the shrines, the Mary prayed to as intercessor and co-redeemer, is not found in the Bible. 

 

Jeremiah 44, beginning verse 15.  All the men, which knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, answered Jeremiah, saying, as for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you.   We will

certainly continue to burn incense to the queen of heaven.

 

 

Jeremiah had rebuked these men for letting their wives forsake the God of Abraham, and worship a goddess called the queen of heaven.  These men told Jeremiah to shut up.  They weren't

 going to listen to him.  Even though they knew he spoke the word of the Lord.  This was not an unusual thing.  Any study of ancient pagan gods is going to turn up some astounding history.

 

In all the accounts of pagan religions, there are more female dieties than there are male.   And they all outrank the male dieties they are associated with.   All of these goddesses of

 pagan legend were both virgins and mothers, and considered to be the actual creators of all things.  It started with the ancient Caldeans, who worshipped a goddess named Semiramis.

 

the Greeks worshipped a goddess named Aphrodite, who was called, older than time, virgin, mother, crone, lady of all peoples, Venus, queen of the sea.  She rivaled one of the other

 

Greek goddesses, Athene, who was the mother goddess of the city of Athens, and a warrior.

 

The Greeks had another goddess, named Sophia, whose name means

 

lady wisdom.   She was worshipped by alchemists and philosophers, and was called the creatress.

 

 Her Roman counterpart was Minerva, goddess of the moon.  

 

There was a buddist goddess named Padim Lotus, and a hindu goddess named

 

Devaki.  In 204 BC, a goddess from Phrygia, named Cybele, was brought to Rome.  She was called the mother goddess, and the

 

Emperors Augustus and Claudius called her the supreme diety of the empire. 

 

The Egyptian goddess was Isis, the mother of the

 

god Horub.

 

All of these ancient goddesses were supposed to be the virgin mother of one or more of the prominent gods.

 

It was said of Isis, in the beginning, there was Isis, oldest of the old. she

 

was the goddess from whom all becoming arose. She was called

 

the star of the sea.

 

The 19th chapter of acts tells the story of a religious riot.

 

Paul was preaching in and around the city of Ephesus, and

 

having some remarkable results. Wherever the gospel is

 

preached, there is opposition. the opposition in Ephesus was

 

led by a silversmith named Demetrius.  He called together all

 

the other silversmiths and workmen of the city, and whipped

 

them up into a mob.  This stranger, Paul, he complained, is

 

turning people from the gods we make by hand. 

 

  He says they are

 

not real gods at all.   Not only is he attacking our

 

livelihood, 

 

 but  he is causing the great temple of the goddess Diana

 

to be despised, and her magnificence to be made nothing. The

 

whole city was filled with confusion and anger. the people

 

seized Paul and his traveling companions and pulled them

 

through the streets until everyone wound up in the

 

amphitheater. All afternoon the crowd kept screaming and

 

shouting, great is Diana of the Ephesians, great is Diana of

 

the Ephesians. It took several hours for the town clerk to

 

restore order.

 

 

Just over 300 years later, a church council was held in this

 

very city.    Why this city was chosen, it is hard to tell.    

 

But

 

this was the church council that made the official declaration

 

that Mary could bear the title theotokas, --god bearer, and

 

that she could be prayed to.     Maybe the church leaders were

 

trying to end the worship of Diana by giving the people a

 

female Christian replacement.    There was even a re-dedication

 

of

 

the temple of Diana, dedicating it to Mary   . But instead of

 

replacing Diana with the Christian virtues of Mary, in the

 

minds of the people, Mary became the inheritor of the divine

 

attributes of Diana. The legend grew and grew. Mary was now

 

believed to be divine.

 

Mary was eventually given all the titles that had once belonged

 

to Diana, Isis, Semiramis, Athena, and the others. Now it was

 

believed that Mary was born sinless, an equal to Christ.    

 

Not

 

only equal to Christ, but lifted up above Christ, to the point,

 

where in the minds of many, Christ   has  become  Mary’s

 

obedient

 

servant.

 

The account of Mary in the Bible gives us a picture of a very

 

different woman.     We first meet Mary in Luke 1.      The

 

angel gives

 

Mary a friendly and   honorable greeting. Hail, you that

 

are highly favored, the Lord is with you.   Blessed are you

 

among

 

women.    Mary is a little startled by the greeting, as the

 

angel

 

continues.     Don’t be afraid,    Mary, you have found favor

 

with

 

God.     You shall conceive in your womb, and bring forth a

 

son,

 

and shall call his name Jesus.    He shall be great.   The son

 

of

 

the highest.     The Lord shall give to Him the throne of his

 

father David.    He shall reign over the house of Jacob

 

forever,

 

and of his kingdom, there shall be no end.    Mary’s immediate

 

response is, how shall this be, I know not a man. The angel's

 

answer has a peculiar expression in it. The Holy Ghost  shall

 

come upon you.      The power of the highest shall overshadow 

 

you.

 

Therefore that  holy thing which shall be born of you shall be

 

called the Son of God.

 

When I first read the term, that holy thing, I thought it was a

 

little strange. Even disrespectful.   To call Jesus body

 

a thing.     But then I understood.    His body is a thing.   

 

A holy

 

thing.    But a thing. Mary was not the mother of the father.

 

she was not the mother of the Holy Spirit.   She was not even

 

the mother of the eternal

 

Word that dwelled in the body of    Jesus.     She was the

 

mother of

 

the human body of Jesus only.    Her proper title is mother of

 

the

 

Son of God.    When people use the term God in its Christian

 

meaning, they mean Father, Son, and Spirit.   The term mother

 

of god is only one step around the corner from god the mother.

