One World Religion Prophecy coming true as leaders forge fraternity
The imminent completion of the long-planned “Abrahamic Family House,” an “interfaith” religious hub under construction in the United Arab Emirates, is raising concerns from observers and experts who see the center’s opening as a potential augur of Biblical prophecy.
The AFH – also called the One World Religion Headquarters – stands on Saadiyatt Island in Abu Dhabi. Pope Francis traveled to the UAE capital in February – the first visit by a pope to the Arabian Peninsula – to sign a joint declaration, titled “A Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” with the Sunni Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb.
The document calls on world leaders “to work strenuously to spread the culture of tolerance and of living together in peace…” and to “intervene at the earliest opportunity to stop the shedding of innocent blood and bring an end to wars, conflicts, environmental decay, and the moral and cultural decline that the world is presently experiencing.”
While the sentiments may sound good on the surface, Yvonne Katsande, internationally known host of the podcast Worldview, says “the devil is in the details. A one-world church is an extraordinarily arrogant belief system attempting to appease (cultural) demands. It represents a kind of cultural suicide … that ends with the devil unscathed and everything else in flames – especially if you’re not a part of the first flight, and I’m talking rapture.
“We know the world elite want a one-world religion. It is a culmination of prophecy fulfilled. The political United Nations now has a spiritual equivalent, a new one-world religion. That is a major development in the coming of the Antichrist,” Katsande said.
The AFH compound will contain three separate main buildings – a synagogue, mosque and church – designed by architect Sir David Adjaye, with each of the three “cubes” featuring “iconic geometric architecture” that “reflects the individual traits of the three faiths.
“We realized that each of the faiths had very unique details like the domes and vaults and arches… ideas of enclosure in the Jewish tradition and the idea of deliverance and ecstasy in Christian churches. We want for those who are practitioners of their faith (to) find this is an inspiring addition to the spaces of faith they know, and for those who just don’t have any faith, atheists, that this becomes a new intriguing form that attracts them to look into what is the basis of these three religions,” Adjaye said.
“It is amazing what we are watching a Jewish temple, a mosque and a Catholic church all being built together in Dubai,” says noted author and Bible prophecy specialist Dr. Robert Lindsted. “What an indicator for the last days as man continues to try to bring all religions together under one head, but not under the one true God.”
It has been more than 30 years since David Bay of Cutting Edge Ministries learned of the plan to unite all three monotheistic religions and create a combination worship center. Bay says he expects the eventual “grand merger” of the political and business conferences of all three. “Then, and only then will it be possible to build a combination temple/church/mosque in Jerusalem.”
“Though the center is being constructed in Abu Dhabi, rather than in Jerusalem, (still) the appearance of the Antichrist continues apace. The bottom line is exciting because it heralds the soon appearance of the Antichrist and the false prophet. The sole purpose is to create the one-world religion, with the Roman Catholic pope as the No. 1 ruler of the New World Order religion,” Bay said.
Dr. Ronald Cooke of Truth International Ministries has been preaching for 62 years – and has been a professor of theology for 45 of those years – and agrees with Lindsted’s assessment. “I believe that the Vatican and the pope will head up the one-world religion. Malachi Martin, the Roman Catholic intellectual, wrote his 700-page book on the ‘Keys of the Blood,’ in which he articulated that the pope of Rome is the only man who can govern both the ‘church’ and the world, and that no other leader even comes close to him. Of course Martin believed the pope is ‘Vicar of Christ on earth,’ whereas I believe, following the Protestant reformers, and all the martyrs of the Middle Ages, that the pope is the Man of Sin,” Cooke said.
Bay says, “The purpose of the AFH combination worship center is twofold: to promote interfaith dialogue and worship, necessary to the coming world messiah; and to eliminate the power and influence of the Orthodox Jews in Israel.”
Larry Stamm, founder and director of the ministries that bear his name – and a Jewish believer in Jesus – also questions the ultimate goals of the center, echoing an explanation from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association: “Islam teaches that the doctrine of the Trinity is blasphemous. But the Christian faith is essentially and irreducibly Trinitarian. The Bible reveals that the Father is God, that the Son is God, and that the Holy Spirit is God. Jesus is not merely a prophet, as acknowledged by Muslims. He is God in human flesh, which Muslims reject.” Stamm says, “Revelation 17 gives us several characteristics of the one-world religion. The false religion will dominate all the ‘peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues’ of the Earth… (and become a) universal authority.
“The idea of a one-world religious center, while on the surface may seek unity, however it may define ‘unity,’ crumbles when examined through the lens of truth. The only way for human beings to truly be at peace with one another is to first be at peace with God, through a personal relationship with the Prince of Peace, Jesus. This comes only through faith in the Jesus of the Bible,” Stamm said.
Susan Butler, a longtime Precepts leader from Kingsport, Tenn., carries that thesis further. “The concept of a one-world religion headquarters is from the enemy of God – evil at its core.” Butler believes the 1948 reemergence of Israel as a nation prompted several activities in line with Biblical prophecy.
“Satan countered in many ways. One was the formation of the World Council of Churches, which I believe advanced the genesis of the one-world religion talked about in the Bible.
