Saturday, June 24, 2017

Michael H. Brown's Talk: The Current Prophetic Pulse

Michael H. Brown at the Marian Day Retreat on May 20, at Canada Christian College
Michael H. Brown during the Marian Day Retreat at Canada Christian College on May 20, 2017.

Michael H. Brown's talk, The Current Prophetic Pulse, was the third of four talks given during the Marian Day Retreat in Toronto on May 20; a retreat hosted by Canada Christian College and organized by Ave Maria Centre of Peace.

Having known about Brown's talks for many years, I attended this retreat with great enthusiasm and high expectations that it would be an exceptionally beneficial time for me. Brown certainly did not disappoint and there was no doubt in my mind, that it was a shared experience by many, if not all, in attendance that day, especially by those who knew of Brown from his web site, Spirit Daily.com.

If you are new to Michael H. Brown, he is an American Catholic writer whose own conversion in the early 80s led him to focus on writing about the Catholic faith. Since then he has written several books, and published numerous articles and blog posts at Spirit Daily on: the truth, knowledge, and understanding of the Catholic faith journey; current, real, and relevant news; information on the events and signs of our times; and resources on spiritual warfare, healing, and the afterlife.

The other three talks Brown gave at the retreat were: Heaven, Hell and Purgatory; Spiritual Warfare and Family Healing; and Reclaiming North America's Christianity.

Brown's talk on The Current Prophet Pulse was intriguing and perhaps the most thought-provoking of all four talks. It included historical events from the Catholic Church that certainly challenged the audience to consider: are we here, in North America, disobedient to God; is society in conformity with God's plan for humanity; are there prophetic warnings we should be paying heed to regarding God's chastisements; and what can we do to appease God and avoid His punishments.

The Current Prophetic Pulse

LIke at all of the Marian Day Retreats, prayer is a common thread that runs throughout the entire day: group recitation of the Rosary before each talk; the Divine Mercy Chaplet just after 3:00pm, before the last talk; and the Saturday Vigil Mass, a perfect ending to a grace-filled retreat. Add to this the availability of confession throughout the entire day and Brown's own selected prayers, that together with his talks, made attending this retreat time well spent.

Brown began this talk by leading the audience in the recitation of the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, and a prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, after which he added a few important details from the previous two talks before segueing into the "prophetic pulse" content.

Referring to his morning talk on Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, Brown stressed that the first person we will meet in Heaven is ourselves: we will see who we really are. Life on earth is a challenge, one that entails that we strive to be that person who God made, who we really are: ourselves at our best, ourselves at the height. Brown elaborated on why this is so necessary, "...Because that's what Heaven is, the peak of the best we have ever been and we need to get to that level and maintain it through discipline, like I said, and through prayerful discipline, through circumspection; getting rid of the impatience of life."

From his second talk, Spiritual Warfare and Family HealingBrown went on to remind everyone that "love reverses the curse." He referred to the scriptural passage of Love for Enemies, "But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you..." (Luke 6: 27-28) As Brown stated, many times, this gets rid of the Evil One. 

Loving your enemies is not all that one needs to do. With everyones' situation being uniquedifferent challenges and circumstances to deal with—Brown stressed how important it is for prayer to the Holy Spirit for answers as to how to fight the Evil One. There are certain things that help us in all circumstances, but the Holy Spirit—who knows you better than yourself—will best address your personal situation.


A panoramic photo of the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, California
The Hollywood sign located on Mount Lee, Los Angeles, California. Photo: Hikespeak/Griffith Observatory to the
Hollywood Sign in Griffith Park

Continuing with spiritual warfare in an effort to highlight how there is so much around us that we don't realize is connected to the demonic, Brown provided the example of the well known "Hollywood" sign in the hills of Los Angeles, California.

At first, many may assume that the sign means or refers to "holy wood," but the reality is quite different. In fact, the term "hollywood" derives its meaning or purpose from the pagan Norse god of Odin. Hollywood is actually is a type of wood that wizards would use for their wands.

