Let us first of all explain the Roman Catholic or Greek (Eastern) Orthodox teaching of the “Assumption of Mary.”

Quoting from christianity.about.com, we are told the following:

“The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary commemorates the death of Mary and her BODILY assumption into Heaven, before her body could begin to decay–a foretaste of our own bodily resurrection at the end of time…

“The Feast of the Assumption is a very old feast of the Church, celebrated universally by the sixth century. The feast was originally celebrated in the East, where it is known as the Feast of the Dormition, a word which means ‘the falling asleep.’ The earliest printed reference to the belief that Mary’s body was assumed into Heaven dates from the fourth century, in a document entitled ‘The Falling Asleep of the Holy Mother of God’…

“On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII, exercising papal infallibility, declared… that it is a dogma of the Church ‘that the Immaculate Mother of God, the EVER Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed BODY and SOUL into heavenly glory.’ As a dogma, the Assumption is a required belief of all Catholics; anyone who publicly dissents from the dogma, Pope Pius declared, ‘has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith.’…

“The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a Holy Day of Obligation. However, when it falls on a Saturday or a Monday, the obligation to attend Mass is abrogated…

“The earliest Latin versions of the story of the Assumption, written a couple of centuries later [than the above-quoted writing from the 4th century], differ in certain details but agree that Mary died, and Christ received her SOUL; that the apostles entombed her body; and that Mary’s BODY was taken up into Heaven from the tomb… none of these documents bear the weight of Scripture… Unlike the Prophet Elijah, who was caught up by a fiery chariot and taken up into Heaven while still alive, the Virgin Mary (according to these traditions) died naturally, and then her SOUL was reunited with her BODY at the Assumption…

“Pope Pius XII, in… his… declaration of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary, cites ancient liturgical texts from both East and West, as well as the writings of the Church Fathers, all indicating that the Blessed Virgin had died before her body was assumed into Heaven. Pius echoes this tradition in his own words… This dogma states… that Mary was glorified in heaven and is ‘exalted by the Lord as QUEEN over all things.’ The Assumption of Mary doctrine is based solely on church tradition. The Bible does not record Mary’s death.”

An article on the Austrian website, news.at, dated August 16, 2015, explains that the “Assumption” is celebrated annually on August 15. It states: “The Catholic Church observes with the Feast ‘Mariae Himmelfahrt’ the bodily acceptance of Mary, the Mother of God (“Gottesmutter Maria”) immediately after her death. In 1950, Pope Pius XII declared the dogma of the ‘wholly human acceptance’ (‘ganzmenschliche Aufnahme’) of Mary into Heaven.”

The article also points out that the Feast of the Assumption is associated with the belief that Mary’s grave did not contain the remains of Mary, but that flowers and herbs were found there, and that therefore a celebration of herbs occurs on that feast day, consisting of seven herbs which are believed to symbolize Mary’s  alleged “seven dolors” or “sorrows” (another Catholic belief which has really no basis in Scripture).  These herbs are believed to grant protection against sickness and lightning. It is also believed that plants which grow within 30 days following the Feast of the Assumption are especially useful for physical healing.

Viewing these teachings from a biblical perspective, we have to point out the following:

Apart from the unbiblical superstition of magical plants and herbs, neither Elijah nor Enoch went to heaven. They died and are still dead. Jesus Christ clearly declared in John 3:13: “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man…” For more information, please read our free booklet, “Is That in the Bible? The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation.”

Mary did not ascend to heaven either. She died and is still dead and in her grave. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15:20-24, 50-54 and in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 that all those who died in Christ will be resurrected at the time of Christ’s return–not before then. Apart from Christ Himself, none of those who died prior to Christ’s return have inherited the promise of eternal life (Hebrews 11:13, 39-40). The Bible speaks of the first resurrection of the saints at the time of Christ’s return (Revelation 20:4-6).

Mary is not presently in heaven, ruling as a Queen. However, the belief in a heavenly queen is derived from paganism. Ancient Israelites and Jews believed in and worshipped a queen of heaven, but this religious practice was sternly condemned by God (Jeremiah 7:18; 44:15-27). For more information, please read our Q&A on the design of the European flag.

