La Salette

 

I shall now examine prophecies from the episode in La Salette.

 

Please note that my web site and book references are not intended to endorse or espouse those authors, but are quoted for convenience of exposition. You must determine for yourself the worthiness of that material.
Introductory Remarks

The revelations from La Salette present extraordinary difficulties. The two uneducated children, Melanie Calvat, age 15, and Maximin Giraud, age 11, experienced only one visitation on September 19, 1846, not in an ecstatic state. They were fully conscious of the event and their surroundings. Refer to Paul=s experience on the road to Damascus. Since they were on a mountain tending cows at the time no other witnesses were present, with no other corroborating evidence. But their exhilaration, deep sincerity, and repetition of details, to a multitude of people and Church authorities, without contradiction in their account, led to international fame within a short time. The event was officially recognized by the Church five years later.

 

For a detailed account of the early interrogatories see:

 

http://www.lasalette.org/agrace%20ch1.htm

 

and following chapters.

 

The children both reported that they were given a Message to be transmitted openly to the rest of the world. They were also given Secrets, to each of them independently. They were not to divulge these Secrets to anyone. This led to intense speculation, and subterfuge by Cardinal de Bonald in March, 1851. See:

 

http://www.crc‑internet.org/salette2.htm

 

I offer this to show that we have some evidence of the original content of the Secret Melanie published as an apocryphal version later in 1879.

 

 

A. . . (de Bonald) argued that he was >the Pope=s advisor= and that he had to be given the secrets so that he could >transmit them to His Holiness=, who could then finally settle this quarrelsome problem. It was a crude trap, and was successful. The seers wrote their text separately. Maximin wrote his on the 2nd July and Mélanie on the 6th. But Mélanie was categorically opposed to her secret being transmitted to the Pope by any intermediary other than her own bishop. Mgr de Bruillard, therefore, sealed the two envelopes himself, after having read their contents, and his two envoys, MM. Rousselot and Gérin placed them in Pope Pius IX=s own hand on 18 July. What took place at the papal audience is known to us through a letter Father Rousselot wrote to his bishop:

 

AHis Holiness unsealed the two letters in our presence, read them, and commenting on Maximin=s he said: >This has the candour and simplicity of a child.=  We replied that these children were little mountain dwellers, who, for some months had been in an educational institution.

 

AIn order to read these two letters more easily, His Holiness stood up and went towards the window to open the shutter. We followed him. After reading Mélanie=s letter, His Holiness said to us: >I must re-read this with a calm head.=  While re-reading Mélanie=s letter, the Holy Father showed a certain emotion in his cheeks. His lips contracted and his cheeks swelled. When he had finished reading, the Holy Father said to us:

 

>France is threatened with scourges. She is not the only culpable one. Germany, Italy and the whole of Europe are culpable and deserve to be chastised. I have less to fear from Proudhon than from religious indifference and lack of human respect. Your soldiers, (the French army, which, after its victory of 29 June 1849 over the troops of Mazzini and Garibaldi, made it possible for Pius IX to return to Rome, which he did on the following 12 April, whilst the French occupied the eternal City until 1866), kneel when they see me, but only after looking left and right to make sure they are not seen. It is not for nothing that the Church is called militant and that you see here the Captain (bringing his right hand up to his chest) . . .=

 

We can see that Europe was threatened with chastisement, and that the nations were bringing this down upon themselves. We can deduce that the Secret contained remarks about the lack of devotion to God, (religious indifference), and human respect (for creation?). Remarks also may have been made about the militancy of the Church.

 

The Vatican never released the text of the Secrets. The location of the documents is now unknown. Hence, we can only speculate. But Pope Pius IX was clearly deeply moved.

 

Meanwhile, the Message (not the Secret) was known and published in 1847. The statement was simple, by an uneducated Melanie. During the following years Melanie became educated, met many different people, traveled, and otherwise became a world sophisticate, much through the help of the Church in its attempts to find a place for her. This then led to her publication of apocryphal versions of both the Message and the Secret in 1879. The details of her transformation from a simple shepherd girl to a person with ulterior motives may be followed by discussion on the Counter Reformation web site:

 

http://www.crc‑internet.org/salette4.htm

 

 
Exposition on Melanie=s Apocryphal Secret

Unfortunately, this apocryphal version contains both the original material given to her on the mountain, and other material interpolated by herself from current circulating apocalypse, or from her reading and personal speculations. Thus it is embroidered and embellished. But within that morass are small pieces that are sharply revealing.

