UPDATED SUNDAY JANUARY 28, 2018 (See below near the end of the post).
Before I actually begin sharing some information with all of you concerning what I learned after doing research on “the sacred heart,” I want to make sure that you understand that my intention for writing these many different series concerning Catholicism is not to offend Catholics, but to reach Catholics with Biblical truth to help them see the extreme importance of thinking for themselves, and to encourage them to do some research themselves on the origins of their own teachings, and, above all, to urge them to compare their teachings to Scripture to see if it agrees with what Scripture says, or if they actually contradict what God says in His Word. If they choose to do these things, many will be astounded — and even horrified — at what they discover, just as I was and continue to be since I was a Catholic for many years and attended twelve years of Catholic school, as well!
Okay, now let’s begin!
One thing that began to trouble me last year or the year before, was how there is such an emphasis on the actual heart of Jesus Christ, instead of it being completely on Jesus Christ Himself, and you can see this depicted in Catholic art quite frequently:
So, being a detective-at-heart, I decided to start doing some research earlier this year, and this is what I discovered so far:
Searching through images of the “sacred heart” I came across some information that shows how many pagan religions also place a very strong emphasis on the sacred heart:
Among the pictures that I found in my search was this one, which had this caption: “Consecration to two flaming hearts.”
Below is a picture of the Mayan god, Quetzalcoatl, the lord of life and death. The Mayans looked upon his heart as being sacred, as well. Forgive me for sharing these graphic details, but the Mayans would also perform human sacrifices to their gods by slitting the chests of their victims and removing their hearts and offering the blood of their victims to their gods.
“For the Maya blood sacrifice was necessary for the survival of both gods and people sending human energy skyward and receiving divine power in return.” [Source: Maya Civilization – Civilization.ca] [http://historybizarremysterious.blogspot.com/2008/02/why-did-ancient-mayans-go-after-hearts.html]
During my search for information concerning the sacred heart I also came across this very disturbing statue of Jesus Christ that I had never seen before. Jesus has a slit in His chest and He holds a dagger in His left hand and His heart in His right hand. Clearly the message implied by looking at this statue is not only that the slit in His chest was self-inflicted, but also it seems to take the focus off of the Biblical gospel; the sufficiency of His “once for all” sacrifice on the cross in our place resulting in His death, burial, and glorious resurrection from the dead that proved the sufficiency of His death to satisfy God’s wrath towards us because of our sins. This statue is called The Christ of Reconciliation:
Note the crescent moon shape that is incorporated into the necklace below that was created by a woman named Susan Tooker, who seems to be highly involved in the New Age Movement by just one look at her Pinterest page: https://www.pinterest.com/susantooker/.
The information posted in the description for this necklace that I found on Pinterest reads as follows:
“sacred-heart-evil-eye-amulet-necklace-red-garnet-quarts-“
The crescent moon is oftentimes seen under the feet of many statues of the Virgin Mary. Here are just two examples: 
(More information on the crescent moon in Catholicism coming up in a future post at some point –Lord willing).
It’s also important to mention that Catholicism places a lot of emphasis on the Sacred Heart of Mary, as well:
In the picture below you will see how the New Age/New Spirituality Movement also focuses on the sacred heart. The message given below along with the illustrations of the sacred heart reads as follows:
“I am the light of the sun and the grass of the fields. Millions of years have passed and still the night light glows in our hearts and the same grass carpets the fields. I am always with you for I am the sky above you and the endless love inside your heart.” Sacred Heart Gaia -Toni Carmine Salerno
Note the word “Gaia” in the picture above, and please read the following by Contender Ministries which will reveal to you that Gaia is the goddess of “Mother Earth.”
To continue reading, click HERE
The quick capture above, as well as the following quick capture from a portion of David Cloud’s article, DARWINIAN GODS, may seem unrelated and off topic at this point, but, Lord willing, I will be connecting the dots in another post either later this month or early next month after my computer problems are all taken care of. In David Cloud’s article he also points out the pagan roots of Gaia and how Gaia is viewed as a living entity –the earth itself:
The main point that I am trying to make in sharing the above two quick captures with you is to show you how Gaia is in no way connected with Biblical Christianity, which leads me back to the picture, Sacred Heart Gaia that I shared with you earlier with the two flaming hearts by Toni Carmine Salerno. Here is some information on him to further show you that those who focus on the Sacred Heart are not doing so according to Biblical Christianity.
