The World Wide Warning: An Unprecedented Act in History

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Excerpts from Chapter 5 of The Great Transformation

People who have followed what the Blessed Mother said at Garabandal, as well as messages from other apparition sites, are waiting in joyful hope for several events they believe will alter history as we know it. There are millions of people who have been exposed to these messages and what has been foretold. The events will be difficult for everyone, but for the believer living in a state of grace and receiving the sacraments worthily, it will be easier. It is natural to conjure up different scenarios of what the future may hold, but when events unfold as heaven has said, it will be exactly as prophesied. God is a God of order, and He speaks to us gently and in small doses over a long period of time so we can internalize what He is conveying.

When Jesus walked on the water in the Sea of Galilee in the midst of a storm, His words to his spiritually young apostles were, “Fear not, it is I” (Matt. 14:27). Very early in his pontificate Saint John Paul II would often say especially to the young, “There is nothing to fear,” and “Fear not.”

The Beginning of Garabandal

The story began on the evening of June 18, 1961 when the Archangel Michael appeared to four young girls in a remote village called Garabandal in northern Spain. The Archangel made eight silent appearances the following twelve days. On July 1, the Archangel Michael finally spoke to announce that on the following day, the Blessed Virgin Mary would appear to them as Our Lady of Mount Carmel. At that time, San Sebastian de Garabandal was a tiny village with only about three hundred people in the Diocese of Santander, Spain. By any standard in the world even for that time it was simple, not impoverished, but primitive. There were approximately 70 small stone houses, no electricity, heat only from home fireplaces, and not one motor with moving parts of any kind. About one quarter of a mile to the north of the tiny local church, the nine pines tower over the village, where the Blessed Mother frequently appeared. Over the next four years, the Blessed Mother appeared over 2,000 times accompanied by frequent miraculous phenomena.

The visionaries were Conchita Gonzales (age 12), Jacinta Gonzales (12), Mari Cruz Gonzales (11), (none related), and Mari Loli Mazon (12). They described the Blessed Mother as about eighteen years of age.
The apparitions were preceded by three interior calls, which the girls described as joys, each one becoming stronger. After the third call, the girls would come running from different parts of the village and would arrive at the same time in the place designated by Our Lady and they would fall to their knees in spiritual ecstasy. Frequent phenomena occurred that defied natural law.

Our Lady revealed the first message for the world. She told the girls to announce the message publicly on October 18, 1961. On this day, the children made known the message: “Many sacrifices must be made, much penance must be done. We must pay many visits to the Blessed Sacrament… but, first of all we must be very good… if we do not do this, punishment awaits us…already the cup is filling, and if we do not change, we will be punished.” The messages given to the young girls were heavily centered on conversion and amendment of life. The Blessed Mother had a continual theme of the urgency of our times and what would happen, IF man did not repent. However, what made Garabandal unique from all apparition sites in history is the visionaries spoke about two events that would happen: The Warning and the Great Miracle.

On January 1, 1965 the Blessed Mother told Conchita Gonzalez that the Archangel Michael would appear to her on the following June 18 to deliver a final message in Mary’s name for the entire world because her messages were not heeded. He delivered the final message which said,

Since my message of October 18 (1961) has not been complied with, and has not been made known to the world, I will tell you that this is the last one. Before the chalice was filling, now it is overflowing. Many cardinals, many bishops and many priests are on the path of perdition and they take many souls with them. To the Eucharist, there is given less and less importance. We should avoid the wrath of God on us by our good efforts.

If you ask pardon with a sincere soul, He will pardon you. It is I your Mother, who through the intercession of Saint Michael, wish to say that you amend, that you are already in the last warnings and that I love you much and do not want your condemnation. Ask us sincerely and we will give to you. You should sacrifice more. Think of the Passion of Jesus.

Our Lady appeared wearing the Brown Scapular, an indication we should wear it, and taught the children how to pray the Rosary. Her greatest emphasis was placed on the importance of the Eucharist and the priesthood. The last apparition for Conchita was on November 13, 1965 at the nine pines.

The number 18 is significant at Garabandal as some very important messages were given on that date. In the Jewish culture 18 means “life,” and in the future, the Jews will not be able to deny what happens at Garabandal.

The Story

Garabandal is an extension of heaven’s plan for the salvation of mankind—and to prepare the world when the messages were given in 1961. It had been expected that Saint Pope John XXIII would reveal the Third Secret of Fatima in 1960 and he did not, to the disappointment of the faithful. Is it a coincidence that just a year later the Blessed Mother came to Garabandal and gave messages dealing specifically with the Eucharist and the Priesthood, exactly the same time period when Vatican II was meeting and many in the church were deliberately undermining those traditions?

For many people in the Church, the truth about the Third Secret of Fatima is as elusive as the location of the Ark of the Covenant. Many believe the Church has never officially released it in total. We know a portion of it deals with a Pope dressed in white being killed. Yet, that has not happened. There is continual dialogue on the Third Secret that has grown more intriguing with each passing year. It is a never-ending story that grows, and continues to grow as Pope Francis consecrated the world October 13, 2013 from Rome, yet never mentioned Russia by name. Russia was central to Mary’s call for consecration at Fatima in 1917. Everyone has an opinion and is aware of certain facts. The Blessed Mother has said to the Marian Movement of Priests it is now “My Time” due to the lack of cooperation of God’s people to fulfill her plan for peace.

There are powerful forces within the Church blocking the full release of The Third Secret. The political maneuverings inside the Vatican are as significant as any issue in the Church over the last several hundred years. Why? Because we have been told The Third Secret deals with communism, the destruction of the Church from within, deep apostasy of the Church, widespread calamities such as “fire from heaven,” millions of humanity perishing, and Satan reaching the very summit of the Church.

