Category Archives: Apparitions

Apparitions, Daniel, Eschatology, Eucharistic adoration, Eucharistic Miracles, Idolatry, Revelation

Wounded to Death, Part 1

November 19, 2023 Timothy F. Kauffman 8 Comments

We have made no effort to hide our view that the Papacy of Rome is the prophesied fifth earthly kingdom in Daniel’s succession of empires (Daniel 2 & 7). The Papacy is the Sea Beast of Revelation 13:1, the Seven Headed, Ten-horned Beast that succeeds the Roman Empire. Christ’s future earthly kingdom, of course, will be the sixth. Nor have we hesitated to identify the False Prophet, which is none other than the Apparitions of Mary, the Land Beast of Revelation 13:11, the Two-horned, Lamb-looking, Dragon-speaking False Prophet that can make “fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men” (Revelation 13:13). It is that False Prophet that “deceiveth them that dwell on the earth” and convinces them “that they should make an image to the beast” (Revelation 13:14), which refers to the Eucharistic bread idol of Rome that can come to life and speak, “the source and summit” of the Roman faith (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1324).

What we have not discussed yet is the mortal head wound of the Beast. John mentions it three times:

“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast…” (Revelation 13:3-4)

“And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” (Revelation 13:12)

“And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. … as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” (Revelation 13:14-15)

Whatever that head wound may be (and we shall identify it in this short series), it factors significantly into the object of the world’s worship.

Continue reading Wounded to Death, Part 1 →

Apparitions, Church Fathers, Epistemology, Infallibility, Papal Infallibility, Sola Ecclesia, Tradition

One Billion Denominations

July 16, 2023 Timothy F. Kauffman 17 Comments

“Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?” — Job 38:2

A typical accusation made of Protestants by Roman Catholics is that they are so divided. There are ostensibly at least 35,000 Protestant denominations, but only One Holy Roman Catholic Apostolic Church. Such a stark comparison is often sufficient for a wavering Protestant to capitulate in despair. Since his conversion to Roman Catholicism, the subject of our previous series, Mr. Joshua T. Charles, has shouted from the rooftops that the unified Roman religion with its Tradition and teaching Magisterium has finally set him free from the divisions and errors of Protestantism. Protestants constantly disagreed about everything, and at some point, he just could not stand it any more. Here is a small sampling of his Twitter criticism just from last month:

“I was protestant until I was 31. As such, the furthest I could get was different interpretations of the Bible. No one could say ‘thus saith the Lord’ as to which one was right. Good, educated people differed on every issue under the sun.” (June 4, 2023)

“I’m very, very, very glad I am no longer a protestant. Among all the interpretations, where is the true one? On so many issues that have been long settled in the Catholic Church, protestants continue to divide & fall into more errors, with no one capable of resolving the debate.” (June 10, 2023)

“[That’s] Why I am Catholic today. Interminable, unresolvable debates where the best any of us had was our best guess was unacceptable. I wanted to follow Jesus.” (June 13, 2023)

From this small sampling, which is indeed representative of Mr. Charles’ chronic indignation, we might suppose that the solution he had stumbled upon in Rome was a single authoritative source of clear teachings that removed all doubt, dispute and debate in the interpretation of the Bible, Tradition, the Magisterium. At last, no more error, guesswork, difference and revision, no more heresy, schism, contradiction and division! Nothing but smooth sailing! Continue reading One Billion Denominations →

Apparitions, Church Fathers, Idolatry, Mariolatry, Mary

The Mother of My Lord

May 14, 2023 Timothy F. Kauffman 30 Comments

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign…” — Isaiah 7:14

It has become fashionable of late to convert to Roman Catholicism, a phenomenon with which we interact occasionally in our podcast, The Diving Board. It is there that we examine, and then refute, the reasons the typical Protestant gives when deciding to convert. The problem of Mary is often the last stumbling block to fall, but when it does, the floodgates of hyperlatria open wide, and an embarrassing superfluity of worship is heaped upon her. After all, the Roman Catholic priest can “command God … and make Him come down to the altar” to be offered in the Sacrifice of the Mass, but has “no commands to give His holy Mother, who does as She pleases.” So taught the Apparition of Mary at La Laus, France in 1664. And on that basis, the apparitions were determined to be authentic. Not because “Mary” appeared as a humble handmaiden but because she had appeared as Virgin Most Powerful and Queen of the Universe, utterly free of any constraint to her will. Unlike her hapless “Son” who gets bossed around daily like a chump, nobody tells Mary what to do. That is why the Apparition of Mary at La Laus was considered authentic, and the curse of hyperlatria is the wretched misfortune that awaits the Protestant who stumbles into devotion to her.

