Thursday 7 November 2013

praytosaints

YES...THE CHURCH OF ROME DOES OFFICIALLY ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO PRAY TO MARY AND THE SAINTS

Not merely praying "with Mary" (as in Acts 1:14) or merely "through Mary" as some Roman Catholics, obviously embarrassed by the charge, try to argue. We know whereof we speak here. Below is not merely evidence but sustainable proof.  


FIRST PROOF:Visits (for the purpose of Protestant evangelism) to the Knock RC Shrine to Mary (Co. Mayo, Republic of Ireland) produced the following gem which is openly for sale in the shrine bookshop for the little sum of 25 cents (Euro) The great importance of the Knock Shrine is seen in the following information from the official web site:


"The Story of Knock began on the 21st August 1879 when Our Lady, St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist appeared at the south gable of Knock Parish Church. The apparition was witnessed by fifteen people, young and old. From this miraculous Apparition Knock has grown to the status of an internationally recognised Marian Shrine. 


The personal pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II in 1979, commemorating the centenary of the apparition, inspired an even greater devotion to the Shrine and endorsed the indelible seal of Vatican approval. Mother Teresa of Calcutta visited the Shrine in June of 1993. One and a half million pilgrims visit the Shrine annually." (Emphasis mine) 

OBJECTION: Not everything  that is sold in the Shrine bookshop can be fully endorsed seeing they also sell some Evangelical Protestant books. Nor does the card carry any imprimatuer etc., of the RC Church. 

ANSWER TO OBJECTION: This might be so, but the fact that they see absolutely no wrong in the wording of these cards promoting prayers TO Mary simply cannot be overlooked. What is totally abominable to Bible believing eyes is seen to be effectively harmless by those looking at these things through the lens of the Church of Rome. Note: These cards are not being sold in one of the many seedy little shops that have sprung up around the shrine, but in the official bookshop. All documentation below. 


Receipt of purchase 
(Incidentally, there are a number of prayer publications for sale in the Knock Shrine bookshop which include prayers TO Mary and/or the various saints.) 


SECOND PROOF:

The page below recording a prayer TO your Guardian Angel is taken from a Redemptorist booklet (page 59) entitled: "Handbook For Today's Catholic" subtitled "Belief's - Practices - Prayers - A Redemptorist Pastoral Publication" by Ligouri Publications. It carries the Imprimi Potest of one Edmund T. Langton, C.SS.R. and the Imprimatur of +John N. Wurm who was the Vicar general of St. Louis.  ISBN 0-89243-076-1 published in 1978.

OBJECTION: It is unacceptable to quote from such documents as they do not constitute the official teaching of the RC Church.

OBJECTION ANSWERED: Such an answer cheapens the worth of the Imprimatur - indeed practical denies it to be of any value anywhere. This teaching has been passed on in good faith (no pun intended) by the Redemptorist Fathers as a representation of the RC faith. It will have been read and used by thousands to explain and defend the RC faith.  Praying TO any one other than God is rank idolatry and if the verbal niceties of praying THROUGH rather than TO the saints are not observed where it matters i.e. in the home or in the pew, then all the subtle arguments of Ivory tower theologians will mean absolutely nothing. This objection therefore must be over ruled as useless.




Yes - It's official!


Prayer TO your Guardian Angel


THIRD PROOF:

Go to the following website of Catholic's Online (www.catholic.org) which is a leading Roman Catholic website. It claims the following:  
 It exists to "inform, inspire and ignite."  and claims:"Catholic Online reaches a highly targeted audience of over to 100 thousand Catholic users per day and up to 1 million page impressions per day. Visitors come from over 120 countries around the world."
So, just as the Apostle Paul could say that Tarsus was "no mean city" - we must conclude that this Catholic site is no mean site. 

More evidence that RC's are encouraged by their church to pray TO the Virgin Mary and other saints


If we go to this site, wondering whether Roman Catholics pray TO or pray THROUGH the departed saints, then what are we to make of the following list in the list under prayers? When you follow through all the references, then you end up with prayers TO the following:


* Prayer TO St Anthony ("the Wonder Worker")
* Prayer TO Saint Joseph
* Prayer TO our Lady of Perpetual Help
* Prayer TO Saint John Bosco
* Prayer TO Saint Therese
* Prayer TO St Michael
* Prayer TO St Dympha etc.


If I had the time, and you had the patience, I could further divide all these prayers into specific requests (e.g. to the Blessed Virgin for "a happy death") and from specific groups ("Pope Pius XII prays TO Our Lady of Lourdes" - "A child's prayer TO Mary"  - "A Farmer's Prayer to St. Joseph"etc.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE, WHICH IS THE SOLE RULE OF FAITH AND PRACTICE SAY?

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 
(1 Timothy 2:5)

  My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: (1 John 2:1)


 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  (John 14:6)
 

 And He said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven...
(Luke 11:2) 

 
 

3 comments:

  1. One inevitable outcome of all of this is a superstitious mindset leading to an unhealthy interest in the unseen spiritual world. This can lead Roman Catholics to think they can talk to their deceased relatives, or that these relatives are trying to communicate with them. I have known two ladies who thought they were receiving messages from their dead family members. After all, if Mary and the saints can hear us and are "speaking" to us, why not our deceased? Another friend thought that if something broke, like an appliance, that it was demons that did it. We could only wish that demons were just busy causing us incovenience! This is the way that it is with Rome's false religious ideas. One thing leads to another; one lie leads to another lie. what a tangled web!

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  2. By the way, in one of the scriptures you quoted there is the word mediator. What is a mediator? And why is there only one mediator between God and man?

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  3. Thanks again for passing by and commenting here. I agree with your analysis. Once you leave the clear teaching and precepts of the word of God - then you are in great spiritual danger. I remember witnessing to a lovely RC man in Dublin city centre who was trying to impress upon me the advantages of "praying to Our Lady". He had heard all the Scriptural arguments against, so I tried a new tactic. I (nicely) said: "Did you ever think that perhaps Our Lady maybe doesn't want your prayers?" He paused and smiled and said: "I never thought of that!"

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