RE HOAXES
Medjugorje
–Proof that it’s Dangerous
VISION APPROVES POEM OF THE MAN-GOD
IS THE POEM FORBIDDEN READING?
HATRED OF MEDJUGORJE BELIEVERS FOR THOSE WHO DISAGREE WITH THEM
THE MEDJUGORJE DISGRACE
Tycoons and lunatics and travel agencies have a lot at stake in relation to the Medjugorje phenomenon. There it all started with alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1981. Medjugorje believers tell loads of lies. One lie is that Pope John Paul II believed in the apparitions. While the pope could have praised the return to communion and confession that takes place at Medjugorje this does not imply approval of the visionaries or visions. Also popes can have whatever private opinions they want about apparitions and his opinion would not infer that he was giving official approval.
Bishop Zanic was bishop of the area when the visions started.
He disapproved of the apparitions
and used his authority to try and stop them. And when he retired Pope
John Paul replaced him with Bishop Peric though Peric is
far more opposed to the apparitions than his predecessor. Medjugorje believers have never been able
to produce official
Medjugorje believers ignore the fact that the Church has condemned the apparitions as bogus. They say the Church cannot finally decide until the apparitions come to an end. But does the Church really need to wait until the end? Why not examine the several years of visions at Medjugorje that have already happened?
Regardless of the scepticism of the Church and the bans, the visionaries go about saying that it is Mary who is appearing to them and they invite and encourage people to believe that. They never say, "We believe that it is Mary who is appearing to us. Everybody must make up their own mind and wait for the final judgement of the Church." Proof of this can be found in the video/DVD called Vicka: Her Story by Finbar O Leary available from Finbar O Leary, Ravensdale, Church Road, Douglas, Cork, Ireland. He interviewed her and no mention of the rule that the Church must decide if Mary is appearing there before people can go about saying she is was made. Vicka can be taken as supporting his conviction that Mary is appearing there. The plug for the Video/DVD goes "the fullest account yet given, of her story and experiences with Our Lady" which is on the back cover. It is certainly inconsistent to take ones beliefs about Mary on the authority of the bishops and the Church and then to proclaim an apparition to be authentic regardless of what the Church may decide.
It is easy to meet Catholics who went to Medjugorje and came back no holier than before. If Medjugorje gets people to confession it could still be the Devil's work for Satan only fears permanent change. He doesn't mind if he accidentally produces some saints as long as the overall damage is worth it.
The most irritating thing about Medjugorje devotees is how they ignore all criticism and scepticism of the apparitions and bleat, "But look how Medjugorje brings people back to the Church and to Our Lady, the Rosary, Mass and Confession. It must be Mary who is appearing there." Such reasoning is an insult to the hard work of Church and secular investigators who see that whatever is happening in Medjugorje is deceptive and dangerous. It is trying to prevent their voice from being heard. It is really an admission that one doesn't care if the truth is that the apparitions are false. If the apparitions are producing that kind of false devotion then Satan is on to a winner in Medjugorje if he is orchestrating the apparitions.
Some Catholics believe that there were real apparitions of Mary at the start but now the visionaries have gone over to the Devil or are using psychic powers to see the Virgin. If there is power at Medjugorje then it is certainly not down to the current apparitions. The Church says too that beneficial spiritual effects come from the prayer, Eucharist and confessions that take place at Medjugorje and that people may be mistaking these effects as the work of the apparition. So the good fruits are possibly fruits of the praying and devotion and the sacraments not the apparition.
If there was no proof that bad rivets were used in the Titanic the following would happen. Some people would say that bad rivets were used. Their critics would say, "But the ship was produced by the best ship building minds in the world. Impossible!" But it really happened - bad rivets were used. The critics are just as bloody-minded as Medjugorje fans.
The Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith,
November 1996
Regarding
the circulation of texts of alleged private revelations, the Congregation
states:
- The Interpretation
given by some individuals to a Decision approved by Paul VI on 14
October 1966 and promulgated on 15 November of that year, in virtue of
which writings and messages resulting from alleged revelations could be
freely circulated in the Church, is absolutely groundless. This decision
actually referred to the "abolition of the Index of Forbidden Books"
and determined that --- after the relevant censures were lifted --- the
moral obligation still remained of not circulating or reading those
writings which endanger faith and morals.
- In should be recalled
however that with regard to the circulation of texts of alleged private
revelations, canon 623 #1 of the current Code remains in force:
"the Pastors of the Church have the … right to demand that writings
to be published by the Christian faithful which touch upon faith or
morals be submitted to their judgment".
- Alleged
supernatural revelations and writings concerning them are submitted in
first instance to the judgment of the diocesan Bishop, and, in
particular cases, to the judgment of the Episcopal Conference and the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Any apparition that breaks this rule, and the Medjugorje Virgin commands that her messages be distributed as they are received, is not a Catholic apparition or concerned about Catholic orthodoxy. The bishops are the official Catholic teachers not apparitions. The vast majority of modern visions break the rule and so are themselves disobedient apparitions.
THE IRISH CATHOLIC
Irish Catholic, Thursday, January 15 2009:
"Vatican to Tackle Alleged visions
People who claim they have seen the Virgin Mary will be forced to remain silent about the apparitions until a team of psychologists and theologians have fully investigated their claims under new Vatican guidelines aimed at stamping out false claims of miracles. The new guidelines approved by Pope Benedict XVI, may have grave implications for alleged visionaries such as Christina Gallagher and her controversial Achill House of Prayer. According to the directive, anyone who claims to have seen an apparition will only be believed as long as they remain silent and do not court publicity over their claims. If they refuse to obey, this will be taken as a sign that their claims are false. Ms Gallagher has consistently refused to integrate her work into the local Church. An ongoing investigation into Ms Gallagher's claim that she receives visions of the Virgin Mary has found no evidence. Local Archbishop, Michael Neary, has consistently pointed out that the Achill organisation has no Church backing and insisted that Ms Gallagher's work does not enjoy his confidence".
Despite the directive, the Medjugorje visionaries continue to give messages from Mary and court publicity. They are in effect accusing the Roman Catholic Virgin Mary of disobeying the pope despite her messages that the pope is her Son's representative on earth and to be obeyed! If these visions are miraculous then they show that we should not regard apparitions as reliable sources of truth or doctrine. It is obvious that since the Roman faith is fairly complicated and there is supposed to be a very clever Devil influencing people, that no genuine Catholic would give a message supposedly from Heaven without first having it looked over by the Church and found to be compatible with and supportive of Catholic doctrine.
The Medjugorje Virgin never directed the visionaries to have the messages checked by the authorised representatives of the Church before they were delivered to the people. They indeed never made any effort to do so. This was certainly a very dubious thing to do - they were more concerned about pleasing people, they were more concerned about an apparition and they were more concerned about the glory of being thought to be messengers of Mary than the purity of the Catholic faith. The Catholic faith teaches that it is the Church that holds the word of God not visions which are supposed to only draw attention to the Church's authority to teach instead of assuming an authority of their own.
VISION APPROVES POEM OF THE MAN-GOD
The Virgin Mary
has been reportedly appearing in Medjugorje since 1981. The local bishops have condemned the
apparition as false. Church
investigations and commissions concluded that it cannot be established that
anything supernatural is happening there.
Supporters however claim to have evidence that the visions are of Mary
and are supernatural. Curiously not a
single healing has been accepted as inexplicable. At
The vision
promotes the Roman Catholic faith as the true faith and invites people to
obey the teaching of the Church as infallible and to come back to Mass,
prayer and fasting and confession. Yet
the vision shows signs of not caring much about correct Catholic faith.
The Medjugorje
apparition promoted the blasphemous and heretical book, Poem of the
Man-God. This book had even been
declared officially dangerous and heretical by the Church. It was put on the Index of Forbidden Books.
