Issued: 11/05/21  Revised: 1/13/24

“And no wonder, since Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”

2Corinthians 11:14

PLEASE NOTE:  Because Bible versions sometimes differ from each other in crucial ways, the version quoted here will be the one that best clarifies the point being made.  For a quick comparison between versions, please go to: http://www.biblehub.com.

   All bracketed material may be authorial comments, attempts at proper syntax, or minimal rewordings of Scripture for the sake of clarity and continuity.  These emendations will not be italicized.

   The “/” will be used to signify “and/or.”  The symbol “↔” is used to connect verses corroborating each other and so establishing doctrinal truths (Matthew 18:16↔2Corinthians 13:1).

   In differentiating between Yahweh Son [Jesus] and Yahweh Father [the Most High God], lower case letters have been used when discussing the former; upper case letters are reserved for the Only and Most High God.  Since Jesus was at pains to differentiate himself from Father, we have followed his lead here.

   The term neo-Christians will be used to differentiate between false Christians and Jesus’ true followers.

   We know that Yahweh Father chose Jerusalem as His dwelling place (1Kings 11:32; 2Chronicles 6:6; Nehemiah 1:9; Psalms 135:21), and that the Israeli city is shadow to the substance of its heavenly counterpart (Revelation 21:3).  Yahweh Father never inhabited Moses’ Tabernacle or Solomon’s Temple, for He does not dwell in man-made structures (Acts 7:47-50):  The crowning Glory of His Creation, Yahweh Son proxy God, did (Exodus 23:20-21, 40:34; 2Chronicles 5:13-14; Psalms 2:7).

   When Jesus began his ministry, there was no longer a divine presence within the Holy of Holies at the Jerusalem Temple:  He had vacated the premises to appear in human form.  It is a testament to the spiritual blindness of Sadducees and Pharisees of Jesus’ time that, knowing David himself had been forbidden to build Yahweh’s house for having spilt human blood (1Chronicles 22:8), they would even contemplate the possibility of their uncompromisingly moral God inhabiting a temple upgraded by the bloody Herod.  Even today, misinterpreting chapters 40 to 44 of Ezekiel, there is Zionist talk of a third temple to be built on Mount Moriah, when we are specifically told that even in the Heavenly City on earth, Yahweh Father will not dwell in a temple (Revelation 21:2,22).  Consequently any talk of either Yahweh Father or Jesus inhabiting man-made temples from now until the end of time is human pipe-dreaming.

   Please note that the Heavenly Jerusalem (Zion) comes down from Heaven “dressed like a bride ready for her bridegroom” (Revelation 21:2).  Who is the bridegroom?  Jesus (Mark 2:19; Ephesians 5:22-32).  Before the human Jesus, who was Jerusalem’s husband?  Yahweh Son (Isaiah 54:1-7; Jeremiah 3:8-11), who like his human symbol, Jacob, was married to two sisters, Leah symbolizing Israel [Judaism] and Rachel symbolizing Judah [Christianity], of whom Rachel, the best-loved, was barren (Genesis 29:18,31).  Barrenness is a recurring theme in Scripture; and we see from Galatians 4:26-27 that Paul quotes Isaiah 54:1 to identify the Heavenly Jerusalem [not the Israeli capital] as the barren mother of all the faithful, the Church, which is Jesus’ body, the mystical temple Father inhabits (Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 2:9).

SATAN’S COUNTERFEIT CITY BRIDES

   Enter the Great Pretender and his counterfeit “city brides.”  As far as Abrahamic religions go, there are three choices:  Mecca for Arabs, and either Rome or Constantinople for Christians.  We will dispense with Mecca because it is not part of Judeo-Christian doctrine.¹  As far as Israel goes, we have already discussed the earthly Jerusalem, whose perennial resistance to obey Father was bemoaned by Jesus on the Mount of Olives and given “divorce papers” (Jeremiah 7:25-26, 35:37; Luke 13:34).  The Israeli Jerusalem absolutely no longer plays any role in Father‘s plan of redemption except as a marker for the beginning of the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:19-22; Luke 21:20-22).

   On the basis of Revelation 17:9, Rome and Constantinople are contenders [both are seven-hilled]; but Revelation 13:5 narrows the field to Rome.  Why?  Because if we apply Ezekiel’s 4:6 conversion factor of 1 day = 1 year [↔Numbers 14:34], we end up with 1,260 years, and Constantinople as the eastern branch of the Roman Empire did not last that long.²  Rome, then, is the obvious choice.  Let us examine how circumstantial evidence piles up in support of this theory.

