IS THE VIRGIN MARY ALIVE OR DEAD?

Chapter 1

Growing up as a young Catholic boy in a middle-class family, I was sent by my parents to Annunciation School, where I received my grammar school education. While attending the school for eight years, I was required to attend Mass every Sunday at the Cathedral of the Annunciation, where I would eventually serve for a couple of years as an altar boy, assisting the priests.

How I remember the beauty of the Cathedral—the 30-foot-high ceilings, the beautiful mosaic windows, the gold articles of furniture, the purple and scarlet colors, and the statues of the Saints, Mother Mary, and Baby Jesus.

It was not long before the Virgin Mary became as important to me as Jesus Himself. I had a fervent and devoted love for her. I prayed thousands of Hail Marys throughout my younger years, sometimes while kneeling in front of one of the statues of the “Mother of God.” Mary was everywhere.

I remember the statue of the Madonna (Italian for my lady) in my mother’s garden and the Madonna vase on her dresser. In the vase were palm leaves, holy cards, and rosary beads. Because of my Italian heritage and my membership in the Church of Rome, I soon learned to respect and reverence the Virgin Mary as being holy and sacred. I heard her name mentioned far more times than that of Jesus, and she soon became my most precious “mediator” to the throne of God.

It was not until I graduated from Annunciation School [the “Annunciation,” according to Roman Catholic teachings, is the announcement which the Angel Gabriel made to the Virgin Mary when he told her that she was to be the mother of Jesus Christ, as related in Luke 1:26-38, and celebrated on March 25, as Lady Day] and was accepted into St. Mary’s High School [another school dedicated to the Virgin Mary], where I was to receive the next four years of my education, that I began to question the teachings of Catholicism.

The nuns at Annunciation, who were my sole teachers for eight years, had taught me about our first parents, Adam and Eve, who were created by God and lived in the Garden of Eden. But while attending St. Mary’s, where I was to receive my higher education, I suffered a great disappointment that I will never forget. I remember so well the day the priest, who taught my religion class, told me, along with the other students, that the story of Adam and Eve was not to be taken literally. It was merely a story in the Bible—not a fact !

My world was shattered and my confidence in the teachings and doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church was marred. I, therefore, began to question the system as a whole. Had I been lied to my first eight years of schooling? and were there other doctrines that I had been taught that were not true?

Twenty years later, I finally decided to search the Scriptures for myself. As I studied the Word of God, I discovered many truths that I had never learned while attending Catholic schools. In fact, I found many of the doctrines of Rome to be contrary to the Bible. One doctrine, for instance, was the doctrine of the immortality of the soul—the doctrine of man’s consciousness in death. What happens to a person when he dies? Does his soul live on forever in the form of a spirit that floats up into Heaven, where he will enjoy eternity, or down into Hell, where he will be tormented forever?

How would the priests who “straightened me out” in regards to the Creation story explain these Scriptures: “The soul that sinneth it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20) and “Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake , some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt”? (Dan. 12:2).

Have you noticed the thousands of billboards that have appeared throughout this country in the past few years urging you to call for a message from the Virgin Mary? “Why are two billion Hail Marys said daily? Why did five million people, many non-Christian, visit Lourdes this year to drink the healing waters? Why did more than 10 million trek to Guadalupe to pray to Our Lady? Why have 15,000 priests gone to Medjugorje since 1981? Why is it that more girls have been named for Mary than any other historical figure?...Why the need to talk with her? Why are Mary hymns creeping into Methodist songbooks?” (Life, Dec., 1996, p. 45).

Where is the Virgin Mary right now, anyway? Is she in heaven with Jesus, or in New York, or in Florida? Or is she in the grave sleeping until Jesus comes? What about all the reported miracles, visions, appearances, messages, predictions, weeping statues, and bleeding icons?

What is it about Mary?