Marija Pavolivic
asked the vision about the book and got the reply that, “It makes for good
reading” (Medjugorje after Fifteen Years,
Michael Davies, page 65 and page 127, Medjugorje,
the Untold Story). Mr
Colfrancesco, a close friend of hers and top Medjugorje benefactor testified
to this.
The Wikipedia article on Poem of the Man-God says, “The Medjugorje visions by Marija Pavlovic and Vicka Ivankovic have both stated that Maria Valtorta’s records of her conversations with Jesus are truthful. According to Ivankovic, in 1981 the Virgin Mary told her at Medjugorje: “If a person wants to know Jesus he should read Maria Valtorta”.
Jan Connell wrote in a
pro-Medjugorje book, Visions of the Children, that Mirjana had been
told by Our Lady that the twentieth century was granted to Satan to try the
Church and things would not be so bad after that. But that century is over and it would be a
miracle if things got better for the Church.
And so many visionaries in the world prophesied terrible troubles for
the Church that have not happened yet so the hardest times are still to
come. Mary approved of the revelations
of Maria Valtorta and here she denies them though they predict amazing
successes for the Devil and the reduction of the Church to a tiny sect which
are still future. Vicka said according
to an advertisement for Poem of the Man-God that Mary told her that
the book was the truth and anybody who wants to know Jesus should read
it. The advertisement appeared in the Queen
of Peace newspaper from
Catholic Planet rejects the thought that the Poem of the Man-God is true revelation and accuses it of blasphemy and irreverence.
Did Mary at Medjugorje approve of The Poem of the
Man-God?
One of the visionaries, Marija Pavlovic, asked Mary about the Poem of
the Man-God on behalf of a particular person (a Franciscan friar named
Franjo). The question was, “Is this book true?” Mary said in reply only these
words: “You can read it.” (Source: http://www.childrenofmedjugorje.com/medj/pomgC.htm)
Such a statement does not connotate approval. The question was a 'yes'
or 'no' question, yet Mary did not answer with 'yes' or 'no.' She did not
want to say whether it was true or false. Mary has a particular role to
fulfill at Medjugorje. She cannot intervene in every question of the faith.
She cannot usurp the role of the Holy See and of the Bishops. For this
reason, she did not express approval or disapproval of the Poem.
Her comment has often been interpreted to mean that anyone may read it.
However, she was asked this question by one visionary on behalf of one
particular person (a religious brother). The primary meaning of her words, then,
is that he, the religious brother may read it. The question was his question,
so the answer is primarily his answer. And he, being a religious brother,
could then judge for himself its contents.
One might infer a secondary meaning from her answer: that other persons who
are responsible for teaching and leading the faithful may read it to decide
for themselves. However, the conclusion that everyone may read it is not
correct.
Reply: Not every priest and certainly not every religious brother is permitted to read every forbidden book.
And Mary not saying, “He can read it,” shows that saying it doesn’t mean to include Marija is distortion. If Mary meant more than Marija having the right to read the book then clerarly she was saying anybody has that right.
The religious brother was not in the business of examining the book and so had no right to read it.
The statement does have the connotation of approval.
Marian Times says,
The Virgin of Medjugorje never explicitly encouraged the reading of Poem of the Man God. She simply said four words "You may read it". We can reasonably interpret this as something along the lines of "your soul will not be harmed by it", or that it is a pietic work - fostering piety, without necessarily being accurate. It is permitted to both publish and distribute this work as long as it bears a disclaimer that "the 'visions' and 'dictations' referred to in it are simply the literary forms used by the author to narrate in her own way the life of Jesus. They cannot be considered supernatural in origin." . So, this completely refutes Rick's false reporting of the work as being "condemned". It was only the FIRST EDITION in 1959 that was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books in shady circumstances and despite Pius XII's imprimaturial statement "Publish it as it is". The reasons for placing it on this list appear to be that it was anonymously authored (Valtorta not desiring any recognition) and because of lack of theological annotations to clarify passages that might lend themselves to misinterpretation. For the full picture on the fluctuating Church response to The Poem of the Man-God, as opposed to Rick's one-sided black-and-white view, please click here]. It is far from simple and far from over. The Virgin's statement at Medjugorje regarding this work is respectful of current Church view on it, i.e. cannot be proven as supernatural, but nevertheless can be published and read by anyone.”