Below is a quick capture taken from a YouTube video on a review of Toni Carmine Salerno’s Gaia Oracle [Tarot] Cards which features the same flaming Sacred Hearts:
Below are two more publications by Blue Angel Publishing which shows more of their pagan New Age roots: This one is entitled, ‘The Native Heart Healing Oracle Solar Plexis‘
Now, with all of that as important background information, let’s get back to Catholicism’s Sacred Heart and its origins:
According to Catholicism, a woman named Margaret Mary Alacoque had a vision of Jesus who told her that He wanted her to promote devotion to His sacred heart:
Picture above found on Pinterest
In Catholicism there is a day set aside every year in which special devotion is given to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. How is that day determined? According to this article, it “was set at the request of Christ Himself, Who appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque…”
(SOURCE)
NEW UPDATED INFORMATION: 1/28/18
In the video below you will hear some very disturbing things written by Margaret Mary Alacoque concerning her alleged apparitions of Jesus Christ in which she said that He revealed His sacred heart to her. Here are some of the most troubling and unbiblical things that I heard as I listened to the full video:
“He demanded my heart and I supplicated him to take it. He did so and put it into His own adorable heart in which he allowed me to see it as a little atom being consumed in that fiery furnace. Then drawing it out like a burning flame in the form of a heart he put it into the place once he had taken it, saying, “Behold, my beloved. A precious proof of my love. I enclose in thy heart a little spark of the most ardent flame of my love…” (Starting at the 4:05 minute mark)
“…I was so out of myself that it was only by doing violence to myself could I utter a word. I was obliged to make so great an effort to eat and recreate that my strength was exhausted in my endeavor to endure my sufferings.” (Starting at the 5:15 minute mark)
“…the first fruit of the luminous apparition a sentiment that must necessarily be conceived by one that has rested on the breast of the savior for astonishment, admiration, and love, create humility, Margaret preserved a memento, or rather an ineffaceable mark of divine love. She did not bear it visibly on her breast like St. Francis of Assisi or Catherine of Sienna, that all her life she retained an invisible wound in her side. “The pain of this would is so precious to me causes me transport so lively that it burns me alive. It consumes me,” she said. This divine memorial did not grow faint with time for the Lord renewed it every first Friday of the month, and again showed her his heart. She said, “The Sacred Heart is shown me as a sun brilliant with sparkling lights whose burning rays fall direct on my heart. I then feel myself inflamed with such fire that it seems about to reduce me to ashes.” Such was the first act of this triple revelation of the Sacred Heart.”(6:13-7:19 minute mark)
Second Revelation Begins at the 9:10 minute mark:
“He made me rest a long time on his breast remembering the first… [revelation].” (11:05 minute mark)
“…rejoice me by supplying as much as you can for their ingratitude. After having shown in the first revelation the true principle of the new devotion, namely love whose flames he could no longer confine in his heart, Jesus now revealed in character. This devotion would be amende honorable an expiation for all the crimes of the world.” (Starting at the 12:14 minute mark)
“And at that moment, continued Margaret, “the divine heart being opened, there shot forth a flame so ardent that I thought I should be consumed by it. Admirable symbol of what this new devotion was to going to become in the Church of that Universal rewarming of hearts that which we shall try later to trace to the consoling picture. Thoroughly penetrated with this burning flames and unable longer to endure the fire, Margaret implored our savior to have pity on her weakness. “Fear nothing,” said he to her, ” I shall be thy strength.” (Starting at the 13:19 minute mark)
One of the things that the Lord allegedly asked her to do was to:
“…rise between eleven and midnight on the night between Thursday and Friday of every week and to prostrate for an hour with her face to the ground in expiation of the sins of men and to console his heart for that general desertion to which the weakness of the Apostles in the Garden of Olives had been only a slight prelude. “During all this time,” says Margaret, “I was unconscious. I knew not where I was. Some of the sisters came to take me away, and seeing that I could neither reply nor support myself on my feet, they led me to our mother who found me quite out of myself, trembling as if on fire.” (Starting at the 14:08 minute mark)
CLOSING COMMENTS
God’s Word is filled with warnings about spiritual deception in the last days. Therefore, we must be on guard against lying signs and wonders so that we will not be led astray by them. Anything that does not line up with Scripture, has more in common with paganism than it does with Biblical Christianity, and attempts to take the focus off of all that Jesus Christ has already accomplished through His sinless life, His death in our place, His burial, and His glorious resurrection from the dead cannot be from God!
