Mary or Jesus?

Who is the Focus of our Faith?

Richard Hollerman

As all of you know, we are living in a time of theological confusion. They say that there are some 30,000 Protestant denominations, sects, and groups of various kinds in the world. But since we are considering Catholicism in particular, we know that there are many different forms of this modern denomination as well. Besides conservative Catholics who reject the so-called Pope to the liberal Catholics who fully support this false teacher, we are very much involved in many different forms of Catholicism.

But there are not only these two views but there are many other Catholic views and those who have broken away from Catholicism. We are referring especially to a view about Mary! Catholics may refer to Mary as “the Mother of God” whereas others do support Mary but refuse to use this unscriptural nomenclature. The Orthodox also promotes the prominence and elevation of Mary, through icons or pictures–and  this is found in various groups, whether it be the Coptic religion, the Russian Orthodox, the Greek Orthodox, and many other forms of non-Catholic Orthodox Churches.

All of these churches place Mary in a place of unwarranted prominence. But what do we–you and I–know about Mary? What facts inform our thinking?

1. Mary was a humble woman from Galilee, chosen by God to give birth to Jesus the Son of God.
2. She spent her entire childhood in this small town in the area of Israel called Galilee (that had a bad reputation).
3. She lived a given number of years until she died. (We don’t know how long she lived).
4. She had five sons (including Jesus) and at least two daughters—but may have had many more.
5. According to Acts 1, she went to Judea (and this was the last time that we find her in the Bible).
6. Possibly (and this is a question), she may have gone to Ephesus with John the apostle—the apostle to whom Jesus entrusted her care.
7. She must have died there in Asia Minor—or possibly back in Israel.
8. Although she came from Galilee, she did travel to Judea (as well as Egypt for a year or two), but apparently she did very little traveling besides this.
9. She remained a woman, a human being, not God or a “god.”
10. She is not to be worshipped, served, or prayed to.

The many fanciful and false teachings that arose about Mary in the centuries following the time of Christ and apostles must be discarded. There arose many false views and idolatrous views that were wrong. Mary did die and no longer remains alive (Hebrews 9:27; 1 Corinthians 15:22). She is dead. I repeat, Mary is dead. She will not be raised until Christ returns for He is the “resurrection” and the life! She can hear no prayer and never has. In fact, the billions and billions of prayers directed to her over the years from AD 300 to the present, rise no higher than the ceiling. Mary is dead and will remain dead until the resurrection of the righteous!

Yet we know that Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and other false ways do exult her regardless of what the Bible and history tells us. Recently, we received the following which we are presenting as documentation of this claim:

Celebration of the Nativity of Mary

It is fitting that we celebrate “The Nativity of Our Lady” soon before the “Rosary Rallies.” Next to the birth of Jesus, Mary’s birth offers wonderful happiness to the world. [Scripture says absolutely nothing about Mary’s birth, although we know that he was born.] When we celebrate her birth, we can confidently hope for an increase of peace in our hearts and across our Nation. She has given us the power of the Rosary and the power to share her goodness and light. [Of course, Mary didn’t give such a command and the Rosary was a false practice that arose centuries later.]

Our Lady’s birth offers hope for the whole world. We have been told by her to pray the Rosary. [This, of course, is a lie. Mary is dead and can’t command anything.] By praying the Rosary we bring her hope to the world that surrounds us. By blanketing America with “Rosary Rallies” our hope is to share her goodness and light and ward away the evil and darkness that is eating away at souls.

Holy Mary was always perfectly faithful to Our Lord Jesus Christ. She leads the way. You can lead a Rosary Rally and follow in Our Lady’s footsteps. Why not join us and help others return to God? [The only way to be “faithful” to the Lord Jesus is to avoid these false and evil practices recommended by this false teacher.]

The letter (which we have copied below) gives some impression of the view taken by conservative Catholics. Hopefully, this will show how utterly pagan this is.

Our Lady’s Birth and the Triumph of Her Reign

[Mary doesn’t “reign” for this alone is the prerogative of God alone.]

