The words of this praise song drift into our window, awakening us at 5am:

"Mother,
Full of tenderness,
You are
A flower from above,
All white, all precious,
Filled with heavens love.

Our Lady, Come to me!
Take me to your home above.
Spread your skirt over me,
Fill me with heavens love"

So another year has gone by and we are again into the celebration that honors the patron saint of Atotonilco. In the end, though, that saint, Saint Michael the Archangel, is overshadowed - as is everyone else - by the cult to Mary.

Identity theft is no new crime. It began when Satan said "I will be like the Most High" and was exported to the Garden when Adam lifted his hand toward a tree and his fist toward heaven and said, in effect, "No! I donÕt want you to be God! I want to be god!" In one move, Adam separated himself from God and became a grotesque and paltry imitation, with none of God's glorious attributes or qualities, but claiming the throne nonetheless.

That is man in Adam. He claims the right to run his life and, not satisfied only with that, seeks to run the lives of others. He, the man, in perverse imitation of his Creator, makes gods in his own image. He invents systems and programs for appeasing these gods and gaining their favor. And all of these systems, in their dozens of forms, always end revolving around man: his efforts, his knowledge, his experience will get him into the presence of the god he has invented. Thus continues the identity theft Adam perpetrated: Man in charge. "I'll decide!"

So the cult to Mary is simply an expression of this identity theft. Man steals the identity of Christ and pastes it to a cardboard cutout of Mary. She is the Star of David. She is the Root of Jesse. She is our Kinsman-Redeemer. She will take us to her home above.

Behind all of this is the cry, "We will not have this man to rule over us!" (Luke 19:14). Man will not submit to Christ and His Word. He will rule himself. He will decide for himself who is to be worshiped and how.

In radical contrast, the Scripture invites man to return to fellowship and friendship with the Creator, rejecting the rebellion of Adam and putting himself into submission to his Maker. There is no "religion" here, but a simple invitation to AdamÕs sons to turn and return. The Way has been provided, the penalty for alliance with the counter-kingdom of Adam has been paid, the power to walk in communion with God has been supplied: It's all in the Person, cross and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

In the six states of the Circle of Silence, this "identity-theft religion" is so deeply entrenched that the Bible itself is looked down on as being against God, while the dominant religion is esteemed as divine, even when it changes its teachings and dogmas. In a radio interview heard here in Atotonilco, for example, a priest exulted that the authority of the church is so great that it has even altered the geography of heaven, pointing out how his religion has now declared that limbo (the destiny, according to the system he follows, of unbaptized babies) no longer exists! Rome changes its mind, then declares itself to be correct both when it taught that limbo existed and when it teaches that it does not!

There is only one manner in which this Circle of Silence will be transformed into the Circle of Proclamation: through a sovereign working of God the Holy Spirit, convincing men of sin, righteousness and judgment. We invite you to pray for the six states of the Circle - Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacan, Queretaro and Zacatecas - and especially for the center of that Circle, the Jalisco Highlands. Join the hundreds of others praying for this needy region, asking the Lord to glorify His name by raising up workers, opening doors, convicting hearts and establishing churches.

To help you pray, we have two brief Power Point presentations we can send to you. We also have a Jalisco Highlands prayer calendar for 2005 available free. Take advantage of these tools, and stand in the gap for the Circle of Silence.