“In Revelation chapters 17-18, we are told of ‘Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.’ In her there is a false one-world government, economic system and religion… The one-world religion is a part of the New World Order where every aspect of life is controlled universally,” Butler said.
Given popular culture’s vacuous attention to specious labeling and euphemisms, Larry Spargimino, cohost of The Watchman on the Wall broadcast of Southwest Radio Church, believes the creation of the AFH center should come as no surprise.
“The concept of a one-world religion headquarters is what one would expect. The second chapter of the second letter to the Thessalonians tells us the Antichrist ‘sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.’
“Religions need a central shrine, a place where the deity is manifest. Islam has Mecca, Catholicism has Rome. The sages and prophets of that religion need a site from which to dispense their wisdom and pronounce their laws.
“It is doubtful that (such) a headquarters will enhance true religious tolerance. In fact, it will have just the opposite effect. A recognized seat of authority for a system that denies the tenets of Biblical Christianity will galvanize opposition to Christianity.
“Jesus never taught us to persecute other religious groups, but to love them. Christians know that we cannot force a conversion. Conversion is something that the Holy Spirit does through prayer and the loving application of the Word of God,” Spargimino said.
Though the UAE is promoted as “a diverse population of more than 200 nationalities and a melting pot of multiple cultures and faiths,” many observers are concerned that there will be constraints on conversions, and much else in the Sharia Law-governed country
None of the center’s structures will feature a cross, as the display of what is likely the most prominent Christian religious symbol remains illegal in the UAE. Similarly, Christians are not allowed to preach to or convert Muslims, and Sharia Law strictly forbids Muslims from changing religious beliefs.
Cooke believes “religious tolerance is a pipe dream. As Islam demonstrates whenever it has the power, even in Britain and America, the two most tolerant countries of the world today, all kinds of intolerance of true Biblical Christianity is in evidence.
“I believe the world is to get worse and worse, with deceivers deceiving and being deceived, so that a one-world order will come to be,” Cooke said.
Butler agrees. “There is no such thing as true religious tolerance. Read James 4:4 – ‘You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.’”
Pastor Victor Sammuel has a unique perspective from serving as the CEO of Grace Charity High School on the “front lines” in another Islamic-dominated culture. “Here in Pakistan, the bold testimony of Christians is wonderful to see, but rare. Christians make up a very tiny minority in this country and proselytizing is a crime.
“We are so blessed to be able to provide not only a free education to the poorest of children at Grace Charity Schools, but also to teach them there is hope in Jesus, the true Savior of the world,” Sammuel said.
“Now is the time, more than ever before, for a one-world religion to step onto the stage. We already see the beginnings of it. The world is growing weary of division, racism, hatred, starvation, poverty, and war.
“For many years, people have either sought for ways to deny the existence of God or dreamed of making religion – the organized type – inconsequential. These enemies of all things holy have not been able to accomplish either of their goals.
“In reality, more people than ever are coming to believe that we are more than space dust… and there is a longing in man that things cannot satisfy,” Sammuel said.
And what should Christians do to prepare for what is to come? The scholars and experts seem unanimous: Remain faithful, and steadfast.
Cooke says, “I believe that true Bible Christians must contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. The Protestant reformers started what Luther and Calvin believed was the ‘irreconcilable war’ with the Antichrist and false religion, particularly the ‘church of Rome.’ The Apostle Paul’s exhortation became their goal.
“Although we walk after the flesh we do not war after the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, and casting down every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to Christ (2 Cor. 10:3-5),” Cooke said.
“The true church is the bride of Christ,” Butler says. “Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, to be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
The challenges of that ambassadorship are sometimes great, and come from unexpected quarters.
“For a long time, religions of all shades and flavors have fought and schemed against each other,” Sammuel says. “The average person on the street trusts a used car salesman more than a preacher. Even sadder, women and children are more than suspicious. They are afraid of predators and abusers who often run free in the churches because power at the top is too much of a prize to sacrifice.
“Dear brothers and sisters,” Sammuel urges, “there is already an answer to all the incurable longings of the world. It is Jesus Christ. Yet when Jesus is offered to a world full of idols and pride… when offending someone is worse than killing them, the thought of one Man being the only way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6) sickens and angers them.”
Lindsted says it is clear from reading the book of Revelation that the fight will get tougher over time. “The Antichrist will use religion as one of his instruments of power and control. He will demand all to worship him and to receive a mark in order to buy or sell. Those who refuse will be killed.” (Rev. 13:15-16)
“Satan has always been opposed to Christ, but he has always encouraged religion. In the Bible, the church is referred to as the bride of Christ, a chaste virgin waiting for her bridegroom to return. In direct opposition, we see in Revelation 17 that Satan has a harlot, a prostitute, a false religion,” Lindsted said.
“Those of us who know Jesus Christ as our personal Savior are looking for the one true God, our Blessed Hope, the Lord Jesus Christ to appear at any time and shout, ‘Come up here!’” Lindsted said. “Only He can give eternal life. Only He deserves our worship. Let us be faithful as we wait for the one true God from Heaven.”