By Philip Powell
As I complete this editorial the pope’s visit to Sydney, Australia as the chief religious leader at the World Youth Day (WYD) has just come to an end (July 15-20). The official website http://www.wyd2008.org states:
"World Youth Day is an invitation from the pope to the youth of the world to celebrate their faith around a par-ticular theme. Everyone is welcome to attend."
What a masterpiece of sheer intrigue and deception. Those who dare to oppose such an occasion of outward gaiety and celebration would be immediately dubbed “kill joys”. Christians and churches have been blinded to the fact that this was principally a publicity exercise for the Roman Catholic Church, which Dave Hunt in his other masterly and older book exposes as the woman (harlot) who rides the “beast” of the book of the Revelation.
You can rest assured that the threat of Islam is going to be outsmarted by the intrigue and attraction of Rome, which ultimately will dominate all religious activity in the new world order. It’s going to happen. The sad thing is that just as the world and the church, generally speaking have bought the lie about Islam so they have bought the lie about Roman Catholicism. Rome is the past master at compromise and adaptation—a beast in her ferocity and a chameleon in her disguise. She never gives up, always wins and yet ultimately loses and she’s not alone.
One of the most profound disappointments I face as a long time Pentecostal preacher is to witness the almost total apostasy of my former denomination Assemblies of God (AoG) in Australia recently renamed Australian Christian Churches (ACC) to Roman Catholicism. Hillsong is the largest and most public representative of the AoG in Australia.
Darlene Zschech is a leading vocalist and the worship leader at Hillsong, where Brian Houston, president of the Australian AoG is senior pastor. Darlene performed at the WYD as did pop “idol” Guy Sabastian a member at the other well known Australian AoG Paradise Church in Adelaide that was pastored by Andrew Evans now succeeded by his son Ashley.
Darlene said:
"We see World Youth Day as a great opportunity to serve the Catholic Church in its vision to present the gospel and reach out to our city, our nation and our world in unity."
On the occasion of the accession of the present pope, Benedict XVI following the death of John Paul II, CWM published the following statement in 2005:
That the apostasy is spreading with incredible speed can no longer be seriously doubted. Could anyone other than a confirmed Roman Catholic ever say, ”We pray too that this papacy, like those before it, is marked by a commitment to seeing the Christian message continue to go forward and people changed by the power and truth of the gospel”? If words mean anything this is a claim that all previous papacies were committed to the gospel that changes people. That is what Brian Houston head of AoG in Australia thinks. Unbelievable! His absurd and apostate statement is part of an April 21, 2005 media release. It is unprecedented from an AoG leader …
The full statement can be read at our CWM website including equally disturbing statements by leading evangelical church leaders at:
http://www.christian-witness.org/archives/cetf2005/evangpope33.html
Keen Bible students, including Dave Hunt and many others have long taught that the Roman Catholic Church and her associates can easily be identified with the Babylon of the book of the Revelation, in their commercialism, idolatry and immorality. It is little wonder that Hillsong with its emphasis on money and Brian Houston with his careless interpretation of scripture should fall for the papacy ploy. Judgment is coming and it saddens me enormously to consider the consequences of what these people have done and what they are heading for:
And another angel followed, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication [false teaching and idolatry]” (Revelation 14:8).
Revelation chapter 18, verses 1 to 5:
After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. 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! 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”. And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities”.
Verses 21 to 24:
Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “Thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be found anymore. The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore. No craftsman of any craft shall be found in you anymore, and the sound of a millstone shall not be heard in you anymore. The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth.”
—New King James Version
