Where we’ve been so far? We’ve looked at the major trends in the news that have moved our world closer to prophetic fulfillment. These have included the Gay / Transgender Agenda, the Abortion Lie, expanding Terror, the Immigrant Invasion, the failure of American Foreign Policy in the Middle East, and the Disarming of America. Today we start to examine the emerging apostasy that is leading us toward One World Religion, specifically through the statements and actions of the Vatican and specifically Pope Francis.
WHERE WE’VE BEEN – 4
“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.” (Revelation 13:11-12)
BUILDING THE ONE WORLD RELIGION
Students of Scripture know that it is prophetically inevitable. In the time before Christ’s return, a One World Religion will be established. It will center around the worship of the man the Bible calls Antichrist. The plan to establish that apostate church has been going forward for decades now. All the way back in 1893 a Parliament of World Religions was formed to move the world toward unity in this area. This continuing movement has fed the increasingly popular notion that: ‘All paths lead to the same God.’ This idea has invaded mainstream Christianity. David Reagan fleshes it out for us. “The most popular apostasy in Christendom today is the teaching that God has revealed Himself in many different ways to different cultures and that, therefore, all religions worship the same god, but just use different names. From this viewpoint, the Allah of Islam is the same as the Yahweh of Judaism and both are the same as the Krishna of Hinduism. The natural conclusion that is drawn from this apostate idea is that there are many different paths to God, Jesus being only one of them.”[i] The obvious corollary of this line of thinking tells us that no evangelism is necessary. All roads may not be quite equal…..but they’re all leading in the same direction. Of course this not only violates Scripture but it violates the laws of logic……and therefore absolute Truth. Different paths….ultimately the same! That is exactly where Pope Francis, the leader of the world’s largest religious organization seems to be taking us.
Now admittedly, the Catholic Church has for a long time, struggled to hew the biblical line when it comes to doctrine. Having declared themselves the only ones that have the authority to interpret scripture, through the centuries, Rome has ….let us say….massaged the Word to fit its needs. And this Pope has perhaps gone the farthest in laying the foundations of an all-inclusive One World Religious organization.
It perhaps started with the atheists. Pope Francis thought that they should be assured of the possibility of salvation and communion with God. So he wrote to Eugeio Scalfari, the non-believing editor of La Repubblica. “You ask me if the God of the Christians forgives those who don’t believe and who don’t seek the faith. I start by saying – and this is the fundamental thing – that God’s mercy has no limits if you go to him with a sincere and contrite heart. The issue for those who do not believe in God is to obey their conscience. Sin, even for those who have no faith, exists when people disobey their conscience.”[ii] So the Pontiff signaled God’s salvation was open to the unrepentant unbeliever….so long as it was a matter of conscience. Of course the Bible has something else to say entirely. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6) [So that kind of blows up the whole ‘Saved Atheist’ sort of thing.] And John takes it even farther. “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” (1John 2:22-23) So if you’re in a religious system that denies the unique Son-ship of Jesus as the Christ, you are denying God Himself. Rather narrow, isn’t it? Truth tends to work that way.
Next the Pope moved on to homosexuality. While not exactly embracing the practice he nudged the door open toward acceptance. Pope Francis said: “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” But the New York Times pointed out that this was quite the departure from the past – even from the views his predecessor held. Pope Benedict XVI “wrote that homosexuality was ‘a strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil,’ and an ‘objective disorder.’ The church document said men with ‘deep-seated homosexual tendencies’ should not become priests.”[iii] This seems much closer in line with biblical truth as outlined in 1Corinthians 6:9-10. “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (ESV)
Francis’s outreach extended even so far as an instruction to the Catholic Church not to attempt to convert Jews to faith in Jesus Christ, an act for which this Pope was applauded by the Simon Wiesenthal Center.[iv] The ineluctable consequence of that position is that in Rome’s view, Jews would would not have to accept Jesus as Messiah in order to be saved. [Hey, could we all just chip in and send a couple of cases of Bibles over to the Vatican? Seems there might be a shortage over there!] But it is the Vatican’s most recent initiative – a series of videos to be released regularly on social media that moves the conversation to the point of overtly embracing the ‘all paths’ philosophy.
The video is quite the propaganda piece promoting implied, universalist drivel. The Pontiff begins with: “Most of the planet’s inhabitants declare themselves believers. This should lead to dialogue among religions. We should not stop praying for it and collaborating with those who think differently.” Next we see a female lama declare: “I have confidence in Buddha.” A rabbi states: “I believe in God.” A Catholic priest offers: “I believe in Jesus Christ.” And an Imam affirms: “I believe in Allah.” Later, as described by Christian News, the video “provides footage of the pontiff meeting with and embracing those of various religions, including Buddhists, Islamists and Orthodox Jews. It again cuts to representatives of the world’s religions, who now declare the same statement: ‘I believe in love.’” But it’s the statement after that first round of declarations that signals that the drive toward a World Religion may be on in earnest. Here’s is what the Pontiff said. “Many think differently, feel differently, seeking God or meeting God in different ways. In this crowd, in this range of religions, there is only one certainty that we have for all: we are all children of God.”[v] [vi][DING, DIGN, DING, DING, AWHOOHAAAAHhh!] I heard that and the warning bells and sirens started going off. [I’m telling you……a ‘Bible’s for the Vatican Campaign’…. Motto: ‘Sell a Statue – Buy a Bible’! Hey, just a thought.] That kind of statement is sooo Tolerant, and soooo seemingly loving, – but soooo unbiblical and soooo wrong! Let’s get a little John 1 action here to make the point. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12) The scripture seems clear. Those who RECEIVE HIM “become children of God.” Not those who follow Buddha, or worshippers of Allah who deny the Crucifixion and the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, not Hindus or animists, or Wiccans or atheists. Jesus is offered to all. But [vii]all will not accept.