According to those of the “Marian Movement,” over 300 apparitions, significant enough to merit attention (for there have been thousands reported), have occurred since Fatima. “Fatima is the key Marian apparition of the Twentieth Century. In fact, Pope Pius XII noted that the message of Fatima is one of the greatest interventions of God through Mary in world history since the death of the Apostles.” (The Thunder of Justice, p. 132).

The December 30, 1991, issue of Time magazine reported that “the late 20th century has become the age of the Marian pilgrimage ” to many shrines established to commemorate the many sightings of the Virgin Mary in recent years. “These apparitions have brought millions of people to faith in Catholicism’s Mary. The shrine at Lourdes, France, attracts about 5.5 million pilgrims annually; Poland’s Black Madonna draws 5 million; Fatima, Portugal, ‘draws a steady 4.5 million pilgrims a year from an ever-widening array of countries.’ Since John Paul II visited the shrine of Mary at Knock, Ireland, ‘attendance has doubled to 1.5 million people each year. To handle the influx, a new international airport was opened at Knock in 1986.’

A ‘Mary, Queen of the Universe Shrine’ has recently opened in Orlando, Florida. The shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe near Mexico City ‘draws 20 million visitors a year’....‘Mary,’ a goddess suitable for all religions, is already adored by a quarter of earth’s population. ” (A Woman Rides the Beast, pp. 453, 454, 457). Unquestionably, Marian apparitions are attracting a huge following, considerably larger than Disneyland, in Anaheim, California, which reported an incredible fifteen million visitors in 1996.

Years ago, “Saint Louis de Montfort, in the Seventeenth Century, wrote about what it would be like for the church in the latter days, and the role of Mary in that plan. He stated, ‘In the Second Coming of the Lord, Mary will be made known in a special way by the Holy Spirit so that through her, Jesus may be better known and served ....Mary will shine forth higher than ever in these last days to bring back poor sinners who have strayed from the family of God....Mary will raise up apostles of the latter times to make war against the evil one.’” (The Thunder of Justice, p. 73).

Later, “Pope John Paul II wrote in his 1987 encyclical Redemptoris Mater that Marian apparitions signify that the Blessed Virgin’s journey through time and space is a pilgrimage toward the Second Coming of Jesus and her final victory over Satan. This is her role now as it has been predestined from the beginning.” (Ibid., p. 19).

Certainly from the statements above, one might be led to regard Mary as the most important being there is, greater than Jesus Himself. But if you study the Bible, while praying for guidance from the Holy Spirit to define the Word and make its truths known, I believe you will plainly see that not only are the above statements erroneous and deceptive, but that Mary’s involvement in future events is utterly impossible!

Chapter 2

In the very beginning of earth’s history, Satan, while in the form of a serpent, told the first lie to Eve. He told her that if she disobeyed the command of God not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, she would “not surely die, ” even though God had expressly warned her that “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die .” (See Genesis 3:4; 2:17).

Satan treacherously assured her (another monstrous lie) that upon eating the fruit “your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods , knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:5). Friends, are we still believing the devil today? The Bible is quite clear that only God “hath immortality .” (I Tim. 6:16). In fact, the Bible, on the other hand, contains a number of Scriptures that prove that mortal man receives not his immortality until the second coming of Christ—at the time of the resurrection. (I Cor. 15:51-55; John 5:28, 29). Now please note these unequivocal and authoritative pronouncements on the condition of man in death from Ecclesiastes 9:5 and 10: “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything ....Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”

I remember the first time I ever read these Scriptures. I immediately wondered why I had always believed that a dead person could speak to me if he so chose. Was this another error of the Roman Church that had been sold to me by the priests? After all, according to the Bible, are not seances meetings in which the devil tries to send his deadly messages to unwary people through a human medium who is supposed to be able to communicate with the so-called spirits of the dead?

The greatest of all seances in the Bible occurred when Saul went to the Witch of Endor , described in the Scriptures as “a woman that hath a familiar spirit”—that is, a woman who received messages from an evil angel who claimed to be the “spirit” of a particular dead person usually known to the seeker—and asked her to bring up Samuel from the dead since “the Lord answered him not , neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets?” (I Sam. 28:6, 7). Since when does a man of God go to the devil for advice when the Lord explicitly said: “Regard not them that have familiar spirits,…to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God”? (Lev. 19:31; see also Isa. 8:19, 20).

