False prophets have existed ever since God first began communicating with mankind. They claim to hear voices from heaven—whether from God, saints, or angels—and that they have been entrusted with urgent revelations. That they exist is nothing new: they lived in Old Testament times alongside legitimate prophets, and they exist today.
What is new, however, is the sheer speed and scale with which alleged private revelations are spreading today. In the digital age, YouTube prophets, websites, and social media accounts spring up overnight to disseminate messages of chastisement, global cataclysms, preparing for the end times, and counting down to the kingdom and promised second coming of Jesus. Such messages are consumed by countless Catholics sincerely trying to be faithful to the Lord Jesus in a world that feels increasingly unstable. In some Catholic circles, the messages become the lens through which the times are judged, and actions are determined that are deemed to be an appropriate response.
Online platforms that spread the messages of the alleged prophets, locutionists, and visionaries appear to lack any genuine criteria for determining what may be authentically from God and what may be from some other origin, whether it be of human invention, a delusion, or even from Satan. Such platforms generally operate outside of the official organs of the Catholic Church. Many are run by well-meaning Catholics who, it seems, do not make use of the Church’s well-established criteria for discerning the source of an alleged message.
The increase in alleged messages from heaven has not happened in a vacuum. That the volume of messages has increased and that they are quickly disseminated to Catholics worldwide corresponds—it cannot be denied—to an increase in appetite among Catholics for such content.
The logical question is: “Why?”
What drives this growing hunger for heavenly messages? What drives Catholics to the websites that promote this content?
Seeking answers to these and other questions, I reached out to Michael D. O’Brien, a friend and a man who has thought long and hard about this very issue. O’Brien often weaves his insights into the books he crafts (seventeen novels published to date), among which are several that address prophetic and apocalyptic themes, such as his fictional Father Elijah, in addition to his non-fiction book The Apocalypse: Warning, Hope, and Consolation.
One answer that has come out in my interview with Michael, published in full below, is that there is a spiritual mechanism at work that has created the appetite for prophecies and messages from heaven.
It works like this: when those tasked with shepherding the Church fail to provide the kind of shepherding Catholics need to flourish in these tumultuous times, the flock turns to other sources in search of answers, direction, and the help they so desperately crave. In other words, Catholics turn to other voices when they experience a vacuum when it comes to clear spiritual leadership.
“If there is doctrinal, theological, and moral confusion among the shepherds of the flock of the Lord, a situation is created in which wolves and thieves can enter,” Michael told me.
This mechanism can certainly be seen in Old Testament times. When the people of God suffered from a lack of spiritual leadership, false prophets found fertile ground to thrive. Today is no different. In recent years, Catholics have seen a rise in doctrinal, theological, and moral confusion on issues that have long been considered settled, leaving many unsure of where to turn. Some have felt lost, vulnerable, and in need of guidance, like “sheep without a shepherd” (Mt 9:36). Some have turned to the voices that appeared to offer what they were looking for. Sadly, in some instances, the voices they found slowly began to lead them outside the bosom of Holy Mother Church with messages that turned them against recent popes and councils. Tragically, some even went as far as following voices that rejected Francis as Pope, calling him a “usurper.”
Today, the Church stands at a crossroads. With the election of Pope Leo XIV, Catholics are in need of a shepherd who will guide with clarity and fidelity to the voice of Christ. The faithful need a pope who reflects the heart of the Good Shepherd—one whose voice the sheep recognize and trust, because he knows them and calls them by name.
What Saint John wrote of Christ in this regard applies to popes—Shepherds of the Church—as much as to Christ: “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger [i.e., the false prophets], but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers” (Jn 10:3-5).
Catholics tempted by false prophets could be helped if the Successor of the Prince of the Apostles spoke with clarity in the unmistakable voice of Christ, the Good Shepherd—a unifying voice rooted in Scripture, sacred Tradition, and previous Magisterial teaching.