 

She republished the Secret in 1904, shortly before her death. The text of the 1879 and 1904 versions are nearly identical. The text approved for publication in 1879 may be found at:

 

http://helpthebishops.com/Our%20Lady%20of%20La%20Salette.htm

 

"Published by the Shepherdess of La Salette with Imprimatur by Mgr. Bishop of Lecce. Simple translation without commentary or controversy of the original edition of Lecce in 1879."

 

That web site has the apocryphal versions of both the Message and the Secret.

 

I selected a small passage from the Secret for commentary.

 

Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! There will be bloody wars and famines, plagues and infectious diseases. It will rain with a fearful hail of animals. There will be thunderstorms which will shake cities, earthquakes which will swallow up countries. Voices will be heard in the air. Men will beat their heads against walls, call for their death, and on another side death will be their torment. Blood will flow on all sides. Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test? All the blood, the tears and the prayers of the righteous, God will relent. Enoch and Eli will be put to death. Pagan Rome will disappear. The fire of Heaven will fall and consume three cities. All the universe will be struck with terror and many will let themselves be lead astray because they have not worshiped the true Christ who lives among them. It is time; the sun is darkening; only faith will survive.

 

Many of these items are found in biblical prophecy and could have been borrowed from there:

 

1.      bloody wars and famines: all of us are familiar with the bloody wars of the past century, from World War I, until today. AThere will be wars and rumors of wars,@ Matt 24:6. We are all also familiar with the great famines of recent years.  Mark 13:8 C AFor nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places, there will be famines; this is but the beginning of the birth‑pangs.@ >Birth-pangs= refer to the birth of a new world age. Regardless of her source, this is a true prediction of the century that was to come. For famine information see:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2449527.stm

 

http://www.countdown.org/armageddon/famine.htm

 

2.      plagues and infectious diseases: No one foresaw the plagues now affecting mankind, from AIDS to many other new and virulent viruses. Luke 21:11 uses the word Apestilences.@

 

For discussion see:

 

http://apocalypsfuture.cjb.net/signs/pestilenc.htm

 

3.      It will rain with a fearful hail of animals: At this point in time we have no solid ground for regarding this remark as anything but Melanie=s imagination, or perhaps borrowed from current apocalypse.

 

4.      There will be thunderstorms which will shake cities: If this was intended to describe increased intensity of weather phenomena it is a poor representation. In recent years the weather has become so erratic and the atmosphere so turbulent that the number of tornadoes, for example, has dramatically increased, and now are seen many places, including cities, as never before. The turbulence of the atmosphere is also seen in the many low and high record breaking temperatures, and in the intensity of droughts and floods.

 

5.      earthquakes which will swallow up countries: The context of this remark is not separated from the other predictions. We do know that a great planetary transition will cause major alterations in the arrangement of earth=s tectonic plates (crust), that will cause entire countries to be lost. See Zech 14:4 and the resultant new immense river, Ezek 47, Luke 21:25-26, Rev 16:20. The New Testament remarks attributed to Jesus about earthquakes in various places could have been intended to warn about this great planetary transition but, if so, it is out of context, Matt 24:7, etc. On the other hand, the statements by Jesus are clear: they describe the beginning of the birth-pangs.

 

6.      Voices will be heard in the air: This remark is significant in two ways: as electronic signals transferring voices into our radios and TV sets, or as a phenomenon associated with the revealing of the Planetary Prince. Refer to remarks mentioning

the Prince of this world in Matt 12:24, Eph 2:2, John 12:31, 14:30, and 16:11 (KJV). Many people have reported hearing Avoices@ coming from Spirit entities. When his release comes, II Thess 2:3,6, he will perform seeming miracles to deceive masses around the world. We should not assign this chilling prediction to heavenly apparitions.

 

7.      Men will beat their heads against walls, call for their death, and on another side death will be their torment: Today we cannot comprehend the extremity of the evils coming down upon us. As we were told in Rev 9:6 C AAnd in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death will fly from them.@

 

8.      Blood will flow on all sides: Literally, millions upon millions of people will die hour by hour. Even today, blood is flowing around the world in wars and terror attacks.

