Crosstalk: October 11, 2017

The Bible warns us to be aware of false teaching and false doctrine. It warns about those who preach another gospel which is not a true gospel. This broadcast will make you aware that Saturday, October 14th, there will be 21,570 Rosary Rallies to blanket America. It is stated that they will, '...pray the Rosary in public and beg God and the Blessed Mother to save America. The rallies refocus people on the urgency of the Blessed Mother's call to conversion given 100 years ago at Fatima, Portugal, and beg God to save America from the unimaginable new levels of sin and chaos in society.'

Does the Bible tell us to pray to Mary? Can Mary save America? How do the doctrines being promoted by this event line up with the teaching of Scripture?

Joining Jim to discuss this topic was Mike Gendron. For over 30 years, Mike was a devout Roman Catholic and was taught to rely upon the authority of the church. He followed the priests, the sacraments and was depending upon his own good works for salvation. However, in 1981, after attending an apologetics seminar called, 'Evidence for the Christian Faith', the Bible became his sole authority in all matters of faith. As he searched the Scriptures he was amazed to see how often the Bible contradicts the teaching and tradition of the church he had been a part of for so long. Mike placed his trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and founded a ministry, Proclaiming the Gospel, that points people to Jesus Christ as the all-sufficient Savior.

According to Mike, the Rosary gained a lot of traction in the 1500's because the Roman Catholics were victorious at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. The victory was attributed to the praying of the Rosary on the request of Pope Pius the V. This resulted in an annual feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

The Rosary is comprised of 50 prayers to Mary and 5 to the Father. When you recognize that Catholics are praying to Mary, and they say, 'Hail Mary full of grace...', Catholics will say they aren't praying to Mary yet that's exactly what they're doing. When one prays to Mary they're assuming she has divine attributes that allow her to be all-knowing, all-powerful and all-present.

Jesus taught us how to pray and that includes praying to the Father. There isn't a single example of a God-fearing man praying to anyone other than God in the Bible.

Mike covers many points related to this event and Catholicism in general. For example:

--This year marks the 100th year since the purported apparitions of Mary at the city of Fatima (which is named after Mohammed's daughter). Is this a lying sign and wonder of the last days? Did Mary promise salvation at Fatima?
--The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington is planning to consecrate the United States to Mary. What is this about?
--The Bible tells us that an angel told Mary that she would be blessed among women. Is Mike speaking against what that angel said?
--The national coordinator for the 2017 Public Square Rosary Crusade is Francis Slobodnik. Due to world events, he's calling for supernatural solutions from Mary. What's wrong with that statement?