Posted on 02/11/2008 1:56:37 PM PST by NYer
I saw the original on my trip to Eastern Europe nearly two summers ago. This is the picture that I recall although the quality is not very good. Sr. Fautina may still have not been totally pleased with it as I remember.
I've read all of the prophets experiences and more, because I had an experience (a theophany) back in 1997. I'd never been in a church or at a worship service before, nor had I ever prayed let alone read anything from the Bible. I searched around for a politically correct explaination. A version of what happened to me that night that allowed me to ignore my sense of foreboding for seven long months. First, I thought it might be an OOBE, but after reading along thinking yes this has got to be the only rational option, I got all the way to page 297 when the author said "While your outside of your body you may encounter people following Jesus in an enormous joyful happy horde,but don't be tricked into joining them because they have duped many by their charity and fooled by their love"
Abruptly, I knew who was the real author involved with marketing OOBE's. I picked up a Study Bible and read it cover to cover lessons and all without a stop. Nothing in the Bible or in my theophany was inconsistent, which I definately could not say was true from the other trash I'd wasted my time reading about. There was no longer any other possible way out with a potential scientific explanation either. I'm a medical professional and a scientist and I'm a sinner desparately looking for a loophole. Finally, I enrolled in fulltime graduate student status at a Seminary. Mind you I'm still trying to find a way out of this notion that life could not be reduced to quarks, molecules, radiation, light,physics and gravity.
Then I had a most dreadful encounter with what just a short taste of the alternative to being in God's presence was like. This occured just after my marathon study Bible cram session was over and I foolishly asked God to show me what the other place was like. sinking in and I knew that I had to make some kind of changes and tell somebody else that I knew who my Lord and Savior was Jesus and that I trusted Him completely.
I foolishly asked God to show me life in the absence of His presence, was life good outside of His protection. Apparently, He didn't like my arrogant prideful curiousity one bit, I spent the longest fifteen minutes in recorded human history holding on to my Queen size mattress with a nothing less than a death grip.
Mortal man saint, or sinner has no understanding about the great blessings that all of mankind enjoys, because of Our Loving God. All of our world is designed to provide the essentials of life for us. Now, take away food, clothing and shelter and things rapidly deteriorate,but one strong tribe might survive. Now remove all physical protection from our lives and things reveal the most base of human evils, but strong healthy tribal animals might make it out. Remove the shields He has placed that physically protect us from every kind of deadly catastrophe. Let comets, cosmic radiation, alterations in temperature extremes, natural disasters and plagues come toward us unabated, our luck might still keep grant us hope of survival.
Finally, should God's spiritual protection ever fall away from man and the dark forces and evil principalites given a free hand that bone chilling cold and fear comes along that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up straight up. Should every human nightmare become a reality that's what the absence of God feels like. If all of those sacred words mean nothing if the Spirit of God is not sinking in, I knew that this hell was going to be my eternal reality. Unless I made a move toward eternal life. I had to make some big changes and tell somebody else that I knew who my Lord and Savior was Jesus and that I trusted Him completely.
During this time of Lent, its wonderful to read such accounts.
I suppose it’s axiomatic that, in the same way rebels want to be priests, they’ll want to have their own “beckoning light experiences,” which is probably why every apocolyptic novel book makes it a hallmark of the Great Deception.
footnote: when they make it a hate-crime to criticize someone’s “near-death” story, the hour can safely be said to be “advanced.”
He spoke at my church last year. Interesting indeed.
I haven’t heard him speak. I’ve read part of his book. I wouldn’t have picked it up but for a hearty endorsement from a pastor friend from Arkansas whom I deeply admire and highly respect (and who previously considered Mike Huckabee a friend but has since been betrayed by Huck and has warned me about Huckabee’s lack of integrity - but that is beside the point). My pastor friend said that the pastor who stopped to assist and prayed over the gentleman at the accident scene is a good friend of his and a man of truth and integrity.
I am always been skeptical about these stories. I probably became too skeptical after looking into the popular books written by Mary Baxter. She claims to to have been given a personal tour by Christ into both heaven and hell. The names of the people who endorse the book say it all. Its a who’s who list of positive confession charismatic teachers. Her “visions” endorse these false teachings.
Having said that, I didnt recall hearing anything objectionable in his testimony. He didnt give a lot of insight into his theology though everything seemed in line with Southern Baptist teachings.
I suppose they could be right, but it seems to me that if it was Paul he would have said so when he told the Corinthians about the unidentified man. OTOH if it was Paul, maybe he was told not to identify the man as himself as well as to not describe what he was shown in paradise.
I would like to believe that these near death stories we hear about are really experiences that are intended to inspire confidence in Christians that they will be taken directly to heaven when they die, but I don't know if they are that or just the mental impressions of people who are in the process of dying and then recover. I'm not Catholic, but if Christians go directly to heaven after death that would contradict the Catholic teachings about purgatory wouldn't it?
Indeed. Here is yet another fascinating aspect of the Divine Mercy.
The Vilnius Image and the Shroud of Turin.Because Faustina was not an artist, her spiritual director Father Sopocko took her to a local Vilnius artist named Eugene Kazimirowski, who painted this Image directly under Faustina’s supervision. Sadly remarking, “Lord, who will paint You as beautiful as you are” (Diary 313), Faustina had the artist change the face at least 10 times. Finally, Our Lord told Faustina that it was good enough - to leave it in the state it’s in. Just recently it was accidentally discovered at a prayer group in Arizona, that the face on this Image perfectly matched the one on the Holy Shroud of Turin. This restored Vilnius Image is the only Image painted under St. Faustina’s direction. It is now available for the first time as it was originally painted. To see the Holy Shroud and the Image of The Divine Mercy as they match, click either the 28k or 56k modem button below. Requires Quicktime.
MOMM utilizes a reproduction of the original image of The Divine Mercy, which was painted by Eugene Kazimirowski in 1934 in Vilnius, Lithuania. This was the only image painted under the direction of St. Faustina. It is documented that St. Faustina had the artist make several changes to the face before she finally came to the studio and announced that Jesus said to leave the image in the state it was in. Quoting the Lord she added:
“It isn’t good, but it will do; you don’t have to change it anymore.”
In 1996, quite by chance, it was discovered that there is “a practically perfect correspondence” between the face of the Vilnius image and the face on the image of the Shroud of Turin. This amazing correlation is beautifully demonstrated in MOMM presentations, and is often felt to be one of the most moving aspects. Christ demonstrates that through His suffering and death came LIFE. Jesus comes to us as a merciful savior, pouring out his mercy upon us all.
For more details on this surprising match, read "A Divine Coincidence?" By Fr. Seraphim Michalenko, MIC.
Here we have this beautiful presentation that brings people into the very center of Saint Faustina's mission. People are led to the mystical heights of the message and are deeply touched. I have heard the reports of a great many priests who have said that this is absolutely excellent, this is what people need to see, need to experience. And we know that the Lord’s blessings accompany it because of the results that follow, particularly a return to the sacraments, to Holy Confession and a deeper desire to spend time with the Holy Eucharist.
Fr. Seraphim Michalenko, MIC
Former Vice Postulator for the cause of Canonization for Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska and world-renowned authority on the Divine Mercy message.
Amen!
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