The Bible plainly states: “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence;” for when a man dies, “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish .” (Ps. 115:17; 146:4).

So why do most people, both Christians and non-Christians, believe the doctrine of the immortality of the soul? I believe the problem exists because of a misinterpretation of Scripture. In Genesis 2:7, the Bible says: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living soul.” The Hebrew word for “soul” used in this text is nephesh. Besides being translated 428 times as “soul” in the Old Testament, nephesh is also translated as the following: life—119 times; person—29 times; and creature—19 times. “There is nothing in the words translated ‘soul’ or in their usage in the Bible that even remotely implies a conscious entity that survives the body after death, or that attributes immortality to it. Nephesh is not part of the person; it is the person!” (Bible Dictionary by Siegfried H. Horn, Ph.D., p. 1061).

I believe the confusion stems from a misinterpretation of verses like the following: “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Many people use this verse in an attempt to prove that the “soul” or “spirit” is, therefore, immortal and goes to God at the point of death. But, if you look at Job 27:3, you will find a Scripture that will help you understand that the “spirit” is simply the breath of life by which man lives, and which is only lent him of God, and at death goes back to the Great Author of life—“All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils.”

The Hebrew word used here for spirit is ruach, which is defined in Gesenius’ Lexicon as follows: (a) spirit or breath; (b) breath of the nostrils; (c) breath of air. When the spirit, or breath of the nostrils, goes back to God, the body, made originally from the dust of the earth, now begins its process of going back to the earth as it was and ceases to function as normally, and the non-breathing individual no longer exists as a living, conscious, thinking being, but will rest in the grave until he is called forth by the voice of Christ “at the last day.” (John 6:39). “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice , And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation .” (John 5:28, 29).

The righteous dead will rise at the second coming of Christ and together with the living saints will meet the Lord in the air (see I Thess. 4:15-18), but the wicked dead will not rise until one thousand years after the resurrection of the righteous. “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” (Rev. 20:5). How can someone “live again” except he has first experienced having died?

By now, friends, you may be asking yourself the question: “How can the Virgin Mary be alive when the Bible so clearly tells us there is no consciousness in death?” To further establish the point, let us look at a few more Scriptures that prove that man is mortal. In the Book of Job, we read: “Man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost [breatheth out; Strong’s Concordance], and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more [the heavens roll back at Christ’s second coming (Rev. 6:14)], they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.” (Job 14:10-12).

And if that weren’t clear enough, Job continues: “If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come . Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee.” (Job 14:14, 15). Obviously, Job believed that he would sleep in the grave until Jesus called him out on Resurrection Morning. (See also Job 17:13-16). After all, it was Jesus who spoke of death as a sleep when referring to Lazarus’s state. He never once implied that Lazarus had gone to heaven, but, on the contrary, said, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.” (John 11:11). Then in John 11:23, Jesus tells Martha, “Thy brother shall rise again,” and Martha responds, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Jesus, in calling Lazarus from the tomb, said, “Lazarus, come forth (John 11:43),” not “Lazarus, come up!” or “Lazarus, come down!” I believe that Jesus’ use of the word sleep is a very appropriate synonym when used in place of the word death (the first death), because the word implies a temporary state—a state from which every soul “shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt [the second death (see Rev. 20:12-14)].” (Daniel 12:2).

The great teacher, the apostle Paul, clearly understood that he, too, would sleep in the grave until the second coming of Christ: “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure [death] is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day : and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His [Christ’s] appearing.” (II Tim. 4:6-8).