Rome

   In Biblical parlance, Jerusalem as city and site of Yahweh Son‘s Temple are interchangeable; so are Rome and the Vatican [ostensibly, the ‘heart’ of Christendom].  In terms of longevity, Rome as seat of Roman Catholicism endures to this day, way beyond Daniel’s “out-of-danger” time outlier of 1,335 years (Daniel 12:12).  Though we all would prefer atomic-clock precision regarding Biblical timeframes, Father has chosen to deal in ball-park estimates, the most glaring example being the three days, in the manner of Jonah, Jesus was supposed to have remained buried (Jonah 1:17; Matthew 12:39-40).  If Jesus died on Friday sunset and rose early on predawn Sunday (John 20:1), he was not dead for 72 full hours; yet it is still true that he rose on the third day (Luke 9:22).  If anyone has any qualms with this, email Father for an explanation.  Since He will do whatever He pleases and has to answer no one for whatever He does (Job 40:2; Ecclesiastes 6:10; Isaiah 14:27, 43:13, 45:9; Daniel 4:35), we will bow our heads and continue our investigative ways

The beast

   Jesus told us Satan’s throne is in a human church (Revelation 2:13).   Cutting down to the chase, the “mortal wound” sustained by one of the heads of Revelation 13:3’s “beast” may refer to Napoleon’s ascendancy over the Pope, from coronation to actual abduction (1804 and 1809, respectively); which makes perfect sense in view that after the wound was “healed—Napoleon deposed; papal sovereignty reestablished—the whole world followed the beast.”  This can only be applicable to Rome/Vatican, but neither to Jerusalem [no longer a contender] nor Mecca [irrelevant in Judeo-Christianity]; and Constantinople [officially named Istanbul in 1930] has been an Islamic enclave since 1453 CE.

  The next Revelation item of interest is the so-called “mark of the beast.”  These are the specifics:  “He who has understanding, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man [and her number] is six hundred sixty-six.”  We see that the beast “was allowed to wage war against the saints and to conquer them” (Revelation 13:7), which is why Babylon the Great is portrayed glutting on their blood (Revelation 17:6).  Thus “beast” and woman [Catholic Church/Rome/Vatican?] are inextricably linked.

The name of the beast

   We have been given the numerical value of the beast’s name: 666.  The official language of the Catholic Church is Latin, which uses letters for its numerical system (Revelation 13:18).  We must remember that Catholic dogma wrongly interprets Jesus to be Father; so any man acting as ‘vicar of the Son of God’ could claim to be like Jesus in terms of roles Father assigned to him: Teacher of Christian doctrine (Matthew 23:8↔John 15:26, 16:13; 1Corinthians 2:10; Galatians 4:6↔Isaiah 61:1); Judge of all Flesh (John 5:22↔Genesis 18:25; Acts 17:31); and ruler over earth, angels, and hell (Matthew 28:18↔Isaiah 54:5 / Hebrews 1:4,6,14 / Revelation 1:18↔Revelation 9:1,11).³

 For some time now the Vatican has been on damage control mode; so that some popes have been championed for their humble ways, from kissing native soils on stepping off planes to modest living arrangements at the Vatican. Names do not matter; heading an institution built on millenary crimes against humanity does. If as Genesis 4:10 states Abel’s blood cries out to Heaven for justice, one cannot image the din raised by all the victims of Roman Catholic—and Protestant—victims down the centuries. Perhaps, as Revelation 6:9-11 suggest, the righteous souls under the Heavenly Altar are consigned to sleep so as to reduce noise level. So the issue is not whether modern popes have reinvented their personas by way of atoning for past excesses, but that the institution they lead and preserve remains to abominable to Father Who will personally attend to her comeuppance (Revelation 18:2,4-5,8,20-24).

   The papal title Vicarius Filii Dei first appeared in a medieval document [believed to be forged], written between the eighth and ninth centuries CE, entitled Donation of Constantine.  Supposedly the term was used to refer to Peter, who is also wrongly assumed to have been the first pope in a religion where Jesus had put an end to priestly classes (Luke 16:16); where no one could lord it over anyone else (Matthew 20:26-27); where Jesus was the only Teacher sending the Holy Spirit so that the faithful would have no need of human instructors (Matthew 23:8; John 16:13; 1Corinthians 2:12; 1John 2:27); and where Paul, not Peter, was Jesus’ hand-picked choice to bring the Gospel to non-Jews (Acts 9:15-16; Galatians 2:7).

