In an article at LifeSiteNews.com today, Pope Francis is described as calling carved wooden statues of an Incan Fertility goddess, “Pachamamas,” idols that should not be in the Catholic church.

At the same time, statues of Joseph, Mary, Jesus, and other saints have been present in the Catholic church for centuries. The church has insisted that these status are not for the purpose of worship, but as reminders of the great men and woman of faith in the Christian church.

The problem is, and the primary reason that God forbid the creation of statues, people often cannot differentiate between a reminder and idol worship. For the past eight years I have been a missionary in the Philippines. The dear people of these many islands do worship and prostrate themselves before these statues of the saints. They do pray before them, rather than directly to the Father, in Jesus name, as Christ instructed His church. This happens every day all over the world, and even in the United States.

In response to this article by Life Site News, I wrote a brief comment that stated the following: “The statues of Joseph, Mary, and the saints are also idols. Remove them all from the church and worship only the Lord Jesus.”

The post was promptly deleted.

This comment to the LIfeSiteNews article about the Pope, was posted through my account at Disqus, an service utilized by LIfeSiteNews and many other online news and information agencies. The deletion of my truthful comment by LifeSiteNews reveals that they do not permit any opposing ideas or comments on their website, even by believing Christians.

It is clear that the Catholic church, and specifically the Pope, does not consider their own statues of the saints as idols, but does think of statues created by other people and religions, as idols.

The Pope recently apologized to attendees at the Amazon Synod who were offended by his orders to take the statues of the Incan goddess and throw them into the Tiber river. This story was first reported by I Media in France who was present during the synod conference and overheard the Pope’s remarks.

The following excerpt by Marissa Robinson, from her new book, “It’s Nice To Meet You: Discovering The Real Jesus,” soon to be published at Amazon, Marissa details her own awakening to the reality of idol worship in the Catholic church:

“After I accepted Jesus into my life, I gradually recognized that the religion I had been practicing for over forty years was based upon many doctrines and traditions that were created by men. Rob reminded me that worshiping and praying to Mary and the saints was really a form of idolatry.

It took me a long while to realize and accept this truth. If the Lord had not yet shown me where I was at in my religious life, Rob’s words would likely have offended me. He didn’t push or provoke me to change but allowed the Lord to work slowly in my heart and make changes gradually. As I began to rely upon the Holy Spirit in me to guide my path, I realized that many of the things I had been practicing were not bringing me closer to God, but driving me further away.

It was by reading the Bible every day that I started to see that God has called me into a simple life of worship that does not require all the strict traditions of the Catholic Church. I think that sometime religion can complicate things instead of make our relationship with God closer. There were so many things I had been doing out of duty that I neglected doing things simply because I love the Lord and people.

I also became fully aware that I had been praying to a fellow human being, and not to God. I realized that Mary and the saints cannot hear our prayers, nor are they available to us upon request. There is no place in the Bible where God commands us to pray to people who are named in the Bible. The only person we are to petition in prayer is the Father, in the name of Jesus, the Son. Jesus said that when we pray this way, God will hear us and meet the needs that we have. Mary and the Saints are sinners saved by God’s grace just like me. They are not omnipresent (present everywhere at the same time), omniscient (all-knowing or knowing everything), and omnipotent (having unlimited power or able to do anything). For this reason, our prayers should only be addressed to the Lord Jesus, who is the only Mediator between God the Father and the people on earth.

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus — 1 Timothy 2:5 NKJV

I believe that Mary and Joseph are a few of the greatest servants of God—because Mary bore the Messiah in her womb, she and Joseph raised Jesus to become an adult. Mary stood by Jesus as He suffered and died upon the cross. They are wonderful examples of true servants of God, but they are not gods to be prayed to or worshipped. I think Catholics have good intentions, but sometimes they are misdirected. It simply because I was not taught correctly and I followed the traditions of my Mother that I prayed to Mary and the Saints.

When I see the Apostles in the New Testament, they are tremendous servants of God. They faithfully told people around the world about Jesus until their lives were taken by evil men. They are worthy of acknowledgment and admiration, but not worship.

The apostle Paul, is an example of a truly great man of God, who was once a Christian persecutor and murderer, later to become a faithful servant of Jesus.

All these faithful servants of Jesus are now in heaven, but they cannot hear me if I pray to them. They are not capable of meeting my needs or forgiving my sins. I am sure they would like to help, but it was never their job to do these things. They are mere servants as I am and you are. We give our petitions only to God, through Jesus the One who died to save us.

It was because I believe these saints could hear me that I prayed the rosary and the novena, but they never answered me. I wasted a lot of time on things that could not help me, to people who could not hear me. I want to direct my prayers to the One who can hear and help me in all my needs.

The statues of Mary, Santo Niño, and the saints, which I kept on the altar for so many years, were just all idols who didn’t have the ability to hear my prayers or send the help I needed.

One day when I was reading the Book of Exodus Chapter 20, Verses 2 to 6—I noticed in the first and second commandments of God, that He commanded us to not make images for ourselves.

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

According to the Bible, the second commandment prohibits the worship of any image. The Catholic Church has placed many images in their churches, on their literature, and on items used during worship. Who is wrong; the Bible or the Catholic Church? Jesus scolded the Pharisees because they had broken the commandments of God by their traditions (Matthew 15:3).

To overcome this violation of God’s law, the Catholic church has rearranged the ten commandments, and removed the second commandment to not make any images:

The Biblical version of the Ten Commandments:

1. I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other gods before me.

2. Thou shall not make any image (removed).

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.

5. Honor thy father and thy mother.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

In the Catholic version, the second commandment about making images is removed, and the third commandment is moved up. The tenth commandment is split into two with the last part now as the ninth commandment. The tenth has only the first part of the original tenth commandment.

The Catholic Version of the Ten Commandments

1. I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other gods before me.

2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

3. Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.

4. Honor thy father and thy mother.

5. Thou shalt not kill.

6. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

7. Thou shalt not steal.

8. Thou shalt not bear false witness.

9. Thou shall not covet thy neighbors goods (cut from commandment 10).

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.

The removal of the second commandment, splitting the tenth into two, was necessary for the Catholic Church so that they could continue to display ten commandments, but not violate the real second commandment, to make no images.

This is exactly what the Pharisees had done to the word of God in Israel during the time when Jesus condemned them for substituting their traditions for what God actually said.

Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.” Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition (Matthew 15:1-6).

All of the years that I attended the Catholic Church I never knew that they had removed the second commandment so they could continue using images in the church. I do not condemn my Filipino friends and family who worship these images. I know that they don’t realize what they are doing. It was for this reason that I wrote this book.”

Contrary to the Catholic Church leadership and the words of the Pope himself, people do worship the idols of the saints that are in the Catholic church. Their aversion to removing these idols is understood by the quick deletion of my comments at the Catholic site, LIfeSiteNews.

Those who truly love the God of the Bible, must worship and serve only God, not saints and their images. These statues should immediately be removed from all Catholic churches and instruction given by the Pope to all Catholics that no person should ever again pray or direct adoration to Mary or any of the saints.

• What Part Did Mary Play in the Redemption of Man?
• Errors of the Catholic Church: Mary as Co-Redemptrix

Categories: Disregard for the Bible, Errors of the Christian Church, Following Jesus, Going to Church but unsaved, LifeSiteNews, Mary's Correct Role, No Compromise, Participating in pagan traditions, Prayer, Robert Clifton Robinson

Tags: Errors of the Catholic Church, Mary as Co-Redemptix, Was Mary sinless?