Continue reading The Mother of My Lord →

Apparitions, Eschatology

“The Sun Came Down Upon Us” (The Bowls, part 4)

October 19, 2014 Timothy F. Kauffman 150 Comments

"The sun came down upon us, we were all about to be burned alive!" — “The sun came down upon us. We felt the heat. We thought it was the end of the world!” — Mrs. Erminia Caixeiro, eyewitness.

This is our fourth week in the series on the Bowls of Revelation. The First Bowl of judgment is a weeping sore that afflicts the men who worship the Image of the Beast. We understand this to be the Stigmata, a weeping, bleeding sore that is highly correlated to eucharistic adoration. Francis of Assisi was the first recipient in 1224 A.D., and many eucharistic worshipers suffer from it to this day. Roman Catholics have historically considered the Stigmata to be a sign of God’s blessing, but it is in fact a curse from Him.

The Second Bowl is a plague in which all those affected by it die at sea. We understand this to refer to the plague of scurvy, which killed millions of men on the long-haul sea journeys around Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope in search of Indian spices between 1453 and 1800 A.D.. The Spanish and the Portuguese considered the discovery of the eastern and western sea routes to India to be a great blessing from God, but those long haul voyages became a curse to them and their crews.

At the pouring of the Third Bowl, all the “rivers and fountains” are turned to blood. Because we understand “rivers and fountains” both here and in the Third Trumpet to refer to the Word of God, we understand that the “rivers and fountains” became bitter with Wormwood in the Third Trumpet when Jerome produced the Latin Vulgate, but they turned to blood in the Third Bowl when the dogma of Papal Infallibility was proclaimed by Vatican Council I in 1870. By proclaiming the dogma, the Council had essentially subjugated the Word of God to the word of the Pope. Roman Catholics consider Papal Infallibility to be a great blessing from God through which the successors of Peter are alleged to guard infallibly the purity of the faith. In reality, by pouring out the dogma of papal infallibility on Roman Catholics, God “hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy” (Revelation 16:6).

The first three Bowls of Judgment are, thus far:

The First Bowl: The Stigmata (1224 A.D. – present)
The Second Bowl: The Plague of Scurvy (1453 – late 1700s A.D.)
The Third Bowl: The Dogma of Papal Infallibility (1870 A.D.)

We continue this week with the Fourth Bowl.

Continue reading “The Sun Came Down Upon Us” (The Bowls, part 4) →

Apparitions, Eschatology, Eucharistic adoration

When “Mary” Got Busy

August 3, 2014 Timothy F. Kauffman 170 Comments

Mary got busy in the 11th Century — The Apparitions of Mary picked up their pace just in time to usher in an 11th century “Eucharistic Revolution” in the Roman Catholic Church

Those who have been following this blog have at least some passing familiarity with the eschatology we espouse. As we have written in many entries thus far, we hold that Papal Rome is the Beast of Revelation (Revelation 13:1-10), that the Apparition of Mary is the False Prophet (Revelation 13:11-14), and that the Eucharist is the Image of the Beast (Revelation 13:14-16). Continue reading When “Mary” Got Busy →

Apparitions, Eucharistic Miracles, Mysticism

And the Diviners Have Seen a Lie

May 18, 2014 Timothy F. Kauffman 142 Comments

The Roman Catholic Counter-reformational mysticism is all the rage in Evangelical Circles. — Roman Catholic counter-reformational mysticism is all the rage in Evangelical Circles.