9.      Who will be the victor if God does not shorten the length of the test? Jesus said: Matt 24:22 C AAnd if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.@ Curiously, the idea from Melanie=s statement as a Atest@ is highly intriguing. Nowhere in the Bible is the suggestion given that people will be tested. How? Physical stamina? Moral integrity? Destiny decisions? According to explicit instructions contained in biblical prophecy God=s people must make decisions. They must take measures to preserve themselves and their descendants for the future of the planet. For example this is noted in Joel 2:32 C AAnd it shall come to pass that all who call upon the name of Yahweh shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as Yahweh has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom Yahweh calls.@ They will not escape unless they make those decisions before the destructions. We can see that the modern State of Israel will be destroyed. Again, Jesus warned in Matt 24:16‑18 C A. . . then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; let him who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his mantle.@ Obviously, these are hasty decisions; no time is available to set one=s affairs in order. That Melanie would have the ability to penetrate this mystery as a Atest@ does not seem plausible. God=s people are being tested on their true loyalty to our Maker. Further, when they flee Judea and the modern State of Israel they should repair to mountains. The reason is simple: nuclear debris from the worldwide holocaust will settle into lower elevations. Higher elevations will not receive as much, and hence survival will be far more likely on the higher elevations.

 

Ezek 7:16

And if any survivors escape, they will be on the mountains, like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, every one over his iniquity.

 

10.  (From) All the blood, the tears and the prayers of the righteous, God will relent. This may have been wishful thinking on Melanie=s part, or it was intended to expound on the previous remark. We know that the Judgment is certain, and will be modified only to permit God=s people (his elect) to survive.

 

11.  Enoch and Eli will be put to death. I reserve comment. See below.

 

12.  Pagan Rome will disappear. Yes, Rome and all of its paganism will disappear. All the statuary and images, the bowing down to earth mothers, and the pagan festivities will disappear in the renovation of the earth. How many Catholics know that our holy days, now debased into selfish holidays, were derived from the celebrations of pagan Europe? As someone said, AChristianity drains many a pagan swamp.@ The Catholic Church clings to much of that paganism.

 

13.     The fire of Heaven will fall and consume three cities. The literal fire from heaven will consume many cities, not merely three. Again, this must be a modification of the original Secret, introduced by Melanie, suitable to her psychology.

 

14.  All the universe will be struck with terror and many will let themselves be lead astray because they have not worshiped the true Christ who lives among them. It is time; the sun is darkening; only faith will survive. This remark is literally true. The time now comes down upon us. Terror increases daily around our globe. Soon the great Spiritual Test, the Warning, will descend upon us. Only those who remain faithful to their Creator, and make the proper decisions, will survive.

 

Two Witnesses: Enoch and Elijah

I shall now offer exposition on a unique small segment of the Secret published by Melanie. I offer it because it contains information for which she could not have known the meaning, and hence she could not have invented. Nor has anyone else known the actual meaning. Refer to the mention of Enoch and Eli above.

 

Included in the apocryphal Secret was the following remark (not shown above)

 

Enoch and Eli will come, filled with the Spirit of God. They will preach with the might of God, and men of goodwill will believe in God, and many souls will be comforted. They will make great steps forward through the virtue of the Holy Spirit and will condemn the devilish lapses of the Antichrist. . . . Enoch and Eli will (then) be put to death.

Eli is a short form of Elijah.

 

Enoch and Elijah are both unique in world history: they are the only two recognized human personalities to be removed from this planet in extraordinary circumstances.

 

This unique disposition was due to their strong spiritual relationship with God. They outshine all other men.

 

For nearly three thousand years much debate has centered around these two historic personalities. In what manner were they removed, and where are they now? They clearly did not die before they were taken away. Did they die in heaven?

 

 

Translation Into Heaven

The Bible provides some clues. A group of people numbering 144,000 will be sealed from harm in the coming destructions, Rev 7:3f. We know that these144,000 will then be rescued from the earth.

 

Rev 14:3‑4

A. . . and they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the hundred and forty‑four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth.@

 

Other remarks from Jesus show us that they will be taken away to some other place in the universe:

 

Matt 24:30-31
"Then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

This passage is one of the key elements in the false theories of the so-called Rapture, quoted strictly through lack of understanding of cosmic operations. When God sends his seraphic transports to take away the elect, the remaining tribes of earth shall surely mourn. Oh! to be removed from the horror of this planet!

 

Clearly they are taken to some other place in the universe. They learn a new song they sing before the throne of God. If they were taken outside the universe they would no longer have corporeal bodies, flesh and blood. But for what purpose?

 

We have other clues.

