Category: mary worship

Posted in false religion, God, jesus, mary worship, worship

"All to Jesus through … Mary?" Catholics are taught to worship Mary as God

Posted on by elizabethprata

A friend was walking in the Italian-Catholic neighborhood of Boston’s North End. He wrote that he passed by an impromptu shrine. He took a photo of it. I read the statement on the bottom of the shrine, which was dedicated to and all about Mary, and it sounded like a creed to me. It was also blasphemy. I decided to look it up.

Why blasphemy? The word of God does not say to “all to Mary” nor does it say to get to Jesus by going through Mary. James 4:7 says submit yourselves to God. Exodus 20:5 says not to bow down to another [besides the one true God]. Ephesians 5:23-24 says Christ is the head of the church and the church submits to Him.

The most successful false teachings are almost the truth. False teachings are like a Peanut M&M. There is an attractive, bright candy coating. There is a layer of velvety chocolate. But buried deep inside is a nut. Picture that nut as the false teaching. False teaching is layer upon layer of goodness with a hidden poison pill buried deep inside.

So often, attention is given to religions that seem like they so far away from Christianity, like atheism and Islam. But all false religions are spiritually the same, because they originate from the same source. However, some false religions seem almost true, because they claim Jesus, they use scriptures so well, and they have a seeming logic to them. But these are the most dangerous of all. For example, int eh Garden of Eden, satan disguised as a serpent didn’t approach the woman by saying, “God is wrong! Don’t listen to Him!” He approached the women by asking questions, insinuating, and blending half truths with lies.

When I searched for “all to Jesus through Mary” I found the following. It is brilliant in its false logic, evilly deadly in its blending of half-truths and full-on lies, you would see if you read the piece in its entirety. It is a Catholic piece written by a Catholic-educated man named Jayson Brunelle, and one of his many books that he has written is titled “The Blessed Mother’s Plan to Save Humanity.” This essay about how Mary is Co-Redemptrix with Jesus appeared in the Homiletical and Pastoral Review last year.

To Jesus, Through Mary, In the Spirit of St. Joseph: The Wheat, the Rose, and the Lily
“St. Louis de Montfort and St. Maximillian Kolbe, … have consistently taught that the most appropriate response on our part to Mary’s role as spiritual mother is filial entrustment, or “total consecration” to her. This perfect devotion of total con­secration to Jesus through Mary is truly the most sanctifying of all devotions.”

That was the sub-hed, or the article summary. Let’s take a moment to look at the word ‘consecration” and what it means. It is a word that has a concept that’s wide-ranging, but Easton’s Bible Dictionary explains the basic meaning–

“The devoting or setting apart of anything to the worship or service of God. The race of Abraham and the tribe of Levi were thus consecrated (Exodus 13:2, 12, 15; Numbers 3:12). The Hebrews devoted their fields and cattle, and sometimes the spoils of war, to the Lord (Leviticus 27:28, 29). According to the Mosaic law the first-born both of man and beast were consecrated to God. In the New Testament, Christians are regarded as consecrated to the Lord (1 Peter 2:9).

When something is set apart for holy use, whether a priest of the Old Testament, cattle, or a New Testament modern believer, it means set apart for the Lord’s use, in worship and devotion to Him. To continue with the article “To Jesus through Mary”,

So very few persons, pious Catholic Christians included, realize the tremendous role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the sanctification of souls. Being spiritual mother of the Mystical Body, she, along with the Holy Spirit, has the tasks of forming Christ in souls, and nourishing her children with the milk of divine grace.

In that passage, the author is putting a sinner, Mary, in equal position with the Holy Spirit, whose ministry it is to point to Christ in souls. (1 Corinthians 2:14). Yes, Mary was a sinner like you and me, in need of a savior. She said as much in Luke 1:27. She is a servant of God, certainly not equal with God, and said so in Luke 1:48. The One who upholds the universe by the word of His power does not make a sinner co-equal in His work! (Hebrews 1:3)

Mary does not dispense divine grace. Only our Trinitarian God does that. As Charles Spurgeon said, “It is the chief office of the Holy Spirit to glorify Christ.” Yet Catholics are taught that Mary sanctifies souls, is our ‘spiritual mother’, and delivers divine grace.

When you speak of these things to a Catholic, they will deny they worship Mary, claiming that ‘venerating’ her is only giving her respect, but this lesson taught by a Catholic theologian destroys that stance in just a few sentences.

