Zone1 Pope Leo Says Not to Pray to Mary

[MisterBeale]

Pope prays Mary will fill believers with hope, inspire them to serve

Surrounded by thousands of Romans, pilgrims and tourists, Pope Leo XIV led special prayers to Mary in the center of Rome, continuing a tradition begun by St....

www.usccb.org

". . . The late Pope Francis had described the concept of Mary as “co-redeemer” as foolishness in 2019, saying she “never wanted to take anything for herself from her son,” while Pope Benedict XVI also opposed the title. Pope John Paul II had supported it but stopped using it publicly in the mid-1990s after Vatican doctrinal authorities raised concerns.

The new decree highlights Mary’s biblical obedience, noting her response to the angel Gabriel: “Let it be”.

Church scholars welcomed the clarification, saying it reinforces the centrality of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection in Catholic faith.

Pope Leo’s decision comes amid other Vatican reforms, including changes to financial oversight laws.

Observers told National Catholic Reporter that the decree may settle long-standing theological debates while reinforcing the human-interest dimension of Mary’s role as a faithful mother guiding believers toward Christ. . . "

Pope Leo XIV clarifies ‘Mary did not save the world’ in historic Catholic decree - Premier Christian News | Headlines, Breaking News, Comment & Analysis

The Holy See clarified that salvation comes solely through Jesus Christ, ending disagreements among recent popes over Mary’s title.

premierchristian.news

 

[The Irish Ram]

According to the NT Christian Bible.

This is what I had thought. Praying to Mary for her intercession seems to be more of a female Catholic practice and not of the early church. As far as I can tell, the early church fathers prayed only to Jesus for intercession.

Nobody is listening when one prays to Mary. A Christian can pray to Jesus to give Mary words of praise, but it has to go through Jesus.

Am I correct?

Kind of. It was the early Popes that pushed the narrative of Mary interceding on our behalf. It grew and grew as time went on with other Popes adding their beliefs to it.
Our intercessor is sitting at the right hand of God. And when Satan levies charges against us for our sin, Jesus looks at God and proclaims, " I covered that with my own blood. " Satan's case against you is dismissed.

You hit the other part out of the park. Ask Jesus to bless His mom for us. He'd be glad to...

 

[Ropey]

Kind of. It was the early Popes that pushed the narrative of Mary interceding on our behalf. It grew and grew as time went on with other Popes adding their beliefs to it.
Our intercessor is sitting at the right hand of God. And when Satan levies charges against us for our sin, Jesus looks at God and proclaims, " I covered that with my own blood. " Satan's case against you is dismissed.

You hit the other part out of the park. Ask Jesus to bless His mom for us. He'd be glad to...

Thanks for clarifying it.

In Judaism, our Intercessor is Abraham (who argued for Sodom/Lot)... and who will be at the judgement table vs the Adversary ha-Satan.

Then comes the processions.

 

[Ropey]

Since...

Judaism doesn't hand forgiveness over as an exclusive divine prerogative.

 

[ding]

Am I correct?

That all depends on who you ask.

 

[ding]

Protestantism was created because the Catholic church wasn't adhering to the tenants of Biblical Christianity. I'm surprised it still exists, because the only true Christian belief system is all there in black and white, in the New Testament.

Do you believe the first Christians knew less than you about what Christ taught?

 

[Ropey]

That all depends on who you ask.

So that's how beale got in here.

 

[ding]

Biblical Christians believe that the "dead in Christ" will not enter heaven until the Second Coming, but will remain in the grave until then, their souls in a conscious, blissful communion with the Lord.

How do you explain Jesus saying Abraham was glad to see his day in John 8:56 if Abraham was still in the grave?

On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus met with Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory to speak with him about his coming departure (death) in Jerusalem. The event was witnessed by three of his disciples: Peter, James, and John.

Were Moses and Elijah still in the grave too?

 

[DennisPTate]

So, when a Catholic prays to Mary to intercede for them....

...just who is listening to those prayers?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While Mary is honored as the mother of Jesus and a faithful servant (Luke 1:38, 46-55), the Scriptures do not describe her as omnipresent or capable of hearing prayers from heaven.



