Faith

Meet the ‘Satanic’ Saint Whose Worship Among Drug Dealers, Criminals — and Law-Abiding Citizens — Is on the Rise

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (TheBlaze/AP) — To some, it’s a disturbing pattern — and to others, it’s simply increased recognition of a deserving symbol. A follower in New Orleans built a public shrine in her honor. An actor in Albuquerque credits her with helping him land a role on the TV show “Breaking Bad.” She turns up routinely along the U.S.-Mexico border at safe houses, and is sighted on dashboards of cars used to smuggle methamphetamine through the southwest desert.

Popular in Mexico, and sometimes linked to the illicit drug trade, the skeleton saint known as La Santa Muerte in recent years has found a robust and diverse following north of the border: immigrant small business owners, artists, gay activists and the poor, among others – many of them non-Latinos and not all involved with organized religion.

Clad in a black nun’s robe and holding a scythe in one hand, Santa Muerte appeals to people seeking all manner of otherworldly help: from fending off wrongdoing and carrying out vengeance to stopping lovers from cheating and landing better jobs. And others seek her protection for their drug shipments and to ward off law enforcement.

Worship of a Santa Muerte Is on the Rise in the United States

in this Feb. 13, 2013 photo, statues of La Santa Muerte are shown at the Masks y Mas art store in Albuquerque, N.M. La Santa Muerte, an underworld saint most recently associated with the violent drug trade in Mexico, now is spreading throughout the U.S. among a new group of followers ranging from immigrant small business owners to artists and gay activists. Credit: AP 

“Her growth in the United States has been extraordinary,” said Andrew Chesnut, author of “Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint” and the Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. “Because you can ask her for anything, she has mass appeal and is now gaining a diverse group of followers throughout the country. She’s the ultimate multi-tasker.”

Exact numbers of her followers are impossible to determine, but they are clearly growing, Chestnut said.

The saint is especially popular among Mexican-American Catholics, rivaling that of St. Jude and La Virgen de Guadalupe as a favorite for miracle requests, even as the Catholic Church in Mexico denounces Santa Muerte as satanic, experts say.

Her image has been used on prayers cards citing vengeance and protection, which are sometimes found at scenes of massacred bodies and on shipments of drugs.

U.S. Marshal Robert Almonte in West Texas said he has testified about La Santa Muerte in at least five drug trafficking cases where her image aided prosecutors with convictions. Last year, Almonte testified that a Santa Muerte statue prayer card, found with a kilogram of methamphetamine in a couple’s car in New Mexico, were “tools of the trade” for drug traffickers to protect them from law enforcement. The testimony was used to help convict the couple of drug trafficking.

Almonte has visited shrines throughout Mexico, and given workshops to law enforcement agencies on the cult of the saint.

“Criminals pray to La Santa Muerte to protect them from law enforcement,” Almonte said. “But there are good people who pray to her who aren’t involved in any criminal activity so we have to be careful.”

Worship of a Santa Muerte Is on the Rise in the United States

in this Feb. 13, 2013 photo, statues of La Santa Muerte are shown at the Masks y Mas art store in Albuquerque, N.M. La Santa Muerte, an underworld saint most recently associated with the violent drug trade in Mexico, now is spreading throughout the U.S. among a new group of followers ranging from immigrant small business owners to artists and gay activists. In addition to showing up at drug crime scenes, the once-underground icon has been spotted on passion candles in Richmond, Va. grocery stores. Credit: AP 

Devotees say La Santa Muerte has helped them find love, find better jobs and launch careers.

Gregory Beasley Jr., 35, believes he landed acting roles on “Breaking Bad” and the 2008 movie “Linewatch” after a traditional Mexican-American healer introduced him to La Santa Muerte.

“All my success … I owe to her,” he said. “She cleansed me and showed me the way.”

Some devotees pray to the saint by building altars and offering votive candles, fruits, tequila, cigarettes – even lines of cocaine in some cases – in exchange for wishes, Chesnut said. A red La Santa Muerte, her best-selling image, helps in matters of love. Gold ones aid with employment and white ones give protection. Meanwhile, a black Santa Muerte can provide vengeance.

“She’s my queen,” said Arely Vazquez Gonzalez, a Mexican immigrant and transgender woman who oversees a large altar inside her Queens, New York apartment. Against one wall of her bedroom altar is a tall, sitting Santa Muerte statue in a black dress surrounded by offerings of tequila.