   Conscripting Peter as first pope [a word meaning ‘father,’ whose indiscriminate use Jesus forbade (Matthew 23:9)] gave the papacy a spurious pedigree, since Peter established a direct link to Jesus; perhaps precisely to preempt that notion, Jesus chose Paul, whom he had never met in life, to preach the Gospel amongst Gentiles.  Still Peter was savvy or enlightened enough to call Rome “Babylon” (1Peter 5:13), an early GPS location for Christians to know where the Adversary had pitched his tent (Revelation 2:13).

   Forged or not, misapplied or not, we have got to admit that Vicarius Filii Dei fits to a tee Revelation 13:18’s criterion; to wit:

V = 5                                                        F = ø                                        D = 500                          

i = 1                                                           i = 1                                         e = ø                               

c = 100                                                      l = 50                                       i = 1                                

a = ø                                                          i = 1                                        Total = 501                      

r = ø                                                           i = 1  Total=53                                                                                                  

i = 1

u (used interchangeably with v) = 5

s = ø  Total = 112 

Grand Total = 112 + 53 + 501 = 666  

 The odds are astronomical that such a title should be inferred in Scripture centuries before Catholicism came into being; and especially at a time when the so-called Holy Roman Empire was in full-swing mowing down Judeo-Christian resistance everywhere. And how was Rome/Vatican doing this?  “His power shall be great, but not by his own strength; and he shall cause terrible destruction, and shall succeed in whatever he does. And he shall destroy the mighty and the holy people” (Daniel 8:24).  Lacking its own forces, the “beast” prevailed through alliances with armed nations bowing to and enforcing its oppressive rule; and only Vatican Rome fits that profile.

   But what settles the controversy is Daniel’s next verse:  “He will rise up against the Prince of princes, yet he will be broken apart—but not by human agency” (Daniel 8:25).  How does the Vatican rise against Jesus?  By usurping his sovereignty, killing his saints, and spreading religious abominations across the world [Marian worship; Sunday worship; idolatry; forbidding marriage and foodstuffs (see 1Timothy 4:1-3↔Revelation 18:2)].  And how will it be destroyed?  By Heaven’s version of the nuclear option:  plagues, death, weeping, hunger and cleansing fire (Revelation 18:8)—as Daniel prophesied, deployed by Heaven and not by men.

   We will return to more of this in Part V of this series, Creatures’ Features.  For now let us briefly examine the implications of Marian worship.

THE REVILED CULT OF THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN

   Family was not one of Jesus’ true Christian values; from the beginning he torpedoed such notions.  He had not come to preserve familial bonds at all costs but to tear them asunder on the basis of faith (Matthew 10:35-37↔Psalms 45:10-11). While remembering that “household” has multiple meanings in Scripture: family, nation, church (Micah 7:6; Mark 6:4; John 1:11; Hebrews 3:6), taking care of family business at the expense of needy others scored no brownie points with Father (Luke 6:32↔Galatians 6:10; 1Timothy 5:8).  And underlying everything is the often-forgotten fact that for Father every person—even His own Son—ranks the same; so in the final analysis, people’s personal veneration of parents and family members, while “kosher” (1Timothy 5:8), does not take precedence over familial obligations to Father (Hebrews 12:9-10).  Having accepted the role assigned to her by Father (Luke 1:30,38), the Biblical Mary is no longer relevant in the scheme of things.

   But like Peter, Mary is a handy Scriptural subject to spin satanic claims.  According to Catholic dogma, Mary, Jesus’ mother, is sometimes called the ‘mother of God,’ a blasphemy of the first order.  Jesus is not—never claimed to be—the Father; and as the proxy Creator setting everything in motion, he is technically Mary’s ‘father.’  Mary was to Jesus what an oven is to a lump of dough:  She was the incubator where the Holy Spirit’s implant (Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:34-35) could come to term as the man Jesus.  It is incontestable that Mary, like Joseph, did not contribute a single nucleotide to Jesus’ genome, since Jesus’ conception was entirely a supernatural affair, but this is a moot point.  What is undoubtedly certain is that stating that Mary is the ‘mother of God’ must truly enrage a Deity Who prides Himself in being the Prime-Mover of all things.  This is one satanic “dart” that has hit bull’s-eye.

