PROMISE KEEPERS CATHOLICS HONOR MARY AS SPOUSE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

PROMISE KEEPERS CATHOLICS HONOR MARY AS SPOUSE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

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June 10, 1997 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The June 1997 issue of New Covenant magazine features an article by Catholic priest Michael Scanlan entitled "Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit: What God Has Joined Should Remain Joined in Our Hearts." New Covenant is a charismatic Roman Catholic publication which promotes charismatic experiences and traditional Catholic doctrines.

Scanlan is the head of the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. Since 1995 Promise Keepers representatives have been featured at the Men's Conferences held at this institution. The July 23, 1995, issue of Today's Catholic contained an article entitled "Promise Keepers Christian crusade draws Catholic men." The paper reported that in July 1995, an official Promise Keepers Leadership Seminar was conducted at the Catholic Franciscan University. More than 600 Catholic men participated. The meeting concluded with a Catholic mass led by the school's president, priest Michael Scanlon.

Promise Keepers representatives Dale Schlafer and Glenn Wagner spoke at the Franciscan University in 1996. The Men's Conference at the Franciscan University in 1997 featured Mike Timmis, a Roman Catholic attorney who is on the Promise Keepers Board of Directors.

It is evident that Promise Keepers leaders have a warm, uncritical relationship with Priest Michael Scanlan and with the Franciscan University. What does Scanlan believe? Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney says that they want to join hands with every man who "loves Jesus." What "Jesus" is exalted on the campus of the Franciscan University? What spirit do they follow? This brings us to the article on "Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit." Consider the following amazing excerpt:

"Today, I sense a new oneness, or completion, in my spiritual life AS I SEEK TO JOIN MARY AND THE HOLY SPIRIT IN MY PRAYER. I've also seen this new fullness and vitality flow into student groups on our campus and into prayer groups as they've celebrated THE SPOUSAL UNITY OF OUR LADY AND THE HOLY SPIRIT....

"Beginning with the Miraculous Medal apparitions at Rue de Bac in Paris and continuing through this century, Our Lady has appeared to countless people throughout the world. Her apparitions at Lourdes and Fatima have received the highest Church approval, but Beauraing, Banneux, Knox, Akita, Managua, Amsterdam, La Salette and Kibeho have all been endorsed by their local bishops. ...

"[Saint Maximilian Kolbe's] secret was an intimate relationship with the 'Immaculata' in the power of the Holy Spirit. ... The saint starts with Mary's revelation of her identity to Bernadette at Lourdes: 'I am the Immaculate Conception.' Kolbe points out that Mary didn't say, 'I WAS immaculately conceived,' as if it were a past event and she just wanted to reinforce the fact of HER SINLESS CONCEPTION. Mary identifies herself as the Immaculate Conception in the present tense, Kolbe says, to show that, FROM HER CONCEPTION FORWARD, HER SPIRIT HAS BEEN TOTALLY UNITED AND TOTALLY SUBJECTED TO THE HOLY SPIRIT.

"Thus MARY BECAME THE SPOUSE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WHEN SHE WAS CONCEIVED, not years later when she gave her consent to the angel Gabriel and conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. ...

"Kolbe maintains that THIS SPOUSAL UNION IS SUCH THAT YOU CAN'T HAVE ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER: THE HOLY SPIRIT IS PRESENT WHENEVER MARY IS PRESENT, AND HE MAKES OUR LADY PRESENT WHEREVER AND WHENEVER HE ACTS. I don't claim to fully understand this mysterious unity, but I KNOW THAT ANY ATTEMPT TO DIVORCE MARY AND THE HOLY SPIRIT IMPOVERISHES US SPIRITUALLY. It's only to the extent to which Mary and the Holy Spirit are together in our hearts, minds and spirits that we can experience the power and grace of their spousal union....

"I pray the De Montfort Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary every morning. ... I SPECIFICALLY INVITE OUR LADY, MY MOTHER AND QUEEN, TO OVERSEE, GUIDE AND PROTECT MY DAY, CONSECRATING THE VALUE OF ALL I DO TO HER. At the same time, I invite the Holy Spirit to guide, empower, enlighten and inspire my day.

"Since I've started consciously uniting Mary and the Holy Spirit, I have experienced new blessings of infused prayer and the presence of the Lord Jesus and the Father. ... Both Mary and the Holy spirit are given to us and for us as advocates. Both Mary and the Holy Spirit serve to mediate grace in our lives" (Michael Scanlan, "Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit," New Covenant, June 1997, pp. 16-18).

My friends, this is absolute blasphemy. Nowhere in the Scriptures is Mary exalted this way. Nowhere do we read in the Bible that Mary was immaculately conceived. She is nowhere called the Mother of God or the Queen of Heaven or the co-redemptress with Christ. Nowhere are we told that she ascended up bodily into Heaven. Not one time do we find the Apostles or early Christians praying to her. None of the Apostolic epistles to the churches even mention her. Everything Scanlan says about Mary is based on human thinking apart from divine revelation, and the Mary that he consecrates his life to exists only in his imagination.

The Franciscan University sponsors annual "Defending the Faith" conferences, in which Catholic dogma is upheld and defended with great boldness. One conference in 1996 was dedicated to "Mary as spouse of the Holy Spirit." The announcement said, "Rediscover Mary's prophetic role through her recent apparitions." The cover of the 1997 issue of the Franciscan University Summer Conference Magazine features this prayer by President Scanlan: "With renewed fervor, we reconsecrate our lives and our work to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary."

The Catholicism of the Franciscan University is even more dangerous than traditional Catholicism because its adoption of charismatic experience has given it a semblance of biblical piety and spiritual fervor.

Priest Michael Scanlan and his school are participants in Promise Keepers, and have been since 1995. Promise Keepers claims to preach the true Gospel, but it refuses to expose false gospels and it walks hand-in-hand with men who preach false gospels.

"Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds" (2 John 9-11).