*BIBLICAL TEST OF THE APPARITION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY IN FATIMA TO

THE THREE CHILDREN IN 1917* ( By Chukwu, Celestine NKemakolam)

The appearance of a woman( later referred to as Blessed Virgin Mary) to three little
children: Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco in 1917 has come to be one of the most historic
events in the Catholic church which increased the veneration of Mary and praying with the
Rosary. This appearance which is called apparition came along with messages and
miracles from the Virgin Mary, and the purpose of this article is to test the words of the
spirit, just as the Bible told us to do, in order to verify if it is from God. 1 John 4:1 says _*
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because
many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every
spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God
Two reference books shall be used. One is The True Story of Fatima: A Complete account of
the Fatima Apparitions by John de Marchi I.M.C. The Author of this book ensured that Lucia,
one of the three children, read the book to ensure that all accounts were accurately written.
The second reference book is the Holy Bible.
There are several apparitions witnessed by the three children in 1917, and each came with a
message or reiteration of the previous messages. A person who wishes to read every line
and sentence of the messages may download the book, just like I did, and read it. However,
in order to cut down the volume of this article, I shall quote only relevant sentences which
shall be examined with the glass of the scripture.
FIRST APPARITION (13th May, 1917).
During this event, Jacinta, one of the three children asked the woman who appeared to
them.
And I, am I, too going to go to Heaven?
Yes, you shall, the Lady assured her
And Jacinta?
Yes
And Francisco?
He too shall go, BUT HE MUST SAY MANY ROSARIES, the Lady responded
We can decipher from this last line about Francisco that saying many rosaries would help
one make Heaven.
But the Bible says in John 3:36 He that BELIEVETH on the Son hath everlasting life and he
that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth in him. Acts 16:3031 says And he brought them out and said Sirs, what must I do to be saved? So they said
BELIEVE on the name of Lord Jesus Christ , and you will be saved, you and your
household.
It is apparent here that believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is what saves us and ultimately

take us to Heaven . It is not through praying the Rosary.

...................................................................................................................................................
.
Another message delivered by the Lady to the children said
Do you want to offer yourselves to God to endure all the sufferings that He may choose to
send you, AS AN ACT OF REPARATION FOR THE SINS BY WHICH HE IS OFFENDED
and as a supplication for the conversion of sinners?
This message tells us that Reparation for the sins which people commit against God shall
come through the sacrifices and sufferings these children shall endure. Reparation is a
theological word closely connected with those of atonement, propitiation, payment,
compensation, amends recompense, satisfaction, etc.
But the Bible tells us in 1 John 2:1-2 My little children, these things I write you, so that you
may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an ADVOCATE WITH THE FATHER, Jesus Christ
the righteous. And He Himself is the PROPITIATION for our sins, and not for ours only but
also for the whole world. Read further 1 Timothy 2:6, Ephesians 1:7, etc
We can see from the bible that payment for our sins has already been made through the
death of Jesus, and not through endurance of suffering that God would choose to send us.
SECOND APPARITION (13/6/1917).
The woman said to Lucia
I will take Jacinta and Francisco soon. You, however, are to stay here a longer time. Jesus
wants to use you to make Me known and loved. He wants to establish Devotion to my
Immaculate Heart in the world. I PROMISE SALVATION to those who embrace it and their
souls will be loved by God as flowers placed by Myself to adorn His throne.........My
Immaculate Heart will be YOUR REFUGE & THE WAY THAT WILL LEAD YOU TO GOD.
But the bible says in Acts 4:12 Nor is there SALVATION in any other, for THERE IS NO
OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN given among men by which we must be save Read the
verses before this and you will see that Peter was talking about Jesus.......and not Mary.
The following Biblical verses Psalm 46:1-3, 91:2, 27:5, Proverbs 14:26 all proclaim God as
our REFUGE. He has not shared that role with anyone else.
John 14:6 says I am THE WAY, the truth, and the life. NO ONE COMES to the Father
except through me. This clearly tells us that the Immaculate Heart will never be our refuge
and the way that will lead to God.
THIRD APPARITION ( 13/7/1917)