There are certain names our evangelical readers may hear from time to time on Sunday mornings from the pulpit, or in Sunday School, or perhaps in a small bible study fellowship, or in the latest book to fly off the shelves of the book stores. These names pop up quite frequently, and they are usually offered up as examples of a bold or simple faith, godliness and a lifestyle of prayer and contemplation. What may surprise our evangelical readers is the fact that the people being offered as examples are Roman Catholic counter-reformational mystics who worked tirelessly against the Protestant Reformation to try to stamp it out.
Continue reading And the Diviners Have Seen a Lie →

Apparitions, Eucharistic adoration, Idolatry, Justification by faith, Justification by works, Transubstantiation

Wolves Within the Gate

May 12, 2014 Timothy F. Kauffman 141 Comments

Ravening Wolves — The so-called evangelical church has an unseemly appetite for the demonic.

As a young lady, Mary Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938) attended a dance one evening with her friends. During the dance, she experienced a vision of “Jesus,” and was no longer able to concentrate on the festivities. Not knowing what else to do, she slipped out of the dance to the local cathedral and cast herself down to worship the Eucharist, asking “Jesus” to tell her what to do. “He” did:
Continue reading Wolves Within the Gate →

Apparitions, Ark of the Covenant, Church Fathers, Epistemology, Eschatology, Eucharistic adoration, Eucharistic Miracles, Justification, Justification by faith, Mariolatry, Saints, Tradition, Transubstantiation

One Kingdom Too Late

May 3, 2014 Timothy F. Kauffman 155 Comments

Revelation 13 — Roman Catholicism was 300 years too late to be “the stone that … became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:35).

[This is the third installment of a three part series.]

When former Protestant, Taylor Marshall, wrote Eternal City, he sought to explain why Christianity is necessarily Roman. “The Church,” he wrote, “receives the Roman empire” from its previous custodians. But in concluding this, Marshall has mistakenly transposed two kingdoms—both of which Daniel addressed, and both of which Daniel set against the background of the rise and fall of four world empires. One kingdom is of earth and the other of heaven, and Marshall has unfortunately confused the two. Continue reading One Kingdom Too Late →

Apparitions, Eschatology, Marian Dogmas, Mariolatry, The Assumption, The Immaculate Conception

Like the Sun Going Down on Me

April 24, 2014 Timothy F. Kauffman 44 Comments

The miracle of the sun at Fatima — The Apparitions of Mary are known for their ability to bring the sun down to earth for their audiences

[This is the first installment of a three part series.]

This week, two “Marian” Popes are to be canonized as saints of the Roman Catholic church: Popes John XXIII and John Paul II. Both were very public about their devotion to Mary and frequented the sites of Marian apparitions. John XXIII was particularly devoted to the apparition of Mary at Lourdes, and emphatically commended “her” message to the faithful. In 1959, at the close of the 100-year anniversary celebration of the Apparitions of Mary at Lourdes, John XXIII said:

Following the pontiffs who, for a century, have recommended to Catholics that they should be attentive to the message of Lourdes, we urge you to listen with simplicity of heart and sincerity of mind to the salutary warnings of the Mother of God. (Mariology: A Guide for Priests, Deacons, Seminarians, and Consecrated Persons, Miravalle, ©2008, p. 862)

John Paul II was also devoted to the apparitions of Mary, and believed that Mary of Fatima had protected him throughout his papacy. On a papal visit to Fatima on May 13, 2000, a message from John Paul II was read to the faithful gathered there:

On this solemn occasion of his visit to Fatima, His Holiness has directed me to make an announcement to you. As you know, the purpose of his visit to Fatima has been to beatify [two of the visionaries]. Nevertheless he also wishes his pilgrimage to be a renewed gesture of gratitude to Our Lady for her protection during these years of his papacy. (Announcement by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State)

In that same message, John Paul II had it announced that he would finally make public the “third secret of Fatima,” a prophecy that had been delivered to the popes from the vision of Mary through the visionary, Lucia.

