Apparitions Exposed!

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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."

It seems to me, you've engaged in a huge amount of ASSUMING AND MIND READING in this post.

What you said was:

INDEED. I’d think we weren’t doing our job . . . if we were well received by most of the RC’s hereon.

Now WHY on earth would I say such a thing? There must be several possibilities. Why on earth did you select the one option you selected?

So you think you are doing your job when you are not well-received. Is that a fair inference?

Not necessarily. Not generally, per se.

I was speaking of a particular context. And, in some respects a particular substrate, back-drop, background, social mileu--one observed and experienced for more than 10 years on FR.

There are a NUMBER OF TENACIOUS, DOGGED, TENACIOUS GIVENS in that context.

One of those most stubborn of givens is that a certain very sizable contingent of RC's will froth at the fingers, rant to low hell and to the mods and JimRob at almost every occasion when their Vatican sensibilities are jangled good.

So, yeah. If they suddenly fell silent, I'd think that the truths of Scripture and the truths of The Gospel as I know them, were not any longer being presented on FR's Rel Forum--i.e. that all the Proddys had suddenly ceased to do their job.

Being well-received means you are not doing your job. That follows, correct?

See the above.

Then what is your job? Is your job to alienate, is it to FAIL TO make converts, to avoid persuading those who disagree with you that your account is correct?

See the above.

As far as I can see, all these are implied by the statement in Italics.

Reading something through grossly distorted glasses can yield all manner of incorrect understandings and assumptions.

Discord, not being well-received, is a sign to you that you are doing your job.

Grossly wrong again. My assertion had nothing to do with discord, per se.

My assertion had to do with the fact that

WHEN Proddys are doing their job of presenting the Gospel and Truths of Scripture as we know and experience them, THEN a sizable contingent of rabid clique and other RC's on FR will wail, whine, froth at the fingers and generally throw a hissy fit--seemingly at the very idea that the Vatican cannot exercise 100% control over FR toward conforming it to comforting RC sensibilities totally.

Therefore, if such 24/7/365 wailing, whining, frothing were to suddenly cease, the ONLY PLAUSIBLE EXPLANATIONs would be of the ilk that Proddys had all been ran over by buses, all gotten their fingers or keyboards broken; been Raptured; all gone fishing; all quit doing their testifying jobs of holding forth in behalf of Biblical Truth or some such.

My statement, objectionable to you, is: any truth that might make for peace is to be avoided — because what really matters is enmity.

That's soo thoroughly false, to me.

I've worked harder and taken more stabs to the tender parts on FR because of it--in behalf of unity and less enmity--more times--more exhaustively--between the two camps--than any other Proddy on FR--perhaps more than all the rest of the Proddys put together. And YOU HAVE EVERY REASON TO KNOW THAT! And still you have the cheek to say that. Amazing.

Now if discord it the sign of success, if the absence of discord is troubling to you, then concord it to be avoided as a sign that you are not succeeding. That shows the equivalence between what you wrote and what I wrote up to the hyphen.

Your assumptions are all wet as per above.

___

There are two strands of thought (well,okay, gazillions of strands of thought) in the NT. John's writings are very firm on division. We see,for example, that in the healing of the man born blind that his healing 'sets off' and emphasizes the blindness of "the Jews". And when our dear Lord raises Lazarus, that is the final straw for 'the Jews'. It is then that they resolve to put him to death by hook or by crook.

Sight v. blindness // life v. death.

But the other strand, hymned gloriously in Ephesians, is unification: the mystery, hidden until Christ and Paul, is that those who are far off and those who are near will be united.

Now, to me, the division does not need us to make it happen. All we have to do is to be true, and the division will spring up because of the work of our adversary and the poison he has put in the heart of man.

I AGREE WITH THAT.

But Paul says God entrusted to him the ministry of reconciliation, and he did everything he could to fulfill the duties of THAT ministry. When he was not heard, when he was scorned, that didn't shake his faith in his proclamation. But he had been trying not to provoke scorn and rejection but to save those who rejected his preaching.

INDEED.

However, he didn't mollify his message in behalf of a pretense of reconciliation or unity.

And in my experience, there are certain types of individuals who will NOT TOLERATE any hint of authentic reconciliation and/or unity UNLESS AND UNTIL THEY HEAR THE TRUTH ABOUT THEMSELVES AND ABOUT THE ASSUMPTIONS AND CONVICTIONS THEY HOLD MORE DEAR THAN THEY HOLD GOD DEAR.

CHRIST AND PAUL set those sorts of people's teeth on edge every time. I'm in good company.

When the non-Catholics reject with abuse and scorn (rarely with real argument) what we proclaim, it does not shake our faith, But WE are not reassured by the rejection that we have done well.

See above. Your assumption is flawed.

My patron, Dominic, wept over sinners, and pled for them to God. He took no reassurance when he preaching was rejected. He redoubled his efforts.

Of course. Evidently you believe I've not had a similar attitude etc. of heart and behavior. You'd be wrong, in so assuming.

But you take reassurance from rejection. This is why I say that enmity is more important to you. The issue, it appears,is not to save souls for Christ (insofar as that,which is HIS work,is given to us) but to make plain the division.

Your assumptions are wrong on that score. Absolutely wrong.

That is the ministry of Islam. Not to heal and to save but to convert the compliant kaffir, and to kill, enslave, or burden with second class status the uncompliant.

Making that unwarranted comparison is unnecessary and offensive.

That is a critical difference. you take reassurance from those you fail to persuade. We pray for them and ask for help to amend what we view as our failure.

Wrong again. The only reassurance I take is that IF THE RC'S ARE STILL WAILING, PRODDYS MUST STILL BE TELLING THE TRUTH. PRAISE GOD FOR PRODDYS TELLING THE TRUTH!

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