[The following article is an excerpt from Chapter 8 of Vol.4.  “The Apocalypse in Perspective”]
     “Therefore, since all the works of God were completed in six days, the world must continue in its present state through six ages, that is, six thousand years ... And again, since God, having finished His works, rested the seventh day and blessed it, at the end of the six thousandth year all wickedness must be abolished from the Earth, and righteousness reign for a thousand years; and there must be tranquility and rest from the labours which the world now has long endured ... the dead will rise again, not after a thousand years from their death, but that, when again restored to life, they may reign with God a thousand years. For God will come, that having cleansed the world from all defilement, He may restore the souls of the righteous to their renewed bodies, and raise them to everlasting blessedness.”

      “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and the sea is no more.
      “And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
      “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, `Behold the dwelling of God with men, and he will dwell with them. And they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
      “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying; nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.’ “

Apocalypse 21:1-4.

      “For behold I create new heavens, and a new earth; and the former things shall not be in remembrance, and they shall not come upon the heart.
      “But you shall be glad and rejoice forever in these things, which I create: for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and the people thereof joy.
      “And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
      “There shall no more be an infant of days there, nor an old man that shall not fill up his days; for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed.
      “And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruits of them.
      “They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat; for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of my people, and the works of their hands shall be of long continuance.
      “My elect shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth in trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their posterity with them.
      “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will hear; as they are yet speaking, I will hear.
      “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together; the lion and the ox shall eat straw; and dust shall be the serpent’s food; they shall not hurt nor kill in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.”
Isaiah 65:17-25.
       “Thus you will see with your own eyes the new heavens and new earth.”

Blessed Virgin Mary to Father Gobbi, #8532.

 [What is contained in this article is the end result of correlating information based on Sacred Scripture, the teachings of the Fathers of the Church, Marian prophecy, and rare scientific and historical data. One confirms the other to prove and to show what conditions and life will be like in the New Era of Peace to come.] 

      There has been considerable confusion on the Second Coming of Christ and the New Era of Peace. There are those who think the Second Coming is afar off. Some think the New Era of Peace will be a short passing as we improve our present civilization. Human pride has blinded us into thinking things will continue for some time yet - decades into the future. Hence, many do not recognize the “signs of the times,” the signs of Christ’s return.
      Yet, there are others who are somewhat fanatical about these coming events, saying they are upon us now. What one has to understand is, we are in an interlude, a transition between ages. As detailed in a previous chapter, this transition consists of approximately 331/2 years and is a prelude to Christ’s Second Coming and the New Era of Peace.
      Nevertheless, there are mostly those who simply ignore the signs and are too caught up in life’s daily affairs to even care. Some even scoff or do not believe that the “End Times” are coming upon us.
      Father Stephen Valenta tells us, “Jesus emphatically chided His apostles for not recognizing the signs of the times, signs that were to direct them to an awareness of things to come. The Apostles, being called together away from the people, were instructed by Jesus concerning future happenings which went beyond what He spoke to His general audience. The Apostles shared these with Paul, and with whom we know today as the Early Fathers, which sharing has come down through history as teachings of the Church.” (From the Forward to: THE ERA OF PEACE by Angelo Mazzarese). - - Furthermore, many do not understand in what manner Christ will return. Father Valenta reiterates the teachings of the Fathers of the Church. “...(T)he reign of Christ during the Era of Peace will not be by way of His physical form in the midst of His People. His reign will be through a greater awareness of His Eucharistic Presence assisted physically by a multitude of His resurrected Saints.” (Ibid).

