The following is a response to the question on Quora – “What do you think about Mary and Marian apparitions?“, you can see the original here. I have permission to repost, as I am the author:
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For me, it is not a matter of IF they happened – there are eyewitness testimonies, photographs, and even videos (2009 “Mary” apparition over a Coptic church in Egypt)… no, the question is WHAT are they? People claim they are (usually) Mary, but this not only makes multiple unBiblical assumptions, but it also ignores a huge blind spot in the Church. In this reply, I’ll talk about these unBiblical assumptions, the blind spots, and what these apparitions appear to be in reality.
1. WHAT ARE THE ASSUMPTIONS?
It assumes that Mary was exalted above the status of a normal human, was sinless, and is not the “Queen of Heaven” who can be prayed to (the rejection of which, as well as the Pope’s authority, has led to the deaths of many Bible-believing Christians)… but NONE of these assumptions are Biblical. Yes, Mary is honored above all women for being chosen to give birth to the Lord Jesus Christ (God in the flesh), but that’s all. God uses sinners. Mary and Joseph brought a sin offering to the Lord (Luke 2:24 / Leviticus 14:22); Mary is barely mentioned after the birth of Jesus and no passages give her such exalted statuses or allow Christians to pray to another human being. In fact, there are at least three events in which Jesus would have had the perfect opportunity to glorify Mary, but He didn’t, even when one woman was trying to praise Mary!
*Matthew 12:46-50 (also see Mark 3:31-35 & Luke 8:21)
“46. While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. 47. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. 48. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? 49. And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 50. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
-NOTES: 1. Jesus did not stop His teaching and say: “Hold on disciples, the Queen of Heaven is waiting for Me outside, very important, can’t keep her waiting, gotta go, I’ll be right back with my Heavenly teachings.” No. In fact, He asks WHO are His mother and brethren? And then says all who does the will of His Father in Heaven is his brother, and sister, and mother.
2. You will notice that Mary, at that point, was not a virgin anymore, thus she is not a virgin now, another false title and teaching.
3. What is the Father’s will? Well, in John 6:38–40 Yeshua (“Salvation” in Hebrew) / Jesus said this:
“38. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
(anything in there about believing in and praying to Mary? No? Hmmm).
*Luke 11:27–28
“27. And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. 28. But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”
-Note: Here we have a woman actually praising Mary, and does Jesus say: “Ya! Right on, praise my Mother Mary, she’s so blessed she’s the Queen of Heaven!”? Hmm, no again? Oh what’s this? Jesus DEFLECTS the woman’s praise of His mother and says: “Blessed RATHER are they that hear the word of God and keep it.” Rather than who? Rather than Mary (at least simply on her merits of being His mother). (That’s a far cry from many professed Christians and Catholics today).
*John19:25–27 – I won’t quote the passage, you can go read it. But here, just before Jesus is about to die on the cross, His mother Mary and one of His disciples (probably John) are standing by the cross… that would have been a perfect time for Jesus to say something to glorify Mary, but again, He did not, rather, He simply made sure that she had a son in His place.
In fact, after He rose from the dead, not a single word about Mary, it’s all about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, The Gospel message & The Great Commission (e.g. Matthew 28:18–20 & Luke 24:44–49).
As to the Coptic church “Mary” apparition in 2009, there were three orbs, and if I’m not mistaken, a smaller one was said to be baby Jesus, and the other one was said to be Joseph (if I’m not mistaken). Other than the problems we just discussed about Mary appearing, why would Joseph be there? And Jesus is no longer a baby, He’s the risen King about to come back to the Earth as the Lion of Judah, the King of kings and the Lord of lords to enact Judgement on the whole Earth and set up the eternal Kingdom of God which He will rule from Jerusalem.
The final assumption is that if the Catholic Church says it’s Mary, or if it appears over some Church, that it must be Mary. But this is not the case, and plays into our second point.
These assumptions take Catholics and others away from the firm foundation of the Gospel, and into non-Biblical doctrines, which, if you’re not careful, may completely ignore true repentance and salvation in Jesus Christ alone. ANYTHING supernatural (or that seems supernatural) that draws your attention away from Christ and obeying Him, is not of God.