Catholic theologian George Weigel, writing shortly after the passing of Francis about the kind of pope the Church needs today, emphasized the importance of such a clear voice: “the next pontificate must understand what the Francis pontificate seems not to have grasped: Christian communities that maintain a clear understanding of their doctrinal and moral identity and boundaries can not only survive the acids of post-modernity; they have a chance to convert the post-modern world.”
“By contrast,” Weigel warned, “Christian communities whose self-identity becomes incoherent, whose boundaries become porous, and who mirror the culture rather than trying to convert it wither and die.”
The hope now is that Pope Leo XIV will rise to this moment. When the Vicar of Christ on earth truly speaks with the voice of Christ, it is to be hoped that Catholics who have wandered into spiritual wastelands—seeking comfort from uncertain voices—may return to the fold. They will recognize in him the voice of the Good Shepherd and turn away from those who imitate. In this way, there will be “one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16).
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Baklinski: Private revelation within the Church is often viewed as the product of eccentric or extreme people relaying their subjective mystical experiences. Would you say that it’s wisest to ignore this phenomenon altogether?
O’Brien: Anything I might say on the matter must be set in the context that prophecy is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and the Church throughout the ages has always been blessed by it. It should be respected in its proper perspective. The great spiritual directors—I’m thinking of St. Teresa of Avila, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Alphonsus of Liguori, St. John of the Cross, and numerous others—teach that such revelations can arise from authentic inspiration, a grace or light given by God to assist the faithful in their growth in faith, hope, and love. St. Paul reminds us in his first letter to the Thessalonians, “Do not despise prophecy. But test everything, retaining what is good.” (1 Thess 5: 20-21).
Baklinski: That it must be tested implies that not everything called a revelation is necessarily so.
O’Brien: Yes, absolutely.
Baklinski: In the last decade or so, have you noticed an increase in people claiming to be receiving revelations from God? If so, why do you think this might be happening?
O’Brien: It’s undeniable that the number of people claiming to be voices of revelation is increasing, and that many of these are unreliable. There are several causes, primarily the climate of fear that infests every level of society—endlessly provoking our anxieties and pushing us in the direction of cosmic terror. Instinctively, people yearn for answers and for protection from the dark chaos that is looming.
For baptized believers, this can take the form of growing reliance on supposed insider knowledge, a kind of newsfeed from Heaven that they believe will rescue them from present and future tribulations. A powerful chemistry, and potentially an addictive one.
Inherent in human nature is the belief, conscious or subconscious, that knowledge will save us. Thus, even for Christians, there can be a drift into a mentality that is neo-gnostic, a “baptized” fortune-telling, so to speak.
This is very different from the revelations of Fatima and other approved apparitions, and the messages of saints, where we see a consistent simplicity, a call to repentance, increased prayer and sacrifice, and trust in the eventual triumph of good over evil. Such authentic graces from Heaven never offer a survival kit or route-map for saving our lives, but rather they point us in the direction of true salvation: to live fully in Jesus Christ, to abandon ourselves to Divine Providence as we grow ever more deeply in Trust and Hope.
Baklinski: Are there Catholics today who are seeking what you call “insider knowledge” because of a lack of genuine guidance from today’s shepherds of the Church? In other words, do the shepherds bear some of the blame for this trend? If so, how would you briefly summarize what is happening among the shepherds that are making the faithful prone to turning to such sources of so-called knowledge?
O’Brien: If there is doctrinal, theological, and moral confusion among the shepherds of the flock of the Lord, a situation is created in which wolves and thieves can enter. Confusion and division are telling signs that the evil one is at work. There is a grave need for all pastors of souls to repent and to take up the hard labor that the Lord himself has entrusted to them. This does not mean sly strategizing or ecclesial politics. It means dying to oneself for the sake of the flock; it means imparting true teaching and defending the flock regardless of the cost.
In this regard, I think of Jesus’ exhortation in the Book of Revelation: “I know your works; I know the reputation you have of being alive, when in fact you are dead! Awake, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death.” (Rev 3: 7).
Baklinski: Do you see any evidence that some of the sources today claiming to be receiving revelations from heaven are wolves and thieves? Or, are some of these simply delusional? Are there any trends you are seeing in today’s so-called seers that worry you? If so, what are they?
