Artwork by Sue Abbe

This is some of the artwork my friend Sue Abbe has done over the years. Sue is known as Hopper on Thy Daily Bread forum..

Medjugorje: the Truth Lies not Just in Faith but in Logical Reason as Well

By John Christenson


By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them.
Matthew 7: 16-20


The internet is abuzz these days with talk about the impending fate of Medjugorje. Catholic news sources, blogs and forums alike are especially abuzz this past week or so concerning the many recent developments surrounding this ongoing phenomenon. Why all the buzz? Well, for the most part this began only a few months ago with surprisingly favorable mention of Medjugorje by then visiting Christopher Cardinal Schonborn from Austria who spent several weeks in Medjugorje last December and early January. But with more recent developments of late such internet chatter has grown leaps and bounds. For most following the Medjugorje events we can probably all agree that pending decisions of some nature are certainly in the air.

Shortly after the Cardinals visit, and despite Bishop Ratko Peric’s decision years earlier to condemn the purported Medjugorje apparitions ruling them to be false out of what appears to be sheer personal and biased opinion a new commission was appointed by the Vatican to overlook and investigate the purported Medjugorje apparitions. No doubt this was somewhat of a cataclysmic surprise to Medjugorje opponents though they would unlikely ever admit it. But how could it not be? The Bishops sole ruling was their big ace in the hole. This favorable move by the Vatican came despite the adamant refusal by die hard Medjugorje opponents to accept it and embrace it. Mere detractors who have been clearly piggy backing off the Bishop’s personal opinion for years, insisting that because of his seemingly unchangeable stance the verdict was indeed already in long ago and simply could not be argued…

Yet, just as they sounded the trumpets from their pedestals that the door was now shut, locked & chained, and the key thrown into the deep sea of deception, suddenly the door in what appeared to be defying all odds miraculously flew wide open again and Medjugorje opponents had to now quickly go to work to try to conjure up some other means to debunk the purported apparitions. Well, truth be told, there simply is no other ace in the hole. So, with no other means to debunk the Medjugorje happenings they’ve not given up on the Bishops long time stance despite these new developments. Could it be Pride? O’ but how would I look in front of all my peers after all these years of working tirelessly to debunk Medjugorje should the Vatican rule in it’s favor?

Bishop Peric had already spoken out against Medjugorje many years earlier claiming it to be nothing more than an elaborate hoax at best. These die hard Medjugorje opponents today, regardless of the facts, are relentless in their ongoing mission to debunk the apparitions even going as far as to claim that anyone and everyone, including the good Cardinal himself who refuses to honor Bishop Peric’s decision is in fact in direct disobedience to the Church.

Well, now we need to take a step back for a moment and look at the bigger picture here in order to fully understand what exactly is going on before anyone quickly buys into the continual rhetoric of any Medjugorje opponent. It has been a long time argument that if anyone pays any heed at all to the Medjugorje message or even leans slightly towards any kind of personal belief that Our Lady is truly appearing in this little Bosnian town, that this is direct disobedience to the Majesterium of the Catholic Church. Why? Because several years ago, echoing the sentiments of his predecessor Bishop Pavao Zanic, the current Bishop Peric concluded that the purported apparitions in Medjugorje, a town that falls under his Diocesan jurisdiction of Mostar were false and further went on to argue that they were the elaborate invention of the Franciscans who oversee St. James Parish and many of the Catholic Parishes and institutions in the surrounding area. Well, anyone who knows anything about private revelation knows that the Bishop of the particular Diocese that oversees the Parish or location where the visionary or visionaries are purporting to be receiving heavenly revelations and/or apparitions generally has the authority to rule whether the purported private revelations are authentic or not. So the case was closed.

This has been the major fuel for Medjugorje opponents. Among an onslaught of twisted facts, half-truths, and even outright lies the one ace in the hole Medjugorje opponents did actually possess was the fact that the Bishop of Mostar himself was convinced that there was nothing spiritually phenomenal occurring in Medjugorje and that at least for a time seemed to have the power to discern and decide it’s fate. And thus, as far as those who stood by the Bishop were concerned the case was closed regardless of any evidence that clearly proved otherwise. The fruits did not matter. The miracles did not matter. The conversions did not matter. The Bishop had spoken and so the case was closed.