Gonzalez, who sports a tattoo of La Santa Muerte on her back, holds an annual event in August in the saint’s honor, with mariachis and a feast.

“All I have to do I ask for her guidance and she provides me with what I need,” she said.

The origins of La Santa Muerte are unclear. Some followers say she is an incarnation of an Aztec goddess of death who ruled the underworld. Some scholars say she originated in medieval Spain through the image of La Parca, a female Grim Reaper, who was used by friars for the later evangelization of indigenous populations in the Americas.

For decades, though, La Santa Muerte remained an underground figure in isolated regions of Mexico and served largely as an unofficial Catholic saint that women called upon to help with cheating spouses, Chestnut said.

Worship of a Santa Muerte Is on the Rise in the United States

In this Feb. 12, 2013 photo, a statue of La Sante Muerte from an altar run by Arely Vazquez Gonzalez, a Mexican immigrant and transgender woman, is shown at inside a Queens, NY apartment. Credit: AP

It wasn’t until 2001 when a devotee unveiled a public La Santa Muerte shrine in Mexico City that followers in greater numbers began to display their devotion for helping them with relationships and loved ones in prison. Economic uncertainty and a violent drug war against cartels that has claimed an estimated 40,000 lives also are credited for La Santa Muerte’s growth.

Oscar Hagelsieb, assistant special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso, said agents have found that most members of the Gulf and Zeta Cartels mainly pray to Santa Muerte while those from the Sinaloa and Sonora Cartels honor folk saint Jesus Malverde.

“Altars are very intricate. We have found some with food and others with blood from animals,” Hagelsieb said.

The association with cartels and denunciations by some priests has resulted in some non-devotees destroying makeshift roadside altars. Recently, assailants smashed a life-size statue of La Santa Muerte in a South Texas cemetery. Police in Pasadena, Calif. recently found human bones at a home with a Santa Muerte altar outside. The owners say they bought the bones online.

But the vast majority of devotees aren’t crooks.

Worship of a Santa Muerte Is on the Rise in the United States

In this Feb. 12, 2013 photo, Arely Vazquez Gonzalez, a Mexican immigrant and transgender woman, is shown with her alter to La Sante Muerte at her Queens, NY apartment. La Santa Muerte, an underworld saint most recently associated with the violent drug trade in Mexico, now is spreading throughout the U.S. among a new group of followers ranging from immigrant small business owners to artists and gay activists. Credit: AP 

Kiko Torres, owner of the Masks y Mas art store in Albuquerque, said sales of La Santa Muerte statues, incense, and oils have skyrocketed in recent months.

“Most people who buy the stuff are regular people who just recently found out about her,” he said. “Some probably have no idea about her connection to that other world.”

One such devotee is Steven Bragg, 36, who said he was introduced to La Santa Muerte in 2001 and began praying to her for a variety of different reasons, including a plea for a life companion. Recently, the New Orleans man built a public chapel to her and holds rosary services that attract around a dozen people.

He also just formed a nonprofit to support the “New Orleans Chapel of the Santisima Muerte,” the official name of his public altar.

“It’s something I decided to do after all that La Santa Muerte has provided,” Bragg said. “She has never failed me.”

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Comments (114)

  • badge02812
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 10:24am

    Looks like The Holy Roman Empire has started the selection process for the next Pope!

    Report this comment

    badge02812  
  • kadster01
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 10:05am

    LOL! That’s an awfully long article for a load of superstitious horse crap.

    Report this comment

    kadster01  
    • DavidOsborne
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 10:36am

      This IS deep spiritual warfare my friend.. while those who “practice” this IDOLATRY may not realize it.. the roots are deep and very REAL..

      Report this comment

      DavidOsborne  
    • antitheism
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 1:10pm

      The same can be said of xianity. Point is, neither religions have any evidence to back up their ridiculous claims.

      Report this comment

      antitheism  
    • Exidor
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:29pm

      You might as well shake a bag of chicken bones at the moon.

      lol

      Report this comment

      Exidor  
  • shorelineliz
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 9:58am

    This is Mexican voodoo sh%t. Crazy A$$ Mexicans. These people are straight up primitive, uneducated and unenlightened and they are all the crazy low class people who voted for Obama.

    Report this comment

    shorelineliz  
    • Walther_9mm
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 10:27am

      But have you had the fajitas and tacos!!