What’s prophetic about all of this is that the Bible clearly fortells a time when a False Pophet will come and fool the world into worshipping the Antichrist. Now ever since Luther and the Reformation, many Protestant thinkers believed that a leader of the Catholic Church would serve in that office of False Prophet. But they were not alone. 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.”[viii]
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, with as the horns may indicate, two points of authority. Prophecy scholar nonpareil Perry Stone offers that it may represent the combination of 2 religions perhaps, – Catholic / Christianity and Islam. This False Prophet 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 – and the culmination of the goal and work of the secret societies established at Babylon and carried forward by Kabbalists, Knights Templar, Rosicrucians, Freemasons and Illuminati.
But this will not have arisen out of nothing. These groups have been working through centuries to achieve their goal – and it will be to a large degree the natural response of a history – ultimately directed by God – that will lead mankind to this end. It’s modern story can be traced back to the reign of the late Pope John Paul II. He had a vision that was 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.[ix] 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.”[x] 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.[xi] 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.”[xii] 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.[xiii] 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.[xiv] [xv] 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.[xvi] Still Mary is the hinge upon which all of this inclusion swings. Dr Joe Van Koevering offers this. 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.[xvii]
With all that said, let’s consider one extra-biblical, strictly-Catholic prophecy that speaks to the line of popes and the End Times. [This is NOT Scripture….but it is however interesting.] There is a prophecy by the Catholic St Malachy that has 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 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.[xviii]
Now according to St Malachy the sitting pope, Pope Francis would be the last in the line. Malachy calls him: “Peter the Roman.” So it is interesting to watch the reaction of the world, emracing and celebrating the unifying leadership of Pope Francis as he systematically drives the Roman Church toward an apostasy found in Scripture.
The bottom line is this. While the good news of the Gospel is offered to everyone: It is NOT a universalist message. The path to God is open…but it is exclusive. “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) That gate is Jesus. (See John 10:9)
[i] David Reagan, The One World Religion, Lamb & Lion Ministries, monitored January 13, 2016
[ii] Pope Francis assures atheists, The Independent, December 26, 2015
[iii] Rachel Donadio, On Gay Priests, Pope Francis Asks, ‘Who Am I to Judge?’, New York Times, July 29, 2013
[iv] Wiesenthal Center applauds Vatican’s statement on the divine covenant with the Jewish people, Simon Wiesenthal Center,
December 14, 2015
[v] ‘Pope Francis’ Calls for Collaboration With World’s Religions, Those Who ‘Meet God in Different Ways’, Christian News.Net,
January 9, 2016
[vi] Official Vatican Video, Prayer Intentions, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6FfTxwTX34
[vii] Image: ‘Pope Francis’ Calls for Collaboration With World’s Religions, Those Who ‘Meet God in Different Ways’,
Christian News.Net, January 9, 2016
[viii] Perry Stone, The Pope, The Eagle And The Iron Sickle, Voice of Evangelism, 2006, pg 56
[ix] Malachi Martin, The Keys of This Blood, 1991, – from the Introduction
[x] Dr Joe Van Koevering, From a lecture entitled: The Pope, The Prophecy and The Promise, given at the International Prophecy Conference 2007
[xi] Malachi Martin, The Keys of This Blood, 1991, as quoted by Donald Ward, Religious Deception in the Post Modern World, World News & Prophecy
[xii] Catechism of the Catholic Church, # 969
[xiii] John L Allen Jr, ‘Reformulating’ the spirit of Assisi, National Catholic Reporter, September 15, 2006
[xiv] What Should We Make Of Assisi 1986, statement by Society of St Pius X
[xv] Q 7 Should We Follow Everything That The Pope John Paul Does?, Society of St Pius X
[xvi] Pagan Divinities Worshipped in a Catholic Church, Church Revolution in Pictures
[xvii] Dr Joe Van Koevering, From a lecture entitled: The Pope, The Prophecy and The Promise, given at the:
International Prophecy Conference 2007
[xviii] Prophecy of St Malachy, Catholic Pages .com
B Lynn says
It is TRUE that all religious paths lead to the same god…
…but that god is the one who wanted ‘to be like’ the only true God. Oh, and there are MANY who find him… many who worship him using different names.
It is only ‘relationship’ that calls a man by name and draws him to the one true God, YHVH, the Creator of the Universe. The Holy One, Who cannot be approached by anyone not called and not covered with the righteousness of His provided redeemer, Jesus the Messiah.