IMPRIMATUR FROM ARCHBISHOP-EMERITUS RAMÓN C. ARGÜELLES, STL

THE WARNING TESTIMONIES AND PROPHECIES OF

THE ILLUMINATION OF CONSCIENCE #1

“Christine Watkins has given the most thorough understanding of the Warning that I have ever read. Even though I have been familiar with many of the prophecies regarding the Warning, reading her book gave me a deeper understanding of it through the first-person accounts she shares of people who have already undergone an illumination of their consciences. She places each person in the context of their own personal journey and spiritual struggle such that when I was reading these testimonies, I felt like I was vicariously sharing in their experiences. Several of the people discussed in the book are ones I personally know. All of the stories are potentially life changing for those who read them. Many believe we will experience this Warning, or Illumination of Conscience, in our lifetime. To prepare yourself, this informative and inspirational book will be a great help. It is hard to put down. I highly recommend it.” ~Fr. John Struzzo, Ph.D., C.S.C., Congregation of Holy Cross “If you want to live in faith, hope, and love, instead of in fear and despair, then read this prophetic book and believe the divinely inspired words of these contemporary saints and mystics. They challenge us to purify our consciences and commit our lives to Jesus, Who is the Truth and the Way to eternal life. In prayer, listen to God’s Powerful Spirit (GPS) gracing and guiding us to become saints by serving others as disciples of hope and healing.” ~Msgr. Ralph J. Chieffo National Spiritual Director for the Flame of Love Pastor, St. Mary Magdalene Church, Media, Pennsylvania

“There is coming a ‘prodigal son’ moment for our world. It is a moment of awakening, of illumination, of warning when every person alive will see their souls in the light of divine truth—and how we are up to our knees in the pig slop of sin. It is the culmination of Divine Mercy: the ‘Day of Mercy’ before God purifies the world in that ‘Day of Justice.’ Christine Watkins has done a tremendous work in gathering the voices in the Church who have woven this thread of light and warning that may befall the world sooner than we think. The Warning is an invaluable and timely manual on understanding what is coming and how to prepare.” ~Mark Mallett Catholic evangelist and author of The Final Confrontation

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“I wish everyone would read this! There are so many fallen away Catholics, so many who live as if God does not exist anymore. Our era is a thousand times worse than the time of Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet our compassionate God does not give up on us, and His mercy endures forever. He is about to give humankind the strongest warning, that is, the Illumination of Conscience. This Warning might be painful, but it will save many people from the power of Satan, who is working harder than before. This has been revealed by Jesus and His dear Mother Mary. Read this book, give it to all you know. Let us all come back to the way of God before it may be too late.” ~Fr. Bernardin Mugabo Pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church, Sacramento, CA “The Warning is a fascinating book that deals with a rarely discussed and immensely important subject in the history of Christian mysticism: the illumination of conscience. Discovering how many Christians, from mystics and visionaries to ordinary men and women, to some famous names in the world of mainstream Catholicism, have experienced this mystical grace was remarkable. It reminded me of the famous case of Alphonse Ratisbonne, who was swept up in an illumination of conscience while experiencing an apparition of the Virgin Mary in Rome, leading him from being an anti-Catholic atheist to becoming a devout Catholic priest. The case of Ratisbonne would inspire countless people, among them a young Maximilian Kolbe, to a deeper faith. This book has the same potential. The powerful stories of this beautiful work can illuminate the minds and souls of many in their search for answers, offering them the gift of truth.” ~Fr. Daniel-Maria Klimek, T.O.R. Assistant Professor of Theology, Franciscan University of Steubenville Author of Medjugorje and the Supernatural: Science, Mysticism, and Extraordinary Religious Experience

“What a blessing this book is for the Church and world. Even as one who has been studying and proclaiming the Warning for years, I received a wealth of new material that was both edifying and inspiring. That so few people—and even so few Catholics—are aware of this impending and enormous event is a tragedy, but one that Christine Watkins’ new book should swiftly end. For if it were not God’s will that we know of and prepare for this unprecedented, worldwide miracle of Illumination of Conscience, then heaven would not have been giving us so many revelations pertaining to it. Indeed, it is now nothing less than urgent that