The Lady told the children Continue to come here every month. In October, I will say who I
am and what I desire and I will perform a miracle all shall see, so that they believe. You
have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. TO SAVE THEM, God wants to
establish throughout the world the devotion to My Immaculate Heart.
We can see the emphasis made by the lady here. Establishment of devotion to her
Immaculate Heart is what God would use to save sinners who are in hell.
But we know that this statement contradicts those of John 3:16 which say for God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever BELIEVES in HIM will not perish
but have everlasting life. God has already made provision for saving sinners through His
son. Why would He contradict Himself by now using devotion to Immaculate Heart to save
sinners? God is not a liar!
FORTH APPARITION ( 19/8/1917)
The Lady said
In the last month, in October, I shall perform a miracle so that all may believe in my
apparition. If they had not taken you to the village, the miracle would have been greater.
Saint Joseph will come with the BABY JESUS to give peace to the world. Our Lord also will
come to bless the people. Besides, OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY and OUR LADY OF
SORROWS will come. Pray! Pray a great deal and make sacrifices for sinners, for many
souls go to hell FOR NOT HAVING SOMEONE TO PRAY AND MAKE SACRIFICES FOR
THEM.
We can see that the Jesus which would accompany her is the BABY JESUS ......not even the
Toddler Jesus, Teen Jesus or Adult Jesus. A baby Jesus is one who cannot walk, who
cannot feed himself, who cannott speak or preach, and who obviously would not and did not
die to save mankind. Baby Jesus is one who depended on Joseph and Mary for everything.
Baby Jesus is not the one who was free to go about His Fathers business, not the baptised
Jesus and not the One whom God declared This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased. Therefore, the picture of Jesus painted here is a helpless one and nobody would
believe in the babbling words of a baby ; the next option would be to speak with an Adult:
Mary.
Secondly, from the statement she said above, there are three different Ladies in question.
One is the one delivering the message to the children, a second is Lady of Rosary and the
third is Lady of Sorrows. None of these Ladies was called Mary, and Mary cannot appear
simultaneously in three forms. She is not trinity! Therefore, the person who appeared here is
not Mary but an entirely different person!
In the last line, the Lady said souls are going to hell for not having someone to pray and
make sacrifices for them. This statement completely contradicts those in 1 John 2:1-2( which

I wrote out above), 1Tim 2:6, Eph 1:7, etc. It is a complete denial of Jesus who is our
Advocate with the Father.
THE FIFTH & SIXTH APPARITION ( 13/09/1917)
Use half of the money received so far for the litters. On one of them, place the STATUE of
Our Lady of the Rosary. The Other half should be set aside to help with the building of a
CHAPEL.
In the sixth apparition she also said I want a chapel to be built in My honour
Note that she encouraged a statue (image) and chapel to be built for Lady of the Rosary. I
will speak further about this while analysing the miracle which was promised for October.
THE PROMISED MIRACLE ON 13/10/1917
Here is a written description of the miracles that happened before almost 70,000 people
which made them believe the apparition according to the book about Fatimah.
To the left of the SUN, Saint Joseph appeared holding in his left arm the CHILD JESUS.
Saint Joseph emerged from the bright clouds only to his chest, sufficient to allow him to raise
his right hand and make, together with the CHILD JESUS, the sign of the cross three times
over the world...........The SUN had taken on an extraordinary colour. The words of eye
witnesses best describe these stupendous signs. We could look at the SUN with ease. At
a certain point, the SUN stopped its play of light and then started dancing. It stopped once
more and again started dancing until it seemed to loosen itself from the skies AND FALL
upon the people....... The SUN cast different colours, yellow, blue and white. It trembled
constantly. It looked like a revolving ball of fire FALLING upon the people.
But the Bible has already warned us about events similar to this. Revelation 13:11-14 says
Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had horns LIKE A LAMB and
spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and
causes the earth and those who dwell in to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was
healed. He performs GREAT SIGNS , so that he even makes FIRE come down from heaven
on the earth in the SIGHT OF MEN. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those
signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on earth to
MAKE AN IMAGE to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.
Moreover, this is not the way God does miracle. He heals the sick, raises the dead, etc. The
woman did none of that.
In this same book, Lucia is recorded to have given an account of what the Lord told her in
May 29-30 1930. According to her, the Lord told her five offences and blasphemies which are
committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The First two are 1). Blasphemies against
the Immaculate Conception 2). Blasphemies against Her PERPETUAL VIRGINITY.

