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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 NO ONE SHOULD BELIEVE IN PURGATORY

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purgatory

“Purgatory, according to Catholic Church doctrine, is an intermediate state after physical death in which those destined for heaven ‘undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1030).  Only those who die in the state of grace but have not in life reached a sufficient level of holiness can be in Purgatory, and therefore no one in Purgatory will remain forever in that state or go to hell. This theological notion has ancient roots and is well-attested in early Christian literature, but the poetic conception of Purgatory as a geographically existing place is largely the creation of medieval Christian piety and imagination.” -Wikipedia.

REASONS WHY NO ONE SHOULD BELIEVE IN PURGATORY:

 

  • NOT ONE OF THE APOSTLES BELIEVED OR TAUGHT IT.
  • THERE IS NOT ONE VERSE IN THE BIBLE THAT TEACHES PURGATORY.
  • PRAYING FOR, AND WORSHIPING SPIRITS OF THE DEAD IS A CULTIC TRADITION GOING BACK BEYOND EGYPT. Jesus said the Pharisees were, “Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.” Mark 7:13.
  • JESUS PURGED OUR SINS “ONCE AND FOR ALL.” “And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:  But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.  For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:11-14. If you are saved, you are “perfected forever….”  The wafer has no power, nor is there need for it.

[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] If the pope has power over purgatory, then why does he not release all saved souls from it? [/pullquote]

  • PURGATORY IS AN INVENTION TO “BIND” THE LIVING AND THE DEAD TO THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. Anyone who believes his loved ones are suffering in Purgatory, will never abandon the church, and will give unlimited amounts of money to get them out. This effort to release a loved one from purgatory requires special service to the Church. However, giving of money works best. This is one of the reasons the reformers, like Luther, forsook the church.  The Martin Luther Trial Homepage comments. “How did the practice of dispensing indulgences begin? The first known use of plenary indulgences was in 1095 when Pope Urban II remitted all penance of persons who participated in the crusades and who confessed their sins.  Later, the indulgences were also offered to those who couldn’t go on the Crusades but offered cash contributions to the effort instead.  In the early 1200s, the Church began claiming that it had a “treasury” of indulgences (consisting of the merits of Christ and the saints) that it could dispense in ways that promoted the Church and its mission.  In a decretal issued in 1343, Pope Clement VI declared, “The merits of Christ are a treasure of indulgences.
  • WHEN A SAINT DIES, THEY GO DIRECTLY TO HEAVEN TO BE WITH JESUS. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is  But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.  For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:” Philippians 1:21-23. To be absent from the body, is to be in heaven with Christ. To die is not “gain” when you know you are going to burn in purgatory. Furthermore, no one knows how long he must be there suffering hell fire, nor when one is released.
  • PURGATORY WAS NOT AN OFFICIAL CHURCH LAW UNTIL 593 A. D. If the pope has the power, why not release all saved souls from purgatory? Could money be a factor?

Now you see why no one should believe in Purgatory.

BABYLON IS NOT ROME NOR THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

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BABYLON AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Babylon

By Ken Blue

“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelation 18:4.

The standard teaching is that the Catholic Church is Babylon, and that God is calling for believers to come out of it. However, nothing could be further from the truth. I have always wondered why those who are opposed to spiritualizing Scripture take such liberty in the book of Revelation, especially with chapters 2, 3, 17, 18.

When the Jews flee in the Tribulation, it will be safer for them in the city of Babylon than in Jerusalem; many will go there for protection. Two things were necessary for this to happen. One, Israel had to be back in their land as a nation, and the City of Babylon had to be rebuilt. Both have happened.

When God said, “Come out of her, my people…” He is speaking a literal city and a specific time. Look at the context of:

  • Jeremiah 51:6 “Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD’S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense.”
  • Jeremiah 51:6. “Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.”
  • Micah 4:10. Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies. (Read context.) 

[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Although the Catholic Church practices much of Babylon’s religion, she is but one of the many offshoots.[/pullquote]

  • Jeremiah 50:4-9 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God. 5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. 6My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace. 7All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers. 8 Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks. 9For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.
  • Jeremiah 51:5-8 For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. 6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD’S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence. 7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD’S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. 8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
  •  Jeremiah 51:45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.

Therefore, there is no doubt that the Lord is speaking of literal Jews, and He is calling them out of the literal city of Babylon just prior to its destruction as described in the above text. There is absolutely no thought of the Catholic Church in these verses. The idolatry and wickedness of Babylon was in full existence long before Rome ever existed. If you don’t know that, you haven’t read the Old Testament, or of her influence on all the nations, including Israel. Although the Catholic Church practices much of Babylon’s religion, she is but one of the many offshoots. Babylon is not the Catholic Church.

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