The fanfare of Jubilee Year 2000 continued when on May 13 Pope John Paul II gave his homily at the occasion of the beatification ceremony for Francisco and Jacinta Marto at Fátima, Portugal. (For those unfamiliar with Fátima, in 1917 a vision claiming to be Mary appeared to three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal.) What John Paul II has done, perhaps inadvertently, through his homily is to cause two very significant issues to rise to the surface regarding "Marian devotion": first, the apparition's message concerning salvation, and second, how the Pope has explained the same message.
It is one thing to recount an historical event. It is another thing entirely for a man who claims to be God's infallible teaching authority on earth blatantly to endorse a lying wonder. Does papal teaching such as this not attempt to rob God of His glory? Notwithstanding the Pope's proclamation, the All Holy God shows forth the magnificent splendor of His justice in the Lord Jesus Christ's redemptive work.
"Union with the Passion of Christ...Suffering, a consequence of original sin, acquires a new meaning; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus" (1521).
Although the Pope has quoted Colossians 1:24 in relation to Jacinta, he clearly has misused that text by applying it to justification¾to the eternal damnation of the very ones he purportedly is infallibly teaching. Out of a darkened understanding comes his phrase, "offering herself heroically as a victim for sinners." The whole concept of offering oneself as a "victim for sinners" is a unique Roman Catholic concept, presupposing that the person is somehow good. This teaching is not in the Bible.
In contrast, when Christ died on the cross, He exclaimed, "It is finished." The simple truth of Scripture is that "there is no more offering for sin"¾for Christ is the one and only Lamb of God.
Pure blasphemy! The most serious issue in all matters of faith is the Gospel. The Apostle Paul insisted, "As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:9). The children at Fátima persisted in the message that people needed to increase the level of their sacrifices since "…many souls go to hell because they have no one to sacrifice and pray for them." This stands in direct contradiction to the teaching in Hebrews that plainly states that Christ's sacrifice on the cross was the first, last, and only meritorious sacrifice for the remission of sins.
Marian devotion was one of many items that ECT II declared requires "further and urgent exploration." This is now a signal requirement, particularly in the light of Pope John Paul II's homily. Thus, the Evangelical ECT document signatories need to understand very clearly what the Pope actually meant when he said in his homily that these children were offering themselves as victims for sinners, for such a belief is part and parcel of Marian devotion, to which the Pope's homily gives irrefutable evidence.
What "further and urgent exploration" has been done by any Evangelical signatories to the ECT documents on the teachings of John Paul II on May 13 when he proclaimed, "The message of Fátima is a call to conversion," and that, "According to the divine plan, 'a woman clothed with the sun' (Rev 12: 1) came down from heaven to this earth to visit the privileged children of the Father"? Where do J. I. Packer, Timothy George, T. M. Moore, Charles Colson and other purported Evangelicals stand on their commitment to "urgent exploration"? These same men have endorsed a false gospel message in the ECT documents, and they have not repented of this grave heresy. The Roman Catholic signatories through the person of the Pope have made the RCC position crystal clear. They must be answered, either for or against, for there is no middle ground.
John Paul II had received messages from "Mary." This acceptance of the "Mary" of the apparitions to be the Mary of the Bible changes the whole significance of what has happened on May 13. The Roman Catholic Church has already declared much in its official teaching regarding Mary. Thus, the same pope teaches, "the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix." What is so serious regarding these titles is the fact that in the Bible the Comforter, i.e., the Helper who was sent to take the Lord's place within the believer, is the Holy Spirit. He abides with the believer forever (John 14:16). He brings to mind Christ's words (John 14:26). He testifies not to Himself but to Christ (John 15:26). He guides believers into all truth (John 16:13). Truly the Holy Spirit is another Advocate, a divine Helper, the Comforter, and the Spirit of Truth. The seriousness of teaching that these divine roles of the Holy Spirit, and that of Christ Jesus as sole mediator, belong to "Mary" is that such teaching denigrates the divine Persons of the Lord Christ Jesus and of the Holy Spirit. This is grave heresy.
The same pope also proclaimed, "By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the 'Mother of Mercy,' the All Holy One." "From the [Roman Catholic] Church he learns the example of holiness and recognizes its model and source in the all-holy Virgin Mary." Biblically, the holiness of God is the essential characteristic of God that is expressed in all His attributes. To attempt to address a creature as the "All Holy One" is consummate blasphemy and idolatry. "Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou only art Holy: for all nations shall come and worship before Thee..." There are many other heresies in Rome's teaching about Mary. The basic assumption of the Pope, that the Mary of their dogma and the Mary of the apparitions are one, doubles, as it were, the deceptiveness that has come to light.
Since both the Gospel of salvation and the divine attributes of God are at stake, and the deception of millions, a decisive point is reached for true Christians. They must bear witness to the Lord, His Gospel, and the First and Second Commandments by calling these things what they are: "APOSTASY." To do otherwise is to deny the Lord our Savior and His commandments.
We pled with the Evangelical signatories to the ECT documents to publish their "further and urgent exploration" regarding Marian devotion in the light of the high profile May 13 beatification celebration at Fátima. The joint Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) in May 1999 issued a statement "recognizing the Pope as the overall authority in the Christian World" and described him as "a gift to be received by all Churches." How do the delegates of the Anglican Church worldwide, and all those who have signed on to ARCIC, assess the Pope's endorsement of the apparitions of Mary at Fátima?
 Ephesians 1:6; Colossians 2:10, 3:3; II Peter 1:1; Psalm 32:2, 71:15-16, 130:3; Isaiah 45:24-25, 54:17, 61:10; Jeremiah 23:6, 33:16, 51:10; Daniel 9:24; Luke 18:14; Romans 1:17, 3:21-22, 4:6, 11, 5:18-19; I Corinthians 1:30; II Corinthians 5:21and elsewhere.
 Code of Canon Law Latin-English ed. Canon Law Society of America, 1983 Can. 749, Sec. 1.