Brown then referred to how just south of Hollywood at Disneyland, the magic wand is normalized as part of their attractions. Should we consider the glorification and propagation of the occult (magic wands, spells, witchcraft) as "coincidences." Brown made it crystal clear that the existence of occult elements in society is anything but a coincidence!

One of the most interesting points of this talk, that resonated very well with me, was with respect to "never accepting the "evil report." It is in reference to a medical report given by doctors to their patients about how long they may live. Brown went on to make the point that doctors are not God and can't really know how long someone will live or when they will die.

Further reinforcing the point that God is in charge, Brown referred to afterlife accounts of individuals who went through an out-of-body experience, and could watch surgeons operate on them, assisted and guided by angels, who in fact were the ones conducting much of the delicate part of the surgery. It is any wonder why surgeries go so well when we pray enough for them? Brown asked that very question and reiterated the importance of prayer when he stated, "...There are some great Christian doctors, prayerful doctors, but only if they all prayed, if only they gave more credit to God, if only they invoked angels more, oh how much better off we would be."

Michael H. Brown from the screens during his talk at Canada Christian College
A closer look at Michael H. Brown from the screens.
It was around the ten minute mark of the talk that Brown actually began to talk about the prophetic pulse, which started with a look back to the 60s, a time when, as Brown put it, "A lot of evil entered Canada, entered the United States, entered the world, the West...a very mysterious decade." Much of the evil that we have to contend with today (the moral disorder, especially abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, and sexual immorality) had its origins in the 60s—Canada's 1969 Omnibus Bill that allowed "therapeutic abortion" in hospitals is a prime example—a dark decade of confusion, deception and rebellion.

As to some of the events from the 60s that has brought many evils upon today's society, Brown listed the following: 1966 was the foundation, in San Francisco, of the "Church of Satan" in the west; 1969, saw the first "satanic bible" published; rock music beats, reminiscent of voodoo beats, opened many souls to drug use or pharmakeia which was used for centuries by witches; the spirit of rebellion which in scripture tell us is equivalent to the spirit of witchcraft; free sex and orgies (what pagans refer to as Saturnalia); monogamy fell out of fashion with many of the younger generation that led some to sodomy and homosexuality; fornication; and contraception which helped perpetuate "free sex." 

In the United States, this all culminated in the legalization and normalization of abortion on demand with the 1973 Supreme Court case, Roe vs. Wade, which Brown referred to as a "blood sacrifice." Elaborating further on this Brown stated, "So you have rituals leading up to a blood sacrifice. And then, we wonder why the world, the west, Canada, the United States, which of course has not only abortion, but is moving sometimes dangerously to euthanasia up here. We wonder where the evil came from that we now contend with, the darkness, the dark cloud."

Brown went on to share some important historical facts: how North America was established by Catholics a few centuries ago; the story of the Pope Gregory the Great and the statue of Our Lady in Guadalupe, Spain; and the end to the chastisements of the Roman Empire.

As a matter of historical record, native Indians have been living in what we now refer to as North America for centuries, but America and Canada were established by Christians, specifically Catholics. North America came into being as a Catholic territory.

It is the understanding by some that the first Mass was celebrated in North America as earlier as the sixth century by Saint Brendan, who came over from Scandinavia; an occurrence that was not documented.

The first documented Mass was celebrated in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565. In Canada, Brown pointed to the Shrine of St. Anne, in Quebec, built in 1658. These two facts point to North America's Catholic foundations.

As to the historical events and times of Saint Pope Gregory the Great (540-604), Brown explained why God had punished the Roman Empire and how the pope, through the intercession of Our Lady, appeased God's wrath and ended the chastisements.

During Pope Gregory's time, Rome was under attack by barbarians and suffering a plague that took many lives including Pope Pelagius II (Pope Gregory's predecessor) that made Pope Gregory wonder if it was apart of the final judgement; a judgement that Rome incurred on itself due to its disobedience to God that manifested itself in many ways: orgies, materialism, gluttony, and all that the emperors, and their subordinates, have been guilty of over the centuries. 

