Idol hands are the Devil's workshop

I usually don't want to blog about things that are very heavy, or things about which it will take a great deal to explain.  I set this blog up to cover any topic I felt worthy of writing about whether it be for personal reasons or sarcasm.  An article in our latest National Geographic got me rethinking that approach.

"Unholy Saints" is the title of the article.  Again, I was reluctant to touch on this topic because it deals with accepted (Catholic) religion from a very large sector and I don't like to tread on other people's beliefs.  This story however struck a very weird chord in me, not one to identify with it but to denounce it.

The focus was primarily on La Santa Muerte.  The most literal translation of the name is "Saint Death." It can also be stated as "Goddess of Death" or "Most Holy Death."  This is a Hispanic/Mexican cult, which for better or worse has emerged from some of the poorest sections of Mexico and also serves as a beacon for some of the most violent criminals.

This has emerged not wholly, but in part due to the Catholic Church and veneration of saints.  This cult however, takes the worship of Santa Muerte to higher levels, making offerings and placing "her" on an equal footing with Christ and God.  The benefits to making offerings to her, apart from granting the desires of the faithful, are entrance into heaven no matter what the transgressions of the believer, and without confession and repentance.

So traffic in drugs all you want.  Murder, rape, steal, or engage in combinations of all of the above.  Be creative.  It doesn't matter.  Bring a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of Tequila and perform the proper ritual and the lady in white will grant you whatever you desire.

Devotion to Santa Muerte is what anthropologists call a “cult of crisis.” Devotion to the image peaks during economic and social hardships, which tend to affect the lower classes more. Most new religious beliefs start with the lower classes, as they offer a spiritual way out of hardship. Santa Muerte tends to attract those in extremely difficult or hopeless situations.^[4] Experts say that residents of crime-ridden neighborhoods such as Mexico City's Tepito have begun to revere Santa Muerte more than Jesus.^[1] Some of her most devoted followers are prostitutes, pickpockets, petty thieves and drug traffickers, associated with economic crimes often done out of desperation.^[2] A larger group of believers are poor people who are not necessarily criminals, but the public belief in her by drug traffickers and other criminals has associated her with crime, especially organized crime.^[8]

Now individuals and groups have always engaged in this type of  idolatry, so I suppose this should not be news, only it is because we are making it news, primarily because it is growing.  Because there are now at least 2 million people in Mexico alone who practice this rite of worship and it is spreading across our borders; it is spreading among the prison populations.  That number alone is the equivalent of the entire populace of Chicago.  In this country its hard to galvanize 2 million people to do anything other than watch the final episode of "Lost." The other disturbing element is the idea that this personification of death supersedes Jesus Christ.  Maybe this goes too much into my now Protestant roots, but this is primarily one of the reasons veneration and prayers to Saints seemed un-necessary to me, almost wrong.


If you are a Christian, there is one path to God the Father, and that is through Jesus Christ.  By accepting Christ in your life you repent of your sins and vow to lead the most Christ-like life possible.  Prayer isn't meant to be a slot machine, offer something up and get something back.  The only offering I believe was necessary was the blood of Christ.  That negated the need for any other animal or material (pagan) sacrifices.  What we received from that was Grace, freely extended and available to all.


Correct me if you feel I am wrong.  Point out the relevant passages in the New Testament where Christ commands us to pray to a personification of death.  Paul talks about Earthly Saints in 1 Cor. 6:1 , but does not tell us to pray to them.  1 Timothy 2:1 is cited as a call for all to pray and intercede, and has been interpreted to mean Saints however this is for the body which is on Earth, and does not tell us to pray TO anyone in heaven, other than to GOD.  For the following passage explicitly states: Christ is the mediator (1 Tim 2: 5-6), and the Holy Spirit intercedes for us (Romans 8:26). Hebrews 12 discusses a "cloud of witnesses" (saints) surrounding us, but again a misinterpretation would take this as otherworldly, whereas Paul is speaking about the support we receive from our fellow believers on Earth in order to walk the correct path, run the race and throw off our sin in pursuit of Jesus.

Show me where it tells us you can continue to live a life of violence and sin and be accepted in the Kingdom of Heaven, and I will retract this.  (Again see 1 Cor. 6 this time verses 9-11.)


You're welcome to try, but I'm not sure you can.


Death comes to us all, but everlasting life is only attainable through Jesus Christ.