Part 11 – The Coming One-World Religion

Equipping God's Saints (Believers of Christ) through the Prophecies of the End Times …

We are now going to look at the prophecy of the coming one-world religion. First of all, a warning. Most Christians, both Protestants and Catholics will become part of this one-world religion. I hate to tell you that because I'm a Christian, myself. When I think about most Christians being involved in this one-world religious system in cooperation with the Antichrist, it gives me pain. But I have to tell you the truth because this is what the Bible says is going to happen, and the prophecies are never wrong.

In Revelation 17:1-3, we see a very specific prophecy about the endtime one-world religion. It says:

“And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.”

The first thing I want you to notice is that the person speaking said to John, “I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot.” So this is a warning that judgment is coming.

Let me remind you that this beast of Revelation 17 is the same seven-headed, ten-horned beast that symbolizes world government in Revelation 13. So the beast of Revelation 17 and the beast Revelation 13 is the same beast.

Also let me remind you the beast of Revelation 13 has the body of the leopard, Germany, the feet of the bear, Russia, the mouth of the lion, Great Britain, and the ten-horns of the ten-horned kingdom, a ten-nation alliance that will come out of the European Union. The beast of Revelation 13 is very much a European centered one-world governmental system.

In Revelation 17 we're told something we were not told in Revelation 13. The color of the beast is red. Red in the Bible is used to symbolize Socialism or Communism. So, the world government of the Antichrist and the False Prophet will be a Socialist government.

That shouldn't surprise us because most of the nations of the world today are Socialistic and the ones who are not yet are moving quickly in that direction. We are continually hearing so much promotion of wealth redistribution, which is Socialism. As we move further into the endtime world government, we will be hearing that more and more and more.

Now back to Revelation 17. In that prophecy there is a woman riding on the back of this world government beast. We know the beast always symbolizes a nation along with the ruler of that nation. God always uses a woman to symbolize a church in scripture. He uses a virgin for a true church. For example, in 2 Corinthians 11:2 Paul said:

“For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”

He also uses a woman to symbolize a backslidden church. But He doesn't use a virgin, He uses a harlot. When Israel in the Old Testament backslid, God said that she committed whoredom. For example, Judges 2:17 says:

“And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD, but they did not so.”

So when we see this harlot, it's a prophecy of a backslidden church.

In the prophecy of Revelation 17, backslidden Christianity, both Protestant and Catholic, are shown riding the world government beast of the endtime. This foretells, once again, the alliance between the world government of the Antichrist and the one-world religion of the False Prophet. Most Christians will follow the False Prophet into the arms of the Antichrist and the one-world governmental system.

To make sure we really understand the identity of this woman so that you can put your finger on it and know for sure, note that we will look first at Catholicism's role in the backslidden church of the endtime.

We can find out the identity of the woman. Revelation 17:18 tells us:

“And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth,”

1. The woman is a city.

The Bible also tells us in Revelation 17:1 the woman sits upon many waters. What do the waters symbolize? Revelation 17:15 tells us:

“And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”

2. The woman presides over a vast international system of peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues.

The beast has seven heads. In this prophecy, the seven heads have a special meaning. Revelation 17:9 tells us:

“and here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.”

The woman is a city so the seven heads are seven mountains on which the city sittith. It is common knowledge, but also if you research it in the encyclopedia, you will see that Rome is the city of seven hills.

Another clue to the woman's identity is found in Revelation 17:4:

“And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.”

We know there are two ruling bodies in the Roman Church: The College of Cardinals and the College of Bishops. It is church official policy that Cardinals wear red while the Bishops and non-Cardinal Arch Bishops wear purple. If you'd like to check that out, it's in an article, “More Than You Wanted To Know About Cardinals,” from the Criterion, July 1, 1988.

That's the Catholic side of the Christian prophecy.

Looking at the Protestant role in the backslidden endtime church, we find it says in Revelation 17:5:

“And upon her (the harlot's) forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

This means she's a harlot, but she also has daughters. They are also symbolized as harlots, which means that they are backslidden churches, as well.

In Vatican II, there was a statement issued, “We the Mother Church, are opening our arms for our Protestant daughters to return home.”

There was so much dispute over how these Protestant churches should be addressed from the Roman Catholic perspective, there was actually a note published called “Expression Sister Churches.” It said, “It must always be clear when the expression 'sister churches' is used in this proper sense that the one, holy catholic and apostolic universal church is not sister but mother of all the particular churches.” This is a statement made by Cardinal Ratzinger. It is from item number 10, June 30, 2000, from CatholicCulture.org

Remember, Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI. He believes that the Roman Catholic Church is the Mother Church and all of the Protestants are the daughters.

The shocking thing about all this is that the Bible teaches that backslidden Christianity will participate in the Great Tribulation. I wish this were not true. As a Christian, it would be so much easier for me to say, “Oh, the Muslims are going to perpetrate the Great Tribulation upon the earth.” But I can't tell you that because the prophecy tells a different story and the prophecies always come to pass.

Do we have any history of Christians persecuting Christians, before? We certainly do. There's been examples of Protestants persecuting Catholics.

In 1563, anti-Catholicism in England flamed when John Foxe's “Book of Martyrs” was published.

Also, Catholics have persecuted Protestants. During the Holy Roman Empire there was no religion outside of Catholicism that was allowed. People were burned at the stake.

What does the Bible tell us to do if this is happening in Christianity today? Revelation 18:4 tells us:

“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”

We have to have a return to true Biblical Christianity. How do we do this? We need to return to studying our Bibles, not necessarily our religious books, humble ourselves in daily prayer, return to the pattern set for us, in the book of Acts. Let's have a true, endtime, Christian revival and let's do it together!

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, who I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.