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>>Dr. John Ankerberg:In our debate with Roman Catholic Priest Fr. Mitchell >>Fr. Mitchell
Pacwa: and Protestant scholar the late Dr. Walter Martin, Dr. Martin�s brief summary
says it all. Listen:
*** [Program Excerpt] >>Dr. Walter Martin: All of these have raised
her step-by-step to the place where Pope Pius XII, in the Marian Year in which he proclaimed
the Assumption of Mary, said, �Enrap-tured by the splendor of your heavenly beauty and
impelled by the anxiety of the world, we cast ourselves into your arms, O, immaculate mother
of Jesus, and our mother, Mary. God crowned you Queen of the Universe. O, crystal fountain
of faith, bathe our minds with eternal truths; O, fragrant Lily of all holiness, captivate
our hearts with your heavenly perfume.... Happy with you we may repeat before your throne
that hymn which is sung today around your altars: You are all beautiful, O, Mary, you
are the glory; you are the joy; you are the honor of our people.�
Sorry about that! She is not the �crystal fountain of faith�; Jesus Christ is the
author and finisher of faith. She is not the �glory and joy and honor of Christians�;
Jesus Christ is our glory. In Him is the hope of glory. Christ is the One we honor, and
it�s pretty obvious, just from reading throughout the prayer, that titles are conferred upon
her which belong to God. �Con�vert the wicked and dry the tears of the afflicted�
is the job of the Holy Spirit, who �convinces the world of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment.� It is the comfort that she is giving, allegedly, that is the very reason
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, which was to be our �Com�forter.�
Now, giving Mary all her due right, all the positions she is entitled to, she is not �our
life, our sweetness and our hope.� And that we have to confess in the Catholic Church
in which we say, �Our life, our sweet�ness and our hope, to thee we cry, poor banished
chil�dren of Eve.� Now, Mary is not our life; Jesus Christ is our life. She�s not
the sweetness of our life; He is the sweetness of our life. She certain�ly isn�t our
hope, because �Christ in you is the hope of glory.�
What I�m objecting to, from a biblical perspective, is that the Mary of the Bible is not the Mary
of Catholic theology. We have now developed what Bishop Strossmayer said in 1870, �We
have made a goddess of the *** Mary.� Now, that I think, is probably what upsets
Protestants more than any other thing, apart from the infalli�bility of the papacy; which
is the idea that Mary, a mere creature, created by God, is paralleled in Catholic theology
dogmatically with Christ Himself. So that Cardinal Spellman in New York wrote, �O,
Mary, gate of heaven, none shall enter in except through thee.�
Sorry about that! Sorry! �I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.� [John 14:6] �I
am the door of the sheepfold.� [John 10:7] �I am the gate. By me if any man enters
in, he shall be saved.� [John 10:9] What we see in Cat