However, I have not seen anywhere in the bible where it is recorded that Mary was
conceived without the original sin (Immaculate conception) and by extension did not sin.
When Jesus was dedicated according to Luke 2:21-24, a pair of purple doves was offered.
This offering, according to Leviticus 12:8 are for burnt offering and SIN offering. If Mary
believed she was without sin, why offer sin offering? Secondly, Mary said in Luke 1:46,47
My soul doth magnify the Lord, and My spirit hath rejoiced in God MY SAVIOUR. It is only a
sinner that needs a Saviour.
The Second Blasphemy is that Mary remained a virgin after Jesus was born ( Perpetual
Virginity). But that is not what my Bible says. Matt 1:25 says and did not know her TILL she
had brought forth her FIRST BORN SON..... Read also Matt 13:55-56. TILL is a word that
divided before and after. The birth of Jesus marked the end of Josephs wait (TILL). He had
sexual knowledge of Mary afterwards and produced the other children mentioned in Matt
13:55-56. The use of the word Firstborn Son showed there must have been a second and
perhaps a third son. Only Son was never used when describing the relationship between
Jesus and Mary; it was only used to describe relationship between Jesus and God the
Father.
In conclusion, what can we say about the test of these apparition messages? According to 1
John 4:1, the woman did not actually confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, for no one
can confess Jesus without accepting the purpose He came into the world: to pay for the sins
of mankind through His death which brought redemption for mankind. The woman, instead,
preached about Devotion to her Immaculate Heart which, according to her, is the way to save
sinners.
What is your conclusion? Is the woman from God ?

If a persons ability to intercede for people is a criteria for us to keep praying for
their intercession after they are dead, then we have not been doing justice to
some other intercessors.

Genesis 18 & 19 contains the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,
and we are told how Abraham interceded for the people. God spared Lot and his
two daughters because of Abrahams intercessory role.

In Exodus 32:1-14, we see how Moses interceded for the people before God
when God became angry with the people for worshiping a golden calf. Moses
stood in the Gap and God relented and did not destroy them.

Intercessory role of Samuel can be seen in 1 Samuel 12:24.

Why is it that these people and others in the bible who interceded for the people
before God are not being called upon today to intercede for us? Instead, men
decided to call upon Mary and dead men/women whom they declared as saints.

Let us even look into the so called intercessory role of Mary in the wedding at
Canaan. Jesus did not change water to wine because of Mary. John 2:3-5 says
And

when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, THEY HAVE NO WINE.

Jesus saith unto her, WOMAN, WHAT HAVE I TO DO WITH THEE? MINE HOUR IS NOT YET
COME. His mother saith unto the servants, WHATSOEVER HE SAITH UNTO YOU, DO IT.
When we look closely into the verses, we can see that Mary only notified Jesus about the
wine that had finished. You can agree with me that Jesus would not have formed the
habit of attending every wedding. Therefore, this particular wedding must have been by
someone close.....a family relative or friend considering that his mother was present. As
expected, women are expected to serve in the wedding and Mary, being woman, must
have been involved in that service. For this reason, when the wine finished, she was in a
better position to know before Jesus that the wine had finished and she had to come to
inform Him (perhaps believing He should do something about it). Jesus was not happy
that she interfered and said What have I to do with you? It clearly showed the position

of Jesus with respect to Marys interference. Consequently, when Mary saw she is not
needed in the matter, she had to wash her hands off the matter by rather telling the
people to do whatever Jesus said they should do. She did not implore further. Moreover,
there is not statement that Jesus was not willing to change water into wine. His only
rebuking statement was to Mary, reminding her also that his time had not yet come. If
the host of the wedding or any other person had expressed faith in Jesus and notified him
first about the finished wine, He would have done something too. Matt 7:7 clearly said
Ask and it shall be given to you.

All these apart, the bible told us about the only person in heaven who makes intercession
for us. Romans 8:34 says Who is he that condemeth?, It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is rised again, who is even AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, WHO ALSO MAKETH
INTERCESSION FOR US. Heb 7:25 says Wherefore He is able to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God THROUGH HIM, seeing He liveth TO MAKE INTERCESSION
FOR THEM. You may also read Heb 4:15-16.

