Events that people once thought would never happen are now coming together in rapid succession. When I was a young man, my Christian friends and I knew that the Bible taught that one day there would be a one-world government and a one-world religion, but we could not imagine how these things could happen. We thought that Americans, at least, would reject the idea of any kind of super-governmental power. In those days conspiracy theorists spoke in hushed voices about a “New World Order†to come.
During this past year, the worldwide financial crisis has caused great interest in global controls to try to restore stability and prosperity. It is no longer unthinkable for the ordinary citizen to accept the idea of universal governance.
This week two major advances toward the One World ideal have been taking place: one in Copenhagen, and the other in Melbourne.
In Copenhagen the United Nations held a highly publicized Climate Change Conference. The gathering makes another strong argument for the development of a One-World Government. In spite of the release of controversial e-mails from some climate scientists that global warming calculations are not accurate, thousands of enthusiastic delegates from all over the globe met to further their plans to limit carbon emissions and provide up to $150 billion in aid to developing countries to gain their cooperation.
Meanwhile in Melbourne, there was movement toward an eventual One-World Religion. At The Parliament of the World’s Religions, thousands of representatives from 80 nationalities and more than 220 faith traditions spent a week of dialogue about how to increase understanding and cooperation between various religious traditions. They discussed such topics as climate change and the west’s relationship with Islam.
This would be a good time for every Christian to review Revelation, chapters 17 and 18. In the last days there will be a final evil world empire, represented by the beast, and a false world religion, represented by the woman who rides the beast. This will not happen until after the Rapture of the Church, but, in the light of current events, it is not so hard to imagine any more.
