Is Mary the Mother of God?

by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2014, all rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Is Mary the mother of God?   No.

The Catholics have a prayer called the Rosary.  Many of the Catholics have that "prayer" memorized.  I'm not a Catholic, and I don't have that prayer memorized.

Why would I want to memorize the Rosary?  It is wrong to pray to Mary, and a violation of the Ten Commandments of Exodus chapter 20, where God says, "You shall have no other God's before me."

To pray to Mary is to treat her as though she were part of God, and she is very much not part of God.

But though I don't have the Rosary memorized, I do know that the first few words of it are, "Hail Mary, Mother of God."  So, it's a prayer addressed to Mary, and they're calling her the Mother of God, but that's incorrect.

I also know that the Rosary uses the words, “full of grace,” in referring to Mary.  Now "full of grace" is a phrase right out of the Bible. (John 1:14)

But that phrase, “full of grace,” isn’t talking about Mary, it’s talking about Jesus.  It says that Jesus is full of grace and truth.  Mary is not mentioned there.

Why do people get Mary and Jesus mixed up?  I'm sure they don't look anything alike.  And Jesus has holes in his hands where they drove the nails that fastened him to the cross.

One can pray to Jesus, one does not pray to Mary.  Or, at least, they shouldn't.

While my Mother was still on earth, I don't think anyone ever got the two of us mixed up.  She was the older one, and a woman.  I was the younger person, and a male.

It is wrong to apply the Bible phrase "full of grace" to Mary.  That honor belongs to Jesus.  It is unauthorized what they're doing.  Who was it that presumed to invent that?  God will surely punish them.

When we speak of God, we usually mean God the Father.  Toward the end of the book of Matthew, Jesus is talking about how to baptize people in water.

Jesus says it should be done in the name of the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Ghost.  Jesus left the mother out of it.  And so should we.

So God, is a three-in-one God.  Notice that in the three-in-one of God, there's no Mary.

Surely, God the Father has no mother.  It's my understanding that God the Father never had a beginning, but has always existed, even before the creation of the universe.

But someone might say, "But Jesus had a mother."  Well, yes and no.

Jesus had a beginning, because John 3:16 tells us,  "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son..."

So then, Jesus had a beginning.  Jesus began at the time that God the Father begot Jesus.

And when was that?  About two thousand years ago?

No, God the Father didn't beget Jesus about two thousand years ago because Jesus was present at the creation of the world, probably at least six thousand years ago.

At the beginning of the book of Hebrews, we read,

Heb 1:1 God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in the past to the fathers by the prophets,

Heb 1:2 Has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

God made the worlds by his Son, Jesus.  And the world is probably at least six thousand years old.

So Jesus didn't begin on Christmas Day about two thousand years ago.

God the Father begot Jesus before the creation of the worlds.  And there was no woman involved in the original begetting of Jesus by God his Father, because at the time that God originally begot Jesus, there was not such a thing as a woman.

At that time, God had not yet created the first man, Adam, who was created during the week of creation, as told of in the book of Genesis.

God did his creating in six days, and then rested the seventh day.  As God rested on the seventh day, there was, on earth, a man, Adam, but there was not yet a woman.

Later, God put Adam to sleep, and took one of Adam's ribs, and made the first woman, Eve, Adam's wife.

Someone might ask, "But how could God beget a Son, Jesus, without a woman."  Well, you see, God speaks things into existence.

In the BASIC computer programming language (some versions of BASIC) there's a statement "Let."

I used that "Let" statement in a computer program I wrote while doing some work for Timex Computers, in Cupertino, CA.

The watch company, Timex, has gotten out of the personal computer business.  But while they were in the personal computer business, I wrote a program that puts vertical color bars on the screen.

Here is that program:

10 For X = 1 to 7

20 Let Ink = X

30 Print "block, block, block"

40 Next X

50 Goto 10

A rather short program.  But it will get the vertical color bars on the screen.

For those who are not very much into mathematics, this sign, " = ", means "is equal to," or, "equals."

Where I said, "block, block, block," above, there was a symbol on the computer keyboard for a solid square instead of "block."  But I don't have that symbol on this keyboard that I'm using to write the book.

Printing those three squares on the screen gets the width of the seven color bars about right.

Line numbers from 10 to 50 are used in that program.

The lines from 10 through 40 are what is called a "For, Next Loop."  The program goes through that loop seven times ("For X = 1 to 7").

