MARY'S MESSAGES
THE greatest thing that could possibly happen to any country was
a visitation by somebody from Heaven, according to our religion
teacher. We were told of many countries that had been visited by
the Blessed Virgin and the Child Jesus. For some reason, Mary
appeared more times than the Child Jesus. Sometimes she would
bring the Child with her, but at other times she appeared without
Him.
On some occasions, when both of them appeared together, each one
spoke. But on other occasions the Child remained silent, while
Mary alone spoke. Of course, we were overjoyed to learn that the
Blessed Virgin had appeared in Ireland, at Knock, Co. Mayo. We
felt we were so privileged to have such an important visitor from
Heaven. But the really important thing as far as we were
concerned was the fact that, whenever Mary visited a country, she
'adopted' the people of that land. Because she had appeared in
Ireland, we could now call her our Mother, and she would care for
us, body and soul. Not only did Mary adopt us, but she also
became our Queen. One of her official titles is; 'Mary, Queen of
Ireland'. This meant, we were told, that even though we had a
Taoiseach (Prime Minister), we also had a Queen, and we were her
loyal subjects.
Not only was Mary 'Queen of Ireland', and of all the countries in
which she appeared, but she was also 'Queen of Heaven', our
teachers informed us. At a special coronation ceremony, Jesus
crowned Mary 'Queen of Heaven', and she now reigns with her Son.
Consequently, we were taught to pray to the 'Queen of Heaven',
who would take our requests to her Son, and influence Him on our
behalf. "He would never refuse His own Mother," was
something we were regularly reminded of. So we prayed to Mary:
"Remember, O most loving Virgin Mary, that it is a thing
unheard of, that anyone who ever had recourse to thy protection,
implored thy help, or sought thy intercession, was left forsaken.
Filled therefore with confidence in thy goodness I fly to thee, O
Mother, Virgin of virgins. To thee I come, before thee I stand, a
sorrowful sinner. Despise not my words, O Mother of the Word, but
graciously hear and grant my prayer."
Mary herself, as our Mother, would actually pray for us, we were
told. So, a number of times each day, at school, we would say the
'Hail, Mary'. Part of this prayer is: "Holy Mary, Mother of
God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our
death." It gave us great confidence to know that the Blessed
Virgin, our Mother, our Queen, and Queen of Heaven, was praying
for us now, and that she would be praying for us at the hour of
our death. The prayer 'Hail, Holy Queen', was said as we stood in
front of a statue of Mary each day, at school.
Having grown up with a great respect for the Blessed Virgin, I
felt it would be profitable to examine, in the light of God's
Word, the reported happenings at the apparitions I had heard so
much about. To my surprise, I could not find one mention,
prophecy or promise in the Scriptures suggesting that Mary would
ever appear after her death, or give messages to people in many
different parts of the world. I read in the Bible that, at the
Second Coming of Christ, all who have been redeemed by Him, and
are with Him in Heaven, will return with Him: "-Behold, the
Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints.".1 Until then,
the souls of all, including Mary, who have died trusting Christ
as Saviour, will remain in Heaven, rejoicing in the presence of
their Lord. Now, I was very interested in the messages associated
with the apparitions. It was usually impressionable children who
reported hearing voices at the apparitions, and the messages, as
far as I was concerned, should certainly, if they were from
Heaven, correspond exactly with what God had revealed in His
Word.
One of the messages which the children reported hearing from the
Blessed Virgin was that if people, particularly families, said
the Rosary, that Russia would be converted. In other words,
prayer to Mary would secure salvation for Russia. In fact, Pope
Pius XI directed that prayers to Mary be said after mass, for the
conversion of Russia.
The contents of this message, reportedly given at an apparition
of the Virgin Mary, suggest there is more than one way by which
people can be saved. Jesus Himself preached that, in order to be
saved, people must: "Repent and believe the gospel"; 2
Be"Born again"; 3 Be"Converted"; 4 He said
that there was only ONE way of salvation, and He was the way:
"I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto
the Father, but by ME." 5
The message given at the apparition was that there is another way
of salvation: "Say the Rosary; pray to Mary, and Russia will
be converted."
According to God's Word, if the people of Russia, or any other
country are to be converted, they must repent and believe the
gospel. They must put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as
Saviour. Mary, mother of the Man Christ Jesus, knew there was
only one way of Salvation. The angel had said to her husband,
Joseph, concerning the birth of Jesus: "And she shall bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall
save his people from their sins." 6
I asked myself, "Would Mary, who was especially chosen by
God to give birth to His Son, lure people away from Him and tell
them to pray to her? Would the Blessed Virgin, who wept as her
Son died upon the cross, deny what Jesus had said when he
identified Himself as the only sinless one.? Would she deny the
fact that Jesus is the only mediator between God and man, and the
only one Who, as God Incarnate, was to be worshipped? Would Mary
deny that Jesus is the only one to whom sinners can turn for
their salvation?" No, she would never do that!
Yet, as I examined the various messages given at the apparitions
and attributed to the Blessed Virgin, it seemed that this was
what was being done. This was very obvious as I considered one of
the statements which, according to some children, Mary made at
one of her apparitions. She is reported to have said: "I am
the Immaculate Conception", claiming that she was born
sinless. She claimed to have been born without original sin; born
without the sinful nature inherited from Adam as a result of the
Fall. The Scriptures clearly stated that Christ was the only One
who was born without sin, and who lived a sinless life. When the
statement made at the apparition is compared to what Mary herself
said, as recorded in Scripture, we see a great contradiction.
Mary said: "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit
hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." 7
Mary never claimed to be sinless and, in her own words, rejoiced
in the fact that God was her saviour. She was rejoicing in the
fact that God had saved her from the penalty due to her because
of her sin. Mary's sin was purged at the cross, as Jesus died for
the sins of all who, like Mary, trusted Him as Saviour.
I could see that the messages associated with these apparitions,
and attributed to the Blessed Virgin, did her a terrible
injustice. In fact, they totally distorted the character of Mary,
who is portrayed in the Scriptures as the loving, obedient,
trusting, 'handmaid of the Lord'. She was especially chosen by
God, not only to give birth to, but also to rear His Son, to whom
she was totally devoted. Mary, perhaps more than anyone else,
fully realised that the One she loved and cared for, from the
manger to the cross, was the only means by which sinners could be
saved. Now I, who had believed in these apparitions for many
years, had to make a decision. I had to decide whether I would
continue to believe the questionable testimonies of people,
including impressionable children, or if I was going to believe
what God said in His Word. Was I going to believe the messages
given at the apparitions, all of which contradicted what God
said; or was I going to believe the inspired Scriptures? Would I
continue to believe messages which had, in fact, been treated
with extreme caution, even by the Roman Catholic Church; or was I
going to believe the Bible, God's own Word?
1. Jude 14.
2. Mark 1:15.
3. John 3:3,7.
4. Matthew 18:3.
5. John 14:6.
6. Matthew 1:21.
7. Luke 1:46-47.
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