Part 7 of 11: The Coming One-World Religion

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

We are learning what interfaithism is ~ Your religion is as valid as my religion ~ I respect yours, you respect mine. The end goal is to remove religious conflict so, supposedly, we can have peace on earth, good will toward men. Before we really understand interfaithism, we are going to look at the forerunner of interfaithism, ecumenism.

Ecumenism is simply the movement promoting unity amoung Christian churches of denominations. The effort to unify all Christians and all Christian denominations began in earnest, with Vatican Council II in 1962. From that Council called by Pope John XXIII, the Roman Catholic Church issued the call for all of her departed daughters, speaking of the Protestants, to come home. The compelling argument behind the call to the Protestants was the words of Jesus, Himself, found in John 17:21:

“That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”

And John 13:15 says,

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

The Catholic Church said, “Look, how can we ever win the world when we, as Christians, are so divided?” There was a powerful appeal to this because, after all, who wouldn't want all Christians to be together.

There was a problem. The fatal flaw of the ecumenical movement from the outset was that this call to unity was based on compromise rather than on the truth. Long-held Biblical truths that our religious forefathers had worked and died for were cast aside like so much ob-solute baggage.

If the call to unity had been based on truth ~ all of the religious people come together ~ let's deal with the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith ~ let's pray and study until we believe this is correct and that this is what the Bible teaches. Then we all agree together. Then we could have had a true Christian rebirth.

But it wasn't based on truth. It was based on compromise. Doctrine became almost a dirty word. But this was a bad thing because the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:16:

“Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine, continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”

So Paul taught Timothy that doctrine was essential for salvation. But the ecumenical movement doctrine became the blockade to unity.

It worked because from 1962 until 1994 the ecumenical movement advanced rapidly. By 1994, Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, and even Jews, began to exchange chruches, synagogues, pulpits.

Finally in 1994, it was sort of the culmination of all the ecumenical efforts. On March 29, 1994, it was announced that an agreement had been signed between leading evangelicals such as Pat Robertson, Charles Colson and Bill Bright, the founder of Crusade for Christ, and certain theologians in the Roman Catholic Church. A statement called “Catholics and Protestants Together” says, “since any person confessing faith in Jesus Christ is saved, Catholics, Protestants and Evangelicals should no longer target each other's members for conversion. This agreement obviously presupposes that long-held doctrinal differences are no longer important and are merely divisive hindrances to Christian unity.”

This statement announcing the signing of this document appeared in an article in the Indianapolis Star on March 30, 1994. It was titled, “Catholics, Evangelicals Affirm Ties That Bind”.

In June 1994, the Southern Baptist National Convention, America's largest Protestant denomination, voted, overwhelmingly, to endorse a declaration of unity with Catholics despite theological differences. The report in the June 17, 1994 edition of the Indianapolis Star titled, “Southern Baptists Embrace Catholics” and said, “In a major step toward ecumenism, the Southern Baptist Convention said born again believers may be found in all Christian denominations, and endorsed Baptist-Catholic dialogue.”

In 1999, the capstone of the ecumenical movement was put in place. Lutherans and Catholics signed a joint declaration on justification by faith. The October 31, 1999 announcement titled, “Lutheran/Catholic Joint Declaration On Justification read, “It is a blockbuster agreement, a crowning achievement of the ecumenical dialogue spawned by Vatican II and it almost didn't happen. Despite his public image as an ecumenical roadblock, the man credited by sources on both sides with saving it is none other than Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.” As we know, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI.

The signing took place on the anniversary of Martin Luther's nailing of his 95 thesis to the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral, which is credited with unleashing the Protestant reformation. The Prostetant reformation was over justification by faith. Martin Luther made the phrase famous, “The just shall live by faith”.

Now, Lutherans and Catholics have put together a theological paper agreeing on what that means. The very thing that caused the reformation, now, is put aside and agreed upon, so why shouldn't the churches reunite? The issue that sparked the reformation had been resolved. Most Christian denominations considered other Christian groups as saved. Ecumenism was considered, by most, to be an accomplished fact.

Now the focus shifts from ecumenism to interfaithism. The first Parliament of the World's Religions was held in Chicago in 1893. Its stated goal was to cultivate harmony among the world's religions and spiritual communities and foster their engagement with the world and its guiding institutions in order to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable world. Actually, it was way ahead of its time because not much else happened on interfaithism for 80 years or so.

In August 1985, Pope John Paul II visited Morocco at the invitation of King Hassan II. He made the stunning announcement that he believed Muslims and Christians worship the same God. Pope John Paul II became the first Pope to visit and officially Islamic country at the invitation of its religious leader.

There at a historic meeting with thousands of Muslim youth in Cassablanca Stadium, he emphasized that, “We believe in the same God, the one God, the living God.”

Now think about this …

1. CHRISTIANS believe Jesus is God
2. MUSLIMS DO NOT believe Jesus is God.
3. CHRISTIANS believe Jesus died on the cross and that the only plan of redemption is through the blood of calvary.
4. MUSLIMS deny Jesus even died on the cross.

We are taking huge leaps of blind faith here.

This continued because in 1986, Pope John Paul II convened the World Day of Prayer. Pope John Paul was convinced that prayer could bring believers together, an idea that inspired the 1986 World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi, Italy. That unprecedented gathering at the Pope's invitation drew leaders of Jews, Buddhists, Shintoists, Muslims, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Unitarians, traditional African and Native American religions and may others together under the roof of the Basilica of Saint Francis. They all prayed side-by-side with Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant leaders for world peace.

There is something feeling good about that. All of us, I think, would say that would be a nice thing that everybody would drop their barriers and just get together and pray to whatever God they happen to believe in.

Before we decide this is good, though, I do want to ask you this question. Can you imagine the Prophet Elijah in the Old Testament meeting for an interfaith prayer service with the Prophets of Baal? I don't think so. You know he wouldn't do it, if you know your Bible. The question has to come to us, “Was Elijah wrong then, or are we wrong now?” We need to ask ourselves that question because mankind has many times gone astray.

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.