Yet truth be told, contrary to what Medjugorje opponents would love to have people believe, little known was the fact that the Vatican actually stepped into the picture as early as 2006 and removed the Bishops authority to rule on the purported apparitions... That’s right.. A higher authority ruled over the Bishops Mitre yet little is ever heard of this even in Catholic news circles today. The reason for the Vatican stepping in? Well, to begin with, because Medjugorje reaches far beyond the diocese of Mostar. Medjugorje envelops the entire Church. Medjugorje has become a world wide phenomenon embraced by countless of thousands of faithful Catholics, not to mention has spawned numerous conversions... But this is neither the only reason nor the main reason. Another reason may simply be because the Bishop clearly showed a sense of bias and narrow minded opinion towards the phenomenon right from the beginning.

The current Bishop of Mostar is a secular priest. The Franciscans who tend to the faithful flock around St. James Parish are not. They are of a religious order that has long had to deal with the unwarranted rivalry of their secular brethren and fellow diocesan confreres. The Diocese of Mostar was created 100 years almost to the day before the purported apparitions began. For at least the first 60 years under the Bishopric of two Franciscan Bishops the Franciscans steered the Diocese of Mostar. Today, the Diocese of Mostar is not under the influence of the Franciscans but is secular. In between all of this has been a sense of dissension between the two groups. A rivalry that has went on long before the apparitions began but has undoubtedly played a major role in the Bishops decision to renounce the apparitions.

What is important to note, and what clearly indicates to anyone who has ears and is attentive to what is truly going on, is that in overstepping the Bishops ruling and further creating a new commission to investigate Medjugorje, the Vatican informed the Bishop that he was no longer permitted to voice his personal opinion in an authoritative manner concerning the ongoing investigation. Medjugorje opponents have never been able to truly grasp this and accept the Vatican’s right to authority overriding the Bishops authority. Opponents generally tend to ignore such facts in their attempts to debunk Medjugorje.





"Dear children! Today I desire to thank you for all your sacrifices and for all your prayers. I am blessing you with my special motherly blessing. I invite you all to decide for God, so that from day to day you will discover His will in prayer. I desire, dear children, to call all of you to a full conversion so that joy will be in your hearts. I am happy that you are here today in such great numbers. Thank you for having responded to my call."
Medjugorje Message, June 25, 1990


So now today, once again our Catholic world is abuzz with new talk. New chatter that is clearly favorable towards the likeliness that most in the Vatican actually share a high regard and personal fondness for the fruits of conversion truly recognized as clearly coming out of Medjugorje despite Bishop Peric’s personal opinion. Cardinal Schonborn’s favorable expressions… Recent talk of the Diocese of Mostar being split in two, something never heard of before in Church history… It is possible that this move opens the door for favorable approval or at the very least, as suggested by one blogger, the possibility that Medjugorje in the not too distant future may receive shrine status, at the same time cushioning the sense of humility Bishop Peric would undoubtedly experience should he be reigning Bishop at the time of this announcement. Also, a commission panel, absent the Bishop of Mostar being put in place to investigate Medjugorje… And now the Papal Nuncio himself is heard speaking favorable about Medjugorje.. These are the current headlines buzzing through the Catholic internet world these days. What lies ahead concerning the fate of Medjugorje? Perhaps only a short time will tell…

Interesting term in itself by the way when you really stop and think about it… I mean, concerning the fate of Medjugorje.. It’s this question of fate that has the undivided attention of anyone and everyone who knows anything about Medjugorje these days. With all the recent Catholic media hype and internet chatter it’s become perhaps quite exciting for lack of a better term, especially for the many Medjugorje faithful who see all of these recent developments as a positive sign. O’ what exciting times indeed we are living in… To the very heart of the Medjugorje believer such favorable fate is truly inevitable. We just don’t know when. For those who truly believe that it is indeed Our Blessed Mother who has been appearing in Medjugorje the past almost 29 years it is also believed and accepted that Medjugorje’s fate lies in the hands of God and that it is through both faith and reason that we pretty much already know the outcome in our own hearts… That in time the Church will indeed embrace the Medjugorje message and recognize these purported apparitions by it’s fruits.. For those of us who are diehard Medjugorje fans it’s not a matter of if but when.