O’Brien: To assess individually the sheer number of voices claiming to receive messages from Heaven would be a full-time task. Many of them produce messages daily or weekly. I think that few if any of them are intentionally malicious; indeed, I believe they desire to do good. It is never our task to judge them ad hominem, as God alone can judge their motives or culpability. However, the Church, including individual Catholics, has a right, and a duty, to exercise diligence in discerning the content of the messages. There are solid criteria the Church employs when assessing a private revelation.
Baklinski: How ought a Catholic begin discerning whether a so-called message from heaven is, in fact, from God, or man, or, perhaps even from Satan, whom Jesus calls the “father of lies?”
O’Brien: First, each of us must humbly accept the truth about our human vulnerability to deception. As the saints have warned us, we must recognize that mystical experiences can be generated by subjective human opinions and emotions manifesting in the imagination. They can also be prompted by Satan. Clearly, the most subtle of demons would not have much success misleading faithful souls by blatant falsehood or sinful promptings. His strategy with devout souls is to “inspire” in them beautiful religious images and thoughts into which he has inserted a drop of poison. Alternatively, he begins with a series of inspirations that are pure enough, but once addiction has been established, the poison is injected subtly, growing in strength.
Baklinski: Can you give us some specific tools of discernment?
O’Brien: This demands a book-length answer. I would urge those who wish to understand more about these questions to read two very wise, perceptive books: Dr. Mark Miravalle’s Private Revelation: Discerning With the Church, and Fr. Benedict Groeschel’s A Still Small Voice: A Practical Guide on Reported Revelations. An excellent shorter analysis, by Fr. William G. Most, can be found on the EWTN website, linked here.
For my part, I would say that we first have to understand the difference between discerning a question and discernment of spirits. Discerning is more a faculty of the intellect, using our reason to judge a matter well. Discernment of spirits is a gift of the Holy Spirit, a kind of spiritual radar, one might call it, and it too has certain principles to guide us.
Ideally, both faculties should be functioning within us when we address a difficult question such as the authenticity of a private revelation. Even so, using discernment alone we can still detect some negative signs indicating that the supposed revelation is of human or diabolic origins. For example:
—The alleged “messages from Heaven” advocate heresy, apostasy, or schism, either directly or indirectly by implication.
—The messages propose dates for approaching calamities, and when such dates are passed with the prophecy unfulfilled, the supposed prophecy is retro-deleted from publications, or else the “delay” is rationalized as God granting more time for the locutionist’s messages to reach a larger audience.
These first two criteria are sufficient to indicate that the messages are clearly false. The following are various warning signs that the messages are likely false:
—The seer or locutionary originally desired to experience supernatural phenomena and was pleased when it began and is pleased that it continues to occur.
—The seer or locutionary experiences no healthy caution about being deceived—lacking the necessary “fear of the Lord” that is always present in authentic instruments of God.
—The seer or locutionary has excessive self-identification with the alleged role of a divine messenger. Their sense of worth is dependent on it, a kind of self-validation.
—The seer or locutionary is very religious but temperamentally a “big personality”, or an emotionally wounded one, who seeks to draw attention to himself or herself (or permits others to exalt him).
—Alternatively, the seer or locutionary chooses to remain anonymous in order to avoid assessment by proper ecclesial authority (in contrast to those who wish to remain anonymous to the public for the sake of humility but remain privately in communication with their bishop and in absolute submission to his authority).
—If the work of a seer or locutionary is censored by proper ecclesial authorities, he or she justifies disobedience by claiming that the Church is infiltrated by the devil, who wishes to block the seer or locutionary’s mission to save souls.
—The alleged messages are rich in devotional language but occasionally drift into over-emotional phrasing. Also, if the supposed words of Christ, Our Lady, the Saints and Angels are expressed in hackneyed or slang terms and silly idioms, this is an indication that much, if not all, of the supposed inspiration originates in the visionary’s inner emotions and imagination.
