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WHY I DON’T PRAY TO MARY

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NO ONE SHOULD EVER PRAY TO MARY

mary standing on a snake

  • THERE IS NO BIBLE COMMAND TO PRAY TO MARY
  • THERE IS NO BIBLE EXAMPLE OF ANYONE PRAYING TO MARY
  • THE WISE MEN BROUGHT NO GIFTS FOR MARY
  • THE WISE MEN DID NOT WORSHIP MARY
  • MARY WAS A SINNER AND NEEDED A SAVIOUR-  “And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” Luke 1:47.
  • MARY ACKNOWLEDGED HER NEED FOR A SAVIOUR, THUS, ADMITTING HER SINFUL NATURE.
  • JESUS IS THE ONE AND ONLY MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MAN, NOT MARY-“ For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”1 Timothy 2:5.
  • MARY IS NOT IN HEAVEN INTERCEDING FOR SINNERS. (This would contradict the above verse.
  • MARY IS NOT THE MOTHER OF GOD. SHE WAS THE PERSON USED OF GOD TO BIRTH THE MAN, CHRIST JESUS. NOTHING MORE.
  • MARY WAS NEVER CALLED THE “MOTHER OF GOD”UNTIL 331 A. D.
  • NO ONE PRAYED TO MARY OR THE SAINTS UNTIL 600 A. D.
  • PAUL, THE WRITER OF ALL CHURCH EPISTLES, NEVER MENTIONS MARY. THE MARY OF ROMANS 16:6 COULD NOT BE THE MOTHER OF JESUS, BECAUSE CATHOLICS SAY SHE ASCENDED TO HEAVEN.
  • NONE OF THE JEWISH EPISTLES, HEBREWS THROUGH REVELATIONS MENTION MARY.
  • SOME CATHOLICS WORSHIP MARY, OTHERS, ONLY VENERATE HER. BOTH ARE WRONG.
  • TO PRAY TO, VENERATE, OR BOW TO IS IDOLATRY.
  • TO PRAY TO MARY PUTS HER BETWEEN CHRISTIANS AND CHRIST
  • KNEELING TO A STATUE OF MARY IS AGAINST SCRIPTURE, AND IS IDOLATRY.
  • AN IDOL ULTIMATELY BECOMES ONES GOD. “And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father’s house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?” Genesis 31:30.

PRAYER, VENERATION AND WORSHIP OF MARY IS A DOCTRINE OF DEVILS, AND WILL BRING CONDEMN TO ONE’S SOUL.

“…But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.  Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.” 1 Corinthians 10:19-21

WHY MY TOWN DIED

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If you go to Google Earth and type in Boswell, Arkansas, you will get a satellite view of what used to be the small town where I grew up. I discovered recently that the town is as empty at ground level as the picture from above reveals.

What happened to my town? When I was but a lad, it had a one room schoolhouse that was filled with boys and girls. Three small general stores existed. A Post Office and a train depot were buzzing with activity. Houses dotted the hillside on the east side of town and the river bank across the tracks. What excitement! What friendships and what wonderful memories! Now, I ask, what happened?

The school house is empty and cold. All stores are closed and rotting to the ground. No longer does the train stop; there are no people to ride it. The houses on the hill have collapsed or have briers and bushes growing up through them. There might be five houses left where senior citizens live. Like the town, they too are dying. I wonder, what happened?

One thing that contributed to Boswell’s demise was a bridge built across Piney Creek. The citizens discovered that the school in a nearby town offered better opportunities for their children.

Another factor was the phasing out of the “section gang” that worked on the Southern Pacific Railroad. Once these jobs were eliminated, it was impossible to sustain the stores; so, like the school, they too closed their doors, and people began shopping in others towns. Farming was hopeless for two reasons; the land just did not produce, and you couldn’t find people to work the crop, if you had one. So, like a terminal cancer patient, the town died day by day.

Now, there is nothing to attract anyone to the ghost town. It would be impossible to give one good reason why any young couple would move there. There is nothing for them or their children. All is history. What used to be is only a memory.

There is one possibility, but it is only one chance in a million that it would happen. If someone with enough money and VISION would start a growing factory, families and workers would once again be attracted to the beautiful Boswell valley along White River. But, don’t hold your breath.

Now I understand what happened. The school in the next town provided better programs and education for the children. Jobs that died were not replaced. People began to shop in other stores or just left town. The farmers failed to produce enough harvest to attract and hold workers, so everything collapsed. Come to think of it, I no longer wonder what happened.

