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The German news source, Deutsche Welle reported the following:

21 August 2019

Delegates from around the world are attending the inter-faith meeting Religions for Peace in the southern German town of Lindau. DW’s Aya Ibrahim met a Tunisian participant, who says women have a special role to play when it comes to religion a peace. https://www.dw.com/en/religions-for-peace-participant-emphasizes-role-of-women/av-50106397

I may have overlooked the above, if a reader had not sent me links to the following (with the last two machine-translated from its original German) today:

LINDAU, Germany (RNS) — On the eve of the 10th — and the largest and most cosmopolitan yet — Religions for Peace World Assembly, young participants in the forum said they are pushing more senior representatives to be more active in addressing issues such as global warming and terrorism. …

The assembly will run Tuesday through Friday (Aug. 20-23). … The theme for this edition of the world assembly is “Caring for our common future: advancing shared well-being.” Organizers said that process includes religious representatives “confronting their own moral and social responsibilities … to pave the way for peace on the basis of common values.” https://religionnews.com/2019/08/20/young-activists-push-interfaith-gathering-to-act-on-climate-change-justice/

In Lindau, the tenth World Assembly of “Religions for Peace” opens this Tuesday, with a ceremony of more than 900 women and men from more than 100 countries and 17 religions, following a speech by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

By August 23, they will discuss how religions, in a time of growing intolerance, increasing fundamentalism, and religiously charged conflicts, can help create peace, promote justice, and preserve the environment.

There are panels on women as peacemakers and on youth and terrorism. The Lindau can meet the delegates at the ecumenical morning devotions or the interreligious “long table of Lindau parishes”; For four days it will be colorful in the city on Lake Constance.

Religious questions of truth are left out

The nice thing about problems at such meetings is that most of the religious representatives who want dialogue anyway – and the fundamentalists to be converted – stay home. …

There will be representatives from North and South Korea, emissaries of the Muslim Rohingya and the Buddhist majority in Myanmar, Christians from the south of Sudan and Muslims from the north – talks that would not be possible outside the protected framework. Religious questions of truth remain outside, it is about good coexistence. 08/20/19 https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/religion-dialog-interreligioes-1.4568491

Already the arrival of the delegates in Lindau offers a picture of high symbolic power. From the shuttle busses rise Muslim clerics, Jewish rabbis, Buddhist monks. All easily identifiable by their traditional robes and headgear. The turban of the Sikhs, the veil of the Catholic nun.

But Lindau is more than a multireligious panopticon. The point is that the representatives of the most diverse religious traditions and denominations get into conversation with each other. For example in Uganda. Again and again there are minor conflicts and friction between the Christian majority and the Muslim minority. Drijaru Allen Solance is a delegate from Uganda and places great hope in this gathering:

“I hope that there is unity between the religions in my country, that as a result of this conference the religions live in peace and harmony.”

In Lindau, top representatives of religious communities want to promote the worldwide protection of religious sites, says Buddhist Kyoichi Sugino from Japan:

“The protection of holy places is immensely important, and to promote a culture of peace and respect, which must be strengthened here in Lindau.”

The Federal Government supports these goals. Also financially. Together with the Free State of Bavaria, the Federal Foreign Office is an important sponsor of the Lindau Assembly. Federal President Frank Walter Steinmeier will open the religious summit. Even as Foreign Minister Steinmeier has made strong that the peace potential of religions is an issue of foreign policy. https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/religions-for-peace-konferenz-101.html

So, we see that the Federal government of Germany supports this. And that religious truth is not of interest for this conference.

The reader who tipped me off to this today, lives in Germany, and provided the following comments”

Since this conference “Religions for Peace” just happened in Germany, they mainly seem to have been reporting on it locally … Basically it shows how the German government is funding efforts to promote an inter-faith religious dialogue devoid of any actual religions content in order to support foreign policy objectives (this is what the Sueddeutsche article points out). In addition I can tell you that in a German TV news clip reporting on that conference, the head of the whole German Protestant Church Heinrich Bedford-Strohm actually stated: “All world religions need to come to the understanding that they can be partially flawed and sometimes they are more part of the problem than part of the solution” (referring to religious violence and/or wars). The head of the German Catholic Church Reinhard Marx was also shown to be present and he argued similarly. This is certainly something one would not have thought several years ago that major religious leaders would be willing to state so publicly, but it shows what the wider public in Europe “expects” religious leaders to say on such occasions.

Yes, all world religions (as opposed to the true religion) are flawed. And we are seeing more emphasis on interfaith cooperation around the world, but particularly in Europe.

As far as truth goes, consider that Jesus said:

23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:23-24)

While peace is a fine goal, the interfaith agenda and teachings bring the following words Jesus cited to mind:

“Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? … 6 … you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:

8 “These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'” (Matthew 15:3, 6-9)

1 Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. (Ecclesiastes 5:1)

Just because religious leaders indicate things are the same or fine, does not mean that the Bible endorses human doctrines.

The Bible opposes the interfaith agenda:

14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.”

17 Therefore

“Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-17)

Real Christians are NOT to support the interfaith plans.