   In antiquity, before and after the Israelites entered the world’s stage, mother cults proliferated everywhere.  Many of the attributes of pagan goddesses, like the “suffering or sorrowful mother,” or consort to the ruling male deity [i.e., Isis to Osiris, Asherah to El and Yahweh], have been assigned to Mary.  These goddesses, Inanna, Astarte/Ishtar, Anat, Ashtoreth, Asherah, Isis, were all ‘queens of heaven,’ the epithet ascribed to Mary in Roman Catholic dogma.  It is suggestive that Biblical symbols like the planet Venus [the Lucifer of Isaiah 14:2, or lions, Peter’s word for Satan (1Peter 5:8)] are associated with some of these goddesses.

   Mary may not be Jesus’ consort goddess; though in lots of medieval iconography, there is an erotic component to Marian interaction with the baby Jesus. Nevertheless, Mary is regarded as some sort of coregent piggy-backing on Jesus’ role as exclusive mediator between the Father and men (1Timothy 2:5↔Isaiah 51:22; 1John 2:21; John 4:6, 12:49).  In Roman Catholic dogma, Mary is the ‘mediatrix of graces’ between men and Jesus, who Roman Catholics think is part of a triune God.  In the Koran Jesus is consistently referred to as “son of Mary,” and even questions whether Jesus instructed followers to worship Mary as a god:  “Allah will say: ‘O Jesus son of Mary!  Did you say to men [to worship you and your mother] as gods in derogation of Allah?’  He will say: ‘Glory to You!  Never could I say what I had no right [to say].  Had I said such a thing, you would indeed have known it. You know what is in my heart’ (Sūrah 5.116).  It is ironic that a gospel Christians are told to anathematize is closer to the truth than neo-Christian dogma is.

   There is no Biblical evidence that Jesus instructed such worship.  In order to squash such ideas amongst future generations of believers, Jesus’ treatment of Mary was shockingly dismissive and harsh:

a) At age 12, “And having seen Him, they were amazed, and His mother said to him, ‘Child, why did you do this to us?  Behold, your father and I, sorrowing, were seeking you.’”  Jesus answered, ‘Why did you have to look for me? Didn’t you know that I would be in my Father’s house’” (Luke 2:48-49)?

b) At the wedding at Cana:  “Woman, what have I to do with you?  My hour is not yet come” (John 2:4).

c) While preaching, “While he was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, seeking to speak to him.  Someone told Jesus, ‘Your mother and brothers are standing outside and want to talk with you.’  Jesus answered, ‘Who is my mother and who are my brothers?’  Then he pointed to his disciples and said, ‘These are my mother and my brothers’” (Matthew 12:46-49).

d) Most significantly, when dying on the cross, Jesus did not commiserate with Mary’s suffering, “When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple [supposedly John] standing by, whom he loved, he said unto his mother, ‘Woman, behold, [John] your son’” (John 19:26).

   With one fell swoop Jesus severed whatever familial/spiritual umbilical cord bound him to Mary.  Yet in Roman Catholic dogma, Mary’s tears are viewed as assists to Jesus’ work of redemption, a bankrupt notion since without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22).  And for a third time we find satanic spins at work, Marian worship being yet another “dart” that since antiquity continues to score bull’s-eyes amongst Jesus’ scattered sheep (Jeremiah 10:21, 23:1-2, 44:16:25; Ezekiel 34:6; Matthew 9:36).

   But the crucial aspect of Marian worship is where some of her apparitions have occurred:  In high places (Leviticus 26:30; Numbers 33:52; Deuteronomy 12:2; Judges 6:25; 1Kings 12:31; 2Kings 21:3; 2Chronicles 28:25; Jeremiah 32:35; Ezekiel 20:28-29) like at Guadalupe, Fatima, Lourdes, and Medjugorje.  Please note that some of the Scriptures cited link the god Baal [an avatar for Satan↔Jeremiah 51:44; Revelation 16:13-14] with idols of the goddess Asherah.

 What follows is a very brief overview of notable ‘Marian’ apparitions.

Guadalupe

   At the Hill of Tepeyac, México, an Indian peasant name Juan Diego saw ‘Mary’ four times.  She presented herself as the “mother of the very true deity”; and later as Juan Diego’s “mother” capable of curing his ailing uncle. To make a long story short, Castilian roses, not native to México, blossomed on the usually barren Tepeyac summit on the cold of December 1531; ‘Mary’ then instructed Juan Diego to gather some in his tilma [a cloak woven out of cactus fiber] and to take them to the local Archbishop.  When Juan Diego unfolded his cloak to release the flowers, the now iconic Guadalupe image was imprinted on the tilma.

