Scripture warns repeatedly of the coming End Times deception. So let’s begin to draw together the various deceptive elements that are operating in our world, building the foundation for the religion of the Antichrist.
PART XI – TOWARD ONE FAITH
“And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast”. (Revelation 13:3-4)
The late Pope John Paul II was a man with a mission. He had dedicated his own life and eventually the entire world to Mary. “Totus Tuus” (totally yours) was his motto. He was totally dedicated to fulfilling the promises of Fatima. His attempted assassination occurred on the anniversary of Fatima, while bending down to view a girl’s medal depicting the Fatima apparitions. He believes that it was Mary herself that spared his life that day. His vision was driven by a theological / political understanding of the great struggle between good and evil in the modern world. Father Malachi Martin, former Jesuit at the Vatican, revealed much about the Holy Father’s thinking in his 1990 book, The Keys of This Blood. John Paul believed that there was a 3-way struggle for world domination going on between Communism, the West and the Church, headed by the Pope. This was a struggle that he believed that Rome had to win in order to safeguard the rights of the peoples of the world. He also believed that the Catholic Church would win that struggle, aided by a supernatural, powerfully psychic vision of Mary that would be visible to the entire globe. Did you catch that? This vision would produce an “engulfing chaos” that would lead to mass conversion of the peoples of the world to Roman Catholicism and acceptance of the Pope as the universal spiritual leader of mankind.[i] In the words of Dr Joe Van Koevering, John Paul believed that this apparition would give him, – or a future pope, – the spiritual authority to “rule over a church / state world government.”[ii] This would be the ultimate victory of the Church on earth!
Here is how Malachi Martin describes that vision. It will be an “event that will fission human history…on public view in the skies, in the oceans, and on the continental landmasses of the planet.” He goes on to say that “it will immediately nullify all the grand designs the nations are now forming”. That vision will be one of Mary, clothed in the “circumambient glory” of the sun.[iii] This will be Mary’s triumph! Luke 21:24 reads “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring” Yet the Pope was convinced that it will be Mary who is the key to the establishment of the universal church. This is not far at all from the teachings of the Catholic faith. Though the Bible in Hebrews 12:2 calls “Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith”, the Catholic Catechism teaches that Mary “continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation.”[iv]
If we remember the Church history just reviewed, this triumph of Mary would be a victory of pagan influence in the Church. Just as paganism infiltrated and influenced church practices under the Roman Emperors: So too this grand ecumenism would bring in even more of these disparate influences. The messages of Medjugore as well as the spirit of the multi-faith gatherings at Assisi, both threaten the exclusivity of Christ’s message. That is the central message of Scripture: All through Jesus, and only through Jesus!
The fact is however that not all Roman Catholics go along with this vision of their Church. Despite the fact that Pope Benedict reaffirmed John Paul’s prayer gathering with non-Christian faiths, many are beginning to question prayers with other non-Christian religions of the world.[v] (Just to whom are they praying anyway, one might legitimately ask.) One conservative Catholic group, the Society of St Pius X, objected to the ecumenical gathering on the grounds that it is praying with “false religions,” and is “an insult to God” in that it denies “the universal necessity of Redemption.” That same group also registered its objections to other actions of the late Pontiff, – such as; – suggesting Catholics and Jews both prepare for the coming of Messiah, – as well as the Pope’s meeting with Voodoo witch doctors and participating in Animist ceremonies in a “Sacred Forest” in Togo.[vi] [vii] The apogee of this inclusionist theology may have found its expression in St Ambrose Catholic Church in Buffalo, NY. The sanctuary there sports stained-glass windows depicting; – God the Father, Jesus the Christ, Moses, Mohammed, the Falcon-headed Horus of Egypt (risen son of Isis or Semiramis), the Hindu god Shiva, and Buddha.[viii] Still Mary is the hinge upon which all of this inclusion swings.
