The gnostic and cultic writings distorted the truth of the gospels. They took a little bit of truth and added their own ideas and doctrines. Although they didn’t influence the true believers in Christ, they did influence some with heretical ideas about Jesus’ earthly mother Mary.

The Catholic Church’s decision to exalt Mary was rooted in the gnostic beliefs and writings. They have proclaimed that she was immaculately conceived and free from original sin. They’ve claimed that her body was assumed into Heaven, where she supposedly lives as “Queen of Heaven” and “Mother of God.”

Among the heresies involving Mary’s person and status with God, she has been called a “co-redemptrix”, worthy of our prayers, and able to hear them all at once and mediate between humans and God. This heresy, of course, has assumed that she is omniscient because only an omniscient being could hear millions of prayers at once.

The distortion of Mary’s abilities and standing with God is not present in the canonized scriptures. They do not claim that she was sinless and they do not say that she was assumed into Heaven. In fact, they mention her having other children and living an ordinary life. The gospel of John does not even mention her by name; which must be a Spirit-filled and Spirit-led omission that we should take to heart. Mary was very important and certainly not steeped in many sins, as she was the earthly mother of the Christ, but the scriptures certainly have not revealed her as a deity to be worshiped.