The concept that those who died in Christ will be resurrected “bodily” and go to heaven, that is, with a physical body, is erroneous. We discussed this false idea in several Q&As about the “first resurrection”  and the “resurrection of a physical body”. They will be resurrected with a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:44), and they will be ruling on the earth (Revelation 5:10). In addition, the resurrection is not a combination of body and soul. Humans do not have an immortal soul–this is another pagan concept. Rather, the human soul IS the person, and when the person dies, the soul dies. It does not continue to live at the time of a human being’s death. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Do We Have an Immortal Soul?” 

Finally, the concept that Mary was a perpetual Virgin is equally wrong. Mary did have children after the birth of Jesus. Further, she was not the “Mother of God.” Rather, she was the mother of the human being Jesus Christ who had become a man, having set aside or emptied Himself of His divine attributes (Philippians 2:5-7). He had been God, but He became flesh (John 1:1-2, 14). For more information, please read our free booklet, “Jesus Christ—a Great Mystery.” 

As we can see, the concept of the Assumption of Mary is in total contradiction to biblical teaching. Catholics are not allowed to dissent from this dogma, but the Bible tells us that we must not believe it. It has been adopted from pagan worship concepts, and the Bible forbids us from incorporating those into our true worship of God (Deuteronomy 12:29-32).

As the website of timeanddate.com points out:

“This holiday, which has been celebrated since the fourth century CE, is a Christianization of an earlier harvest festival and, in many parts of Europe, is known as the Feast of Our Lady of the Harvest. For centuries celebrations were held in the honor of the goddess Isis of the Sea, who was born on this day according to mythology. With the coming of Christianity church leaders decided that the easiest way to handle this pagan ritual was to simply change it into a Christian holiday, hence the introduction of Assumption Day came forth.”

The connection between the concept of a pagan harvest festival and the idea of “magical” herbs and plants at the time of “Mary’s Assumption” is unmistakable.

The website of Florentine.net added:

“… the August holidays in Italy, culminating on the 15th with Ferragosto, are rooted in tradition as old as the Roman Empire itself. Ferragosto is an Italian contraction of the Latin feriae augusti: literally, ‘Augustus’s holiday.’ Proclaimed by Augustus (Julius Caesar’s nephew and heir, and the first Roman Emperor), the feriae augusti were originally a full month of continuous celebration later reduced to a single day in early, and subsequently mid, August… Romans feasted and honoured diverse gods and goddesses, typically those associated with the harvest and the changing of seasons. For Roman women, the feriae augusti meant a time to worship the goddesses relevant to their own interests, deities such as Diana, the protectoress of youth and a goddess of childbirth… Thus, in addition to its status as public holiday, in time Ferragosto also became associated with principally ‘female’ matters — fertility, maternity, and children.

“Such correlations help to explain how a pagan harvest festival, one already strongly linked to sacred female figures, evolved into a feast day for the Catholic Church’s most revered female figure, the Virgin Mary. For… August 15th is also the Feast of the Assumption… One of the Church’s basic Marian dogmas, the Assumption refers to the moment Mary was taken up, or ‘assumed,’ directly into heaven… Proclaimed official dogma by Pope Pius XII in 1950, it was assigned to August 15th on the liturgical calendar — and not by coincidence…

“That the Catholic Church co-opted Ferragosto as it had done with other pagan festivals seems little disputed. History is full of shifts of this kind. Throughout the whole of Europe, firmly-rooted pagan traditions never really died out, but were absorbed rather into an ever-expanding Christian world. Many Christian saints, including Mary, came to bear symbolic resemblance to prior religious figures; and even the most desultory look at the roots of Christmas and Easter quickly reveals a strong connection to ancient pagan antecedents.

“From her Greek and Roman predecessors, Mary inherited strong associations with fertility, purity, and maternal strength: Mary’s triumph over death, for instance, recalls the symbology of Ceres, who, as the goddess of corn, died each year come harvest time, but every spring was re-sowed, reborn; the flowers said to have bloomed spontaneously at Mary’s tomb (usually roses or lilies) as angels conveyed her to heaven, parallel the grain, corn husks, and other harvest flora that for ages had been associated of her forerunners; and, even today, Catholics pray to Mary for guidance and care in childbirth just as pagan women sought the aid of Juno, Roman goddess of marriage and childbirth…”

There can be no doubt that the concept of the “Assumption of the Virgin Mary” is not biblical, but pagan to the core, and should not be observed by true Christians who believe in and follow the Word of God.