Paul knew, as did Martha, that not until the resurrection of the last day, at the second coming of Christ, would he receive the reward of eternal life and be changed from mortality to immortality. Remember, it was Paul who told us in the Sacred Word that mortal man will not put on immortality until the last trumpet blast that calls forth the righteous dead at the coming of Jesus: “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep [for some will be living when Christ comes], but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible [the Virgin Mary also], and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality [Please notice when this happens—not at death, but at the second coming of Christ].” (I Cor. 15:51-53).

Earlier in the chapter, Paul stated: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man [Adam] came death, by man [Christ] came also the resurrection of the dead . For as in Adam all die , even so in Christ shall all be made alive . But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming .” (I Cor. 15:20-23).

To solidify this position, let us now look at the request of the thief on the cross, who was crucified next to Jesus as recorded in Luke, Chapter 23. The repentant thief, believing Jesus was indeed the Son of God, “said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.” To this request Jesus responded, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou [thou shalt] be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:42, 43). Those who believe in the doctrine of the immortality of the soul often refer to these Scriptures to prove that the spirit of the dead goes immediately to Heaven at the time of death. But let us take a closer look at Luke 23. First, we need to understand that the comma placed before the word “today” was supplied by the translators. If you place it after the word “today,” it would then read, “Verily I say unto thee today, thou shalt be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43).

Second, Jesus did not ascend into Heaven as He died, for in John 20:17, He told  Mary in the early morning of His memorable resurrection: “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father .” It should also be noted that this statement was made two days after His death on the cross. Thus, the repentant thief was given, that day [Good Friday—the day of the crucifixion], the assurance of eternal life and a place in Paradise, but he, as with the rest of the righteous dead, would not receive his reward until Jesus comes the second time. (See Rev. 22:12).

Chapter 3

So why the deception? Because spiritualism lives! As long as there is a devil, there will be spiritualism. And as long as spiritualism lives, the lie—that in death there is continuing life—will be perpetuated! And this bias will often affect the work of otherwise well-meaning translators. Have you not noticed how more and more movies and their plots are being centered around the dead communicating with the living?

Satan is working with added enthusiasm in these last days, because he knows that his time is short and that one of his best tools for bringing the world under his deceptive control is spiritualism, based on his great lie that there is in man an immortal spirit that continues on after death and that it is possible for the living to receive vital light and benefit by communicating with the spirits of dead loved ones. These cherished dead can be convincingly impersonated in form, feature, sound of voice, and factual information unknown except by the living participant(s) and the “dead” communicant, as well as by Satan and his fallen angels, who are constantly seeking to cause the multitudes of earth to follow a demonic agenda in direct opposition to Christ’s great gospel commission to prepare the world for His coming and the final end of Satan and his kingdom.

Thus, “the doctrine of man’s consciousness in death, especially the belief that the spirits of the dead return to minister to the living, has prepared the way for modern spiritualism. If the dead are admitted to the presence of God and holy angels, and privileged with knowledge far exceeding what they before possessed, why should they not return to the earth to enlighten and instruct the living? If, as taught by popular theologians, the spirits of the dead are hovering about their friends on earth, why should they not be permitted to communicate with them, to warn them against evil, or to comfort them in sorrow? How can those who believe in man’s consciousness in death reject what comes to them as divine light communicated from glorified spirits?

Here is a channel regarded as sacred, through which Satan works for the accomplishment of his purposes. The fallen angels who do his bidding appear as messengers from the spirit world. While professing to bring the living into communication with the dead, the prince of evil exercises his bewitching influence upon their minds.

“He has power to bring before men the appearance of their departed friends. The counterfeit is perfect; the familiar look, the words, the tone, are reproduced with marvelous distinctness. Many are comforted with the assurance that their loved ones are enjoying the bliss of heaven; and without suspicion of danger, they give ear ‘to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.’

