Posted on 10/09/2001 8:21:36 PM PDT by Diago
OUR LADY AND ISLAM: HEAVEN’S PEACE PLAN
Fr Ladis J. Cizik, Blue Army National Executive Director
Islam Islam is an Arabic word that can be defined as "to make peace." Islam is the religion founded by Mohammed, which considers the Koran as its holy book. In addition, Islam accepts the New Testament of the Christians and the Old Testament of the Jews as Divinely inspired works. Followers of Islam are known as Muslims (also: Moors, Turks, and Moslems) and, just as Jews and Christians, believe in only one God. Yet, over the centuries, Muslims have engaged in tremendous wars with Christians and Jews. It would seem that there is little hope for peace. However, Heaven's Peace Plan, involving Our Lady, is evidenced at Fatima, Portugal as well as other places around the world.
Fatima
The Moors once occupied Portugal. The village of Fatima was given the Islamic name of the well-loved Princess of the nearby Castle of Ourem. She died at an early age after marrying the Count of Ourem and converting to Catholicism. Baptized with the Christian name of Oureana, she was named at birth "Fatima," like many other Moslem girls, in honor of the daughter of Mohammed. Of his daughter, Fatima, the founder of Islam, Mohammed, said: "She has the highest place in heaven after the Virgin Mary."
It is a fact that Moslems from various nations, especially from the Middle East, make so many pilgrimages to Our Lady of Fatima's Shrine in Portugal that Portuguese officials have expressed concern. The combination of an Islamic name and Islamic devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is a great attraction to Moslems. God is writing straight with crooked lines, as we will see. Fatima is a part of Heaven's Peace Plan. It is hope for the world.
The Koran
In the Koran, the holy name of the Blessed Virgin Mary is mentioned no less than thirty times. No other woman's name is even mentioned, not even that of Mohammed's daughter, Fatima. Among men, only Abraham, Moses, and Noah are mentioned more times than Our Lady. In the Koran, Our Blessed Mother is described as "Virgin, ever Virgin." The Islamic belief in the virginity of Mary puts to shame the heretical beliefs of those who call themselves Christian, while denying the perpetual virginity of Mary. Make no mistake about it, there is a very special relationship between the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Moslems!
The Holy Land
The Holy Land has been a real battleground between the Islamic peoples and Christianity over the centuries. Evidence of this are the numerous churches and basilicas that have been built by the Church, destroyed by, the Moslems, rebuilt by Catholic Crusaders, leveled again by the followers of Islam, and so on over the course of history. However, there is one remarkable exception: the Basilica of Saint Anne in Jerusalem.
The Crusaders built this church and named it in honor of the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Crypt of St. Anne's Basilica, a statue of the Infant Mary is venerated on what is believed to be the exact spot where Our Lady was born. Their great reverence for Our Lady precluded the Moslems from destroying her birthplace. The foundation for Heaven's Peace Plan at Fatima, Portugal, can be found in the Land of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Spain
As the Moslems swept through Spain in the 8th century, a great religious treasure was buried for safe-keeping in the earth, high in the Estremadura Mountains. It was a much venerated statue of Our Lady holding the Divine Child Jesus that was a gift of Pope Gregory the Great to Bishop Leander of Seville. After the overthrow of Moorish occupation, the image was uncovered in the year 1326, subsequent to a vision of Our Lady to a humble shepherd by the name of Gil. Our Lady's very special statue was enshrined in a nearby Franciscan Monastery next to the "Wolf River."
The Moslems, during their Spanish occupation, had actually named the river. The Islamic term for Wolf River is "Guadalupe" (Guada = River; Lupe = Wolf). Hence, the famous Catholic image in Spain has been known, since the 14th century, by the Islamic name of "Our Lady of Guadalupe."
