They Served Idols

Gen. Deborah Green

P RAISE GOD. Welcome to Battle Cry Sounding / Battle Cry POUNDING, and thank God our God is alive. Now, the Lord was speaking to us today, and He was commanding us to flee from serving idols. He was commanding us that if there are any idols that are revealed in our lives to DESTROY THOSE IDOLS and not keep those idols hidden that we could return to those idols. Because that was the sin that Israel was guilty of again, and again, and again.

They not only served idols, which is the name of today's message, "They served idols," but they returned to those idols. Once they were shown that it was wrong, that it was an abomination to God, they repented, but they did not thoroughly repent. Now, repentance means change, and repentance means revolution against sin. Idolatry is sin.

Now, isn't it STRANGE that I'm teaching this message about "They served idols" on December 25th? Now, for those of you who have a calendar in your mind, guess what December 25th is recognized as? You got it: christmas! Is christmas an idol? I said, "Is christmas an idol?" Amen.

The thing that amazes me about christmas is how clever the Christians are in defending their idol. I mean the world, hey, they just face reality—"It's time to get drunk, time to gluttonize, time to waste a lot of money, time to go on sprees, time to over eat, over sex, over drink, over dope, just a time to let it all hang out because it's the ‘holidays.’”

Sorry folks, did you know "holidays" means "holy days?" And of course, we know the whole syndrome of the mythological fat guy with rosy cheeks and a big belly, and a belt cinched around it that's supposed to shimmy down these skinny little chimneys and leave sacks of toys for middle-class kids, and nothing for poor kids, and you know, on, and on, and on.

And we know that he's unjust, and we know that he's not fair, and we know that he's traded in his reindeer now for computerized clones of reindeer, and on and on it goes. But it's all MYTHOLOGY. And Christians humor it all, and they just kind of wink at it, and then they get real bold and then they say that "Jesus is the reason for the season. Jesus is the reason for the season!" Hun-uh, IDOLATRY is the reason for the season; idolatry.

Now, I'll tell you the truth, I used to, when I was a younger Christian, I never attributed much glory to christmas because I'd given the crew here a synopsis of my childhood christmas’, which were drunkenness. Not for me, as a child, but drunkenness of the adults, and a lot of infightings, and hurt feelings, and resentments, and "I gave So and So something; and they didn't give me anything. And the next year I'm not giving anybody anything, and I've had enough of this, and I'm not going to do this anymore," and the next year they would do the same thing.But, I'm not getting into that, but what I'm saying is, I never had strong feelings over christmas. It wasn't an idol in my life. When I met my husband, and I realized that he didn’t come from a bloodline that worshipped christmas, I said, "That's fine, I don't care; it's not a big deal to me."

But, the point is that, and this is a true confession, I never really took a strong stand against It either; because I figured, "Oh, if people want to go for it, that's their business; to me, I just don't buy the whole thing. But, if that's where they're at, I don't really care. And I don't have to stick my nose in how everybody cleans their toes.”

But, this morning, the Lord gave us such a strong Word about the IDOLATRY OF THIS DAY, that I have to take a STAND, and I have to TELL you that “CHRISTMAS,” as most people worship, or celebrate, or pay tribute to, or make m-e-r-r-y is PAGANISM, IDOLATRY, AND ABOMINATION UNTO GOD. God said He “never called His people to worship babies.”

So, all this stuff of the baby in the manger and the whole Catholic image of "this little baby Jesus, and oh, we're just supposed to be so happy that baby Jesus was born upon this day." It's been proven, He was not born upon this [or that Dec. 25^th] day.

How many of you know that has been proven—that Jesus was not born on December 25th? That's another myth. So, the whole thing is an entanglement of mythology, paganism, heathenism, and practices that are not found acceptable, nor agreeable to God.

And I remember we would get things once in a great while, this is say maybe 20, 30 years ago when my husband and I were a lot younger in the Lord, and they would say, "Easter bunny, and santa claus, and easter-worshipper, christmas-worshipper, abomination and not the will of God and on, and on" and I would just think: "Oh well, that's for those old cranks. I'm not getting involved." So, that was my avoidance technique—compromise, of not wanting to involve myself in the truth and stand for it.

But, you know God said today, that because He's called us to Repentance Revolution, that IT IS THE TIME TO GET HARD, AND HARD, AND HARDER AGAINST SIN; AND IDOLATRY IS SIN!

