Today’s Question: Many people worship the Virgin of Guadalupe. I know that you read the Bible a lot. Can you tell us whether or not the Virgin of Guadalupe really was from God?

Bible Answer: I realize that my answer may offend many Catholics, but the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe is not from God. Now let me explain why I believe this.

The Bible tells us to "test everything" and "not to believe every spirit." So I put to test the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and this apparition failed the biblical test in many ways.

First, Juan Diego claimed that the girl he saw was a young Mexican girl, about 14 years old, with golden beams that radiated from her person from head to foot. Mary is not a Mexican girl. According to the Bible she is a Jewish girl. In fact, the Bible painstakingly emphasizes her genealogy as being traced to the lineage of David.

Second, the girl said, "I am the ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God." Mary is not "ever-virgin." According to the Bible, after she gave birth to Jesus as a virgin, she later had normal relationship with her husband Joseph and gave birth to four boys and a few daughters.

Matthew 13:55-56 says,

Isn’t [Jesus] mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us?...

The Greek words for "brothers" and "sisters" are adephos for brother and adelphe for sisters. These words come from the word delphus which literally means "the womb." In other words, these were brothers and sisters of Christ who shared the same womb. The words brothers and sisters could not be—as the Catholic church claims—relatives or cousins or previous children of Joseph.

The Greek word for relative is suggenes which is used in Luke 1:36:

Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age...

So it’s clear that Mary gave birth to other children, and thus, this apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe could not be the same Mary in the Bible.

This apparition also claims to be the "mother of God." The term "mother of God" implies that Mary gave birth to the divine nature of God in Christ. But she didn’t. Mary was the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, and was responsible for His physical nature, not His spiritual nature.

Third, this girl wanted a Temple built in her honor "where I will show my compassion to your people and to all people who sincerely ask my help." Notice that this apparition does not glorify God but herself. She wanted a temple built in her honor.

This is exactly what Peter tried to do when he saw the apparitions of Moses and Elijah. He wanted to build a shelter for them. But he was wrong in trying to do so. (see Matthew 17).

According to this girl, she would hear and answer prayer. Friend, it is God who answers prayer not people. This apparition encouraged idolatry.

Fourth, the name of the temple would be called "Guadalupe." This was the Spaniard’s way of interpreting the Nahuatl language that the Aztecs spoke. The word "Guadalupe" was the word tetcoatlaxopeuh which means "stone serpent." The Aztecs god was name Quetzalcoatl. This temple was named after their evil god, and on the same site where the Aztecs worshipped their "Mother Goddess." Serpent is an alternate name for Satan. The Catholic Church attempts to cover this embarrassing name by saying that the Mary is the new Eve who crushes the serpent, so that is why she is given the name "stone serpent." However, Genesis 3:15 says:

And I will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

According to this scripture, who will crush the serpent's head? It says, He will crush your head, not her. It is the offspring of the woman who crushes the serpent, not the woman herself. Of course, the Catholic interpretation reveals the real problem with their view of Mary; they see her as co-redemptrix, instead of Christ is the sole redeemer. As much as the Catholic Church tries to cover up the name Guadalupe, the name clearly reveals Juan Diego's belief in his pagan goddess, and so he associates the apparition with the goddess.

After reading and studying the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe, I’m convinced that this apparition was a counterfeit vision meant to lead people into idolatry.