Each time through the loop, the ink is the color of X.  Color 1, then color 2, all the way to color 7.  The colors are basically the colors of the rainbow, and with that Timex computer, each color had been assigned a number.

After executing the for, next  loop, line 50 sends program execution back to line 10 in an endless loop, or some might say, "an infinite loop".  When you want to stop execution of the program, you press the "Break" key.

The so-called printing is done on the screen of the monitor.  Those Timex computers used your analog color TV as a monitor.  That was in the days before digital TV.

If you wanted to actually print something on paper, the command would be "Lprint," instead of "Print."

In the program, line 20 says, "Let Ink = X."

I'm just a man, but I wrote a computer program that puts vertical color bars on the screen.

God the Father said something like, "Let there be a Son of mine in my image," and Jesus came into existence.  It's not unlikely that God used more words than that.  Perhaps He specified various features that his Son would have, and various characteristics.

I'm telling you this in English.  I don't know what language God said that in, but I've given you the approximate English translation.

And we also know from the Bible that God said, "Let there be light,"  and light came into existence.

God is the God who speaks things into existence.

At the time that Jesus came into existence, there was not such a thing as a woman.  Nor had Adam been created yet.

So then, how can they say, "Mary, Mother of God."

Jesus existed long before Mary.  Probably at least four thousand years before Mary.

So then, what is Mary the mother of?  Mary is merely the mother of the earthly body that Jesus had while he was on earth.  That body was the house for Jesus' spirit that he lived in for about thirty three years until Jesus died by crucifixion.

Your body is the house that you live in on earth.  When you die, it's only your body that dies.  Then you, the person who lived in that body either go up to heaven, if you were a Christian, or go down to hell if you weren't right with God.

Women's bodies were created with the ability to make babies if the woman gets pregnant.  Mary was made pregnant with Jesus by the Spirit of God.

Although we say that Jesus died by crucifixion, to be precise, he didn't exactly die by crucifixion, because Jesus said, "No one takes my life from me."

They crucified Jesus on a cross, but Jesus didn't die until he "yielded up the spirit (or, "ghost.")

Chapter 2

Mary is the mother of the physical body that Jesus had for about thirty three years.

But before Jesus walked in that body, he had existed for probably at least four thousand years before Mary existed, and for that period of time, Jesus was doing just fine without the help of Mary, since it was still a long time before Mary would be born.

So then is Mary just a nobody?  No, Mary is somebody.  It was prophesied that the Messiah, the Savior, would be born of a virgin.

God looked around to find which of the virgins of Israel would be the mother of the body of Jesus, and God chose Mary.

If Mary had been sexually promiscuous so that she were not a virgin, then God would have had to choose a different mother of Jesus, because the prophecy said his mother would be a virgin.

The fact that Mary was a virgin was to her credit, but no doubt there were many virgins in Israel at that time, just as there are many virgins now.

And while it's a good thing that Mary was a virgin, let's not exaggerate, and try to give her the status of God.

A man I met in the Chicago area was talking about the "Virgin Mary."  He used the expression "Virgin Mary" so many times, that finally, I said, "She's not a virgin now."

He said, "What do you mean?"

I said that Mary was a virgin until after Jesus was born, but then Mary lost her virginity to her husband, Joseph, and they had at least six children the normal way.

The Bible doesn't tell us the names of the daughters, but the sons were, James, Joses, Simon (not Peter), and Judas (not Iscariot).

The man said, "Well, maybe they were children by a previous marriage."  Wrong.  If Mary had had six children by a previous marriage, then she wouldn't have been a virgin.

If Joseph had fathered six children by a previous wife, then those six children wouldn't have been Jesus' brothers and sisters, as they were, since biologically, Joseph had nothing to do with Jesus.  The spirit of God made Mary pregnant.

Those six children were Jesus' half-brothers and half-sisters because all seven had the same mother, but not the same father.

There are two genealogies for Jesus, one in Matthew, and one in Luke.

The one in Matthew ends with "Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ."

It's my understanding that the Matthew genealogy is the Joseph's genealogy, and that the Luke genealogy is Mary's genealogy.

But both Joseph and Mary descended from King David.

There was recently a situation in the news, and the Pope prayed about it.  Perhaps it was the kidnapped Nigerian women.  And the Pope prayed to Mary about it.  A wasted prayer.