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

First of all, we must understand that it is GOD who heals us, and He does so because of Christ’s supreme Sacrifice.

In our free booklet, “Sickness and Healing–What the Bible Tells Us,” we point out the following in this regard, beginning on page 44:

“The Bible teaches that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ clearly includes physical healing… He was beaten and tortured before He died… We already touched upon the pivotal Scripture of Isaiah 53:3–5… ‘A Man of sorrows [margin, pains] and acquainted with grief [margin, sickness]… Surely, He has borne our griefs [margin, sicknesses], And carried our sorrows [margin, pains]… He was wounded [margin, pierced through] for our transgressions, He was bruised [margin, crushed] for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes [margin, blows that cut in] we are healed.’

“This aspect of Christ’s sacrifice, that His body was brutally beaten and crushed, pierced through and viciously wounded, deals with our physical healing. This fact is confirmed in Matthew 8:16–17 where we read: ‘When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.”‘”

However, we are also told that there are certain requirements which WE must fulfill in order to be granted godly healing. In future Updates, we will discuss some of these important requirements.  In this Q&A, we will limit ourselves to the role of the ministry in the healing process. Even though it is God who heals, it is clearly revealed that He is using His true ministers in the process.

We say the following in our above-mentioned booklet on pages 25-26:

“We read in Ezekiel 34:4 that ministers who were supposed to ‘heal’ God’s sick flock, refused to do so: ‘The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.’…

“We note, too, that Zechariah 11:16 prophesies that there will arise a very influential and powerful shepherd in the land ‘who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand.'”

Even though these passages speak foremost of spiritual healing and reconciliation with God, they CAN also be applied to physical healing. It is the duty of God’s true ministers to fulfill their role in the physical healing process, as instructed by God.

We continue to point out in our booklet, beginning on page 31, that God healed many times through His apostles and ministers:

“We find that when Christ’s disciples anointed a sick person with oil, the sick person was healed (compare Mark 6:12–13). In order to receive the benefit of God’s healing today, God’s ministers are instructed by God to anoint sick persons with oil (James 5:14)…

“We are told that people were healed when they touched the aprons or handkerchiefs from Paul’s body (Acts 19:12). Based on this Biblical example, God’s ministers use a variation of that ‘method’ today—they may anoint a cloth with oil, pray over it, and send it to the sick person who lives too far away from a minister to make a personal visit…

“God’s ministers today lay their hands on the sick person’s head, then they anoint him or her with oil, setting him or her apart to receive God’s power of healing. Christ said in Mark 16:18 that sick people will recover when His ministers lay their hands on the sick. When they send a cloth, they place their hands on the anointed cloth while praying to God for healing for the sick person…”

We might want to elaborate here on the particular wording in Acts 19:11-12, where we read: “Now God worked unusual miracles BY THE HANDS OF PAUL, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them…”

The reference to the “hands of Paul” seems to indicate that Paul laid his HANDS on the apron, anointed it with a drop of oil and prayed over it, before sending it to the sick. This is the exact method used by God’s ministers today. They anoint a small linen cloth with a drop of oil as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, lay their hands on the cloth and pray over it on behalf of the sick person to whom the cloth will be sent. Mention will be made in the prayer as to the specific nature of the sickness, for which healing is requested. When the sick person receives the cloth, he or she is asked to place it on his or her head and pray to God that He would heal him or her from the sickness. Following the prayer, the cloth should be disposed of in order to prevent any future (superstitious) use or “idolization.” The cloth has no magical significance, and it is not to be confused with any “miracle water” or other unbiblical “tools” or “procedures” for alleged healing (none of which originate with the true God of the Bible).

We also explain in our booklet that under certain circumstances, God’s ministers will honor anointing requests by sick persons outside the Church of God. We state, beginning on page 54:

“The Bible is very clear that God heals sick people who try to obey God and who have faith that He will heal them. He tells us in Exodus 15:26, ‘If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.’…

“We find that Christ healed many people who were not converted… After the New Testament Church began in 31 A.D., as Acts 2 reports, God continued to use the apostles and elders to heal people who were not members of the body of Christ, some of whom were even demon-possessed (Acts 5:12–16; 8:5–8; 28:7–9)… Paul later healed a man who had been a cripple from his mother’s womb, after Paul had observed him ‘intently,’ seeing that ‘he had faith to be healed’ (Acts 14:9).