      Report this comment

      Walther_9mm  
    • DeavonReye
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 10:49am

      I DO love a taste enchilada. Cheese, chicken, . . . either one. But yeah, these people are bat sh.. crazy!

      Report this comment

      DeavonReye  
    • Toltepeceno
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 4:15pm

      This represents a very small fraction of the mexican people you ignorant redneck.

      Report this comment

      Toltepeceno  
    • glennpatstu
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 5:55pm

      You, on the other hand, sound so intelligent. I mean, one of your sentences didn’t even have a curse word in it! Good for you!

      Report this comment

      glennpatstu  
  • MotoLeo2
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 9:49am

    Kinda remindes me of Alan Colmes….

    Report this comment

    MotoLeo2  
  • DavidOsborne
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 9:38am

    PLEASE….Forward this story to your local Police Chief and/or Sheriff and ask them to do a PSA on this topic.. I am sure they are already familiar with the connection between this IDOL and the Anti-2nd Ammendment crown, Drug Cartels, Occult…etc..etc… Many parents out there have no idea that their KIDS are into this stuff already and the kids KNOW that their parents really have no clue what it really means until it is way too late… WAKE UP AMERICA!

    Report this comment

    DavidOsborne  
  • Remember_Benghazi
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 9:37am

    Religious people can be made to believe just about anything.

    Report this comment

    Remember_Benghazi  
    • Brentley
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 11:58am

      I think you have a point..just because a person is “religious” does not mean they will get to heaven. CHRIST is the only way to get to heaving.
      This idol is creepy, it is definitely SATANIC in Nature. Stay completely away from or be consumed.
      John 3:16 is the only way to get to heaven.
      “What a wonderful savior is JESUS MY LORD what a Wonderful Savior to me. Those are the words to a wonderful hymn that sums it all up.

      Report this comment

      Brentley  
  • destrecht
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 9:32am

    The Holy Death? WTF?!?

    Report this comment

    destrecht  
  • truemedia
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 9:09am

    La Santa Muerte may not be al that a criminat desire if texas District Attorney testified about La Santa Muerte in at least five drug trafficking cases where her image aided prosecutors with CONVICTIONS. As for the so-called good people (for their is none that does good-their is no righteous-Romans 3:10) They may want to READ the first Commandment of God- You shall have NO gods (idols too) before ME!

    Report this comment

    truemedia  
  • AlcoholicMB
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 9:02am

    Oh God it looks just like Nancy Pelosi

    Report this comment

    AlcoholicMB  
    • MotoLeo2
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 9:52am

      I said Alan Colmes, but I think you are closer, all it would need is a large gavel instead of the sycle.

      Report this comment

      MotoLeo2  
  • barber2
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 8:59am

    Strange. I thought most of those “enlightened, ” informed people were Obama/ Big Brother Government worshippers.

    Report this comment

    barber2  
  • TEARS FOR AMERICA
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 8:45am

    Devil worship has come to America…many times when we went into Central America we were just taken aback at the blending of Catholicism and voo-doo (idolatry):the praying and worship of dead bodies; the open bowing of heart and mind to statues of Mary; the incredible wealth in the Catholic churches while many of the lay people were in destititution; the festivals around dark, demonic rituals while professing Christ-it was not long before these practices would cross our borders and bring darkness with them…

    Report this comment

    TEARS FOR AMERICA  
    • DYNA
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 10:27am

      Cults, sorcery, doctrines of demons and demonic worship = degenerate behaviour, poverty and mayhem. What is really pathetic is that it is all darkness with satan at its head.

      Jesus came and made way for us to be raised to His level with Christ being the head,
      but there are those who are duped into the lie that satan will give them power when he will just murder, steal from and destroy them, while using them to destroy others who remain indifferent towards or hate of God.

      Report this comment

      DYNA  
    • The_Doors_Of_Perception
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 11:24am

      Don’t forget Middle-earth, Mordor has it’s creeping evil tentacles on the Shire. Elves! Sorcery! Hobbits! Orc! Witches! Magic!

      Report this comment

      The_Doors_Of_Perception  
    • antitheism
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 1:19pm

      I’m sure there are Israeli jews who would consider isa worship idolatry too. If only the Israeli jews enacted leviticus 24 16 (And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.) against the isa worshippers (xians).

      Report this comment

      antitheism  
  • The_Doors_Of_Perception
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 8:44am

    Yay! More superstition!

