He said that She said…

Recently I read an article in The Salt Lake Tribune about a visionary from the Roman Catholic Church, which had this caption: “Visionary delivers message from Virgin Mary.” Before we actually take a look at the article and what she allegedly said, let’s first take a look at what the Bible says:

1 Thessalonians 5:20-22 – “Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”

1 John 4:1-3 – “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world…” (Pick up your Bible to read the entire passage.)

Acts 17:10-11 – “…These (the Bereans) were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Pick up your Bible to read the entire passage.)

Matthew 24:24 – “…For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”

Deuteronomy 13:1-5 – “If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn [you] away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.”

The Bible tells us to not despise prophesyings (words from the Lord, which this visionary claims through Mary). However, it also gives us wisdom to: prove all things; believe not every spirit, but rather try (test) the spirits to see whether they are of God; search the Scriptures daily to see whether these things are so; beware of false prophets (even with their signs and wonders), who bring in deceit; and to test a prophet by comparing what he is proclaiming to the Bible.

With so many different people in the world, from a multitude of religious backgrounds, claiming to speak for God, it is vital that we live by what is declared here in Scripture in order to discern what is true and what is false.


Now for the article…

According to the article the visionary, Ivan Dragicevic, is “one of six visionaries who say that Jesus Christ’s mother began appearing to them in 1981 outside the village of Medjugorie in what was then Yugoslavia, but now is Bosnia-Herzegovina…”

This is what he claimed to have seen:

“Invisible to others, Dragicevic said she was as real as the person next to him. She was accompanied by three angels, “happy and joyful,” and was dressed as always in gray dress and white veil, Dragicevic said. Her eyes are blue, her hair is black and her cheeks are rosy, he said. She was on a cloud. “The beauty of Our Lady is hard to describe,” he said.

Her message is this:

* “She is coming as a mother of hope…she is bringing to us devine medicine…Our Lady wants to wake us up from this spiritual coma this world is falling in.”

* “…all families must pray together…”

* “Let this time be a time of renewal…Let the river of love flow into your hearts…(He said that She said…) She extended her arms over those gathered and “blessed us all with her motherly blessings…”

* (Her first words to the visionaries in 1981) “I am the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace. I am coming because my son is sending me to you…Dear children, peace, peace, peace.”

* (She also said this in the first message) “Humanity was in great danger of destroying itself if people did not turn back to God…”

* Mary’s prescription for what ails the world, Dragicevic said, has been prayer, fasting, conversion of heart, a return to Christ, reconciliation, penance, love, forgiveness and hope.

Is this visionary’s message based on truth? Does it line up with Scripture? Are these visitations or appearances of Mary from God?


According to the Bible, the answer is “no” on all counts.

Why? Three reasons:

1 – There is only One who is devine in essence, that is God.
2 – There is only One mediator between God and man, Jesus.
3 – There is only one Gospel by which we are saved.

1 – In the article it reads: “The Rev. Javier Virgen, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church, reminded those gathered for the mass that Catholics do not give the Virgin Mary the honor that is due to God alone.” (O.K., that sounds right. However, he goes on to say…) “But we ask for her intercession…” Question: Who alone can hear the prayers of millions and also answer them simultaneously? Only one with a devine essence can do so, only God can, not Mary. She was solely God’s creation; one whom God had chosen to use as a vessel to bring His Son physically into this world. Indeed “blessed among women,” but not to be elevated. To elevate her into a position as seen in the Roman Catholic Church, in reality, is giving her devine characteristics…elevating her into godhood.

The Bible says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)

2 – In her message she claims that Jesus sent her to this world and that her desire is to turn us back to God. According to Roman Catholic tradition Mary is considered to be the co-Mediator with Jesus.

The Bible says, “For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” (1 Timothy 2:5)

3 – Mary, the Queen of Peace, is leading many people into the religious system of the Roman Catholic Church, a system that truly preaches another gospel. According to the Scriptures, a man is saved by grace alone, on the basis of faith alone, in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. But according to Roman Catholic tradition a man is saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus AND on the basis of works. Faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross is not enough:

According to the Council of Trent and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, anyone believing that the Sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church were not necessary for salvation and anyone believing that they could obtain justification through faith alone, were labeled as Anathema (cursed, which leads to excommunication). (Refer to the Council of Trent, Canons 9, 12, and 14, and to the 1993’rd paragraph of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.)

The Bible says, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) (Refer also to the book of Romans for an extensive look at the Gospel of grace.)

The Bible says, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any [man] preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:6-9)

CONCLUSION: My response to the article and the visionary is this: He may have said that She said, but it is far more important what HE, the true and living God, said. According to the word of God, he is called upon to repent and heed the warning as given in Deuteronomy 13:1-5. He is turning people away from the true and living God to serve a strange god (the Queen of Peace; also referred to as the Queen of Heaven: See Jeremiah 7:18 and 44:17-25.) Also, as Joshua said, “…put away, [said he], the strange gods which [are] among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.” (Joshua 24:23) And finally, as said by our Lord Jesus Christ on the shores of Galilee, “…The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

By grace are ye saved,

One Clay Soldier among many