The Pope needs to read Exodus chapter 20, which has the Ten Commandments, where we are told, "You shall have no other Gods before me."

If you're going to pray, you pray to God the Father, or to Jesus, not Mary.

The Catholics also have something called a Confessional.  A person goes in and sits.  Through a window sized opening there's a Priest.  The person confesses his sins to the Priest, and then the Priest says that the sins are forgiven.

I don't need some man to forgive me of my sins, I need God to forgive me of my sins, and that Priest is a sinner himself, for it is written, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Rom 3:23)

How does that man get any authority regarding the forgiving of my sins?

And I get that directly from God.  1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

I confess my sins directly to God in prayer, and He forgives me.

When Pope Benedict resigned, the next Pope was Pope Francis.

Seems like they said Pope Benedict resigned because of health problems.  Don't the Popes know about Exodus 15:26, "I am the Lord that heals you?"

Don't they know about Psalm 103:3, where we are told that God forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases?

Christianity gets you forgiveness for sin, and also healing for your body.

But Jesus said, "Ask and you'll receive."  And Jesus said, "When you pray, believe that you receive the things you ask for, and you shall have them." (Mark 11:24)

I would have thought Popes would know that.

If someone had studied the life of Pope Francis before he became Pope, perhaps certain predictions could have been made about what kind of Pope he would be.

I knew nothing of the man before I heard that he was the new Pope.

But now that he has been Pope for more than a year, we can get an idea of the measure of the man by what he has said and done since becoming Pope.

If Pope Francis had wanted to be an exceptionally good Pope, then a good thing for him to have done, soon after taking office,  would have been to get up and say, "Well, folks, I've studied the Bible on the subject, and it is unscriptural to pray to Mary.

We Catholics have been doing it wrong, so here's what we're going to do.  We're going to stop praying to Mary, and we're going to stop praying the Rosary."

But he didn't do that.

Judgment Day will come, and every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to God.

I believe that some of the Popes will be sent to hell.  I can't say for sure which ones.  We'll find out on Judgment Day.

On Judgment Day, how will Pope Francis explain to the Lord his praying to Mary?  I don't think that's going to turn out well for Pope Francis.

The Bible says, "He that digs a pit shall fall into it."

If you're going to help others go to hell by leading them astray, then most probably, you'll share hell with those that you've helped send to hell.

Jesus said that in hell, there's crying and gnashing of teeth, where their worms don't die, and where the fire is never quenched.

In the book of Revelation, the Lord said, "Come out of her, my people." (Rev 18:4)

He's talking about Babylon and the Great Whore that sits on the waters.  Those waters represent people.

I believe that the Babylon of the book of Revelation is Rome (where Vatican City is).  I believe that the Great Whore that sits on the waters is the Catholic Church.

However, David Wilkerson predicted a merging of the Catholic church with some of the Protestants, so it could be that instead of just the Catholic church.

Catholics, of course, can go to heaven if they get born again, as Jesus said to do in John chapter three.

You get born again by obeying Romans 10:9,10:

"That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you're saved.  For with the heart man believes for righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made for salvation."

In Houston, TX, I met Charles and Elizabeth Melton.  My wife and I broke bread with them.

The Meltons said, "When we were in the Catholic church, we weren't taught that you must be born again, like Jesus said.  We were taught that you'll go to heaven if you're a good Catholic."

I guess that means when you're supposed to light a candle, you light a candle.  When you're supposed to put money in the offering, you do.  When you're supposed to go to confessional, you do so.

No, there simply is no church whose rules you can follow, and that by following those rules it will get you to heaven.  No, not one.  Unless one of the rules is that "You must be born again," like Jesus said in John chapter 3, and as described above.

___James chapter 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are dispersed around, greetings.

2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations,

3 Knowing this, that the testing of your faith works patience.

4 But let patience have its perfect work, so you'll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives to all men liberally, and won't find fault, and it shall be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.

7 For let that man not think that he'll receive anything from the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,

10 But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he'll pass away.

11 For the sun has no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower of it falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes, so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation, for after he's been tested, he'll receive the crown of life, that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt any man,

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust has conceived, it produces sin, and sin when it's finished, produces death.

16 Do not err, my beloved brothers.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.

18 He chose to father us with the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

19 So, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,

20 For the anger of man doesn't accomplish the righteousness of God.

21 So, lay apart all filthiness and the unnecessary naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man seeing his natural face in a mirror,

24 For he sees himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

26 If any man among you seems to be religious, and doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is for nothing.