There is widespread opposition to the Secret being released for obvious reasons. Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI Emeritus) while head of the Congregation for the Prefect of the Faith (CDF) and having read the Third Secret of Fatima, said the church-approved messages of Akita, Japan and Fatima are essentially the same. No messages in the entire history of the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church are as apocalyptic as those from Akita. Pope Benedict XVI while speaking at Fatima on May 13, 2010 made an interesting point when he said, “May the seven years which separate us from the centenary of the apparitions hasten the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity.” This would put the centenary at 2017.

The Illumination of Conscience

Pope Paul VI (Papacy from 1963- 1978) called the struggle of good and evil going on in the world “apocalyptic.” Pope Paul at the time quoted Luke 18:8 which says “when the Son of Man returns will He find faith on earth” adding that the “smoke of Satan had entered the sanctuary.” The Blessed Mother said at Fatima, “In the end my Immaculate Heart will Triumph….” The Triumph of her Immaculate Heart is the return of Jesus in glory. It is never about Our Blessed Mother, as she always points to her Son Jesus. As the Blessed Mother said at Cana when instructing the servants, “Do whatever He tells you” (John 2:5). The Holy Trinity has appointed her for this task specifically at this point in time. She says, “The Refuge is My Immaculate Heart.” Looking for safety anywhere else will be of no value. Our Lady does not take away from the authority of Jesus in the least, but leads people to glorify and love His Sacred Heart. We are called to be co-redeemers with her in His salvation plan for mankind. What better vessel than Jesus’ mother who came into the world without the stain of sin. Her role has been to bring us to Him—and Him to us.

The messages at Garabandal as well as at other authentic apparition sites are simple and direct. They speak in the most basic language about the essential tenets of the faith. The messages are easily understood and speak of truth, goodness, and beauty—not philosophy that few can understand, but always to the heart of a life changing experience. When the message is heard and absorbed, there is a transformation of the soul. Saint (Padre) Pio, Pope Paul VI, Saint John Paul II, Blessed Mother Teresa, Father Stefano Gobbi, and many other contemporaries of our time believed in what happened at Garabandal, and were public in affirming it.

The Warning – Seeing the State of Our Soul

Amen, I say to you, unless you become like a little child, you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 18:3-4).

The WARNING is an event where we will see the state of our soul as God would judge it upon our death. There will be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide from the divine truth revealed to us. It will be a line of demarcation in all of history. Satan’s lies will be exposed for who he is and the deception he has done. His grip in the world will be lessened. There will be sin in the world after the event, but a line will be drawn in the sand where the fear of Satan is not there. The Free Will of man will still be evident, but the neutrality of people will largely be gone. One will either be for God, or not.

As the Jews wandered in the desert for forty years after they left behind four hundred years of slavery in Egypt, it was not long before they forgot what God had done for them. What was supposed to be an eleven day journey turned into forty years due to disobedience. Shortly after leaving Egypt they were making a golden calf in the desert. While manna and quail were falling from the sky to feed the migratory people heading to the promised land they still were offering up pagan rituals.

It will be the same here. Some people will soon forget the graces they have been given at “The Illumination,” and will go back to their old ways because they were not properly formed in the faith. It is for this reason that formation in the faith is so important while times are relatively tranquil compared to the turbulence ahead. “Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word,” and as the Psalmist said, “I have hid the word of God in my heart that I may not sin against thee” (Ps. 119:11). If we live Scripture now, we will have a much better chance of understanding the future of God’s present plan for the world. The Lord communicates with His people in His own language.

The first of the two events will be a worldwide Warning from God. Conchita wrote in a letter dated January 1, 1965, “Our Lady said that a Warning would be given to the entire world before the Miracle in order that the world might amend itself. It will come directly from God and be visible throughout the entire world. People forget that the Warning will be seen and felt. So that assumes there must be some sort of cosmic or heavenly event in the skies that can be seen on a worldwide basis.” There is great speculation on what this event will entail. Conchita said it will be like “two heavenly bodies colliding.” Conchita wrote on June 2, 1965, “the Warning, like the chastisement is a fearful thing for the good as well as the wicked. It will draw the good closer to God and warn the wicked the end of times is coming. These are the last warnings.” Conchita explained “that the Warning is a purification to prepare us for the miracle. Each person on earth will have an interior experience of how he or she stands in the light of God’s Justice. Believers and non- believers alike will experience the Warning.” Conchita said, “Those living in a state of grace will have less severe impact.” Mari Loli who died in 2009, was the only visionary to know the year of the Warning, but she did not know the day of the Great Miracle. Mari Loli said, “We will see it and feel it within ourselves, and it will be most clear that it comes from God.”

The Lord in His infinite love and mercy for humanity continues to provide every opportunity for His people to make amends. Much evidence, from many sources in the Church today, indicates that
the day of reckoning is soon to come upon us. Just as prophets like Amos, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Jonah,
and Isaiah warned the people of impending judgments, we too are being warned by the prophets. The great multiplicity of Our Lady’s apparitions shows the urgency of our times. The Warning will be an event on a scale unprecedented in world or Church history. There are miraculous things like days of darkness that have happened several times in Scripture, but not the Warning or Great Miracle.

The Warning will allow every man, woman, and child to see the state of their own soul through the Illumination of Conscience, or as God sees them in the fire of Divine Truth. The fire of divine truth will enable all of God’s people to “see” their lives in the form of a “judgment in miniature.” This will be one of several acts of mercy coming from Heaven to allow us to change the direction of our lives. If one is not moved by this, and what it would mean to the world, there is either an insensitivity of spirit or a general unawareness of the profound meaning of these events and their impact on the world.

Part II of this article can be found here

This chapter is from The Great Transformation by Ted Flynn

Great Transformation cover