I
begin this article by posing a "what if" scenario to my
fellow Christians. What if a powerful, international sodomite
organization purchased over one hundred acres of land near La Crosse,
Wisconsin and spent multi-millions constructing a lavish building
complex on that land? What if this complex was to be a mecca for
up to 200,000 sodomites a year who would come from around the world to
commit perverted acts there? Finally, what if a grand dedication day
for the sodomite shrine, attended by high-profile sodomite leaders and
celebrities, was highly publicized in the mainstream media?
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Archbishop Raymond Burke,
former bishop of the diocese of
La Crosse, prays during the
deposition of the relics portion of
the Mass of Dedication for the
Shrine Church of Our Lady of
Guadalupe. —La Crosse Tribune |
Thankfully, it is clear
what would happen. Christian radio talk show hosts in our state, and
region, would fill the airwaves with denunciations of such an abomination
and call for a Christian witness against it. Christian pastors would
preach, including to the world, what the Scriptures teach about such evil. Leaders
of various Christian ministries as well as some pastors would organize to
protest and preach in front of the sodomite complex. Press releases
and letters to the editor would join the public protests and preaching in
warning the public and the church against the dangerous evil which had set
down its roots in La Crosse. I praise the Lord that this no doubt
would be the response to the "what if" scenario I have
presented.
But allow me to briefly
tell you readers about a real life situation which has unfolded
in the beautiful countryside just outside of La Crosse. What I am
about to describe is a greater evil than even my imaginary scenario
because it was, and is, a gross spiritual perversion, an orgy of paganism
and idolatry masquerading as Christian before a gullible, ignorant world. It
was, and continues to be, nothing less than an open assault upon the very
person, work, and word of our Lord Jesus Christ--and yet an assault
carried out in His own precious name by a church held by billions to be
Christian!
Thursday, July 31, 2008,
was Dedication Day for the 103-acre "Shrine of Our Lady of
Guadalupe" in La Crosse, Wisconsin. No expense has been spared,
and in fact, materials have been brought in from around the world to
erect the extravagant church, rosary walk, friars' residence, Memorial to
the Unborn, outside Stations of the Cross, various shrines to saints,
outdoor plazas, Mother of Good Counsel Votive Candle Chapel, many graven
images, and so on which have been reared up on the Guadalupe shrine
grounds. On Dedication Day, in addition to a large number of
"pilgrims," two hundred Roman Catholic priests, including
bishops, cardinals, and the Vatican's "Prefect of the Apostolic
Signature," drove through the gates to "Our Lady of
Guadalupe's" shrine. The vast majority of the pope's men, along
with a large contingent of nuns and some monks as well, arrived in luxury
cars and limousines. I know because I was at the front gate of the
shrine, along with a small group from our church, as a Christian witness
with our signs, tracts and with our voices as the Lord gave opportunities. As
I stood in front of the grounds of the lavish Guadalupe complex, watching
luxury cars full of priests arriving, I could not help but recall that the
Roman Catholic Church vigorously, relentlessly lobbies our state and
federal legislators for ever more tax-funded programs for the poor! But
what better way to endear the poor to the pope et al. than to use
the strong arm of the civil power to extract money from the working man to
fund unbiblical entitlement schemes? Such a strategy is all gain and
no pain--for the Vatican, that is, which has a long history of using the
civil power to advance and strengthen popish power.
I might interject that
there was one priest who arrived on the shrine scene on foot, having
walked fifty miles because, as shrine coordinator Susan Swanke said in a
television interview, "It's very fitting that he would walk because
there is a little bit of suffering in a pilgrimage as well." I
suppose the well-publicized priest thought I was adding to his
suffering when I joined his walk sixty yards or so from the
shrine gates in order to confront him with truth from the Word of God.
By the way, the Romanists
in charge of the shrine acted in the finest tradition of popery in trying
their best to convince the police on hand to sweep clean our witness from
the public property in front of the shrine's gates. Spearheading that
task was an intense nun in full uniform, or habit if you will, who looked as
though she would have preferred a flaming pyre for us rather
than a simple expulsion. Due to the lawfulness of the fine police on hand,
she got neither. But she, and those with her, did get a dose of
unwanted truth from us. It might interest you to know that a police
officer also offered the nun a tract which we had given him, in order, he
said, that she might read what we were handing out. The dutiful daughter
of Rome curtly refused the tract, adding, "Do you think I'm
crazy?"
But as much as I would like
to share more on our ministry efforts, for the sake of space, I must not. Suffice
it to say, I am convinced the Lord richly blessed our labor as we
contended for the faith once delivered unto the saints and shared truth
with Romish priests and pilgrims as well as police and media personnel.
Estimates by local tourism
officials are that the shrine will soon enough be bringing in up to
200,000 pilgrims per year, resulting in up to 10 million dollars
being pumped into the economy of La Crosse. Perhaps that is why the
press, especially in the La Crosse region, gave the shrine dedication such
extensive coverage. On the other hand, I can only speculate as to why
the editor of the Rochester, Minnesota Post-Bulletin newspaper
called our church's witness there "religious intolerance." But
that same editor, apparently to showcase our bigotry, also posted our
entire press release on the newspaper's blog, and his newspaper ran a
story in which they quoted me calling what takes place at Guadalupe's
shrine "gross idolatry"! It is not just the heart of kings
that is in the Lord's hand. He also is well able to turn the heart of
a newspaper editor "whithersoever he will."
Another editor--this one of
the Houston County News (La Crescent, Minnesota)--wrote to inform
me, "I feel sorry for you and the ugly heart your church has." Meanwhile,
the largest paper in the La Crosse region, the La Crosse Tribune,
carried this quote from me in their otherwise very favorable account of
Dedication Day: "The things they're saying about their lady of
Guadalupe are completely unbiblical. They give her attributes and
power and authority that belong only to God." A local television
station also did an in-depth interview with me in front of the shrine
gates.
