I had seen bumper stickers of the title above and had also heard similar comments from certain Catholics. I know that sometimes it may seem that God doesn’t hear our prayers, yet it is one of the most basic needs of a believer to have his prayers answered. We all want to know that somebody’s listening. I understand that, and I understand the seeming desperation that most of us have experienced at some point in our lives.
But
this title reminds me of the story of a man who fell off the edge of a cliff at
night and managed to grab onto a small shrub on the way down, hanging on for
dear life between Heaven and earth. In
the dark, he was unaware that safe and solid ground was only a couple of feet
beneath him. The desperate man calls out
several times for help and no one answers.
Finally, he hears a loud voice from Heaven that says, “If you trust Me,
let go!” The desperate man pauses and thinks
for a minute and then yells, “Is there anyone
else out there?!!”
Although
the story is intended to be funny, there is a disturbing truth within it that
causes some to want a “back-up” when praying.
What if God doesn’t answer your plea for help? Is your need so strong that you are willing
to compromise your spiritual walk with God?
Perhaps you, like King Saul, are desperate enough to go to a psychic or a
fortune teller if God doesn’t answer? (1 Samuel 28:7-19)
Hopefully,
you would never do such a thing, since this would have dire spiritual consequences (Leviticus 19:26,
31; 20:6, 27; 2 Kings 21:6; Isaiah 8:19-22). You may never
even consider such a thing… yet, you may feel like God is “uninterested” or
“too busy,” therefore it’s ok, as a Catholic, to call on some other “positive”
spiritual entity to help you, like Mary (Jesus’ mother).
Surely,
if Mary appeals to Jesus for you, He couldn’t turn her down, right? After all,
she is His mother, and as a kid, we know that if you wanted something, but you
were afraid to ask your father, Mom would often step in to increase your chances
of finding favor. Therefore, it only
seems fitting to call on Mary to do the same for you, right?
Several
Assumptions
This
slogan, “If you can’t find Jesus, look for His mother” assumes several
things. First, it assumes that one can have
the ability to communicate with Mary to start with. It also assumes that one has God’s
permission, that it’s ok, to appeal
to Mary and ask for her help. And if it
is ok, it assumes that she can actually hear
us. And if she hears us, it also assumes that she is able to help us in some way.
Furthermore,
this slogan is assuming that sometimes we (perhaps “less spiritual”) believers just
can’t “find” Jesus like we should. But
why would anyone who has any biblical understanding think that? (Matthew 7:7-8; 11:28; 1 Peter 5:6-7)
The
slogan is also assuming that Jesus may not be touched by, or concerned with,
our needs. After all, He’s busy running
the universe! What makes us think that
we are significant enough to even be on His “radar”? But seriously, are Catholics really not aware
that He is indeed conscious of our needs?
Hard to Find?
“Seeing
then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in
time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-16)
Jesus,
Himself, as a human, had needs and was tempted to sin, so He knows what it’s
like to be human and He knows our weaknesses.
Either, this passage is a lie or it is the truth. Its message is very simple, nothing vague
about it. It is telling us that we can,
indeed should, call on Him in time of
need. Trusting in Him is how we hold fast to our profession.
But appealing
in prayer to someone else (even someone in Heaven, like Mary) is not “holding
fast to our profession.” In
fact, doing so would deviate from our
profession. How so? This passage is magnifying the person and
role of our New Testament High Priest, Jesus Christ. It is pointing to Him alone.
In the
case of those who say, “If you can’t find Jesus, look for His mother,” their
interpretation of Hebrews 4:14-16 would have to be: “Hey everyone, let’s give
honor to Jesus, the Son of God, who has entered Heaven on our behalf and to
whom we can directly and boldly come, without hesitation to help us in time of
need (whether for salvation or anything else)… BUT, we will go to Mary first!” I’m sorry, but that’s not giving Jesus the
honor He deserves (Revelation 17:14, 19:16) and that’s not putting Him first and
foremost.
But is
Jesus ever really “hard to find”? His
offer to “come boldly unto the throne of grace” does not permit the idea
of praying to someone else in order to get to Him. It does not leave room for an appeal to another
person in Heaven. He doesn’t say, “Come
boldly unto the throne of grace and if I have time, I’ll try to get to
you.” Or, “Come boldly unto the throne
of grace by going through other ‘mediators’ first who can then get My attention.” Or, “Come through My mother, who always puts
in a good word for you and convinces Me to help you. Otherwise, I might not be interested.”
No,
there is no guessing what Hebrews 4:14-16 is saying. If you turn your heart toward Him and seek
Him, you will find Him. He will make
Himself known to you without having to go through other “heavenly intercessors.” That’s a promise. To say that there are others to which one
should pray is simply eisegesis (reading something into the text that is not
there).
On Whom are You
Really Depending?
Now, Catholics
will say, “But we, just like you Protestants, also rely on people here on earth
when we ask them to pray for us. So why
can’t we appeal to Mary or the saints in Heaven, who are far more spiritual
than anyone on earth? Their prayers are
stronger than anyone else’s.”
But requesting
prayer from others here on earth is perfectly fine. That is totally biblical, while requesting
prayer from others who are supposedly in Heaven is not. Catholics just don’t
seem to get the concept that there are absolutely no examples in the whole Bible of anyone praying to Mary or the
saints, and there is nothing to suggest that we should. That idea is utterly absent from the pages of
Scripture. Yet, that doesn’t stop Catholics
from doing it. This is because they are
simply being a faithful son or daughter of “Holy Mother Church.” You are doing what the Catholic Church tells
you to do.
This
whole concept of depending on Mary’s intercession appears to be saying that
somehow, we can better depend on her
than we can on Jesus. So, I would have
to ask, when addressing Mary in prayer, on whom are you really depending?