—The seer or locutionary is consciously or subconsciously influenced by reading or listening to the messages of other like-minded people. There is a psychological need to continue to be a significant voice for Heaven, and thus the constant need for new material, which one obtains by what might be called cross-pollination.
—There is a marketing mentality in the promulgation of their messages—selling books of collected messages, and other religious paraphernalia associated with it, with the guarantee that these will save you from coming tribulations. Of course, the writings of saints and Church-approved private revelations are also widely published, but in contrast, they invariably focus on spiritual growth and make no guarantees.
Baklinski: Obviously, discerning this entire field is a daunting challenge. Isn’t there a temptation to dismiss it altogether? And how can we retain what is good, as St. Paul exhorts us?
O’Brien: Again, we must always keep in mind that there are legitimate graces granted to certain souls for the good of others, and this can include promulgating inspiring thoughts that will strengthen the Body of Christ. Always with such graces, we will find humility and docility to the authority of the Church. There will be no doctrinal errors. There will be no condemnation of others. The messages will be worded with simplicity and dignity. They will not be focused on predictions of times and places, nor self-preservation; they will focus on the real resources we are truly in need of; that is, ever-deepening love for the Lord, abandonment of our lives into His hands, increased prayer and sacrifice, penance and intercession, and ultimately, growth in absolute trust in the fulfillment of Christ’s victory over all evil.
Nevertheless, even if all these positive criteria are met, prudence demands that a certain caution be maintained. Private revelation is not Divine Revelation—it must never be treated like a Fifth Gospel. Sadly, many people are now directing their lives as if it were.
Baklinski: What do you see as the dangers to those who unknowingly follow false prophets or who put stock in false revelations?
O’Brien: The danger is fundamentally a spiritual one: If the “prophet” and supposed “revelations” are indeed false, then even the most devout person can unwittingly become directed by adverse spirits. Without realizing it, he is gradually shifted from genuine attentiveness to the Holy Spirit and reliance on grace, to dependence on an oracular voice as his guide through the perils of our times. This danger is also present when the revelations appear to have some legitimate characteristics but have not yet been fully discerned by Church authorities. The consequences of this can be catastrophic—for example, a sailor may embark on a long sea voyage, and if his compass is off by even one degree, the error may appear to be insignificant at the beginning, but by the end of the voyage this translates into hundreds of miles off course from his intended destination.
Of course, the question of private revelation is not a matter of mere navigational error. We are talking about the health and the destiny of human souls here, of salvation and damnation, the possibility that people piloted by evil spirits will not arrive at their home port.
Baklinski: What have you found helpful in orienting your life toward God in the midst of these difficult times?
O’Brien: To remain in Christ’s peace I have found it essential to live the whole life of the Faith: the Sacraments, daily Mass as often as I can, frequent confession, and fidelity to prayer. This includes the daily Rosary and Divine Mercy chaplet, along with spontaneous prayers from morning to night. I often ask God for the supernatural grace of Hope (which is something quite different from natural optimism). And I constantly ask Him to continue the long task of reforming my character and bringing me to greater maturity and trust in Him. I never neglect prayer for spiritual protection for myself and my family. I offer the prayers of the three young men in the fiery furnace of Babylon. I pray the Psalms, very often Psalm 56, where King David says, “O Most High, when I begin to fear, in you will I trust.” More and more, I find myself exclaiming the words of the boy David when he faced Goliath, “The battle is the Lord’s!” (I Sam 17:47).
Baklinski: Are there any scriptural passages that have especially been speaking to you in these times?
O’Brien: There are rather too many to mention here, but I constantly return to a passage in St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians:
“The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4: 6-7).
Another is from the Book of Proverbs:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him
and He will make straight your paths. (Prov 3: 5-6)
And these words of Jesus at the Last Supper: “I tell you all this that in me you may have peace. You will suffer in this world. But take courage! I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33).
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False prophets preach another gospel. False prophets today proclaim the need for “ecological conversion” instead of repentence for the coming of the Kingdom of Christ in a New Heaven and New Earth.
False prophets preach Fiducia Supplicans.