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we all prepare to be the ones to reap the great harvest of souls that this great event will make possible. But if we bury our heads in the sand and pretend that everything is just ‘business as usual,’ then we shall—like the worldly who will find themselves thrust into a whole new reality through this event—be stuck spending the time after the Warning nursing our wounds instead of being the laborers in this harvest that God is asking us to be. This book will help pull your head out of the sand. Within its pages, you will learn what the Warning will be like, as described in the revelations that speak of it. You will also learn about the personal testimonies of many saintly souls who have already received their own personal warning before the appointed time of the universal Warning, which has not been revealed but is doubtless imminent. Most importantly, you will see in this book how we are called to prepare for this once-in-acreation event.” ~Daniel O’Connor

A Professor of Philosophy at a State University of New York college Author of The Crown of Sanctity: On the Revelations of Jesus to Luisa Piccarreta and The Crown of History: The Imminent Glorious Era of Universal Peace

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Christine Watkins (www.ChristineWatkins.com) is an inspirational Catholic speaker and author. Her books include the highly acclaimed #1 Amazon best-sellers: Of Men and Mary: How Six Men Won the Greatest Battle of Their Lives (Hombres Junto a María: Así Vencieron Seis Hombres la Batalla Más Ardua de Sus Vidas); Transfigured: Patricia Sandoval’s Escape from Drugs, Homelessness, and the Back Doors of Planned Parenthood (Transfigurada: El Escape de las Drogas, de la Calle y de la Industria del Aborto, de Patricia Sandoval), and this book, The Warning (El Aviso: Testimonios y Profecías sobre la Iluminación de Conciencia). Watkins also authored the Catholic best-seller, Full of Grace: Miraculous Stories of Healing and Conversion through Mary’s Intercession. Her most recent works are Winning the Battle for Your Soul: Jesus’ Teachings through Marino Restrepo, a St. Paul for Our Century; She Who Shows the Way: Heaven’s Messages for Our Turbulent Times; and In Love with True Love: The Unforgettable Story of Sister Nicolina. In addition, Watkins has reintroduced an ancient and powerful Marian Consecration to the world, which is resulting in extraordinary graces for the parishes and people who go through it: Mary’s Mantle Consecration: A Spiritual Retreat for Heaven’s Help, with the accompanying Mary’s Mantle Consecration Prayer Journal (El Manto de María: Una Consagración Mariana para Obtender Ayuda Celestial y El Manto de María: Diario de Oración para la Consagración). For details, see the end of this book. Formerly an anti-Christian atheist living a life of sin, Watkins began a life of service to the Catholic Church after a miraculous healing from Jesus through Mary, which saved her from death. Her story can be found in the book, Full of Grace. Before her conversion, Watkins danced professionally with the San Francisco Ballet Company. Today, she has v

twenty years of experience as a keynote speaker, retreat leader, spiritual director, and counselor—with ten years working as a hospice grief counselor and another ten as a post-abortion healing director. Mrs. Watkins lives in Sacramento, California with her husband and three sons.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Special thanks go to those who bravely shared their remarkable stories of undergoing an illumination of conscience, and to William Underwood, Dan Osanna, Anne Manyak, Linda Kline, and Judy Dayton for lending their keen editing eyes and golden hearts to the making of this book.

Queen of Peace Media Joyfully Announces That The Warning Will Be Made into a Movie by

If you’d like to know more about this effort, go to: www.THEWARNINGMOVIE.com

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q THE WARNING Testimonies and Prophecies of the Illumination of Conscience Christine Watkins

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©2019 Queen of Peace Media ©2020 Second Printing All rights reserved. www.queenofpeacemedia.com Sacramento, California Imprimatur: ✠ Ramón C. Argüelles, STL Archbishop-Emeritus of Lipa Date: 5.22.2020 The Warning is also published in the Philippines, Poland, Croatia, Slovakia, Mexico, and pending publication in Spain, Colombia, and Italy. It is available in Spanish under the title, El Aviso: Testimonios y Profecías sobre la Iluminación de Conciencia. No part of this book may be used, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means—written, electronic, recording, photocopying or otherwise—without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews. Unless otherwise indicated, the Scripture texts used in this work are taken from The New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE) ©2011 by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, DC. Although every precaution has been taken to verify the accuracy of the information contained herein, the authors and publisher assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for damages that may result from the use of information contained within. Some names have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals. Second E-Book Edition (2020) by www.ebookpioneers.com. Books may be purchased in quantity by contacting the publisher directly at [email protected].



