"How can we be careful and not fall for fake visions?"
Considering Marie-Julie Jahenny warned that near the times of the chastisements a host of fake mystics would infect the world like a swarm of flies out of hell that will be so cunning, so close to looking and sounding like real visions, complete with fake miracles and signs, that they will fool many people, even good priests and faithful. These fake visions will flood the world so people will not pay attention to true apparitions and warnings.
Even those poor mystics themselves who are not outright fakes like a scammer are going to be fooled by fake visions into selling the souls, etc. And, when other people actually do see the errors in the false mystics, and point them out, even with the doctrine of the Church, they will be attacked for not believing these 'mystics', and will cause severe disunity among the faithful. This is what Marie-Julie Jahenny warned.
And, we are also going to have the outright fakers making up visions for money / notoriety, etc ... .
So, in response to this I have been asked: how can we be careful and not fall for these fake / demonic visions that will come forth like flies and cause confusion, scandal and disunity?
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St John Bosco on Fake Visionaries and Fake Miracle Workers
“One must be careful. There are really clever impostors whose many tricks and ruses can deceive the most prudent person. One would think that the devil has taken possession of them himself and taught them all his tricks. Their cunning is matchless. If they find themselves cornered on one side, they retort with a thousand ready-made excuses to make them look even holier; if they are caught in a lie, they manage to wriggle out of it and appear to be the most truthful people in the world. Learned persons, even priests, cannot find an effective weapon against them. One can rely on experience, which shows us that impostors have always existed and still exist, and that there is no mischief, no trick, which they will not practice once they have forsaken God and abandoned themselves to the devil. Hence, when such persons arise and show themselves to be proud or unruly, or untruthful, no trust must be placed in them, nor are they to be given attention, even if they perform miracles. There is no deception which we should not reasonably expect from them."
(“The Biographical Memoirs of Saint John Bosco” by Rev. Eugenio Ceria, S.D.B. Vol. XII, (1876). English edition; Salesiana Publishers, New Rochelle, New York, (1980) p. 212.)
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OBSERVATIONS: St John Bosco gave us three main pointers to look out for on how to recognise fake mystics or seers which I have taken the liberty to add some observations / explanations to. Note, these are the exact same points the Church also uses to see if a visionary or vision is real or fake.
If they are 1) PROUD – I.e. they lack humility, 2) are UNRULY, that means unwilling to be ‘ruled’ I,e. lack discipline and are disobedient or resistant to superiors or authority, they resist correction of faults and failings, etc. 3) are UNTRUTHFUL - they tell lies or are caught out in lies, any prophecies they foretell end up failing, and / or they spread anything that contradicts Church teachings. If these elements are noticed, we are to ignore these mystics, and, not to be fooled by them, even if they seem to perform miracles. Signs and wonders do not mean they are real mystics - Satan can perform acts that seem like miracles, but are not true miracles that come from God, only diabolically trickery.
The frightening thing is the real imposers who know what they are doing with their fakeries: St. John Bosco has said these people have 'given themselves up to the devil'.
Also, Marie-Julie Jahenny also warned then of the poor people who are going to be tricked by demonic visions into thinking they are real, and will literally make demonic compacts with these visions.
So, this is a very serious thing: souls are going to be led astray in these drastic times - we must keep watch.
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The following is my humble layperson’s advice and observations.
Note,
I will put certain sentences which I cannot stress enough in all caps
for emphasis, so please forgive the ‘shouting’.
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*) The greatest safety for your soul is OBEDIENCE TO CHURCH RULINGS IF THEY ARE IN THE NEGATIVE REGARDING VISIONS
First and foremost: if a ruling has been given, the Church has the final word, ESPECIALLY REGARDING A NEGATIVE RULING. A negative ruling MUST be adhered to in obedience, to safeguard against the spread of errors and heresies contrary to the faith, and, for the sake of peace and unity among the faithful. Christ prayed that we may all be one in peace and unity of faith. Satan gets a hoof-hold in when we refuse to obey a ruling and thus cause disunity.
In fact, this is such an important point regarding visions we can see that in Fr. Ripperger’s book, “Deliverance Prayers – For Use by the Laity” it is indicated in Appendix II that those who REFUSE to follow a negative ruling and insist on spreading condemned messages that not only is this a sin of disobedience, but is a SIN AGAINST FAITH i.e. against the FIRST COMMANDMENT.
Basically, SINS AGAINST THE FIRST COMMANDMENT (I.e. sins against faith by promoting condemned visions) and SINS OF DISOBEDIENCE TO CHURCH AUTHORITY OPENS YOU UP TO SATAN’S ATTACKS.
This is one major method who Satan is going to attack in these times.
So, this is a major problem: many people are now wilfully disregarding official rulings and spreading condemned messages, even when you tell them and point them to official sites regarding Church rulings – there is a horrific plague of sins against the Faith and obedience to Church authorities these days. Never before has it been on such a scale among Catholics, and least, not from what I can see in history.