2. WHAT BLIND SPOTS?
The blind spots are the ones the Bible teaches us of: that the working of Satan comes with all power, signs, and lying wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9), that Satan himself can appear as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), and that the man of sin will not come unless there is a great falling away first (2 Thessalonians 2:3), that even the elect would be deceived if that were possible (Matthew 24:24), and that one of the End Times goals of the Anti-Christ is a New World Order and a One World Religion (Revelation 13). Mix that in with the whole UFO phenomenon (and what THEY actually are – which stems back to Genesis 6), and I think we’ll see a clearer picture, see point #3.
DECEPTION (in general) is a blind spot of much of the Church, and the whole world, in these Last Days. I don’t think most churches talk about deception, address the supernatural, or even address politics (unless they’re capitulating to the prevailing cultural swing or media hype)! No one thinks they are being deceived, especially if it seems real (or is real), or touches their emotions, and they are presented with a construct that makes sense to their minds. A blob of light appears over a church… “IT’S THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY! THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN!” Not so fast. Is it? Is it really? Is that Biblical? What is she doing there? What is the point? What is the message? Is it Biblical? Does it glorify and point people to trust in Christ alone? If not, then what are we looking at? A deceiving spirit?
Not all supernatural events, beings, or messages are from God. Not all angels of light are from God. But people are so hungry for the supernatural, largely deprived of the working of the Holy Spirit in largely spiritually dead churches, that they will reach out for anything that’s beyond them and seems to fill a missing hole which our secularized society has left unfilled (and indeed, which ANYTHING other than Christ will leave unfilled). The world is poised through the conditioning of false Darwinian Evolution, Atheism, New Age philosophy, far left liberalization of everything (including hyper-grace and not sticking to the sound doctrines of Scripture), and corrupt political leaders, ideologies, and anti-God haters working tirelessly behind the scenes in politics and entertainment, that they are willing to believe we came from aliens, ready to receive a one-world leader, willing to combine beliefs and deem anyone who disagrees (especially Christians) as hateful bigots (which is not true for a true Christian). A lying spirit could even foretell the future if it’s part of a managed agenda. Back when my wife was a Catholic, a fortune-teller told her that she would die that night, and she almost did, but Jesus saved her life! They may even seem like they are promoting peace (but if the overall message causes its adherents to lose sight of justice [which God enacts in the Bible and Jesus will enact when He returns], or to lose their souls, it still accomplishes the end goal).
2 Corinthians 11:13–15
“13. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”
Matthew 24:24
“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”
2 Thessalonians 2:1–12
“1. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2. 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. 3. 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; 4. 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, shewing himself that he is God. 5. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6. And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8. 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: 9. Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12. That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Again, NOT ALL SUPERNATURAL EVENTS, BEINGS, OR MESSAGES ARE FROM GOD! And you can combine that with any potential secret government / military / tech industry technology and agendas that might be out there (you wouldn’t believe some of the stuff that’s possible).
3. SO WHAT ARE THESE APPARITIONS?
In my opinion, these Mary / Marian apparitions are NOT Mary of the Bible. Whatever they are, they are deceptive, and they have an anti-Christ agenda. They are not what they seem.
Let’s take Fatimah for example.
As LA Marzuli has discovered in his research of the original testimonies and the original plate images taken at the event (which were hidden away in shoebox I think), after the three kids saw “Mary” (in a skirt stopping above the knees), and the crowd was gathered at the appointed location and time, a dull silver disk (NOT the sun) started flying around the sky, breaking car windows, etc. It was a UFO.
LA researches the UFO phenomena from a Biblical point of view and does a lot of research. Although I haven’t seen them yet, he has two films on the Fatimah event, you can find those here (I’m not affiliated). I have seen lots of his material on the subject, which is fantastic info. Here’s a short episode on Youtube about Mary Apparitians, and he talks specicially about Fatimah as well (less than 1/2 hr video) – there’s also some additional information:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMts0ZRnizs
And as to the UFO phenomena – which I do believe is linked to these appearances, and is deceptive at it’s core, here’s a full length documentary he did and released for free on his youtube channel – every church should see this.
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