Mexico
In the fullness of time, we can be sure that Almighty God knew that the Islamic religion would pose a serious threat to Christianity. God also knew that the Spanish missionaries would face grave resistance in the "new world" from the mighty Aztec Indians. The Aztecs worshipped an evil stone "serpent god" that demanded human sacrifice. It was extremely difficult to win souls for Christ from these bloodthirsty savages. However, with God all things are possible. Our Lady appeared to a humble Aztec Indian convert by the name of Juan Diego in 1531. When asked her name by Juan Diego, at the request of the local bishop, Our Lady's response, in the Aztec language, included the words "te coatlaxopeuh" (pronounced: "te quatlasupe") and meant "one who crushes the head of the stone serpent."
To Juan Diego and his fellow Aztecs, this revelation had great meaning, coupled with the miraculous image of Our Lady standing on top of a "crescent," the symbol of this evil serpent god. A tidal wave of conversions to Catholicism ensued. However, Bishop Zumarraga, who was from Spain, made what was no doubt a "heavenly mistake" that one day may lead to the mass conversion of Moslems. To the Bishop's Spanish ears, Our Lady's Aztec name of "Te Quatlasupe" sounded just like the name of the revered Madonna from Spain with the Islamic name, "Guadalupe." Hence, the bishop named the Mexican Madonna "Our Lady of Guadalupe." It is interesting that the "crescent" is also the symbol for Islam and that America's Shrine to Our Lady has an Islamic name.
Battle of Lepanto
On October 7, 1571, a great victory over the mighty Turkish fleet was won by Catholic naval forces primarily from Spain, Venice, and Genoa under the command of Don Juan of Austria. It was the last battle at sea between "oared" ships, which featured the most powerful navy in the world, a Moslem force with between 12,000 to 15,000 Christian slaves as rowers. The patchwork team of Catholic ships was powered by the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Knowing that the Christian forces were at a distinct material disadvantage, the holy pontiff, St. Pope Pius V called for all of Europe to pray the Rosary for victory.
We know today that the victory was decisive, prevented the Islamic invasion of Europe, and evidenced the Hand of God working through Our Lady. At the hour of victory, St. Pope Pius V, who was hundreds of miles away at the Vatican, is said to have gotten up from a meeting, went over to a window, and exclaimed with supernatural radiance: "The Christian fleet is victorious!" and shed tears of thanksgiving to God.
What you may not know is that one of three admirals commanding the Catholic forces at Lepanto was Andrea Doria. He carried a small copy of Mexico's Our Lady of Guadalupe into battle. This image is now enshrined in the Church of San Stefano in Aveto, Italy. Not many know that at the Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Spain, one can view a huge warship lantern that was captured from the Moslems in the Battle of Lepanto. In Rome, look up to the ceiling of S. Maria in Aracoeli and behold decorations in gold taken from the Turkish galleys. In the Doges' Palace in Venice, Italy, one can witness a giant Islamic flag that is now a trophy from a vanquished Turkish ship from the Victory. At Saint Mary Major Basilica in Rome, close to the tomb of the great St. Pope Pius V, one was once able to view yet another Islamic flag from the Battle, until 1965, when it was returned to Istanbul in an intended friendly token of concord.
The Rosary
At Lepanto, the Victory over the Moslems was won by the faithful praying the Rosary. Even though they had superior numbers, the Turks really were overmatched. Blessed Padre Pio, the Spiritual Father of the Blue Army, said: "The Rosary is the weapon," and how right he was!
The Battle of Lepanto was at first celebrated liturgically as "Our Lady of Victory." Later, the feast of October 7th was renamed "Our Lady of the Rosary" and extended throughout the Universal Church by Pope Clement XI in 1716 (who canonized Pope Pius V in 1712).
And with that we are back to Fatima, Portugal where Our Lady, when asked her name, said: "I am the Lady of the Rosary." At Fatima, Our Lady taught us to pray the Rosary every day. Heaven presented its peace plan at Fatima and truly gave us hope for the world. Conversions were promised at Fatima: the conversion of sinners; the conversion of Russia; and what also appears to be the conversion of Islam. Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!
Taken from:
Soul Magazine
© 2001 The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima, U.S.A., Inc.