THE NEW ERA OF PEACE

      The Era of Peace is spoken of as lasting a thousand years - a seventh age in the redemptive cycle of time. We are now at the end of the sixth age, within the interlude of 331/2 transitional years, nearing the threshold of the seventh age. (See Chapter 1). The thousand years are not to be taken literally but as approximate time.
     The essential points of millenarianism are as follows: 1. The early return of Christ in all His power and glory. 2. The establishment of an earthly kingdom with the just. 3. The resuscitation of the deceased saints and their participation in the glorious reign. 4. The destruction of the powers hostile to God, and 5. At the end of the kingdom, the universal resurrection with the final judgment, after which the just will enter Heaven, while the wicked will be consigned to the eternal fire of Hell.
     The Era of Peace was part of the teaching of the Apostles and the Early Church Fathers including St. Papius, St. Justin Martyr, St. Ireneaus, St. Polycarp, St. Clement of Rome, and the epilogue of the Didache (also known as the teachings of the Apostles).
     We quote briefly from a few of these:
     “After the resurrection of the dead there will be a period of a thousand years, when Christ’s kingdom will be set up on this Earth in material form. “ (St. Papius).
     “Inasmuch, therefore, as the opinions of certain (orthodox persons) are derived from heretical discourses, they are both ignorant of God’s dispensations, and of the mystery of the resurrection of the just, and of the (earthly) kingdom those who shall be worthy are accustomed gradually to partake of the divine nature; and it is necessary to tell them respecting those things, that it behooves the righteous first to receive the promise of the inheritance which God promised to the fathers, and to reign in it, when they rise again to behold God in this creation which is renovated, and that the judgment should take place afterwards. It is fitting, therefore, that the creation itself, being restored to its primeval condition, should without restraint be under the dominion of the righteous... “ (Ireneous “Against the Heresies,” Book 5, Chapters 32, 36).
     “Then humankind will undergo the fiery test, and many will lose their faith and perish; but those who stand firm in their faith will be saved by none other than the Accursed (Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior). And then the proofs of the truth will appear; the first proof, an opening in the heavens; the next proof, the sounding of the trumpet; and the third, the resurrection of the dead - not of all indeed, but in accordance with the saying: The Lord will come and all the saints with Him. Finally, the world will behold the Lord riding the clouds in the sky.“ (The Epilogue of the Didache).
     Our Lady of Fatima said, “A period of peace will be granted to the world.” Our Lady of La Salette warned, “Suddenly, the persecutors of the Church of Jesus Christ and all those given over to sin will perish and the Earth will become desert-like. And then peace will be made, and man will be reconciled to God. Jesus Christ will be served, worshipped and glorified. Charity will flourish everywhere. The new kings will be the right arm of the Holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious in its poor but fervent in imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and mankind will make great progress in its Faith, for there will be unity among the workers of Jesus Christ and man will live in the fear of God. “
     Necedah has also given prophecy concerning the New Era of Peace (some of which was lost in the Van Hoof farmhouse fire of 1959). It tells of a mild climate the year-round with extended life spans. In later revelations (1978), it was revealed people will live to be hundreds of years old but not age. New life forms will come into being. Mary Ann Van Hoof saw in vision buildings built in natural geometric forms. Most important of all, Christ’s peace will reign in the hearts of men everywhere. At the time of the New Era of Peace there will be one fold and one shepherd. The religious rule and the temporal rule will be joined under one head under the guidance of the Saints.
     The above teachings of the Church Fathers and prophecies give us a limited compartmentalized view of the New Era of Peace. To get a better perspective of how this will come about we need to examine prophecies concerning events immediately after the Three Days of Darkness and the renewal of the Earth and mankind in the Second Pentecost, the Sanctification of man by the Holy Ghost and the Second Coming of Christ in glory.

