Thy Kingdom Gone

Thy Kingdom Come is an exciting-sounding evangelistic initiative. Christians are urged to pray for five people to find Christ between Ascension and Pentecost. The website looks fine, till we come across a big picture of the Pope and the Archbishops of Canterbury and York under the headline

Pope Francis shares special message for Thy Kingdom Come’s Pentecost service

In the accompanying video, Archbishop Welby, dressed in white vestments, says “The Holy Spirit unites us” before handing over to ‘His Holiness’ the Pope. Francis begins his address

“Dear brothers and sisters”

He goes onto say how important it is we are united and support each other, how we should strive to ‘eliminate inequalities and poverty”.

The organisers must have loved it. What a booking, what a celebrity endorsement! The Pope himself appearing in their video, backing their event. And he refers to us as brothers and sisters! And all that stuff about poverty and inequality, well that must tick many boxes.

Papa Francesco has been busy urging others to unite, also. He signed a document last year on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together. This is leading to the construction of the ‘Abrahamic Family House’, a worship centre with church, mosque and synagogue in the Middle East. Addressing the Dublin Multifaith Service by live stream on 14 May from Rome, he said

“We are united as human beings, brothers and sisters, praying to God each according to our own culture, traditions and beliefs.”

Anticipating criticism of this relativist, pluralist view of God, he asked:

“But how can you not pray to the Father of all”?

Those Christians supporting Thy Kingdom Come with its papal endorsement might have a care for what else the current pontiff is busily endorsing. The stage is surely being prepared for a unity of all world religions. All our past divisions gone, all those horrible religious wars never to be repeated; ‘people of faith’ united together at last to eliminate inequality and poverty and all the rest.

Don’t be fooled. The world will unite in the true worship of God but only after the Lord Jesus returns and begins His visible rule on earth. Until then, false religious unity will only be an affront to the God of truth and the gospel of light. Constructing another tower of Babylon to reach into heaven will only end in failure as the ‘Lord will come down…and scatter them’.

Top image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Lower mage by manfred Kindlinger from Pixabay