“When they have been led to believe that the dead actually return to communicate with them, Satan causes those to appear who went into the grave unprepared. They claim to be happy in heaven and even to occupy exalted positions there, and thus the error is widely taught that no difference is made between the righteous and the wicked. The pretended visitants from the world of spirits sometimes utter cautions and warnings which prove to be correct. Then, as confidence is gained, they present doctrines that directly undermine faith in the Scriptures. With an appearance of deep interest in the well-being of their friends on earth, they insinuate the most dangerous errors. The fact that they state some truths, and are able at times to foretell future events, gives to their statements an appearance of reliability; and their false teachings are accepted by the multitudes as readily, and believed as implicitly, as if they were the most sacred truths of the Bible. The law of God is set aside, the Spirit of grace despised, the blood of the covenant counted an unholy thing. The spirits deny the deity of Christ and place even the Creator on a level with themselves. Thus under a new disguise the great rebel still carries on his warfare against God, begun in heaven and for nearly six thousand years continued upon this earth....Many will be ensnared through the belief that spiritualism is a merely human imposture; when brought face to face with manifestations which they cannot but regard as supernatural, they will be deceived, and will be led to accept them as the great power of God.” (The Great Controversy, pp. 551-553).

Therefore, Satan, in his efforts to deceive the very elect in these last days, will use his demons to impersonate our departed loved ones in the form of familiar spirits : boyfriends and girlfriends, grandfathers and grandmothers, uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers. So why not a masterpiece of deception—a demon impersonating the mother of Jesus Christ!!!

Chapter 4

The world is ready and ripe for this almost overpowering deception. In fact, the December, 1996, issue of Life magazine featured, on its front cover, a picture of a statue of Mary and the caption: “Two thousand years after the Nativity, the mother of Jesus is more BELOVED, POWERFUL, and CONTROVERSIAL than ever. The Mystery of MARY.” The ending of this article was especially of interest to me. It stated: “Mary...might lead to an ecumenical reunion of Christian churches . It might lead to a closer understanding of the teenage girl who gave birth in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. We could come to know Mary...

“Can we ask this simple girl to guide what has become not a cult but a huge and passionate congregation, a movement requiring a hero, a worldwide flock that has long demanded more of her? That has demanded, in some instances, that she deliver her message herself? I wonder: If Mary became merely human—if people could truly touch Mary— would Mary be enough?”

Please beware, friends, of the expositors of this type of thinking, who also refer to Mary as “Co-Redeemer, Mediator, and Advocate.” First of all, nowhere in the Bible is there any reference to the Virgin Mary as being man’s “Co-redeemer.” The prophet Isaiah, when writing about Jesus Christ, said the following: “And thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer , the mighty One of Jacob.” (Isaiah 60:16). In the New Testament, the apostles Paul and Peter each made poignant statements when referring to the price that was paid and the blood that was shed for man’s redemption. Paul said: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God [not Mary] in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” And Peter tells us what the purchase price was:

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold...But with the precious blood of Christ , as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (I Cor. 6:19, 20; I Pet. 1:18, 19). There can be, then, only one Redeemer—Jesus Christ, the One Who paid the ransom price of His life’s blood, thus giving up an infinite life for a lost human race. Secondly, how can Mary be our “Mediator” when the Bible explicitly warns:

“Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name [than that of Jesus Christ—see verse 10] under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved ” and “For there is one God, and one mediator [not two] between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”? (Acts 4:12; I Timothy 2:5). Obviously, Jesus is the only Being qualified to be mankind’s Mediator. And thirdly, would the mother of Jesus ever claim to be our “Advocate” when I John 2:1 says: “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous ”?

If the true Virgin Mary were alive, would she contradict the words of her Son? Yet, the book, The Thunder of Justice , which records many of the so-called statements made by the counterfeit Virgin Mary to different people around the world, says that Mary’s role is that of “Co-Redeemer, Mediatrix, and Advocate.” “While Calvary was first and foremost the scene of Our Lord’s Passion and death, it also caused Our Lady to suffer hidden and mystical wounds. No longer does God want the precious wounds of Our Lady to be hidden. Rather, His people are to understand the tremendous purification mankind received and will receive through devotion to Mary’s Hidden and Mystical wounds .” (The Thunder of Justice, p. 29).

