Pope Francis is seeking to unify all faiths to achieve
“peace and safety.”
In his ongoing effort to unify the denominations of the Christian faith as well as other religions, Pope Francis hosted a series of interfaith gatherings at the Vatican that saw Muslim prayers given from the pulpit for the first time in its history. The Pope’s efforts while seemingly noble, are in complete contradiction to Bible Scripture. But as Biblical Christianity is being abandoned in the contemporary church, public displays of “spiritual unity” will become more common. It is all prophesied in Scripture as the world moves closer to the coming one world religion of the Antichrist.
A Week of Interfaith Gathering
The Pope has also supported a
division of Israel and Jerusalem.
Pope Francis was the host of two special interfaith gatherings at the Vatican in one week. According to reports:
Pope Francis waded into Middle East peace-making this evening by welcoming both the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to the Vatican for an evening of prayers.
Israeli President Shimon Peres was the first to arrive at the Vatican hotel where Pope Francis lives, followed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Francis warmly greeted both and met privately with each one before heading out to the Vatican garden for the service.
It took place in the Vatican gardens in the shadow of St. Peter’s Basilica, the most religiously neutral place in the tiny city-state. It incorporated Jewish, Christian and Muslim prayers – delivered in Hebrew, English, Arabic and Italian.
The prayers focused on three themes common to each of the religions: thanking God for creation, seeking forgiveness for past wrongdoing and praying to God to bring peace to the region.
Francis, Peres and Abbas were expected to deliver brief remarks, shake hands and plant an olive tree together in a sign of peace. The spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians was also present to give a united Christian front. (
source).
While the desire for peace in the Middle East is a noble cause, no Bible believing Christian should ever confuse political goals with the spiritual commands of God. While Christians can socialize, work with and conduct political negotiations with people of all faiths, religious activity is to be exclusively done in a Biblical manner. From the first commandment God gave to Moses, The Lord’s stance on joining in the worship of any of other god is clear:
And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; –
Exodus 20:1-5.
Throughout the Old Testament, the Israelites, God’s chosen people to bring His Word and His law to the world, repeatedly fell into the sinful trap of mingling their faith with other religions. And each time, God warned them of the punishments to come for idolatry. The New Testament reiterated the need for separation spiritually from any other belief that it is not Christianity:
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. –
2 Corinthians 6:13-17.
Christians are not be “yoked” or joined spiritually with unbelievers. Again, this is not a reference to merely being around non-Christians. It is referring to joining in a manner that is spiritual. Allah, the god of Islam, is an idol. And for the Pope to hold a joint prayer service, is a direct fulfillment of being “unequally yoked.” In addition to many other unbiblical practices, the Vatican’s official position on Islam is that Christians and Muslims worship the game god:
The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems.
They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting. –
DECLARATION ON THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS. NOSTRA AETATE (
source).
The Koran all on its own distinguishes itself from Christianity as it proclaims that Allah has no son:
It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son. (Surah 19:35).
Further, that He may warn those (also) who say, “Allah hath begotten a son”:[5] No knowledge have they of such a thing, nor had their fathers. It is a grievous thing that issues from their mouths as a saying: What they say is nothing but falsehood! (Surah 18:4-5).
It denies the crucifixion:
That they rejected Faith; That they uttered against Mary a grave false charge; That they said (in boast): We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, The Messenger of Allah. But they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjunction to follow, for of a surety they killed him not. … And on the Day of Judgment He (Jesus) will be a witness against them (Christians).”(Surah 004:156-159)
Jesus Christ proclaimed His Sonship and equality with God the Father in no uncertain terms when He proclaimed:
“I and my Father are one.” (
John 10:30). The crucifixion, in which Christ gave His life and took the penalty for all of the sins of the world, so that fallen humanity would have
a chance for forgiveness, is the fulfillment of God’s plan for salvation of the world. It is the critical atoning work and the only means by which
a person can go to Heaven. To deny the crucifixion is to deny everything about the Bible. And yet this is what the Koran does.
