THE APOSTASY OF THE TRIBULATION
Last week I discussed the danger of false prophets whom the apostle John referred to as “antichrists.” In my article today, I want to give you a little of the background of the religion system of the coming Antichrist of the end times. This religious system is an integral part of his government. It is a mixture of all the great religions of the world headed up by apostate Christianity.
In has never been Satan’s primary deceptive tactic to convince people to be atheists. He knows that man was created with the innate knowledge of God and rather than fight against human nature he chooses to exploit to his best advantage man’s ignorance of the true God. Since the beginning of the church two thousand years ago, Satan’s greatest weapon has been to pervert the gospel by corrupting the church and creating a confusing counterfeit. Today, Christianity claims two billion adherents most of which have some affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church. Through the centuries, Roman Catholicism has proved to be a great compromiser and thus Satan’s most effective counterfeit. During the Reformation, it was common for the reformers to equate Mystery Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:5) with the Roman Catholic Church. Having been part of the Catholic system themselves, they were familiar with its rife corruption.
It has always been Catholicism method to increase her numbers by compromise. In the fourth century, Constantine saw the advantages of joining Christianity with his secular government, but it was difficult to convince pagans to give up their mythological gods. To diffuse the opposition, the gods of the pagans were given new names and incorporated into the worship of his universal church. Although known by different names, their practice of worshipping Mary, the saints, and angels predates Christianity by thousands of years going all the way back to the construction of Babel in Genesis 11. In its missionary efforts through the centuries, when Catholicism wanted to embrace a different culture, it was no problem for them to be flexible and to incorporate the superstitions of their converts into their religious system.
In the Tribulation, history will repeat itself as Roman Catholicism will be the head of the Antichrist’s apostate religion. Compromises will be necessary to mix all the world’s religions into one satanic concoction that will help the Antichrist rise to power and control the world. The same movement is foreshadowed today in the compromises of Protestants to rejoin their harlot mother. When the ECT accord (Evangelicals and Catholics Together) was signed in 1994, many well-known Protestant and Catholic leaders agreed to cooperate in their efforts to propagate the gospel. This was done notwithstanding Rome’s gross perversion of the doctrine of justification. The chief battle in the 16th century Reformation was the correction of Rome’s false gospel of meritorious justification. This was laid aside in the ECT as being inconsequential, which makes the ecumenicism of the agreement nothing less than the affirmation of the Antichrist’s agenda.
In 2021, it is difficult to find a religious leader that still identifies the Great Whore of Revelation with the Roman Catholic Church. Satan’s deception goes on as one world church and religion become more of a reality every day. When the leaders of our country, many of whom claim to be Christians, cover up the atrocities of Islam and approve them as seekers finding their own path to God, they are setting up the convergence of all religions. As Congress gives up national sovereignty, they pave the way for the one world government of the Antichrist. Mix these two together, apostate Christianity and one world government, and the result is Mystery Babylon the Great, the extremely vilest enemy of God that has inhabited earth.
Revelation 17 is the worst of the world’s history looking backwards or forwards. Thank God the King is coming! Mystery Babylon will fall, and the King of kings will reign supreme! We pray daily for God’s Kingdom to come to earth. Until it comes, we oppose religious dualism. We cannot and will not join any ecumenical efforts that promote unity by compromise. We are not ashamed to name the names of religious apostates. The day of wrath is coming. We will not be sleeping dogs who are passive and will not bark out the warning.
Pastor V. Mark Smith