The Virgin said more than that.
The Virgin permitting the reading instead of encouraging it means nothing. What we are concerned about is that she didn’t think there was any harm in the book. Permitting is encouraging when you know somebody will read the book.
Now Marian times is certainly right to say that the Virgin thinks the book fosters piety. The poem claims to be supernatural in origin and its author claimed to be the secretary of Jesus Christ. Would it be pious to read the book and try to follow its spirituality and then refuse to regard it as supernatural which it claims to be? Would the Virgin have said the same thing about say the Book of Mormon?
Even if that were all she said, why couldn’t she say, “Ask a priest who knows”? That would have meant she was directed the seers to obedience to the Church and ensuring it. and that she was keeping out of controversy about other revelations. The Church believes God has given it the authority to make decisions about alleged apparitions and miracles – it alone. If apparitions take over then only chaos will ensue.
IS THE POEM FORBIDDEN READING
The Poem of the Man-God was put on the Index of Forbidden Books in 1959.
The Index was done away in the sixties but its moral authority remains. Doing away with the Index does not imply that Catholics can read dangerous books.
Cardinal Ratzinger now Pope Benedict XVI stated in a letter to Cardinal Siri in 1985 that the Poem was the product of mental illness. We have seen that Medjugorje believers sometimes try to say it was only the first edidtion that was bad. But the Cardinal stated that the work itself not just the editions was nonsense and then condemned the Second Edition (page 128, Medjugorje, the Untold Story).
Medjugorje believers respond that what the Church banned was the first edition of the book which was dubious. They say that more accurate editions that are true to the original notebooks and revelations are not banned. But do they wish to deny that the original notebooks contain a lot of irreverence and error?
Another response is that the Virgin was only permitting them to read the book and was not saying it was accurate. Why didn’t she just tell them to use some other similar book that hadn’t been in trouble with the Church? There was no shortage of them and they were more popular than the Poem of the Man-God. The revelations about Jesus’ life to Anne Catherine Emmerich who was beatified by John Paul II are universally regarded as wholesome for Catholics. The evidence for her holiness was better than fro that of Maria Valtorta. Anne Catherine is believed to have shown evidence of clairvoyance and stigmata. It is a serious problem that Valtorta’s revelations often contradict hers.
One big contradiction is how Poem of the Man-God has Mary being conceived naturally while Emmerich has her being conceived virginally at the temple.
The Medjugorje Virgin also contradicts the revelations of Emmerich. Emmerich says that Mary was born on August 24th. The Medjugorje apparition says it was August 5th.
This is refuted by the glowing endorsement of the book to Vicka and by the fact that the book is still a forbidden book.
It is simply not true that the
When volume four appeared, the Holy Office examined the "Poem" and
condemned it, recommending that it be placed on the Index of Forbidden
Books Dec. 16, 1959. Pope John XXIII signed the decree and ordered it
published. L'Osservatore Romano, on Jan. 6, 1960, printed the
condemnation with an accompanying front-page article, "A Badly
Fictionalized Life of Jesus," to explain it.
The article complained that the "Poem" broke Canon Law. "Though they treat
exclusively of religious issues, these volumes do not have an
"imprimatur," which is required by Canon 1385, sect. 1, n. 2."
Second, the long speeches of Jesus and Mary starkly contrast with the
evangelists, who portray Jesus as "humble, reserved; His discourses are
lean, incisive." Valtorta's fictionalized history makes Jesus sound "like
a chatterbox, always ready to proclaim Himself the Messiah and the Son of
God," or teach theology in modern terms. The Blessed Mother speaks like a
"propagandist" for modern Marian theology.