A Purely Human Concept
Recently, a devout
Catholic and I were having a nice discussion and the conversation led to Mary
and the subject of praying to her. At
this point, the Catholic gave that familiar comment and said something along
these lines: “If, for some reason, you find it hard to pray to Jesus, pray to
His mother, instead. She will surely
hear you and appeal to her Son to help you.”
Well,
that sounds good, but this is purely a human (and unbiblical) mindset. Yes, on earth, moms generally intercede for
their kids when speaking to their fathers.
And that’s because many fathers may be harsh and unloving – nothing like
the High Priest in Heaven to which we have access today. But He is a gracious Savior who knows what
you need before you even ask (Matthew 6:7-8). He just wants you to admit your need and come
humbly, yet confidently, to Him. He
wants you to come directly to the Savior, not to a relative of the Savior.
Pointing to
Jesus
Catholics
are quick to say that Mary always points to Christ. For example, they love to use this particular
verse:
“His
mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it” (John 2:5).
And
then they say, “See! Approaching Mary is
a good thing, since she always points to her Son.” But every
true Christian does that. How does that
separate Mary from other believers? It
doesn’t.
And
while we are on that topic, “pointing to Jesus” was exactly what John the
baptist was doing when he said:
“He [Jesus] must
increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).
THAT is pointing to Jesus and honoring Him,
and John did this while denying himself and lowering his own importance. But, it’s funny, I have never seen a Catholic
ever use this verse to apply to Mary decreasing. Why do you think that is? I’ll tell you why. I believe that they will never accept any
lowering of Mary’s status, never admitting that Mary must also decrease,
because the Catholic Church will not let them.
Interestingly,
there are far, far more Catholic shrines that were built to honor her than
there are to Jesus, and I’ve never seen a pope or any other Catholic official
object to this. The Catholic Church will
turn its head the other way when there are large numbers of people who are
giving Mary “excessive devotion” (using the Catholic Church’s own term). No one seems to object to that. But
don’t you dare suggest that Mary diminish her own status! The Church will simply not let that happen.
A Bit Much!
For
instance, look at this prayer from a doctor and “saint” of the Catholic Church
named Liguori:
"Most Holy and Immaculate Virgin! O my Mother! Thou who art the
Mother of my Lord, the Queen of the world, the Advocate, Hope, and Refuge of
sinners! I, the most wretched among them, now come to thee. I worship
thee, great Queen, and give thee thanks for the many favors thou hast
bestowed on me in the past; most of all do I thank thee for having saved
me from hell, which I had so often deserved. I love thee, Lady most worthy of love, and, by
the love which I bear thee, I promise ever in the future to serve thee, and to
do what in me lies to win others to thy love.
In thee I put all my trust, all my hope of salvation…” (emphasis
added)
See here:
http://laudatedominum.net/marian.php#sal
If this
doesn’t offend you as a believer, there is something wrong with you. These are things said of Mary that the true
and biblical Mary would never accept or attribute to herself.
Actually,
the above prayer is from Liguori’s very popular book, The Glories of Mary. You can
find the book online here:
http://www.themostholyrosary.com/the-glories-of-mary.pdf
It’s
funny that some will object that Liguori’s “worship” doesn’t really mean
worship, yet the extravagant language they use exposes them. As the old saying goes, “If it looks like a
duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it is probably a duck!” The activity around Mary is, by definition, worship, regardless of what the
non-biblical detractors want it to
mean.
And this is only one of a multitude of blasphemous
comments and prayers in his book.
See
also this article addressing Liguori’s book here:
https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2019/04/liguoris-idolatry-and-catholic-churchs.html
Furthermore,
I think that another reason for not allowing Mary’s status to diminish is that
the Catholic Church plans to use this unbiblical version of her as a tool in
the global ecumenical arena to form a one-world religion as the Bible predicts (Revelation
13:8). As one source describes
it, she is:
“…
rapidly becoming the ‘queen of ecumenism,’ someone whom diverse religions can
honor, rally around, and even worship without offending their respective
theologies.”
Very
well said!
See
here:
Conclusion
It is
critical to remember that there must be a clear distinction between mankind and
the Savior of mankind. The problem with the Catholic Church’s magnifying
of Mary is that it causes this distinction to be blurred by such exalted
language.
All
this boils down to the fact that the Catholic Church wants Mary to remain
exalted, even at the expense of Jesus losing status and staying in the
background. Of course they won’t say this out loud, but this is the
logical consequence of a “continually increasing” Mary.
It is
also interesting that many pictures we see of Mary often have her holding the
“baby Jesus.” Folks, let’s not forget
that He grew up and that He performed
His ministry and death on the cross (the most
important part of His life) as an adult, not while on His mom’s lap. It’s as though there is a force in the
Catholic Church that wants Mary to appear to be the one in control, to be the
main figure, while Jesus is depicted as a toddler in need of guidance.
Now,
I’m certainly not saying that Mary shouldn’t have honor, since the Bible says
to give honor to whom honor is due (Romans 13:7). But praying to someone other than God is not
“honor” – it is worship. All Christians will be exalted in due time,
but never as the object of prayer. (Acts 10:25-26; Revelation 22:8-9)
Again,
Mary was a wonderful, humble and godly handmaid, whom I believe is in Heaven
today, but I’m sure that never did she expect to have such attention, devotion,
veneration and idolization directed toward her. But if God would allow her, from Heaven, to
see all this attention directed toward her, I would bet that the humble Mary of
the Bible would be utterly grieved and weep over it. And I believe that she would say, “If you
can’t find Jesus, humble yourself and continue
seeking Him, since He is always nearby!” (Matthew 11:28; Acts 17:27)
