We’ve looked at how the ‘End Time’s Religion’ will be headed up by the False Prophet and centered on the worship of the Beast. We noted how churchmen, Protestant, Evangelical and Catholic believe that the False Prophet, in the words of Cardinal John O’Conner, “…will be a bishop of the Church (Catholic), and will lead all religions into becoming one”.[i] We also began to examine the notion of Mary, – as presented in the phenomena of the worldwide apparitions, could be that uniting force. Finally, we looked at the extra-biblical prophecies of one particular Catholic Saint, Malachy, – who identified all of the popes since the 12th century. According to his prophecies – [and they are NOT biblical] – Pope Francis may be the last pontiff until the Day of Judgment. Now to draw the connections with the religion of Mohammed.
PART XII – THE ISLAMIC CONNECTION
We’ll start with one very significant commonality between Islam and Catholicism; and that is Fatima. Let’s start way back in the 8th century. It was at that time that a militant Islam was racing across wide swaths of territory, conquering in the name of Allah. During this time of conquest on the part of the Religion of Peace, Muslims crossed over from Morocco and took over both Spain and Portugal. The Iberian Peninsula remained a battleground until 1492 when the Islamic Moors were driven out by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. During the course of the interceding century, outside of a Portuguese village, a onetime Muslim girl turned Catholic, – named after Mohammed’s honored daughter, Fatima, – married a much beloved prince. After her death, the village was named Fatima. It was at that village in 1917 that the apparitions named after Our Lady of Fatima occurred.[ii] So the fact of the matter is that the most significant and influential manifestation of what many believe is Mary the Mother of God, – is named after Fatima, – the most important woman in Islam. Is it any wonder that thousands of Muslims flock to venerate statues of Mary, – especially Our Lady of Fatima, – both at the shrines and elsewhere?
So let’s review for just a moment. The Mary of Medjuogore, – which claims to be the continuation of the Fatima apparitions; – tells us that all religions are the same before her son. Muslims are already drawn to this Marian connection. Honored Catholic spokesman Bishop Sheen tells us that Mary will be the vehicle that makes spiritual peace with Rome: “Through a summoning of the Muslims to a veneration of the Mother of God.” According to the visions, only a proper relationship with Mary is required. It isn’t even necessary to take on the trappings of Christianity.[iii] This is further reinforced by the Late John Paul’s willingness to pray on equal terms with leaders of the Islamic faith, at such forums as Assisi.
Islamic Expectations
As we have seen, Rome expects that Mary will provide the victory over the forces of the world resulting in a One World Church and society ruled from Rome. Islam too expects to be victorious in a worldwide struggle between good and evil, – as they see it. However, their scenario is a little different. The Islamic scriptures, tell us that the Mahdi, or “Guided One,” will return to lead Muslims in a series of military victories over Christians and Jews as he sets up the seat of a world government in Jerusalem. He will rule for seven years, abetted by the Prophet Jesus, (Issa), who will deny that he is the Son of God and lead the slaughter of the Jews.[iv] At that time, all the people of the Book that remain, – Christians and Jews, – will convert to Islam. It is interesting here, that Muslim tradition talks of a “beast” being the one that will “call people back to Islam” when Jesus appears.[v]
Let’s compare all of this with Biblical prophecy. In Revelation 13 we are told all about the “beast rising up out of the sea”, taking civil and religious control until “all the world marveled and followed the beast… [and].. they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast”. (Revelation 13:1, 3-4) In other words the forces that succeed in uniting all of the world’s religions are the forces of the Antichrist and the False Prophet. Could these be one and the same as the Mahdi and this Issa (false Jesus) of Islam, perhaps? There is yet another interesting parallel. Islamic writings predict for the Mahdi and Issa to rule together seven years in Jerusalem. That is the exact period of time that Daniel and Revelation give for the Antichrist’s career and the Tribulation.[vi]
Need more? Well here it is. The Koran, (Sura 9:5), teaches mandatory conversion of the unbeliever. Sura 8:11 pronounces the penalty for unbelievers: “Therefore strike off their heads.” The world has already seen this penalty worked time and time again by those who take the Koran seriously. Revelation 13:15 tells us that, “as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed” and Revelation 20:4 talks of “the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast”.
