News has been coming from different sources lately that there is going to be an effort to bring Jews, Christians and Muslims together for a week of prayer, worship and togetherness in September of this year.
This is a significant move, not only because these religions share some common elements such as the patriarch Abraham, the role of Jerusalem, etc., but also because of predictions in the Bible of a future one-world religion in the end-times:
…who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. (2 Thessalonians 2:4)
The verse above predicts that the Anti-Christ will sit in the temple (obviously in Jerusalem) as God, and exalt “himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped,” clearly pointing to a one-world religion. With this in mind we need to look at this event with some suspicion, and monitor future developments that might flow from this event.
For the Anti-Christ to be excepted by the Jews and allowed to sit in the temple, they will have to be prepared and conditioned for it. An event such as is planned for September might very well set the first steps for it in motion.
Events like this must, of course, be read in the broader context of the time that we live in. Looking around at what is happening in our world, it is clear that we live in extraordinary times. Never before has the world been so interconnected on so many levels, and has the turmoil that we see so widespread as today. Something is going on behind the scenes!
Violence, financial problems, political instability, pollution, etc. are on the rise and will reach a breaking point at some stage. But believers have nothing to fear because we know that this world is not our home.
But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-4)
