Guatemala & Poverty: A Nation Devoted to the Virgin Mary‏

Hello Friends!

In recent times, there has been an influx of organizations from various religious affiliations seeking financial donations and assistance from the public in regards to the dire needs of the citizens in Guatemala. Although this situation is indeed very unfortunate and disheartening, the historical data available provides an obvious root-cause to this dilemma - and it is spiritual in nature.

For the people of Guatemala, the Virgin Mary is synonymous with nationalism, patriotism, and personal identity. For the average Guatemalan, life without devotion to the Virgin is no real life at all. Icons and relics devoted to the Virgin are sensationally popular through all levels of their society. This so-called "Mother of God" reigns in the hearts and minds of the people of Guatemala as a queen and a goddess.

This idolatrous, pagan devotion was inspired by the Church of Rome and was implemented through its tyrannical subversion tactics - perfected by its sinister "Gestapo-like" Jesuit Order (Society of Jesus) - via a militant and tyranical process known as the “Jesuit Reductions.” The Guatemalan people are therefore subject to a life of abject poverty - spiritually and naturally.

This article will seek to expose the anti-biblical and sinful of devotion to the "Virgin Mary" found throughout Guatemala...

Guatemala & Poverty: A Nation Devoted to the Virgin Mary

Before 1525, the dominant religions of the people of Guatemala centered on animistic and pagan devotion to thousands of gods and goddesses. The technological genius of the Mayan civilization had past. The people were primitive, warlike, and highly superstitious. In 1521-1522, the Spanish conquistador Don Pedro de Alvarado entered Guatemala and easily subdued the Indians. Here the Spanish Inquisition was imposed upon the natives, as they were forced by torture or death to transfer their devotion from their native gods and goddesses to the Saints, the Roman Mass, and the Virgin Mary, as demanded by the Spanish.

The Spanish hoped to convert the Indians to Roman Catholicism. The horrors of the Inquisition had limited success in forcing the native population into conversion. A far more successful technique was synergism, which meant that allegiance to pagan deities was not halted, but rather transferred from the idols of the Guatemalans to the idols of the Church of Rome. Even non-Christian experts acknowledge this transfer of devotion. For example, James Nach once said:

"Preconquest Maya religious customs have survived to this day among the Indians and have been blended with [Roman] Christianity… Christian saints were soon added to the roster of Indian gods, and even today Indians frequently pray to their old gods outside the village church and to the Christian God inside the church” - James Nach "Guatemala: The Visual Geography Series", Sterling Pub. Co; Revised edition (1970)

The most extreme example of synergism between pagan spirituality and the Church of Rome is in the fanatical devotion the Guatemalan people have towards the Virgin Mary. She has absorbed the attributes of the Indian goddesses to the point that the paganism of the native population has been sanitized into consecration to Mary as the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of God.

Initial Observations
A visitor to Guatemala today will immediately see a nation obsessed with the Virgin Mary. Her image can be found on buses, posters, and in the windows of businesses. Virtually every private home in Guatemala has a family altar dedicated to Mary. These home shrines usually consist of a small statue of Mary behind glass, surrounded by flowers, candles, and rosary beads. An unusual custom of the Guatemalan people is to explode fireworks to the Virgin Mary as offerings. These explosions are heard all hours of the day and night, showing consecration to the "Mother of God". In 1993, the Congress of Guatemala voted that the Virgin Mary would be honored forever as the co-mayor, or the mayorist of the capital of Guatemala, Guatemala City.

Villa Nueva
As a suburb of Guatemala City, Villa Nueva represents a typical Guatemalan urban community. The central plaza of the city is dominated by a Roman Catholic Church dedicated to Mary, called the Iglesia Imaculata Concepcion (Immaculate Conception Church). There are such shrines in every Roman Church in the country, thousands of them. Without a doubt, the Virgin Mary means more to the people than Father God, Jesus Christ the Son or the Holy Spirit. To these people, Mary is everything.

The Iglesia Imaculata Concepcion is an older building, open all day, frequently visited by the working class people of Villa Nueva. Behind the front altar is an example of the common spirituality of the people. There sits a small statue of Jesus Christ still hanging on the cross, overwhelmed by an enormous image of Mary in gorgeous royal robes, crowned as the Queen of Heaven. The imagery of this site is significant. These people praying in the church fully believe that they must pray to and through the Virgin Mary in order to have their prayers heard by Jesus.