Now, I'm not going to spend this whole time on christmas—because I don't feel that that's a valuable use of time. In other words—to put all the time on that. But, it's something to really think about: "Are we participating in the ways of the heathen and expecting God to bless us?" And like I said, what I've seen from my e-mail, and from the things sent to me over the internet, is that the Christians are the most clever about disguising their idolatry, and their love of participation in heathenistic rituals.

What honors Christ in getting drunk, in overeating, in gluttonizing, in overindulgence, in overspending, in staying up nights, and doing all kinds of things that you wouldn't normally do—because it's the "holidays."

How does that glorify Christ? We're supposed to live a pure, simple life for the King of kings, and how does some tree; cut out of a forest, with a bunch of glittery bulbs, and fire-provoking lights on there, you know, electric lights, and all this tinsel put on there; how does that glorify Jesus? How does that honor Him?

And then putting a bunch of presents under the tree and trying to act like some fat guy, that can't fit down the chimney, brought them the night before when they'd been setting there a month. And we try to make it into some mystical, MYSTICAL thing. Yeah, it's mystical all right; it's paganism, it's idolatry, and it's abomination. And God says, "Put away idols."

Now, we're in 2nd Kings, chapter 17. "General Deborah, you've just gone too far now. I could kind of put up with you two, but you have put it over the edge." Yeah, I've become one of those old cranks—that has to face the facts. Because, you know, when you get to be an old crank, I'll tell you what happens, you don't know when your number's up; you don't know when your day comes that the Lord says, "Ok, it's your time now."

And so all these little things that you kind of stuck under the rug and said, "Oh, I don't want to deal with that," YOU'D BETTER DEAL WITH THEM. At least I know I'd better. Because if God says, "Ok daughter, your time's up," I don't want to go there with my christmas presents, and my santa claus bag on my back, and my tinsel wrapped around my neck, I want to go there in the PURITY OF THE LAMB OF GOD AND KNOW THAT I'LL BE FOUND ACCEPTABLE as a well-pleasing servant. Amen.

Ok, chapter 17, 2nd Kings, reading from the Amplified version, and it says, "IN THE twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah began his nine-year reign in Samaria over Israel. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as Israel's kings before him did. Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria, and Hoshea became his servant and brought him tribute. But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried the Israelites away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes. This was so because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, Who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the [heathen] nations whom the Lord drove out before the Israelites, customs the kings of Israel had introduced."So what did they do? They brought this devastation to their own lives, they brought this great calamity, they brought this captivity upon themselves; because it said, "They served other gods, they worshiped other gods."

And it says, "They had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the [heathen] nations whom the Lord drove out before the Israelites, customs the kings of Israel had introduced." Do you know what I read the other day, and they said (I did not read the article because I didn't have time), but it said that christmas was absolutely illegal in America until 1820.

Now, I believe someone else told me that they read something, or they had figures that said that it didn't become a practice until 1870. But, 50 years, give or take, what are we looking at? We're looking at CUSTOMS THAT HAVE BEEN WELCOMED IN THAT WERE FORBIDDEN when the strict, you might say, reformers who came here seeking for a new land to worship God in, seeking to be free from the idolatry of Catholicism, and seeking to serve their God—our God, the way they understood Him to want them to serve Him, had forbidden that paganism.

And then it says, “these customs were introduced by the kings of Israel.” They were brought in on the people to get them away from the true way of serving God—to TAKE UP THE WAYS OF THE HEATHEN.

Now, that's exactly what's happened in the body of Christ—it's the preachers, it's the evangelists, it's the teachers, it's the big shots in Churchianity that have taught God's people to commit idolatry.

The whole welcoming in of the world's music has totally deteriorated the church and turned it in to a sensuous, swaying, sliming, gyrating filth pit. And now they don't want Christian music; they want the world's music. They've had enough playing with the stuff—they want the real thing.

Ok, so all that was brought in by the leaders, teaching God's people the customs of the heathen. Then it says, "And walked in the customs of the [heathen] nations whom the Lord drove out before the Israelites, customs the kings of Israel had introduced. The Israelites did secretly against the Lord their God things not right." SECRETLY.

You know, and I know, you can't hide anything from the Lord. You can't do anything that God doesn't see. I can't, you can't, and nobody can!

