Then war broke out in heaven.

Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.

But they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

(Rev. 12:7,8)

A question: When did the war break out in heaven? According to Revelation 12 it happened right after the woman clothed with the sun gave birth to her child. The war resulted in the devil and all his fellow rebellious angels being cast out of heaven, becoming demons. But how could this be so? If it were, how could the devil be present to tempt Eve at the dawn of creation?

The relationship between the eternity of heaven and the terrarium of time we occupy is a mystery. It is a mystery that we have made little effort to understand at all – usually misunderstanding it entirely. This is why ‘end times’ chronologies get so far afield. It is not that those who build such timelines have the wrong timeline: rather, they apply a chronology to a realm where it does not exist at all, at least in our terms. Most people think of eternity as endless time. It is not that at all: it is the complete absence of time. The most mysterious book of the Bible, Revelation, records a vision of St. John, a vision from eternity which he heroically works to translate into terms accessible to us. It is not chronological. To try to fit it into a chronological hole is to miss the point, altogether.

Everything in eternity is present right now. War broke out in heaven before Adam and Eve were in the garden; it is breaking out now; and it will break out in the future. Everything in eternity is present now. Yet it is not static, but vibrant and dynamic. That is the heart of the mystery. It is not the logical conclusion of contemplation, but where we must begin in contemplating the subject – and that contemplation must be applied in all cases where eternity and our terrarium of time intersect. Applying our simple understanding of chronology to ANY authentic visitation is to largely misunderstand it from the outset.

For God, to speak the Word, even to merely think the Word, is to accomplish it. When He says, “Let there be light,” there is light. The moment of our birth is fully present to Him right now. The moment of our death is fully present to Him right now. For us, only one moment at a time is present to us. This is why, in part, St. Paul says, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then (in heaven) face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (I Corinthians 13:12). This is why, as Peter says, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (2 Peter 3:8). To the Lord all is present, right now. If you are canoeing down a river, the place where you are at is present to you. If you are a hundred miles above the river, all of it is present to you, though without full detail. For God, all is present right now in complete detail.

For God, every great battle is accomplished. The resolution to the strife we are in is already present to Him. His victory – and ours – if we follow Him with fidelity, is already accomplished. Because we are contained in time, we are working out the details of the victory He has already accomplished.

Thus, war has broken out on earth as it has in heaven. This time, though, the war is not over territory or resources. In heaven, the battle is over the sovereignty and plenary authority of God. So it is on earth this time.

As the late Pope Benedict recognized some 40 years ago, the transgender movement is an assault on nature, reality, and the sovereignty of God, Himself. Homosexuality has always been with us. Yes, it is intrinsically disordered, but it does not require one to mutilate or disfigure their body. The disorder it entails is different in degree from promiscuity, infidelity and other sins of the flesh, but not in type. The transgender delusion insists that if we don’t like reality, we can make up our own; that we are not subject to nature, reality or God. This has led to an assault on the family, itself, and the responsibility and authority of parents. The family is both the first church and the true cradle of democracy.

Armageddon is not the end of time. It is the decisive battle between good and evil. The late Sr. Lucia, the most well-known of the Fatima visionaries, said that, “the decisive battle between the kingdom of Christ and Satan will be over marriage and the family.” We now occupy an age where marriage is no longer a sacrament for the union of a man and a woman for family formation. Anyone can marry anyone or anything. Marriage is no longer the bedrock of a stable culture. We have built a house on sand. Everyone’s preferred form of sexual stimulation is absurdly infantilized as love so that depraved activists can justify their depravity by claiming that, “love is love.” Long gone are the days when love was actively willing and sacrificing for the good of another. Mothers routinely execute their infants in the womb so they don’t have to be bothered. Children that survive the brutal gauntlet of the womb are treated as fashion accessories; permanently mutilated, folded and spindled to give their depraved parents “woke cred.” Willfulness is redefined as “freedom” in this great divorce between heaven and earth. Things fall apart. Instead of enlightenment we get a foretaste of hell.