“Many times, healing may be one of the means for God to lead a person to total surrender to Him—or it might be a witness for others to turn to God (compare Acts 9:32–35). In particular, children of parents in the church, as well as unconverted mates, may experience healing, sometimes in unusual ways, so that their faith in God the Father and Jesus Christ may be strengthened…

“If a sick person asks one of our ministers for anointing or an anointed cloth, believing that God will heal them, they will receive what they request. God commanded His servants to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God and to ‘heal the sick’ (Matthew 10:8; Luke 9:2; 10:9). If a sick person has the faith in God to be healed, they should take advantage of the tremendous benefit that God bestows on us to heal us from our sicknesses and diseases. Our sicknesses are important in God’s eyes. If we are suffering with a sickness, let us ask God for His intervention. After all, He is the God Who heals us!”

The question arises as to how often one should be anointed by God’s ministers or request an anointed cloth for the same sickness. While the concept of anointing can be trivialized, a request for repeated anointing pertaining to the same sickness can be made and should be honored, unless obvious circumstances to the contrary would render this ill-advised. Those circumstances could be seen in a lack of understanding regarding the nature of healing–thinking perhaps that the request for anointing is the same as taking a pill against pain. Another possibility barring repeated anointing for the same sickness could be seen in an obvious lack of faith of the sick person in God’s healing power; an unwillingness to reconcile with other human beings; or a conscientious and rebellious refusal to obey God’s laws (These concepts will be discussed in future Q&A’s).

Apart from this, we read in God’s Word that in some cases, repeated prayers were made to God for His intervention and healing for the same situation. These examples can be used in an analogous way for repeated requests for healing of the same sickness.

We read in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 that Paul asked God three times to remove from him “a thorn in the flesh.” Most commentaries feel that Paul is referring to a sickness, perhaps Malaria or a serious eye problem, and that he asked God three times for healing in a formal way; perhaps by asking God’s ministry to anoint him. In this particular case, however, God decided not to heal Paul, as his sickness served an important purpose (verses 9-10).

We read in 1 Kings 17:17-24 that Elijah prayed three times to God to revive a dead child; and 2 Kings 4:29-35 reports on Elisha’s repeated prayers and other “procedures” to revive a dead child. Naaman’s leprosy was healed, following Elisha’s specific instructions to wash himself seven times in the Jordan river (2 Kings 5:10-14). We also read that Christ healed a blind man after first spitting on his eyes and putting His hands on him, and then putting His hands on him a second time (Mark 8:22-25).

Faith in God’s healing is absolutely necessary, but sometimes God may not intervene immediately because He wants to test our patience. Even after having received anointing, it is necessary, while we might not be healed immediately, to continue praying to God “day and night” for His merciful intervention (Luke 18:7). We read in James 5:16: “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

It would be ill-advised to think that we do not need God’s ministry in order to be healed. The Bible teaches the opposite, and we must obey God in all things. God commands us in James 5:14-15: “Is anyone among you sick? LET HIM CALL FOR THE ELDERS OF THE CHURCH, and let them pray over him, anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord WILL raise him up…”

Lead Writer: Norbert Link

The Bible teaches that those who die and have qualified as “first fruits” will be raised in the first resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20-26; Revelation 20:4-6). Many false concepts exist as to the nature of the first resurrection. The Bible teaches that the first resurrection is a resurrection to eternal, immortal life—to an existence in the spirit realm, when converted men and women become born-again members in the Kingdom and Family of God. We are told that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50), and that in the first resurrection, we will have incorruptible spiritual bodies, when we are “raised in glory” (verses 42-44).

Jesus Christ was the very first who was raised in the first resurrection (Acts 26:23)—being the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29). His followers will be resurrected in the same way as He was, at the time of His return (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17).

The Christian world is filled with horrible misconceptions about the first resurrection. In a Christian book pertaining  to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the following description of the RESURRECTED Christ was given:

“[Mary Magdalene] backed out of the tomb… and found her way partially barred by a terribly disfigured man whom she supposed had to be the keeper of the garden…  There was something about that one eye—the other seemed to be almost closed with terrible bruises and livid wounds, the lips torn and blue, and the skin pallid. It was Jesus!”

