Interfaith Dialogue: Slippery Slope

By C. J. Refsland on March 25, 2013 • ( 2 )

I just have to touch on this word, interfaith, as we are hearing an awful lot about this lately, from the Newly Elected Pope Francis to Rick Joyner, to Rick Warren, and others. This is a very slippery slope, that is going to get more slippery and muddy. It will sound so good to everyone, that they will follow it blindly right into the kingdom of the beast. Remember what Revelation chapter 13 say’s about the false prophet: Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.’ And remember Paul say’s ‘Even if another angel comes to you with a different teaching than we gave you, let him be acursed.’ So let’s look at what’s been going on with interfaith dialogue. This is not a new concept, it goes back to 1893. But there is a recent hard push by the elites for a One World Religion.

Interfaith: Of, relating to, or involving persons of different religious faiths: an interfaith marriage; an interfaith forum.

Photo by Reuters(Photo: Leaders of the world’s major religions at an interfaith conference in Nicosia, 18 Nov 2008/Andreas Manolis)

The UN has declared the first week of February every year as UN World Interfaith Harmony Week. For one thing I find it odd, that this would be declared without any input from the people at all. It’s fine if they want to study that, but to declare the world will honor this. Goes beyond my comprehension. Then there’s the Yale Center For Faith and Culture’s document Called ‘A Common Word Between Us and You.’ Here is the preamble for this document:

As members of the worldwide Christian community, we were deeply encouraged and challenged by the recent historic open letter signed by 138 leading Muslim scholars, clerics and intellectuals from around the world. A Common word Between Us and You identifies some core common ground between Christianity and Islam which lies at the heart of our respective faiths as will as at the heart of the most ancient Abrahamic faith, Judaism, Jesus Christ’s call to love God and neighbor was rooted in the divine revelation to the people of Israel embodied in the Torah (Deuternomy 6:5); Leviticus 19:18). We receive the open letter as a Muslim hand of conviviality and cooperation extended to Christians worldwide. In this response we extend our own Christian hand in return, so that together with all other human beings we may live in peace and justice as we seek to love God and our neighbors. You can read the whole thing here.

It goes on and on, the common ground is that we worship one god. It also say’s that we won’t proselytize or witness to muslims about our Faith. Rick Warren and hundreds of other prominent religious leaders signed this. Major denominations signed this!

The newly elected Pope Francis is calling on Interfaith dialogue with the Muslims. It sounds all flowery and innocent, but watch, watch and pray. Be very careful and watchful, because allowing worship of a foreign god in the name of peace is an abomination. Plain and simple. And it’s prophesied, in Daniel, Revelation and many other books in the Bible. And it’s wrong. God clearly states ‘You Will Have No Other god’s Before Me.’

One of the leading televangelists, and self proclaimed prophet, Rick Joyner (Morning Star Ministries) who recently became a member of ‘The Knights Of Malta’ (the Knights of Malta have ties to the Jesuits) recently stated that doctrine was causing divisions and we should unite under Christ, throwing out all doctrine.

Many are failing to see the dangers of this statement! The Christian leaders are slowly being either lulled to sleep or actively selling their souls for fame and fortune. I’m sorry if that offends but that is the truth. This creeping doctrine is wrong. It clearly goes against what is taught in the Bible.

1Timothy 4:16 ‘Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.’

Titus 2:1 ‘You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.’

These are just 2 verses about doctrine. No where, I repeat no Where does it say in the Bible to throw out doctrine and unite in Christ only. Yes it’s important to have love, yes it’s important to unite in Christ, but if we ignore all the teachings of Christ and center only on the love, we are grievously wrong.

2 Timothy 4:2-5 ‘Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.’

So to repeat Paul, keep your wits about you, pray for discernment, and above all, keep your eyes wide open! Search the scriptures for yourself, and ask God to guide you, he will, and whatever you do, don’t fall for this teaching!

Footnotes: From Wikipedia

Here are a few Interfaith Forum’s to give you a little history on this.

Muslim Christian Dialog Forum is an Interfaith Dialog Forum established by Minhaj-ul-Quran-a sufi based moderate Islamic Organization started by Tahir_ul_Qadri to promote religious tolerance and cultural co-existence between Muslims and Christian community.

Interfaith Encounter Association (IEA) was established in 2001 and works to build genuine coexistence and sustainable peace, through joint community building on the grassroots level, using interactive interfaith dialogue as its vehicle. The a-political and all-inclusive approach of the organization and its activities continuously form the human infrastructure for peace in the Holy Land and the Middle East. In its ten years of existence, the IEA have held – in its three regional focuses: in Israel, between Israelis and Palestinians and in the larger Middle East – more than 1000 programs, with thousands of participants. A most significant fact is that the participants in IEA programs include people of all political and religious views, as well as all ages, genders, walks of life etc.; and that the vast majority of them have met ‘the other’ for the first time through IEA. The IEA have formed till now 41 on-going community-groups of interfaith encounter – from the Upper Galilee to Eilat, including 10 groups that bring together on a regular basis Israelis and West Bank Palestinians. Among the latter we maintain the three only groups in the country that bring together Palestinians with Settlers. IEA maintains working relations with 7 Palestinian organizations, across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and is a founding partner of the Middle East Abrahamic Forum, with additional organizations from Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey.

Messiah Foundation International is an interfaith organisation which aims to promote mutual love, peace and understanding between members of all religions and faiths through the spiritual sciences taught by Ra Gohar Shahi. MFI has centres across the globe, including in the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom of Great Britain, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Japan.

Project Interfaith is a non-profit organization that aims to grow understanding, respect and relationships among people of all faiths, beliefs and cultures. The goals of the organization are approached through online media resources (particularly RavelUnravel) as well as community-building programs that educate and engage a variety of audiences on issues of faith, religion, identity, interfaith relations, and religious and cultural diversity.

While there are many essentially religious organisations geared towards working on interfaith issues (see Interreligious organisations) there is also a less common attempt by some governmental institutions to specifically address the diversity of religions (see Australasian Police Multicultural Advisory Bureau for one example).

In India, many organizations have been involved in interfaith activities because of the diversity of religion in the nation.

United Religions Initiative (URI) was founded in 2000 to promote daily, lasting interfaith cooperation, end religiously motivated violence, and create cultures of peace, justice, and healing for the Earth and all living beings. With hundreds of thousands of members in 80+ countries representing over 200 religions and indigenous traditions, URI uses “cooperation circles” to promote dialogue and action.

The Jordanian Interfaith Coexistence Research Center is a Jordanian non-governmental organization for promoting peaceful religious coexistence. It fosters grassroots interfaith dialogue and works on creating interreligious harmony.

The Global Peace Pioneers – GPP is a Pakistan based non-governmental organization advocating for peaceful religious coexistence. It cultivates the seed for grassroots interfaith dialogue and works on creating interreligious harmony with in Pakistan.

The first week of February, every year, has been declared a UN World Interfaith Harmony Week. The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre released a document which summarises the key events leading up to the UN resolution as well as documenting some Letters of Support and Events held in honour of the week.