Isaiah, the prophet, prophesies about the power of prophecy when he proclaims that the prophetic word is like rain and snow which always achieves the end for which it was sent. Jeremiah gave the same prophetic message: "Had they stood in My council, and did they but proclaim to My people My words, they would have brought them back from evil ways" (Jer 23:22). "Is not My word like fire, says the Lord, like a hammer shattering rocks?" (Jer 23:29) The prophetic "word is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword. It penetrates and divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the reflections and thoughts of the heart" (Heb 4:12).

Our culture of death is the largest, most technologically sophisticated culture in history. It includes China, Russia, and the Western world. This culture has proven to have an unprecedented capacity to brainwash even billions of people. Who can stop this monstrous, secular humanistic culture of death?

God's prophets will not be stopped but will stop this culture, which appears unstoppable. Over 2,800 years ago, Ahab and Jezebel's culture of death also appeared unstoppable. Even after Elijah slit the throats of hundreds of false prophets (1 Kgs 18:40), the wicked kingdom continued. Yet Elijah, Elisha, and their band of prophets eventually brought down Ahab's culture of death. Cultures dominate. They defeat all opposition until they finally meet more than their match, until they fight God's prophets.

In the tradition of Elijah, John the Baptist, Athanasius, Francis of Assisi, Pope John Paul II, and countless other martyrs and saints, prophesy in the name of Jesus, the Prophet (see Jn 6:14).

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, August 1, 2002

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, August 7, 2002