 THE SECOND PENTECOST

      Immediately after the Three Days of Darkness the Earth according to several prophecies, including La Salette, will be “desert like,” a vast cemetery, etc. As the Earth is renewed (its aurora strengthened) during the advancing Pentecost, according to revelations given to St. Padre Pio, it will be as “springtime.”
     So the Earth immediately after the Great Purification will remain (for a time) a wasteland, desert-like, covered with cadavers where isolated, small groups of people will think they are the only survivors until they meet up with other little groups of survivors. Life will be hard for the remnant Faithful of Christ but they will be completely united in the love of Christ.
     The comet after its passage will leave a great deal of trace minerals deposited from its tail upon the Earth which will enrich the soil tremendously. At first the atmosphere will be poisonous and not fit to breathe for approximately 49 days, but on the fiftieth day (an approximate time period) the air will become pure as the Second Pentecost begins to unfold. The Earth itself, will have its magnetic field renewed and strengthened and the atmosphere and all living things who have survived will be rejuvenated. People will then be able to venture outside their homes and shelters.
     At this point in time, as the Second Pentecost renews the Earth, a simple agriculturally based true Christian society and culture will develop. Gone will be the high technological-corporate fast-paced competitive world economy based on the almighty dollar. A man will build a simple dwelling for himself and his family and will be able to sustain his family on what he grows himself. This is what is indicated in the quote from Isaias at the beginning of this article. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat...”, etc.
     The natural world will live in complete harmony, (“the wolf and the lamb shall feed together...” etc.) with evil forced back into the subterranean recesses of the inner earth (“and dust shall be the serpent’s food.., etc.). A veritable paradise, a “heaven” on Earth will be established with a new natural order ordained by God Himself in place.
     On June 24, 1986, Father Stefano Gobbi in a speech at the International Meeting of Priests in San Marino, clarified the Church teaching on the Second Pentecost and the Second Coming of Christ’s glory. He states about the Second Coming and its meaning: “Christ is in Paradise. He returns because He has already been here in-the human nature. He comes again in a relative way because, Jesus - in His divinity and, of course, also in His human nature - is already present in the Eucharist. He comes again, as far as He wants to reveal Himself in glory to this world and bring His Kingdom upon this world.”
     Father Gobbi further states that Christ in His Second Coming brings in unison the following elements:

            1. The prayer will be entirely fulfilled, which Jesus taught us to pray in the Our Father: “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” All creatures will do God’s will in a complete way. That is why the Kingdom of the Divine Will will come on this Earth.     

            2. It will coincide with the Second Pentecost.

            3. It will be the greatest miracle of divine mercy or, to say it differently,  the triumph of the merciful love of Jesus, Who will open up a new era for this world, a new civilization in order to finally get to know the civilization of love.

            4. Especially, however, the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, through the Second glorious Coming of Christ, will coincide with the coming of the Eucharistic Kingdom of Jesus.