Well, in all fairness, it’s fate likewise also lies solely in the hands of God for those who are opponents of Medjugorje. Believing that the apparitions are false, Medjugorje opponents are also waiting for the Holy Spirit to guide the Church into making a decision. Only for them, the decision they await works in their favor, not ours. That is, that the Church will condemn the apparitions sending us die hard Medjugorje faithful fleeing in the other direction rather than approve them.. Not gonna happen. First of all, I am obedient to the Church above all… But then, it’s so easy to say this when I believe without a doubt in my mind and in my heart that the Vatican verdict in due time will be favorable.

So believers who look to the Medjugorje message each month are waiting for the Church to rule in favor, and opponents who share in the disbelief are eagerly awaiting Church condemnation… Well, hopefully we all believe and worship the same God, turn to the same Holy Mother for consolation in our Rosary prayers the good Catholics that we are, and hopefully we all obey the same Majesterium of the Church. Furthermore, hopefully we all recognize and believe that the Holy Spirit truly guides our Church in it’s discernment and decision making process. So now we are reaching an imminent sense of long awaited impending decisive word, either confirmation or condemnation soon to come out of Rome. There is an ever increasing and vibrantly active spirit among those who have a final say in whether or not the Church will condemn or approve Medjugorje..

Scripture tells us, we will know a tree by its fruits… For the Medjugorje opponent who casts stones at both the visionaries and their Franciscan spiritual directors, as well as at the Gospa who we truly believe to be Our Lady, the fruits are rotten. If only they could present truthful facts in their arguments against Medjugorje their claims might actually hold some weight. But after 28 years that hasn’t happened yet. Everything they’ve waged against Medjugorje has either been outright lies or at the very least twisted facts and half truths.. Well, naturally on the other hand the argument over the past 3 decades by the Medjugorje faithful who have held steadfast in faith and our resolve to trust that indeed this is Our Blessed Mother appearing, has been the countless number of messages, messages that contain no heresies mind you, and which together form a continual school of prayer teaching the Medjugorje faithful student to live the Gospel each and every day… So yet the major fruits are the numerous conversions that have come to fruition as a result of these apparitions.. Not just converts from other faiths coming into the Catholic Church but also new births of conversion within the hearts of many cradle Catholics who had fallen away from their baptismal faith, me being one of them… I join a countless multitude of faithful.

No doubt it’s still a wait and see process.. However to me it just seems a given that at the end of the day when all is said and done, it is the very fruit of Medjugorje that will undoubtedly be the deciding factor in all of this. Other elements such as discerning if the messages contain heresies certainly play a decisive role, no doubt… However, with all the theological arguments either for or against these events, the one vital contributing element that simply cannot be argued or debunked is ones personal testimony. No theologian can say, “Your conversion does not exist” when in fact it certainly does. Myself, I have been experiencing the fruits of conversion as a result of the Medjugorje message for six years now… I pray that my conversion continues and that I am continually drawn ever closer and closer to the Son who this Gospa brings to me each and everyday. The same Son who redeems each and every one of us repentant sinners who confess the name of Christ as Lord… And when you listen to the countless of millions who also share a personal testimony of conversion no theologian can argue this otherwise. That is just a fact.

Angelic cloud formation

Angelic cloud formation over Windsor/ Detroit

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Prayers For Haiti

I want to help and I feel that I can help! Look, here's the thing... Unlike many capable adults who perhaps would love to come forwards to volunteer but simply cannot because they are 'bound' to home, work, relationships, etc... my situation is a bit different.. Yes, I have 2 teenage children who I love dearly and thus could not or should not be gone for a very long period of time, however, weeks down in Haiti would be feasible... I am self-employed with very little work that seems to only come in here and there in spurts and never enough to even say I have steady work.. I live at Don Bosco Home and have responsibilities here.. However, a replacement to help out here while I am gone should be easy to obtain if this be God's will, He will provide..

I want to help! And I feel God pushing me to go help! I have 20 years experience in hands on building that can be extremely useful down there once the clean up and restoration begins... As for my health? Well, the other day was a wake up call that I simply need to take better care of myself... Diet, routine, and exercise.. Whether I am doing it here in Canada or down in Hiati there should be no difference.. And as for my eyes? I'm no blinder now then I was two months ago or even a year ago, and if I do end up blind, well, then we cross that bridge when we get there and again, I see no reason why I should allow that to prevent me from helping where I can help...

The way I see it, if everyone in the world said, "Well, I have this going on, or I have that going on" and thought this way, no one would be down there at all trying to help.... If Mother Teresa worried about "this or that" she would have never went to Calcutta.. This is where I am at with it... This is where my heart is.. To go and help where I can help... Most people have strict ties that bind them to 'home' and cannot simply go down there no matter how much they may want to... I have nothing stopping me from going, at least for a 'duration' and I really feel called to go help...