To illustrate the seriousness of Rome's situation, Brown read and provided commentary on a letter written by Pope Gregory to King Ethelbert of Kent describing God's punishments upon man kind for its actions:
...Pope Gregory speculated, this is a direct quote from the Doctor of the Church, that quote, 'The unending kingdom of the saints is approaching,' and he predicted that there would be many unusual signs including, quote, 'Changes in climate, terrors from Heaven, unseasonal tempest, wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes. As he wrote, 'Everywhere death, everywhere morning in Rome, everywhere desolation...cities are destroyed, armed camps overturned, districts emptied of peoples, the earth reduced to solitude. Not a native remains in the countryside, nor scarcely inhabited in the cities; nevertheless, these small remains of human kind are still being slaughtered daily and without cease. The scourges of heavenly justice have no end because even in their midst, there is no correction of the faults of our actions.' The sixth century, Rome being destroyed by what a great pope said was a punishment for its evil; evil that a lot of people are comparing to our own time.
Perhaps the most salient point of this entire talk—what in my view is a historical lesson to draw upon, that is most relevant for the current time in which we live—was when Brown continued with St. Pope Gregory the Great and his response to Rome's decimation: an appeal to the Blessed Mother's intercession by a procession throughout Rome with a statue of Our Lady (believed to be carved by the Apostle Luke himself) together with a faithful following of prayer warriors.

Pope Gregory believed that the statue would be powerful against evil and so he led a procession from the Vatican throughout Rome's many streets. Upon the return to the Vatican, there was an apparition of St. Michael the Archangel putting his sword back in its sheath, which Brown described as a "Sword of punishment, a sword of judgement." This is precisely what that sword was; soon afterward the plagues had ended, as did the barbarian invasions. The great chastisements of the Roman Empire came to an end.

Pope Gregory eventually gave the statue to the Bishop of Seville and it proved to be effective against the invasion of Muslims, who were destroying Catholic statues, crucifixes, and persecuting Christians without mercy in their attempts to eradicate the Christian roots of Spain.

Other Muslim invasions were launched in their quest for Spain, and much in the same manner as other Christian statues, paintings, artifacts and so forth, that had to be buried in order to preserve them, the Bishop of Seville had the statue of Our Lady buried in a remote cave, under a church bell in a part of Spain called Estremadura, in an area referred to as "hidden channel," which in the local dialect is "Guadalupe."

The statue remained hidden in that cave for 600 years, until one day Our Lady appeared to Gil Cordero, a humble shepherd in 1326. Cordero who was searching for a lost cow, eventually found the animal, motionless and dead on the ground. Preparing to take the hide, Cordero made a sign of the cross—which was customary before such a procedure—and all of a sudden the cow stood up, alive and well.

It was at this moment that Our Lady appeared to Cordero, and requested at the very spot where she was standing, that it be dug up and a shrine built on top. Cordero told the bishop, who eventually led a procession to the apparition location, where they began to dig and soon found the statue from Pope Gregory. The shrine was built and through the years it became a bigger and popular shrine; a place of pilgrimage for many.

This shrine became such an important location that it even attracted the King and Queen of Spain in the fifteenth century, who prayed about whether or not they should send ships to discover a new world, which would later be called America.

It was at this shrine that another well known pilgrim prayed many times, Christopher Columbus, who had a great devotion to Our Lady, and desired to explore the new world to conquer it for Christ. So great was Columbus's devotion that he had a replica of Our Lady's statue made to accompany him on his voyage, which he placed on his ship named, Santa Maria. It is known that Columbus and his crew prayed the Hail Mary together, and upon reaching land, they recited the Salve Regina.

Columbus discovered America. The Blessed Mother aided other voyages and missions as well. Many of the Spanish explorations had up to thirty priests on board an individual ship, as they had the same mission as Columbus: devout Catholics that set out to establish Catholic territories in the new world.

This encompasses the bulk of the prophetic pulse, which I captured on video and is available for viewing at my YouTube channel, The Current Prophetic Pulse

Those interested in reading more about the prophetic pulse—including current events of our time—may want to consider purchasing Brown's book, Where The Cross Stands.
















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