     Father Gobbi tells us that although Christ destroyed the power of Satan, the weakness of human nature will remain but it will be supported to do good.
     At the Coming of Christ in Glory the Second Pentecost will take place over the entire world. According to the Necedah Secret Christ will come in a great shining glory that will outshine the Sun. Christ (hypostatically united to the Holy Trinity through the Word to God the Father within the Spirit of God the Holy Ghost) will transform the world through the Second Pentecost.
     Father Gobbi received the following locution on June 4, 1995:
     “Tongues of divine fire will bring warmth and life to mankind, which has become icy through egotism, hate, violence, and war.
     “So the dried out earth will open itself to the breath of God’s Spirit Who will transform it into a new beautiful garden where the Holy Trinity will then permanently reside.
     “Tongues of fire will descend to illuminate and consecrate the Church, which is going through the dark hour of Calvary.
     “The divine fire of the Holy Ghost will heal all their illnesses, cleanse them of all blemishes of unfaithfulness clad them in beauty and shine over them so that they will revert to their oneness and holiness, and then it will - for the whole world to hear - give complete testimony for Jesus.
     “Tongues of fire will descend on all of you, My poor children, who have been so deceived and led astray by Satan and all evil spirits, who have achieved their great victory during these years. So you will be illuminated by this divine light and recognize yourselves in the mirror of God’s truth and holiness. It will be like a small judgment, which will open the doors of your hearts in order to be able to receive the gift of divine mercy.”
     Christ’s outpouring of power will bring about the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sanctification of the human race. This Sanctification through the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the remnant survivors will be worldwide.
     From the above description of this event (the Second Pentecost) given in this prophecy, definitely appears to be a separate event from the Purification itself. This third descent of “fire” upon the Earth (the Great Warning being the first and the White Fire of the Purification being the second) is more of an energizing and rejuvenating pulse of energy (possibly another galactic wave of energy from deep within the center of the Universe interacting with our Sun) that descends as “tongues of fire” through the Earth’s aurora (causing them to light up) over the entire Earth.
     This energizing fire of the Second Pentecost will restore mankind’s former glory as before the Fall (but as to what degree we cannot be certain).  Man’s powers of the senses and his awareness will be made much greater than now through the strengthening of the energy centers of the human aura for the aura is the glorious light radiating from the soul. (For a better understanding of this subject see “The Essence of the Soul” in the Appendix B, Vol. 1). In short, our souls will be sanctified and our bodies strengthened while our minds will be increased in awareness and power of thought. Thus we will be made aware of the Divine Will of God and will live according to it.
     As Father Gobbi tells us unity will finally come about in the establishment of Christ’s Eucharistic Kingdom on Earth where it will manifest itself within us. He states in his summary: “At the end the most holy Eucharist will unfold its complete divine power and we will get to know the joy of experiencing all the effects of paradise, which the triumph of the Eucharistic Kingdom of Jesus will bring about. We will be on the Earth and we will be beyond it. We will not yet be in paradise but it will be a paradise on Earth which our Lady is preparing for us through the triumph of Her Immaculate Heart in this world.”

