By Michael H. Brown
A great future ‘light’?
If revelations on the life of Jesus to a California mystic named Cora Evans are legitimate in a literal way — always, in such cases, a big “if” — there will come a time in the future when, as she phrased it (in Refugee From Heaven), “the greatest apparition of all” will occur, with a magnitude and beauty, she claimed, that will be “beyond human understanding and wisdom.
“The whole world seemed to be swallowed in the light of a golden vapor, which in no way bore any resemblance to the glow of the earthly sun. It resembled in its mystery of light a huge monstrance tipped over the earth to such a degree that the Host could be seen by everyone in the world [my italics],” she wrote, after a supposed vision of it.
This concept of an extraordinary light reminds one of various similar prophecies, some preceding Cora (such as the image of an illuminated Cross granted to Saint Faustina Kowalska) and yet more recent ones that have foreseen a time of illumination in various ways or in fact, as in Cora’s conception, a tremendous apparition. To quote one that mentioned a great future apparition (the alleged “1990 prophecy”; see background here; presumably quoting the Lord), “I will come in towering light. I will come as she has come, in light” — although that pertained more to localized events [see Tower of Light].
And so, once more, we head for discernment. We ask:
Is it spiritual enlightenment — contemplating such imagery (a worthwhile endeavor) or spiritual entertainment?
Most “revelations” are a mix of inspiration, human subconscious, and sometimes a deceptive element. Few are as pure as, say, the apparitions at Lourdes to Saint Bernadette (every word of which was worthy of endless contemplation). It’s for every person to decide for himself. One should neither despise prophecy nor accept it in a blanket way.
Contemplate such matters, as in the case of Cora Evans (who died in 1957), one may well choose do, which brings us to the second to last chapter in the Book of Tobit — wherein is a similar, if largely ignored, prophecy.
States Chapter 13:11 of the fascinating biblical book:
“A bright light will shine to all parts of the earth; many nations shall come to you from afar, and the inhabitants of all the limits of the earth, drawn to you by the name of the Lord God.”
This is the Old Testament, and so one first wonders if it might be a prophecy of Christ’s birth and the Star of Bethlehem. For Tobit also says that those drawn from afar would bear in their hands “their gifts for the King of Heaven,” the one who would be called “chosen one, through all ages forever.”
The visit of the wise men? Or — hewing closely to the word of Tobit: taking each literally — does the mention of “inhabitants of all the limits of the earth” preclude what occurred two thousand years ago, and pertain instead to an event in the future — one in which “a bright light will shine to all parts of the earth; many nations shall come to you from afar”?
When we die, we will all see Him — and His Light. This you can bank on. This you can contemplate.
In the end, prophetic images should draw us more into meditation upon the greatness of God — of Jesus — than the simple predictive element, exciting though that can be. “I will come not as a man of flesh, but like My mother, who already nurses Me and holds Me in her arms, as a light and power,” the Lord supposedly said in an anonymous aforementioned locution twenty five years ago this past December (the 1990 one). “I will manifest Myself in a series of supernatural events similar to the apparitions but much more powerful. In other words, My second coming will be different than My first, and like My first, it will be spectacular to many but also unknown initially to many, or disbelieved. Yet truly I tell you, the arrogance of the world will have been broken, and so many more than normal will believe.“
— Michael H. Brown
[resources: The Refugee From Heaven, Tower of Light, and Fear of Fire]
[see also: previous story on Cora Evans, formerly of Utah]
[photo at top courtesy Chris Kostiopoulos]