And then it says, "They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from [lonely] watchtower to [populous] fortified city. They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim [symbols of the goddess Asherah] on every high hill and under every green tree. There they burned incense on all the high places, as did the nations whom the Lord carried away before them; and they did wicked things provoking the Lord to anger. And they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, You shall not do this thing."

So, they took up the practices, they took up the customs, they took up the traditions, they took up the festivities, they took up the building of their little altars in places of worship, and they did everything that God had said, "Don't do."

Now, God had distinctly forbid them from worshipping idols. And all of these customs, traditions, etc. were offerings of servitude unto idols. So, it's inevitable that if you take up the ways of the heathen, the customs of the heathen, the traditions of the heathen, that you will be worshiping/serving idols.

It's like God said today, "I've never called My people to worship a baby." Did you know in the whole religion of Catholicism, except for the dead Christ on the Cross, you never see the risen Christ? You only see the baby in mom's arms. You only see this little, wonderful infant. And you read up on that and there's a whole goddess worship. And it's disgusting, and it's all imitating the traditions, the ways of the heathen.

Now, the Catholic church, the mother of harlots who has many daughters called “protestant churches,” has cleverly, secretly, overtly, and covertly done everything to bring in every possible heathen tradition, and custom, and teach the people the same, and then give it a saint's name, or make it a holy day, or make it a time when you can equate it with the HOLY MOTHER AND THE CHILD.

Did you know now that a lot of Catholics don't even worship Jesus? They worship Mary. God never said we were to forever delegate Jesus to the position of a baby, and worship the 'holy mother' instead.

I'll never forget when I heard some Catholics chanting outside of an abortion clinic, and I was actually shocked—because I don't know anything about Catholic chants. And they were walking around all looking stupefied like robots, and do you know what they were chanting? "Hail Mary, mother of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." Huh?

They were implying—by their chanting, that Mary takes away the sin of the world. So, is it another form of goddess worship; that is as old as sin itself? And "Get out of the way Jesus because mama's here. Get out of the way Son of God, because mother of God is here. Go home little boy, I'm here." GODDESS WORSHIP!

Now, I mean come on, we got to put Him in a manger on this false day that's supposed to be His birthday that isn't. And WE GOT TO BRING GIFTS—because the wise men came bringing gifts. Of course, you read on that, and it's like years later, after the supposed day, they show up with a few things. I mean it's like stupidity.

The whole thing is just one confusion. What it is, it's taking stories that the heathen have, practices that the pagan do, and incorporating it, and then stamping it, and calling it "christmas"; that it's all for Christ. IT'S NOT FOR CHRIST. It's so you can be a pagan, and take on the custom, take on the traditions, take on the idols of the pagan round about.

Say, "Well, we're not to blame, they brought it from Europe." Well, beware of the Europeans—they got a lot of idolatry. I see why the pilgrims, and the what were they called? Puritans, made their escape. The European culture is full of idolatry, witchcraft, all kinds of evil things.

Ok, then going on, "They served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, You shall not do this thing. Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah through all the prophets and all the seers, saying, Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the Law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets."

So, what is he doing right there? He's giving them the opportunity to turn from idols, He's giving them the opportunity to return to Him, and He's giving them the opportunity to repent. What is God doing right now—when the whole church world-wide is steeped in idolatry, when the so-called "true believers" are totally not able to be discerned at all from the heathen, when the whole nation has given itself over to the abomination, and the worship of homosexuality and sexual perversion?

What is God doing? He's saying, "Turn away from the practices." In other words, "Turn away from the sin, from the idols, from the things that are going to damn your soul and return unto me. Return unto my standard, return unto my dictate, return unto what I intended for my people—to be separated from the ways of the heathen—to be living for me and me alone, to be serving me, and me alone—to be true to me, and me alone."

We're not supposed to take up their customs, their doings, their activities, their traditions. Oh, if you could read some of this conglomerate history of all these things that the Catholics incorporated into Catholicism, I mean they've got this Guadalupe thing that's in Mexico, and it's in the southern/the southwest here, the Guadalupe worship. I mean if you dare to say to anybody, "Guadalupe's an idol," I mean they will run a stake through your heart. That's how serious it is.