Remember, Catholics are not Christians, any more than Muslims are Christians or Atheists are Christians. Their spiritual father is the devil, (John 8:44), while all who believe the true Gospel has a spiritual Father in Jesus.

In this next passage, the author explains how Mary is the Church’s “Spiritual Mother”:

Mary, in giving birth to Christ the Head, also gave birth to the body connected to that Head, which is the Church. Thus, Mary, in giving birth to the source of all grace, can rightly be called “Spiritual Mother” of all who benefit from that grace.

It sounds logical, doesn’t it. We understand the biology of conception, gestation, birth, and nurturing. Jesus used those analogies many times and Paul & Peter both spoke of spiritual nourishment as milk. Yet, it falls apart when we remember that first and foremost, the virgin birth was a supernatural event unlike any other in history ever before or since. And secondly, it denies the Holy Spirit’s role in forming the Church, which occurred at Pentecost, by His indwelling of the believers there (Acts 2:4) who had been appointed to believe since before the foundation of the world. (cf Acts 13:48). Mary had nothing to do with it. She was a vessel being used by God (Luke 1:38).

Continuing with the article, we come to the next section, which the author has titled:

Mary, Mediatrix of all Grace
To understand the logic of total consecration to Jesus through Mary, we must first grasp Mary’s role as Mediatrix of all graces. This is the Church’s doctrine that every grace that comes to us from God comes through the willed intercession of Mary. But this role of Mary as Mediatrix of all grace is really the completion of her role as Spiritual Mother, and follows from her unique cooperation in the redemption of humanity with Christ on Calvary. … But Mary most fully became our mother at the foot of the cross where she, in a completely singular way, participated in the redemption of humanity with Christ. That is why some theologians are wont to ascribe to Mary the title Co-Redemptrix. De Montfort said: “the more a soul is consecrated to Mary, the more it is consecrated to Jesus”

I hope your discernment and knowledge of the Word allowed you to understand that what is being taught in that Catholic Doctrine above, is that Mary is really God, or is above God. If “every grace that comes to us through God” is through Mary’s will, then it is God who is taking the subservient role. In this Catholic doctrine Her will trumps His. But it is not so! It is Christ who pours out graces. (Acts 2:33). Further, this doctrine teaches that Mary is the Intercessor, not Jesus. (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25).

So in just a few short sentences, or in one essay if you read it at the link, we see that Catholics are taught that Mary has a role that trumps all three roles of our Trinitarian God. As dispenser of grace and mother of the church she edges out the Holy Spirit. As intercessor she bumps out Jesus. And as giver of all graces via her own will through God she takes over His role there as well. This is why Catholicism is false. They have another god: Mary.

The Crowning of the Virgin by the Trinity. Velázquez, 1645

I bring these things up so you can be prepared when speaking with a Catholic person. I did a rudimentary and very clumsy job of apologetics here, but I hope it gave you food for thought. The creed adorning the Marian shrine in Boston’s North End is emblazoned with lights and candles, but is in fact bringing a doctrine of darkness. Here is part of the author’s conclusion:

Having established the irrefutable validity of Mary’s role as Mediatrix of all graces, we can now understand the reason for entrusting ourselves to her, which is the essence of Marian consecration.

O, how satan loves to take our eyes off the true Rock, the only Bread, the source of the Living Water, Jesus Christ! We do NOT consecrate ourselves to a sinner named Mary whom God used as a biological vessel. We give ourselves wholly and totally to Jesus, the only worthy one in the universe.

Our church has a mission team heading to Peru next month to witness to the lost, many of them Catholics, and these doctrines saturate the Peruvian hearts and poison their minds away from the beauty and clarity of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. Please, pray for missionaries in the Catholic regions. Pray for the Light of grace from our true God to be delivered to hearts and minds wrongly focused on Mary, so they may be lifted from the bondage of sin and darkness under which they are laboring.

Mary’s Magnificat was a hymn of praise and joy. Here as Charles Spurgeon explains Mary’s joy at the news of the coming of the Lord, not as Mother of God, but as a sinner graciously saved, in his sermon delivered on Christmas Day 1864, on this text, “And Mary said, My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.” Luke 1:46, 47″

“I must close by observing that while her song was all this, yet how very humble it was, and how full of gratitude. The Papist calls her, “Mother of God,” but she never whispers such a thing in her song. No, it is “God my Savior,” just such words as the sinner who is speaking to you might use, and such expressions as you sinners who are hearing me can use, too. She needs a Savior, she feels it; her soul rejoices because there is a Savior for her. She does not talk as though she could commend herself to Him, but she hopes to stand accepted in the Beloved. Let us, then, take care that our familiarity has always blended with it the lowliest prostration of spirit when we remember that He is God Over All, blessed forever, and we are nothing but dust and ashes; He fills all things, and we are less than nothing and vanity.”

