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“THE COMING ONE WORLD RELIGION - PART
1”
A one-world religion is developing rapidly, and it
will be an all-encompassing religion. Satan will energize this
one-world religion and work through the lawless one, better known as
the Antichrist. He has two purposes:
1. To play the role of God and have
people worship him. He will sit “in the temple of God displaying
himself as being God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4).
2. To kill the true Christians and
Jews. “… and cause as many as do not worship the image of
the beast to be killed” (Revelation 13:15).
My last article, posted on 2-2-09, was titled The
Last Generation. The purpose of that article was to illustrate the
acceleration of world developments during the last generation beginning
with the birth of Israel in 1948. That article helps set the stage for
this article.
The Last Generation briefly covered all three
pillars of a united world system that will need to be in place by or
immediately following the beginning of the seven-year tribulation
period. The three pillars are:
• ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT
• ONE WORLD ECONOMY
• ONE WORLD RELIGION
The pillar of the One World Government was given
the most attention in the first article. The focus of this article is
to expand on the pillar of the coming One World Religion. I personally
believe that the pillar of a global religion is the foundation for both
of the other two pillars—government and economy. What a group of
people believe will determine their actions, such as economic and
political decisions. The world economic system gives the fuel needed to
activate a complete world governmental control. This could be
illustrated by the following diagram:
Belief System [One World Religion] + Money [One
World Economy] = Political Decisions [One World Government].
It has been said that politics and religion
don’t mix. They don’t in the long run. But during most of
the seven-year tribulation period, politics and religion will go hand
in hand. One current example of mixing religion and politics is the
government of Iran. It is primarily run by the religious clerics.
During the great tribulation (the last 3.5 years
of the 7 year tribulation period) this buddy system of Antichrist
(Political Ruler) and False Prophet (Ruler of World Religion) will
break down. The One World Government, led by the Antichrist, will
destroy the One World Religion, led by the False Prophet. The
“beast” destroys the “harlot” (see Revelation
17:16-17).
This article was taken mainly from my recent book
titled, The Last Generation: Prophecy,
Current World Events, and the End Times.
Ordering information for this book will be given at the conclusion of
the article.
Today, in this generation, we have seen the
foundation being laid for a one-world religion. This world religion is
symbolized in Scripture by “… the great harlot who sits on
many waters” (Revelation 17:1) and by the “… woman
sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names …”
(Revelation 17:3).
HALLMARKS OF A FALSE RELIGIOUS SYSTEM
In order to determine the validity of a religious
belief system, it will prove helpful to look at some of the hallmarks
of a false religious system. The hallmarks of a false religious system
include, but are not limited to, the following four characteristics:
1. Compromise of
Doctrine: One of the key phrases used
in the European Union, as well as in the United States, is “Unity
in Diversity.” This sounds good on the surface. It means we are a
unified but diverse group of people—all of the hallmarks of
tolerance. This kind of unity in a world religion necessitates a
compromise of doctrine.
This great tolerance is promoted in almost every
area. The major exceptions are biblical Christianity and Judaism. The
world religion will be tolerant of everything but the TRUTH.
2. Experience Based: “Teacher, we want to see a sign from
You” (Matthew 12:38). There is an escalating trend worldwide
toward an experience-based religion and an experienced-based
Christianity. More people are traveling to many places where they say
God is manifesting Himself through signs and wonders. These
manifestations are, in many cases, apparitions of Mary, the mother of
Jesus, or of angels, but rarely of Jesus. It is important for us to
remind ourselves that biblically based Christianity is always founded
on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Paul warned the Galatians not to be fooled by
people distorting the gospel of Jesus Christ. He states: “But
even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel
contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed”
(Galatians 1:8).
In many cases, there are reported apparitions of
Mary witnessed by Christians, unbelievers, and Muslims. The messages
are oftentimes contrary to God’s Word. One of the tests of the
validity of a reported vision and the credibility of the messenger (in
recent years these visions are usually apparitions of Mary) involves:
• The
content of the message given. If the message contradicts God’s
Word, the Bible, the message is not valid.
• The
credibility of the messenger. If the message is not valid, this takes
away from the credibility of the messenger. It is important to remember
that “… Satan disguises himself as an angel of light”
(2 Corinthians 11:14).
3. Provides a Broad
Road to Salvation: One rapidly growing
belief system is that of universalism, which is another lie. It
promotes the belief that there are many paths to God. While this may be
a “politically correct” theology in our day, it is the
neo-paganism of the New Age. This belief is addressed by Jesus when He
said, “… I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one
comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6). This “all
roads lead to Rome” belief is very common today. It runs against
the grain of unbelievers and, in many cases, Christians don’t
believe or don’t want to believe what Jesus said (there is only
one way). It is probably not the best way to begin sharing the gospel
with an unbeliever unless you really believe that God is leading you in
that direction.
4. Counterfeit
Miracles: Miracles are powerful! A
miracle will convince an individual of the validity of a particular
belief system faster than anything else. Consider the False Prophet
found in the Book of Revelation (16:13; 20:10). He is the
Antichrist’s right hand man. He is symbolized as the second
“beast” (Revelation 13:11-12). The first
“beast” is the Antichrist (described in Revelation16:1-10).
The False Prophet “… performs great signs [miracles]
… he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs
…” (Revelation 13:13-14) [brackets added].
Satan has the ability to perform miracles, but his
tendency is to counterfeit God’s miracles. One example of Satan
counterfeiting miracles can be found in Exodus, Chapter Seven. Moses
and Aaron confront Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Through
God’s power Moses and Aaron perform miracles, i.e., Aaron’s
staff turns into a serpent. The magicians of Egypt “did the same
with their secret arts” (Exodus 7:11). The Lord tells Moses to
direct Aaron to stretch out his staff, and he turns the rivers,
streams, and pools into blood. The False Prophet “performs great
signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth
in the presence of men” (Revelation 13:13).
Over the last ten to fifteen years, there has been
a greater orientation toward the supernatural. This can be good in some
cases. Unfortunately, it also opens the door to Satan to perform
visions and apparitions that appear to come from God. The Marian
apparitions are appearing worldwide and the message is peace, unity,
and tolerance. The impact of these apparitions has been so powerful
that they have cut across religious denominations worldwide, INCLUDING
ISLAM.
Points 2 and 4 above are both experientially
based. In essence, both points say that a person’s experience
dictates their theology. This is putting the cart before the horse, so
to speak. A person’s theology should be the criteria for
evaluating their experience. When this is reversed, every imaginable
heresy will be the outcome. We are living in an experience-based
society. This society determines their beliefs based on their
experience. This has been a characteristic of this last generation.