THE CANOPY RESTORED

Prophecy points to a time when man will have an increased and extended life span, that people will become healthier, stronger with much greater awareness and power of mind. Vegetation will be in continuous flower and fruit. Temperatures will be even and moderate with no extremes, no violent storms, droughts or monsoons.
     How will it be possible for these conditions to exist? Obviously it will be through the Will of God altering the laws of nature, but how will it be made manifest? The secret is in the canopy being restored in the firmament (the arch of heaven) to its pristine state.
     This canopy of water vapor is not to be confused with the Earth’s present atmosphere especially the troposphere where weather changes occur. The canopy of water vapor we speak of is high in the firmament above the Earth and consists of a number of layers or bands of vaporous clouds (not the usual clouds but translucent watery layers that are luminous in the Sun’s rays). These at one time before the Great Flood, covered the entire Earth with the exception of portals at the poles. (That is why the ancestors of Noah lived to such great ages).
     Aqueous clouds forming the canopy still exist in our solar system. Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune show evidence of a canopy world while Mercury, Earth, and Mars are without. The Earth, however, is the only planet with a substantial atmosphere to produce an active weather system without a canopy. But there is ample evidence the Earth once did possess one. As always we need to probe the past in order to understand the present and the future.
     From the 1870s on through the turn of the century this topic was extensively studied primarily by Isaac Newton Vail but also by Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn, W.E. Brokaw, and others. Much of the works were published by the Annular  World Company.
     What was discovered proves very interesting concerning our once canopied skies. Mr. Vail through his research reaffirms “the certainty that primitive man saw the last remnants of the Earth’s Annular System revolving over him as a great world-roof of watery vapors, and that it involved him in a world environment necessarily Edenic in character, and catastrophic in its close, and that the narrative of the Flood is a simple and truthful account of the fall of that `upper deep” of waters, as the memory of surviving humanity deposed.” (THE MISREAD RECORD by Isaac Newton Vail, p 8),
     Mr. Vail also points out “it is a well-known fact that the races of men in different parts of the Earth have left records that point unmistakably to the skies as a source of waters.” He points out the Hindus, the Greeks, the Hebrews, the Japanese, and others give testimony to a canopied world.
     In the first chapter of Genesis when the Elohim (God) made the heavens and the Earth an expanse or firmament was made and “God called the firmament, “Heaven” (Genesis 1:8) and the firmament was “made amidst the waters; and let it divide the waters from the waters.” (Genesis 1:6). Some of the waters were below the firmament (heavens) on Earth and in the atmosphere and some of the waters were above the firmament in the annular-layered canopy of “the deep.” This is what Genesis 1:7 tells us. “And God made a firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament, from those that were above the firmament, and it was so.” The “Great Deep” referred to in Genesis 7:11-12 is this same canopy of the firmament. This “Great Deep” is the vaporous annular system found in the “heavens” surrounding the Earth.
     The Hebrew word for Heaven is “Shamayin” meaning simply “there waters.” This canopy of vaporous waters formed above the firmament (heaven) concealed the true heavens and hence the Sun, moon, and the stars. Bible students conclude that the Hebrew words “or” and “maorim” refer to the Sun and the moon. They really mean “light” and lights.” The word, “Shemesh,” translated as “sun” really means “strength” or “light of the Sun.”
     “Shemesh,” then refers to the strength or light of the Sun or a Sun’s regent but not the true Sun itself. The canopy of vaporous waters shielded the Earth from the direct rays of the Sun (and moon). Hence the reason as Mr. Vail points out they “are silent characters in ancient Biblical thought until after the Flood.” “Shemesh,” for certain, refers to the “regent of the Sun,” which simply means the Sun’s rays illuminated the canopy. The canopy in turn as the “regent” for the Sun, shown its reflected and refracted light upon the Earth. The same process would be true for the moon’s light. Furthermore, the illuminated canopy or “regent of light” would reflect and deflect the Sun’s rays with an even “soft” illumination but not a bright burning glare as today. It would even illuminate to a certain degree the so called shadowed side of the Earth. Hence, the term “day and night” do not have the same meaning as they did then. Daylight then was a nice even illumination, bright enough but not as intense as now nor were the nights as dark as now but merely “shadows” of what we have today.
     Such filtered light rays produce a greenhouse world of even and mild temperatures, balanced humidity; a world watered by dew and mists (not by rainstorms) where the Sun’s damaging ultra violet rays will no longer age and weaken man and beast. Vegetation will grow much more luxuriant as that in a greenhouse but will be even larger and healthier. Plants will produce flower and fruit at a more gradual rate continuously all year-round. Flower, green fruit, and ripening fruit will be found simultaneously on trees all year long. We would not have plants producing flower and fruit in the hurried seasonal cycles as we have today.
     How much more would man, animal, and plant flourish in this perfect “greenhouse” of God’s Paradise on Earth? All this paradise under God’s protective “roof’ - this canopy will stabilize the atmosphere establishing a calm and tranquil environment. Because of the stable atmosphere (with even humidity and temperature) there would be no direct and uneven heating of the Earth’s surface to produce windstorms. There would be no violent conditions of any kind: no drought, no tropical monsoons, hurricanes, severe thunderstorms, tornadic activity, blizzards, or deep cold, etc. The Earth would be caressed by gentle air currents and watered with dew that would precipitate as a gentle rain. It will be the Garden of Eden restored.
     But how will this canopy be restored? We get our first clue in Apocalypse 21:1: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and the sea is no more.” A footnote to this verse says, “The quality of the Earth will be changed but not the substance,” which fits with prophecy. But note the “sea is no more.” Why?
     Today the sea (the five great oceans) cover more than 70% of the Earth’s surface. Much of this water originally came from the collapsing canopy which created the Great Noachian Flood that ended with a clear blue sky; a sky in which wind, rain, and rainbows were made manifest for the first time in ages. We know the rainbow was a sign of God’s Covenant with man that “the waters would no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.” (Genesis 9:15). Why? Because after the canopy collapsed there was a new order to nature and no longer was there a source for waters to produce a great flood.
     However, if the canopy is to be restored, where will the water vapors which are needed to form a canopy come from? We turn to the Third Secret of Fatima which according to Monsignor Conrado Balducci, says in part: “The waters of the ocean will turn to vapor, and the tide will rise and submerge everything... “ Here we seem to have an answer but yet an apparent contradiction: the oceans vaporize yet still rise.
     If the waters rise, it will be because of the melting polar ice caps and  because ocean waters will be thrown out of their beds by the violent shaking and even shifting of the Earth’s crust. This is only temporary as the main destruction will be by fire. This great fire has been described as “a sheet of fire” or as “the Great White Fire.” It will be so intense in heat as to melt rock and vaporize the waters of the oceans. This fiery conflagration will cover the entire Earth and as given to Julka of Yugoslavia and to Mary Ann in Necedah, cause the very atmosphere to burn white-hot. The waters will become so hot that people who take refuge in them will burn instead of finding relief. A tremendous amount of water will vaporize into steam or mist and rise up into the heavens above the Earth.
     This brings us again to the Third Secret of Fatima. There are two very similar accounts of this event in the Third Secret that have been given but have been “put down” by Fatima experts and suppressed. A close study of these accounts reveal that the Third Secret confirms the above to be so and fits with all other prophecy on the subject. The first we will quote is from Emmett Culligan released in the 1960s: “Then fire and smoke will fall from the sky and the waters of the oceans will turn to steam - hurling their foam toward the sky... “ The second account we take note of appears to be a more accurate translation and much in keeping in how this event will take place. According to the transcript of the Third Secret by Tamisha Belarion: “Fire and smoke will fall from the sky. The waters of the oceans will change into steam, and the steam will rise and overflow everything.  The waters of the ocean will become mist. “ This transcript eliminates the contradiction we mentioned earlier, for it is the mist (or steam) that will overflow everything. This transcript then, is much more in line with the actual process of turning the waters into vapor or mist to form a canopy. These oceanic waters worldwide turning to steam or mist will rise high into the upper realms of the atmosphere and gradually condense into the vaporous annular bands or layers forming the new canopy. The process may take some time but as sure as “what goes up must come down,” in this case, “what comes down, must go up.”

