Section 22: The Changing Of The Word
The Word Of God Vs. The Lady Of Fatima's Words
Section 22: The Changing Of The Word
The Word Of God Vs. The Lady Of Fatima's Words
In previous chapters, we presented the words of the Lady of Fatima who visited earth in 1917 and brought messages "from heaven," and we compared her words with the words of Scripture. The Lady of the apparition calls herself "the mother of Jesus," but as far as we can determine, she never actually called herself Mary. Furthermore, her message belies that she is the mother of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Her words don't agree with God's. We believe that Scripture is the full written word of God, and God is who He says He is. We believe that Christian teaching must be rooted in that word. With Stuart P. Garver, editor of Christian Heritage, we also believe that
"Pluralism is inadmissible whenever it is at variance with what God has revealed in his Word. As a community of faith, the Christian Church is committed to a Word of which Jesus said, 'Not one jot nor one tittle shall fail.' Whether we like it or not, we must live with that Word."(1)
Because of the difference between the Lady's words and God's, many in the Church are confused about the gospel and the Father's plan. Yet we know God's word has not changed.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul recaps the true gospel in three verses:
"We wish you the favor and peace of God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, to rescue us from the present evil age, as our God and Father willed - to him be glory for endless ages, Amen" (Galatians 1:3-5, NAB).
God has a plan that reveals His will to save "all" men. The central point of this plan is a finished work - Jesus has died and has risen, and He is now enthroned in glory as Lord. The Holy Spirit has been sent to rescue us from the present evil age by indwelling all who believe in Christ. This is the gospel, the Good News of God. In the next two verses, Paul strongly assures the Galatians that there is only one gospel:
"I am amazed that you are so soon deserting him who called you in accord with his gracious design in Christ, and are going over to another gospel. But there is no other. Some who wish to alter the gospel of Christ must have confused you" (Galatians 1:6-7, NAB).
Paul sees that any alteration of the true gospel brings confusion to the Church, and it even leads some to desertion of the One who called them into His Kingdom. His ire is directed particularly at those who are confused by the adulterations; he is "amazed" at them. Paul has a true love for his people, as true as he knows the word of God to be. Because of his love, he has to bring them to see the cause of their confusion - they've listened to a "changed" word of truth and allowed it to change the center of their faith. This is the purpose of all false gospels: to rob Christians of the life we have in Jesus, to make something else the center, to break fellowship with the Father, to bring us to rely on someone else other than the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Not only did Paul insist that there was no other gospel, he emphasized that the one the Galatians had was intact. Later on in his letter, Paul describes his meeting with the apostles in Jerusalem, and he writes:
"I laid out for their scrutiny the gospel as I present it to the Gentiles . . . to make sure the course I was pursuing, or had pursued, was not useless" (Galatians 2:2, NAB).
The apostles accepted it as the true gospel, but,
"Certain false claimants to the title of brother were smuggled in; they wormed their way into the group to spy on the freedom we enjoy in Christ Jesus and thereby to make slaves of us, but we did not submit to them for a moment. We resisted so that the truth of the gospel might survive intact for your benefit. Those who were regarded as important, however (and it makes no difference to me how prominent they were - God plays no favorites), made me add nothing" (Galatians 2:4-6, NAB).
Paul insists that the gospel was intact in his day; he and the leaders at Jerusalem resisted the efforts of some "false brothers" to change it. Those same leaders made him add nothing to the Good News as he taught it. We can see here that the gospel as given is complete, offering one hope in Christ. The Lord wants His people of today to have the same attitude towards it. There can be exposition, explanation, definition and interpretation of Scripture but the gospel, the Kerygma, the foundation of our faith, must remain intact. All defining and interpreting, etc. must be made within the foundational boundaries of the truths expressed in Scripture itself. New revelations that subtly or blatantly offer another way to God and another means of salvation and union with Him (such as Fatima) have to be resisted by the body of Christ with all the fervor of Paul or Christ Himself. This resistance itself serves a good purpose for those walking in the midst of a divided Church. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul pointed out how division could be useful to the body of Christ:
"For, in the first place, when you assemble as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and I partly believe it, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized" (1 Corinthians 11:18-19, RSV).
The factions in the modern Church serve the same purpose. We believe we've called attention to one of these factions by setting down the intact gospel next to the words and actions of the Lady who appeared at Fatima. When each member of the living body of Christ knows the word of God and guards that revelation, then the existence of false gospels can be recognized and dealt with. We can anticipate some pain in these dealings, but it will be worth it. The only thing we possess that is worth any price is our life in Jesus, and He is calling us to let go of everything that stands in the way of that life.
The Church is involved in spiritual warfare, which is becoming meaner and more brutal each day. Unger states this, and its solution, in his book, "Biblical Demonology":
"Believers who would be spiritual and live victoriously face a tremendous conflict with Satan and demons, who vehemently oppose true spirituality and Christian usefulness (Eph. 6:11-12). The panoply of prayer (Eph. 6:10-20), faith (1 John 5:4), and the Word of God (Matt. 4:4,7,19), combined with a knowledge of Satanic devices (II Cor. 2:11), are the Christian's resource for triumph"(2).