A Secret Deal ?
With all of that in mind, we can look at some very interesting developments in the relations of the Roman Catholic Church, the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. All of these deal with the status of the City of Jerusalem: It’s future role and who will control it in the future. The entire peace process in the Middle East is caught up with this question. Let’s look at some of the highlights before analyzing them.
- 1993 – Then Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres concludes a secret deal with the Vatican to have the Church take over sovereignty of Jerusalem’s Old City. Jerusalem would become “the second Vatican of the world with all three major religions represented.”
- 1994 – French intellectual, Marek Halter reveals to the Israeli press that he helped arrange a deal between Israel and the Vatican that would create a Palestinian State and make East Jerusalem an international city.
- 2000 – Arafat publicly signs on to the deal of Vatican control of Jerusalem.
- 2000 – Rome declares that it is “essential that religious leaders” control Jerusalem’s Holy sites.[vii]
Italian journalist Giulio Meotti fleshed this out a bit for us. The Vatican has repeatedly called for “an international mandate to preserve ‘the proper identity and sacred character’ of Jerusalem. The Catholic Church wants Israel relinquishing sovereignty at the Western Wall and the Temple Mount.” This was confirmed in 2012 when Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran,, who was head of the Vatican’s Council for Interreligious Dialogue, confirmed that position. “The Holy See has always accepted which was set by Resolution 181 on 29 November 1947 – which declared that Jerusalem must be the object of special regime under the auspices of the international community.”[viii] However, God’s word pronounces an absolutely clear judgment against all nation’s that would mess with His purposes for Jerusalem. “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.” (Zechariah 12:2-3)
It should be noted that the Catholic Church which now so strongly support Palestinian rights, “was totally silent from 1948-1967, when its representatives witnessed the systematic pillaging of the Jewish synagogues.” You see the Vatican puts its opposition to Israeli control in theological terms. It all has something to do with Replacement Theology; the totally un-biblical notion that the Church has replaced Israel in God’s plan. Here’s Meotti again. “There is a deep reason for Vatican opposition to Israel’s possessing the Old City. The Roman Catholic Church believes Israel’s right to be the Kingdom of God ended forever with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Roman Legion in 70 CE. Israel’s rebirth challenged Catholicism’s ‘Kingdom of God’ when Jerusalem ‘the eternal’ became the capital of Israel in 1967.”[ix]
The Education of the President
Now that position of placing the Old City of Jerusalem under international control was strongly supported by President Obama. And at first, the Trump White House seemed to take the same position. At one point not so very long ago Trump declared: “Abbas wants peace.” It was a definitive if misguided notion. President Abbas had told the President that his Palestinian Authority was seeking peace and was not involved in inciting violence against Israeli. But actions on the ground spoke louder to Mr Trump than false words. In a subsequent meeting, the President yelled, “You tricked me in Washington,” at the Palestinian leader. “You talked to me about peace, but the Israelis showed me that you are personally supporting incitement.” Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu confirmed that analysis. “I heard President Abbas yesterday say that the Palestinians teach their children peace. Unfortunately, that’s not true. They name their schools after mass murderers of Israelis and they pay terrorists,” he accurately stated.[x]