As if she were crucified for us also! or had an infinite life to give! Friends, was it Mary’s wounds that Isaiah wrote about in his famous Chapter 53? Was she the one “stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted”? Was she the one “bruised for our iniquities”? or the one brought “as a lamb to the slaughter”? No! No! It was Christ! Isaiah did not mince his words when he wrote: “Surely He hath born our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed....He was oppressed, and He was afflicted....He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.” (Is. 53:4-9). It was Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who said: “I have trodden the winepress alone [or by Myself]; and of the people there was none with Me [not even Mary].” (Is. 63:3).

Yet, The Thunder of Justice further claims that when the so-called Mary appears to people, some of the other blasphemous titles she uses to identify herself are the following: “The Lady of All Nations,” “The Guardian of the Faith,” “The Immaculate Conception,” “The Pure Sinless One,” “The Mother of the Church,” “Queen of the Holy Rosary,” “Our Lady of Guadalupe” (which means, “She Who Crushes the Serpent”), “His Immaculate Spouse [of the Holy Spirit],” “The Second Eve” or “The New Eve,” “The Queen of the World,” “The Queen of Heaven,” and, last but not least, “The Queen of the Coming Age.”

Please do not think that I am being disrespectful toward Mary by writing this book, for I hope and pray I will meet her on Resurrection Day, when the saints come forth from the grave. She was indeed a wonderful Christian lady. That is why God chose her to be the mother of the Messiah. But when Satan uses her image as his means of deceiving souls , as a watchman on the walls of Zion, I must blow the trumpet. Therefore, I must take the time to expose the blasphemy implied by some of these names. First, let me address the title of “The Immaculate Conception” together with “The Pure Sinless One.” Did you know that when you mention the name “Immaculate Conception,” almost everyone believes the title applies to the virgin birth of Jesus? But that is incorrect. The Immaculate Conception, which is a Roman Catholic doctrine, doesn’t apply to Jesus at all. It refers to the birth of the Virgin Mary, who, according to the Roman Catholic Church, was conceived without the stain of original sin (see Webster’s Dictionary). This is why she is called “The Pure Sinless One.”

The Bible, on the contrary, tells us plainly that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” and “there is none righteous, no not one .” (Romans 3:23; 3:10). Besides this, it is very clear from the genealogical records in the Bible and from the fact that Mary was a full-blooded Israelite that she was descended from Abraham on both sides of her family. Now notice this statement by the apostle Paul in Hebrews 2:16 concerning the human nature of Jesus: “For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham.” And Abraham dwelt in fallen, human flesh 2000 years after Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden and several centuries after God destroyed the world by a Flood for the great wickedness of man.

Yet, the Catholic Church and the Marian Movement would like us to believe that Mary was holy. In fact, the well-known Catholic prayer, “Hail Mary,” includes the words: “Holy Mary , Mother of God , pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death,” which words the Roman Catholic Church admits in A Catechism of Christian Doctrine, p. 27, were composed by the Church itself under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, not once in Scripture is Mary called “holy Mary,” but, on the contrary, the Scriptures authored by the Holy Spirit (II Pet. 1:21), when referring to Jesus, call Him “that holy thing” and “Thy holy child Jesus.” (Luke 1:35; Acts 4:30). Christ is the only person in the Bible whose human birth is described thus!

Still again, The Thunder of Justice contradicts the Word of God when referring to what has been labeled the “Assumption”: “Mary was assumed into heaven…Because of her sinlessness, her body did not have to undergo corruption in the grave ....The Church has always held the truth about Mary’s Assumption, and in 1950 it was formally declared to be part of the Catholic dogma by Pope Pius XII .” (Ibid., p. 44). This doctrine, therefore, has now received the stamp of papal infallibility. But has it the stamp of Scriptural authority? If we study our Bibles to see whether “those things were so,” as did the faithful Bereans as recorded in Acts 17:11, we will, in fact, learn that the only mortals that have been taken into heaven from Adam unto this day are Enoch, Moses, Elijah, and many saints that were resurrected with Christ when He rose from the dead.