ISBN-13: 978-1-947701-09-0 ISBN-10: 1-947701-09-6 viii

q CONTENTS A NOTE TO NON-CHRISTIANS BEFORE YOU PUT THIS BOOK DOWN ..................................... 12

FOREWORD BY BISHOP GAVIN ASHENDEN CHAPLAIN TO THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND (2008-2017) ...................... 17 INTRODUCTION ...................................................... 19 ANSWERS TO COMMON QUESTIONS............................ 27 WHAT IS THE WARNING? ........................................................................................ 27 HOW DID WE LEARN OF A COMING ILLUMINATION OF CONSCIENCE? ....................................................................................................................... 31 WHY IS GOD SENDING THE WARNING? .................................................... 32

WHAT WILL HAPPEN DURING THE WARNING TO THOSE IN SERIOUS SIN? ................................................................................................................ 34 WHAT WILL HAPPEN DURING THE WARNING TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN AND LOVE GOD? ................................................................ 36 WILL THE ILLUMINATION OF CONSCIENCE COME SOON? ... 37 HOW SHOULD WE PREPARE FOR THE WARNING? ....................... 40 WHAT WILL HAPPEN AFTER THE WARNING? .................................. 44 PROPHETS & PROPHECIES OF THE WARNING ............... 49 TESTIMONIES OF THE ILLUMINATION OF CONSCIENCE..…59

C. ALAN AMES A VISIT TO A VIOLENT ALCOHOLIC ................................................................................ 60

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FATHER STEVEN SCHEIER

A PRIEST CONDEMNED TO HELL .................................................................................... 71

VINCE SIGALA

GOD CHOOSES WHO HE WILL ........................................................................................... 80

SISTER NICOLINA KOHLER

CAUGHT IN HIS EYES ............................................................................................................ 107

FATHER RICK WENDELL

THE MAN WHO DIED BEFORE HE LIVED .................................................................. 121

DALE RECINELLA A HIGH-POWERED LAWYER WITHOUT A DEFENSE .......................................... 134 CHRISTOPHER WINTERS GOD’S FILM OF A VIDEO-JOURNALIST ....................................................................... 144 RHONDA L’HEUREUX

NEVER THE SAME .................................................................................................................. 151

CHRISTINA GEORGOTAS

THROUGH THE EYES OF THE SOUL ............................................................................. 165

CARTER SMITH

A PASSION PLAY ...................................................................................................................... 174

MARINO RESTREPO

A SAINT PAUL FOR OUR CENTURY ............................................................................... 187 MY ILLUMINATION OF CONSCIENCE ........................................................................ 194 MY PERSONAL JUDGMENT ............................................................................................ 199 IN HIS PRESENCE ............................................................................................................... 201 BACK IN MY BODY ............................................................................................................. 205 THE WORLD TODAY ......................................................................................................... 212

APPENDIX ............................................................ 218 BIOGRAPHIES AND WORDS OF THE PROPHETS OF THE WARNING SAINT EDMUND CAMPION, SJ PRIEST & MARTYR ................................................................................................................. 219

BLESSED ANNA MARÍA TAIGI

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WIFE, MOTHER & MYSTIC ................................................................................................. 222

BLESSED POPE PIUS IX ............................................................................................ 226 SAINT FAUSTINA KOWALSKA NUN, MYSTIC & APOSTLE OF DIVINE MERCY ........................................................ 229 APPARITIONS AT HEEDE, GERMANY ...................................................... 234 ELIZABETH KINDELMANN WIFE, MOTHER, MYSTIC & FOUNDER OF THE FLAME OF LOVE MOVEMENT

OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY ................................................................... 222

APPARITIONS AT GARABANDAL, SPAIN ............................................... 243 FATHER STEFANO GOBBI PRIEST, MYSTIC & FOUNDER OF THE MARIAN MOVEMENT OF PRIESTS

.......................................................................................................................................................... 253

MATTHEW KELLY HUSBAND, FATHER, SPEAKER, WRITER & FOUNDER OF THE DYNAMIC CATHOLIC INSTITUTE ......................................................................................................... 258

JANIE GARZA WIFE, MOTHER, MYSTIC & STIGMATIST .................................................................. 262 SERVANT OF GOD, MARIA ESPERANZA WIFE, MOTHER, MYSTIC, STIGMATIST & VISIONARY OF THE MARIAN APPARITIONS AT BETANIA, VENEZUELA ................................................................ 267 LUZ DE MARÍA DE BONILLA WIFE, MOTHER, MYSTIC & STIGMATIST ................................................................... 272 LUZ DE MARÍA DE BONILLA’S EXPERIENCE OF AN ILLUMINATION OF CONSCIENCE ........................................................................................................................... 279