Third, "some passages are rather risque," like the "immodest" dance before
Pilate (vol. 5, p. 73). There are "many historical, geographical and
other blunders." For instance, Jesus uses screwdrivers (Vol. 1, pp. 195,
223), centuries before screws existed.
There are theological errors, as when "Jesus says" (vol. 1, p. 30) that
Eve's temptation consisted in arousing her flesh, as the serpent
sensuously "caressed" her. While she "began the sin by herself," she
"accomplished it with her companion." Sun Myung Moon and Maria Valtorta
may claim the first sin was sexual, but Scripture does not.
Vol. 1, p. 7, oddly claims, "Mary can be called the 'second-born' of the
Father . . ." Her explanation limits the meaning, avoiding evidence of an
authentic heresy; but it does not take away the basic impression that she
wants to construct a new mariology, which simply goes beyond the limits of
propriety." "Another strange and imprecise statement" made of Mary (vol.
4, p. 240) is that she will "be second to Peter with regard to
ecclesiastical hierarchy. . . " Our Lady surpasses St. Peter's holiness,
but she is not in the hierarchy, let alone second to St. Peter.
Further, Valtorta did not claim to write a novel, but called herself a
"secretary" of Jesus and Mary, so, "in all parts on reads the words 'Jesus
says. . .' or 'Mary says . . .'" The Church takes this claim to revelation
very seriously, since it has the God-given duty to discern what is or is
not truly from the Holy Spirit. In Valtorta's case, the Church decided
against Divine inspiration.
Finally, "Poem" is condemned for reasons of disobedience. Competent Church
authority had prohibited the printing of Valtorta's work.
VICKA’S FAKE ECSTASY
We read the following on the Marian times website, an excerpt from Unity Publishing with Marian Times comments in red.
On January 14, 1985, while in "ecstasy", a Frenchman quickly pointed two fingers at Vicka's eyes. Vicka gave a start and threw her head back. All was filmed on camera. She was not in ecstasy. Vicka left the room with the Franciscan priest and came back a few minutes later. The camera continued to film. She announced without being asked:
"I did not see Jean-Louis [the Frenchman] nor his hand. I saw the Virgin. She had the child, Jesus, in her arms. At a certain moment, the Child slipped, (sic) and I simply made a movement to stop him from falling."
God slipped? The Child, Jesus slipped? How stupid do these Franciscan priests think we are? Two weeks later, the priests closed the apparitions to the outside public. They have been protected from anyone getting too close ever since.
This is the single reported
"anomaly" during 25+ years of apparitions. I put
"anomaly" in quotes because actually nothing happened. A man called
Jean Louis got excited about a coincidence. Rick has exaggerated the
situation to bolster his argument. What people readily believed was Vicka's
"reaction" to a quick two-finger stabbing motion by Jean Louis
consisted of a 14mm deflection of the head and the batting of an eyelid.
Because the finger-stab and the "reaction" appeared to be
sequential, the assumption was that Vicka reacted directly to Jean Louis's
finger-stab. Rick Salbato (or whoever his source is) then dressed it up to
paint a picture of a violent throwing of the head backwards, with a grimace.
There was ZERO change in expression on Vicka's face over all relevant frames
of the film studied by scientists, which is completely inconsistent with a
supposed reaction to a sharp movement towards the eyes. Combine that with a
tiny 14mm deflection and you can see the truth of the matter. The conclusion
of the scientists who studied the film was that the reaction of Vicka was
Subsequently, Vicka gave a clear and straightforward explanation. Note that this explanation was provided during a question and answer session immediately after the apparition and the question asked of Vicka was whether there was anything that happened during the apparition that had disturbed her. This puts paid to any speculation that Vicka got together with the priests to talk her way out of being "sprung". Vicka did the natural thing in responding to this question. She searched her mind and offered the only plausible reason she could recall for possibly having experienced disturbance. The only thing she could think of that disturbed her was that it crossed her mind that baby Jesus might fall from the hands of the Gospa. Remember that after apparitions these types of questions from reporters are routine. They are asked such things as "We noticed that you smiled so brightly at one point. What was the Gospa saying to you then?" (Click here for further information about the Jean Louis incident .)
