Running To Win 15 Minute Version

Guest (Male): Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and proctor of our faith.

Guest (Male): It's easy to imagine that a world weary of war would gladly worship a man who guarantees global peace and prosperity. In the end times, only one religion will be allowed. The penalty for believing anything else, death. Today we'll see another sign of the glorious coming of Jesus Christ from the Moody Church in Chicago. This is running to win with Dr. Irwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Irwin Lutzer is in a series on seven signs of Christ's return. Today we come to sign number four, the rise of one world religion.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: The great historian Arnold Toynbee said that the nations of the world would eventually unite, he said, either by force or by federation, and they'd be kept together by a common religion. As you may know, this happens to be number four in a series of messages titled Seven Signs of Christ's Return. And today we come to the rise of the one world religion. When I was at the Parliament of World Religions in 1993 here in the Palmer House in Chicago, a speaker one evening said, imagine all the religions of the world to be like a wheel.

He said at the level of the rim, we are all different. But he says when we come to the hub, which he defined as the clear blue of sky, it is there in the mystical center that we are all united. Let me simply say this, that we can even say in a preliminary way that first of all, when we think about a one world religion, we obviously know that truth will always be sacrificed for the sake of unity. Because people will say we have to be united and what really gets in the way of this unity is all these people who believe in truth.

As a matter of fact, Mortimer Adler, I wish I had the quote with me. I don't, but he said in effect that religion can do a great deal of good in uniting the world as long as no one thinks they have the truth. So as long as we don't have the truth, that's no problem. But those who think they have the truth, they're the problem. Secondly, tolerance will become a national icon. It already is. In fact, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the value of a view today is not its truth content or not whether or not it can be verified or whether or not it is rational.

The thing that makes it special is that it is so tolerant of other positions. And because of that, we have people who think to themselves that as long as I am willing to include others, whatever it is that I think is right and is right for me just because I think it, the very thought that I have means that I must be right. Wow. Let me give you five characteristics today of end time one world religion. Five characteristics, two passages of scripture both absolutely crucial that you turn to in your Bibles. The first is 2 Thessalonians chapter two.

It is speaking about Antichrist because even in those days the people in Thessalonica thought that maybe Jesus had begun his wrap up of prophecy. Maybe the end times was beginning and maybe the return of Jesus Christ, the glorious return may have been near. And the apostle Paul wants to set them straight. This is 2 Thessalonians chapter two and he says in verse three and I need to pick it up there. Don't let anyone deceive you in any way for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.

I take this to be Antichrist. Verse four, he will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped so that he sets himself up in God's temple proclaiming himself to be God. First characteristic of end time religion is unrestrained idolatry, unrestrained idolatry. You can worship whatever you like, but you can also worship people. You are going to worship this man of sin. The people of that day are going to do that because he himself will claim to be God. Now there are three possible views of God. One is atheism. That is to say there is no God.

There are a few of those folks around. The other view is theism. That's what we believe that a God exists who is independent of the world, a personal God who created the world. And then there is what is known as pantheism. Pantheism says all is God and God is all. It is characteristic of Eastern religions and nobody can believe that one is God actually in the sense of being the creator. But if everything is God, why then indeed we can say that even we are God. And that's why you have Shirley MacLaine running out onto Malibu Beach shouting I'm God, I'm God, I'm God.

And Colson, remember, said, aren't you glad she's wrong? Now you'll notice in the text it goes on to say and we need to skip some verses here, but skip to verse 11. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie. What is the lie? The lie is that man can take the place of God. It's the lie of Eden where Satan said to Adam and Eve, you shall be like God, like Elohim. That's the lie. End time religion is going to be characterized by this idolatry because idolatry is simply setting up something else other than God.

It doesn't mean bowing before wood and stones and things that you've created. It means simply that you worship yourself and you take yourself into consideration first without reference to God. That is idolatry because the Bible says thou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength. And if you don't love God that way, you are an idolater. And self in the New Age style gets put in the place of God. Nowadays the big problem is not sin. The big problem is sadness. You're not supposed to be sad.

If you're sad, what you should do is to buy certain pills and certain medications because nobody should ever be sad. You're supposed to be happy, happy, happy. And if the people around you don't make you happy, you make yourself happy because you are the center of your universe. Like the curriculum taught in many schools, it's entitled it's all about you. I, I, I, I, my happiness. I can determine what I want to do. I can even heal myself. I can become rich. I can do whatever I want to do. Rampant idolatry. Let's go on to a second characteristic of end time religion and that is rampant spirituality.

