Pre-Article Disclaimer for Newer Readers: If you are reading this blog for the first time or are not totally familiar with my work, I am a 100% Christian writer who analyzes things from a Christian point of view. I sometimes research into what the spiritual forces of evil are up to in hopes of gleaning information to help us Christians figure out what is going on or to figure out what Satan has planned. You can read more about why I dare consider these unbiblical sources at the following link Now on to the article...
Update: I want to clarify that I am not making statements about Mary herself. I am making statements about a spiritual phenomenon in hopes that people are not deceived by spiritual beings who are stealing Mary's identity.
Before I begin I want to make it clear that I do not have an anti-Catholic agenda like many people have. I just report what I find in my research and let you decide whether to believe my findings. If you are a Catholic you might find what I am going to say difficult to digest and perhaps so disconcerting that you might never read another thing I write again. Now that you’ve been warned, it’s time to begin Part 1 of the Insights of Fatima.
Virgin Mary apparitions and miracles associated with the Virgin Mary have taken place for nearly two thousand years. The Catholic Church evaluates reports of apparitions and miracles for their validity and approves only those that meet a certain, strict criteria. Thus, not every report is accepted by the Catholic Church as a real appearance by the Virgin Mary or a miracle associated with the Virgin Mary. Although the Catholic Church recognizes approved Mary apparitions as private revelation, it does not require followers to believe in them.
- A complete list of approved Mary apparitions can be found at this link: http://www.catholicdoors.com/isit/approved.htm
A few years ago I had no idea what to make of Virgin Mary apparitions. The main reason I had so much difficulty coming up for an explanation for Virgin Mary apparitions is that I did not find anything in the Bible that suggests that the Virgin Mary is capable of appearing to people to deliver messages to them. The verse that stuck out in my mind the most was Acts 2:29 because the verse suggests that David, King of Israel, is still on Earth-dead and buried.
- Act 2:29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
Acts 2:29 led me to think, “Why would the Virgin Mary be given the privilege of going around and serving God on Earth after she died when one of the most important figures in the entire Bible (David) is still waiting to be risen from the dead?” In addition, 1 Thessalonians 4:16 tells us that believers in Christ who have passed away will rise from the earth at the time of the Rapture.
- 1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
I assume that Mary, mother of Jesus, qualifies as a person who died believing that her son Jesus is the Christ. Therefore, Mary would have to wait until the time of the Rapture to rise from the dead.[1]
When I thought about the issue in this way I became suspicious about the source behind the Virgin Mary apparitions. My suspicions were confirmed when I learned about Benjamin Creme, the New Age Movement, and about the messages from Medjugorje.
Benjamin Creme teaches that there is an Ascended Master (a spiritual being mentioned by Paul in Ephesians 6:12 as the “spiritual wickedness in high places”) that poses as the Virgin Mary. Creme claims the following things about this Ascended Master:
- This Ascended Master is the one that appears at every Virgin Mary apparition, including Fatima.[2] [3] (You can see an artist depiction of this Ascended Master by clicking this link)
- This Ascended Master creates all of the miracles associated with Virgin Mary apparitions.[4]
- This Ascended Master is responsible for weeping statues of the Virgin Mary.[5]
One of the most famous Virgin Mary apparitions came in 1981 in a town in Bosnia-Herzegovina named Medjugorje. In 1981 people from across the world made a pilgrimage to this small town to see what the inhabitants claimed to be the Virgin Mary. In 1991 the Christian Research Institute published a detail article analyzing the theological significance of the messages given in this apparition. The author analyzing the messages found several disturbing themes:
“There is also the problem of some messages sounding pluralistic (i.e., implying the salvific validity of all religions). In 1981, a priest asked the visionaries: “Are all the religions good?” Their answer was that the Lady says “all religions are good before God.” On another occasion a message came forth stating that “you are not true Christians if you do not respect other religions” and that “division among the religions is caused by man, not God”.[6]
The messages given above support the notion that the speaker was not the Virgin Mary, but the Ascended Master that poses as Mary. The teachings that "all religions are good before God" and "that division among the religions is caused by man, not God" are unbiblical and are consistent with Creme preaches. Therefore, I believe Creme is being somewhat truthful in this case when saying that the Virgin Mary apparitions and other Virgin Mary related-phenomenon are caused by an Ascended Master.
- I never stated that the Virgin Mary is an Ascended Master (like someone accused me of stating). I am saying that there is a spiritual entity that is stealing Mary's identity to provide unbiblical messages like in Medjugorje.
Now that you have an idea of who I believe is behind the so-called Virgin Mary apparitions and miracles related to the Virgin Mary I can now deal with Fatima specifically. This is what I plan to do in Part 2 of the Insights of Fatima.
References
[1] Moses is an exception to this rule. All indications point to Moses joining Elijah as the two witnesses of Revelation 11. The Lord and Satan battled over control to Moses’s body and Moses appeared along side Elijah when Christ was transfigured.
[2] “Appearances and Visions FAQ”. 15 Oct. 2005. Last Accessed 15 Mar. 2010. http://www.share-international.org/archives/appearances/faq_appearances-other.htm
[3] The Ascended Master that advises Creme confirms his comments, but adds that there are case where people are hallucinating.
[4] “Appearances and Visions FAQ”. 15 Oct. 2005. Last Accessed 15 Mar. 2010. http://www.share-international.org/archives/appearances/faq_appearances-other.htm
[5] Ibid.
[6] Samples, Kenneth R. “Apparitions of The Virgin Mary: A Protestant Look at a Catholic Phenomenon”. Christian Research Journal Vol. 26, Spring 1991. 26