    Report this comment

    The_Doors_Of_Perception  
    • DeavonReye
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 9:12am

      We are still a dangerously savage child race.

      Report this comment

      DeavonReye  
    • The_Doors_Of_Perception
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 9:25am

      Yeah, you have these people thinking this Saint is helping them in their daily life, then you have another set of people on here who think this is a sign of their evil saint infiltrating their country. It’s like we are in the jungles of Papau New Guinea with internet service…

      Report this comment

      The_Doors_Of_Perception  
    • DeavonReye
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 10:29am

      LOL . . . . interesting analogy. :-)

      It makes me wonder how much longer we [as a people] will continue on this path. Not just the topic of this story, . . . but for many other religions that are harmful to humanity. . . . . . such as islam. Sure, there are some who do good things for needy people. Would they still do it without the “reward of another jewel in their heavenly crown”? Would they do it if they never got anything in return, here or “the here after”? But I digress.

      Stories like this make me really wonder how a mind could believe in such things. It seems SO foreign to me. Believing a statue will do your bidding? An inanimate object? I just don’t get it.

      Report this comment

      DeavonReye  
    • Cavallo
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 11:17am

      I would rather have them worshiping an idol of plastic, ceramic, or bone than a living breathing dictator.

      Report this comment

      Cavallo  
    • The_Doors_Of_Perception
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 11:28am

      I heard that…

      Report this comment

      The_Doors_Of_Perception  
  • WAR PIGS CRAWLING
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 8:40am

    Why would anyone worship Nancy Pelosi? Oh, what’s that? Sorry…..my bad.

    Report this comment

    WAR PIGS CRAWLING  
  • battles
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 8:26am

    When these Satanic Saint worshipers start to have mental problems, they probably won’t know why. And psychologist and psychiatrist will not be able to see, or will refuse to accept, what their real problem is – demonic influence and/or possession.

    Report this comment

    battles  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 8:21am

    .
    WTH is Nancy doing dressed up like a Saint?…..

    Report this comment

    SpankDaMonkey  
    • WAR PIGS CRAWLING
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 8:44am

      Sorry Spankd… I should have read the comments thoroughly before post’n…

      I thought the same thing.

      Report this comment

      WAR PIGS CRAWLING  
  • NoMoMrNiceGuy
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 8:13am

    God help us

    Report this comment

    NoMoMrNiceGuy  
  • thebigquad
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 7:56am

    Father, forgive them.

    Report this comment

    thebigquad  
  • momrules
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 7:47am

    I’ll stick with Jesus.

    Report this comment

    momrules  
  • azghost
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 7:46am

    1st commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
    2nd commandment: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.

    Many follow satan and have no clue they are following him.

    Report this comment

    azghost  
    • Gonzo
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 7:59am

      He likes it that way.

      Report this comment

      Gonzo  
    • Frederick_Douglass_Republican
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 9:08am

      Many follow the path of evil without knowing it.
      It is no coincidence that at the same time the “saint” is being worshiped and used for such things as vengeance and gaining wealth, no doubt those very same people hold Oweblamer up for cult worship.
      I am certain that if they had asked they would have found that more than 9 out of 10 of la santa muertes followers are also Oweblamer voters. Probably more like 99.9%

      Report this comment

      Frederick_Douglass_Republican  
    • antitheism
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 1:37pm

      I’m pretty sure isa (jesus) would be considered another god even though it never lived more than once, if at all.

      Report this comment

      antitheism  
  • matt_c
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 7:26am

    Worshiping death? Obama is pleased!

    Report this comment

    matt_c  
    • rayblay
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 8:25am

      Matt–Obama is pleased? Why is he pleased? You blame Obama for the Titanic sinking–You blame him for Adam and Eve falling–You blame Obama for there being a God–You blame him for the moon being up there–You blame him for you being here on earth–BLAME_BLAME__BLAME__BLAME__BLAME__BLAME

      Report this comment

      rayblay  
    • darkknight91
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 8:57am

      Rayblay, Obama has the same problem when it comes to Bush.
      BLAME, BLAME, BLAME, BLAME, BLAME!

      Report this comment

      darkknight91  
    • barber2
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 8:57am

      Ray: Chill. Matt is just doing a Reverse Obama ! Playing the Blame Obama Game – which has never been tried by the Democrats or his adoring Race Card carriers ! It’s one of those ” turn about is fair play ” deals.

