Posted on 05/10/2017 9:03:36 AM PDT by Salvation
Continuing with the theme of urgency from yesterday’s post, we do well to consider Mary’s fervent requests at Fatima for prayer, conversion, and consecration. This Saturday will mark the 100th anniversary of Mary’s first appearance at Fatima.
It was a critical time in human history. The First World War had claimed more than 17 million lives. Mary urged prayer to end this catastrophe:
Thanks be to God, through the children’s prayers and surely those of others, the war did soon end. In October, Our Lady said,
War is a terrible result of human sinfulness as well as a punishment for it. Sin is its own punishment; when we sow the wind, we reap the whirlwind. Part of the horror of the First World War was the use of chemical weapons. So appalling was the suffering and so great was the loss of life that in 1925 most nations willingly signed the Geneva Protocol, which prohibited their use in international armed conflicts.
But Mother Mary urgently warned that if the people of this world did not repent, pray, and cease offending God, a war far worse would come:
Sadly, as we know, the Second World War formally ensued in 1939. Months earlier, in 1938, a remarkable display of the Aurora Borealis further south than ever observed made international headlines. It was a final warning. More than 60 million people died in World War II. Atrocities were multiplied, and the most fearsome weapon ever contrived—the atom bomb—would haunt the world long after the war. Russia, too, spread Marxist and atheist errors.
See what happens when we do heed the urgent request to pray? Wars can be ended, souls can be saved, and peace can be brought.
But also note the terrible consequences of failing to pray and be converted! Jesus once said to paralyzed man he had healed, See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you (John 5:14). So, too, for the people of that time who, though having received God’s mercies in the end of World War I, fell back into sin. The decadence, financial excess, and foolishness of the “roaring” 1920s, both in Europe and America, brought a harvest of corruption, both morally and politically. It ushered in both the Great Depression and then a war far worse than ever imagined.
Yes, prayer and conversion are both urgent and essential. This is true not only in terms of this world, but also of the world to come. This world’s travails are indeed awful, but they are temporary. Mother Mary sets far greater stakes before us: Heaven or Hell.
Where will you spend eternity? What about your children, siblings, and friends? Have you thought about this at all? Do you understand the urgency? Consider well some of what our Lady of Fatima said by way of an eternal warning:
Here is a mother urgently warning her children of the fires of hell, of the consequences of sin and the final refusal to repent. Here is a mother urgently calling for prayer, reparation, sacrifices, and conversion.
She is urgent; are we? To be urgent does not mean to be in a panic; it means to be sober and alert, to be persistent and consistent in attending to our final end and to that of others to the degree that we are able.
Caritas Christi urget nos: The Love of Christ urges us on! …. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:14, 20).
And let's not forget Romans 8:26-27!
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (NASB)
One would think that if Mary were so important to the life of the believer, Paul would have mentioned her in this passage.
Yet we have God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit all called by name either praying for us or interceding for us or being for us.
Somehow that is insufficient for the Catholic that they need an apparition also.
Actually, it is a rejection of what Paul has written in Romans and elsewhere.
NO profanity, NO personal attacks, NO racism or violence in posts.
My last comment on this issue to you.
Have a good evening.
When I first realized the magnitude of what those verses REALLY said, I was staggered.
Jesus and the Holy Spirit before God interceding for ME!
That just overwhelmed me.
It still does when I really stop to think about it.
That’s why meditating on the WORD is such a valuable practice.
You are correct that post 67
with the phrase was removed by the moderator, yet your post 124 with the same phrase remains. Is post 124 profanity ?
The Spirit intercedes when we don't know what we're trying to convey in our prayers. It completely blows me away to think about that.
It's something Christians should be reminded of from time to time...especially during the rough times we all go through.
I agree...words cannot really explain the true meaning of these two verses.
Praise be to God Who has given believers this awesome privilege and gift!
I did watch their “Fatima” film clip. Excruciating but I did it nonetheless. If I gave an honest review I would probably be ZOTTED at minimum. It has no redeemable qualities or value for a Protestant at all. That’s all I will say.
“AND..... JESUS HIMSELF is interceding for us to the Father.
Who needs Mary when we have JESUS HIMSELF doing it?”
Not only Christ...
Romans 8:26-27
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
So those verses show that what was spoken by the apparition is not true. It contradicts Scripture therefore is a lie and Scripture also tells us the source of all lies.
Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many go to hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them (August, 1917)
As far as no one making a sacrifice for them, here is what Scripture says Jesus did for us.
1 Timothy 2:5-7 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle ( I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
Galatians 1:3-4 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen
.
Hebrews 4:14-16 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 6:17-20 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Jesus is Himself both the sacrifice and the great high priest.
That means the apparition lied.
Correctomundo....
That means that not only is there no one praying for those poor people, there are two of the best prayers in the universe praying for them.
This may come as a shock to some people, but in reading Scripture it is so clear that God WANTS to save people.
He’s gone to such drastic lengths to save people.
And then to portray Him as so hard hearted as to have to be begged and negotiated with in order to convince Him to let people into heaven, is an affront to His character as He revealed Himself to be in the pages of Scripture.
I guess the apparition missed this.
Well, I suspect that the apparition didn’t really miss it.
It just wants PEOPLE to miss it.
Otherwise, they’d be saved and know it.
Not a category mistake. The category is “things not taught in Scripture.”
Sola scriptura is taught nowhere in Scripture.
The one true church is that church made up of all those who have washed their robes in the Blood of Christ and trust in Him alone. It has nothing to do with denominations or sects
“Not a category mistake. The category is “things not taught in Scripture.”
Well, at last we found something we agree on Art - beyond forgotten music that is still cool.
Mariolatry is anti-biblical.
“Sola scriptura is taught nowhere in Scripture.”
I suspect you do not understand what that term means.
You have seen hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save sinners, God wishes to establish in all the world, devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace …
To save sinners is why Jesus came into the world and gave His life in the first place.
Devotion to Mary's *sacred heart* isn't what saves people. It's the atoning work of Christ on the cross, His shed blood.
John 12:32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
Nor are we ever promised peace while in this world.
The apparition contradicted Jesus' words here.
John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Absolutely it is.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
However, these things aren't. I never saw any of these phrases or words in Scripture.
trinity
catholic
pope
eucharist
sacraments
annulment
assumption
immaculate conception
mass
purgatory
magisterium
infallible
confirmation
crucifix
rosary
mortal sin
venial sin
perpetual virginity
apostolic succession
indulgences
hyperdulia
catechism
real presence
transubstantiation
liturgy
free will
holy water
monstrance
sacred tradition
apostolic succession
Benefactress
Mediatrix
Queen of Heaven
Mother of God
beatific vision
invincible ignorance
Divine Office
guardian angel
Corporal Works of Mercy
Petrine authority
infallible
heresy
+1
Arguing is all Protestants know how to do.
You can't make this stuff up!
Not sure why some Catholics seemingly go out of their way to minimize the very book they claim to have given us.
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