May 03, 2013 / Written by: Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

Everything the Church does is wise. In Her wisdom, She classifies the different levels of honor to be paid to God, Our Lady and the saints. The first level, called latria or adoration, is only for God and Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the Incarnate Word.

The cult of dulia is veneration or mediation, which the Church pays to the saints. However, there is a special category of honor that the Church only pays to Our Lady, called hyperdulia. Our Lady ranks so high above all other saints that the Church had to create a special cult to describe devotion to her. This demonstrates the unique position of Our Lady in all creation.

[This is pure fabrication and a lie. It is something that faithful Christians must reject outright and worship God alone—Matthew 4:10.]

We continue to read:

The Church teaches this in a number of ways. For example: Besides that of Our Lord and Saint John the Baptist, [John and no other person in antiquity was called a “Saint” that has to do with false practice!] no other birthday is celebrated; no other saint has more than one feast day per year; and while the Church does not allow the same saint to be represented multiple times on the same altar, She permits any number of images of Our Lady to be placed anywhere in a church. Also, the Church celebrates dozens of calendar feasts, liturgical ceremonies and pious practices in Our Lady’s honor.

[We know that these images are wrong and sinful. Especially the images of Mary are idolatrous and must be rejected and condemned. The reference to feasts, liturgical ceremonies, and pious practices must also be condemned as sinful and wrong.]

Among these, Our Lady’s Holy Nativity has a special significance, since it marked a new era in the history of the chosen people.

[No, it didn’t.]

Since the Old Testament is no more than the account of the wait for the Messias, it can be divided into two phases: The first would be the 4,000-5,000 years before Our Lady’s birth. [There was 4,000 years from creation (Genesis 1-2) and 2,450 years from Noah to Jesus.] The second is after that blessed moment in which Providence resolved to bring forth she, whose prayer would bring the Messias,

Her birth was the arrival of that perfect creature who was full of grace before God. Without her, the prayers and sufferings of all humanity would have failed to bring the Incarnation. [This is totally false and places Mary on a pedestal that God doesn’t give to her.] However with her, the trajectory of history was forever changed. All prayers became more effective and a new manner of blessings and graces began producing sanctity like never before.

Our Lady served as the “Doorway to Heaven” that the hope of the Messias’ coming passed through.  [This is pure paganism. Mary never was and surely is not now the “doorway to heaven! This was reserved for Jesus Himself—Acts 4:12.]

Her presence on earth was the occasion for signal graces. The height of her contemplation gave her a force of presence. It made her a fountain of so many and such high graces, that her very existence was an annunciation of Our Lord’s coming.

Thus, the feast of Our Lady’s nativity is very dear. It is the beginning of the Redemption that would eventually defeat the evil powers of paganism and the Gentiles. [The early believers didn’t celebrate such. Neither should we.]

There is a profound relationship between Our Lady’s coming and what is occurring in modern society. Once again, Our Lady has taken a pivotal role in history, [This is totally wrong and is part of the false teaching of an apostate church.] by raising up souls that burn with the desire for her reign [Mary doesn’t reign now or ever. Jesus does and He alone.] amid the darkness of neo-paganism. They clamor for it and fight for its implantation on earth.

These souls are like Our Lady of the Old Testament. [Mary was non-existent in the Old Testament period.]The light has not yet come; neither has the redemption, victory nor liberation from the devil. However, these souls spread graces of hope and determination, in such a way, that they herald the coming victory.

Thus, Our Lady’s nativity is symbolically repeated to prepare the coming of her reign, prophesied by Saint Louis de Montfort and the apparitions of Fatima. [This shows that many different false ways are related to Mary—such as the prophesies of this false prophet, the idea of the “reign” of Mary, and the visions or appearances of Mary to three children in Portugal.]

For those who desire Our Lady’s victory, this feast day is especially important. These should pray fervently, for the immediate coming of Her reign, when the long dark night of sin will be eclipsed by her triumph. [Any prayer by false teachers or false people who are unconverted will avail nothing. In fact, such prayers anger God and doesn’t console Him. She has no reign. Further, we know that she is dead and doesn’t hear a single prayer.]

