Pope Francis intends to consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on October 13, 2013. I'm not sure if anyone told the Pope but the world is not his to consecrate. "Consecration" is used in the Catholic Church as the setting apart for the service of God of both persons and objects. Now God did make the world (and the universe it's in) for his own purpose, how glad God must be to see that Pope Elliot Carver Francis agrees with him.
Unfortunately Pope Francis is not consecrating the world to God, he's consecrating the world to the carved image of a dead woman.
The Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal announced in early August that Pope Francis requested that the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima be brought to the Vatican for the celebration...
Pope Francis and the pilgrims will welcome the statue to St Peter’s Square during an evening prayer service on October 12. The statue will then be taken to the Rome Shrine of Divine Love, where the Diocese of Rome plans an all-night vigil.
The statue and the pilgrims will return to St Peter’s Square on October 13 for the recitation of the rosary and Mass with Pope Francis. In a press statement, the directors of the Fatima shrine said Pope Francis will consecrate the world to Mary during the event.
For those of you that don't know, the Lady of Fatima was a ghostly apparition that appeared to several small children in Fatima Portugal on the 13th of May, June and July 1917. The apparition told the children to hurt themselves as acts of penance and reparation (an act of devotion with the intent to repair the "sins of others") The children wore tight cords around their waists to cause themselves pain, performed self-flagellation using stinging nettles, and abstained from drinking water on hot days among other.
Please correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't Jesus' death the act of reparation to end all acts of reparation? Other than Jesus, whom did God ask to atone for someone elses sins? Other than Jesus, whom did God ask to hurt themselves for forgiveness? No one, that's who.
So anyhow, the pope is concentrating the whole earth to Our Lady Of Fatima whom they believe is Mary, Jesus' mother. Mary, of course, is dead, and if she is the Lady Of Fatima then their prayers to her are definitely covered in the bible: Leviticus 19:31, Leviticus 20:27, Deuteronomy 18:10-13, 1 Chronicles 10:13-14, 2 Chronicles 33:6.
Of course we are told "We don't worship her we venerate her" Ok, fine. The moment you say "Hail Mary full of grace" you're either worshiping her (because you're praying to her) or you're committing necromancy (talking to the dead), pick one option please, and don't repeat "venerate" because that's another word for "worship". And why the statue? Why worship a statue like Bathtub Mary illustrated here? (Yes, the half-shell is a bath tub, it's a very Cheektowaga thing.)
The Catholic church says that they're not worshiping a statue, the statue is just art to remind them of the dead lady they're trying to communicate with. They will also point out that a child kneeling by their bed saying prayers is not praying to the bed. I agree, and neither does that young child repeat the prayer to the bed 50 times while rattling beads, burn incense and candles before the bed, nor does she sprinkle holy water on it and have the whole town carry it around adorned with flowers. Yes they are 'venerating' a statue, why else would they fly it across the Mediterranean to Rome for this this ceremony. And why does a plaster statue get a better vacation than me? (I went to Cripple Creek Colorado, a nice town, but definitely not Rome. I had to go AWOL to see Rome.)
The Catholic church says that they're not worshiping a statue, the statue is just art to remind them of the dead lady they're trying to communicate with. They will also point out that a child kneeling by their bed saying prayers is not praying to the bed. I agree, and neither does that young child repeat the prayer to the bed 50 times while rattling beads, burn incense and candles before the bed, nor does she sprinkle holy water on it and have the whole town carry it around adorned with flowers. Yes they are 'venerating' a statue, why else would they fly it across the Mediterranean to Rome for this this ceremony. And why does a plaster statue get a better vacation than me? (I went to Cripple Creek Colorado, a nice town, but definitely not Rome. I had to go AWOL to see Rome.)
15 The idols of the nations are but silver and gold,The work of man’s hands.16 They have mouths, but they do not speak;They have eyes, but they do not see;17 They have ears, but they do not hear,Nor is there any breath at all in their mouths.18 Those who make them will be like them,Yes, everyone who trusts in them. (Psalm 135:15-18)
2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:2-4)
This is, and always has been ear tickling of the highest order. I should be upset that so many people are turning away from the word of God to strange myths and flashy showmanship. I should be upset about the fact that the entire scriptural lesson of Mary is lost in the smoke and lighting effects of Marian idol worship. The lesson is this: God asked Mary to do something that would be wonderful but would cost her dearly, and being pregnant out of wedlock in the Jewish society of the time was a death sentence if handled wrong. She did what the lord asked regardless of the cost. That's the lesson, not this quasi-Byzantine rock concert cum meaningless gesture.
But I'm not upset, I'm elated to be honest, for a couple of reasons: for one the pope can't consecrate the world because it's not his to consecrate. Sorry. He could consecrate his hat, he could consecrate a string of beads one of his goats handed him, but the world? It's not his to give away. And second (and most important) it's all bible prophesy unfolding before our eyes. Watch and wonder at the power and glory of the Lord as His word is proven to be true time and time again!
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