"Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God, Jehovah is one. And you shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart, with all your soul, exceedingly in every way." (De6:4-5)

Where I started watching they were moving about from this focus group, to that discussion group, to Yoga and Martial arts classes, to some highly regarded Hindu, christian priest, monk or professor. The program essentially was melding together, as one, all the various disciplines in which people partake: Christianity, Judaism, Hindu, Buddhism, Yoga, Martial Arts, Meditation, and a few other labels. All these things were equally -religion- and -spirituality-. Yoga was not merely 'exercise'. Martial arts was not 'learning to fight'. All these disciplines were shown to be, not 'different' things, but part of an overall 'same' spirituality and religion.

One of the groups they focused on a few times was a room of mixed marriages: one spouse was one religion, the other, another. Expressing to each other in the group how, initially, they entered their relationships with trepidations as to 'how' they would be received by the in-laws, since they were of "different religions".

The Irish-Catholic, who married a Hindu girl, told of his fears; how his future father-in-law took him aside for a one-on-one talk; and -accepted- him into the family, expressing,

"Ultimately it's all the same god anyway."

At the time of this writing, a 'few weeks ago' in a Q/A with the subscribers (not posted at the website) we spoke of the example of a massive spider web as if it was covering a bush, and many spiders occupying this bush/web system, travelling around inside the web, doing their spider activities; the fact that there were -many- different spiders, but they were -all- working within the 'one' -same- web. We likened this to the modern web of ecumenism occupied by many different people, religions, denominations and beliefs, but it is -all- the -same- web of the "doctrines of demons" (1Ti4:1)

If a person does a search in a Bible software program, one can find many instances, references to "gods of the nations" or "gods of the peoples" There are many gods (plural) of the people (plural); BUT there is Jehovah (singular) who is the Creator.

"For all the gods of the peoples are nothing, but Jehovah has made the heavens." (1Ch16:26)

"For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but Jehovah made the heavens." (Ps96:5)

"Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish." (Lk4:5-6)

"So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who leads the whole world astray; he was cast out onto the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Re12:9)

You see, there might be many -diverse- religions, that have different names and doctrines. But ultimately they all answer to ONE LEADER. Satan. That's why in the (so-called) "christian" church they can talk about "walls come down"; those walls of doctrine. They dialogue and have conversation about all sorts of -different- things, mix everything up in the pot, and learn to 'accept' each other's differences, and worship together...their -one- 'god'...the leader of all their different faiths. And from there the step to joint-worship with Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Yoga, Meditation is a short one.

Ecumenism, how it works, was illustrated in the program with Martial Arts exercises, as they demonstrated. An opponent comes along, rather than 'resist' him, the one defending himself "turns" and "agrees" with the opponent, uses the opponent's momentum, to send him tumbling onto the mat. Thus, a person disarms the attacker with 'harmony'. The attacker is coming, turn and face in the same direction; now you both are faced the same way; and with a little physical manipulation, step aside out of the way, and 'urge' him along in the way he was already going. Tumble, roll, etc. See? Where we were looking in opposite directions, the person turns in 'agreement' with the attacker; looking in the same direction; and THERE YOU GO. No confrontation. No opposition. No disagreement.

But is this what we are told in the Scriptures?

When the devil comes to Jesus, Jesus is not faced with -all- the world's religions. He is faced by -one- entity, the "accuser of our brethren" (Re12:10) Satan shows Jesus all the kingdoms (and their religions) of the world. But satan is the chief honcho. And notice when satan made the claims as to being in authority, Jesus did not deny the fact. When we are exhorted to stand against the "world's rulers of the darkness of this age", we are -standing- "against the wiles of the devil" (Eph6:11-12) The world has -many- 'rulers', but -one- 'devil'. (Yes, I know, different terms between Ephesians (Paul) and John (Jesus). But is not the concept clear.)

Christians (Believers into Jesus Christ) are exhorted to be of the "same mind" and "same judgment" as we "speak the same thing" (1Co1:10) There is NO PLACE in the Bible that tells us to come to 'consensus' amongst ourselves as to what we should believe, drawing from many divergent teachings, philosophies and religions; as we decide for ourselves what it should be.

"There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one immersion; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." (Eph4:4-6)

"Now I exhort you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and snares, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and turn away from them." (Rom16:17)

"But even if we, or an angel from Heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed." (Ga1:8-9)

"give place to the devil" (Eph4:27)

"...having done all TO -STAND-. STAND FIRM THEREFORE..." (Eph6:13-14)

"RESIST the devil, and he will flee from you" (Ja4:7)

"Go away, Satan!" (Mt4:10)

What are the ABC's of ecumenism? [A]nything [B]ut [C]hrist.

Some of the most 'tolerant' places are the schools. Students learn about many religions, and even dress up and 'enact' various forms of worship. But should a Christian student have along their Bible, and merely have it -sitting- on top of their desk (they are not even preaching or witnessing), it will be demanded that they remove it immediately; in some cases teachers have been known to come along and ripped it up and thrown it into the waste basket. Why? It is deemed "offensive" to other viewpoints.

