FACTS
compared to fantasies
can sure be pesky things for folks with their heads in the sand!
I'm beginning to think that truth in posting would require 95% of RC postings hereon to bear the following warning at the top of each RC thread and post:
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."
PNSN,
Your sect is about as devilish as one could find.
God hates your sect because of its daily non-stop perversions.
The point is Paul is not teaching Calvinist double predestination.
It helps the Proddy cause enormously.
Thankfully, God has persistently demonstrated HIS APPROVAL and Holy Spirit empowerments, healings, deliverances every service we have.
However, if the RC's wish to
persist in BRAZENLY DISAGREEING WITH GOD
About our humble non-denominational congregation . . . help yourselves!
Now, if I could just remember what that Texas saying was about folks talking big about things they didn't know a single thing about . . .
It helps the Proddy cause enormously.
Thankfully, God has persistently demonstrated HIS APPROVAL and Holy Spirit empowerments, healings, deliverances every service we have.
However, if the RC's wish to
persist in BRAZENLY DISAGREEING WITH GOD
About our humble non-denominational congregation . . . help yourselves!
Now, if I could just remember what that Texas saying was about folks talking big about things they didn't know a single thing about . . .
Meanwhile, on the Catholic front.....
Pope faces fresh wave of child abuse scandals in Italy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/28/pope-paedophile-priests-italy
Catholic Church decided not to unfrock priest who abused deaf boys
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/7575106/Catholic-Church-decided-not-to-unfrock-priest-who-abused-deaf-boys.html
Vatican Declined to Defrock U.S. Priest Who Abused Boys
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/world/europe/25vatican.html
FACTS
compared to fantasies
can sure be pesky things for folks with their heads in the sand!
I'm beginning to think that truth in posting would require 95% of RC postings hereon to bear the following warning at the top of each RC thread and post:
PRAISE GOD FOR THE GOOD NEWS.
THX.
Paul is writing to both Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome. Esau is not an example of those who stumble as being predestination to hell.
Jews are not to regard themselves as superior to his Gentile readers, but neither are the Gentiles to feel superior to Jews who have not yet come to see Jesus as their Saviour. “Remember it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you.”
PERHAPS, Old Reggie,
the most charitable thing we could do with such brazenly off the wall RC posts . . .
in addition to recognizing the bitterness, resentment, vengeance etc. so rife in so many of them . . . is to just file them under “UTTERLY DELUSIONAL ASSERTIONS.”
It’s getting to be surreal to the extreme! LOL.
Ahhhh welll . . . given all their mangling of history; mangling of Scripture; mangling of logic; and mangling of their sheeple in the pews . . . what can we expect!
AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH
What an UNsurprise.
Sigh.
LUB DEAR HEART.
I did read your post. The first three sentences were a response to metmom's post. I cut and pasted it directly, so when you say " Your post doesn’t address anything I said." that is incorrect. You, however, mischaracterized her post saying she was "blind to more than one path to Jesus? Nobody finds Jesus unless they take YOUR highway? Sick!"
That's not what she said. She quoted the Bible where Jesus says there is one path to heaven. That was in response to your description of what your priest said in post 200, "What I have heard them say is that there are many roads to Heaven, and not all of them go through the Catholic Church.
But I can see that didn’t let that stop you from misrepresenting my words.
I did NOT misrepresent your words. I copied your words directly into the post. I put them in italics to indicate they were a quotation of your post.
The remainder of your post was a personal attack on her: judging her motives. You said, "You’re just another example of the perverted hatred I’ve heard in so called Christian Churches that I’ve had the misfortune to visit. You’ve got little dog syndrome, and if you can’t be boss you’re going to bite my ankles every chance you get". That's a pretty severe attack on someone for quoting the Bible.
Look dude ette, whatever you are. My church is inclusive. We accept that other Christian denominations go to heaven. You don’t, and you like to be a pr**k about it. Big damn deal. Tell me I’m going to hell because I’m a lousy stinking Papist and then shut up and be happy with yourself.
Gitmo:
[Let’s just assume that the inter-denominational insults have already been given and received.]
I desire better acquaintance and look forward to hearing more from you.
Your sect’s members are so fat, that a photo from your congregation appears in the entry for “glutton” and “hog” in many online dictionaries.
Brat,
Metmom’s sect harbor’s vermin and is a pit of vipers and liars and all manner of deviants.
Just sayin’
The hard truth can not penetrate some sects.
Neither does yours. And even if it DID, there is no particular commandment which proves an apostolic succession... And even if there WERE, there were two-hundred-some-odd disciples there at Pentecost ~none~ of whom are in the record, not to mention the Apostles themselves. The entire point is moot, as no one can prove succession to anyone, nor disprove succession to anyone else.
Your sect is a sky-bible-hey-what’s-this-new-book sect.
Fatima ring any bells? Medjugorje? Grilled cheese sandwich? Mithras on the alter? Adoration of Ishtar, Queen of Heaven? Weeping for Tammuz? Adoption/invention of pagan rituals, feast days, saints? Get real. There is *nothing* remotely resembling the Early Church in the Roman church. Nothing at all. "What's this new thing" for the past 1500 years.
Your sect’s acts are vile and offensive to God.
Exo 20:4 You shall not make to yourselves any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Exo 20:5 You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them. For I Jehovah your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation of those that hate me, Exo 20:6 and showing mercy to thousands of those that love Me and keep My commandments.
Exo 23:24 You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them. And you shall not do according to their works. But you shall surely pull them down, and surely you shall smash their images.
Deu 12:30 take heed to yourself that you do not become snared by following them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not ask about their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods, that I too may do likewise?
Deu 12:31 You shall not do so to Jehovah your God. For every abomination to Jehovah, which He hates, they have done to their gods; even their sons and their daughters they have burned in the fire to their gods. Deu 12:32 All the things I command you, be careful to do it. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it.
(e-sword:KJV)
Your sect is filled with fealthy wretched sexual abusers and adulterers who engage in sodomy and pedophilia and who act like circus sideshow barkers.
LOL! Look who's talkin?
LOL
That sect so fat, when it went to a restaurant and they brought a menu, it looked at it and said, “Okay, I’ll have that!”
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