FR. MICHEL RODRIGUE PRIEST, MYSTIC, EXORCIST AND FOUNDER & SUPERIOR GENERAL OF THE APOSTOLIC FRATERNITY OF SAINT BENEDICT JOSEPH LABRE ...... 282 NOTES TO THE READER .......................................... 289 OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR ............................... 291 ABOUT THE AUTHOR ............................................. 305 END NOTES........................................................... 307 xi

A NOTE TO NON-CHRISTIANS Before you put this book down . . . I would primarily like to address those readers who may have grudgingly accepted to peruse this book to escape being pestered by a “religious” friend or relative who may be well-meaning, but who makes your eyes glaze over once they begin their habitual “God-talk.” Having little sympathy for such piety, your heart may have sunk already if you took a sneak preview of the contents. Perhaps you noticed endorsements from priests and resolutely “Catholic” expressions that may strike you as being about as comprehensible as a particularly remote dialect of Martian. So you’re at the point of giving up before you’ve started. In an increasingly secular age when many in the Western industrialized nations are alienated from institutional religion, I can certainly understand such a reaction, but I would strongly urge you not to let it discourage you from reading on—at least as far as the jaw-dropping life story of Marino Restrepo, which on its own would be enough to justify publishing this volume. When considered on the level of strict logic, the central claim of this book is not ultimately a religious one (although it certainly has implications for questions of religion). Instead, we are talking about a universal human affirmation: that we will all have an experience during which we will be shown the truth of our lives from A to Z without the possibility of self-justification—a game at which, if we are honest about it, we are all specialists. Our usual options when faced with a guilty conscience—justifying ourselves, making excuses, and diverting attention to others’ faults—will not be open. Our conscience will have been “illuminated” to see these strategies as the moral smokescreens that they are. This may occur as a “life review” at the point of death, as many of those who have come “back from the brink” have testified in the form of near-death experience accounts, currently the object of intense scientific 12

A NOTE TO NON-CHRISTIANS investigation (science-religion dialogue being my own area of professional research).1 Or, as argued in the book, this may happen while we are still alive, during a dramatic worldwide event, an “Illumination of Conscience,” whose purpose is that we would change our lives for the better as a result of what we discover about ourselves. This may seem like a wildly improbable claim to make, and certainly not one that can be asserted without some hard evidence and being subjected to the most rigorous scrutiny. If it is true, then it will hold up under the microscope. If not, then it should be consigned to the category of (pious) fiction at best, religious snake oil at worst. So what is the evidence? Essentially this: that across several centuries and quite independently of one another, many women, men and children—even a group of children—have said that they were told supernaturally about the reality of the Illumination of Conscience, sometimes in great detail. The very idea that some individuals may be the recipients of supernatural communications may appear totally outlandish to the mindset of reductionist science (not that science necessarily has to be reductionist), but it should be said that much of the world’s religious literature is predicated on the notion that “prophets” exist. In the case of Judaism and Christianity, this is a central tenet of faith, prophetic communication being viewed as one of the ways in which God speaks in human history.2 Whatever way you look at them, these testimonies can be described as doubly convergent. Firstly, they agree with one another in an uncanny way that cannot be explained by simple copying or derivation from a “common ancestor” (to use the language of evolutionary biology). Let me just unpack this last idea a little in less scientific terms. We have a set of 1

Among the leading scientific researchers into near-death experience from a medical/neuroscientific perspective are Sam Parnia, leader of the AWARE study at the University of Southampton, Steven Laureys of the Coma Research Group at Liège University, and Bruce Greyson, professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia. One of the most comprehensive recent surveys of near-death experience accounts for a general audience, all the more interesting for not being written from an explicitly Christian perspective, is God and the Afterlife: the Groundbreaking New Evidence of Near-Death Experience by Jeffrey Long, M.D. and Paul Perry (New York: Harper One, 2016), an analysis of over 1000 NDE accounts submitted to the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation (nderf.org). 2 This is affirmed by both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures: Amos 3:7: “Surely the Lord God does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.” Acts 2:17: “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”