Why? I thought they -embrace- 'diversity'? Is not the Bible of God -just- another 'viewpoint' to be investigated and embraced? No. Because there are two -main- 'players' in this universal (of the universe of creation) drama. God the Creator, and His arch-enemy, the one who challenged...

"I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." (Is14:14)

And what about those entities called "christian" that are part of that mix? Unbelieving "christians" know when a True Believer is in their midst. I've shared this before, but it fits here. When I transfered from Bible School to state university back in the late 60s I looked up one of the campus ministries, for what I hoped would be "Christian" fellowship. I began to attend the Bible studies. Trouble was, they didn't actually -study- the Bible. They sat around in a circle, with some person 'facilitating' the 'discussion' -about- a certain Bible passage: What do these verses mean to you? A session of everybody sharing their own personal "interpretations" (2Pt1:20 kjv) When it came to my turn to "share", but being a True Bible loving Believer, I instead would seek to direct everybody to WHAT DOES IT -SAY-? And the passage also naturally was one of 'applied' Christianity: If this is what it -says-, then HOW DO WE LIVE, as a result? For this, I was labelled by the rest as being "judgmental". I, and my 'views', were not accepted by them.

But I thought they were 'tolerant' of -ALL- VIEWS?

"We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error." (1Jn4:6)

"For not all those of Israel are Israel..." (Rom9:6b)

The very fact that a huge segment of 'christendom' is joining ecumenically with all religions of the world, and their gods (plural), is proof-positive that they are following their "ruler", God's chief enemy, Satan the serpent. They are inside that web of the "doctrines of demons". It's one big web, following the -same- "ruler" of this world.

Walk into pretty much -any- church building of a Sunday morning, the organ (or these days, the rock band!) plays and the people sing, the likelihood that there is a True Believer in the room? These days, NOT TOO LIKELY! As Jesus forecast of these days...

"Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" (Lk18:8)

While there are pockets of spiritism and demonic groves in Europe, what is the prevailing religion? The one from Rome. Even as a child I thought it strange how the history books would speak of the European explorers claiming parts of the Americas for their country, and then right on the heels those new regions would be "christianized". That's the word the history books used, "christianize". Even as a grade-school kid I didn't remember anything in the Bible about "go into all the world and christian-IZE the natives". And of course, the history books never told 'how' it was done; at the tip of bayonet... "convert or die!"

As a result, what is the prevailing religion of the Americas, Australia, etc? Roman catholicism. Oh but, some may say: weren't many of the settlers and colonists "puritans" and such? They were not "catholic" but "protestants" ...or the Church of England. We've discussed this on other occasions, not going to here; but, all these are various facets of the -same- religion.

The rebellious Jews of Jeremiah's day refused to stay in the land, insisted on continuing their worship of the Queen of Heaven, and moved to Egypt. (Jer42-44) Where does Rome go for its religious scholarship? Alexandria. Who is Rome's god? The Queen of Heaven. From where do the religions get their Bible? From the manuscripts originating out of Alexandria. And at the originations of Constantine it was called "christian". But the doctrines are those that go all the way back to Nimrod. It is Babylon the Great. Many regional religions (some even called "christian"), but they all go back to the one 'ruler' who after the Flood began to deceive his followers from Babel, and spread through the whole world. The serpent (singular) spread his rebellion of God into all the nations (plural) of the world...their religions and gods.

But God, the Almighty, is One.

"I am Jehovah; that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to graven images." (Is42:8)

And this collectivity is moving world events politically. God scattered humanity via languages (Ge11) and "boundaries of their dwellings" (Ac17:26) But true to historic form, they are still rebelling, and are in the process of joining it all back together under one global world-governance, as they did after the flood, "that we not be scattered" (Ge11:4) And most of the behind-the-scenes movers and shakers have occult and demonic ties and allegiances. They follow the Serpent. And those in control have their databases, and they are collecting the names of those they deem to be enemies of the state. As this topic was formulating in my mind, an e-mail from a subscriber said the following...

"Regardless of what one may know or not know in terms of conspiracies or how political active someone may be, or what they write...etc...the REAL root of the problem is that this is a war between satan and God. Therefore ALL Christians are automatically on the list in my opinion. Christianity is opposite of what the world preaches. The world requires a broad acceptance of, well pretty-much everything...whereas Christianity says NO! this is the way...it is narrow, winding and the path is full of troubles...yet WE MUST traverse on. Christianity focuses on the things of God, not the world. Our focus is the furtherance of the kingdom of God, not the one-world government."

Yes, they may swarm around threateningly. Jesus promised that some of the fiercest persecution would come from the church... as we know it today, "christianity"...

"They will put you out of the synagogues (churches); yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you BECAUSE THEY DO NOT KNOW THE FATHER NOR ME." (Jn16:2-3)

"There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end of it is the ways of death." (Pr14:12, 16:25)

But God Almighty, the Most High, the I AM, the Redeemer of sinners, made the heavens, and is soon coming again.

"And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to what his work shall be....Blessed is he who keeps the Words of the Prophecy of this Book." (Re22:12,7)

Related topic: Christian or Christ Follower