 SPIRITUAL ADVICE IN TIME OF TRIBULATION

 Words of PIUS XII

     May 13, 1942 – “Let us rekindle in ourselves the spirit of love; let us hold ourselves ever ready to collaborate with our faith and our hands, after the most extensive, disastrous and bloody cataclysm of all history, to reconstruct from the pile of material and moral ruins a world that bonds of brotherly love will weld in peace, a world in which, with the help of the Almighty, all may be new hearts, words and works.” 

     June 29, 1941 – “Trust in God means abandonment of oneself….in spite of all the doubts suggested by appearance to the contrary, to the wisdom, the infinite love of God.  It means believing that God can permit, at times here below, for some time the preeminence of atheism and of impiety, the lamentable obscuring of a sense of justice, the violation of law, the tormenting of innocent, peaceful, undefended, helpless men.  It means believing that God at times thus lets trials befall individuals and peoples, trials of which the malice is the instrument in a design of justice directed toward the punishment of sin, towards purifying persons and peoples through the expiations of this present life and bringing them back by that way to Himself; but it means believing at the same time that this justice always remains here below the justice of a Father inspired and dominated by love.”  

     “…It means believing finally that the fierce intensity of the trial, like the triumph of evil, will endure even here below only for a fixed time and not longer; that the Hour of God will come, the hour of mercy, the hour of holy rejoicing, the hour of the new canticle of liberation, the hour of exultation and of joy, the hour in which, after having let the hurricane loose for a moment on humanity, the All-Powerful Hand of the Heavenly Father, with an imperceptible motion, will detain it and disperse it and, by ways little known to the mind or to the hopes of men, justice, calm and peace will be restored to the nations.”