Notice also:

2 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! 3 For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.” (Revelation 18:2-3)

Notice some warnings about what will happen from Roman Catholic sources:

Nun Anna-Katarina Emmerick (19th century): I saw again a new and odd-looking Church which they were trying to build. There was nothing holy about it…

Yves Dupont (writer interpreting A. Emmerick above), They wanted to make a new Church, a Church of human manufacture, but God had other designs…(Dupont, pp. 115,116)

Pope Gregory the Great (died 604): In those days, near the end, hardly a Bishop, but an army of priests and two-thirds of the Christians will join the Schism. (Culleton, R. Gerald. The Reign of Antichrist, Reprint TAN Books, Rockford, IL, 1974, p. 122)

St. Francis of Assisi (died 1226): There will be an uncanonically elected pope who will cause a great Schism, there will be divers thoughts preached which will cause many, even those in the different orders to doubt, yea even agree with the heretics, which will cause my Order to divide. (Culleton, R. Gerald. The Reign of Antichrist, p. 130)

Priest H. Kramer (20th century): In the vision of the Seer now appears a second beast rising out of the earth, having two horns like a lamb but speaking like a dragon…In other places he is called the false prophet…This prophet may re-establish the pagan Roman Empire and build the “Great Harlot”, Babylon… The False Prophet…will persuade all infidels, apostates and apostate nations to worship and adore him…Antichrist “sitteth in the temple of God” (I Thes. II. 4). This is not the ancient Temple in Jerusalem…this temple is shown to be a Catholic Church…The False Prophet will proclaim the resurrection of the Roman Empire. (Kramer H., p. 318,320-323)

Priest Paul Kramer (21st century): The errors of Orthodoxy and of Protestantism will be embraced by that false church, it will be an ecumenical church because the Anti-Pope will be recognized by the world—not by the faithful, but by the world—by the secular world and the secular governments. (Kramer P. The Imminent Chastisement for Not Fulfilling Our Lady’s Request. An edited transcript of a speech given at the Ambassadors of Jesus and Mary Seminar in Glendale, California, September 24, 2004.THE FATIMA CRUSADER Issue 80, Summer 2005, pp. 32-45 http://www.fatimacrusader.com/cr80/cr80pg32.asp viewed 4/15/08)

Priest Paul Kramer (21st century): The Anti-Pope will be recognized as the legitimate Pope of the “church,” and the legitimate head of the Vatican State. That “church” will be united with all the false religions. They will be united together under the universality of the Masonic umbrella. In that motley ecumenical union will be the established religion of the so-called civilized world. This is how we will get into the time of great persecution such as the world has never seen. (Priest Kramer. As cited by Mario Derksen’s article The Blind Leading the Blind Memo to Chris Ferrara, Father Nicholas Gruner and Father Paul Kramer: Please, please take off the blindfolds! in TRADITIONAL INSIGHTS October 7, 2005 Volume 16, no. 250; http://www.dailycatholic.org/issue/05Oct/oct7mdi.htm 10/10/07)

Soon to be Saint Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman once commented that “true development occurs when Christianity is able to assimilate the surrounding environment, informing and changing its culture, whereas corruption happens when its instead the environment that assimilates Christianity to itself.” 08/19/19 https://knowingisdoing.org/blog/what-happens-when-christian-dialogue-ignores-creed

Some of those warnings seem to be consistent with an Orthodox understanding of the last false religious power coming from Rome:

Bishop Gerasimos of Abydos (20th century): The army of Antichrist is made up of the worldly powers, mainly the Roman Empire, symbolized by the two beasts and the harlot woman (Rev. 11:7; 13:1-17; cf. Dan. 7:11-12)… The final confrontation with evil is presented in chapters 19 and 20…The war is waged by the beast and the false prophet. Both of these are organs of Satan, representing the political and religious authority of Rome (Rev. 13:1-18). (Gerasimos, Bishop.  At the End of Time: The Eschatological Expectations of the Church.  Holy Cross Orthodox Press. October 5, 2004, pp. 28-29)

The Bible itself warns against a coming ecumenical unity–Satan the devil’s unity–which it teaches will be successful as far as many in the world are concerned:

4 They prostrated themselves in front of the dragon because he had given the beast his authority; and they prostrated themselves in front of the beast, saying, ‘Who can compare with the beast? Who can fight against it?’ 5 The beast was allowed to mouth its boasts and blasphemies and to be active for forty-two months; 6 and it mouthed its blasphemies against God, against his name, his heavenly Tent and all those who are sheltered there. 7 It was allowed to make war against the saints and conquer them, and given power over every race, people, language and nation; 8 and all people of the world will worship it, that is, everybody whose name has not been written down since the foundation of the world in the sacrificial Lamb’s book of life. 9 Let anyone who can hear, listen: 10 Those for captivity to captivity; those for death by the sword to death by the sword. This is why the saints must have perseverance and faith. (Revelation 13:4-10, NJB)

The ‘dragon’ listed above is Satan, the devil (cf. Revelation 12:9, 20:2). Here is something from the late Herbert W. Armstrong on the coming worship:

Notice a Bible definition of worship in Rev. 13:4 “how men worship the “beast” — the Roman Empire — by saying, “Who is like unto the Roman Empire? Who is able to make war with it?” Such words constitute worship — “and they worshipped the beast.” (Armstrong HW. The Mystery of MELCHIZEDEK Solved!. Plain Truth, June 1956)

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 21st, 2019 at 7:00 am and is filed under Religious News.

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