At the dawn of time the satan seduced man by telling Eve that if she and Adam ate of the fruit they would become like gods, themselves. All they had to do was disobey the Real Thing. The satan did not tell them this in order to elevate them, but so he could destroy them and afflict them with death. Now whole cultures and nations intentionally seek to usurp the prerogatives of God. It is not for our good, but for our destruction, even as the devil’s acolytes eagerly assure us it IS for our good, to save our democracy, and that their policy decrees are safe and effective.

We have entered Armageddon. It is a war between God and the forces of satan but the object of the war, as it ever has been, is the destruction of humanity, itself. Satan worked long and hard for this, first divorcing us from our Divine Protector, filling our shabby little minds with the notion that it is not cool to even believe in God, much less follow and serve Him. The satan convinced us of our own mighty prowess; that even if there is God, we do not need Him. So as the war broke out many of us were left bereft of our Divine Protector, actively hostile to Him, and convinced of our own supremacy. It was like willful children with plastic swords and cardboard shields believing they could turn back the Wehrmacht. Now the devil shows his true malevolent face. Things fall apart.

Those of us who are among the remnant of traditionally orthodox Judeo-Christian faith are beset from all sides, from even more than we understand. Most of us are ideologically conservative or, more accurately, classically liberal (classical liberalism put a premium on individual rights under natural law, decentralized power, and community). Many of our secular ideological allies are glad to make common cause with us but think we are fools. They have been seduced into the satanic deception that it is by their mighty will and prowess that we shall be delivered from the evil that is upon us. They make for unreliable allies who will unwittingly lead us into the ambush of their hubris if we are not on our guard.

This is a battle between powers and principalities of the heavenly realm, a battle that has engulfed us. Knowing that, we must fight. But we must fight as Christians. Understand that when I say that, I am not saying that we must be anemic wimps in battle. That image, too, is among the lies the satan has successfully promoted in preparing for this, his moment. When I speak of how Christians fight, I am thinking of St. George, St. Martin of Tours, St. Joan of Arc, and all the Holy Crusaders who foiled Islam’s project to destroy Christianity altogether. We must act passionately and boldly, but without malice. St. Joan of Arc would spend a full hour before commencing battle entreating the English to surrender or retreat, even as they abused her mercilessly with vile epithets (sounds kind of like a medieval Twitter thread, doesn’t it?) After that, St. Joan unleashed her troops and it was all hammer and tongs until the victory was secured. After the battle was finished, she would go out with her troops to give medical aid and comfort to all the wounded, French and English. Ironically, about the only English who were supportive of St. Joan after she was captured were those who had actually been in battle against her.

All of the secular conservatives think this is merely a battle between conservatives and leftists, between Trump and the Deep State, between Constitutionalists and Communists. All of these aspects and more are involved but they are merely symptoms of the real battle that is raging. This is the decisive battle between good and evil, between, “the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel…a test of 2,000 years of culture and Christian civilization with all of its consequences for human dignity, individual rights, human rights, and the rights of nations,” as St. John Paul said in Philadelphia way back in 1976.

We must see this battle for what it is and act accordingly. We must be aware that if we give ourselves over to malicious passion in the heat of the moment, we hand the satan a victory. We must be neither timid nor cruel (though, being fallen humans, we will be both at times). We must be all hammer and tongs in battle while binding up the wounds and giving care and succor to the wounded when the battle is won. Our banner, as with St. Joan, must be of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. That is not just religious sensibility: it is the only way we will practically achieve victory. We must be simultaneously sharp as serpents and gentle as doves.

Secular folk will be useful allies but, left in charge, will lead us to ruin as decisively as the anti-God left would. The anti-God left has launched a revolution against God, reality and (though they do not understand it) humanity, itself. Ours is to mount a counter-revolution restoring God to His rightful sovereign place in our hearts and minds and restoring liberty, under God, to all mankind.

