Although there are many different kinds of rosaries, there is one in particular that I wish to discuss. The one that was familiar to me as a Catholic, the one that I prayed thousands of times. It's the same rosary that "St." Dominic alledgedly introduced to Roman Catholicism in 1214:
"...who had received it from the Blessed Virgin as a powerful means of converting the Albigensians and other sinners" (The Secret of The Rosary, St. Louis De Montfort, 18).
I guess the power of the rosary to "convert" the Albigensians failed miserably, since Pope Innocent III had to send out the crusaders to massacre 20,000 men, women and children. To think, all that bloodshed just to stop the Albigensians from calling the Roman Catholic church the Whore of Babylon, the pope the anti-christ, and denying Peter ever went to Rome, etc. There was one knight who was commanded by a papal legate to expel the Albigensians from their land. He said:
"How can we do it?...We have been brought up with these people, we have kindred among them, and we see them living righteously" (Age of Faith, Durant, 774).
Nonetheless, the story of how Dominic received the rosary goes like this:
"St. Dominic, seeing that the gravity of people's sins was hindering the conversion of the Albigensians, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse where he prayed unceasingly for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances in order to appease the anger of Almighty God. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma. [Too bad he didn't just trust that the blood of Jesus had already appeased the anger of God. Isa.53:5-6]
At this point Our Lady appeared to him accompanied by three angels, and she said: 'Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?' [The Bible is the only weapon we are armed with. Eph.6:17] 'Oh, my Lady,' answered Saint Dominic, 'you know far better than I do because next to your Son Jesus Christ you have always been the chief instrument of our salvation.' [Jesus Christ purged our sins by himself. Heb.1:3] Then Our Lady replied: 'I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the battering ram has always been the Angelic Psalter (Rosary) which is the foundation stone of the New Testament. [Jesus is the only foundation stone. I Cor.3:11; I Pet.2:6] Therefore if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter' " (The Secret of The Rosary, St. Louis De Montfort, 18) (Emphasis mine).
When "St." Dominic began to preach his sermon, as commanded by Mary, a violent storm broke out, the earth shook, the sun was darkened, and there was a great deal of thunder and lightening. Over in the corner of the church a picture of Virgin Mary raised its arms to heaven three times:
"...to call down God's vengeance upon them if they failed to be converted, to amend their lives, and seek the protection of the Holy Mother of God. God wished, by means of these supernatural phenomena, to spread the new devotion of the Holy Rosary and to make it more widely known" (The Secret of The Rosary, St. Louis De Montfort, 18-19).
Dominic spent the rest of his life preaching the Rosary, instigated by visions in which "The Virgin Mary" made unscriptural and outrageous promises. Popes jumped in on the bandwagon:
"Gregory XIII said that the Rosary was given us from heaven as a means of appeasing God's anger and of imploring Our Lady's intercession [I Tim.2:5). Jules III said that the Rosary was inspired by God in order that heaven might be more easily opened to us through the favors of Our Lady. Paul III and Saint Pius V stated that the Rosary was given to the faithful in order that they might have spiritual peace and consolation more easily" (The Secret of The Rosary, De Montfort, 70).
Fantastic stories arose telling of the great miracles that were wrought because of praying the rosary, so as to appeal to a superstitious people who trusted in vain repetition, being taught that they would be heard for the many prayers they said.
Anyone who disagrees with Catholicism concerning the Rosary has:
"...absorbed the poison of hell and that they are inspired by the devil - for nobody can condemn devotion to the Holy Rosary without condemning all that is most holy in the Catholic Faith...Saint Bonaventure said...that whoever neglected Our Lady would perish in his sins and would be damned: 'He who neglects her will die in his sins.' If such is the penalty for neglecting her, what must be the punishment in store for those who actually turn others away from their devotions?" (The Secret of The Rosary, De Montfort, 29-30)
So now we know the Catholic attitude toward those who won't pray the Rosary. What about those who do? What are the alleged benefits?
"For through the Rosary:
If you are a Catholic, you may have been seduced into believing all these promises are available through Mary by saying the Rosary. But if you’re a Christian, you recognize that these are the promises to those who accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, excepting the last one, since there is no purgatory or suffering after death for Christians.
There are Catholics who would contend that the Rosary is based on a Biblical foundation and therefore acceptable. Not true. Let's start with the main prayer, the "Hail Mary", which is said 10 times more than the "Our Father". The prayer consists of three parts.
Okay, so Mary and believers are accepted, but what about blessed? Wasn't Mary blessed among women? Yes, she was. But the word for "blessed" is "eulogia" which means "to be well spoken of". We use the same word today; it's called a eulogy. Gal.3:9 says: "So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." (Emphasis mine) The use of blessed in this verse is the same as used in Luke, which means that the believer is also blessed, just as Mary was! Judges 5:24 says: "Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be...." Certainly Jael is not worthy of worship even though she was blessed "above" women and not "among" as Mary was. The Catholic church has taken key words and built them up to mean more than what was intended in order to establish devotions to Mary. But we must remember that Mary herself said, "And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior", establishing herself as a sinner in need of a Savior.
2. The next part of the "Hail Mary" is taken from Luke 1:42, "...and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." This is the only part of the "Hail Mary" that is not corrupted. The next part is an addition to Scriptures (Rev.21:18-19). It goes like this: "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death". God is eternal. He has no beginning, nor end. No one is His mother, or they would be greater than He. (Read Heb.7:3) The deception of this part of the prayer is to convince Catholics that they can trust Mary to deliver them. You think not? Just listen to some of the fables they propagate to instill faith in Mary.
"One day Saint Gertrude had a vision of Our Lord counting gold coins. She summoned the courage to ask Him what He was doing. He answered: "I am counting the Hail Marys that you have said; this is the money with which you can pay your way to Heaven" (The Secret of The Rosary, De Montfort, 48).
King Alphonsus VIII, after praying the Rosary, had a "vision" of Mary. She assured him:
" ' Alphonsus, you have served me for a year by saying my Rosary devoutly every day, so I have come to reward you: I have obtained the forgiveness of your sins from my Son. And I am going to give you this rosary; wear it, and I promise you that none of your enemies will ever be able to harm you again’ " (The Secret of The Rosary, De Montfort, 74).
The Rosary is also used as a sort of pagan amulet to protect you. Think not? How many times have you seen a Rosary hanging from a mirror on a car? Pope Innocent XI on July 31, 1679 publicly confirmed that "Those who openly wear the Holy Rosary out of devotion and to set a good example may gain one hundred days' indulgence;" (The Secret of The Rosary, De Montfort, 72). Remember that an indulgence is time off in purgatory for good behavior, so to speak!
The Catholic book that I have been quoting from, The Secret of The Rosary, from 1965 to 1991, has sold 3,400,000 copies. In an effort to trace the legitimacy of the story, they found it to be a forgery started by Dominican Alan De Rupe about the year 1470-75.
"Alan was a very earnest and devout man, but, as the highest authorities admit, he was full of delusions, and based his revelations on the imaginary testimony of writers that never existed...It is now admitted by Domincan authorities to be a forgery" (Cath. Ency., XIII, 184- 146).
Isn't it amazing that the Catholic church has known for a long time (at least since 1913) that the story concerning "St." Dominic is a forgery, yet she withholds that information from her subjects. Don't you wonder how many other things she has withheld?
The bottom line is this, Satan wants to lead us away from God, to make us afraid to approach Him, even though John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Knowing that God loves us so much, let us approach the throne of grace with confidence. (Heb.4:16). He does not need nor desire the help of any other intercessor.
God ordained the way for man to approach Him, trust Jesus!
by Rebecca A. Sexton
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