Expert: Elder Greg Madden - 4/1/2007

Question
  I wanted to understand Catholicism, so I had 13 appointments with a young
priest -- armed with questions from a ministry to Catholics ('Mission To
Catholics' in SanDiego - headed by former priest Bart Brewer) and my BIBLE!  
   My first question to you would be, "IF the religion known as 'Cism' were in
TRUTH a 'WOLF-in-Sheep's Clothing' -- would you want to know?
   You feel Cism is just 'BACKSLIDDEN'?  Well, upon confronting him with the
FACT that the ONLY queen of heaven in the BIBLE is the MOTHER of BAAL in
Jeremiah 7:18 and 44:17-25 -- he  FINALLY  told me of "An ancient PAGAN
MYTH about an ANGRY young GOD who Never Refused a request of His much
more loving, compassionate, merciful and forgiving MOTHER -- the queen of
heaven (aka 'mother of god')!!
  I thanked the priest for telling me that, and then Immediately asked: "But
What does that have to do with Cism?"
  He looked down in silence, seemingly searching for a credible answer.  
Then, after a several second pause he looked up and sheepishly said, "When
the ancient ROMAN Empire conquered the surrounding PAGAN nations, since
they were all illiterate  WE  couldn't give them BIBLEs to read.  So,  WE  just
gave all their  PAGAN  IDOLs  and  TRADITIONs  'Christian Names.'
  Then, obviously Very Uncomfortable with Finally speaking the TRUTH, he
Timidly  added, "Thereby  WE  made  Whole  Nations  'Christian'  
Overnight!???"
  Later on I asked him about the  INQUISITION,  and he  FEIGNED   REMORSE,
and  APOLOGETICALLY  said,  "OH,  That  Was  A  BLACK  Mark  On  Our  
CHURCH's  HISTORY!!  WHAT  THEY  DID  To  Those  8 to 10  people!!"
  So  When  I  Immediately  Shot  Back,  "I have read Figures as HIGH as  
"OVER  100  MILLION  TORTURED  And  KILLED!",  he  Quickly  came  back  
with,  "I'm  SURE  It  Was  CLOSER  To  MY  Figure!!"
  To which I Immediately Came Back With,  "How  Can  You  Say  '8 to 10',
when upon CONTRADICTORY Evidence, you are willing to  ADMIT  to:
'Something LESS than  50  MILLION!!!???"
  He  Again  looked down, and soon said something I could Not understand.
  After the Third time I asked him to repeat himself, I Finally heard his  
Whisper  --  "I  was  using  a  MENTAL  RESERVATION."
  So when I asked him what that meant he whispered, "CONCEALING the
TRUTH  From  Someone  Who  Has  NO  Right  To  KNOW." (Which Again, I did
Not hear till the Third time he whispered it!!)
  That is WHY  the  ONLY  Way  to be SURE a PRIEST  is  TELLING  the  TRUTH  
is  to  VERIFY  it  by  SCRIPTURE!!
  His  First  CONFESSION  to me  was  in regards to the question of "WHY  
Catholics  call  MARY  the  Queen of Heaven, when the ONLY QoH is in the
OT!"
  He gave me all kinds of Logical Reasons why MARY  Deserved those Lofty
Titles!  BUT When I Repetedly  brought him back to the  TRUTH  in the  WORD  
of  GOD,  he finally started telling me of  "An ancient PAGAN MYTH about an
Angry Young GOD who could Never Refuse a Request of  HIS  MOTHER."  
  And I just kept listening as the story unfolded.
  (I'll finish later, provided this gets through!)

In HIS Service,

Mark  

Answer
Mark,

Thank you for writing and sharing your experience. I have heard the ideas that you have mentioned before, but I have not found any verification. Mark, would you mind giving me the site's that would confirm these things?

Thanks,
Elder Greg Madden