      Report this comment

      barber2  
    • matt_c
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 11:59am

      rayblay, Obama is pleased because death is the fuel for his agenda.

      Report this comment

      matt_c  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 7:23am

    Satan takes on many forms.

    Report this comment

    Gonzo  
    • antitheism
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 1:41pm

      Isa included. Also, there is no satan. There is only the giant squid in the sky who holds jesus and satan in its tentacles as they struggle for air continuously and for eternity.

      Report this comment

      antitheism  
  • GuruMeditation
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 7:20am

    Silly. God laughs in derision.

    Report this comment

    GuruMeditation  
    • UNIX_Techie
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 8:26am

      Perhaps He is more angry than derisive. This might explain our present state.

      Report this comment

      UNIX_Techie  
    • mecbb55
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 8:41am

      does god have a mouth?

      Report this comment

      mecbb55  
    • The_Doors_Of_Perception
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 10:17am

      How could a superior being as himself even find anything funny? Doesn’t he know every funny or ironic thing that did, could, will happen or be said?

      Report this comment

      The_Doors_Of_Perception  
    • DeavonReye
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 10:32am

      Doors, that sure would seem to run contrary to the idea of “omniscience”.

      Of course, there are other examples, but I digress.

      Report this comment

      DeavonReye  
    • The_Doors_Of_Perception
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 11:47am

      @Deavon

      Before I completely left the idea of a God behind and I was searching…one of the nagging things in my mind while I still considered myself a Christian was this god that I worshiped, the god from the bible (that I tried to square), and then of course the reality of the world. Why does this god have the desire for us to worship him?

      Think of the tiny, miniscule DNA differences there are between us and the other great apes yet the vast difference in intellect and reasoning there is. Now, imagine a god who created the cosmos…how much more of gap in intellect and reasoning there is between this being and us. Far greater than the gap between us and chimp.

      So, how often do you feel the need to have monkeys worship you, find you great, concerned with their sex lives and societal monkey morays? How silly does this seem to you? Yet, this god, who created quasars, black holes, bioluminescent, the oceans, the animals, the moons, the suns, the planets…is concerned about curse words, sex….and all the other minutia religious people come up with. Then the most hilarious thing is that this god communicates with us in such incompetent ways…a book(even when he already knew the internet was coming), burning bushes, natural disasters, natural phenomenon, angels, demons, a certain way the wind blows…whatever. And then there of course there is hell….basically I became too moral for my religious beliefs and left them behind for good.

      Report this comment

      The_Doors_Of_Perception  
    • DeavonReye
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 12:24pm

      Doors, . . . I have thought similarly to what you have said here. The use of a language that would eventually die, lost originals, inputs and changes by scribes, leaving something as important as “your afterlife” up to “faith”, . . . and quite frankly, comporting in a quite HUMAN fashion on too many occasions.

      And when you DO question it, . . . the only response seems to be “who are you, clay, to question the potter?” Yet another way to show our limited place. We are “worms” in another place.

      Finite, proned to error, often times gross [even in natural functions], slaves to emotions, . . . of what value would our pathetic “worship” be to the being you characterized? It would be far more impressive from “the angels”!

      But yeah, . . . like you, I wasn’t able to translate it into a workable reality and morality.

      Report this comment

      DeavonReye  
    • The_Doors_Of_Perception
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 2:48pm

      Yes and more to your point…Christopher Hitchens said it best…”Created sick and commanded to be well.”

      Report this comment

      The_Doors_Of_Perception  
    • DeavonReye
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 3:03pm

      Indeed!

      Report this comment

      DeavonReye  
  • chucksue351
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 7:17am

    the catholic churchs relics and saints is nothing more than paganism that creep in when the church turned its back on the scriptures, they think these things are ok, the scriptures tell us to Come out of her My people

    Report this comment

    chucksue351  
    • sta
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 8:08am

      “Few Americans hate the Catholic Church, but millions hate what they think is the Catholic Church”

      –Bishop Fulton Sheen

      Report this comment

      sta  
    • Ojebuss
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 8:38am

      Chuck just because we believe that their sprites live on and we ask them to pray for us is not paganism. I don’t see one Coulter that doesn’t have statues of prominent figures that they hold up as examples of grate people. Remember a house divided can not stand. It is the evil one that has brought this train of thought of paganism to divide and conquer The Church; by having people forget the examples of the saints. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

      Report this comment

      Ojebuss  
    • darkknight91
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 9:13am

      “just because we believe that their sprites live on and we ask them to pray for us is not paganism.”