"Where is Jesus in agony in our own time?
In the division of our world into belts of prosperity
and belts of poverty ... this is Christ’s agony today.
Our world is made of two rooms:
in one room, things go to waste,
in the other, people are wasting away;
in one room, people die from surfeit,
in the other, they die from indigence;
in one room, they are concerned about obesity,
in the other, they are begging for charity.

Why don’t we open a door?
Who don’t we sit at one table?
Why don’t we realize that the poor
can help the rich?
Why? Why? Why are we so blind?

Pope Benedict XVI during Meditation at the 9th Station along the Way of the Cross, Lent 2006

So after seeking spiritual direction, praying much about it, and sharing this desire with those I am close to, it just really felt right that I should look into the possibility of offering to help in the relief efforts.. I contacted a local organization called Hearts Together For Haiti a few days after the devastating earthquake that changed Haiti and perhaps a greater part of the world forever... and now I anticipate that this opportunity that has come along to help will undoubtedly change my life ...

I feel at least a bit apprehensive about what I will see when I arrive in Haiti next month. As I see the images on the news coming in of the devastation my heart just goes out for these poor souls trying to survive. Another earthquake, a 6.1 further shook the little bit of buildings still left standing a few days after the initial 7.0 tremor, further hampering rescue and relief efforts, and further shaking the faith of the people. Please Lord, have mercy on your precious children. Give us hope Lord... Grant us the resolve to maintain faith through it all...

We struggle to wrap our little minds around what has happened. It's unfathomable. Never in our life time has the world witnessed such a catastrophe centered in one specific location.. Not since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.. The 2004 Asian Tsunami left a quarter million dead in about 14 different countries spread out along the entire coast of the Indian Ocean. But this.... this horrible undoing of peoples lives is all centered on one island and in one nation, and in one city.. No official death toll yet. It's too early to tell.. There is just too much chaos and devastation to even try to keep proper records of those missing. The impact center of this horrific tragedy was home to nearly 3 million people. If only 1 in 10 died as a result of Tuesday's earthquake that would put the death toll at over 300,000... Still, we just don't know...

Those who survived are in dire need of the worlds help.. Our help!! Who can they turn to? Who can help them? We can! I can!

And while I feel a bit apprehensive, though I'm not even sure that is the correct word, the feeling that overpowers any apprehension I may have is a feeling that no matter how helpless I may ever feel in any situation it could never possibly compare to the feeling of helplessness the poor and suffering peoples of Haiti must be feeling at this time.. So as I prepare to go to Haiti mid February I've sat down this past week and have written a song expressing my feelings.. a song that is a prayer, a plea for help, for God's mercy to reign upon us, humanity, all of us children of God...

Dangers of the New Age

By John Christenson


“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth.”
(John 14:15-17)

During my first year, while enrolled at the University of Windsor, a new terminology kept creeping into the conversation from time to time that I had never heard before – and even in various lectures. The term was ‘New Age’ and the year was 1991.

Feeling as though I was missing out on some sort of new trend that everyone else seemed to be enjoying, I made my way to the campus book store and sought out the section on this New Age Movement everyone was raving about. Remember the slogan for the National Inquirer, ‘Inquiring minds want to know’? Well, the New Age section was filled with an array of literature so diverse in its topics that it seemed impossible for one single person to offer a conclusive definition of the New Age Movement.

To this day, the struggle remains to offer a short and concise answer when someone asks “What is New Age?’ Well, the short answer at best is that it is believing in energy… to be even more precise it is worshiping energy as a god. It is karma, with touches of eastern mysticism, some Native American beliefs, and the occult all rolled into one. It is complete heresy and unfortunately it is being embraced literally by millions today, including a large number of Roman Catholics. And of those Catholics many were once devout and faithful Catholics.

The New Age Movement reaches far delving into unending fields of erroneous beliefs. Far removed and in direct opposition to the Catechism, the New Age Movement covers an extremely large diverse field of spiritual and mystical practices. Wicca, pagan, magic, the occult, Druidism, Baha’i, Scientology, astrology, ufo-ology, horoscope reading, palm reading, tarot reading, psychic reading, crystal powering, channeling, séances, voodoos, Goth, Reiki, Harmonic Convergence, reincarnation, spiritual humanism, Syncretism, Karma, and even Satanism itself, are all open forms and practices of the New Age Movement. There is now even a movement which bases its doctrine on the television series ‘Star Trek’. You don’t have to be into all of them to be in error, just one will do..

