The United Religions Zone
The United Religions Zone
By Jack Kinsella
“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.” (Revelation 13:11)
Everybody seems to have heard at least something about the ‘Beast’ of Revelation. Hollywood has discovered the antichrist makes a great movie protaganist. From the ‘Omen’ trilogy to Schwartzeneggar’s ‘End of Days’, the antichrist and the numbers ‘666’ have become a part of a plot ‘formula’ in the way most Westerns are basically a rewrite of original plotline for ‘Shane’.
So, too, with Hollywood’s retelling of the Mark of the Beast. Hundreds of books and movies have sprung from just three verses; Revelation 13:16-18.
“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”
But Revelation 13 outlines the respective careers of two separate beasts; the political ‘beast’ of Revelation 13:1 and the religious ‘beast’ of Revelation 13:11, the one that John refers to as the ‘false prophet’. (Revelation 16:13, 19:20, 20:10)
The False Prophet is a different person than the antichrist, and, together with their master, Satan, comprise the counterfeit ‘unholy trinity’ of the Tribulation Period.
The antichrist is the political leader who controls the global government and global economy, but the false prophet controls what eventually becomes a compulsory global religious system.
Any person, says Revelation 13:16-18, who refuses to accept the Mark of the Beast, which is both an act of economic need and one of worship, will be socially ostracized, ‘unable to buy or sell’, as John puts it, and will eventually be put to death.
“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 13:15)
The prophet Daniel provides critical insight into the government of antichrist, identifying his government as a confederation of ten ‘kings’ arising out of the Roman Empire.
“And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: and the PEOPLE OF THE PRINCE THAT SHALL COME shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.” (Daniel 9:26)
The ‘city and the sanctuary’ referenced by Daniel are Jerusalem and the Temple. In AD 70, Titus, a Roman ‘prince’ who eventually became Caesar, sacked the city of Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple.
When they burned the Temple, its ornate gold decorations melted and ran between the cracks of the burned-out shell. The Roman soldiers had to literally dismantle the Temple, block by block, in order to plunder this rich treasure, fulfilling not only Daniel’s prophecy, but also that of Jesus Christ. made some forty years earlier.
“And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and His disciples came to Him for to shew Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” (Matthew 24:1-2)
The EU, although it now has 25 members, only has ten FULL members, with the rest holding either ‘associate’ or ‘observer’ status. It is an ECONOMIC union whose eventual goal is to wrest economic superpower status away from the United States and assume that mantle for itself.
Two of the three pillars of the antichrist’s system are already fairly obvious, then. There is a global economic system in place. And there is an existing revived form of the old Roman Empire, headed by the ten-nation confederacy of full EU member states.
But what about the false prophet?
Assessment
According to Revelation, the false prophet will have plenty of supernatural help in establishing his religious credentials. “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men…” (Rev 13:13)
We get few clues as to the nature of the global religion, apart from it being a kind of counterfeit Christianity with compulsory membership.
“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.” (13:11) The two horns ‘like a lamb’ is symbolic of Christianity, but his doctrine is that of the ‘dragon’ — Satan.
“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.” (13:12)
The false prophet is no figurehead — John says he is co-equal to the antichrist in power, and has the authority to ORDER the worship of antichrist upon pain of death.
But before he can do that, he will have to have a religion to represent — the global religious system must first exist before it can be taken over by Satan’s religious representative.
This is one reason that so many Christians have decided that the Catholic Church is the false prophet’s system, and that he himself is a Pope. I don’t necessarily agree with that assessment, however.
The Catholic Church would never be an acceptable global religion for the billions of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, animists, secular humanists, pagans, occultists and other decidedly non-Christian religions, even in the post-Christian era of the Tribulation Period.
What is more likely is a new religious system that is more inclusive, less fundamental and more acceptable to the non-Christian worldview of the Tribulation Period.
One of the consequences of the jihadist war against the West is a global review of religious fundamentalism in all its forms; Christian, Jewish, Islamic, whatever.
The global assessment is that it isn’t the teachings of the Koran that is responsible for the global war on terror. It is the religious fundamentalism that is at the heart of the conflict.
To the world, the Arab-Israeli conflict is the product of a clash between Jewish fundamentalists who believe God ceded the land to them, and the Islamic fundamentalists who believe Allah gave it to them.
Exacerbating the problem are the Christian ‘fundamentalists’, extremists whose religious convictions are responsible for Islam’s declaration of war in the first place.
Bawa Jain, secretary-general of the Millennium Peace Summit, addressed the U.N.’s Millennium Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders in New York in August, 2000. He told the assembled delegates that religions need to accept the validity of all beliefs to attain world peace.
Noted Insight Magazine at the time about the Summit’s intention;
“According to Francis Cardinal Arinze, president for interreligious dialogue at the Vatican and a speaker at the summit, the Catholic Church also would favor one religion in the world – if it were Roman Catholicism. Assorted grand muftis and other true believers hold the same view, again so long as it is their faith that is universally recognized. That each is out to convert the world is to be expected, so the proposed ban on proselytizing is surprising.”
With the financial backing of such heavyweights as media mogul Ted Turner and Canadian billionaire Maurice Strong, this interfaith movement has had no shortage of cash.
Turner, the honorary chairman of the peace summit, addressed the 1,000 delegates on the second morning of the convention after being praised by Strong as the man who has done more for peace, the environment and the United Nations than any other.
Episcopal Bishop William Swing gathered 300 people representing 39 religions for a charter signing in Pittsburgh, officially launching the URI. This group is an anticipated melting pot of religious belief, for which a 1998 draft charter declared that all religions draw their wisdom from one ultimate source.
In 1995 Swing said the world is moving toward “unity in terms of global economy, global media and global ecological system. What is missing is a global soul.”
Among Swing’s goals are, “…a godly cease-fire, a temporary truce where the absolute exclusive claims of each [religion] will be honored but an agreed-upon neutrality will be exercised in terms of proselytizing, condemning, murdering or dominating. These will not be tolerated in the United Religions zone.”
We now have the complete outline: A revived Rome, an interdependent and truly global economic system, and a proposed United Religions Zone.
When the prophet Daniel was given his vision of the last days, he was troubled to his core. He writes; “And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?”
“And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed TILL THE TIME OF THE END. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” (Daniel 12:8-10)
Note: Originally Published in 2004.