September 8, 1999 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - Those who want to fellowship with the Roman Catholic Church and accept it as a true "church" are ignoring its blasphemous teaching on Mary. The Vatican II Council and the New Catholic Catechism reaffirmed that Mary is the sinless Mother of God, that she ascended bodily to Glory and was crowned as the Queen of Heaven, that she can hear and answer prayer. The Catholic Rosary is largely a prayer to Mary. Pope John Paul II is a great Mary lover. In his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope, the Pope testifies that his personal devotion to Mary was developed at Marian sites such as Jasna Gora (home of the Black Madonna) in his homeland of Poland (Crossing the Threshold of Hope, p. 220). The Pope has "Totus Tuus" (All Yours) embroidered on his papal garments, designating his "abandonment to Mary" (Crossing the Threshold of Hope, p. 215). After the Pope was shot during an assassination attempt in May 1981, he attributed his subsequent recovery to Mary, and it was at shrines such as Jasna Gora and Fatima that he has expressed his thankfulness to the "Queen of Heaven." He prays to Mary daily.

According to the Marian Library, about 80% of the Catholic shrines are dedicated to Mary. (Several years ago, Wilson Ewin, who researched Roman Catholicism for many decades, reported that he knew of only one Catholic church in the world that is named for Jesus Christ. All the others are named for Mary or other Catholic "saints.") Each year, 10 million visit the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico), 6 million to Lourdes (France), 5 million to Czestochowa (Poland), and 4 million to Aparecida (Brazil). Those are just a few of the shrines dedicated to a false Mary which are visited by millions of people searching for religious blessing and miraculous healing.

Mary allegedly appeared to three children at Fatima, north of Lisbon, Portugal, in 1917, identifying herself as "Our Lady of the Rosary" and giving the following promises to those who will faithfully recite the Rosary. The following information is from the Roman Catholic site http://www.fatima.org/promises.html

THE 15 PROMISES OF OUR LADY TO CHRISTIANS WHO RECITE THE ROSARY

1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces.

2. I promise My special protection and the greatest graces to all who shall recite the Rosary.

3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.

4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.

5. The soul which recommends itself to Me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish.

6. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.

7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.

8. Those who are faithful in reciting the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.

9. I shall deliver from purgatory, those who have been devoted to the Rosary.

10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.

11. You shall obtain all you ask of Me by the recitation of the Rosary.

12. All those who propagate the holy Rosary shall be aided by Me in their necessities.

13. I have obtained from My Divine Son, that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors, the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.

14. All who recite the Rosary are My sons, and brothers of My only son Jesus Christ.

15. Devotion to My Rosary is a great sign of pre-destination.