Jesus In My Tuna Salad

While I'm in Florida visiting and helping out my parents I decided to accompany Ma to her church this Sunday. Normally I wouldn't darken the doorstep of an RCC church but my mother is devoutly catholic, and my offering to accompany her to church would be a comfort to her. She's 80 and doesn't grasp reality all that well any more but she does love Jesus with a deep passion that is a joy to watch and she's comfortable in that church so I'll go with her to the Space Coast Holy Ghost Roman Catholic Church & Bingo Hall which will make her whole weekend. 

It's going to be interesting, its been 10 years since I've been to a mass, and for some reason at that mass the priest had the entire congregation signify their allegiance to God through a gesture that was exactly like a Nazi salute. Needless to say I haven't been back since. However I'll be there this Sunday and when the parishioners chant their Hail Marys I'll be reading Luke:

²⁷ While Jesus was saying 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.” ²⁸ But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” (Luke 11:27-18)

I don't have anything against the members of the RCC, I know in my heart many are saved Christians but I do rail against the idolatry, necromancy, and heresy demanded by their man centric hierarchy, sins which come between the hearts of their parishioners and God. Remember, this is the church that beatified (which means to make a saint of a corpse) a mass murderer, the Hapsburg's own Emperor Charles of Austria. (BTW - Isn't a man or group of men electing a corpse to sainthood an act of judgement?) However I am sure that there are walking talking saints waiting for me at the Space Coast Holy Ghost Roman Catholic Church & Bingo Hall, because a saint isn't a man made post corpus dead thing but a living breathing person sanctified by God:

To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: (1 Corinthians 1:2)

The Lord works in strange and wonderful ways and I know in my heart that he's planting real saints in the dens of darkness that are spreading across this world, to help save the elect before His day comes. 

But one of the things that I ponder is why are there all these weird sightings. We're constantly hearing stories about people seeing images of Christ in their food; in a potato chip, a tortilla, an orange, a cheeto. That's not to ignore seeing the image of Christ in a frying pan, clouds, and even a fabric softner stain. Many of these visions are seen by Roman Catholics, is it because of their icons? We don't know what Christ really looked like as there were no artists who captured his image, so most of our images of Christ come from Byzantine icons, old movies, and holy cards (it's a Catholic thing) 

Most of these 'images of Christ' appearing in sandwiches and breakfast cereal are barely humanoid at all, causing most people to wonder what the viewer is actually seeing. However the reports constantly stream in, and not just Jesus, people are seeing Mary too. Catholicism is a religion full of graven images, a visit to any church will show. Look at the 'Priest's Crucifix' here, we are told it's a symbol of life over death however someone else would see a cross (symbol of torture and death) the INRI scroll at the top (death sentence), the tortured body (death) and the skull and crossbones (more death). What's with all the death worship?

This is just the first idol in a catholic church, inside you will see images galore, the older the building, the more the icons. Regardless of the church's age there is always series of pictures along the wall called the stations of the cross depicting the trial, torture, execution, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Personally Here and there will be banks of little candles, most should be lit. I like all the flickering candles, they're pretty, each is a symbol of a prayer said for someone or something, to me this is the very very best symbol in the church when used in consideration with John 12:36, but the catholic church ruins even this sweet tradition, they teach that lighting a candle extends the prayer after the prayer is finished.

However your sight is drawn to a large crucifix behind the altar often made of stone (in violation of Exodus 20:25) raised up on steps (in violation of Exodus 20:26). To the side is a statue of Mary (a dead woman), and to the other side is a statue of Joseph (a dead man). These are side altars where these two statues can be worshiped humans can be worshiped venerated. What's the difference between worship and veneration? The catholic church has an explanation of the difference, but institutes nothing which would prevent adoration where veneration is due and vice versa. But to the spiritually starving supplicant kneeling before a statue of a dead woman praying to that statue and dead woman repetitiously, over and over, by saying the rosary there is no difference, it's all worship.

These people are obviously hungry to see their Lord and Savior, and they've been raised to believe that God appears to people in the image of a middle age artwork.  So why do the churches who feed their sheep the true word of God have little to no sightings of these images? On the Protestant side we have our own issues, we have a an evil and adulterous generation which demands signs and miracles (Matthew 12:39), and hucksters are there to provide any sign their empty hearts desire, for a price.

I truly believe that some Catholics are so image inundated that they are programmed to see these images. I wonder if God told us to avoid images because of this, that we're to be looking for each other rather than ghostly images in snack foods. Even when I was a practicing catholic I felt creeped out by all the imagery, and now on the outside looking in I can see that many good Christians are constrained by man-made rules and man centered images. They don't need scorn, or derision, they need our prayers as brothers in Christ.