The Roman Catholic Pope Francis continues in his rebellion against the true and living God, with his idolatrous worship of Mary. Pope Francis is preparing to make a trip to Mexico to worship before Mexico’s greatest idol, which is “Our Lady of Guadalupe.” When the Pope gets there he will seek the intercession of “Mary” and bow before the portrait of “Mary” as multitudes stand by and watch his every move. It is my prayer that the true and living God, will deliver the millions of Roman Catholic people who are still ensnared by this gross idolatry which is an offense to Almighty God. Meanwhile, Bible believing Christians in Mexico had all of their property confiscated, and were thrown into jail, simply because they refused to convert to Roman Catholicism. Will Pope Francis bring his Papal keys to unlock those jail cells when he visits Mexico to honor “Mary”? Will Pope Francis restore the land and property which was confiscated, to those born again Bible believing Christians? Many of those Christians who sit in those jail cells were former Roman Catholics, such as myself. The true and living God set them free from the idolatry of the Roman Catholic system, and they refuse to go back!
I can remember going to shop for a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary before I came to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. I walked into a Catholic shop where they sold books, Bibles and many different statues of Mary and other Roman Catholic “saints.” I was very surprised by the large prices on even the small statues, and I was not willing to pay the price that was asked for them. What does the Bible have to say about such things? Is it biblical to worship before these statues? Listen to what one psalmist wrote here:
Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them. (Psalms 115:1-8)
It is pretty obvious that the Psalmist is speaking about statues which he calls idols. The first thing that the Psalmist mentions is that these idols are the work of mens hands, in contrast to his own God which is in the heavens. The Psalmist then speaks about the facial characteristics of these idols and points out their inability to work because these idols are not real and alive. The Psalmist was making a point that although these idols resemble a real person, they were unable to talk, hear, smell, handle things or walk. The Psalmist then went on to compare those who make these idols, and those who trust in them with the idols themselves! The Psalmist was showing us the absolute futility of trusting in something that cannot help us.
Modern Day Idolatry: Mary WorshipWhen a person is blind to the truth, as I formerly was, they will seek to worship something that they can see with their eyes. The idol worshiper will often defend their worship of these idols by telling you that they are not worshiping the “statue” or “idol” but the person or spirit that it represents. They are unaware of the “enemy of their souls” who is the devil himself and the one who seeks to divert their attention from their one and only hope who is Jesus Christ! They are completely unaware of what the Bible (Word of God) tells us about such things. I sympathize with them because I was once numbered among their ranks. I came out from the deception of my idol worship because the Word of God, which is the truth, made me free:
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32)
I was previously unaware that the second commandment dealt with the issue of idol worship in no uncertain terms:
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:4-6)
Many people often brush these things aside and treat them very lightly, but God’s Word still stands true and it can never be changed. God truly is a jealous God, and he must be worshiped in spirit and in truth. Listen to what Jesus Christ told a Samaritan woman about these things:
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias (Messiah) which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. (John 4:23-26)
I encourage you to put your trust in the living God and to believe the scriptures which point you to Jesus Christ and to Him alone.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. (John 3:16-21)