Praying to Dead Popes is Still Idolatry

Here's a picture of a prayer to the late Pope John Paul II. It's really wrong to say say that if you pray to pagan gods that it's idolatry but if you pray to canonized saints and Mary then it's not idolatry. There's really no difference because worship and prayer belong to God alone. Born again Christians can agree with Roman Catholics that kneeling doesn't always equal worship (ex. kneeling to clean one's motorcycle or car is certainly not an act of worship, doing a Roman salute doesn't make one a Nazi either) - the former can't agree with the whole idea that praying to canonized saints and Mary is still idolatry.

The mere thought of praying to dead Popes is just stupid. It reminded me of how Mother Theresa only had dead works. Her works didn't spring out from faith. From what I heard that when she lost her faith she ended praying to one of the dead Popes. Roman Catholics tend to believe that there's the communion of saints so it's okay to pray to the saints. Even if Mary or the saints could hear them but it doesn't change the fact God the Father never commanded you to pray to anyone but Him through His Son and the Holy Spirit. 

They quote Revelation 5:8 to justify their practices. The Good News Translation (GNT) says:
As he did so, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each had a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God's people.

It reminded me of how a certain professional Roman Catholic apologist is still wrong in citing the verse to defend his stand. The problem is that he failed to realize the simple flat out meaning. If he could conveniently ignore Matthew 16:18's proper context that differentiates Peter as a small rock and the rock foundation is obviously not Peter then he could end up ignoring other obvious truths from a Roman Catholic translation. The prayers are of God's people and not towards God's people. The prayers were of the saints and to the saints which further invalidates the argument.

Regardless, praying to dead Popes is still idolatry. Also, it's a very act of necromancy. God prohibits any form of an attempt to communicate with the dead. If you think necromancy is strictly limited to acts like divination or fortune-telling then you're wrong. Trying to communicate with the dead through prayer in itself is an act of necromancy. If you have been praying to dead Popes then repent of it and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior before it's too late.

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