But public and private teachings are not the only things the apparitions of Mary have to offer. Continue reading Like the Sun Going Down on Me →

Apparitions, Epistemology, Marian Dogmas, Mary, Papal Infallibility, The Assumption, The Immaculate Conception, Tradition

Mother Mary Speaks to Me (part 2)

April 9, 2014 Timothy F. Kauffman 91 Comments

John Paul II and Mary — The visions of Mary have a long-standing, two-way, verbal relationship with the Papacy.

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Last week, we discussed the propensity of Roman Catholics to rely on visions of Mary “to improve or complete Christ’s definitive Revelation” despite the clear instructions of the Catechism of the Catholic Church not to do so (paragraph 67). Taylor Marshall relied on several visions of Mary to bolster his argument that Jesus was born on December 25th, and Fr. Livius relied on a private revelation to help him determine the meaning of the writings of several Church Fathers. But as apologist Fr. William Most has said, “In public revelation, the Church has the promise of divine protection in teaching,” while on the content of private revelation, including apparitions, “the Church does not have such a commission.” Thus it is true that while Roman apologists cite apparitions of Mary to bolster their arguments, it is also true that Roman Catholics “can refuse assent to such revelations … provided this is done … for good reasons.” It is not uncommon (in our experience) for a Roman Catholic on the one hand to cite the many examples of apparitions as evidence that Roman Catholicism is the true church, and then, on the other hand—when the actual content of the visions is brought forward—to dismiss those same apparitions “because we are not required to believe them anyway.”

But the freedom to reject the teachings of the apparitions as “private revelation” is not so simple as that. Continue reading Mother Mary Speaks to Me (part 2) →

Apparitions, Epistemology, Mariolatry, Mary, Mediatrix, Tradition

Mother Mary Speaks to Me (part 1)

April 3, 2014 Timothy F. Kauffman 107 Comments

Vision of Mary — The visions of Mary provide additional revelation that is outside the original “Deposit of Faith.”

According to the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church, everything that is to be known and taught by the Church is to be found in the original “Deposit of Faith,” beyond which, “no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Catechism, p. 66).

As we have discussed elsewhere, Mary is alleged to have appeared many times and in many places over the last 2,000 years. During those appearances, the visions of Mary leave behind explicit instructions and other information: one provided a design for a medal for a particular form of devotion; another provided the design for an image to be venerated; others have provided private messages for the pope; and others have left behind prophecies of things to come. These visions of Mary, or what we call “apparitions of Mary,” have very much to say. “However,” warns the catechism, “They do not belong … to the deposit of faith“: Continue reading Mother Mary Speaks to Me (part 1) →

Apparitions, Idolatry, Mariolatry, Mary, Transubstantiation

The Apparition of Mary at La Laus, France (1664)

February 4, 2014 Timothy F. Kauffman 13 Comments

Our Lady of Laus — Statues depicting the apparition of Mary to Benoite Rencurel at La Laus, France.

One of the most fervent forms of devotion in Roman Catholicism is to the visions of Mary, commonly called “apparitions.” For many centuries, in many locations around the world, Mary is alleged to have appeared to visionaries of the Roman Catholic Church. These visionaries typically report conversations with Mary, and the apparition of Mary has many times delivered messages that have been documented through the official channels of the Roman Catholic Church. There have been many hundreds of alleged apparitions throughout history, but only a few have been approved officially by the Roman Catholic Church. These few are considered to be actual bodily appearances of Mary, and therefore “worthy of belief.” Among them are the Apparitions of Mary at Guadalupe, Mexico (1531); Paris, France (1830); La Salette, France (1846); Lourdes, France (1858); and Fatima, Portugal (1917).

The approval process for an alleged apparition can take many years, and it is rare for one to be elevated formally to the same level as those listed above. When that approval becomes official, it provides a tremendous amount of insight into the visions of Mary themselves because interviews with the visionaries are meticulously inspected, and the vision’s messages and teachings are rigorously documented through the approval process. It also provides tremendous insight into the Roman Catholic Church, because the teachings of approved apparitions are consistent with Roman Catholic teaching—otherwise they would not have been approved.

The recent approval of the Apparitions of Mary in La Laus, France is significant Continue reading The Apparition of Mary at La Laus, France (1664) →

Out of His Mouth