Before in the ‘good old days’, if a bishop made a ruling on a vision, that was it. People obeyed, no questions. But now? No wonder there is such a mess in the Church and disunity among the faithful regarding visions! These disobedient supporters of visions are now causing others to be snared by fake visions and even heresies and doctrinal errors are spreading because the people listening to them don’t know they are condemned, or perhaps do not know how to check up on a vision and see if the Church has ruled against it, etc. Mass media and the internet is not helping here. People seem to believe everything they see on the internet.
Also, the excuse ‘oh that bishop is wrong - I think the vision is real’ does not hold at all –
A LAYPERSON WITH PERSONAL OPINIONS DOES NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO DECLARE WHEN A BISHOP HAS AUTHORITY OR NOT, and, are being DISOBEDIENT AND SINNING AGAINST THE FIRST COMMANDMENT IF THEY WILFULLY CONTINUE TO SUPPORT AND SPREAD A CONDEMNED VISION AND ITS MESSAGES.
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*) But, what if a bishop rules against a vision, and it might be real?
We are still required to be obedient to his ruling, for the sake of the virtue of obedience. Obedience is a virtue, and we gain merits by being obedient to the authority / authorities God places over us, and this certainly applies to the bishops of His Church, even if in the case of ruling on a vision they prove to be wrong. Remember, we are not even required to believe in private revelations when they are approved, so, even if a bishop might get a condemnation wrong regarding a vision, there is no sin against doctrine there! God will reward us for our obedience to his authority. Also, if we are obedient to rulings, then we stop the spread of disunity among the faithful which is more important. Satan wants us all bickering at each other and at each other’s throats so to speak. Being obedient stops this. Our attitude regarding visions should be: “The bishop has spoken – so be it.”
Again, I can give the example of St. Padre Pio who personally believed in the Haroldsbach visions, but when the bishop ruled against them and the people complained to him, St. Pio said, “OBEY YOUR BISHOPS.”
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*) What if a vision or visions are not condemned, even if not yet approved?
WE MUST BE CAREFUL of the SIN OF RASH CREDULITY
This is why, despite St. Paul saying we are not to despise prophecy, saints have advised not to ‘chase’ after apparitions. St. Paul says we must also test the spirit where prophecy is concerned.
We must be careful not to believe so readily visions are real, and, to test them accordingly. The book “Deliverance Prayers” recommended by Fr. Ripperger also states ‘rash credulity’, i.e. as in giving credence to unapproved private revelations too easily, is also a sin against Faith, and therefore, part of the sins / vices that can open you up to Satanic attack.
If you wonder why I do not readily give credence to quite a number of visions that are are not yet condemned, it is also because of this. We are to not believe everything so readily but test it out.
The biggest test is to see if a vision adheres to dogma and authentic teaching. If they go against this in any point, then, of course do not believe them. The thing is, the burden is on us laity to check everything until a ruling is made.
The sin of rash credulity is why I am VERY careful of unapproved apparitions, even if not condemned – if I spot something that looks like a "red flag" at all, then I personally in good conscience will not support it or put it up on this blog. In fact, it would be my duty to point out what I see wrong with it until the Church rules otherwise.
Also, I’m trying to avoid any ‘nagging’ as to why haven’t I put up such-and-such a vision on this site – if I see any red flags, I personally in good conscience will not support said unapproved vision until a favourable Church declaration comes out, end of story.
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Basic rule of thumb for your own safety's sake– DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY ASSUME A VISION IS AN AUTHENTIC VISION FROM HEAVEN, and certainly do not spread it until you have gone through it thoroughly.
Again, this is why I do not rush to put up anything here until I have a chance to carry out the research on it to the best of my ability and resources.
1) Visions must adhere to Church doctrine and authentic teachings and authentic Biblical explanations as given by the Church. Here is where the faithful really need to be knowledgeable about their faith so as to not get tripped up – and if you are not sure about something, to always have good traditional catechisms on hand to look into a matter. Obedience to adhering to true Traditional doctrine, / Council of Trent, etc., would be our security and true path in these times according to Ven. Holzhauser. Again, I recommend “The Catechism Explained” by Spirago and Clark, and also any traditional catechisms based on the council of Trent.
**** And, if you simply are not certain where a vision is coming from or if it is approved yet, and do not have the resources or time to research it to make sure it is ‘okay’ – then simply DO NOT spread it. Very simple solution to stop disunity! We have many approved apparitions and devotions we need to be concentrating on, we don’t need to be sidetracked with things that could waste our time. Let the Church handle it then and wait for its decision.
3) If there are prophecies given in a vision– they must come true for the vision to be real. If they fail, (unless certain conditions are given, such as a certain punishments will be averted if enough people fulfil the penance requests, etc), the vision is certainly not real. Stop spreading that mystic and their messages.
4) An authentic mystic / vision will follow the basic rules the Church uses when declaring upon authentic apparitions: if they fail here, you can be assured they are not real. (You can see the rules by clicking here.)
Basically, if you stick to this, you should not be taken unawares. Also, speaking of which, it is very important to ….
5) PRAY FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT to guide you and PRAY FOR THE GRACE OF COUNSEL so you are not taken unawares by evil or by false visions. Also, pray for the gift of prudence and good judgment. People will fall if they rely on their own judgment and discernment and not pray to God for help for discernment.
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