The Bible says of Enoch: “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Gen. 5:24); of Elijah, the Word says: “Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (II Kings 2:1); of Moses, Jude 9 says: “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses,” and Matthew 17:1-3 says that when Jesus was “transfigured....there appeared unto them [Peter, James, and John] Moses and Elias [Elijah] talking with Him.” In this awesome scene, Jesus had given to the three disciples that were watching, a glimpse of His glory, and the two mighty men of God that appeared with Him were perfect representatives of every person who will be saved throughout history. Moses, though having died, was resurrected by Christ, and thus, as it were, was a pledge to all who die in Christ—that they, too, will come forth from the grave at the resurrection of the righteous (John 5:28, 29; I Thess. 4:16), and Elijah was a type of all the saved who will be alive and translated when Christ comes the second time. (I Thess. 4:17). To see that such is a proper interpretation, read Matthew 16:27, 28—17:1-3 and compare with Peter’s own evaluation in II Peter 1:16-18.

In addition to the three patriarchs mentioned above, there was a host of saints that came out of their graves at Christ’s resurrection. Matthew 27:51-53 states: “The earth did quake...And the graves were opened: and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” Ephesians 4:8 tells us that these people, more trophies, were taken to Heaven at Christ’s ascension: “Wherefore he saith, When He ascended up on high, He led Captivity captive (or “a multitude of captives”—margin ), and gave gifts unto men.” These heroes of faith were raised as a part of the antitypical offering of “firstfruits” from the grave with Jesus and as a pledge of the final great harvest of the rest of the redeemed on Resurrection Day at His Second Coming!

On the other hand, it is also interesting to note that in addition to the definition given to the word “Assumption” by the Roman Catholic Church—namely, “the bodily taking up into heaven of the Virgin Mary”—the word’s primary definition, according to Webster’s College Dictionary, is: “something taken for granted; a supposition; or to assume as true.” Today I know more about the “Assumption” than when I was attending Catholic schools, because while there, I assumed it was truth.

Furthermore, I find it strange that the Apostle John, who lived a number of years after all the other disciples had died and who wrote the Gospel of John and the Apocalypse during the mid 90’s A.D. (when he was an old man), never once mentioned anything about Mary’s having been taken to Heaven, as Rome claims. John, of all the disciples, would have been the final authority on this matter. Please notice why. As Christ’s death on the cross drew near, Jesus beheld His mother and His Disciple John standing beside her at the foot of the cross. As He gazed into her grief-stricken face and then upon John, “He saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her...unto his own home .” (John 19:26, 27).

Christ had made John His mother’s caretaker for as long as she should live! “John understood Christ’s words, and accepted the trust. He at once took Mary to his home, and from that hour he cared for her tenderly. O pitiful, loving Saviour; amid all His physical pain and mental anguish, He had a thoughtful care for His mother....and in receiving her as a sacred trust, John was receiving a great blessing. She was a constant reminder of his beloved Master .” (The Desire of Ages, p. 752). And John wrote about this matter in the Gospel of John not long before his own death, at a time when Mary, his senior by 25 to 30 years or more, was undoubtedly dead. Why, then, did not John record anything about her “Assumption” in Sacred Writ? Because it just did not happen! For she, just like the beloved apostle, is peacefully sleeping in the grave until that climactic day when she will once again hear the voice of her Son, calling her from the grave on Resurrection Morn!

But it is true that Mary was “highly favoured” [or graciously accepted—see Bible margin] by God and “blessed...among women” (Luke 1:28), because she had been chosen by God to conceive [miraculously]...in her womb “and bring forth a son,” whose name she should call “Jesus.” (Luke 1:31). But, the very next verse pinpoints the only One in the verse who deserves to be extolled: “He [Jesus] shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: And He shall reign over the House of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” (Luke 1:32, 33). In fact, just a few verses later, after Mary had conceived and had gone to visit her cousin Elizabeth, Mary plainly declares with her own lips: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour .” (Luke 1:46, 47). Please notice, that Mary humbly acknowledged that the child within her womb was the Son of God—the long-promised Messiah and Deliverer of mankind, Who had consented to become a member of the human race in order to save it, Whom she was to name Jesus, and Who was, just as He is for every person in the world, her Saviour —for the name Jesus means “Jehovah is salvation, or “Saviour” [Matt. 1:21, margin].