Will you sing of His tremendous grace, in joy at how He releases sinners from bondage? Pray for those in bondage to Mary to be released, so they also might sing of how their soul magnifies the Lord and their spirit also may rejoice in the Savior.

Posted in antichrist, jesus, mary worship, pope francis

Pope Francis to consecrate the world to Immaculate Heart of Mary

Posted on by elizabethprata

More Pope Francis news. This man’s rapid departure from age-old Catholic dogma is bringing the world closer to ecumenism in a faster fashion than any other man or philosophy I’ve ever seen. Amazingly bad news just keeps coming from the Vatican

Pope Francis will consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on October 13. The consecration will take place as part of a pilgrimage that will bring thousands of members of groups promoting Marian piety to the Vatican.

 The statue of Our Lady of Fatima is scheduled to travel to Rome on October 12. It will be only the 11th time since the statue was made in 1920 that it has been removed from the Portuguese Marian shrine.

 Pope Francis and the pilgrims will welcome the statue to St Peter’s Square during an evening prayer service on October 12. The statue will then be taken to the Rome Shrine of Divine Love, where the Diocese of Rome plans an all-night vigil.

 The statue and the pilgrims will return to St Peter’s Square on October 13 for the recitation of the rosary and Mass with Pope Francis. In a press statement, the directors of the Fatima shrine said Pope Francis will consecrate the world to Mary during the event. (source)
—————–

First, this is idolatry in every sense of the word. He is lifting up a man-made statue as an object of worship and as a ‘special sign.’ Secondly, this destroys any straight-face notion that the Catholics do not worship Mary (something they deny by parsing the word ‘venerate’, as in “We don’t worship her, we venerate her”.) The Mary here is of course the mother of Jesus who incubated the Savior in her womb, birthed the sinless Son, and raised him with Joseph until Jesus became of age.

But third, the hubris contained in Francis’s seemingly humble action betrays the man’s pride. Or perhaps his realism- the pope is the only absolute monarch in the world, accountable to no one for as long as he holds the office. Francis’ action is intended to ‘consecrate the world’. According to the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, Consecrate means

“To consecrate something is to formally set it apart for special use. Bread was consecrated in the Old Testament (Exodus 25:30; Lev. 25:5-9) as were people (Rom. 1:1; Gal.1:15).”

For the Pope to believe he has the power to set the WORLD apart for any use that he chooses is hubris on the order of the pride that satan himself has, believing he will exalt himself above God’s holy mountain. (Isaiah 14:4).

This is not the first time Pope Francis has been in the news. You remember he became Pope under extremely unusual circumstances. The previous Pope, Benedict, suddenly and abruptly resigned, the first pope to do so in 600 years. This opened the papal monarchy to another candidate. That man was Francis. The resignation event occurred in February of this year. The papacy of Francis began in mid-March of this year, 2013.

The second unusual thing about Francis is that though he has been pope only for 7 short months, he has upended and subverted the entrenched Catholic dogma up on its ear. He has made the news almost constantly since ascending his papacy by uttering liberal policies and teaching what has for thousands of years been anathema to Catholics. For example:

Pope Francis On Gays: Who Am I To Judge Them?

Pope Francis: Gays, Abortion Too Much Of Catholic Church’s Obsession

Pope Francis denies Jesus

Pope says there is no need to convert anyone

and of course Francis displays the usual Catholic Mary-idolatry
Pope Francis prays to Mary in Lampedusa

This is all extraordinary given that if nothing else, the Vatican has always adhered to their false religion and dogma fiercely. It is also unusual in that the Vatican never takes rapid steps or makes abrupt turns. Yet Francis has only been in office for 7 months and seemingly not a monthy gos by without reading of an amazing about-face from the Vatican.

The Vatican is the oldest “international legal personality” in the world, AKA the oldest formed and longest lasting government in the world, established in 480AD.

Take note of the rapidity of the changes Francis is bringing. And always remember that the Catholic religion is a false religion, therefore we are not surprised when the world acts like the world.

Pope Francis’s sudden appearance onto the world stage, his wide promotion as a faithful, humble man, and how clearly he speaks the world’s language is all extremely interesting as it is happening at this juncture in time.