Deceptions:

1) ‘Mary’ as the mother of the very true deity, who Jesus is not.

2) An image venerated and knelt-before by millions upon millions of people in violation of the Second Commandment (Exodus 20:4-5).

Satan’s bull’s-eye score card:

   A Marian temple, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in México City, one the most-visited Catholic shrines in the world, and the world’s third most-visited ‘sacred’ site; complete with shops selling the detestable idols Yahweh despises and whose consumers He will not spare (Revelation 21:8).

Satan’s Portfolio:  A market for Marian paraphernalia placing souls at risk.

Fátima

   In 1917 at Fátima, Portugal, ‘Mary’ appeared atop a small tree holding a rosary to three shepherd children at the Cova da Iria.  She asked the children to devote themselves to the Holy Trinity [endorsing a man-made concept since there is no such thing] and to pray the rosary every day to bring an end to WWI.

   During the last of six apparitions, the so-called ‘Dance of the Sun’ took place.   It had been raining; the clouds parted; and the sun appeared as an opaque, spinning disk in the sky, casting multicolored lights across everything.  Then the Sun careened towards earth, zig-zagged for a while and settled on its normal position.  Some of those soaked wet by the rain claimed their clothes and surrounding muddy ground became completely dry; some witnesses reported seeing radiant colors only; others saw nothing at all.  One picture taken during the event shows nothing unusual; photography was in its infancy.  Worldwide no solar phenomenon was observed; and assorted skeptics chalked up everything either to mass hallucinations or temporary retinal distortions, rational defaults when no definitive explanations can be mustered—something akin to physicians positing viral infections for ailments that elude diagnosis.

    ‘Mary’ claimed WWI would end on October 13, 1917; it did not until November of the following year.  Though ‘Mary’ predicted the deaths of two of the children, Francisca and Jacinto, it is thought they succumbed to the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic due to weakening from bodily torments the children inflicted on themselves by tying penitence cords around their waists, later reported to have been blood-stained.  According to Lucia, the only surviving child, ‘Mary’ said that God was pleased with their sacrifices, but that He wanted them to wear the ropes during the day, not to sleep with the ropes on.  On Francisco’s deathbed, he told Lucia that he was suffering a lot but that he endured it all for love of Our Lord and Our Lady.

   In her memoirs, Lucia expressed the doubt that all along she felt the devil was tricking them; and that since the apparitions had begun “our home was no longer the same, for joy and peace had fled. What anguish I felt!”  Lucia claimed to have experienced a vivid nightmare wherein the devil was laughing for having deceived her; and told Jacinta that if ‘Mary’ asked why Lucia was not present at apparition time, it was because Lucia thought the Devil was sending ‘Mary’ to them.  Out of the mouths of babes!

   On July 13, 1917 the children were given three secrets.  The first one was a vision of hell.  It does not exist as Roman Catholic dogma posits:  Scripture’s hell is the outcome of the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 20:7-10). The second secret predicted WWII presaged by a night of unknown illumination.  On 25 January 1938 a solar storm created an aurora borealis seen as far south as Bermuda and California; the following day Lucia indicated that to be the sign foretold by ‘Mary.’  The war would be the result of people offending God, having failed in rendering devotion as well as consecrating Russia to her “immaculate heart.”  Notwithstanding, in time the “immaculate heart” would triumph, Russia would be consecrated, and a period of world peace would ensue.

   The third secret suggested somebody like the Pope, afflicted with great pain and sorrow, crossing a big city half in ruins, followed by bishops, priests, and religious people going up a steep mountain.  This sounds a lot like Revelation 18 and it may be one of Satan’s prophetic ‘teasers,’ like the promise of a world peace Yahweh has said cannot be (Jeremiah 6:14, 12:12).  Jesus’ end-times predictions do not contemplate lasting peace en route to destruction; but Paul did warn that, “when they are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman; and they shall not escape” (1Thessalonians 5:3).  Peace, such as it might be, will be fleeting, more of an illusion than concrete, lasting reality.

   In 1952 Pope Pius XII, acting on the delusion of being Jesus’ ‘vicar’ on earth, unilaterally undertook to do as ‘Mary’ had asked; and after uttering some hocus pocus—lo and behold—Russia was consecrated to the “immaculate heart of Mary, Mother of God.” ⁴ In prior years Pius XII had been more ambitious and done the same thing with the entire human race.  The Stalin Era showed how “desecrated” Russia had become; but Pius XII would not lose face:  In the end the “immaculate heart” always won because ‘Mary,’ humanity’s ‘good mother,’ would prevail against the very gates of hell whenever her protection was invoked: With her help error and atheism would be overcome. If contemporary Russia [not to mention China] is any indication, ‘Mary’ is in dire need of a reality check.