Mary held no illusions that she was the “Mother of God” [words of Catholic origin and part of the “Hail Mary”], for no member of the Godhead had an original mother. “Yahweh” (or “Jehovah”) was the “Self-existent One,” the basic meaning of the term, or the Great “I AM.” Moses, who talked with the “I AM” for a period of forty years, clearly understood this. In Psalm 90, of which he is the author, he wrote, “Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.” And the prophecy in Micah 5:2 that pinpointed Bethlehem of Judea as the birthplace of the promised Messiah describes Him as One “Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting [‘the days of eternity’—margin].”

Rather, Mary realized that she was “blessed among women” to be so “highly favoured” as to become the human instrument by which a member of the Godhead could become incarnate as a human being to effect the rescue of a lost human race. She was the mother of the Messiah, the God-man, when He transferred His original existence into a human one. He became the Son of man, but He remained Deity—the Son of God.

Mary always knew and kept her proper place. When Gabriel told her of the miraculous manner in which she would conceive a child through the agency of the Holy Spirit and that “therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God....For with God nothing shall be impossible,” her humble response was, “Behold the handmaid [female slave, Greek] of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” (Luke 1:35, 37, 38). The word “handmaid” in the Greek is doule, which means slave, involuntary or voluntary (as in Mary’s case). The word actually describes real slavery, bondage, or servitude; but even when its usage was meant to be qualified to indicate a perceived relationship to another, as in Mary’s foregoing acknowledgment, it still indicated an attitude of subjection or subserviency by the user. In any event, it is obvious from Mary’s words that she was very humbly compliant with God’s will.

This is also apparent again when she arrives at the home of her cousin Elizabeth, mother-to-be of John the Baptist—Christ’s messenger to announce His arrival and mission—and exchanges initial greetings with her, both being under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. After Elizabeth had acknowledged Mary as “the mother of my Lord” (Luke 1:43), Mary replied, as already noted above, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. ” But note carefully her attitude expressed in her next remarks: “For He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden; for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” (Luke 1:46-48). “Low” in the Greek comes from a word with the connotation of “humiliation” or “abasement,” and is very appropriately used with her choice of “handmaiden,” or submissive “female slave.” She is saying, “Socially, prestige-wise, I am a nobody.” But then she quickly acknowledges the fact that it is the child she bears Who is the Hero and Whose mighty achievements will be so wonderful and so permanent that all future generations, even in eternity, will call her “blessed” for being the willing human agent, in cooperation with God, to make the reality of mankind’s redemption possible.

It is hard to imagine a woman who possessed such demonstrated humility now emerging in today’s world as a person assuming such presumptuous titles and boastful achievements as those listed in this chapter, which exalt her to a position of Deity. Interestingly enough, there is not one prayer to Mary in the entire Bible—not one instance of her miraculously helping anyone, nor any promise that she could or would.

Jesus is the Savior of the world, the Lamb that was slain, the Sin-bearer with whose stripes and wounds we are healed, the Resurrection and the Life, our High Priest and Mediator before the Father, the “Seed” of the woman who would crush the “serpent’s” head, the descendant of David who was to become ruler on David’s throne forever and ever. In fact, dear friends, notice this beautiful and unequivocal prophecy of the Messiah’s birth and eventual rulership on the throne of His human ancestor David as given by the “gospel prophet” Isaiah: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God , The Everlasting Father , The Prince of Peace . Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this.” (Isaiah 9:6, 7). This prophecy, dear friend, includes all of Heaven’s intent!

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