Jesus Christ’s once for all sacrifice on the cross was all that was necessary to pay for the sins of mankind. (Please read Romans 6:6-10, 1 Peter 3:18, Hebrews Chapters 7-10) God accepted His death in our place as full payment for our sins and guilt; nothing needs to be added to all the sufferings that He endured on our behalf. To say that Jesus Christ appeared to someone demanding them to do something in expiation for the sins of men/to make reparation for the sins of men is to deny the sufficiency of His finished work on the cross. This is not Jesus Christ of the Bible who is appearing to those who have claimed that He did, because He would not deny the sufficiency of His propitiatory sacrifice.
This is just one of many ways in which mystical experiences are attempting to lead many astray by causing them to seek God outside of His Word. To say that Jesus Christ (or the Virgin Mary) is personally appearing and speaking today is going beyond the boundaries of Biblical Christianity. Do not be deceived! When Jesus Christ came to this earth He revealed the Father to us, (John 17:25,26, John 14:8-10) and all that we need to know is recorded in God’s Word; we need nothing more:
“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.” (Hebrews 1:1,2)
Thank you very much for stopping by and taking time out of your busy day to read some of my posts and poems.
God Bless You
~Mary/Living4HisGlory
RELATED SCRIPTURES
“Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:38-40)
“Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12)
RELATED VIDEOS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION – NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OF THESE MINISTRIES
RELATED POSTS
EARTH DAY:
https://living4hisglory.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/warning-you-with-tears-wednesday-5/
Mary Dalke - Living4HisGlory
Living4HisGlory 
I never investigated “Sacred Heart” because I always just assumed it was more Catholic nonsense. Well, it appears I was right about it being nonsense — It is occultic nonsense! Thanks for that good report.
You’re welcome, Glenn.Thank you for your comment. It is my prayer that God will lead many Catholics to begin thinking for themselves as they come to realize the pagan roots of many of their teachings.
Hope all is well with you and your family, Glenn.
Hi Mary,
These images are so creepy – it’s hard to imagine them being used by Christians as an aid to worship. Yet, reading through Samuel and Kings (for example), we can see how many people who identify with the true God willfully adopt the ways of the pagans around them.
It’s just as you say, “…it seems to take the focus off of the Biblical gospel; the sufficiency of His “once for all” sacrifice on the cross in our place”
Exactly right.
We can see the value of the addendum to the first commandment. It was broken then by the visible church and it is broken now too:
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Exodus 20:4-5
Have you heard of Jen Johnson’s “Armpit Reflector” God? Google it or I can send you a link. We should weep for how far the “Evangelical Church” has fallen. God have mercy on us, and on our children.
God be with you, Mary.
Alec
PS The last video link in this post, “Mother Earth Spirituality” seems to be dead.
Hi Alec! Thank you for your very Biblically based and insightful comment! You are the second person who has called these images “creepy” after reading this post! Yes, creepy indeed, and quite disturbing too! Lord willing, I will be updating this post with even more “creepy” info withing the next few days!
Yes, Alec…let’s hope than many Catholics come to realize that many of their Catholic teachings are leading them astray as they put the focus on so many other things instead of all that Jesus Christ accomplished for us through His once for all sacrifice on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead proved that His sacrifice was sufficient to satisfy the full wrath of God that He has towards us because of our sins! The barrier has been removed and we can come into His very presence IF we choose to place our FULL trust in all that Jesus accomplished for us and NOT in our good works which are as filthy rags to a thrice Holy God!
Yes! That’s one thing that stood out to me, as well, as I have been reading through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation; the idolatry of God’s people to embrace the gods of the pagan religions. This is truly spiritual adultery and God looks down upon these practices in Catholicism in the same way even though precious Catholics do not see it this way!