Deceptions:

1) ‘Mary’ as the mother of god, mediatrix of graces, and first-choice helper in difficult times.

2) Idols venerated and knelt-before by millions of pilgrims in violation of the Second Commandment (Exodus 20:4-5).

3) Devotion to the rosary.

Satan’s bull’s-eye score card:

   The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima, a premier pilgrimage site with a complex of buildings, shrines and monuments to the religious, political and social consequences of the 1917 apparitions.  Other buildings include the Hostel/Retreat House of Our Lady of Sorrows [revamping pagan pedigrees of antiquity]; luxury condominiums; and shops selling the detestable idols Yahweh despises and whose owners He will not spare (Revelation 21:18).

Satan’s Portfolio:  A market for Marian paraphernalia placing souls at risk.

Lourdes

  The apparition at Lourdes was preceded by one at La Sallette near Grenoble 12 years earlier.  In that one two shepherd children found ‘Mary’ sobbing while sitting on a rock. She was weeping because men took her son’s name in vain and were not observing Sunday as the day of worship and rest [violation of Fourth Commandment].  A water spring began to flow from the rock, to which sundry miracles have been attributed.  A medal with her image [violation of Second Commandment] was cast instructing worshippers to pray to her and make reparations for mankind’s sins.  Apparently, this was a dress rehearsal for what would transpire at Lourdes.

  On February 11, 1858 Bernadette Soubirous [age 14] encountered ‘Mary’ in a grotto at Massabielle, France.  According to Bernadette, ‘Mary’ looked like a 12-year-old “small maiden” no taller than herself.  Bernadette was 4 ft 7 in high.  The iconic idol now worshipped worldwide is the upgraded conception of a French sculptor [1864] in keeping with orthodox and traditional representations of ‘Mary.’  Upon seeing it, Bernadette claimed it did not match her vision.

   During the first apparition, ‘Mary’ asked that Bernadette pray the rosary with her.  Since Bernadette was physically punished by her parents upon reporting the incident, she returned with holy water on February 14, throwing it in ‘Mary’s’ direction while commanding her to vamoose if not coming from God.  ‘Mary’ smiled and bowed.  On February 18 Bernadette was instructed to return to the grotto over a period of two weeks.  Her parents nixed the idea but Bernadette returned on the 24^th, when ‘Mary’ asked for penitence and prayers on behalf of sinners.  Next day on the 25^th, Bernadette was instructed to dig in the ground and the now famous spring started flowing.  As claims of miraculous cures emerged ranging from inexplicable ones [70 out of 7,500 as reported in 2002] to hoaxes, the grotto was declared off-limits by church and government officials.  Having gone on survival mode and damage control, the church stayed out of the controversy.  Emperor Napoleon III issued an order to reopen the grotto by October 1858.

   On March 25^th Bernadette circumvented surveillance points and made it to the grotto, where ‘Mary’ declared herself to be the “immaculate conception.” ⁵ On April 7^th, Easter Sunday, Bernadette, in ecstasy, is reported to have held the palm of her hand over a flame without getting burned.  On July 16^th she met ‘Mary’ for the last time, claiming that ‘Mary’ had never looked so beautiful.

   Concurrently, a few kilometers from Lourdes, some shepherds saw a ray of light that guided them to a statue of ‘Mary.’ The statue was moved twice to a more prominent position; but both times it teleported back to the original location at which a small chapel was built for it.

Deceptions:

1) ‘Mary’ as mediatrix of graces corroborating the dogma of her immaculate conception.

2) Idols venerated and knelt-before by millions of pilgrims in violation of the Second Commandment (Exodus 20:4-5).

3) Devotion to the rosary.

4)  Curative waters [a spin on the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-4)].

Satan’s bull’s-eye score card:

   The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, a pilgrimage site visited by millions each year, where the sick go in hopes of physical healing or spiritual renewal.  It sits on an area of 51 hectares, including 22 separate places of worship among churches and basilicas; and shops selling the detestable idols Yahweh despises and whose owners He will not spare (Revelation 21:8).

Satan’s Portfolio:  A market for Marian paraphernalia placing souls at risk.