 

When speaking of the return of the people of Israel to the promised land in the new world, those who will be brought back include some that are in Aheaven.@

Deut 30:3‑4

AIf your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there Yahweh your God will gather you, and from there he will fetch you.@

 

Neh 1:9

A. . . but if ye return unto me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the uttermost part of the heavens, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen, to cause my name to dwell there.@

 

I do not know how we could deduce the meaning of these statements except that those brought back must be the genetic blood descendants of those who were taken away. Surely we do not have two different and unrelated groups of people. God must have some plan of genetic significance to the future human stocks of this world if he were to engage in such an exercise. The original groups taken away are specified as being of the genetic stock arising out of the descendants of Abraham, now a symbolic, not a literal, twelve tribes.

 

Indeed, the ancient Book of Enoch has another remark about physical beings coming down here from heaven to interbreed with the genetic stocks of this planet, at some future time.

 

39:1-2 B AAnd it shall come to pass in those days that elect and holy children will descend from the  high heaven, and their seed will become one with the children of men.@

 

I personally have difficulty believing that the revelations of the Bible are unrelated to the revelations of the Book of Enoch. This material must all be centered on some future biological improvement in the human race, no longer randomly ordered as in the current regime, but now under the command and control of God and his celestial agents.

 

Indeed, we are given specific instructions about masses of people being taken away if the need should arise in a planetary emergency. See the Urantia Papers, page 582.

 

 

Translation of the Two Witnesses

Therefore, two individuals translated from the earth is a rather simple matter for the powers of heaven that can take away more than a 100,000.

 

We can now better understand the Enoch and Elijah of Melanie=s revelation. The names are pseudonyms for the actual personalities who will appear on the world stage. The pseudonyms arise out of the passage of Rev 11.

 

Rev 11:3

AAnd I will grant my two witnesses power to prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."

This does not mean literally that they will be clothed with grain sacks, but that they will be attired in common, every day, clothing, not formal attire. They will have no need to put on social airs.

 

Rev 11:11‑12

ABut after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, >Come up hither!= And in the sight of their foes they went up to heaven in a cloud.@

 

That is why they are called Enoch and Elijah. They will be translated up into heaven, but only after they are resurrected. And that is the Secret of the Miracle of Conchita Gonzales. Refer to following letters.

 

 

God=s Spirit

We can now return to the prophetic element given by Melanie:

 

Enoch and Eli will come, filled with the Spirit of God.

 

These two personalities will carry the Spirit of God with them as they go ministering to their brothers and sisters. This will not be a divine inspiration, as Paul knew, although they certainly will be inspired, but another, totally different, and greater power.

 

We know of this Spirit from several Old Testament passages

 

Judg 3:9‑10

ABut when the people of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who delivered them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. The Spirit of Yahweh came upon him, and he judged Israel.@

 

Judg 11:29

AThen the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jephthah.@

 

1 Sam 10:10

AWhen they came to Gibeah, behold, a band of prophets met him; and the spirit of God came mightily upon him, and he prophesied among them.@

 

These men did not function from self-induced psychological fantasies, presuming to take social command, but from a real living and powerful Spirit from God.

 

Such an event will take place again, at this time of great planetary crisis.

 

Isa 42:1

ABehold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my Spirit upon him, he will announce judgment to the nations.@

 

Who would announce judgment but the man who will prophecy when the power of God comes down upon him and his companion? These must be the personalities working at a time of need as the planet has never before experienced.

Isa 48:14‑16

Assemble, all of you, and hear!

Who among them has declared these things?

Yahweh loves him;

he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,

and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.

I, even I, have spoken and called him,

I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.

Draw near to me, hear this:

from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,

from the time it came to be I have been there."

And now the Lord GOD has sent me and his Spirit.

 

Is this the Chaldea and Babylon of old? Certainly not. This is a modern Babylon, whose time of destruction has now come.

 

We should pay heed to these statements by our God. We then should recognize how this Servant speaks to God=s people. God is sending his Spirit to all of his people who may express loyalty to him.

 

This statement in Isaiah shows the locale of the work of the two witnesses. They will prophecy and minister to God=s people in Great Babylon, the Harlot of the Nations. This proud country began with God=s blessing but she wantonly sold herself to the nations. Now she must pay the price.

 

As David Ketter said at http://www.geocities.com/ketman1989

 

These two mysterious figures have become a subject that many Bible scholars generally avoid. The reason is, there is no definite answer to the question "Who will they be?" By tradition it will be Moses and Elijah. This is a possibility. Others say that it will be Moses and Enoch (Heb 11) or Enoch and Elijah. Any of those is also a possibility. Yet, it may not be any of them. The point is pretty clear: we won't know them until they are right in front of our faces.

 

Indeed! The time is imminent.

 

Ernest