No! I have seen the video of Jen Johnson’s blasphemous Holy Ghost is like a sneaky blue genie, but have not seen that one! Will search for it today!
Thank you for the heads up on the ‘Mother Earth Spirituality’ video! I checked on it and the user was terminated because of copyright infringement! It was fine when I posted it.
Thank you so much, Alec…God be with you too!
Mary- please check out ‘Letter & Spirit- the Eucharist’ by Dr Scott Hahn. The beauty, authority & truth of the Catholic faith will blow you away.
Marg,
I’ve read the Catholic Catechism, Ludwig Ott’s “Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma,” the various councils, papal encyclicals, etc, etc, etc, (all on my shelf) and the history of the RCC. There is no biblical authority for the Papist church, there is very little truth with the Papist church, and certainly no beauty with the Papist Church. Perhaps the truth would blow YOU away.
Welcome, Marg, and thank you very much for taking the time to make a comment. Out of respect and fairness to you I went on YouTube last night and listened to Scott Hahn’s full presentation, ‘Letter & Spirit – The Eucharist, Dr Scott Hahn.’ I did not see any “beauty, authority, & truth of the Catholic faith” after listening to his presentation, and I was not “blown away” by what he presented as he quoted the early church fathers and placed his main focus on the Eucharist. I do agree that many differ on their interpretation of Scripture especially when it comes to end time events as Scott Hahn pointed out concerning the rapture, but one needs to also look at the character and nature of God, and place their focus on Scripture and allow Scripture to interpret Scripture, and not look to the early church fathers in order to clearly see what God’s Word says. They must also be guided by God’s Holy Spirit since God’s Word is spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:10-14)
I found it quite disturbing when Scott Hahn said the following concerning the Eucharist:
“…and I heard a Catholic priest pronounce the words of consecration for the first time in my life, he said, “This is my body,” and when he elevated the host it was like all of the doubts were just draining out of my heart and my mind. I was at the edge of the pew whispering under my breath, “My Lord and my God, it’s you, isn’t it? That’s you!” I felt like doubting Thomas. And when he consecrated the chalice I found myself, literally, you know, drooling with this holy thirst for Christ’s body and blood.” (55:34-56:24 minute mark),
Jesus Christ is called the “Lamb of God” not because they were to eat Him as Scott Hahn suggests and bases some of what he says on the teachings of the “early church fathers,” but because He was sinless and spotless and was sent to be the perfect “once for all” sacrifice for our sins. Adding to Scripture leads to false assumptions and twists Scripture which leads many from the truth presented in Scripture. The very teaching that Scott Hahn and the Catholic church presents by their interpretation of John Chapter 6 was one of the very passages of Scripture that God used to show me to leave the Catholic church because I saw how Jesus Christ indeed was speaking in a spiritual sense and He made this very clear to His disciples when He said:
“The Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” (John 6:63)
So it is the truth in the Words of Jesus which brings spiritual life.
Earlier in John 6 Jesus makes it clear that coming to Him is eating, and believing in Him is drinking when He said the following:
“I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.” (John 6:35,36)
If Jesus was speaking literally in John Chapter 6, then the following verse (verse 58, the last verse in the following passage) should also mean that those who literally eat of His body and blood through partaking in the Eucharist will not literally die, and that obviously is not true:
“Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53-58)
Scott Hahn correctly points out that what happens in the Mass and in the Old Testament is a “perfect match.” This is true simply because it is the same sacrificial system. (Lord willing, I will be writing about this in a future post). Please read Hebrews Chapter 7 through 10 which God used to reveal the truth to me which was and is that Jesus Christ’s once for all sacrifice was sufficient to pay for the debt of our sins in full, and that the Sacrifice of the Mass is blasphemy in the sight of God because it renders Jesus Christ’s “once for all” sacrifice as being insufficient to pay for our sins in full by its continuation. The Catholic church teaches that the Sacrifice of the Mass is an “unbloody sacrifice” and “one and the same sacrifice” as Jesus Christ’s once for all sacrifice, and that it is truly *propitiatory,” *(has the power to take away sin).