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

___James chapter 2

1 My brothers, don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2 For if a man with a gold ring comes to your assembly in fancy clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes comes in also,

3 And you have respect to him that wears the fancy clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in a good place," and say to the poor, "Stand there, or sit here under my footstool,"

4 Aren't you then partial in yourselves, and have become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brothers, hasn't God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

6 But you have despised the poor.  Don't rich men oppress you, and bring you before the judgment seats?

7 Don't they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called?

8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor like yourself," you do well,

9 But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as sinners.

10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

11 For he that said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not kill."  Now if you don't commit adultery, yet if you kill, you've become a breaker of the law.

12 Speak in such a way, and do, as those who'll be judged by the law of liberty.

13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has shown no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment.

14 What does it profit, my brothers, though a man says he has faith, and doesn't have works?  Can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister needs clothes, and lacks daily food,

16 And one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you don't give them the things that are needed for the body, what good is that?

17 Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yes, a man could say, "You have faith, and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works."

19 You believe that there is one God, you do well, the devils also believe, and tremble.

20 But don't you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?

22 Do you see how faith worked with his deeds, and by works faith was made perfect?

23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."

24 You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

25 Likewise also wasn't Rahab the prostitute justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

26 For like the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

___James chapter 3

1 My brothers, don't be many masters, knowing that we'll receive the greater condemnation.

2 For in many things we offend all.  If any man doesn't offend in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

3 See, we put bits in the horses' mouths, so they'll obey us, and we turn around their whole bodies.

4 Look also at the ships, which though they're so large, and are driven by fierce winds, yet they're turned around by a very small helm, wherever the captain wants.

5 Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things.  See how great a matter a little fire kindles!

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of sin, so is the tongue among our members that it makes dirty the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.

7 For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of snakes, and of things in the sea, gets tamed, and has been tamed by mankind,

8 But no man can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless God, the Father, and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.

10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.  My brothers, these things ought not to be.

11 Does a fountain send out at the same place sweet water and bitter?

12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, produce olive berries?  Or a vine, figs?  So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.

13 Who is a wise man, possessing knowledge among you?  Let him show out of a good lifestyle his works with meekness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, don't glory, and don't lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom doesn't descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be reasoned with, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 And the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace by those who make peace.

___James chapter 4

1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from?  Don't they come from your lusts that war in your members?

2 You lust, and don't have, you kill, and desire to have, and can't obtain, you fight and war, yet you don't have, because you don't ask.

3 You ask, and don't receive, because you ask wrongly, so you can consume it on your lusts.

4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.

5 Do you think that the scripture says for nothing, "The spirit that lives in us lusts to envy?"

6 But he gives more grace.  So he says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he'll run away from you.

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and cry, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he'll lift you up.

11 Don't speak evil about each other, brothers.  He that speaks evil about his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil about the law, and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, who are you that judges someone else?

13 Go on now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we'll go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and make a profit,"

14 Actually, you don't know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is a puff of steam, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

15 For you ought to say, "Lord willing, we'll live, and do this, or that."

16 But now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

___James chapter 5

1 Go on now, you rich men, cry and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your clothes are moth eaten.

3 Your gold and silver are rusted, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire.  You've heaped treasure together for the last days.

4 See, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you've kept back by fraud, shouts, and the shouts of those who've reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.

5 You've lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, you've nourished your hearts, like in a day of slaughter.

6 You've condemned and killed the just, and he doesn't resist you.

7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.  See, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.

8 You also be patient.  Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is getting near.

9 Don't grudge against each other, brothers, so you won't be condemned, see, the judge stands at the door.

10 Take, my brothers, the prophets, who've spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

11 See, we count them happy that endure.  You've heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

12 But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, not by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you don't fall into condemnation.

13 Is anyone among you afflicted?  Let him pray.  Is anyone merry?  Let him sing psalms.

14 Is anyone sick among you?  Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he'll be forgiven.

16 Confess your faults to each other, and pray for each other so you'll be healed.  The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man is does a lot of good.

17 Elijah was a man subject to the same kind of passions that we are, and he prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months.

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

19 Brothers, if any of you strays from the truth, and someone converts him,

20 Let him know, that he that converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.