They are ADAMANT ABOUT GUADALUPE. You read the history of Guadalupe and how they brought a pagan tradition of the Native American peoples of these regions, and they incorporated that whole thing; and called it "Guadalupe." Now, Guadalupe's supposed to be Mary. Now, you talk about twisted; it is.

And in France, they got this whole thing about "Our lady of Lourdes" where these kids supposedly had this vision of mother Mary. And I mean they actually have made it like the holy pilgrimage that people go to.

Look, I don't know a lot about Catholicism, but all I know is it's a real MASSIVE SYSTEM OF HARLOTRY. It's like a whorehouse. And then Christian people—protestants—quit protesting, and started accepting the traditions, the customs, the deeds of the heathen, and imitating, and emulating them. I want you to notice here, it's put this way for a reason.

It doesn't say in verse 1, or verse 3 that they worshiped idols. It said they started with the customs. They started with the traditions. It says that “they did things that weren't right,” and it says that, "the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, Who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods."

Oh, did you know that's the god of luck? Like I said, here in the Southwest, everybody's got these sun gods on their houses. It's a god of the heathen. If you've got a sun god, you'd better TAKE DOWN that thing. That's a god of the heathen!

The original inhabitants of this land, or as far as history tells it, worshiped the sun god, they offered human sacrifice to the sun god. They committed all kinds of weird, filthy rituals to the sun god. That's a custom of the peoples.

I mean it's like you could say, "Oh, that sounds like a fun thing, let's us do that!" So, then because we're Christian, then we'll put a little "Christian" name on it. Now, the Catholics have taken all the gods and goddesses of whatever country they were in, and they call them "saints." "Oh, this is saint Petro, oh, this is saint…Ho-han, oh, this is saint So and So."

When my husband and I lived in Mexico, we lived in a very poor district, and it was up in the mountains, and there were a lot of Indians there, and those poor people had been so Catholicized that every single month they had a holiday—a saint's day. And every month they'd take all their earnings and buy all these flowers, and all these gifts, and ALL THIS STUFF, THEY WOULD OFFER IT TO IDOLS.

And these people couldn't afford to feed and clothe their own children. And I'm not lying. And they would not only have one saints day, you could look for a three, to a five, to a seven day spree, depending upon how important the idol was in the, how shall we say it? the hierarchy of idols.

So, these poor people were taught all this paganism, as though they didn't have enough of their own, and it was all done under the guise of saints; it was made "holy" and it's still the same old stuff. They would get drunk, they would beat their wives and kids, everybody would be without food once the show was over, they would be destitute, they'd be at the place we worked begging because they had nothing left because they'd spent it all. And it was all so they could give offerings for these saints days: CUSTOMS, PRACTICES, OF THE HEATHEN ROUND ABOUT.

Ok, then it says, "Yet the Lord warned them." And then it says, "Yet they would not hear, but hardened their necks as did their fathers who did not believe (trust in, rely on, and remain steadfast to) the Lord."

You know, we can have a revelation 20 years ago, and God could speak to us directly, but do we still keep that? Do we still keep our first estate? Do we still keep the freedom that God gave to us when He said, "Put that aside," or do we go back and pick up the idol again? Do we go back and say, "Well, now it's ok because I'm more mature. Now it's ok because I've gone to sleep. Now it's ok—because if you look at the condition of things the way they are now, that's not so bad."

Hey, if God says "No," it's NO. That's one thing that I've learned, "Quit playing around the squirm worm and trying to have it your way, and just accept the absolutes of God. Quit trying to re-image it. Quit trying to make it over. Quit trying to say, 'Well, that doesn't matter to God.' If God says, 'Today's the day,' today's the day. If God says, 'Tear down the idol,' tear down the idol. If God says, 'It's abomination,' it's abomination."

Who are we to say what's ok with God? What were any of us before we came to the Lord Jesus Christ? Blinded pagan. Hell-bound heathen. So, how are we to dictate to God? Come on, let's get real here. And isn't that in every one of our wicked natures?—We want to tell God how to do His own business.

Hey, I got news for you, God knows how to do His business. And if we don't do business God's way, then it's God that will allow us to be taken into captivity, into slavery, into bondage, into sickness, into weakness, into disease, into every plague of the Egyptians, into every vile thing, and wicked thing—because of what? Serving idols, taking up the customs, the practices, the doings of the heathen.