In the words of one writer, Mary is becoming the “linking point” of just about all of the various world religions. “There is nothing divisive about Mary.” As Dr Van Koevering points out, Scripture tells us “The religions of the world have to come together at the End of Time,” and Mary may just be the vehicle used to bring this about.[ix] Besides the connection with Islam, and pagans old & new – which we have reviewed, the notion of Mary as the Divine Feminine goddess has its appeal to adherents of the New Age. This goddess worship had its beginnings in ancient Babylon and never actually went out of existence. In fact it inserted its way into the Church at the dawn of what has been appropriately named the Dark Ages. It is a religion of ritualism and dark, secret, miraculous works. Focus on Jerusalem detailed some of the similarities between The Goddess of the New Age and the Mary of apparitions and Catholic doctrine. Both are referred to as Queen of Heaven, as was the ancient goddess in the pagan lands bordering Israel. Both are said to be without sin or fault. Mary is sometimes pictured on a crescent moon. The Divine Feminine is often worshipped as the Moon Goddess and the crescent moon is also a sign of Islam. Both rely on supernatural apparitions and ask for and receive personal worship. Scapulars and medals mirror the practices of ‘magic’ objects used in witchcraft.[x]
So there you have it: Catholics, Orthodox, increasingly some Protestants, Muslims, Hindus, Neo-Pagans and New Agers; – all coming together in the worship of Mary. It is instructive that one of the most honored of Catholic saints, Francis of Assisi, warned of the final pope, who many scholars, – Catholics included, – believe may serve as the False Prophet of Revelation. Francis wrote that the last Bishop of Rome will be an “invalidly elected pope. He will cause great confusion…He will accept all religions on an equal basis…and he will deceive even the very elect if the last days are not shortened.” Our friend, Bishop Sheen chimed in on the subject, saying that a final “False Church will be ecumenical, global and worldly.” That “final pope will have a religion without a cross…He will sell the mystical body to the Antichrist.”[xi]
The perceptive Bishop seems right in line with Biblical prophecy with those comments. Here’s what Revelation 13: 11-17 says. “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
So there he is, the lamb with two horns, – a religious leader,- representing, as Perry Stone points out, the combination of 2 religions perhaps, – Catholic / Christianity and Islam. He will be the driving force behind the organization of the globe into the New World Order; – a combination of religious, economic and civil rule. It will be the short term fulfillment of the dream of Nimrod and Semiramis.
The Prophecy of The Popes
Interestingly, there is a prophecy by the Catholic St Malachy that has at least somewhat accurately identified all the popes and described some significant aspect of their careers since it was first uttered in the 12th century. It details what many believe will be the end of the Church under the last pope, who Malachy called; – Peter the Roman. Here are just some examples of Malachy’s prophecies and how they lined up with history. Benedict XV he called Religio depopulate, or Religion laid waste. He reigned during the height of the atheistic slaughters of the faithful during the Bolshevik Revolution. Pius XI was named “Intrepid faith.” He stood up to the Fascists and Communists in the run-up to World War II. Paul VI was correctly identified as “Flower of Flowers.” His coat of arms was 3 lilies. John Paul I was “of the half moon.” His reign lasted one month, from one half-moon to the next. John Paul II, “the eclipse (or) labor of the sun”. He “labored” for Mary, the woman clothed with the sun, and was born and buried on a solar eclipse. Then there is the current Pope Benedict XVI; – “the Glory of the Olive.” He came from the Benedictine order called the Olivetians. He took the name to honor the last pope of the same name, widely known as a peacemaker.[xii]
According to Malachy, there is only one pope to go: “Peter the Roman”. He will see “the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church…[and]…guide his flock through many tribulations…the town of seven hills will be destroyed and the terrible Judge shall judge his people”. The Book of Revelation sheds light on this. “’Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication….And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement…The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.” (Revelation 17:1-2, 3-6, 9)
[i] Malachi Martin, The Keys of This Blood, 1991, – from the Introduction
[ii] Dr Joe Van Koevering, From a lecture entitled: The Pope, The Prophecy and The Promise, given at the International Prophecy Conference 2007
[iii] Malachi Martin, The Keys of This Blood, 1991, as quoted by Donald Ward, Religious Deception in the Post Modern World, World News & Prophecy
[iv] Catechism of the Catholic Church, # 969
[v] John L Allen Jr, ‘Reformulating’ the spirit of Assisi, National Catholic Reporter, September 15, 2006
[vi] What Should We Make Of Assisi 1986, statement by Society of St Pius X
[vii] Q 7 Should We Follow Everything That The Pope John Paul Does?, Society of St Pius X
[viii] Pagan Divinities Worshipped in a Catholic Church, Church Revolution in Pictures
[ix] Dr Joe Van Koevering, From a lecture entitled: The Pope, The Prophecy and The Promise, given at the International Prophecy Conference 2007
[x] Darrell G Young, Comparing Catholic Teachings About Mary With Modern Goddess Worship, Focus On Jerusalem, Volume 11, Issue 7, 2002
[xi] Perry Stone, The Pope, The Eagle And The Iron Sickle, Voice of Evangelism, 2006, pg 56
[xii] Prophecy of St Malachy, Catholic Pages .com
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