      That’s the very definition of paganism. Saul was destroyed for attempting to speak with Samuel. God forbid communicating with the dead when the Jews went into the land. We are to pray to God through Jesus ONLY. Jesus said “no man comes to the father except through me.”

      For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share In anything done under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6 NKJV)

      Report this comment

      darkknight91  
    • destrecht
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 9:37am

      Actually the point is to not worship it. This was because the Egyptians believed their gods were actually in the statues. Oh, and Numbers 21:8-9. The Bible doesn’t contradict itself, so explain this.

      Report this comment

      destrecht  
    • destrecht
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 9:43am

      Actually, Dark Knight, it isn’t. Speaking to the dead is paganism. The Saints in heaven are more alive than you are. Let me ask you- have you ever prayed for somebody? Has anybody ever asked you to pray for them? What’s the difference, aside from the fact that people in heaven are closer to God?

      Revelation 8:3-4 KJV

      3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

      4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.

      Report this comment

      destrecht  
    • objectivetruth
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 9:56am

      First off paganism isn’t necessarily evil or ungod like.That has to do with the heart undertaking the journey.Furthermore if God was so unpleased the followers would know.The Bible states that thou shall have no other God before me.Not that their weren’t other Gods or even that they couldn’t be worshipped.Just that God was the head.I haven’t read anywhere in this article that the worshippers have put their Saint above God.
      In the appalachians many barns have unusual symbols on them,in addition to weather vains.These were to ward off evil and increase production.The people who use them are very much bible believing.I guess you some of you seventh centuary Christians would complain they were evil too.

      Report this comment

      objectivetruth  
    • deeberj
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 11:52am

      The bible never says to pray to someone else to intervene in your behalf to God. You are supposed to pray to Jesus, not another dead person. Give me a scripture that says what you believe.

      1 Timothy 2:5
      For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

      Report this comment

      deeberj  
    • objectivetruth
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 12:36pm

      @deeberj
      I never said that you should use another diety other than Jesus to talk to God.That I think would constitute idol worship of a sort.What I did say is that God himself acknowleded that there were other Gods and that they were worshipped.His only request demand was that he was to be placed first.

      Report this comment

      objectivetruth  
    • TruthRules1
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 4:46pm

      As a Catholic, you my friend, happen to by very uninformed and uneducated. Catholics ONLY worship God. The saints and relics are venerated (Are you familiar with that word? V e n e r a t e?) Do you not take photos with your little iPhone and then bore people with those images? Do you not have pictures of in your home – mother? Dad? Grandmother? It’s the same with pictures and statues of Saints (who were actual historical people) in the Catholic Church. Worship belongs only to GOD!

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      TruthRules1  
  • lel2007
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 7:14am

    So which saint gives ya more stuff, Saint Death or Saint Nicholas?

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    lel2007  
    • Graystroke
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 9:42am

      Both they BOTH give you eternal…….death……..wee-wee-wee…….oh so sad to see so many that want to defend the RCC…….the false kristian church lauded by all the media and the fawning blind followers…..we are saved by grace alone….that means there is nothing you can do in and of yourself in order to be saved……..A.W. Pink the Sovereignty of God…we confess and believe once our eyes have been opened up…..modern religion has leavened the bread with the Armenian gospel of of “accepting Jesus” which around the turn of the 19th century along side of modern revival the apostate twin grew also. Wescott & Hort two theosophists using the Latin Vulgate which has lead to many bibles…like adding a drop of arsenic in your water and killing you slowly we are now witnessing the continual decay as the Lord said he would send a lying spirit…yep here we are…folks….God bless the remnant..

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      Graystroke  
    • Dismayed Veteran
      Posted on March 4, 2013 at 10:56am

      What I find sad is that many Protestants choose to disparage the Catholic Church when given the opportunity, while Catholics choose not to disparage Protestants. Why do Protestants dislike the Catholic Church so much? Do Protestants feel that the Catholic Church is interfering with their faith? Why are there no strong Catholic responses to anti-Catholic postings?

      BTW the Catholic Church condemns La Santa Muerte as satanic.

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      Dismayed Veteran  
  • Jive Mickey
    Posted on March 4, 2013 at 7:07am

    I dunnknow … not sure I can go with a spooky chick with bad teeth who dresses like that.

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    Jive Mickey  

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