Now Trump’s change of heart may be being influenced and colored by a struggle with in administration circles. [This is not uncommon, especially in the early days of a president’s term, before everything gets fleshed out.] Author Jack Engelhard notes that National Security Advisor HR McMaster takes more of a pro-Palestinian approach. “McMaster refuses to place the Western Wall in Israel.” On the other side of the scales sit Jared Kushner, US Ambassador David Friedman and UN Envoy Nikki Haley. Perhaps the wisdom of their influence is taking hold and helping him to develop a more reality-based and biblically-founded worldview. This of course, like so many of President Trump’s positions, is directly opposed to the Globalist / New World Order / International Bankers view of world. Highlighting the depth of this very, pro-Israel stance was Trump’s recent trip to the Western Wall or what is also called the Wailing Wall – in Jerusalem. Doing so, he became the first sitting US President to do so, actually putting his hand on the wall in the process. And all of this takes us back to the current Pope Francis, head of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Current Position of the Roman Church
Now it has been widely noted that the sitting ‘Vicar of Christ’ has been much friendlier to the Israeli position. About a year after Francis’s famous visit to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, one Rabbi Abraham Skorka, writing in a prestigious / official Catholic forum, praised the unity that is being sought. He insouciantly argued that “all Abrahamic religions must embrace each other, forming a circle of spiritual power which, according to our Holy Scriptures, will bring peace to our world.”[xi] [What a load of non-biblical, New Age influenced nonsense. It does not even line up with Islamic scriptures which have Muslims slaughtering Jewish and Christian ‘infidels’ in the last days.] So what is the Catholic Church’s new position on Israel and God’s plan for the Holy Land? The evidence would suggest that there is really no change at all. To demonstrate this let’s just look at some of the details of the Pope’s visit to the Holy Land in 2014.
Some might say that this first point was not a big deal, however he did begin his visit in Jordan and the Palestinian territories. Then he reaffirmed the Vatican’s position that Palestine was indeed a legal state. [The Palestinian People are a political invention circa mid-1960s – established as a political tool with which to bludgeon Israel by pointing to them as an “Occupying Force.”] In a flight from reality, the Pope called Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas “man of peace.” Abbas was the unrepentant bagman for the 1972 Palestinian terror attack on the Olympic Village in Munich that resulted in the murder of 11 Israeli Olympic athletes. More recently, Abbas has had terrorists on the payroll – just for being terrorists – and consistently refused to stop funding them.[xii] In addition, the Pope met with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who supports terrorists, referred to Muslims as “Dear Brothers,” and unexpectedly stopped his motorcade at the Security Wall that separates Jews and Arabs – [and has resulted in a massive reduction in the number of suicide attacks.] While there, Pope Francis stopped to pray near Palestinian graffiti that accused Israel of being an apartheid state and creating Arab ghettos.[xiii]
[i] Perry Stone, The Pope, The Eagle And The Iron Sickle, Voice of Evangelism, 2006, pg 59
[ii] Fr Ladis J. Cizik, OUR LADY AND ISLAM: HEAVEN’S PEACE PLAN, Soul Magazine, September / October 2001
[iii] Quote taken from: Dr Joe Van Koevering, From a lecture entitled: The Pope, The Prophecy and The Promise, given at the International Prophecy Conference 2007
[iv] Jerry Robinson, Calling Al Mahdi, Understanding The Antichrist – Part II, WIR
[v] Perry Stone, The Pope, The Eagle And The Iron Sickle, Voice of Evangelism, 2006, pg 68
[vi] The Hadith as quoted by Jerry Robinson, Calling Al Mahdi, Understanding The Antichrist – Part II, WIR, June 28, 2005
[vii] Joel Bainerman, The Vatican Agenda, Red Moon Rising, viewed May 31, 2017
[viii] Giulio Meotti, Expose: The Vatican – PLO Pact, Arutz Sheva, September 2, 2012
[ix] Giulio Meotti, Expose: The Vatican – PLO Pact, Arutz Sheva, September 2, 2012
[x] Trump furious with Abbas, Arutz Sheva, May 17, 2017
[xi] Rabbi Abraham Skorka, A vision of peace for Jerusalem, Grand Magisterium of the Vatican, August 11, 2015
[xii] Abbas: Paymaster of 1972 Munich Massacre Terrorists, Arutz Sheva, April 10, 2013
[xiii] Gerald Flurry, The Dark Side of the Pope’s Visit to Jerusalem, The Trumpet Ministries, August 2014
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