“The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: “The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of the priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different.” “And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered Himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and offered in an unbloody manner…this sacrifice is truly propitiatory.” (CCC Para 1367)
But God’s Word clearly says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22) And Jesus Christ was not a “victim” as the Catholic church teaches. God’s Word clearly shows that Jesus Christ willingly came and submitted to the will of God the Father. (Please read John 10:18 and Hebrews 10:5-10)
If you do not yet realize it, I am a former Roman Catholic of many years who attended twelve years of Catholic school, made my “First Holy Communion,” was “Confirmed,” went to “Mass” on thousands of Sundays and many days before my school day began, believed that Jesus was truly present in the Eucharist, as all Catholics are taught, and I would have defended the Catholic faith throughout the many years that I was a Catholic if I was ever challenged on it because I truly believed with all of my heart through all of that time, that the Catholic Church was “the one True Church”, but no one ever tried to challenge me. However, when I began to read a little Catholic New Testament on my own and came to realize that what I was taught as a Catholic did not line up with what God’s Word clearly was saying, I chose to believe God’s Word over ‘the traditions of men that nullify God’s Word.’ (Mathew 15:7)
Marg, I humbly ask you to please read through the Book of Romans and the Book of Hebrews (especially Chapters 7-10) and ask God to reveal the truth to you as to what His Word clearly says that is spiritually discerned.
Much more could be said, and, Lord willing, will be said when I write the post which will focus on the Sacrifice of the Mass in comparison to what God’s Word clearly says. In the end we all have a decision to make: “Are we going to believe the Word of God? Or the word of man?” That was the question that God posed to me, and after much prayer and seeing what God’s Word had to say in comparison to all that I was taught as a Catholic. I chose to believe God’s Word over the teachings of Catholicism because I came to realize who Jesus Christ truly is in all of His glory! God’s Word showed me all that He accomplished for us through His perfect, sinless life, His horrific death on the cross in our place when He accepted God’s full wrath that was intended for us because of our sins and how our sins were placed upon Him and God’s wrath was poured out on Him, and how we are now justified in God’s sight because God gloriously raised Him from the dead (read Romans 4:18-25) which showed that His “once for all” sacrifice was sufficient to satisfy His wrath. We must simply choose to place our full trust in all that Jesus Christ accomplished for us and not place our trust in our own righteousness or religious practices which are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) in the sight of a completely Holy God. If one truly believes in what Jesus Christ has done, they will be born of the Spirit of God and will become a new creation in Christ (Please read 2 Corinthians 5:17-20), desiring to obey out of love for Jesus Christ (John 14:23), and not to earn salvation. We will then be “in Christ” and can then come before His “throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15,16) Precious Catholics are told to come to Jesus through Mary, and through the saints, but Jesus Christ Himself says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.” (John 14:6) He is the only Mediator between God and men, (1 Timothy 2:5) and the only name under heaven by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
It’s all because of what Jesus Christ did. There is no need for any continuation of sacrifices. His once for all sacrifice can cleanse our consciences from all guilt (Hebrews 9:14, Hebrews 10:19-22). The sacrifice we should now offer to God is a sacrifice of praise and to do good and share with others. (Hebrews 13:15,16)
When I came to realize all that Jesus Christ accomplished for us and how the Sacrifice of the Mass was actually a denial of the sufficiency of Jesus Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice on the cross, I could no longer stay in the Catholic church. My heart yearns for all Catholics to come to realize the truly good news that is presented in God’s Word which is one main reason why I write so many posts that compare the teachings of the Catholic church to the same Catholic New Testament Bible that God used to open my eyes to the Biblical gospel that reveals how we can have the assurance of salvation (1 John 5:13), and it also removes the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14,15), a fear that held me in bondage throughout the whole time I was Catholic until I read 1 John 5:9-13, mainly verses 10-13 which reads as follows:
“Anyone who does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about His Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Our eternal destiny is truly at stake, dear Marg, so I pray that you will think carefully about these matters and seek God and take time to test everything in light of Scripture. I will be praying for you and for all Catholics that they might discover the truth that can be found in God’s Word and not in any religious system.
Sincerely,
Mary/Living4HisGlory
NOTE: If anyone would like to reply to Marg, you may do so briefly and respectfully, as Glenn did. Please be sure to show the love of Jesus Christ through your words, as well as truth presented in Scripture. You may also choose one source of well documented information that relates to her comment if you think it would be helpful to her. Thank you.