A highly important aspect of the Iglesia Imaculata Concepcion is the side chapel dedicated to La Dormision y La Transicion de Maria (The sleep and the transition or assumption of Mary). Here the traditions and superstitions of Roman Catholic theology are manifested and venerated by the people. This shrine is dedicated to the idea that since Mary never sinned, she could never have really died, so she instead was placed in a dormant state until she was translated or assumed into heaven. In the hundreds of Marian shrines throughout various cultures, this altar is dedicated to the sleeping Virgin after her death!

Villa Nueva is a radical display of the demonic power the Roman Church has over its people. Nightly processions in city streets with loud singing and fireworks exploding bring the image of Mary from home to home. Paths of pine needles stay for days, as reminders of the route taken by the image of Mary from house to house. Streets full of mourning and screaming people are known to carry corpses of loved ones to the Iglesia Imaculata Concepcion, so Mary could be begged to intercede for the soul after death. It is obvious that devotion to Mary is also big business, as vendors are found everywhere selling statues, beads, prayer cards, and other "religious" items consecrated to Mary.

Antigua
Located about 15 miles west of Guatemala City is the ancient city of Antigua. The Catedral de Antigua (Cathedral of Antigua) was originally dedicated in 1545. Here a more tourist emphasis is found among the people, as cheap icons and imitation velvet paintings of Mary are sold both to natives and visitors. This cathedral, while in a state of disrepair, still shows the early architectural abilities of the conquering Spaniards. Local history says that the images brought from Spain replaced the local Indian images. Natives were whipped and beaten if they would not transfer allegiance from their pagan deities to the icons and images of the Roman Church.

The exterior of the Cathedra de Antigua is covered with exquisite carvings of the 12 Apostles, with a larger image of Mary above and central to the Apostles. Again, the placement of such icons sends a message to the people. Mary is above all others. Inside the Cathedral, numerous shrines and statues of Mary appear. Located here are two images devoted to the apparition of Our Lady of Guadaloupe, both surrounded with flowers and melted candies. Here another representation of the "dormicion" (sleep) and "transicion" (transition or assumption) of Mary can be found. This particular shrine of the sleep and transition of Mary is especially elaborate, as the sleeping Virgin is represented in a gorgeous white gown resting on cloud-like pillows, awaiting her assumption into heaven.

Guatemala City
A major metropolitan city of close to 2 million people, Guatemala City has a mix of both contemporary technologies and simple native customs. There are dozens of major shrines devoted to Mary in Guatemala City.

Our Lady of Guadeloupe Church is located in a congested, working class neighborhood. The massive stone structure dwarfs everything else in the area, towering over the community. Inside there is the familiar theme of a small crucified Jesus Christ overwhelmed by an elaborate, massive idol dedicated to Mary. Again, the message is clear. To get to Jesus, you must first go through Mary. This particular building is unique because of its enormous basilica dome, with a gigantic crown on its top. The crown, visible for miles around, symbolizes the crowning of Mary as the Queen of Heaven. Angels are carved showing them holding the massive crown about to be placed upon the head of the glorified Mary. The outrageous idolatry of such a site displays the obvious adoration to Mary.

In 1995, Pope John Paul II visited Guatemala City for the second time. It was here, in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Guatemala City, that the Roman Pope publicly coronated an image of Mary. He bowed before the idol in worship and placed a crown of gold upon the head of the image. There are very few evangelical Christians who are familiar with this famous idol crowned by the Roman Pontiff. This crowned image is displayed in a side chapel within the massive cathedral. The importance of this statue is the theological significance of the crowning of the Virgin. In crowning the idol of Mary, the Pope publicly and flagrantly showed both his personal idolatry and the official acceptance by the Roman Catholic Church towards the pagan titles of Mary as the Mother of God and Queen of Heaven.