These descriptions totally negate the fact that Jesus Christ was resurrected as a glorified Spirit being who did not and does not have a physical body. The Bible does not support the concept that He was resurrected as a physical being who was glorified later when He ascended to heaven. Rather, we read in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44:

“So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.  It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”

When Christ was resurrected, after having been dead and buried in the grave for three days and three nights, He was raised AS a glorified Spirit being. He was not resurrected as a physical human being and then subsequently glorified. Rather, at the exact time and the very moment of His resurrection, His physical body, which had not seen decay or corruption, was changed into a spiritual body. Christ was resurrected in glory. He ascended to heaven in glory. We read in 1 Timothy 3:16, that Christ was received up in glory, with a glorified spiritual body. As a Spirit being, He does not have a disfigured body.

We understand, of course, that the glorified Jesus MANIFESTED Himself as a human being after His resurrection, but NOT in the way as described in the above-quoted book. He did not manifest Himself to Mary in a disfigured state. It is true that He later appeared to the apostles and “doubting Thomas” with wounds in His hands and at His side to convince them that it was He (John 20:24-29; Luke 24:39-40), but there is not the slightest hint that He did so on other occasions. And it is of course absurd to think that He, as a Spirit being, still carries with Him in His spiritual body the physical wounds inflicted upon Him when He was a human being.

The confusion regarding the nature of the first resurrection is even magnified by statements in other commentaries, such as the “Compact Bible Commentary” of the “Nelson’s Compact Series,” which states the following regarding 1 Thessalonians 4:16:

“Clearly the [first] Resurrection will be a PHYSICAL resurrection in which BODILY existence will be restored… The resurrected bodies of Christians will be like that of Christ… incorruptible and immortal, and yet they will be bodies of FLESH and BONE…”

This statement is terribly wrong and quite frankly, blasphemous, but many Christians believe in it, as they do not understand the clear teaching of the Bible.

As mentioned, the first resurrection is NOT a physical resurrection, and the resurrected bodies of Christians will NOT be bodies of FLESH and BONE. This very concept is preposterous.

We stated the following in a recent Q&A, titled, “Do you teach a resurrection of the physical body?”

“Regarding the resurrection of those who died ‘in Christ,’ that is, in whom God’s Holy Spirit dwelled when they died, we read that they are resurrected with an immortal SPIRITUAL body. God will raise them up to spiritual, immortal and eternal life. God will not first resurrect their dead ‘physical bodies’ and then ‘change’ them into spiritual bodies. Rather, God will resurrect or raise the Christians with spiritual bodies, as the Bible clearly indicates…

“When God the Father resurrected Jesus Christ, He changed His physical body (which was still in the grave) into a spiritual body. That is why Christ could later walk through closed doors, and why He could make Himself visible and invisible, as He pleased. We should also note that Christ, when He again became a Spirit being, which is invisible to the human eye, could manifest Himself as a human being, even so much so that He appeared to have flesh and bones (Luke 24:39-40). Of course, as a Spirit being, He did not really have flesh and bone, but He was able to manifest Himself in such a way. Jesus did speak of ‘a spirit’ not having flesh and bones as He did (verse 39). However, He was speaking of demonic spirits not being able to manifest themselves in the flesh. (Compare our free booklet, ‘Angels, Demons and the Spirit World,’ pages 42-43). We have the example of Christ and two angels appearing as men and eating a meal in the time of Abraham (Genesis 18:1-8). This example shows that God (Christ in the Old Testament account) and faithful angels could manifest themselves in the physical domain as men.”

When Christ was resurrected, He was resurrected with a body composed of SPIRIT, not matter. He was NOT resurrected with a physical body. That would have been quite impossible as with a physical body, He could not have gone through closed doors, nor could He have made Himself invisible. He just manifested Himself occasionally as a physical being, but even then, we must realize that He did so at times “in another form” (Mark 16:12).

We can find a description of the resurrected Christ in His glorified state in numerous passages of the Bible, and none of them implies that He has a physical body. For instance, we read in Revelation 1:14-16: “His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice the sound of many waters… and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength…” (Compare also Revelation 2:18). A similar description of Christ, as He appeared in glory prior to His temporary existence as a human being, can be found in Ezekiel 1:26-28. This describes also His glorified state today, as the Father glorified Christ in His resurrection with the glory which He had with the Father before the world was (John 17:5).

And it is that same glory which will be bestowed on us in the first resurrection (1 John 3:1-2; Romans 8:18; 1 Corinthians 15:49).

Lead Writer: Norbert Link