Satan holds nothing sacred; if he can keep the Christian Church divided with a counterfeit saint, he will. If his supernatural power can draw God's people away from a radical walk with Jesus, he will use it. He's in a fight in which he knows he has little time. We must know it, too. And to the very depth of our being we must know who is Victor, and that our strength in battle is drawn from Jesus. Ephesians 6 lists the pieces of spiritual armor with which God has equipped us. One of these weapons is an eagerness to spread the Good News, the intact gospel of peace; another is the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. Paul write about one of the uses of these weapons in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (JB):
"We live in the flesh, of course, but the muscles that we fight with are not flesh. Our war is not fought with weapons of flesh, yet they are strong enough, in God's cause, to demolish fortresses. We demolish sophistries, and the arrogance that tries to resist the knowledge of God; every thought is our prisoner, captured to be brought into obedience to Christ."
Apparitions of the Lady who calls herself Mary, her spiritual phenomena, and the man-made structure which supports these apparitions are being raised as a fortress against the true knowledge of God in these last days.In Jesus, God has given us His word and His Spirit, effective weapons against the web of visions and tradition and new revelations that oppose the all-encompassing salvation of God in Christ. The message of Fatima has been backed into a corner by the two-edged sword of the Spirit; it is indeed "another gospel." Returning to Paul's letter to the Galatians, we read:
"For even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel not in accord with the one we delivered to you, let a curse be upon him! I repeat what I have just said: if anyone preaches a gospel to you other than the one you received, let a curse be upon him!" (Galatians 1:8-9, NAB).
In the book of Revelation, Jesus proclaims:
"I myself give witness to all who hear the prophetic words of this book. If anyone adds to these words, God will visit him with all the plagues described herein! If anyone takes from the words of this prophetic book, God will take away his share in the tree of life and the holy city described here!" (Revelation 22:18-19, NAB).
This warning against adding to or taking from the word of God doesn't apply to just the book of Revelation. It applies to the whole Bible, for we find God giving the same warning about His word to Israel in the Old Testament:
"In your observance of the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I enjoin upon you, you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it" (Deuteronomy 4:2, NAB).
Again, in Proverbs 30:5-6, we read:
"Every word of God is tested; . . Add nothing to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be exposed as a deceiver" (NAB).
The word of God is immutable, incapable of change - even by God Himself. His word is eternally perfect, a reflection of His own eternal perfection; if it were anything else, it would reflect less of a god. The truth contained in Scripture existed before the first word was ever written, and it will continue as truth to the end. God jealously guards His word against change for the sake of His own integrity, and for the sake of His people who rely on that word. We can appreciate the gravity of the matter by taking note of the severe punishments in store for anyone who would change a word of Scripture: "let a curse be upon him," "God will visit him with all the plagues described herein," "God will take away his share in the tree of life and the holy city," and the person changing it will be "exposed as a deceiver."
When applied to the message given at Fatima, the implications of this are great. The Lady who appeared there made false statements and unscriptural promises. Her words constitute another way to union with God, another means of attaining salvation, another plan for the history of mankind, another gospel. Her words show her to be the deceiver that the children's mothers initially opposed. Surely, the Lady is not Mary, the woman who desired to live in accord with God's word (Luke 1:38). The Mary who gave instructions to "do whatever he tells you" (John 2:5, NAB) could never be associated with a message which brings upon its source the curses and plagues described in Scripture.
In the same vein, the person referred to as "my son" by the Lady in the apparitions can't possibly be Jesus. The Jesus Christ of the gospel, the One who is "faithful and true, the faithful witness of God" certainly didn't send an apparition to propagate a false gospel. Instead, He sent the Holy Spirit (as He said He would), whose role as Advocate and Comforter, Giver of the knowledge of God in Christ, is falsely usurped by the bearer of the image of Fatima. As for God the Father, who supports the true word of Scripture with the truth of His very being, we can say that the words of the Lady of Fatima have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.
If it has touched our lives, it is vital that we deal with the confusion created by the presence of "Fatima's gospel." This confusion exists because the false gospel is propagated by another spirit introducing another message that leads to another Jesus. Old Testament Israel experienced this same confusion. In Jeremiah 7:16-20, the Lord describes the Israelites' offerings to a goddess called the queen of heaven, and the tragic result of their turning to the creature and away from Him. Verse 19 reads:
"Is it I whom they hurt, says the Lord; is it not rather themselves, to their own confusion?" (NAB).
God doesn't want confusion in His people. He has given us a knowledge of His way in Scripture, and only those who stray from it become confused. But by looking back along the way they came, they can recognize the divergent path taken and locate the true one.
Jesus extends an invitation to each of His people who feel the burden of confusion:
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28, RSV).
Whether one needs to know the truth, lacks the strength to make a decision, or desires the will to do His will, Jesus says, "Come to me." Then the Holy Spirit will free and teach and use those who come. The time is short; God needs His people to be free in Him so that we can proclaim to all people the fullness of the gospel of Jesus. he wants to unravel the cords of confusion in the hearts of those He loves. He wants us to stand in His Word, in His Name, in His Spirit, and in His Truth, so we will be His Church. At Calvary, God raised His voice for the salvation of the world, and the word he said was, "Jesus!" Our one Shepherd is speaking with one voice by one Spirit to bring together one flock under the one Name for the purpose of the One Triune God - for our good and His glory.
(1) Unger, "Demons in the World Today," citing Garver, p. 158.
(2) Unger, "Biblical Demonology," p. 101.
