There's no doubt that Pope John Paul II was a great and wonderful man who was a flag bearer for righteousness. Since his death, commentaries about his life have sprung up everywhere. People have called him everything from "mediator between God and man" to "a champion of human freedom," to "a man of righteousness whose faith in Jesus Christ motivated him to speak out fearlessly about tyranny"....

Wait - mediator between God and man? Whoah! If the POPE was the mediator, then WHO was Yeshua? Did I miss something? Was I asleep when the Pope raised someone from the dead, turned water into wine, or walked on water? Did the Pope die on the cross so that the rest of us might enjoy eternal life?

I don't honestly remember the Pope doing ANY of those things; but I do seem to recall that he commended his life to Mary and kissed the Koran. (It's one thing to try to be "politically correct" - it's quite another to kiss the symbol of an enemy that has recently held the world hostage and killed thousands of innocent people just to make a statement....)

While these thoughts are not in any way meant to detract from the GOOD deeds of Pope John Paul II - or any other Pope that has ever headed the Catholic Church - SOMEBODY needs to address the fact that this Godly man did and said some things that were "off the mark" Biblically. For instance:

If someone can send us the Scripture to show that MARY is in charge of the world's peace and our "unbreakable support in the hard struggle against sin," then we will gladly remove this article. God used Mary as the virgin vessel to give birth to Yeshua; and, while this was a huge honor, she is NOT someone to idolize or "pray to". Yeshua Himself taught, "This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven....'" (Matthew 6:9). Yeshua intercedes on our behalf to the Father (Hebrews 7:25). The Bible teaches that we have access to the Father only through Yeshua (Ephesians 2:18). Therefore, we should be praying to the Father, in Yeshua’s Name (John 14:13-14). Nowhere in the Scriptures does it EVER say to pray to Mary!

The Pope, after his tracheotomy, addressed his written motto in Latin to the Virgin Mary, which translated means "I am totally in your hands" (Feb 25th news report by NPR). We at The Refiner's Fire pray that he didn't really mean this the way it sounded, since Yeshua and NO ONE ELSE is our Salvation!

John 14:6 - "I AM the Way - and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me."

Acts 4:12 – There is salvation in no one else! For there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by whom we must be saved!

Acts 4:8-13 - 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers and elders of the people, 9 if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead--by this name this man stands here before you in good health. 11 "He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone. 12 "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."

It seems, either the media or the Catholic Church (or both) wants us to believe that, as long as we agree on the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, the bodily resurrection, and substitutionary atonement, we can set aside all other disagreements and believe that Catholicism and Evangelical Christianity are the same thing. They want us to believe that we can ignore and/or accept, for the sake of "unity", the adoration of Catholics for Mary, papal infallibility, baptismal regeneration, exaltation of the Eucharist, the doctrine of good works, indulgences, purgatory (which makes a mockery of Christ's death on the cross), the power of the priesthood, and more. Let's not forget the Vatican's strong belief in Replacement Theology and their eschatalogical belief that the Catholic Church will prepare the way for Christ's return....

Yes, there's no doubt that Pope John Paul was a great and Godly man who did much good for this world. No one can dispute that fact. This article was written only to set the record straight that no one can be "saved" through Mary or the sacraments; and that neither Pope John Paul II nor any of his predecessors were "mediators between man and God".

Only Yeshua can claim that title. The Bible says so.