The pertinent fact is that Medjugorje is the first apparition to be studied in depth by the scientific community and the astounding results of tests on the visionaries, including electric shocks, 1000 watt bulbs in front of their eyes, etc, etc, are well-documented. Please see Medjugorje Scientific Investigation. This simply cannot be argued with. No-one in the scientific community has any requirement to lie about the visions at Medjugorje.
So Vicka was concentrating so deeply that her reaction was fairly slow and fairly small. But she still reacted.
The priests could have warned the visionaries that what happened to Vicka could happen and already told them what to say if it did. Vicka then just said what they told the visionaries to say. There is no need to think the priests had to tell her what to say between the event and her question and answer session.
Marian Times tries to say it was a coincidence. It’s too much of a coincidence. Do you really think God sending an apparition of the baby Jesus would really alarm a visionary at that particular moment? God is not a God of confusion and he wouldn’t give ammunition to unbelievers.
It is totally mad to think that Mary held the baby Jesus so clumsily that somebody thought he was going to fall. You do more than jump if you think somebody is about to drop a child – you shout. Even if her voice is silent she should still have been seen mouthing a shout. She wasn’t. She regained composure too fast
Notice how Marian times doesn’t try to refute Rick Salbato for saying she said “the Child slipped, (sic) and I simply made a movement to stop him from falling”. She jumped away from the vision not towards it which she would have done had she really wanted to catch him. And would the child really slip? Why didn’t the other visionaries react?
Even if something supernatural is going on we must question the source of it. lying visionaries could be seeing something different from what they say they are seeing.
To suggest the event wasn’t an anomaly but an “anomaly” is clearly indicatory of the author’s doubts about what he is writing. He doesn’t believe what he is writing himself. And besides, who would?
IVAN’S FALSE PROPHECY
Unity Publishing wrote,
On May 10, 1981, Ivan wrote and SIGNED the words of the "Virgin": "There will be a big shrine at Medjugorje in honor of my apparitions and this shrine will be in my image. The sign will be fulfilled in the sixth month." [The promised miracle.]
Three years later, Ivan insists, “That was not the sign, nor is it the date."
The signed statement is still in existence. Nine years later, there is still no sign. Three years later, Ivan said that the Virgin reprimanded him for writing the lie. [Three years later?]
Marian Times responded, If the Virgin reprimanded him for telling the lie,
it clearly demonstrates that not even the Virgin Mary is compelled to stop
somebody lying if they want to. And, we can apparently see signs that Mary
herself is having troubles with the one or two of the visionaries. Mary and
the visions themselves are untouchable with this report though. If it is
true, it is clearly a personal matter. It is hardly enough to condemn an entire
apparition and so the Church most certainly hasn't. I don't see Rick
following up every lie told within the walls of the
This is just trying to minimise something very serious. However it is good that the major pro-Medjugorje resource admits that the prophecy was made and was false.
Ivan would have to say he lied when the prophecy was proved false. It was the only way to cover up for the vision if she had made a false prophecy. Why should we believe a liar that the Virgin didn’t say this after all?
The rule of scripture is that if anybody lies while getting revelations from God all the revelations must be rejected (Deuteronomy 18). This is because revelation claims to reveal God who comes first and who is to be loved with all our heart and soul and mind. God is the ultimate concern. So if someone claims God is speaking through him and teaches false doctrine in these revelations or makes a prediction about the future that fails to come true then that person is to be put to death. this penalty shows that God cannot be involved in Medjugorje for he regards false prophecy such as Ivan’s with extreme seriousness.
HATRED OF MEDJUGORJE BELIEVERS FOR THOSE WHO DISAGREE WITH THEM
The hatred of Medjugorje believers even for Catholics who oppose the apparitions has been well-documented.