So, who is listening to your prayers to Mary, asking her to intercede for you, pray tell?

Pun intended.

And my real question:

BQ: Do those prayers of intercession even reach Jesus/G-d?

It is my belief that when you meet the Mother of Jesus in heaven, [and little Colton Burpo reports that he met Jesus, His mother and his cousin John the Baptist, as well as Samson, while he was in heaven], I believe that Mary - Myriam, the mother of Jesus would want you to obey her Son, and pray to her Son as well as to the Heavenly Father, and ask to be given The Holy Spirit, The Comforter that Jesus promised to send. I do not believe that Mary - Myriam would want anybody to actually fully pray to her, because that is not what her Son taught his disciples to do.

 

[DennisPTate]

My guess is that Pope Leo and many of the cardinals around him are attempting to apply these two general principles.


Matthew 5:25
"Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison."

Matthew 18:6
"But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."


In my opinion the Roman Catholic Church and many other churches are approaching near death experience accounts so differently than many Baptist churches and Lutheran churches are approaching near death experience accounts, so there is pressure on the leadership of the Roman Catholic church to Not offend Baptists and other Protestants who prefer the way that the Roman Catholic Church, [and the Latter day Saints for another example], approach near death experience accounts. The approach that Lutherans are taking on near death experience accounts sets the stage for a massive percentage of Lutherans to leave the Lutheran church and become Roman Catholic.

A Not-So-Little Lie​

​

The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven was a pretty good book, and then it was a pretty interesting movie. But, first and foremost, it was a fascinating event. If you’ve forgotten the story, let me give you a quick review.
Alex Malarkey was six years old when he was in a car accident. That accident left him in a coma for two months. When he revived, the lad said he had been to heaven and had spoken to Jesus. As proof, he shared a lot of information which the family had never shared with him: things he should not have known.
A great many people were touched by the lad’s story.
Some churches reported enrollment in their adult confirmation classes saw a sizable increase. I know The Lutheran Hour received a fair number of requests to talk about the boy who came back from the dead. They didn’t care if we spoke about Malarkey in the sermon or in the question-and-answer segment. They only wanted us to make use of this true and moving story, so hearts might be won for the Lord.
Well, maybe it is time to speak about Alex Malarkey.
Better yet, let’s let Malarkey speak for himself. Recently, in a letter which is to be published, he wrote, “I did not die. I did not go to heaven. I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention. When I made the claims that I did, I had never read the Bible.”
With those words Malarkey has made a pretty profound and far-reaching confession.
Some of the people whose faith was built on his previous claims will be disappointed and angry. Skeptics and cynics will point to Malarkey and say, “All Christianity is based on such lies.” Preachers who founded their sermons on the reports of this innocent boy will be just a bit embarrassed. As for you and me, we should be thankful.
We should be thankful because Malarkey has more to say than “I’m sorry that I lied.”
Along with his apology, Malarkey has said, “It is only through repentance of your sins and a belief in Jesus as the Son of God, who died for your sins … that you can be forgiven ….” He continues, you can be saved, “not by reading a work of man. I want the whole world to know that the Bible is sufficient … the Bible is enough.”
Jesus said the same thing many years ago. He knew the devil loves to produce false prophets who do wondrous things and preach marvelous words. That’s why the Savior warned His followers: “Listen to the Word. Only in God’s Word which points to the Savior will you be given the words of eternal life” (see John 6:68).
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I give thanks for Your Word, which is truth. Even more, I rejoice that my faith is founded on the Savior who lived, died and rose, so I might be forgiven and saved. In Jesus’ Name I give thanks. Amen.

https://www.lhm.org/dailydevotions/20150119/?print=1

Personally I believe that an honest and objective researching of the Alex Malarkey case would cause somebody to wonder if Alex Malarkey's mom was deceived by pastors who had a Sola Scritura - Only Scripture, approach toward near death experience accounts, that gave her the means to shut down the supply of money that was going to Alex Malarkey's dad, who apparently was not sharing the revenue with his son or his mom.