I turn from pope-watching and look instead for my Savior. Is He due at the appointed hour soon to collect His bride? As the world falls further into ecumenism, faithlessness and Christ-less despair, does this mean the soon appearance of our beloved Groom? One hopes so. Even so,

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, (Philippians 3:20)

And we wait, patiently enduring, watching the extraordinary events on earth, knowing a better future awaits those who love him.

Posted in dogma, false doctrine, jesus, mary worship, mediator, pope francis, s bible

Pope Francis prays to Mary in Lampedusa

Posted on by elizabethprata

Outside of Catholic circles, you may or may not know that Catholics pray to Mary. They believe she is co-redemptrix. They also believe she was a virgin all her life, that she never sinned, and that she ascended bodily into heaven, where she co-rules with Jesus. All this is false of course. It is blasphemy and idolatry.

Here is the translation of the prayer that Pope Francis prayed today

Pope’s Marian Prayer at Lampedusa
Here is a translation of the Holy Father’s prayer to the Blessed Mother at the conclusion of the Mass celebrated in the island of Lampedusa this morning. Oh Mary, star of the sea, once again we recourse to thee, to find refuge and serenity, to implore your protection and help. Mother of God and our Mother, turn your sweet gaze towards those who face the dangers of the sea everyday to guarantee their families the necessary sustenance for life, to protect the respect of creation, to serve peace between peoples. Protector of migrants and itinerants, assist with maternal care all men, women, and children who are forced to flee their lands in search of a future and of hope. May their meeting with us and our people not become a source of new and heavier slavery and humiliation.

Mother of mercy, ask forgiveness for us who, blinded by selfishness, concerned by our interests and prisoners of our own fears, have become distracted towards the needs and sufferings of our brothers. Refuge of sinners, obtain the conversion of heart for those who generate war, hate and poverty, who exploit their brothers and their fragility, who make an undignified commerce of human life. Model of charity, bless all men and women of good will, who receive and serve those who dock on this land: may the love received and given be a seed of new brotherly ties and the dawn of a world of peace. Amen

The bible says that we are only to pray to God. Jesus is our only intercessor. (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 7:25). The Catholic will explain that prayers to Mary (or requests of Mary to pray for us) are biblically justified, despite the clear command to pray only to Jesus, and the prohibition against communing with the dead. (Leviticus 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:10-13)

In this video, a priest is teaching that because of the scene in Revelation 5:8, where the elders around God’s throne are holding harps and bowls of incense which are the prayers of the saints, that they intercede for us. He also says that in Revelation 8:3-5, that the angels do the same thing, bring our prayers to God. Yet the bible’s Rev 5 scene shows dramatically and clearly that though the elders hold the bowls of prayers, they are offering them to God, not rifling through the bowls themselves to pick a prayer to answer them. And, one would have to place Mary at the seated circle of elders so that she would be holding a bowl, in the first place, which the verse in no way describes.

This Catholic answers web page about praying to Mary states, “Secondly, because Mary was “favoured by God” [Lk. 1:30] when she was personally chosen by the Lord to become the mother of Jesus, God incarnated, Catholics believe that they have a greater chance of obtaining God’s grace for their daily physical and spiritual needs by asking Mary to intercede on their behalf. Thirdly, the above mentioned belief is partially based on the fact that Jesus is the King of kings and Mary, as the mother of the King, is the “queen mother.” Then, when studying Jewish history, it is discovered that the institution of the “queen mother” was established during the reign of King Solomon.”

However, you notice that the queen mother item is a man-made tradition. Nowhere in the bible does it call Mary royalty. As a matter of fact, Paul says simply “Jesus was born of a woman.”(Galatians 4:4)

The Catholic page continues,
In the Old Testament, we learn of the favoured position of the queen mother through the following words, “… then the king sat on his throne, and had a throne brought for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right. Then she said, ‘I have one small request to make of you, do not refuse me.’ And the king said to her, ‘Make your request, my mother, for I will not refuse you.'” [1 Kgs. 2:19-20]

Following the reign of King Solomon, many of the kings kept this practice. The mother of the king, through who the king received his throne, was trusted as a confident and advisor. So important was the function of the queen mothers in the days of the Old Testament that their names were listed in the succession records of the kings of Judah. [See 1 Kgs 14:21, 15:13; 2 Kgs. 12:1, 14:2, 15:2, etc…]

Why not pray to Queen Esther? She really was a queen, AND saved all the Jewish people, something that, after all, Jesus did too. Why not pray to Queen Nitzevet, mother of King David and who was in direct line of the Messiah? Because we should only pray to “Queen Mary,” a Catholic might say? Well, where is that in the bible? You see how far off-track we get when we apply man’s traditions and extra-biblical interpretations on top of the bible.

