“And if thou shalt say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously; thou shalt not be afraid of him.” (Deut.18:21-22)

In turbulent times, people want to hear words of hope, peace, and security. Throughout the course of history, during troublesome times, great outbreaks of prophets for hire and seers with optimistic lies appeared to “tickle the ears” of those who would listen. Jeremiah and Ezekiel had to contend with a rash of these charlatans. (Jer.23:9-32, Eze.13:1-23) The penalty for being a false prophet was death.

God gave His people tests to prove a prophet to see if that prophet was true or false. One general rule was, if their message came to pass, then all would know that it was from a true prophet. However...the Word of God also tells us that it was possible for a false prophet to utter a true message, either as a guess or as Deut.13 told us, as a test from God to see whether the people would obey. (For a perfect example of this, read “The Ecumenical Prophets” by Rebecca later in this issue.)

Another test, one which we will apply to the prophecies spoken by the apparitions claiming to be Mary, was to test the content of his/her message. It had to be consistent with all prior revelation. So, if a prophet said that one should bow before or worship another god, he was obviously false. Galatians 1:8 states that if Paul himself or an angel preach another gospel...let him be anathema. (See also I John 4:1-3) By this test alone, the claims of the false religions and cults of the world, are silenced. With this in mind, I now move on to apply this test to the prophecies spoken by the apparition appearing world-wide claiming to be Mary.

In 1988, “Father” Stefano Gobbi, the founder of the Marian Movement of priests is said to have received this message from “Our Lady”:

“Walk in my light and become the apostles of your heavenly Mother in these last times. Spread everywhere the perfume of my presence and of my Motherly tenderness...The period of time granted by the Lord to humanity for its conversion is about to come to its end...My times have come, and now I am about to leave the desert where I am to accomplish my greatest prodigies and to obtain my foretold victory...These are my times. These are the times of the great mercy. These are the times of the triumph of my Immaculate Heart. These are the times of my strong admonition: ‘Come back, come back, O humanity’...You are being called to be my apostles in these last times. These are ten decisive years. I am asking you to spend them with me because you are entering into the final period of the second Advent, which would lead you to the triumph of my Immaculate Heart. In this period of ten years there will come to completion the time of the great tribulation, which has been foretold you in Holy Scripture before the second Coming of Jesus. In this period of ten years all the secrets that I have revealed to some of my children will come to pass and all the events which I have foretold to you will take place....” (A Scientist Researches Mary: The Ark of the Covenant, Professor Courtenay Bartholomew, M.D., 50)

Now, keeping in mind the test, let’s examine the content of “her” message. The first things “she” says is “walk in my light”.

“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

Psalms 27:1 tells us “The Lord is my light and my salvation...”, as does 1John 1:5, “...God is light....” This “angel of light” (I Cor.11:14) has already in “her” first four words, failed the test given by our Lord! But let’s continue.The very next statement “she” makes is “become the apostles of your heavenly Mother”.

“...the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” Rev.21:14

In Titus 1:1,

Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness.”

Nowhere in the Word of Truth does it speak of anyone being an “apostle of Mary”! Now you should be able to see where Deut. 13:2,3 come into play.

“...saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet.”

According to “Fr.” Stefano Gobbi, the apparition said, “My times have come, and now I am about to leave the desert where I am to accomplish my greatest prodigies and to obtain my foretold victory...”. Notice that so far, no mention of Jesus Christ! As a matter of fact, it is HER times, HER apostles, and HER victory! Even though in 1 Chronicles 29:11 it states clearly: “

Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, AND THE VICTORY, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.” (Emphasis mine)

That kind of blows away the Catholic teaching that Mary has authority over Jesus Christ, doesn’t it?

I will be using the remainder of my space to deal with the apparition’s claim that 1988-1998 is the “great tribulation” period and that the era of peace and the second coming of Christ are soon to happen. First of all, as a former Catholic, I can assure all our Christian brothers and sisters that the Catholic Church does not teach her people prophecy, at least, not Biblical prophecy. We were educated in the Marian prophecies. We were never taught about the Biblical concept of the great tribulation, nor did they teach us about the “mark of the beast”. I was taught by the nuns that Communism was “the beast”. For the sake of our Catholic readers, I will give a brief Biblical answer as to why the great tribulation could not almost be over. In fact, how it has not yet begun!

The best place to start would be that Mary cannot possibly know the time of Christ’s return.

“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” (Matthew 24:36)

Now that we have established that fact, please turn to 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12:

“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in un- righteousness.”