 

 That breaks the first commandment, and puts another god

 

before God.   We next find Mary greeting her cousin Elizabeth.  

 

She is

 

pregnant with John the Baptist.   Elizabeth shouts happily,  

 

“what

 

is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me!  

 

As

 

soon  as I heard your voice, the baby leaped in my womb for

 

joy.

 

 

 Then Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit, prophesies her

 

famous magnificat.    It begins with the exclamation,  “ my

 

soul does

 

magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.

 

Right here, we see the Biblical face of Mary, that is different

 

from the legendary face of Mary.     Only sinners feel the need

 

for

 

a Saviour.      Only sinners know the joy of sins forgiven.   

 

Only

 

sinners can rejoice in God, their Saviour.

 

The Bible face of Mary is that of a normal, human, sinning

 

member of the human race.    Luke 2 tells the Christmas story.

 

Mary and Joseph take refuge in the barn. There, in the manger,

 

she places her prototokon.    Prototokon.    Firstborn.    

 

Websters new

 

College Dictionary defines the word firstborn as first in order

 

of birth. the eldest. Luke  2;19.      Mary kept all these

 

things and

 

pondered them in her heart.  At the wedding at Cana, she told

 

the wedding governor, whatever he tells you to do, do it.     It

 

was her joy to be the mother of   the Redeemer.     Yet for

 

hundreds of years, people have crowded the Redeemer   out of

 

their hearts, and worshipped her,  instead.

 

 The Bible's portrait of Mary is a picture that is totally

 

opposite the face that everyone is used to.

 

Matthew 12:46-50.     While he yet talked to the people, behold

 

his

 

mother and his brethren stood outside, desiring to speak with

 

him.   Then one said to him, your mother and your brethren

 

stand

 

outside,  desiring to speak with you. 

 

this story is repeated in Mark 3;31-45. John 2;12 says, after

 

this, he went down to Capernaum, he and his mother and his

 

brethren. John 7:3 and 5.    His brethren said to him, leave

 

here,

 

and go to Judea.      For neither did his brethren believe in

 

him.

 

1 Corinthians 9:5.     Paul says, haven't I got the right to

 

lead

 

about  a wife, as well as the other apostles, and the brother

 

of

 

the Lord?    In   Galatians 1:19,    Paul refers to his

 

travels, and he

 

says that while he was in jerusalem, visiting Peter, other of

 

the disciples I saw none, save James, the Lord's

 

brother. Matthew 13:54-55. the people are marvelling at Jesus'

 

claims, and they say, is not this the carpenter's son? is not

 

his mother called Mary?       And his brethren, James, and

 

Joses, and Simon, and Judas?    And  His sisters?    Are  they

 

not   all

 

with us?     Where did this man get all these things?

 

I have heard callers to religious radio programs ask about these references                                                                                                                                

 

 

They are ignored as irrelevant.

 

The New Testament was written in Greek----

 

   by the eyewitnesses to the events, who knew each other very

 

closely. in every single verse I have just read, the author

 

uses the term, adelphos, which means brother, and adelphi,

 

which means sister. either a full brother, sharing both

 

parents, or a half brother sharing one parent. but brother. if

 

the writer had intended to refer to cousins or other close

 

relatives, he would have used the word exadelphos.

 

The legendary face of Mary is an inheritor of every title and

 

attribute of every pagan goddess in the history of religion.

 

Divinely preserved virginity.    A divinity to be worshipped.

 

an

 

intercessor.     A redeemer.

 

  if the Romans   had put a fourth cross on Calvary that day,

 

and

 

crucified mary next to Jesus, and she had bled to death

 

alongside her son, all of the blood in her body could not have

 

bought our redemption from one single sin.

 

Before God, one sinner is not qualified to redeem another

 

sinner.    Only the sinless one, Jesus, was qualified to pay

 

the

 

price God's justice required.

 

The Bible face of Mary is that of a normal human being.     A

 

normal married wife.      Who lived a normal married life.  

 

with a

 

normal husband, and had at least six other normal children. two

 

of these, james and jude, wrote part of the new testament.

 

james was the first bishop of Jerusalem.    Mary  was faithful.

 

be

 

it done unto me according to your word.      Mary was obedient.

 

she

 

told the wedding governor,  whatever he tells you to do, do it.

 

She was a forgiven sinner, rejoicing in God her Saviour.    But

 

no where is she divine intercessor and redeemer. it is Christ

 

and Christ alone who is divine. it is Christ and Christ alone

 

who paid the penalty for our sins and bought our forgiveness in

 

full. Luke 11;27. while Jesus was teaching a large crowd of

 

people, a woman in the crowd shouted out loud. she shouted,

 

blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which you

 

have nursed. Jesus answered, blessed are they that hear the

 

word of God, and do it. 

 

 

the goddess, redeemer mary is a legend. legends can be exciting

 

and beautiful, and romantic. but they are still legends.

 

Jesus Christ is the truth.

 

Jesus' two main titles are Son of God and Son of Man.  We all

 

understand the Son of God.    Begotten by the Holy Ghost,

 

sinlessly perfect like His Father.  The term Son of Man means

 

that   He is also one hundred percent human, even though

 

without

 

sin.  he is also one hundred percent one of us.  human. he gets

 

his sinlessness from his father. he gets his humanness from his

 

mother. Therefore, it was required that his mother must be

 

fully human.  

 

 

They that worship Christ must worship in spirit and in truth.

 

 

Angels are not to be worshipped. 

 

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.   it is

 

idolatry to worship a plaster statue.    It is also idolatry to

 

worship a shadow on a wall.