The sad reality is that the New Age also embraces hand chosen parts and portions of Christianity and particularly Catholicism.. And that is the real danger for many Catholics today unaware of it’s snares. It is this simple; if we do not know our Catechism and even more importantly, if we do not know and understand Scripture we are extremely vulnerable to these snares.

Many of these forms of ritualism stem from ancient paganistic cultures or Eastern religions mixed with modern philosophies and ideologies which give way to abstract and alternative forms of worship. Historically, while religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism themselves are not of the New Age Movement, this present day craze borrows from, no, actually rapes them of their philosophies, rituals and practices. The whole agenda behind the New Age Movement is to lure those faithful to Christian Doctrine away from Christ. The hidden deceit is that the potential New Ager is duped into believing he or she can delve into the new age and still have their Jesus. That is the lie… And many are falling for this lie..

It has succeeded, to a degree, in embedding these abstract principles and erroneous ideologies into the very heart of their most likely candidates; the faithful. The end result of this, the ultimate goal of Satan, is apostasy. For that is when we reach the time when no one wants to belong to the Church that Christ gave us. In the end no one will wish to be obedient to that Church… that is, obedient to one specific doctrine of truth, absolute truth, bestowed upon us through the Word made Flesh, Our Lord Jesus Christ.



“See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy according to human tradition, according to the elemental powers of the world and not according to Christ.”
Colossians 2:8

In many respects, what is horrifying for anyone who has a sound understanding of Church Doctrine is to watch Catholics, in many cases souls close to us such as our loved ones, fall into the snares of error and heresy. For the potential New Ager themselves on the surface the whole notion appears to come from God, because often it uses godly things to seduce its potential followers. However, at the very core of the New Age Movement is a diabolical influence embedded in what humanity ignorant of wisdom generally perceives as the spiritual, thus automatically and often erroneously attributing such various ideologies as being of God.

The old saying ‘the Devil is in the details’ has never proven more true as it has in the New Age Movement. The New Age Movement often preys on those who are intrigued by the strange, the eerie, the paranormal, the magical, and the mystical. It is far removed from the true spiritual. While ‘the mystical’ itself is well documented and a proven way for the Holy Spirit to communicate with humanity passing down God’s wisdom unto man, as we have witnessed throughout the history of the Church with Her own true mystics, mysticism has also been manipulated outside the Church as a means of the Devil to grab the Faithfull’s attention and focus further away from God, in lieu of self fulfillment & self-enlightenment, yet unbeknownst to the naïve & curious towards the dark forces of evil.


“Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Luke 21:36

Ever been to a Psychic fair? If not, please don’t! I’m not suggesting here by any means that you go. The point is, if you have went in the past you will know that it is far too common that you see a lot of Catholicism mixed in with the occult. Many self proclaimed physics today often don a garb of Catholic culture. It’s actually very common to see a familiar image of the Blessed Mother or Sacred Heart of Jesus in a physic or mediums shop or home… Or to see a set of Rosary beads neatly placed atop a dresser or inn table. That is, because the physic uses props to lure in potential clients. If a person see’s that the physic is Christian, and more so particularly Catholic they are more likely to embrace what is being sold to them and less likely to be suspicious if the little old lady behind the crystal ball comes across as pious, holy and in tune with God.



"In the year 1864 Lucifer, together with a great number of devils, will be loosed from hell; little by little they will abolish the faith, and that even in persons consecrated to God; they will so blind them, that without a special grace, these persons will take on the spirit of these evil angels; a number of religious houses will lose the faith entirely and cause many souls to be damned. Bad books will abound over the earth, and the spirits of darkness will everywhere spread universal relaxation in everything concerning God's service: they will have very great power over nature; there will be churches to serve these spirits."
Part of the La Salette message

But why Catholics? Well, first of all, Catholics are not inclusive to such seductions. Christianity as a whole tends to be the target audience here. However, the reality is that us Catholics are often more likely to be intrigued by the charm of superstition. We are also far more susceptible to the lies than many of our Protestant brethren who have learned Scripture quite well and know how to defend themselves against such deception. As Catholics, we really need to brush up on our Catechism and on Holy Scripture. New Orleans is a good example of this, as also, various places in Europe where like New Orleans, mixing Catholicism with folk lore superstitions and other heresies have been part and parcel of ones culture for many centuries. In many cases, it is simply that we have inherited the heresies through past generations.. For example, coming from Europe, I have a great-grandmother who was known to read tea leaves. In learning this through family discussions if I am not told that this was wrong, how can I possibly know the difference?

