Posted on 04/12/2011 7:55:27 AM PDT by bkaycee
Can a born again Christian be a member of a cult and be involved in idol worship? I once thought this was an impossibility until it happened to me. Now I understand why Jesus warned us that, in the end times, there would be an appearance of great signs and miracles that would deceive even the elect, if possible. I confess I have been seduced by signs and miracles associated with apparitions of Mary, and I offer my testimony so others may be warned and delivered.
Until recently I was serving as Director of Public Relations for the Queen of Peace Center in Dallas, Texas. This non-profit organization disseminates information and messages from Marian apparitions in Medjugorje and around the world. I co-authored a full page ad that was published in the June 25, 1993, Dallas Morning News at a cost of $10,000. This add announced "Mary's" prescription for peace and listed locations of her recent appearances. It also listed phone numbers to call for up-to-day recorded messages of Mary's latest apparitions, such as the one in Dallas (214) 233-MARY. I once thought it was special to be the only non-Catholic on the Queen of Peace board . . . that is, until I met Mike Gendron and his wife, Jane.
A Divine Appointment
Neighbors and close friends of mine knew I was seriously contemplating becoming Roman Catholic. They told me that Mike had been a Roman Catholic for 37 years and was now a pastor at a non-denominational church in the Dallas area. They said he understood many of the issues involved in being Roman Catholic and could help me with my decision. I looked forward to meeting both Mike and his wife, not for my sake, but for theirs. I felt certain the information I had collected about "Our Lady's apparitions" in Medjugorje would surely lead them back home to the "true" (Roman Catholic) church. Providentially it appeared, I attended a Queen of Peace board meeting the night before we met and asked the board to pray for this lost pastor and his wife, who had fallen away. When I arrived at their door the next morning, I first introduced myself, before returning to my car for the large stack of books and newspapers I had brought to persuade them. The materials would help explain what was happening in Medjugorje and how the Virgin Mary would help change their lives.
Confronted by Contradictions
After we met, they showed me a film titled Catholicism: Crisis of Faith. This film lovingly and objectively contrasted how the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church contradicts the teachings of the Sacred Scriptures. Mike would stop the film after each segment for my questions and comments. Initially, I was argumentative and felt uneasy and rather adamant about what I was witnessing. Mike realized he had forgotten to pray before starting the film and asked if we could ask God to make His truth clear, and that all deception would be exposed. After the prayer my whole countenance changed.
Each question I asked, Mike validated his answers using Vatican II documents and an official Roman Catholic catechism. It was amazing to me how Roman Catholic teaching contradicts the very Word of God. Question after question, he would bring the Bible over to me and knell to show me verses in context. His servant's demeanor and patient, understanding heart helped in unraveling falsehood after falsehood. There wasn't a question I could have asked him that would have provoked anger. As a reflection of our Lord, this man allowed Jesus to pull the scales away from my eyes.
There were three things in the film and our discussion that were most alarming to me. First, a church in South America has Mary placed on a crucifix rather than Christ. It reminded me of my visit to Our Lady of Guadeloupe Cathedral in downtown Dallas where Mary is positioned as the focal point at the alter and the crucifix is placed in another part of the church. These two scenes made me realize idolatry is practiced within the church.
Second, the Roman Catholic Catechism by Rev. William Cogan, now in its 44th year of print, has altered the 10 commandments of God. The 2nd commandment given to Moses reads, "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth" (Exodus 20:4). The Roman Catholics have deleted this commandment but still came up with ten by splitting the 10th one into two separate commands. "You shall not covet your neighbor's good; and you shall not covet your neighbor's wife" (Exodus 20:17). I was reminded of the scriptural warnings for those who add to or subtract from the Bible.
Third, Mike told me the only place in the Bible in which the queen of heaven was referred to was in the Book of Jeremiah. He encouraged me to study the passage and it would expose another false doctrine concerning Mary. Anyone who is familiar with the prayers and meditations of the rosary can tell you that in one of the mysteries Christ supposedly crowned Mary the queen of heaven after she was assumed into heaven. Neither of these events have scriptural validity, but I had decided to blindly accept these doctrines because all of the other meditations on the life of Christ were verified by Scripture.
The Queen of Heaven
After returning home, I looked in the Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible for the passage in Jeremiah 44. Here, the Lord was angered by the wickedness of the people choosing to serve other gods. The people refused to listen to the Lord. Instead, they would "burn sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pour out libations to her." The woman "made for her sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out libations to her?" (Jeremiah 44:17, 19).