I just received another letter from this conservative Roman Catholic source. This is part of what we read:

Today is the feast of Our Lady’s Nativity, that special day 9 months after the feast of the Immaculate Conception when we reflect on Our Lady’s birth and the pivotal role she alone played in the salvation of all mankind.

We need to remember that we need no birthday celebration for Mary. We don’t know who her father or mother was. We don’t know when she was born or when she died (or even where she died). There is no “immaculate conception” for Mary was not “immaculate” (without sin) from the time of her birth or conception. There was only one sinless being in the universe—Jesus—and not Mary. And the only role that Mary played in our salvation was that she brought Jesus into the world and raised Him (along with Joseph). Nothing else. Thus, the appeal for money is false—totally false. We wonder if these conservative Roman Catholics will ever learn this.

We continue to read this:

So please—allow me to have my associates place a white rose, in your name, on the very spot where Our Lady appeared in Fatima, Portugal.

Everyone knows that a woman’s heart glows when she is given a rose and a white rose touches that “pearl-like” quality in her.

And to Our Lady, God’s “pearl of great price,” a white rose surely reminds her of the privilege of her Immaculate Conception.

This appeal letter is so false that we wonder where to begin to answer it

Answering the Letter

Again, we read this: “Our nation needs Our Lady’s mercy.” No, it doesn’t. It needs the “mercy” of God that He gives through Christ. Not through Mary!

First, Mary didn’t appear in Portugal a hundred years ago. She is dead. Dead. Further, any appearances were not from her but must have been from our enemy—which must have been Satan. Why? Surely because he wants people to worship and serve a mere human rather than Jesus! Further, she surely is not the “Pearl of Great Price” for this alone is mentioned in Matthew 13. We urge good-hearted and truth-loving Catholics to wake up from this deception and come to God alone through Christ Jesus for His complete forgiveness!

This is sufficient for us to see the truth of this utterly important matter. We know that 1.3 billion of Roman Catholics (and Orthodox too) have devoted themselves to Mary. They pray to her, exult her, worship her, defend her, and think wrongly about her. Sadly, they have believed a lie. They hold to a false conception of who Mary was and is and this affects much of their life.

We can think of the following:

1. Mary has died and is no longer able to hear a single prayer.
2. Since Mary is dead, and can hear no one, all of the prayers said to her are vain and useless.
3. This is not only vain but also an affront to the holiness of God to think of someone else who has prayers directed to her (Matthew 4:12).
4. Mary has been dead for at least nineteen centuries and can hear no prayer, regardless of how often or how much people pray.
5. Since we are to address God alone, when prayer is offered to someone other than God or Christ, we sin grievously (Exodus 20:1-2).
6. Sins that are accumulating regarding Mary are great and grievous.
7. Whole cathedrals are directed to Mary, but this is all in vain.
8. Rosaries are directed to Mary, but this too is in vain.
9. Traditional Catholics erect images (statutes) to Mary whereas we are not to have any images at all directed to anyone, including Mary (Exodus 20:1-7).
10. Mary should rarely be found on our lips.
11. Mary is dead, thus we can’t contact her at all.
12. We assume that Mary was saved, redeemed, and on her way to heaven.
13. Mary must be in heaven now, unable to talk at all to outside people.

Thus, let’s keep these simple facts in mind. When millions of Roman Catholics say that they talk to Mary or pray to Mary, we automatically know that this is merely a figment of their imagination. They may think that they are talking to this dead woman but, in reality, they are not. They are utterly deceived and led astray by a false system.

Further, let’s remember that Catholics know virtually nothing about true salvation, thus they are not saved and are unable to talk to anyone. In fact, God alone hears their prayers. And not regular prayers (of asking) but prayers for salvation. (And this salvation only comes to one who seeks salvation and is willing to come to God through Christ, as Scripture would say.)