We thank God for such
opportunities to reveal truth to a public deceived into thinking that the
darkness of Romanism is the Christian faith. I share these things
only to show how valuable and essential it is to raise a public voice
against the sort of dark deceptions which were showcased as
"Christian" in La Crosse last week. But this brings me back
to the main purpose of this article.
The idolatrous, blasphemous
orgy which recently took place in La Crosse was not done in the dark. The
Guadalupe shrine had been covered by the media, off and on, since the
project began in 1999. In the weeks leading up to Dedication Week,
the media in the La Crosse region were saturated with shrine coverage. Stories
also appeared in the media statewide, including such newspapers as the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel, and in the nearby Minnesota media. Due to
this, the Christian media also knew full well what was happening in La
Crosse. Yet, search as we may, we have yet to find one instance in
which a Christian media source exposed and reproved that pagan spectacle in
La Crosse. On Dedication Day, the Roman Catholic Eternal Word
Television Network broadcast live from the shrine to 140 nations, while
Relevant Radio, also Roman Catholic, went live nationwide. Meanwhile,
Christian radio was shamefully silent. And while I am certain far
from all pastors in our state were aware that the largest shrine to
"Our Lady of Guadalupe" in North America was having its
"grand opening" last week, in part thanks to the Christian media
blackout, surely some were aware of that statewide and virtually all in
the La Crosse region. I will not presume to self-righteously pass
judgment on every pastor in this matter, but one would think a good
number, at least in the La Crosse region and a few from elsewhere in the
state, should have taken up the cause of Christ against such an onslaught by
Antichrist! Yet, for all our efforts, we cannot find one instance in
which another pastor has uttered a public word concerning that monstrous
abomination. For the record, our church is 160 miles distant from La
Crosse.
Meanwhile, what did the
world hear and read about in press reports concerning the
"Christian" ceremonies that took place at the Guadalupe shrine
last week? What did they learn from the lips of Roman Catholic
leaders and clergy? Well, the unwary and the ignorant were informed that
"Our Lady of Guadalupe," the "Mother of America"
and "Patroness of the Unborn," "is known to be a powerful
intercessor. Being the mother of God, when Jesus' mother asks him to do
something, it's known that Jesus generally will do what his mother
asks."
They were taught that
"the mother of God desired that a chapel be built, to which she could
invite her children to come on pilgrimage." They were assured
that the shrine and its rituals are God's will. They were catechized
concerning the "miraculous appearances" of the Roman Catholic
goddess and given desensitizing, perhaps initiating, insight into Romish
rituals, including the blasphemous mass.
In fact, the public
was treated to in-depth secular media coverage, including pictures, of the
dedication mass and the mass procession. The latter spectacle, we
were breathlessly informed, was led by white-robed Knights of the
Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, which dates back
to the pope's Crusades. Another well-covered event was the blessing of the
statue of "Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha," a Mohawk woman whose
"relics"--more simply put, pieces of her dead bones--were
carried into the dedication mass to be venerated and put inside the
altar, along with a piece of bone from "Blessed Father Miguel Agustín
Pro." On hand for that statue blessing, and honored by
Archbishop Burke, was Sister Kateri Mitchell. The sister comes
from the same Turtle Clan of the Mohawk Nation as "Blessed Tekakwitha,"
who is destined to become a "saint." Nun Mitchell was good
enough to authoritatively teach the public, via the media, that one can
walk a "holistic path" and that both the turtle and the
Christian cross, which she called the "tree of life," are
"sacred." The utterances of the "Christian" nun
in the mainstream press coverage of the relic ritual included this: "The
spirituality of the turtle is one of sacredness and closeness to the
Earth. The Earth is the center of our lives physically, but
spiritually it's a real center for me." This is the sort of
hellish indoctrination the gullible world heard from "Christian"
leaders of the Roman Catholic Church.
By the way, the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel coverage of the Tekakwitha statue blessing contained
this: "'Two young eagles began circling, cavorting in the air,
dipping down toward the statue and loudly calling out,' said Jack Socha, a
shrine spokesman. 'It only happened during the blessing. They were not
seen afterward. To Native Americans, this is significant. It was a very
moving moment.'" Eagles are sacred to many American Indian
tribes. It has always been the Romish way to blend local heathen
superstition with the Roman Catholic brand of "Christian"
worship and doctrine--the better to grow the pope's empire.
When Paul saw the city of
Athens filled with idolatry, "his spirit was stirred in him" and
he zealously took up a witness for the one true God. Last week in
Wisconsin, the church of Antichrist boldly paraded before the world the
brand of raw idolatry which I have only briefly described here. In fact,
the various media were literally filled not just with the sort of
"teaching" of which I have given samples but also with pictures
of Romish idols and popish high priests. This was put forth as the
true religion of Jesus Christ. If Paul's spirit was stirred in him by
the idolatry of the heathen Athenian philosophers who in no wise claimed
to be Christians, how much more should the spirits of Christian
pastors be stirred to action by such an idolatrous mockery
of the faith of the gospel by priests claiming to be ministers of the Lord
Jesus Christ? But where was the true church of Jesus Christ last week? Where
were those pastors whose spirits ought to have been stirred within them to
contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints as Romish clergy
preached their perverted religion while posing as ambassadors for Christ?
Where were those who truly love the souls of the Roman Catholic people
held in bondage by the devil and the pope? And where were the
"conservative" Christian media? These are crucial questions
that demand answers. But thanks to an ignorance of history, shallow
doctrine, and ecumenical corruption, most Christians don't even see the
need for the questions, let alone the answers.
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