September - October 2001, page 6
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It is amazing how they will use the latter part of this passage and ignore the beginning
UMMMMMM point well taken
You're right. It's sometimes hard to take Luther's doctrine of Sola Scriptura seriously when he removed the deuterocannonical books from Scripture based on the decision of the Jewish council of Jamnia from around the years 70-100 A.D., the same council that rejected the New Testament as Scripture, while he also rejected the authoritative canonical determination of several Church Councils from around the year 400 A.D.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you folks generally believe that Christ founded an "invisible church," or an invisible church of those who "confess Jesus as personal Lord and Savior."
I have pointed out the passage in which Jesus tells his followers to take their disagreements "to the church" after they have taken their disagreements to "several witnesses" without satisfaction.
I also assume that you believe that "the church" mentioned in this passage is "the invisible church."
Now, suppose one of you members of the invisible church accuses a Catholic, a Christian who "accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior," another member of the invisble church, of propagating an heretical doctrine. To which invisible church should we go to settle our disagreement?
If a Baptist accuses a Calvinist of propagating an heresy, to which church should they go to settle their disagreement?
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It's obviously an impossible situation that Christ did not intend to create. He commanded his followers to settle their disagreements in His Church, a visible Church, the Church that he founded, the Church that the gates of hell would not prevail against and the Church that has been in existence since Pentacost.
If you know of any churches, other than the Catholic and Orthodox churches, that have been in continuous existence since Pentacost, please provide the evidence.
Not exactly. Catholics have Scripture, Tradition, and Magesterium (authoritative teachings of the Church). Of course, this is Scriptural. Sacred Tradition is supported by the passage that says that more has been revealed than has been written down. And authoritative Church teaching (the Magisterium) is supported by the passage that calls the Church "the pillar and foundation of truth."
Without authoritative teaching and Scriptural interpretation, each man is left to interpret Scripture on his own, leading to error, conflict and disunity, in opposition to Christ's Scripturally-expressed desire that his followers be one.
Mark 9:39-40 "Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us."
The Catholic Church teaches that the Lord Jesus is sovereign and divine. That's certainly not against Him.
What Aquinasfan doesn't seem to realize is the fact that while there is the invisible church, there are also local gatherings of believers who constitute the local church.
Now, in churches with an established heirarchy, the "local" in "local church" may be greatly extended, all the way up to the top. This is one of the reasons that I think that we Baptists have it right when we insist on local church autonomy. For example, the SBC doesn't tell any Baptist church what to do. The SBC exists for the churches, not the churches for the SBC. This is a difficult concept for non-Baptists to grasp. In fact, the SBC only exists for a couple of days each year, when the Convention meets for business. There are organizations that exist under the SBC umbrella, such as our Seminaries, publishing house, missions boards, etc., but they technically are not the SBC.
Now, on to the question at hand.
If there is a need for church discipline within a local church, the local Baptist church will carry out the requirements of Matthew 18, and they don't have to answer to anyone other than Christ. I have seen several instances where members were "disfellowshipped" under Matthew 18, and it is never pretty, but it is required.
As far as disciplining Christians who do not belong to your local church, that is a matter for the local congregation to which they belong.
However, let's pose a theoretical case: Suppose that Uriel1975, an orthodox Presbyterian, was to cheat me in business, and that I was to consider him to be a Christian brother and not a "tare". (I know that he would never cheat anyone, much less me, but I also know that he will undestand my point). My first step would be to go to him in private, and attempt to reason with him and obtain relief. If he was to rebuff me, then I would contact the Pastor or another elder in his local church, and take them with me to talk with him. If he was to continue to resist, then I would expect the leadership of his local congregation to take appropriate action in "disfellowshipping" him.
Yes Jesus founded the invisible Church,but there is also the visible church of Jesus Christ,which is catholic (small c) in nature.
That visible church includes wheat and tares that will grow together untill the final judgement,when the invisible church will be harvested and the tares cast into the lake of fire..
Now as much as you would like to believe that that the church that Jesus founded is called Roman Catholic,I do not see that written anywhere in the bible. The church discription in the NT seems much closer to my own church or Jerrys Baptist Church....I do not read in Acts of a pope, icons,roseries,incense,robes,or a mass...those Aquinasfan are the acts of man ,not God..
