The title of the article I read was “The Blessed Mother – The Vatican’s Secret Weapon?” [2]Notice that the title asks a question, which the article proceeds to  answer showing how two Roman Catholic leaders, one from the USA and the other from Europe, have been both brought on board by Pope Benedict to provide leadership for Rome’s worldwide New Evangelization program

These two men from different parts of the world had something in common, which I found to be very interesting. As the article states:

Two esteemed men, one a United States Catholic Bishop from Green Bay, WI., the other a Cardinal based in Europe, serving as the Archbishop of Vienna, suddenly seem to have very much in common.

The American is Bishop Ricken from Wisconsin.  He has been elected as the new chairman to The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's committee for Evangelization and Catechesis. The European is Cardinal Schonborn. He is one of the first members assigned to the new Vatican department called “The Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.”

While perhaps not many see the significance of the appointments of these two men by the pope, those who take Bible prophesy seriously believe the Last Days will be characterized by lying signs and wonders. This would include appearances of a woman claiming to be “Mary the mother of Jesus.”

Therefore this announcement is very significant because both men have a great interest with apparitions of Mary. Further, it appears that both men see how these appearances could be useful in the Roman Catholic Church’s evangelistic efforts to lead people to the Roman Catholic Jesus.

From a biblical perspective, this is not evangelism; this is outright deception that is authored by Satan to lead people to another Jesus and another gospel by another spirit. [5]

There is More to the Story

It was the name Bishop Ricken that caught my attention when I read the article about the Roman Catholic churches plan to use appearances of “Mary” to enhance the New Evangelization plan. I had heard of Ricken before from other articles I had read. Bishop Ricken shared the platform with Greg Laurie in Wisconsin at a city wide Lifest evangelistic crusade in the spring of 2011 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

It is also a fact that Bishop Ricken investigated and approved an apparition of “Mary” that supposedly occurred 150 years ago in Door County, Wisconsin known as "Our Lady of Good Help.” Now people are flocking to this apparitional site endorsed by Bishop Ricken as they believe this is a legitimate and holy place.

So what does this mean? Will people who attended the meeting in Wisconsin where Laurie and Ricken both spoke on the same platform be somewhat confused? What if there are those who attended the Lifest ecumenical meetings who are now convinced that Ricken’s program to promote Marian apparitions is a good thing with regard to the New Evangelization? Apparently, Ricken and his colleague from Europe plan to promote Marian apparitions as a means of pointing people to the Eucharistic Jesus. As the article states:

Bishop Ricken has acted boldly in the United States, with his approval of an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In Europe, Cardinal Schonborn has acted fearlessly as well with his activities. Both men, charged with revitalizing the Catholic faith, have courageously taken action that acknowledges the supernatural presence of the Our Lady and importantly her motherly role in leading us to her son. [6]

Since Greg Laurie shared the platform in Oskosh, Wisconsin at the Lifest Celebration with Bishop Ricken much more has happened. Ricken has now been promoted to be a key player in the pope’s New Evangelization program.

It is well known that Jesuits are behind the devotion to “Our Lady of Peace,” also called the "Queen of Heaven," that leads to the promotion of the Eucharistic Jesus. This will be an important part of developing a One-World Religion for Peace that will usher in the Antichrist. For more information about this, read Queen of All: How Marian Apparitions Plan to Unite the World Religions by Tetlow, Oakland and Meyers.

Therefore, the questions that should be asked are these: Why would Greg Laurie endorse Roman Catholic Jesuit Bishop Ricken by sharing the platform with him at the Lifest gathering in Oshkosh? Is Laurie aware of the damage he has done by forming this association, or is this just part of a much larger game plan that has not yet been revealed?