Penciled Prayers: A Prayer for Roman Catholics

"As [Jesus] said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, 'Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!' But he said, 'Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!'"

Luke 11:27-28

Beloved Father, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit--the one God who is sovereign and good: You alone are worthy of praise, honor, adoration, and worship. To give such love and attention to anyone or anything else is corrupt, idolatrous, and false worship. Such behavior is blasphemous to the highest degree. Holy Spirit, please reveal to me through conscience, counsel, and the God-breathed Word if, when, and where I have fallen prey to such behavior or even the thought of it. What, if anything, am I prone, even for a moment, to worship before and above You? Search my heart, O God, and see if there is any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. Grant me the good and kind gift of repentance, Lord, for Your glory and for Your name's sake.

Father, as Mahria and I read Your Word together, the scene in Luke 11 jumped out at me. This was not the first time. A woman, upon hearing Your teaching, Lord Jesus, about how unclean spirits go in and out of unsaved people and their homes turns, to You and praises the womb and the nursing breasts of the woman who carried You, gave physical birth to You, and raised You, O glorious incarnate One. Father, I understand there is no reason for me to doubt her sincerity. I have no reason to see her spontaneous response to the great wisdom with which You spoke, as idolatrous. You levied no such accusation against her. So, why would I?

Yet, Lord Jesus, while You affirmed the happiness of Mary in giving birth to You, the God-Man, at the same time You corrected her by reminding her of how vastly more blessed than Mary are those who hear Your Word and keep it.

How far people have fallen, Lord, from the day a humble woman in a crowd cried out to You, to what we see, today--a religion of hundreds of millions of adherents who blasphemously venerate the blessed and righteous woman whom Your Father allowed to give birth to the incarnate, holy, only Son of God. O Lord, I pray for the day when Roman Catholics en masse turn their backs on Vatican City, take their eyes off Mary, and turn their gaze to You--the author and perfecter of real faith.

I pray for the day, Lord, when every picture of Mary, every statue, every graven image made in the likeness of this precious woman who was so greatly and graciously blessed, will be removed from every church, every school, and every home. I pray for the day when never again will be heard the blasphemous prayer to a blessed woman who cannot hear, cannot intercede. I pray for the day when every rosary (a religious rabbit's foot) will be removed from around every neck and every rear view mirror.

Father, I pray that never again will idolatrous, superstitious, and naive people flock to trees, tomatoes, grilled cheese sandwiches, statues, bathroom windows, or any other alleged location of a Marian apparition to worship a woman who has been dead, never to return, for more than 1,900 years.

Father, by faith, I believe Mary is in Your presence, worshiping at your feet. I would never mock or malign her, for I believe she is my sister in Christ. But I am angry. I am angry with a false religion and centuries of false teachers, priest, and popes (some, the most wicked men who ever walked the face of the earth) that have led millions and millions of people to hell--demonically holding the proverbial gates of hell open as people enter.

Lord, please extend the gifts of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone to Roman Catholics. Please cause them to be born-again. Save Roman Catholic people while destroying their religious system. Let not two stones of this demonic ideology be left standing, one on top of another. Make desolate the den of robbers known as Vatican City and rebuild it as a true house of prayer where Jesus Christ alone is worshiped.

O Lord, I know You will one-day make all things new, that You will destroy and rebuild. I know the day is coming when the blasphemous "isms" of our day will no longer exist. Nothing unholy will exist. Today, in the meantime, Father, please allow Roman Catholics to repent and believe the true gospel--Your gospel, and not the false gospel of the Roman Catholic Church. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.