Truth Series - 5 of 6 - Are We Deceived

September 10, 2021

Holy Spirit, enlighten our minds and please pull away any veil of deception that lingers over us. Amen

Well, sometimes we can be blinded by our own zeal. That brings to mind Shmuel in the Chosen series about Jesus, when he was talking with Nicodemus, insisting that Jesus was a heretic, and boldly proclaiming "THIS IS GOD" as he slammed his hands down on the Torah.

In the next scene Shmuel and Nicodemus were witnessing the miracle of the man who could not walk, the paralytic, whom Jesus prayed for, forgave his sins, and who immediately stood to his feet, picked up his mat and walked home, right in front of the Pharisees.

Shmuel's response to this was a new dedication and fire to expose Jesus as a false prophet, as he hollered out to the Romans, "This man is an enemy of the State!" And pandemonium broke loose, and Jesus escaped.

My dear ones, there is a difference between blind self-righteousness and standing for truth. So, how can you tell which one you are in?

Jesus demonstrated the power of God to back up His words, and Shmuel still could not accept it.

Nicodemus reasoned with him to step outside of his fossilized little cubicle and consider that there might just be more than the Torah to testify to God at work among His people.

You can tell that you are being controlled by a spirit of Deceit and /or Self Righteousness when you sit down with someone who explains to you a truth that matches every one of your objections to a certain subject, through the Scriptures, and yet you persist in rejecting what was presented. Here are some arguments I have recently tried to answer with Scripture for those who refuse the intercession of the Blessed Mother.

Number one: We agree that Holy Spirit is everywhere, in Heaven and on Earth and that it is possible for those in Heaven to hear the petitions of those on Earth through the Holy Spirit. Just like the times when you have been quickened to pray for a friend although you did not know why and later you found out they had been in an accident. So, we agreed that they could pray from Heaven, just as Jesus was praying from Heaven. And in this series, I do bring up something that happened to Jesse Duplantis when he was physically transported to Heaven on a Sunday and came back with the Shekinah of Moses all over him, escorted around by King David, and on his way out of Heaven, King David said to him, "Jesse, I am praying for you." There is one Evangelical that was not afraid to share what he saw in Heaven. But moving on.

We also agreed that it is right and proper for us to ask prayers of our friends and that Jesus continually makes intercession for us, as our great High Priest, and so do those in Heaven, the Great Cloud of Witnesses, who are made aware that we need prayer, through the Holy Spirit, or even see Jesus praying and join Him with their prayers.

We agreed that the Blessed Mother obtained an answer to prayer that the married couple could not obtain, without her intercession, when they ran out of wine. (The Wedding in Cana) Jesus knew full well they were going to run out, but as much as He loved the couple, it was not His time to perform a public miracle, so He did nothing. Nothing that is, until Mary came to Him with tears in her eyes. She obtained the answer to prayer and Jesus against His desire to wait, did His first public miracle.

Number four: We agreed that those who are faithful on Earth will receive more responsibility in Heaven, and that it is possible for Mary to be assigned to mother the faithful.

Number five: I explained that the petition we use to Mary is totally Scriptural. Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. And when we do that, we also meditate on the life of Jesus with each decade.

Number six: I explained that Mary was the first Christian and they agreed. As the first Christian the events of her life parallel the events of ours. She was faithful, she died, and the tomb was found empty, she was Raptured and received a crown. Just as all of us will be raptured and receive a crown as it is written in Scripture.

I explained that we spend the first four to five hours of each day with Jesus, Holy Spirit and Father God, we do not worship Mary nor ask her on her own to help us. Rather we ask her to pray to God for us that these things be accomplished. And out of our total devotional time during the day, four to five hours, she gets a Rosary that takes thirty to forty minutes to pray. So, our devotion and worship are first to God, but we honor her as a dear friend and a very powerful and holy intercessor. We bring many petitions from around the world to her, during the family Rosary after dinner.

And finally, there are many who have a devotion to the Blessed Virgin, but they go overboard. They do not fully understand the role given her from Heaven so their devotion to her eclipses their devotion to Jesus. This is most certainly error on their part. But we should never condemn truth because someone distorted it into error. We must always cleave to the Lord and the Scriptures and not be led astray by others who might lack understanding.