Posted on 12/10/2009 9:49:46 AM PST by Alex Murphy
BATULAO, Batangas, Philippines — It was a heartbreaking 60th birthday for visionary Emma De Guzman when in the early morning of Tuesday, December 8, she chose not to deliver the message from the Virgin Mary unlike so many other times in the past.
Close to 5,000 pilgrims joined the trek up the Mountain of Salvation in Batulao, to some observers possibly the biggest delegation to join in the prayers and support of the apparition of the Blessed Virgin to Emma.
Emma’s journey from plain overseas Filipino nanny in Canada to visionary exhibiting mystical phenomena like stigmata, bilocation, levitation, the gift of healing, unexplainable ability to write in ancient Greek, and the most popular manifestation, glitters or escarchas on her face, started in 1986.
Her simple untutored ways coupled with extraordinary faculties gained her hordes of foreign followers from the La Pieta International prayer group from Canada, the United States, and some European countries where she was better known than in her own hometown.
In 2004, Emma came to the Mountain of Salvation to share her vision with her countrymen and has been coming twice yearly, on September 8 and December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Message for Filipinos
The followers grew from 300 to a thousand with devotees praying the rosary and hearing mass from noon to midnight, when the Virgin would normally appear to Emma and leave her with a message for the Filipino people.
Throughout the years, the message has always stressed that God had chosen the Philippines to carry on the evangelization in Asia, being the only Christian nation in the region.
Last September, Emma reported that the Virgin told her that God loves the Filipinos and will protect the country from all its problems. There was a statement that something will occur in 2010 generally interpreted as election-related, but from 2011 to 2016 the country will experience great prosperity.
Tuesday started encouragingly. The weather was dry and balmy unlike her last visit in September which was muddy and stormy. Seven priests led by Bishop Ramon Arguelles of Lipa and Fr. Dennis Paez said Mass. Familiar supporters like Bill Pote, Brenda Padilla, Andrea Limpo, Rica Limcaoco, Danny and Gigi Rodriguez, Arlina Onglao’s Journeys of Faith, and a busload of pilgrims from Guam attended the vigil.
When glitters started appearing on Emma’s face, a signal for the apparition, Emma began sobbing loudly and bitterly. After a few minutes, Fr. Paez announced that Emma was not ready to share the message of the Virgin Mary, and that it was time for the pilgrims to leave the premises. Nothing like this had happened in the past.
As the pilgrims trekked down the hill at 2:30 in the morning, they knew in their hearts that God was angry about the Maguindanao travesty. It was a sad day for Emma and the Filipino people.
....Throughout the years, the message has always stressed that God had chosen the Philippines to carry on the evangelization in Asia, being the only Christian nation in the region....
.... When glitters started appearing on Emma’s face, a signal for the apparition, Emma began sobbing loudly and bitterly. After a few minutes, Fr. Paez announced that Emma was not ready to share the message of the Virgin Mary, and that it was time for the pilgrims to leave the premises. Nothing like this had happened in the past. As the pilgrims trekked down the hill at 2:30 in the morning, they knew in their hearts that God was angry about the Maguindanao travesty. It was a sad day for Emma and the Filipino people.
“Maguindanao travesty”
Do we know what this is all about?
“Government-sponsored militias have become a fixture in many Philippine provinces plagued by Muslim and communist rebellions and by bandits.”
Thanks
[Emma De Guzman]’s journey from plain overseas Filipino nanny in Canada to visionary exhibiting mystical phenomena like stigmata, bilocation, levitation, the gift of healing, unexplainable ability to write in ancient Greek, and the most popular manifestation, glitters or escarchas on her face, started in 1986....
How anyone can believe such crap is beyond me. Gross Superstition.
This is the kind of nonsense Rome promotes (even when they deny Medjagorge) to which I am referring. Goofy stuff such as this has caused the average Catholic to depart from the biblical Gospel of grace delivered by Paul and, instead, embrace error. I lay this at Rome’s feet.
Thanks for the post. This is the sort of thing I was referring to when I got upset on another thread with someone criticizing “Prots” for Benny Hinn.
Protestants reject Benny Hinn. But where is the rejection of this stuff by the Vatican?
I didn't even read the post. Visions don't interest me until they are said to be commended (or whatever the lingo is.) IF the vision increases the visionary's devotion to Jesus, good. If not, then it's bad. More than that I don't care one way or another.
THE RULES
Rule One: "Rome" is the locus of all evil in the Universe.
Rule Two: In cases of doubt, see Rule One.
All Else Is Irrelevant.
Do you have a problem with Revelation?
It's OK to say "yes". Luther did but then again, tossing out books from the Bible seems to be a Protestant trait.
Responsibility rests first and foremost with the local Ordinary of the diocese who will, in due course, issue a statement on these events, if he hasn't already.
I'm not sure why you think it should be rejected. The Virgin Mary has appeared throughout history. Mystical phenomena have always been a part of Christian spirituality.
What is the Baptist take on visions and such?
I don’t see why, in general, they would be impossible or wrong. The existence of counterfeits doesn’t necessarily mean there is nothing to be counterfeited.
This response is so far afield, I won’t dignify it with a rebuttal.
I don’t know what the Baptist view is on visions. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any consensus among Baptists on the issue.
I assume some are true, but many are false. I also haven’t seen anyone who claims to be a prophet who passed the scriptural test for one.
I don’t know of any Old Testament visions that involved a person who died, instead of an angel or God Himself. Apart from the Transfiguration, I can’t recall any in the New Testament, either. And the Transfiguration wasn’t exactly a vision.
Benny Hinn is as false as they come. I’m pretty skeptical that Mary is making regular trips to the Philippines as well...
Phew.........aren't I lucky.......LOL!!! Here I was thinking you were going to wipe the floor with me. < /s>
You have no rebuttal.
Is it only Filipino visions which trouble you or is it all Catholic mystical phenomena?
John went into a cave on the island of Patmos and "gazed into the visions of the night". Those visions he then transcribed and their record has been handed down to us through the generations.
Does that creep you out?
It is not about control; it is about teaching that such nonsense is true. That begins at the top and the Catholic Church loves the top-down authority, so they get to wear it.
Having spent most of my childhood and adolescence in a GARB Baptist church, I can say that Baptists are quite skeptical of visions, and take the position that any vision that fails to declare Christ, born in the flesh, crucified, and arisn, is not of God.
You wrote:
“Protestants reject Benny Hinn.”
Correction: some do. Millions don’t.
Some of what John recorded in Revelation is allegorical, such as the bowls and seals, but some was a clear vision of real future events, that sound strange due to his inability to describe modern military equipment and tactics in terms of the first century.
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