In Hebrew the word for queen has reference to "the heavenly handiwork" or "the stars of heaven." The reference might be to Ishtar, the goddess of love and fertility, who is identified with the Venus Star and is actually entitled "Mistress of Heaven." (The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, p. 975)
My head was spinning and filled with questions after reading this. Doesn't Mary usually appear with stars for her crown? Who then is the woman in Revelation 12:3-6? And most importantly, why would the Roman Catholic Church give the mother of Jesus the title of a pagan goddess? Had I been promoting the ministry of a pagan goddess whose messages were inconsistent with the Bible? Indeed her messages do contradict the Bible. In fact, she speaks of another gospel, another plan of salvation that nullifies and opposes the all sufficient sacrifice of Jesus. The apparition of Fatima said, "You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go, so save them, God wishes to establish in the world, devotion to my Immaculate Heart." The apostle Paul condemned anyone, even an angel from heaven, who would dare preach a different way to be saved other than through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ (Galatians 1:6-10).
As for the woman described in Revelation, she is not Mary, the mother of Jesus, but God's chosen people, the Jews. When the passage in chapter 12 is read in context with the rest of the book, and Genesis 37:9-10, this clearly refers to the nation Israel. God fulfills His promise to the Jews, by protecting them in the desert during 3 1/2 years of tribulation.
I later realized my prayers to Mary and the saints, the reciting of rosaries and chaplets of divine mercy, and the wearing of Marian medals and scapulars had taken my focus off of Jesus. I had allowed doctrines of the Roman Catholic church to do the very thing Saint Paul warned against, "But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." (2 Cor. 11:3).
An Angel of Light
Recently, a person whom I love dearly, and who has a "Marian devotion" asked me, "Why are you bothering the people who are already good people instead of worrying about those who are lost?" The answer came to me the other evening as the Lord continues to guide me through His sacred Word. Saint Paul wrote that "Satan masquerades as an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14). We know the mother of Jesus would never oppose her Son, and since the apparitions do just that, they could very well be Satan masquerading as Mary. Saint Paul also wrote, "Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them . . . everything exposed by the light becomes visible" (Ephesians 5:11-14). Therefore, I feel called to expose these attempts by the evil one to divert people's devotion away from Jesus. The most authoritative way to do this is with the light of God's Holy Word. My new test for truthfulness is -- if it does not agree with the Scriptures then it must be rejected.
Freedom in the Truth
Now that I have torn down the altar in my bedroom, where I knelt and prayed to St. Anthony of Padua each night, and now that I have placed my rosaries, scapular and medals away, I have found a new freedom. The truth really does set people free! I have found special peace in knowing Jesus alone is my Savior, and not co-redemptrix with His mother. The Holy Spirit continues to lead me into all truth and is now the only teacher I need (1 John 2:27).
To all my precious friends who I have encouraged to seek Mary and to obey the misleading messages of her apparitions, I pray these Scriptures would minister to you -- "And it came about while He said these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, 'Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts at which you nursed.' But He said, 'On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and observe it." (Luke 11:27-28)
This article was submitted by a former Director for a "Mary, Queen of Peace Center."
Ah...
I almost didn’t recognize you without the CAPS and CULT.
:)
With all of these nonsensical/rambling/idiotic ramblings, I’m beginning to believe that you are satan himself trying to bring us down to your level of debate. Not going to happen from me. In fact, since you are representing yourself in such a satanic way, I will no longer have any dialogue with you. I don’t believe that you are even a Christian.
One more time ....... The early Christians were called a sect by the jews that refused Christ and so burn in hell today .... I guess some things never change.. the truth of Christ damns as well as saves
Actually the mass is an offense to God.. remember the real NT church had no altars and no sacrifices and no priests.. all man made practice..
You know, I wonder if that person is from the Westboro baptist church???? Same type of attitude.
LOL.. what a lot of people do not know is they are actually liberal democrats.. the “leader” ran for office as a democrat ... ya never know :)
I was with you right up to the last sentence.
I'm a convert. My experience is that increasing closeness to Jesus let me finally to the Catholic Church, where the closeness increases.
There is no question in my mind that virtually throughout Christendom there are people going through the motions. And there are plenty of parents and teachers and pastors encouraging them to think of the faith as something they do -- and ought to do better and more of -- rather than as a gift, a seed which grows in them with unexpected life.
