III
– Time is very important in Christianity – continued the Witness. – Hence this place. This place is like the continuation of the apparitions of Fatima. Are you familiar with them?
– Yes – answered Vanessa.
– In this place, Our Lady and Saint Michael the Archangel appeared to say, well, overall, to say what Our Lady has been saying throughout the years: remember God in your lives. Convert. Be good.
– Anything specific?
– Yes. We have to apprehend the state of the world in comparison to God’s plan for humanity. It has already been said and noted that the world is in a current state similar to that of Sodom, godless, perverted and depraved. The image of an alcoholic elderly woman, in the night, with too much makeup on and overdressed for her lonesome, listening to old records or something, always seems to come to mind when thinking about the state of western civilization. Do you see what I mean?
– I think I do. That’s a funny comparison – giggled Vanessa.
– But it’s no laughing matter, I assure you. Our Lady said that God would leave a visible supernatural sign that would remain here until the end of the world.
– Is that what this is about? The end of the world?
– I can’t answer that question, but I think not, but rather the end of times, of an epoch, if you like. Our Lady said that before that miracle comes, a warning sign would be sent to all humanity, that will, it is assumed, light up the light of God in us, so we can see ourselves through His eyes, realizing all the real good and evil that we’ve done. I should underscore real, because people might have a wrong idea about themselves out of what they might consider as in living a «normal life». But if God has no part in that «normal life», you seem to be dead. The suffering and devastation that was brought about by World War II wasn’t the only harm done. Another harm that that war produced was very low standards, as in, if I don’t do what that guy did, well, I guess it’s safe to say that I’m home free. But good as well as evil are related to something, related to the Truth.
– I Am the Way, the Truth and Life – said Vanessa.
– No one comes to the Father except by Me – completed the Witness.
– John 14:6.
– That’s what Jesus said of Himself. But good and evil, on their own, seem to be but subjective concepts. They are what they are in the light of the Truth, compared with something. Because, on their own, it’s like forcing you to choose between two things without context, as in, a car or a parachute?
Well, a parachute, because I rather walk to the store wearing a parachute backpack than drive out of an airplane. But good and evil, while related to the Truth, seem to send that question for what happens after death. So the question is who are you going to believe about that subject? The question is credibility.
– So how can we distinguish?
– Saint Agustin wrote that one of the things that still amused him in other philosophies, before he converted to Christ, was the package rather than the substance, some sort of eloquence, if you like. He commented, however, something like, it is not the eloquence that makes it true nor does the truth, so to be recognized as such, has to be conveyed in a poor manner.
– Sure.
– But concerning credibility – continued the Witness –, it looks like God, maybe not always, but many times, chooses people that are not very scholar type persons concerning religion or whatever subject. You have, for example, prophet Amos, in the Old Testament, saying that he was only a shepherd and/or a farmer. And you have Jesus that had fishermen among His Apostles. Many times they argued with God that they thought they were unable to do what God was asking of them. But God, I imagine, answered them that it was precisely because of that, or one of the reasons, He had chosen them, so it would be recognized that it was Him, God, that was at work there. Again, this is not to be taken as a law or defining characteristic. There were other prophets that were priests, so obviously more schooled in religion than the average person.
»For me, Saint Paul, regarding this matter, seems to be the best example. An ultra-zealous Pharisee, that went from city to city persecuting Christians, what does he say: I was on my way to Damascus, so to bring in chains Christians that were there, when suddenly, boom!: white light everywhere, and a voice: Saul, why are you persecuting Me? Saint Paul was an educated man, naturally well schooled in Scripture. When he defends Jesus as in being the Messiah and the Son of God, more than trying to deliver an interpretation of Scripture to justify his faith in Jesus, he just simply tells what happen to him when he was on his way to Damascus, as in, why such a radical change occurred with him? Naturally something extraordinary had to have happened to him. Credibility, as in bearing in mind what he was and what he became. Do you see what I mean?
– Yes, I do. And the supernatural sign will be left here?
– Yes, down there, on the pine grove. And the ones that are here when it happens, if unbelievers, they will convert, and the sick will be cured.