The temple in Jerusalem must first be rebuilt. Plans for this are already in the making in Israel. October 16,1989, in Time magazine, an article by Richard Ostling called Time for a New Temple? describes the Temple controversy and current preparations for rebuilding.

Now let’s turn to Revelation 11:1-13. These verses describe the two witnesses that prophesy when the temple has begun to be rebuilt. Verse 3 tells us they will prophesy for “a thousand two hundred and threescore days” or in other words, three and a half years. Verse 7 tells us that when they have “finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall kill them.” Their bodies will not be put into graves, but will be seen for “3 days and a half” (another three and half years, totalling the 7 year tribulation). Daniel 12:9-11 also talks of the period when the Antichrist is revealed. “And he said:

Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.” (Emphasis added)

The temple has not yet been built, let alone its sacrifices stopped.The Antichrist has not yet been revealed. We have not, as yet, seen the two witnesses spoken of in Revelations 11. How then can the apparition claim the “great tribulation” will end in 1998?

What I find even more alarming is that “she” claims Jesus Christ will then appear and we will have the “era of peace”. Once again, we must put these words to the “test”!

“And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of they mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?” (2 Kings 9:22)

“Suppose ye that I [Jesus] am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division.” (Luke 12:51)

Daniel 11:21, speaking of the anti- christ, says:

“And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.” (Emphasis added)

This “peace” spoken of, not only by the apparition, but by kings, princes, world and religious leaders is a false peace! The Lord warns us repeatedly concerning this false peace.

“For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.” (1Thess.5:3)

“They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. Have ye not seen a vain vision; and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken? Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD...Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace.” (Ez.13:6,7,8,10)

If it had been only one incident where the apparition spoke such contradictions, we might say it was just one false vision. However, every time “Mary” has appeared, “she” has contradicted the Word of God! I will follow up this article with examples. This is not the Mary of the Scriptures! The “Mary” that is appearing is Satan himself, appearing as an “angel of light”, deceiving and seducing those not founded on the precious Word of God!

“When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, If thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shall be obedient unto his voice; (For the Lord they God is a merciful God;) He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which he sware unto them.” (Deut.4:30,31)

“And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: The Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.” (Deut. 29:19-21)

“And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two month.[three and a half years] And he opened his mouth in blas-phemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them; and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world....And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name....” (Rev. 13:4-8,16,17)

“And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand.” (Rev. 14:11)

“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” (Rev. 20:4)

Never before in the history of the world, have we had the technology for such a “mark” to exist. At the Olympics this year, a new debit card was introduced by giving free $5.00 cards to those who attended a certain event. The scanners at the stores are being set up for the card with the microchip on it that stores all your information and amount of credit. This way a record will be on computer of everything you purchase. The problem with this card is, as Clinton said recently, are the poor. The poor do not have bank accounts, they have trouble cashing their ADC checks as it is. Clinton’s solution? To replace welfare and social security checks and food stamps with a debit card. This way “the poor will not be left behind in the computer age.” But what does this have to do with the “mark”? Well, they have already implanted thousands upon thousands of animals with a microchip used for identification and location. The Chicago Times told about a microchip that could be implanted in one’s hand, making theft and loss, impossible. They intend to begin to slowly introduce it into society. The advocates of “missing children” feel that a microchip in your child’s hand would make missing children virtually impossible, because it can contain a tracking component, where the parent has the code. All the police have to do is enter that child’s code and it will track her/him wherever they are. Sounds good, doesn’t it? No more cash, no more theft, no more missing children...but the Word of God is clear about what happens to those who receive this mark.

This apparition appearing as Mary, is here to deceive the multitudes, coming with signs and wonders and leading the people to follow her and ultimately the Pope. She claims that this Pope is the last one! A claim that “St.” Malachy “foresaw” in a “vision”. These apparitions and visions are from the pit of hell! Satan knows the world loves the Mother/Child image, and has used it to lure millions into a perverse idolatry.They worship this image in every false religion of the world. They have done so since the time of Nimrod.

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1)

Please, read your Bible, we recommend the King James Bible for accuracy, and read the newspaper (between the lines), listen to the news, please, look at the big picture!

There is much happening around the world and yes, even in the United States. You can’t hide your head in the sand and hope it never affects you. It will. You cannot sit on the fence. Eventually, the new world order will be knocking at YOUR door, if you are not in the Word of God, reading, studying, clinging to it, you will be so unprepared...like the five virgins who had no oil in their lamp.(Matt.25:1-13)

“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” (Hab.2:3)

by Diane M. Schoeppner