Now everybody's all mournful because, "The antichists, atheists are trying to do away with christmas!" You know what? Why didn't God's own people stand against it and say, "It's a tradition of the heathen; and we are not participating!" Now they're all like big, old babies: "My little son will never know what christmas is." Well, thank God. Thank God.

You know, I'll be honest with you: I am glad I was never in church. I would have so much mix-up in my mind to get rid of. I'm thankful I wasn't raised in church; I'd have so much hypocrisy I'd have to undo. I've got enough hypocrisy being a sinner. I've got enough fakery being in the world. I've got enough pretension just being a human being.

So, why don't we get real Christians? Why don't we FACE OUR IDOLS, TEAR THEM DOWN, REFUSE TO SERVE THEM, AND SERVE THE LIVING GOD once again instead of being under the curse of God. Let us come under the mercy of God; because it is the time to REPENT. Amen.

Note: Please read conjunctive article entitled: “Roman Catholicism.”

To be read in conjunction with General Deborah’s Teaching, “They Served Idols.”

Excerpts from Lorraine Boettner’s:

"Roman Catholicism"

bolds, italics, etc. added for emphasis

F AMOUS, TOO, as pilgrimage cities, are Lourdes, in extreme southwestern France, and Fatima, in Portugal. At Lourdes, the Virgin Mary allegedly appeared to a 14-year-old peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous, in 1858. When Bernadette dug in a certain place as “commanded” by Mary, a spring of water with curative powers was uncovered.

The Basilica of the Rosary was later erected on the site and every year tens of thousands of pilgrims visit the place in search of cures. Thousands of cures have been claimed, but the Roman Church officially claims but very few. Hardly more than one person in a thousand is actually helped, and those frequently are psychological cures, on the order of those sometimes achieved by the Christian Scientists and other faith healers.

Yet, the Roman church promotes pilgrimages to Lourdes. The place is now highly commercialized, and directly and indirectly is a source of revenue for the church. We notice, however, that WHEN A POPE GETS SICK, HE DOES NOT GO TO LOURDES, BUT INSTEAD SECURES THE BEST MEDICAL HELP AVAILABLE; AS WAS THE CASE WITH THE LATE PIUS XII.

In recent years the shrine of Fatima, Portugal, has become even more popular than that at Lourdes, with as many as 700,000 people said to have visited it in a single month. There, in 1917, shortly before the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, the Virgin Mary [supposedly] appeared to three children, ages from ten to thirteen, who had never gone to school and, curiously enough, in messages subsequently released by the church, gave warnings against the evils of Communism, messages having more to do with present day relations between the Vatican and Russia, than with anything that might be thought to concern children of those tender ages. Rome's promotion of the Fatima shrine has been coupled with her crusade against Communism.

In our western world, the two most important shrines are Our Lady of Guadalupe, on the outskirts of Mexico City, and St. Anne de Beaupre, in Quebec. After Cortez' conquest of Mexico, the Romanists practically forced their religion upon the Mexican people. Cortez and his soldiers took Mexico City.

With them were a number of priests. Some of the Indians eventually were converted, despite the greed and cruelty of the Spanish soldiers. But not many could be persuaded to worship the Virgin Mary because she was not an Indian—hence the invention of "The Virgin of Guadalupe," in reality a Mexican goddess who was absorbed into the Roman system.

Mary as an Object of Worship

The devotions to Mary are undoubtedly the most spontaneous of any in the Roman Catholic worship. Attendance at Sunday mass is obligatory, under penalty of mortal sin if one is absent without a good reason, and much of the regular service is formalistic and routine.

But the people by the thousands voluntarily attend novenas for the "Sorrowful Mother." Almost every religious order dedicates itself to the Virgin Mary. National shrines, such as those at Lourdes in France, Fatima in Portugal, and Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, are dedicated to her and attract millions. The shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre, in Quebec, the most popular shrine in Canada, is dedicated to Saint Anne, who according to apocryphal literature was the mother of Mary. Thousands of churches, schools, hospitals, convents, and shrines are dedicated to her glory.

