A Trad seminarian I knew from New York City became convinced by an autodidact in biblical prophecy and apparitions. The \u201cprophet,\u201d whom I\u2019ll call \u201cEd,\u201d spoke in an almost constant stream of profanities like a Martin Scorcese character, but he wore a full-body scapular sewn with hundreds of first-class relics, so he was clearly on to something. Ed swore, among other things, that the Third Secret of Fatima was a save-the-date note predicting the Second Coming\u2026 on Oct. 13, 1994. \u201cOur Lady\u2019s gonna let her divine Son tear this planet a new one,\u201d Ed said with an equable smile. His disciple, my friend, dropped out of the seminary and moved back in with his mother to wait for the End. I waited too\u2014for Oct. 14, 1994, on which date I phoned this seminarian at the office to point out, \u201cThat was subtle.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
See also his tales of encounter with the epic quackery of Malachi Martin. Funny stuff.<\/p>\n
As John points out, the itch to have the inside track on The Future[TM] is not confined to one subculture of the Church, nor even to Christians. I would argue, in fact, that Communism was an apocalyptic cult that simply added the innovation of trying to hurry the Millennium along at gunpoint. It all comes back to pride and fear. Pride over having the Inside Track denied lesser beings and fear of the future. Like John, I suggest avoiding this stuff and sticking with things like the Mass, the Bible, the sacraments, and the works of mercy. Gnosis puffs up. Love builds up.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here he is, holding forth in his inimitable style on the odd subculture of End Times speculation: A Trad seminarian I knew from New York City became convinced by an autodidact in biblical prophecy and apparitions. The \u201cprophet,\u201d whom I\u2019ll call \u201cEd,\u201d spoke in an almost constant stream of profanities like a Martin Scorcese character, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[47],"class_list":["post-42472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-theyre-tunneling-under-your-house"],"yoast_head":"\n
John Zmirak Slays Me Sometimes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here he is, holding forth in his inimitable style on the odd subculture of End Times speculation: A Trad seminarian I knew from New York City became\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2013\/03\/john-zmirak-slays-me-sometimes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"John Zmirak Slays Me Sometimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here he is, holding forth in his inimitable style on the odd subculture of End Times speculation: A Trad seminarian I knew from New York City became\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2013\/03\/john-zmirak-slays-me-sometimes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-01T07:01:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-30T07:31:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2013\/03\/john-zmirak-slays-me-sometimes.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2013\/03\/john-zmirak-slays-me-sometimes.html\",\"name\":\"John Zmirak Slays Me Sometimes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-01T07:01:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-30T07:31:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\"},\"description\":\"Here he is, holding forth in his inimitable style on the odd subculture of End Times speculation: A Trad seminarian I knew from New York City became\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2013\/03\/john-zmirak-slays-me-sometimes.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2013\/03\/john-zmirak-slays-me-sometimes.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2013\/03\/john-zmirak-slays-me-sometimes.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"John Zmirak Slays Me Sometimes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\",\"description\":\"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\",\"name\":\"Mark Shea\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Shea\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"John Zmirak Slays Me Sometimes","description":"Here he is, holding forth in his inimitable style on the odd subculture of End Times speculation: A Trad seminarian I knew from New York City became","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2013\/03\/john-zmirak-slays-me-sometimes.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"John Zmirak Slays Me Sometimes","og_description":"Here he is, holding forth in his inimitable style on the odd subculture of End Times speculation: A Trad seminarian I knew from New York City became","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2013\/03\/john-zmirak-slays-me-sometimes.html","og_site_name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","article_published_time":"2013-03-01T07:01:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-12-30T07:31:37+00:00","author":"Mark Shea","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Shea","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2013\/03\/john-zmirak-slays-me-sometimes.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2013\/03\/john-zmirak-slays-me-sometimes.html","name":"John Zmirak Slays Me Sometimes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-03-01T07:01:21+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-30T07:31:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5"},"description":"Here he is, holding forth in his inimitable style on the odd subculture of End Times speculation: A Trad seminarian I knew from New York City became","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2013\/03\/john-zmirak-slays-me-sometimes.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2013\/03\/john-zmirak-slays-me-sometimes.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2013\/03\/john-zmirak-slays-me-sometimes.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"John Zmirak Slays Me Sometimes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/","name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","description":"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5","name":"Mark Shea","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Shea"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42472\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}