The Last Secret [Paperback]

Michael Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1998

New from the bestselling author of "The Final Hour" comes "The Last Secret", in which Michael Brown takes a look at the apparitions of the Virgin Mary as she has appeared throughout church history. A comprehensive volume that systematically reveals what she has been saying to us, this title shows how those messages apply to life today .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When a book about Mary strays from the Mary of the New Testament, it risks running wild. When a book about Mary takes seriously what non-scriptural sources say about her, it risks becoming parody, merely catering to Marian enthusiasts. Brown's book is among the latter. The author takes legends at face value and accepts reports of apparitions and messages from the Virgin, some apocalyptic in nature, with a less than critical eye. The line between fact and fiction blurs considerably in this book as Brown tells the stories of Marian apparitions down through the centuries, whether approved by church authorities or not. The Mary of the visions reported in this survey is less the human mother of Jesus than a divinely perfect creature who pleads with her son to be more like God. Brown's portrait of the Blessed Virgin fails to achieve a critical distance from his subject, producing a hagiography useful mostly to those who already believe the most far-fetched tales of Mary's intercession in human affairs.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 380 pages
• Publisher: Servant Publications (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579183395
• ISBN-13: 978-1579183394
• ASIN: 1569550239
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #726,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting detailing of apparitions, November 17, 2009

By 

James (S. Burlington, Vermont) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Secret (Paperback)

The Last Secret is kind of a more expanded "The Final Hour" and covers Marian apparitions after her assumption into heaven to the 1990s. The detailing of apparitions before the black death hit Europe is fascinating. Michael Brown claims Mary went all over Europe asking people to repent in anticipation of the dreadful disease. Some towns that honored Mary in particular ways in response to her visit were spared, he claims.

27 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars author embroidered too much--irritating, March 13, 2003

By 

Margot Early (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Secret (Paperback)

I have not finished this book. The author's descriptions of Mary are off-putting. For example: "If early images are correct, she had a small straight mouth, a thin chiseled nose, and a drawn look that was sometimes sorrowful. She was of medium height and had brown hair with dark bangs and eyebrows, her face neither long nor round but oval, her hands and fingers tapered, delicate, and long. She was a regular peasant in a small, regular hillside house, and her life had been one of prayer and toil: drawing water, cooking, and repairing clothes. She had subsisted on fruit, fish, and bread; in manner always serene and demure...."

I have not seen the Blessed Mother, but I would be surprised if her expression is "drawn." And I doubt her manner was "always serene and demure." A "regular peasant"? The mother of God, while pregnant, traveled to see her pregnant cousin and stay with her till the birth of her child. At a wedding, she basically told her Son to turn the water into wine.

Contrast the author's description with the words of Julian of Norwich (admittedly a saint and the first woman to write a book in English): "a simple maid and meek, so young she seemed like a mere child--yet the very same age when she conceived. And God showed me then something of the wisdom and truth of her soul In particular, I saw her attitude toward God, her Maker, how she marveled with great reverence when he wished to be born of her, who was a mere and simple creature he himself had made. It was this wisdom, this truth, seeing how great was her Maker compared to her own littleness, that made her say to Gabriel, 'Behold me, God's handmaid.' Then I knew for certain that she was more worthy and more full of grace than all the rest of God's creation, with the sole exception of the manhood of Christ."

Also, I personally dislike the notion that Mary's life was one of "prayer and toil." What about relationships with people? And she had a Little Boy. Didn't she play with Him? I feel, think and believe her life was one of LOVE.

So, the visions are interesting, but the author defeats himself more than a little with perilously distracting--and highly debatable--asides.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Last Secret, by Michael H. Brown, July 22, 2005

By 

Patricia Privett "Pastor Pat" (Sebastian, Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Last Secret (Paperback)

Wonderful, wonderful book!! Everyone should read this book, as there is much enlightenment to be found in this particular book. It helped me as a Protestant Pastor to understand the Virgin Mary, and Catholic doctrine.