archau@saturn.wwc.edu (Austin C Archer) writes:  >I am interested in views about the non-event of May 3. Seriously, how can a  >Christian discriminate between "messages from God" which are to be taken  >seriously, and those which are spurious?  Is there a useful heuristic which  >would help us avoid embracing messages which, by their non-fulfillment are  >proven to be false, thus causing the name of Christ to be placed in  >disrepute? Is this a problem at all?  >I believe that a careful understanding of scripture can help us here. It  >seems to me that anytime we are proven by events to be mistaken, it points  >to a serious failure in understanding God's will. It should result in a  >reevaluation of what we accept as truth.  >I must hasten to add that I was always skeptical, even cynical, about  >these "prophesies" as I tend to be concerning all such. But clearly, many  >Christians put much stock in them. If the Church represents Christ in the  >world, then Christians must avoid being made the laughing-stock of the  >world, lest we dishonor Him. Further, the more often we cry "wolf", the  >less seriously we tend to be taken.  >Any comments?   	Good point -- it is very true that these "false" predictions are dangerous--we are warned (more than once) in scripture about false prophtets.  	However, as is often the case with other issues, one cannot let those who falsly report such "visions" as a reason against believing in any of them (I did not get the impression you were asserting this, by the way...I consider my response not so much a response to your posting but a response to the topic as a whole).  	Example:  The Appearances of Mary at Fatima, Portugal in 1917.  	Among other things, she predicted the conversion of Russia to Atheism 	(something that happened less than a year later w/ the Bolshevik 	revolution).  She also predicted the second world war (that is, predicte	predicted that it would occur during the papacy of a certain pope, who 	was not the current one.  It happened just like she said.)  	She warned there would be "fire in the sky" as a warning that the  	second world war was about to start.  About a week before Germany 	invaded, weathermen (and women, I suppose) all over Europe, from 	England to Spain to Eastern Europe, reported the most spectacular 	reddish color in the sky ever recorded.  To this day some try to  	explain it off as the northern lights, and the relation to Mary's 	prediction simply coincidence.  You all can decide for yourselves.  	Mary predicted that the Atheistic Russia would spread her evils all 	over the world and persecute religion.    	She said many other things as well, too numerous to list here.  Every 	single one has been realized.  	One can only use the term "coincidence" 	so many times in the same explanation before its use becomes  	ridiculous.    	SO...yes, there are many false prophets and many false reports. There 	are true ones, too.  We must always remain open to that.  Fatima was 	one example.  There is another one, currently occuring--the  	apparitions that have been taking place at Medjurgorje, Yugoslavia 	(or whatever its called now).  Mary has been appearing every day for 	eleven years now.  It's time the world started listening.