Mary and anti-Catholic bigotry

Pastor Gino Jennings and statue of Mary, sorry, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus

I just came across a shocking but not surprising video by Pastor Gino Jennings of the First Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This video was made in the year 2003. It’s quite old and boring too

Let’s begin by saying a Hail Mary to his soul before I continue.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of death. Amen.

This is a statue of Mary:

Statue of Mary

This is a statue of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus:

Statue of St Therese of the Child Jesus

Now that you’ve seen the obvious differences let’s watch the video now:

He quoted 2 Chronicles to justify his case for smashing the statue of Mary (sorry St. Therese)

And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.  (2 Chronicles 34:4 KJV)

As you can see above, he wrenches Scripture out of context. But for his congregation, he is a hero. Interesting. There is a huge difference between idol and sacred images.

Consider the Ark of the Covenant. Is it an idol or not?

Replica of the Ark of the Covenant

It seems ignorance is indeed bliss to some. Well, let’s continue.

According to the Bible, when Moses went up to Mount Sinai, to receive the law, the people of Israel rose against Aaron. They  said:

And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. (Exodus 32:1-4 KJV)

It is the making of graven images and the worshiping of these images as a god which God forbids.

Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. (Deuteronomy 4:15-19 KJV)

The ten commandments affirm that God forbids the worship of graven images as a god.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; (Exodus 20:4-5 KJV)

Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:4 KJV)

Thou shalt have none other gods before me. Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, (Deuteronomy 5:7-9 KJV)

We have seen from the context of the above Bible passages that the creature should not be worshiped instead of the Creator. Let us now see passages in the Bible where the Living God commands the making of images. The first instance is the making of the Ark of the Covenant. Here, God said to Moses,

And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. (Exodus 25:17-21 KJV emphasis mine)

Again, God commands the making of bronze serpent.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. (Numbers 21:8-9 KJV emphasis mine)

I’ll get back to this pastor soon.

You can get more Catholic perspective on a similar issue I made concerning the Grand papa of anti-Catholicism by clicking the image below. God bless you. Please say a prayer for me too. Thank you.

GADEL vs Jack Chick - Why is Mary crying?

“Jesus is your friend. The Friend. With a human heart, like yours. With loving eyes that wept for Lazarus. And he loves you as much as he loved Lazarus.” Saint Josemaría Escrivá — Godwin Delali Adadzie is a Catholic living in Ghana, West Africa. A former smoker (Fish smoker now a Vegetarian) but still loves to drink a lot (of water). He attempts to blog at the Fair (HubBlogs with GADEL), the Good (Blessed Virgin our Mother Mary Immaculate), the Bad (GADEL Said What?) and the Ugly (Catholic Fiction: Responding to Myths & Half-Truths)

Tags: anti-Catholicism, Apologetics, Blessed Virgin Mary, Pastor Gino Jennings, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin Mary

Category: Mary, Uncategorized