On the website www.marian-times.com we read abuse from a Catholic, Paul Baylis, the Marian Times editor, towards a fellow Catholic Rick Salbato who runs www.unitypublishing.com which exposes the Medjugorje hoax. The page that is filled with hate is entitled UNITY PUBLISHING MORE DANGEROUS THAN ANY FALSE APPARITION. This ridiculous title shows how the pro-Medjugorje people are willing to excoriate anybody who contradicts or questions the apparition.
“It is my honest opinion that Rick Salbato is simply
completely misinformed and deluded about the truth of
Medjugorje. He has in all likelihood allowed himself
to be swayed by negative press reports. A quick
reading of the following article should clear the air
about quite a few things Rick may not know about the
press and show the depths the enemy will go to destroy
Medjugorje:
Rick is accused of being deluded as in mentally ill and is identified as collaborating with the enemy.
Medjugorje better be false for Rick's sake! Just as atheists cling to their hope that there is no God so they don't have to change their sinful habits
The Church would answer that nobody who without sin opposes an apparition will be punished by God for it. the person will be punished for lying in an attempt to disprove an apparition for example but only for the lying not for trying to hurt the apparition. Notice Paul’s veiled threat, “Believe what I believe or suffer”. A religion like Christianity that tells people they will burn in Hell unless they do what they want is pure evil and is anti-freedom. Its abusive.
And many atheists live sober decent lives. It is simply not true that atheists want to disbelieve in Gdo so that they can be sociopaths. Some do but there isnothign under the sun that cannot be abused. The Medjugorje Virgin is actually cordial to atheists and communists.
"Rick displays a double-standard. Elsewhere on his
website he describes the
Church-approved
apparitions as "Very, very strange approval
circumstances. We feel certain this is NOT of God." Note
that Rick entitles this page "False Apparitions". He
doesn't say "POSSIBLY false apparitions". The sheer
arrogance and presumptuousness is outstanding."
This is about Rick saying that Medjugorje is false for the local bishop didn’t approve. Here Rick condemns an accepted apparition as false though the local bishop did approve of it.
The fact of the matter is that the true Catholic does not believe any apparition condemned by the Church and keeps an open mind in relation to those that have been approved. The approval of the Church is mere permission to believe. Medjugorje followers are famous for trying to make belief in the Medjugorje apparitions into a dogma.
Marian times treats the Medjugorje phenomenon as absolutely true not possibly true. And that anybody who has a different opinion is to be despised.
And maybe the seers were right about this being Mary's
final push to get people back to God. If it is her final
push, it doesn't surprise me one little bit that Satan
would cause some bad seeds to foment division in the
catholic church, distract people from their prayers,
cause infighting and get brother literally against
brother. I am describing Rick Salbato and his website
Unity Publishing. Without a shred of hard evidence and
with a huge dose of naivety, he is on a suicide mission
to take half the Catholic church with him
To say that Rick wants to take himself and half the Church on a suicide mission is madness for half the Church won’t even see the website. Suicide mission must be an euphemism for dragging people down to hell forever. The Church has never sentenced anybody to hell for not believing in an apparition for the Church says it is only the revelations given by the apostles in scripture and tradition that are binding for belief. The defensiveness of the Medjugorje people shows that they certainly have a lot to hide.
CONCLUSION
The Virgin Mary appearing to promote the Catholic Church is not going to approve of a book banned by the Church.
Nor is she going to approve of a heretical book.
I have explored this in-depth to show how much self-deception and outright lying exists among the promoters of Medjugorje.
And the Jean-Louis incident proves that a lot of lies are being told to promote and give evidence for this apparition being really from God.
Ivan was a false prophet and by implication so were the rest of the visionaries.
UNDERSTANDING MEDJUGORJE, HEAVENLY VISIONS OR RELIGIOUS ILLUSION? Donal
Anthony Foley, Theotokos Books,
To Order Understanding Medjugorje visit http://www.theotokos.org.uk or write
to Theotokos Books, PO Box, 8570,
Videos
VISIONS ON DEMAND, Network 5 International, 1997
DIVINE OR DECEIVED? COVER-UP, Network 5 International, 1998
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