Prepare-for-War

began then to have doubts as to whether these manifes tations might be from the devil, who was seeking by these means to make me lose my soul ... What anguish I felt! I made known my doubts to my cousins. [Who also saw the spirit manifest]"

"No, it's not the devil!" replied Jacinta, "not at all!"

They say that the devil is very ugly and that he's down under the ground in hell. But that Lady is so beautiful, and we saw her go up to heaven!" "The Lord made use of this to allay somewhat the doubts I had ... This was the day on which Our Lady [Mary] deigned to reveal to us the Secret. After that, to revive my flagging fervor, she said to us: ·sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times to Jesus, especially whenever you make some sacrifice: 0 Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.' Thanks to our good Lord, this apparition dispelled the clouds from my soul and my peace was restored." (Fatima in Lucia's Own Words, edited by Fr. Louis Kondor, SVD., The Ravengate Press, 1976, pp. 69-71.)

How sad this is! Lucia had doubts as to whether the spirit that appeared to her and her two cousins might actually be a demon spirit instead of the true Mary of the Bible. If only the priest and the people had read the Bible, they could have quickly discerned and tested this spirit. The only grounds on which they accepted this demon as being from the Lord was because it wasn't "ugly" and it "went up into heaven." But God's word tells us that demons and Satan can manifest as "angels of light," (2 Corinthians 11: 14) and that Satan is the "prince and power of the air." (Ephesians 6:12, Ephesians 2:2) Satan is not yet limited to Hell. Also, the final statement by the demon telling Lucia and her cousins to sacrifice for Jesus and to make reparation (payment of damages) for the "sins committed against the Immaculate (sinless) Heart of Mary" is completely against scripture. If they had read the Bible they would have immediately known that this statement completely contradicts the principles set forth in God's word, and therefore, were not of a Godly nature, but were spoken by a demon.

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