At first, when I 'came to Jesus' I thought, "Nobody ever told me this." But later, upon review, I came to see that it was only partially the fault of the teachers. Some of them, clearly, had no clue at all, especially my mother who simply would not herar of justification by grace through faith.
But plenty of fine words had been said, and some by very holy people. It was just not my time to hear them. I wasn't thirsty enough to bend my head to that cup.
But, I wish you could have audited some of the RCIA classes this year. There was indeed plenty of teaching. But Fr. Jacek was repetitively firm that all of this is about a relationship. It arises from God's relationship with us, with our forebears in the faith, it takes root in us individually, though many hands may plant and water.
A line that Fr. J. threw out a couple of times when he and I were "dialoguing" before the class was "bottom line Christianity."
To us it seems that sometimes all people SEEM to be concerned about is where they will "end up." Will they be saved or not? What's the bottom line.
But we find ourselves not so much THINKING about about THAT state THEN as LIVING in THIS relationship right NOW. Our life in the sacraments and in our prayers, both "regular" (he's a friar, I live under a very easy 'rule' as a lay Dominican) and otherwise, and in every day affairs is a life more and more consciously (with ups and downs) lived with Jesus.
Now, I understand my conversion to Christ NOT as something standing alone but as a sudden flowering of a plant tended, again, by many hands. So I am open to people who do are not now aware of a relationship with Christ and have not made the eager and (seemingly) spontaneous self-gift to him. But I don't write them off. The little spark of life almost buried by ash may still glow and the little scraps of kindling slowly piled around it may seem useless or, worse, smothering.
But many mornings I have seen a fire that looked dead burst into flame. A little breath at the right time, a little wind, and what looked dark blazes. And then the scraps of sacraments and confessions and rosaries which looked useless, obstructing, supply tinder to the new fire.
And what I have lived and read indicates well enough to persuade me that while a lot of Catholics, including clergy, may say, or seem to say, something about an arm's length Jesus, what is taught to those who hear is nothing of the kind.
I do wish that people who 'catechize' children had a clearer understanding that their job is evangelism. If we preach the Love of Christ clearly and forthrightly, we will have done our part and made a straight highway. Whether anybody walks down that highway is not up to us.
Some folks don’t see the brick even after it hits them in the nose.
I am reminded of the post VatII monk and sister who were overheard discussing sects. They were both laicized, all because of a misunderstanding.
The question is do you also preach the wrath of God against sin and the remedy He provided ?
I already told you. I don't believe anything different from the Catholic Church about him.
Will metmom answer whether or not she believes Jesus to be 100% God and 100% man?
I know that...LOL Old friend of al gore....hehehe
Actually my question is: how does someone who purports to be all about the Love of God only comment on a possible deficiency? Does leading with adverse criticism preach love? People think they are preaching the love of God, but their actions and interactions say, "No, not quite good enough; you didn't do it properly; that's wrong; you're no good at this." Mouth says this, deeds say that. They proclaim the uselessness of works, but they focus on the inadequacy of the same works they say don't matter. They SAY, "Don't look at your works, look to IHS," but what they really say is, "Those works stink."
While the FACT of the matter is that one cannot preach Divine Love without preaching Divine Salvation, and one cannot preach Salvation without making plain what it is from which one is being saved.
But it also stands not only to reason but to experience that one cannot get a good understanding of one's sinfulness until one has a good understanding or experience of God's love. The line is (variously translated, Ps 130 seems to be hard) "There is forgiveness with you, therefore you shall be feared." With God's strength and assurance one also receives the courage and understanding to look boldly at one's sin. The standard "evangelical" tactic of "convict and then offer pardon" drives off many, while it draws others.
By that logic, CAIR is the best place to find the truth about Islam.
What exactly is this quotation from?
What exactly is this quotation from?
Are Catholics not human then?
What I find rather disconcerting is the fact that none of the reasonable or moderate Catholics on this thread have told Notwithstanding to cool it with the over-the-top rhetoric because it makes them all look bad.
Are you that dense?
Your sect members drone on about sins of Catholics as if that means the Gospel the Church teaches is false.
Your sect most definitely has members who are committing the same sins. And covering them up even more than the leaders of my Church could ever think of doing.
The sins you decry are MORE prevalent in all the sects than they are in the Church. Yet the communist leftist media knows that the Truth is most harmed when the Church (you know the one with its earthly head in Rome) is attacked. I am glad that my Church is singled out for such attacks, as it proves who the devil hates the most!
Go pray on that.
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