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THE WARNING sources here all predicting that a momentous event is going to occur to everyone in the world—and maybe sooner rather than later. Yet this prediction has no obvious literary origin. It is not found directly in Scripture and everything suggests that the sources could not have obtained this knowledge from one another. So where exactly did their information come from? The contention that it was communicated to them supernaturally may sound preposterous, but as an "explanatory hypothesis,” it cannot be dismissed in the absence of a better explanation.3 There is, however, also a second way in which these accounts can be termed convergent. They concur strikingly with the testimonies of individuals who say that their own lives were radically changed by such an experience—an illumination of conscience—that they have already had. And such accounts as those gathered and composed by Christine Watkins in this book are by no means exhaustive.4 A testimony is nothing more than one person’s story, you may object. But if you start cumulating and comparing these stories, you will quickly realize that there are phenomena here requiring some explanation. Why 3

In the branch of philosophy known as epistemology, i.e. the study of how we know things, the kind of reasoning to which I am appealing here is called "inference to a best explanation" or "abduction" (which has nothing to do with aliens in this context, I hasten to add!). Scientists admittedly sometimes regard this sort of mental operation as less certain in terms of delivering proof, as opposed to strict mathematical "deduction,” or to "induction" (making scientific observations, formulating hypotheses and carrying out tests), it is in fact the kind of thinking that governs most of our daily decision-making unless we happen to live in a laboratory! Meaning that in practical terms, it cannot be considered irrational to believe in something (provisionally) because it seems to be the best explanation available. The theory behind abduction was developed in the Scottish "Common-Sense" philosophy of Thomas Reid in the 18th century and then introduced into modern logic by the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce. 4 Figures having attracted international attention and who claim that they have personally experienced something akin to the Illumination include the Polish priests and authors Fr. Adam Skwarczyski and Fr. Augustyn Pelanowski, as well as the Greek Orthodox Vassula Rydén (much contested but endorsed by several leading Catholic cardinals and archbishops). An especially extensive set of alleged prophecies on the subject that are taken seriously in Catholic circles have been attributed to "Sulema,” a woman born in El Salvador but living in Quebec, who has written nearly 800 pages of supposedly inspired material in 3 volumes, published by the Swiss publishers Parvis. This material is currently only available in French; a substantial official selection of excerpts from the three volumes can be downloaded at https://illuminationdela consciencetemoins.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/pdf-comment-se-preparer-alillumination-des-consciences-1.pdf



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A NOTE TO NON-CHRISTIANS are people from such diverse backgrounds, some having lived lives diametrically opposed to any kind of religious ideal, essentially having the same remarkable life-changing illumination independently of one another? And why are they having unsolicited experiences which they did nothing to provoke? The best reason why the sceptic should bother to read this book can perhaps be expressed in the form of an updated version of Pascal’s Wager, the argument in favor of religious belief advanced by the celebrated French mathematician and philosopher in the 17th century.5 If I believe the contents of this volume to be true and decide to change my ethics/worldview accordingly, what do I stand to lose practically if ultimately the idea of an Illumination of Conscience turns out to be spurious? I lose nothing. At most, I might have renounced a hedonistic and self-centred lifestyle, like some of the protagonists in the stories that follow, which is arguably no bad thing, regardless of one’s religious or philosophical outlook. On the other hand, if I decide to discount the present testimonies and the Illumination of Conscience turns out to be a reality that we encounter either in this life or on the threshold of the next, what do I stand to lose? Quite possibly everything, eternally. If this call to “play the percentages” sounds like theological blackmail, then I apologize in advance, but Pascal was undoubtedly one of history’s greatest minds, and although his logic has been contested by many, it has yet to be definitively refuted. I can imagine some readers saying that, despite all the arguments above, this is still not a book for them because they do not belong to this particular religious subculture. To this I would say that neither did most of the individuals whose testimonies unfold in this book. The same event of profound importance happened to them, and they were transformed into happier people with new purpose to their lives. And that, in itself, takes some explaining. ~Peter Bannister

M.Th. in Systematic and Philosophical Theology, University of Wales M.Phil. in Musicology, University of Cambridge Peter Bannister is a British theologian who has worked for the Science & Religion Department of Lyon Catholic University in France and whose writings on spirituality, music, and philosophy have been published by 5

See https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pascal-wager/ (consulted September 5, 2019).

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Authentic accounts of saints and mystics of the Church who have spoken of a day when we will all see our souls in the light of truth, and fascinating stories of those who have already experienced it for themselves.