Many years ago, when I was away from the Church I was invited by a relative to visit a local physic. There was an advertisement in the local newspaper to have your palm read for $5.00.. Well, I thought, how could it hurt to check it out right? If I’m not satisfied I’ll have lost out on $5.00.. Not a big deal I thought.. So we went to this physics home and this lady asked us to enter through the backdoor which we did. We went around the side of the house to the back and the medium greeted us at the back door and brought us down into her basement… A finished basement. The room was decorated with Catholic pictures and statues, a statue of Our Lady on the table, one of St. Joseph in one corner of the room, a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on one wall, one of the Holy Family on another… and then there was the New Age stuff.. a Crystal ball on the same table the statue of Our Lady sat, tarot cards spread out, incense burning, and the lights drawn dim just to set the mood. Let me tell you, it made for a very creepy shrine! I remember making a comment about the very nice picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the medium replied, “Oh yes, I’m Catholic.”

The danger today is that many of the laity are not familiar enough with the doctrine of the Church to safeguard themselves against the influences of evil perceptions, lies and errors, which the Devil has set out to use to deter the faithful from being faithful. That doesn’t just go for the dangers of the New Age Movement.. That can also be said of all the various forms of heretical influences.. Outside of the liturgical offerings at Mass, often we fail to absorb the sacred Word because we simply go about our business and forget that we are Catholic hearts. Bearing this in mind, how can we be vigilant of such seductive errors that lie in wait to captivate our thoughts and grab our attention away from truth? How can we safeguard ourselves against heresy if we haven’t a clue what truth is in the first place? If all we do is spend one hour a week at Church, leaving the Godly and the spiritual behind us as we walk out the door after Mass, how can we expect to grow in faith, strong enough to be resistant against the influences of evil? If we are not even doing this, then truly we must ask ourselves; where does this leave me? The answer is that it leaves us stranded on a desert island without the Word of God, which is ultimately a true spiritual necessity of life… And on that island we stand alone vulnerable to attack and unable to defend ourselves.

The New Age Movement is attractive and appealing to begin with. It appears to offer what the people want… what they are looking for… that is, what they believe they really need. It further appears to offer what organized religion can not offer- two sides to the doctrine. That is, the freedom to dabble and engage in anything of the spiritual realm freely regardless of whether it is good or evil. Thus, it attempts to blind truth at the same time claiming to be truth. Baffling, isn’t it! In fact, the entire time that I was into the New Age Movement, I didn’t even know it. Set chocolate in front of a child just before dinner time and leave the child alone in the room can we expect that the child will be wise enough to know not to touch it?

“Dear children! Today again I am calling you to prayer to complete surrender to God. You know that I love you and am coming here out of love so I could show you the path to peace and salvation for your souls. I want you to obey me and not permit Satan to seduce you. Dear children, Satan is very strong and, therefore, I ask you to dedicate your prayers to me so that those who are under his influence can be saved. Give witness to your life. Sacrifice your lives for the salvation of the world. I am with you, and I am grateful to you, but in Heaven you shall receive the Father’s reward which He has promised to you. Therefore, dear children, do not be afraid. If you pray, Satan cannot injure you even a little bit because you are God’s children and He is watching over you. Pray and let the Rosary always be in your hand as a sign to Satan that you belong to me. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
Our Lady of Medjugorje, February 25, 1988.

The devil knows our weaknesses and God gives us freewill.. In between the two, there needs to be education… An education that safeguards us from the dangers of heresy. How do we achieve this? By remaining steadfast in faith.. Reading Scripture, seeking spiritual direction from someone solid in their faith, preferably a priest, attending Mass and paying attention during Mass, seeking good solid friends steadfast in their own faith, picking up the Catechism, apologetic books, and of course being prayerful at all times.. These and much more are the elements of our faith that will set a strong foundation of faith for each of us.. The Church can not be blamed for our own spiritual mess if as children we were taught the Catechism but as adults we rejected it. The onus is on us..