FABRICATED: ‘I DID NOT GO TO HEAVEN’​

by David Roach...
decision to stop selling a discredited book about a 6-year-old’s supposed vision of heaven is being cited as a reminder that followers of Jesus should rely on the Bible rather than subjective experience for their knowledge of the afterlife.


“Anytime you step away from the clear, revelatory, propositional statements of Scripture into your own experience, then you open yourself to every kind of weird existential idea out there,” Chris Osborne, a Texas pastor who believes books like Malarkey’s are unbiblical, told Baptist Press. “We want people bound to truth, not to what they feel or what they think they saw or what they experience.”

LifeWay decided Jan. 15 that it would stop selling “The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven” by the father-son team of Kevin and Alex Malarkey after Alex, now 16, said in a statement that he fabricated the supposed vision of heaven on which the bestselling book is based.

“I did not die. I did not go to Heaven,” Alex Malarkey wrote in an open letter to LifeWay and other book retailers.

“I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention. When I made the claims that I did, I had never read the Bible. People have profited from lies, and continue to. They should read the Bible, which is enough. The Bible is the only source of truth. Anything written by man cannot be infallible,” Malarkey wrote.

LifeWay spokesman Marty King said in a statement released to BP, “LifeWay was informed last week that Alex Malarkey retracted his testimony about visiting heaven as told in the book ‘The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven.’ Therefore, we returned to the publisher the few copies we had in our stores. LifeWay is committed to becoming even more proactive the next few months in evaluating the resources we carry.”

In 2004, Malarkey spent two months in a coma and was paralyzed from the neck down following a car accident. When he awoke, Malarkey reported experiencing a vision of heaven that included being guided by angels and meeting Jesus.

Kevin Malarkey said he “felt no urge” to share his son’s story for five years, but he retained an agent and secured a book deal with Tyndale House Publishers in 2009, British newspaper The Guardian reported. Though Alex is listed as a coauthor, Kevin Malarkey is the sole owner of the copyright, according to information posted in the United States Copyright Office’s public catalog. Kevin Malarkey also owns the copyright for a “The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven” film and a Spanish version of the book.

Alex’s mother Beth Malarkey — who Christianity Today reported is separated from Kevin — has been writing on her blog since at least 2011 that the book contains inaccuracies, according to the Guardian. Beth Malarkey said she and Alex have not received any proceeds from the book’s sale, CT reported.

Tyndale announced in a Jan. 14 statement that it would “immediately put the book and all ancillary products into out-of-print status” and allow retailers to return their remaining inventory.

Last June, the Southern Baptist Convention adopted a resolution that touted “the sufficiency of Scripture regarding the afterlife” and warned Christians not to allow “the numerous books and movies purporting to explain or describe the afterlife experience” to “become their source and basis for an understanding of the afterlife.”

Though the resolution did not list specific book or movie titles, it seemed to describe works like “The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven,” “90 Minutes in Heaven” by Don Piper and “Heaven Is for Real” by Todd Burpo along with its companion movie released last year by Sony Pictures.

The resolution affirmed “the sufficiency of biblical revelation over subjective experiential explanations to guide one’s understanding of the truth about heaven and hell.”

Osborne, who was a member of the SBC Resolutions Committee that proposed the resolution to the convention, believes the apostle Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 12:4 that he heard things during a vision of “paradise” which “a man is not allowed to speak” precludes anyone from describing a vision of heaven not in the Bible.

Although Scripture says much about where believers will live following Christ’s second coming, it contains far less information about what occurs between the time a follower of Jesus dies and the Lord’s second coming, Osborne, pastor of Central Baptist Church in College Station, said. Still, God has given humans all the information they need about what happens after death, he added.

Theologians refer to the condition of believers between their deaths and Christ’s return as “the intermediate state.”

Fabricated: ‘I did not go to heaven’ | Baptist Convention of Iowa

bciowa.org

Pope Leo knows that Baptists and Lutherans do not want to pray To Mary, so they are setting the stage for a massive influx of Protestants to Catholicism, over the coming years and decades as near death experience accounts become more widely understood.