In the spring of 1993, I believe my angel told me that, in these times, God would allow the satan to cloud the minds of men over – and as the battle commenced the minds of even many of the best men would be clouded over. I was skeptical about that. But a few days later, visiting my Dad, he made an absurd argument that was absolutely beneath him, completely contrary to all facts, evidence and logic. I was astonished, because he would not hear any reason at all. Dad and I loved to argue and disagreed on several things – but he always made a solid, coherent argument for his case – rarely, if ever, engaging in willful mulishness. It was so bizarre I could not help but think back to what I was told a few days before. I was grateful that at the end of my week-long visit, Dad told me in baffled wonder that he had no idea what came over him during our discussion and that he was deeply sorry for it.

Now, a whole generation of officials make decisions that are obviously geared toward social destruction. There is some tactical coherence, but no strategic coherence whatsoever. It is as if we are in a boat together and they are drilling holes in the bottom while cackling with blind malice that they are going to drown me. Meantime I see Christian theologians and apologists who have done great work for the faith in the past peddling panicked nonsense.

It is good that we have seen a great increase in exorcist Priests in the last few decades. They are desperately needed now. But exorcists, I implore you, stick to your mandate with humility and resolve. If you denounce something as diabolical just because you don’t like it personally, you have been, at least momentarily, seduced by the devil. Take pains not to unwittingly do his work for him.

The Lord is allowing us to be sifted. Most who read this will not be seduced by obvious errors. But the truth is, I fear my allies more than I do my enemies. I am disposed NOT to accept an opponent’s claims without examination. We are disposed to accept our allies claims at face value. If we are not vigorous in applying God’s word to everything that we receive, either from enemy or ally, we give the devil a big hole into which he can drive into our minds. Be alert. Be steadfast. Pray, “Lord, lead me in a plain path, veering neither to the left out of anger nor to the right out of fear. Lead me in a plain path.”

Let us defend with vigorous resolve the faith of our fathers. Let us fight boldly, then bind up the wounds of all. We are being sifted. Let us go forth with steadfast resolve, never falling into panicked depravity. When we stumble or fall, let us set ourselves right and be on our way again, never wasting time wailing about how weak and prone to error we are. The Lord already knows. Remember, as the storm rages, that the battle is already won and the devil in chains in eternity. Act with steadfast resolve trusting, in the midst of great evil, that you will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Welcome to Armageddon.

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As some of you know, I weathered a new bout of Covid after getting back home. While it was much milder than before, the recovery has been almost as difficult as when I had the very bad case. For the last few weeks, I get a good day followed by a very bad day.

I have not posted in a while. I think we are very near the border of the fullness of the great crisis before us. I have been devoting my productive time to a restructuring of CORAC that will give the Regional Coordinators and Team Leaders more support while igniting activity from the bottom up. I will announce details publicly of the restructuring at the Field Day in Michigan on July 8. It will be taped and the video made available on the CORAC website. Shortly after that, I will publish a booklet on methods of building an efficient economic system, a method of exchange or currency, locally and regionally that people can use in crisis. I expect it to be about 30 pages after all is boiled down. We will make it available as a PDF free on the CORAC website and as a printed booklet available for sale.

The time is coming when the federal government is fully impotent. I am determined that all people of good will have all the tools they need to protect their families and live community in cooperation with other people of good will to weather the storm and rebuild the City of God. So that is my emphasis right now and I feel the same urgency Noah must have felt to get his ark finished before the flood waters come.

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I am grateful to all of you who continue to generously support the work before us. It has been a bit slower than usual but these are not the greatest of times. Adapting an old set of economic definitions Ronald Reagan once used, a recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose your job. Recovery is when Joe Biden loses his job. If you are merely in a recession, please continue to donate to CORAC generously and we will continue to work for the greatest recovery in history.

“…do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you,

As though something strange were happening to you,

But rejoice in so far as you share in Christ’s sufferings,

That you also may rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”

1 Peter 4:12,13

 

If communication goes out for any length of time, meet outside your local Church at 9 a.m. on Saturday mornings. Tell friends at Church now in case you can’t then. CORAC teams will be out looking for people to gather in and work with.

Find me on Twitter at @JohnstonPilgrim