IT IS DIFFICULT FOR PROTESTANTS TO REALIZE THE DEEP LOVE AND REVERENCE THAT DEVOUT ROMAN CATHOLICS HAVE FOR THE VIRGIN MARY. One must be immersed in and saturated with the Roman Catholic mind in order to feel its heartbeat. Says Margaret Shepherd, an ex nun:

"No words can define to my readers the feeling of reverential love I had for the Virgin Mary. As the humble suppliant kneels before her statue, he thinks of her as the tender, compassionate mother of Jesus, the friend and mediatrix of sinners. The thought of praying to Christ for any special grace without seeking the intercession of Mary never occurred to me" (“My Life in the Convent,” p. 31).

The titles given Mary are in themselves a revelation of Roman Catholic sentiment toward her. She is called: Mother of God, Queen of the Apostles, Queen of Heaven, Queen of the Angels, the Door of Paradise, the Gate of Heaven, Our Life, Mother of Grace, Mother of Mercy, and many others which ascribe to her supernatural powers.

All of those titles are false. Let us consider just two of them. When she is called "Queen of the Apostles," is that an apostolic doctrine? Where is it found? Certainly it is not in Scripture. When did the apostles elect Mary their queen? Or when was she appointed by God to be their queen? And the title "Queen of Heaven" is equally false, or even worse. Heaven has no "queen." The only references in Scripture to prayers to the "queen of heaven" are found in Jer. 7:18; Jer. 44:17-19; Jer. 44:25, where it is severely condemned as a heathen custom practiced by some apostate Jews. This so-called "queen of heaven" was a Canaanitish goddess of fertility, Astarte (plural, Ashtaroth) (Jdg. 2:13). HOW SHAMEFUL TO IMPOSE A HEATHEN TITLE ON MARY, AND THEN TO VENERATE HER AS ANOTHER DEITY!

How can anyone of the perhaps one hundred million practicing Roman Catholics throughout the world—who desire Mary's attention imagine that she can give him that attention during his prayers to her, his wearing her scapulars for special protection, his marching in parades in her honor, etc., while at the same time she is giving attention to all others who are praying to her, attending to her duties in heaven, conducting souls to heaven, rescuing souls from purgatory, etc.?

The average Roman Catholic acts on the assumption that Mary has the powers of deity. There is nothing in the Bible to indicate that any departed human being, however good, has any further contact with affairs on this earth, or that he can hear so much as one prayer from earth. How, then, can a human being such as Mary hear the prayers of millions of Roman Catholics, in many different countries, praying in many different languages, all at the same time?

Let any priest or layman try to converse with only three people at the same time and see how impossible that is for a human being. They impose on Mary works which no human being can do. How impossible, how absurd, to impose on her the works which only God can do! Since Mary is not omnipresent, nor omniscient, such prayers and worship are nothing less than idolatry; that is the giving of divine honors to a creature.

Nowhere in the Bible is there the slightest suggestion that prayer should be offered to Mary. If God had intended that we should pray to her, surely He would have said so. Worship is accorded to the infant Jesus, but never to His mother. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, wise men came from the East, and when they came into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother. What did they do? DID THEY FALL DOWN AND WORSHIP MARY? Or Joseph? No! We read: "They fell down and worshipped him" (Mat. 2:11). And to whom did they give their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh? To Mary? Or to Joseph? No! They presented their gifts to JESUS. They recognized Him, not Mary or Joseph, as worthy of adoration.

Furthermore, in Old Testament times the Jews prayed to God, but never to Abraham, or Jacob, or David, or to any of the prophets. There is never the slightest suggestion that prayers should be offered to anyone other than God. Nor did the apostles ever ask the early Christians to worship, or venerate, or pray to Mary, or to any other human being.

The objections against prayers to Mary apply equally against prayers to the saints. For they too are only creatures, infinitely less than God, able to be at only one place at a time, and to do only one thing at a time...How can Mary and the saints, without being like God, be present everywhere and know the secrets of all hearts?...The endless prayers to the Virgin and to the countless saints cannot bring one closer to God. And particularly when we see all the GAUDY TRAPPINGS that are resorted to in Rome's distorted version of a glamour queen, the whole procedure becomes, to Protestants, truly abhorrent.

The Roman Church commits grievous sin in promoting the worship of Mary. It dishonors God, first, by its use of images, and secondly, by giving to a creature the worship that belongs only to the Creator. We have here merely another example of Rome's persistent tendency to add to the divinely prescribed way of salvation. ROMANISM SETS FORTH FAITH AND WORKS, SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION, CHRIST AND MARY, AS THE MEANS OF SALVATION.