Another site found in Guatemala City is the Nuestra Senora de la Ascencion Iglesia (Church of Our Lady of the Ascension). Located several blocks from the main plaza, this modest building represents the true spirituality of most Guatemalan people. To them, the Virgin is everything. All of their spirituality is centered on Mary. In this church building the worship of Mary is unrestricted. An enormous statue of Mary towers over the altar. Through her hands must flow all grace unto the world. She is represented as a crowned goddess, exalted upon an eagle in the clouds, surrounded by adoring angels. Nowhere in this altar scene is there any representation of Jesus Christ.

Guatemala was liberated from Spain in 1821, becoming a republic in 1847. It was not until 1872 that Guatemala was granted freedom of religion. No longer would the Kings of Spain and their Inquisition against the people be tolerated. The Church of Rome lost formal political control in Guatemala, but not the practical piety of the people. Three hundred years of official Catholic oppression by law and the practical synchronism of pagan customs has created a country that remains to this day approximately 95% Roman Catholic.

In relation to the Virgin Mary, the entire country looks to her daily for grace. The central government recognizes her as the mayorist of the capital city. The concept of a mother earth goddess that gives life, known to the natives for centuries before the Spanish arrived, has been transplanted to the mother of Jesus. Natives in rural areas are not ashamed to call the mother earth goddess by both her Indian name and her Christianized name - Mary. Urban people have also made the transition to Marian spirituality by synchronism and absorption of pagan beliefs. The candles, chants, offerings and devotion once reserved for the mother goddess of Mayan times is now enthusiastically transferred to the Virgin Mary as presented to the people by the Church of Rome.

In Conclusion:
 
In addition to Marian perversions of the true Gospel message peddled by the Roman Catholic Church which have led hundreds of millions astray, there are the further abominations of corrupt banking practices, laundering of drug money, trading in counterfeit securities and dealings with the Mafia (fully documented in police and court records), which the Vatican and her representatives around the world have long employed. Nino Lo Bello, former Business Week correspondent in Rome and Rome bureau chief for New York Journal of Commerce, writes that the Vatican is so closely allied with the Mafia in Italy that:

"many people ... believe that Sicily ... is nothing more than a Vatican holding." – Nino Lo Bello, The Vatican Empire (Trident Press, 1968), p. 167. See also David A. Yallop, In God's Name (Bantam Books, 1984); Richard Hammers, The Vatican Connection (Penguin Books, 1983)

The Roman Catholic Church is by far the wealthiest institution on earth. Yet, one hears from Rome periodic pleas for money-persuasive appeals claiming that the Vatican cannot maintain itself on its limited budget and needs monetary assistance. Such pleas are unconscionable Jesuitical ploys. The value of innumerable sculptures by such masters as Michelangelo, paintings by the world's greatest artists and countless other art treasures and ancient documents which Rome possesses – not only at the Vatican but in cathedrals around the world – is beyond calculation! At the World Synod of Bishops in Rome, England's Cardinal Heenan proposed that the Church sell some of these superfluous treasures and give the proceeds to the poor. Needless to say, his suggestion was not well-received…

The more deeply one probes into the history of the Roman Catholic Church and its current pagan practices, the more impressed one becomes with the amazing accuracy of the vision John received centuries before it would all be lamentable reality. John's attention is drawn to the inscription boldly emblazoned upon the woman's forehead:

MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH – Revelation 17:5

Perhaps the Lord would set the Guatemalan people free from the wide-spread pain of poverty and famine that engulfs their culture if they would repent of their sins of idolatry and paganism by turning to Jesus Christ alone for Salvation and make Him the Lord of their lives - and country...

*NOTE TO OUR DEAR ROMAN CATHOLIC READERS: We are not guaranteed tomorrow - tomorrow may be too late!

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak those things which are done of them in secret – Ephesians 5:11-12

And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues – Revelation 18:4

Do not trust your precious soul to Rome and her anti-christ doctrines... Come out of her and repent. If you haven't yet made that most important decision of your life, won't you make Jesus Christ – alone – your personal Lord and Savior today - before it's too late? Today is the day of Salvation!

Keep looking up and sharing the Gospel while there is still time… Hallelujah and Maranatha – come quickly Lord Jesus!

We are not guaranteed tomorrow – tomorrow may be too late! If you haven't yet made that most important decision of your life, won't you make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior today - before it's too late? Today is the day of Salvation!

If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com

I love hearing from you. Keep reading Encouraging Concepts!

Blessings!
Shane K. Morin <><

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