Similar to the intercession of the Queen Mother, when a child desires a favour and cannot obtain it from his/her parents, frequently the child will make the request to the grandparent to intercede on his/her behalf, therefore obtaining the favour that was being sought. This does not mean that the child is seeking the parental favour from the grandparent. Rather, the child is seeking the intercession of the grandparents before the parents.

Likening a disobedient grandchild manipulating his two grandparents to Catholic Marian intercession is just false on the face of it. The child’s authority are the parents. Period. Going around the parents’ back means you have a disobedient child on your hands, and he should be punished.

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” (Ephesians 6:1)

Furthermore, Catholics do not differentiate between the living (in this world) and the dead (those who departed) members of the Body of Christ (the fullness of the Church.) The fullness of the mystical Body of Christ is found in the union of all the saints, past and present, here below and those above in Heaven.”

Catholics would have to see the living and the dead as the same for their false construct to hold up, as well as purgatory and indulgences and many other false Catholic doctrines.

For more information explaining why praying to Mary is a blasphemous activity, go here. Here is a snippet:
“The Bible nowhere instructs believers in Christ to pray to anyone other than God. The Bible nowhere encourages, or even mentions, believers asking individuals in heaven for their prayers. Why, then, do many Catholics pray to Mary and/or the saints, or request their prayers? Catholics view Mary and the saints as “intercessors” before God. They believe that a saint, who is glorified in Heaven, has more “direct access” to God than we do. Therefore, if a saint delivers a prayer to God, it is more effective than us praying to God directly. This concept is blatantly unbiblical. Hebrews 4:16 tells us that we, believers here on earth, can “approach the throne of grace with confidence.”

I mention the Marian prayer by Pope Francis for two reasons. First, to show how subtly the false religions twist the bible. It takes skill and discernment to see how and why the Catholic stance is incorrect. I listened to the priest three times in that video. Not because I believed him but I wanted a thorough understanding of what he was saying and how he was saying it. He used Revelation 5 very well. He is very plausible sounding. Yet the bible says that the false doctrines will sound plausible.

“I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.” (Colossians 2:4)

Secondly, in this day and age of “tolerance” I want to keep saying all the more boldly and flatly: anyone adhering to these doctrines is not saved and will go to hell if they die believing them. If Pope Francis were to die tonight, he will go to eternal fiery torment in hell. He is a child of hell (Matthew 23:33) and a curse upon the earth. (Galatians 3:10). He is in all likelihood a very nice man, that is not the issue. He is a child of the devil. (1 John 3:10).

How can I say these things with such certainty? No one becomes pope unless they have demonstrated throughout a lifetime of believing, protecting, teaching, and promoting these false doctrines. And tonight we see the fruit: praying to Mary.

I am not happy about the fact that if Pope Francis were to die tonight he would go to hell forever. Not at all. I wish no one would go there. But one must believe on Jesus alone and not a hellish amalgam of grace plus works plus a heavy dose of idolatry and blasphemy in order to be declared righteous before God.

Though I am sad that a man like Mr Jorge Bergoglio is going to hell, I am also upset that he is deluding many millions with these doctrines of demons.

Be careful not to be swayed by fine words using the bible. Be careful not to be drawn away by mystical practices which entice the flesh under guise of spirituality.

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”  (2 Peter 2:1-3)

Does Jesus need Mary as prayer buddy because He is too busy? Is she the heavenly secretary, bringing prayers to the overwhelmed CEO because His desk got piled too high? Never let it be so! Does He use Mary because He is distant and unloving? Then He is not God! Does He need Mary because He must be persuaded? Then He is not sovereign!

Jesus is our High Priest, loving, able, compassionate, willing to hear our prayers and grant them if they align with His will. (Hebrews 6:20,  Hebrews 9:11). Jesus paid it all, and He was accepted by God as the one sacrifice for sins, therefore He now performs a most excellent office, Priest, interceding for us. Why would you WANT to pray to anyone else, when we have the most unique Being, the most perfect Judge, the most loving Shepherd, in the entire universe, who knows our name and the very numbers of hairs on our head?!

Love Jesus and love His offices of Priest, Prophet and King. He is the ONLY ROYALTY.