Medjugorje

   In 1981 two female teenagers had gone for a smoke out in the boondocks; on their return, one of the girls saw ‘Mary’ on nearby Mount Podbrdo.  At different times that afternoon, they were joined by four other friends/eyewitnesses for a total of six original visionaries.  Over the years and as recently as 2020, most visionaries have acknowledged further visitations; though one of them claimed that ‘Mary’ had reneged on a promise to appear to her on the second day of each month.

   At the time of the original apparition, the area was a tinder box of nationalistic and religious fervor:  most Croats were Catholic, most Serbs were Eastern Orthodox, and Bosnia/Herzegovina a mélange of both plus Bosnian Muslims.  The secular and religious shenanigans going on in the region would make European medieval politics look like kindergarten games.  We will not bother with the particulars here.

   At Medjugorge ‘Mary’s’ interventions were characteristically non-Christian.  Jesus told us not to get mired in men’s affairs (Matthew 5:37; John 6:15), and that became an article of faith for the Apostles (2Timothy 2:4; James 5:12; 2John 10-11).  Since Satan runs this world (Luke 4:6; 1John 5:19), there is absolutely no human endeavor, no matter how high-minded, that is not a hotbed for controversies and animosities.  Christianity’s current apostasy is patent proof of this.  Jesus’ advice:  Whatever the issue at hand, limit your input to “yes” or “no” or suffer the consequences (Matthew 5:37).

   As per testimonies of her visionaries, ‘Mary’ took sides on religious disputes, casting aspersions against those thinking her messages false, while advocating for the blamelessness of those supporting them.  Throughout it all, ‘Mary’ seemed to be doing PR for Roman Catholicism, espousing Catholic teachings and obedience to the Church and the Pope—exactly what Revelation strongly discourages (Revelation 13:8, 18:4-5).  One of the messages threatened some skeptic bishop regarding her apparitions:  ‘Mary’ warned that unless he recanted, he would be “judged by me and my son Jesus.” We know that on Judgment Day, Jesus will be at the bench with no co-judge beside him (Daniel 7:10; Matthew 25:31-32).

   This is tremendously significant since by Jesus’ testimony, the Father has appointed him sole Judge of all flesh, “for the Father judges no one, but has given all authority to judge to the Son” (John 5:22).  While this is part of the ‘division of labor’ Scriptural technique helping us differentiate between Father, Son and Holy Spirit working as one (1John 5:6-7) while remaining three distinct Beings, here it allows us to see yet another usurpation of Jesus’ authority.  While ‘mediatrix of graces’ is a role accorded to her by Roman Catholic dogma, the fact that ‘Mary’ claims the authority to judge people shows how brazen Satan has become in his endeavors to upstage Jesus—if not in reality, then in a virtual context.

   Ever cautiously skirting potentially religious minefields, Pope Francis in 2017 expressed the opinion that the original visions merited further study, but that communiqués since then were of dubious value.  However, since Medjugorje had become the latest pilgrimage hotspot, and given “abundant fruits of grace” springing from it [hopefully not in the order of Jeremiah’s bad figs (Jeremiah 24:1-3)], he lifted the ban on officially organized pilgrimages in 2019.  Ironically since the 1980’s the communist state-media—if not Marian but certainly Mammon devotees—had recognized the economic windfalls to the apparitions.  Pope John Paul II, himself a die-hard Marian zealot, has been quoted as saying that at the time Medjugorje was the “spiritual center of the world,” and that denying the living and praying testimony of pilgrims who had been there could neither be ignored nor denied.  About the Bosnian War (1992-1995), John Paul II remarked that if bombs had been falling all around Medjugorje without damage, was this “not perhaps a miracle of God?”  The Vatican disavowed such reports.

  On May 13, 1981, the 64^th anniversary of the Fátima apparitions, John Paul II was shot four times in St. Peter’s Square.  He, Jesus’ “vicar,” was reported as having appealed to “Mother Mary” as he lost consciousness, later crediting her intercession for his survival.  Two of the bullets that passed through his body struck two bystanders but not fatally; John Paul II later said that the gunman had fired the gun, but that Mary “had guided” the bullets.  One of the bullets is encased in the crown of the effigy at Fátima.

Deceptions:

1) ‘Mary’ as endorser of Roman Catholic dogma, papal obedience, and co-Judge with Jesus.

2) Idols venerated and knelt-before by millions pilgrims in violation of the Second Commandment (Exodus 20:4-5).

3) A “peace” rosary recommended by ‘Mary,’ also called Peace Chaplet of Medjugorje.

