospective on prophecies of purification: "God in His mercy purifies"

The truth of prophecy or lack thereof must be submitted to the discernment and final judgment of the Church. With that caution, we are, however, called by Scripture to heed "the signs of the times."

Michael H. Brown, Catholic, author, former New Times journalist and creator of the website "Spirit Daily" gives his perspective on natural disaster and prophecy in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:

Spirit Daily

NO ONE LIKES TO HEAR IT, BUT PURIFICATION IS IN PROGRESS AND HAS JUST INTENSIFIED

By Michael H. Brown

Prophets have been dismissed in every period and so now prophecy runs into the same resistance as applies to disasters like "Katrina."

Amos. Jeremiah. Jonah. What would they say?

We have a feeling they would have said what was said at Sodom or Nineveh and that it would be dismissed, of course, in a modern world that has gone "religiously (as well as politically) correct."

It is not religiously correct to point out anything "negative" (the evil in our society tries to intimidate anyone from identifying it), even though the real negative is ignoring and tolerating evil that if not purged will cause thousands more to die in the future.

The cruelest thing we can do right now is to ignore the aspect of the Church that (like Christ Himself) is prophetic and to ignore the fact that God in His mercy purifies.

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And, in the same vein and noting the "signs of the times," an article from the Spirit Daily archives reveals that Brown had issued this prescient warning to New Orleans in 2001:

Oh New Orleans, shed ye the darkness or face disaster

by Michael H. Brown

There are few cities with so many good as New Orleans and also few cities where there is such a stark coexistence with the bad. It is this city, the Big Easy, that is home to kind and generous and Christian people (nowhere is more Catholic) and yet also this city that has allowed evil to flourish in a way that has become truly dangerous.

I have to be blunt: New Orleans, you are in peril. You are a fine people but you have let fester an evil that is unmatched outside of Hollywood and Berkeley and Times Square. The devil is invoked in your city (there is even a swamp named for him just to the north in Baton Rouge) and there is nothing more hazardous. Voodoo priests are openly at work. There are occult temples. There are tours to "haunted" cemeteries. There is the proud tomb of voodoo queen Marie Leveau. "This mystical religion is as big a part of New Orleans as jazz, Cajun food and Mardi Gras," notes one writer. "Before you start thinking that voodoo is something of the past, the reader should be aware that the religion is as alive today as it was in the days of Marie Laveau. On a recent trip to New Orleans, I visited no less than 4 voodoo shops and a voodoo museum, plus visited with three different voodoo priestesses!"

It's that kind of stuff -- not God -- that brings disaster. When you invoke dark spirits, you get a storm. The very word hurricane comes from the Indian hurukan for evil spirit and when we look at the Bible we note that black magic -- the very definition of voodoo -- was quickest to bring the Lord's judgment.

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posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 11:20 AM