Tag: Private Revelation

Charlie Johnston’s Farewell

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CharlieYou may recall at the beginning of last year, I wrote an article about a man named Charlie Johnston, a Catholic layman who claimed to have been visited by Jesus, as well as by a number of Saints and angels.

As a result of these visitations, Charlie warned people of a coming “storm”, a series of catastrophic and calamitous events which he said would befall humanity. While he wasn’t predicting the end of the world, his descriptions of economic collapse and widespread war certainly carried with them an apocalyptic character. Although he said that it would be a very dark time, Charlie promised that the Immaculate Heart of Mary would ultimately triumph and this victory would usher in a period of unity and peace.

At the time I wrote that earlier post, Charlie had already been on my radar for some time. Although I had reservations concerning his teachings, I was rather impressed with the way he seemed to be operating. He was obedient to his Bishop and was also under spiritual direction. Despite the content of much of his message, he ultimately presented it as one of hope. Finally, there was nothing to suggest that he was attempting to profit from his message in any way. As a result, despite my skepticism regarding his predictions, I defended Charlie against those who immediately dismissed him as “crazy”, or who called him “a charlatan” or “liar”.

Having said that, I was becoming increasingly concerned. Quite a few of my friends had enthusiastically embraced Charlie’s message and I started to worry about the effect of his teachings upon them. When one of my friends cancelled an out-of-state trip for fear that it might coincide with Charlie’s “storm”, I decided that it was time to speak openly about my concerns…

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What about Charlie?

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JohnstonThere’s a good chance that by now, if you read a lot of Catholic blogs, you’ve heard of Charlie Johnston.

Charlie is a Catholic layman who lives in Denver, Colorado. A convert from Protestantism, he claims to have received visitations from Jesus, Saints and angels for most of his life.

I’d like to take today’s post to give a little introduction to what Charlie has been teaching and share a few thoughts as to how one might respond to this sort of thing.

The Message

So what has Charlie been saying? His central message is that there is “a Great Storm” coming, a series of catastrophic events for the entire world. He speaks of wars, governments falling, economic collapse and millions dying. North Korea, China and the Islamic religion have all made appearances in his messages at some point.

In addition to his warning of coming troubles, Charlie spends a lot of time talking about how Christians are to behave during this coming tumult: “Acknowledge God; take the next right step; and be a sign of hope to those around you, knowing that God is always close at hand”.

Charlie says that, during the the troubles, people will think it’s the end of the world but that will not be the case. He speaks of of an eventual rescue through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which ultimately renders his message as one of hope. After this divine rescue, Charlie says that there will be a long period of peace, prosperity and Christian unity.

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Private Revelation

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In my various wanderings I have, on occasion, come across a certain breed of Catholic who is extreeeeeemely attached to stuff like the Marian apparitions in Medjugorje, as well as medals and other specific prayers and devotions, all of which leave me feeling rather…meh.

Now, I’m not rubbishing any of these devotions, not at all. In fact, some of them eventually won me over and now feature significantly in my spiritual life, such as the Divine Mercy Chaplet. However, I’ve often found the rather overzealous promotion of some of these devotions to be rather off-putting.

I think what I have found unsettling is the unspoken (although sometimes spoken!) assertion that such-and-such a devotion IS Catholicism, or at least a fundamental part of it. My expressions of disinterest, therefore, have been taken almost as acts of apostasy! How could any self-respecting Catholic NOT be absolutely enthralled by this devotion?!

So why am I bringing this up? Well, this morning I was clearing out some of my old browser bookmarks and came across a great article by Mark Shea where he addressed this very question and gave some superb advice:

“[T]he good news is that the Church binds you to none of it… If it helps your devotion to Christ, then great.  If not, or if it gives you trouble, just stick with the public revelation [i.e. the official, binding teaching of the Church] and it will be fine.” – Mark Shea

You can read the full article here:

private revelation

What do you think? Are there any devotions which you follow which you’ve found helpful? Or have you ever been put off by someone’s extremely zealous promotion of one?