What makes you believe that those "men" taught or interpreted the scriptures correctly? Why do you believe that what they..or any man writing a commentary is by its nature inspired?The Holy Spirit was promised to all belivers not just the "church fathers".
Just because you see people in a Protestant church does not mean that they are christian. Therefore, all true believers believe in original sin. They, furthermore, unlike the RC church, believe that only God can overcome the hopelessness of this situation; i.e. we don't believe (and the Bible agrees with us) that Baptism can remove the effects of original sin.
We do believe in the virgin birth of Christ. We do cherish life, etc. I don't know where you are obtaining your false information, but you should not believe them.
What do you mean by freedom of choice?
How about Bible-believing, God-fearing, Christians who believe in separation of church and state?
We Baptists have seen far too often the terrible consequences of the unholy alliance between "church" and state. We want nothing of it, and are glad that we live in a republic that does not have an established state church.
I hope that this was a "misprint" on your part.
These things I write unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly, but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou ought to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.For this passage to mean what you want it to mean, you must change it to say: ...the pillar and source/intrepretation of the truth. It does not. In fact, you are reading a spiritual mountain out of this passage. God is the only authoritative teacher of the Truth. You are running away with scripture without ever checking to see what else the Bible has to say about Truth:
Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth.And yet we know that the RC church cannot be the ultimate authority of the truth:Lead me in Thy truth and teach me, for Thou art the God of my salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day.
Behold, Thou desirest truth in my inward parts; in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Teach me Thy way, O LORD; I will walk in Thy truth; unite my heart to fear Thy name.
841 The Churches relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; those profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day,"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but having itching ears, they shall heap to themselves teachers in accordance with their own lusts. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned toward fables.Jesus said unto him, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.
All we need to do is look at the Islamic countries to see the problem of a "religious" government..I do not want my grandchildren,in the name of diversity,praying to allah,or reading the "sacred writings "of Bahi ,Hindus..I do not want them reciting the Hail Mary...
In short I do not favor prayer in the schools..I do not favor the presidents plan to "spiritualize" public services..letting Big Brother "get his foot in my church's door..
I really like just having the State do nothing that interfers with my religious freedoms..
If it aint broke dont fix it!
Not to mention, teaching for doctrine, the commandments of men. A lot of people do that.
And what if they don't? Where can you go to appeal or settle the matter?
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Another problem. If "the church is the pillar and foundation of truth," then how can it be possible for two churches to teach conflicting doctrines, especially doctrines regarding salvation? How can their be "two truths"?
How do you reconcile the passage that the church is "the pillar and foundation of truth" with the fact that non-Catholic churches teach conflicting doctrines, especially doctrines regarding salvation?
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Re: the papacy
Matthew 16:18-20 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Isaiah 20:22 And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
Revelation 3:6-8 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
One of the biggest problems today is the fact that most churches, Catholic, Protestant, or other, totally ignore Matthew 18. This problem is due to the fact that they want to keep the seats in the pews and the dollars in the coffers. Forget the fact that the majority of so-called "christians" are indistinguishable from their pagan neighbors. The "church" in America is overrun with "tares", and the "wheat" is getting choked out. God deliver us from our "churches"!
God bless you T the Good Lord sure gave you perseverance!
True, the Holy Spirit was promised to all believers. And I'm sure that He is working in your life.
But the matter of interpreting Scripture infallibly is another issue. Yes, individual Catholics (aside from the Pope) are just as fallible as non-Catholics in interpreting Scripture, but the Church that Christ founded, which is "the pillar and foundation of truth," is infallible in interpreting Scripture when this authority is invoked (which is not often).
Interestingly, we can only know that Scripture itself is inspired and infallibly transmitted because of its infallible source: the Church. This article could be helpful, particularly the Spiral Argument paragraph.
All the Calvinistic "non-Catholic" churches teach the same regarding salvation. No conflict among those of us who hold to the "doctrines of grace".
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