So there is no question that the god of Islam is not the same as Yahweh, the God of the Bible. And certainly the Jesus of Islam is not remotely the same as the true Jesus Christ of Christianity. Yet none of this has stopped Pope Francis and the Vatican from not only embracing Muslim prayer, but fully endorsing their religion. Their position is clearly contrary to the Scripture and pure idolatry. Yet the media and many Catholics and Protestants are celebrating the interfaith prayer session and Pope Francis’ leadership. All in the name of “peace.”
Prophesied One World Order
While this message seems attractive, God calls on
Christians to be separate.
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. –
1 Thessalonians 5:1-3.
As the end times – the final years before the Second Coming of Christ – approach, the Bible warns of a time when society will proclaim “peace and safety!” The long-held desire of global peace will seemingly be achieved. But this will be a false peace. And it is at this time that God’s wrath will be unleashed upon a rebellious world that will be unified in one man – the Antichrist. The Antichrist is the satanically-empowered false messiah who will rule the governments of the Earth for 3 1/2 years before the Second Coming of Christ. And during this time, the world will be living in
the New World Order. The Antichrist will head a global government, control the economy of the world through the one world currency Mark of the Beast system and be the god of a one world religion. The book of Revelation details this end times false religion:
And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy…..
And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. –
Revelation 13:1-6.
The Antichrist will proclaim that he is god. And he will blaspheme the true God of the Bible and all Christian believers. By performing miracles, supernatural feats and even overcoming death, the world will worship this man of sin as god. And the Antichrist will have his religious cohort, the False Prophet, who will work to deceive the world into thinking that Satan’s man servant is actually the Messiah:
And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him,
and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak,
and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. –
Revelation 13:11-15.
The False prophet, who will also have supernatural abilities, appeared in John’s vision as
“having horns like a lamb.” This spiritual leader will appear harmless, promoting peace, love and harmony. But he will direct the people of the world to worship the Antichrist. The False Prophet will then lead the world in erecting “the image of the beast” – some type of statue or figure that has “life” (either by occult power or artificial intelligence), for the world to worship. And this worship will be done under penalty of death.
How could all of the religions of the world, some who have been opposed for centuries, one day unify all over the globe? An easy path is by teaching that the gods of all the various faiths are the same – the precise message Pope Francis and the Vatican are preaching. The Antichrist could be presented as the fulfillment of all the Messianic prophecies of various religions.
Share International, a New Age organization and branch of the United Nations is led by Benjamin Creme. Creme a disciple of Luciferian philosopher Madame H.P. Blavatsky, has long promoted the coming of the Maitreya, a messianic figure who will fulfill just such a role. Here is a commercial that Share International ran several years ago on CNN.
The New Age movement is promoting and waiting for the exact figure the Bible is describing. Except instead of being a savior who will bring peace, he is a deceiver who will bring damnation. Do not be deceived.
Take A Stand for Biblical Christianity
There is only one God and one way to Heaven –
the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
If you are a Bible believing Christian, pray for Pope Francis and the other pastors involved in this ecumenical movement, to repent and believe in the Bible. As long as leaders in the church continue to put their own doctrines or feelings on par or above Scripture, the church will continue to fall into spiritual error and rebellion against God. Many Christians are already falling into spiritual compromise all in the name of seeking “world peace” or “harmony” with others. But that is not the message of the Bible. True unity can only come in accordance with God’s Word. And this current push for unity is far from that.
The Bible is clear that peace will not come from this sinful, fallen world. It only comes through Jesus Christ. And a Christianity that embraces other gods, ignores sound doctrine in favor of man-made rules and ideas and seeks worldly goals over
preaching the Gospel of forgiveness of sin – is not a real Christianity at all. This is why so many churches are falling out of line with the Bible. And this should motivate Bible believing Christians to take that much stronger of a stance for the Gospel and to follow God and not men.