Spirituality. We live in a very, very spiritual age. When Cindy Crawford married Randy Gerber out on a beach, she said we wanted a spiritual ceremony without it being religious. Spirituality, but no religion and most assuredly no God religion of Christianity, but spirituality nevertheless. It's all over the place already and I think it's going to be a part of end time religion. Look at what the scripture says here and I'm in verse nine now of 2 Thessalonians, still speaking of the same man who is going to do all these things. And by the way, what we talked about a moment ago is really the end time, the final stage of end religion.

It's not quite what we see today as we'll notice in a moment. You just stick with me and that will become clear. But here we have also now unrestrained or rampant spirituality. Verse nine, the coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit. If you're in the habit of underlining your Bibles, you might like to get these three words now, miracles, signs and wonders. And in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. Why did I say that you should underline those words?

Those are the very same three words that are used in the New Testament for the miracles of Christ. These are counterfeit miracles and people today are doing miracles and miracles are everywhere and a miracle crazed world will believe Antichrist when he pulls these things off. Because of some other studying that I am doing, I went to the library and checked out the book A Course in Miracles by Helen Schucman. And I was interested. You shouldn't read books like that, but I needed to do some research to find out the origin of the book. She said she heard voices.

It was almost as if someone picked up the pencil and and wrote this book for her. Sometime she said it was terrifying, but she knew that the voice must be saying good things. Thousands and thousands of people have taken her course in Miracles and have performed their own miracles. We live in a miracle age. Everybody's into miracles. Everybody accepts them. And then of course, we have to understand that the distinction between the good miracles and the bad miracles, that's very difficult for us to discern, sometimes almost impossible to tell the difference. You know, in the Old Testament there's an interesting story.

Moses was able to do the miracles of God and he threw down his staff. And for the benefit of the people who are sitting behind me, you have to understand that when he threw down his staff, it means like a pole or something like that on the ground, right? You got it. He threw his staff onto the ground, the Bible says, and it became a serpent. And then the Pharaoh got his enchanters and his soothsayers and his people who do magic arts together and they did essentially the very same thing. The Bible says they threw their rods onto the ground and they also became serpents.

In fact, the most shocking thing is Moses spoke and the scripture says that the Nile River turned into blood and the fish died. And then the text says and I just read it this morning to confirm it. It says and the enchanters did the same thing. They followed Moses' miracle for miracle and then at a certain point they couldn't outdo him. But what deception. And this world, this age is filled with that deception. Angels are all over the place. Angels doing things for people wondrously, beautifully rescuing people, people who do not necessarily believe in Jesus.

The angels are there to do all those good things and they've got to be good angels because they've done good things. That's the age in which we live. My dear friends, when demons appear, they don't appear like demons. They appear like angels. That's what the Bible says. It says Satan is transformed into an angel, not a furious being that comes and says I want to destroy you. He's an angel sent to do good things to deceive. Well, my dear friend, this is Pastor Lutzer. We have to recognize how relevant this message is to the world in which we live.

About 10 days ago, my wife and I were in a hospital room visiting someone and we were told that from time to time five or six women come into the room and they sing like angels. They want to bring angels into the room. Well, I believe that those angels are actually demonic spirits. In the midst of a world of deception, God wants us to be faithful. But some of you perhaps think that you have failed too miserably to continue to walk with God. That's why I've written a book entitled Failure, the Back Door to Success.

You know, Corey ten Boom, who survived one of Hitler's concentration camps said, there is no pit that is so deep, but that God is deeper still. Well, this is the second to last day we're making this resource available for you. I'm convinced that you will read it and greatly be blessed and encouraged and you'll want to pass it along. Failure, the Back Door to Success.

Guest (Male): That was Pastor Irwin Lutzer with part one of The Rise of One World Religion, the fourth sign in his series Seven Signs of Christ's Return. Next time, why the blasphemy of this demonic religion will be short-lived. It was Corey ten Boom who said, there is no pit that is so deep that God is not deeper still. Failure is like a pit. And Pastor Lutzer has written a book he calls Failure, The Back Door to Success. This life-changing book will be sent as our gift. When you give a gift of any amount to support running to win, just call us at 1-800-215-5001.

That's 1-800-215-5001. Online go to offerrtw.com. That's offerrtw.com. Or write to us at Running to Win, Moody Church, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614. Ask about Failure, The Back Door to Success. Running to Win comes to you as a ministry of the Moody Church.