Saints, who are the kind of people we can call to help us pray to God are not dead people
but living Christians (You and I). Acts 9:13, 32; Rom 1:7, 8:27, Eph 1:1 all tell us that
saints are living true Christians and not the dead ones. The ones who are dead are still in
the grave and not yet in heaven. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 says For the Lord Himself will
descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of
God. AND THE DEAD IN CHRIST WILL RISE FIRST. This shows that those who are dead in
Christ are still in the grave and will only rise when the trumpet shall sound. So how can
dead men and woman in the grave intercede for us?

...................................................................................................

I did not write this article in order to elevate my beliefs and bring down those of
Catholics. Some people may even think that I want to fame. If fame or attention to me
were my reasons, I would have chosen a topic which everybody would accept and praise
me for. However, I have offered my head with this article, ready to face reprimands and
insults from whomever may wish to give it for a greater course.
In life, we should learn to stand up at some point and ask question about the morality
and correctness of the things we learned to do while watching our parents or family
members. Some people, for example, are born into Assemblies of God, Anglican,
Catholic, Methodist, Muslim, Buddhism or , any other religious family. We grow up
adopting the family beliefs as ours and believe that anything outside of that is wrong.
Someone of us that are Christians today because we are born in Christian homes may
have been Buddhists if our families were one. The ultimate truth remains that all these
religious beliefs cannot be right at the same time.
A man who has learned to differentiate between right and wrong should stand up and
question where they stand and not be so determined to defend something just because
they are born with it.
When I came to that point of asking questions in my life, I realised that the Bible is the
ultimate book which contains all truth. Even though some chapters may have been lost
and no longer available, the few pages we have are sufficient to tell us who God really is,
and our purpose in life. I therefore had to question every other Christian practise I grew
up with against what the Bible says in order to determine if I should continue with them
or not. I have seen a lot that made me realise that no church can save. Whether I worship
in Catholic or some Pentecostal church is not a guarantee that I must be saved. I do not
preach against a particular church; mine is not perfect either.
Anybody that reads the Word of God with the Holy Spirit to interpret the Words, and who
puts the Words into practise will never miss his/her way. Such a person will never be
easily deceived by fake prophets or devilish spirits who come to introduce malicious
practices in order to draw us away from worshiping God according to His Will. Even
though this topic is about something Catholics believe in, it is just an example to tell us
how we may end up being deceived if we do not arm ourselves with the Word of God and
not those of men.
Let us remember this. Those that want to kidnap little children often deceive them with
the biscuits or drinks they like. The child who is eating the delicious and healthy biscuit
may think he is in safe hands until he has been taken to the kidnappers house of doom
where they may be killed. That is exactly how the devil works. He comes like a Lamb,
mentions some good things and people we know in the bible. The devil can call the name
of Jesus. Let us remember in Revelation that in most of the chapters, the devil is
described as someone that comes in the appearance of the devil but speaks like a
dragon.
Our relationship with God matters most. Let no man be a hindrance.

There are three women in the bible I would like you to consider: Mary, Jael and
Judith( found in Catholic Bible). They were called Blessed, and if we may need to judge
who is the most blessed among them even though such comparison is not necessary,
then
For Mary, Luke 1:28 says And the Angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou that art
HIGHLY FAVOURED, the Lord is with thee: BLESSED ART THOU AMONG WOMEN.
For Jael, Judges 5:24 says BLESSED ABOVE WOMEN shall Jael the wife of Heber the
Kenite be, BLESSED SHALL SHE BE ABOVE THE WOMEN IN THE TENT.

For Judith, you can read about her in Good News Bible( Catholic Bible) in Judith 13:23-25
BLESSED ART THOU, O DAUGHTER, BY THE LORD MOST HIGH GOD, ABOVE ALL WOMEN
UPON THE EARTH
You can see that by comparison, Judith wins the competition followed by Jael and then
Mary. Why do you not include Judith and Jael in your prayers too? But it is not good to
make comparisons.
I agree with Ngozika Olachi A Onyekwere that God would have chosen any virgin to
conceive Jesus with the power of the Holy Spirit. She was not chosen because of
something she achieved. Even the Angel used the expression HIGHLY FAVOURED.
Favour, as you know, is not obtained via ones merit.
A small correction I want to make here also is that Jesus is not the child of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not His father. His conception is by the power of the Holy Spirit, but God
the Father remains the Father of Jesus.
I can only bring Biblical verses to prove my point. However, I pray the Holy Spirit
convince those who hear the Word and let them see the truth.