Pastor, does this story of Boswell, mirror your church? Are people leaving because a bridge has been built to a better church? Does everyone in your church have a job? Are ministries closing because there is no business? What would attract anyone to your church in the first place? Are the young families moving out? If they are, go to Google Earth and look down at Boswell, and you are viewing the future of your church.

ME, AND MR.WINSTON

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cigarettes

By Ken Blue

(Note: This poem may help some of you with a

New Year’s resolution)

 

 

 

I started smoking cigarettes when I was fourteen.

I stole them at night from dad’s cigarette machine.

Dennis and I went to the outside can,

And smoked in hopes of becoming a man.

 

Dad continued supplying his cigarette store.

And me; I continued my stealing more and more.

It finally became a constant routine.

I’d learned to love the taste of nicotine.

 

To me, cigarettes looked better the more I looked,

And in a few weeks, found myself completely hooked.

Some will never completely understand.

I’d walked a mile to the Marlboro Man.

 

The cost of cigarettes was twenty cents a pack.

So I begged from others, saying I’ll pay you back.

Twenty’s a lot when you only have a dime,

But I have to feed this habit of mine.

 

I became a Christian when I was seventeen.

A novice was I, and so, what did it all mean?

I remember it well, what a great day!

But, Winston continued to have his way.

 

The time had come when I really wanted to quit.

But Mr.Winston loved me too and he threw a fit.

I played at my prayers, knowing what to do.

But my prayers were feigned, and weren’t getting through.

 

As I read the Book, the more burdened I became.

I was more serious, it’s no longer a game.

As His Word went in, the craving, it died.

Old Mr.Winston found himself cast aside.

 

If you’re struggling with habits, or an addiction,

And you are sincere in your heart felt conviction.

There is a cure of which you may have heard.

It’s, you can be clean through God’s Holy Word.

 

If you’re toying with cigarettes, or smoking weed,

Or you have moved up a notch to where you’re on speed.

Read the Bible and pray, you will be heard;

You will find freedom through God’s Holy Word.

 

 

THE DRIFTING CHURCH

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Drifting church

By Ken Blue

If a church is drifting, one of two causes exists: The church has no charted destination, or the captain is asleep at the wheel.

The church that is adrift, with no clear destination, is at the mercy of the current. Its only objective is to get through another Sunday. Next Sunday will be another day, and we will deal with it as we did today.

This is the status of many churches. Their only goal is have church Sunday and observe another phenomena. The bulletin is printed because churches are expected to have them. The songs are selected with no relevance to the pastor’s message, and the sermon is preached with no intended purpose or expected results. Everything rises and ebbs with the tide. This is the church without clear objectives or destination and is adrift.

Some churches have a purpose statement, somewhere, but like a New Year’s resolution; they write it and forget it. It has no bearing on anything that actually happens. Statements are easy to write, but old habits are hard to break. Unless we plan everything according to a clear destination, we are simply drifting in circles.

Even with a clear destination, it is difficult to keep a church on course. Churches are like ships and airplanes. All are prone to drift. The only hope is to have a strong rudder and an alert captain at the wheel.

The question is, is your church adrift; if so, why? Is it because you don’t have a clear vision of what you are trying to do, how to do it, and where you want to go? Or, is it because your church activities have nothing to do with the purpose statement you have misplaced? Only you can stop the drifting.

AN EVEN BALANCE

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even balanceAN EVEN BALANCE
By Ken Blue

“Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.” Job 31:6.

I am so thankful that we have the book of Job, in which God attests to Jobs integrity. Without it, I am confident that most of us would have chimed in with his interrogators. An even balance has two sides to it; one is your side and the other is God’s. Most of us are unable or unwilling to use just weights when weighing others. We have our own set of weights deep down in our pockets, and we are quick to draw them out and throw them on the scales when prompted. We have become adept at finding just the right weight in order to tip the scales in our favor or that of a friend. This is what Job’s “friends” did. They had their “weights” of tradition, experiences and observations with which they weighed Job, and still they were all wrong.

Dr. Charles Keen said, “The devil knows nothing of balance”, and it is obvious that many of God’s children are lacking in this grace also. Job knew that his heart was right with God, and his desire was to be weighed by Him. Aren’t you glad God doesn’t use the same weights to measure you as others do when judging you? Not only should we pray that our personal life be pleasing to God, but we must also pray that our judgment of others, with whom we agree and disagree, will be carried out by a just weight and an even balance.