4) Endorsing personal intervention in human disputes. What is good for the goose is good for the gaggle.

Satan’s bull’s-eye score card:

   The Shrine of Our Lady of Medjugorje is touted as a place of deep spiritual experience for pilgrims.  In comparison to more famous sites, the layout is rather modest, the Church of St. James being the center of the Marian shrine, with hotels, restaurants, and shops selling the detestable idols Father despises and whose owners He will not spare (Revelation 21:8).

 As human spirituality has devolved markedly since the Fátima years, during the Bosnian conflict profits from Medjugorje were used to fund the war effort in favor of Catholic Croatia.  No apparition took place to denounce the perversity.

   And as of 2018 the Camorra (Neapolitan mafia) is alleged to have penetrated the local pilgrimage business with three hotels, guide services, and souvenir vendors. 

   On the Camorra issue, ‘Mary’ has remained literally and figuratively “mum.”

Satan’s Portfolio:  A market for Marian paraphernalia placing souls at risk.

  

¹ For readers who enjoy religious theories, there is an interesting documentary, Is This the Real City of Mecca, in YouTube positing that Petra, not Mecca, is Islam’s sacred city. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOWFPTzK7D4

² Declared the “new Rome” in 324 CE and dedicated on 330 CE.  It fell in 1453 CE to the Ottoman Empire.  Computing the outlier dates: 1,453 – 324 = 1,129 years.

³ “The Pope and God are the same, so he has all power in Heaven and earth.” Pope Pius V.

 “…We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty…” Pope Leo XIII.

 “The pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God [↔Ezekiel 28:2-9; 2Thessalonians 2:4]…The Pope alone is called most holy…Hence the Pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven and of earth and of hell. Moreover the superiority and the power of the Roman Pontiff by no means pertains only to heavenly things, but also earthly things, and to things under the earth, and even over the angels, whom he his greater than [↔Daniel 7:25; 2Peter 2:10-11: Revelation 13:5]. So that if it were possible that the angels might err in the faith, or might think contrary to the faith, they could be judged and excommunicated by the Pope….[who] is as it were God on earth, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief of kings, having plenitude of power.” Lucius Ferraris.

 “I am in all and above all, so that God Himself and I, the vicar of God, hath both one consistory, and I am able to do almost all that God can do…wherefore, if those things that I do be said not to be done of man, but of God, what do you make of me but God? [2Thessalonians 2:4]“ Decretales Domini Gregori ix Translatione Episcoporum, (on the Transference of Bishops), title 7, chapter 3; Corpus Juris Canonice (2nd Leipzig ed., 1881), col. 99; (Paris, 1612), tom. 2, Decretales, col. 205 (while Innocent III was Pope).

 ”The Pope takes the place of Jesus Christ on earth…by divine right the Pope has supreme and full power in faith, in morals over each and every pastor and his flock. He is the true vicar, the head of the entire church, the father [Matthew 23:9] and teacher [Matthew 23:8] of all Christians. He is the infallible ruler, the founder of dogmas, the author of and the judge of councils; the universal ruler of truth, the arbiter of the world, the supreme judge of heaven and earth, the judge of all [Judge 5:22; Acts 17:31], being judged by no one, God himself on earth.“ Quoted in the New York Catechism.

⁴ Lucia went on record pooh-poohing Pius’ consecration, stating it did not meet ‘Mary’s’ requirements.  In 1984 Pope John Paul II again consecrated the world without explicitly mentioning Russia.  Some say Lucia stated this one did the trick; but in 1985 a Spanish magazine quoted Lucia’s opinion that as there was no specific mention of Russia and “many bishops attached no importance to it,” John Paul’s efforts were another dud.  In 2001 Lucia ostensibly told some archbishop that the 1984 consecration was the real McCoy.

   Lucia died in 2005 at age 97 without making public statements of her own settling the issue one way or another.

⁵ Another human-concocted notion debated by medieval Catholic theologians and defined as dogma in 1854 by Pope Pius IX. The dogma asserts Mary’s freedom from original sin, which although Genesis tells us was disobedience by Adam and Eve whilst in a state of grace, Catholics equate with human sex. To be sure Mary did not have intercourse with Joseph prior to Jesus’ birth, but after that, they did (Matthew 1:25); hence Jesus’ other brothers (Luke 8:20; John 7:5; Galatians 1:19). Catholic dogma, however, pooh-poohs such considerations in defense of Mary’s perpetual virginity.