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| Swami Vivekananda (center) |
Though many consider the ecumenical movement to be a recent phenomenon, its roots trace back to the late 19th century.
That's when the first World Parliament of Religions was held in Chicago in 1893 at the World's Columbian Exposition. It was a Hindu Monk named Swami Vivekananda who gave the opening address at the gathering of over 5,000 leaders of various world religions.
What was so significant about that event and Vivekananda's speech? It opened up the western world to the eastern religions and their mystical practices. Until that time, religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism and Shintoism had largely been confined to the eastern world.
Vivekananda became the major apostle of paganism to the west as Paul had been the major apostle of Christianity to the ancient world of Europe and Asia Minor.
In one speech, the Hindu missionary laid the foundation for what would become the New Age Movement and its various mystical practices such as Yoga and Transcendental Meditation.
That's right; Yoga is popularly considered to be a form of physical exercise. But its roots come from Hinduism and it's named after the Hindu god Yogaswara.
And Yoga is a religious practice utilized by Hindus to make contact with various Hindu deities. Many unsuspecting folks--including Christians--practice Yoga without knowing where it comes from and what it's intended to do.
While most people certainly don't practice Yoga for spiritual reasons, they still engage in a practice that was designed to contact the spiritual realm. And certain types of Yoga such as Tantric and Kundalini Yoga can lead one into direct contact with the demonic.
What was so tragic about that first ecumenical gathering was the ignorance and silence of many Christian ministers, bishops and pastors who attended the event. By doing so, they not only lent their credibility to the gathering, but they betrayed Jesus Christ. It was Christ who said this: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the (Heavenly) Father except through me." (John 14:6)
But that wasn't the message preached at that first parliament of religions in 1893. Vivekananda's message told the world that all paths lead to God. And many Christian leaders willingly agreed with the Hindu spiritual leader.
Here's a portion of Vivekananda's speech that sounds as though it was written by the Antichrist himself: "If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world it is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written, in spite of resistance: 'Help and not Fight,' 'Assimilation and not Destruction,' 'Harmony and Peace and not Dissension.'"
If Paul witnessed that event and saw the Christians in attendance, he would've gotten sick. And if he came back today and saw how compromised the modern church has become with the world, he'd be devastated.
And though the world remains sectarian 121 years after Vivekananda gave his speech in Chicago, a global religion is indeed coming. It won't come together by the ecumenical consensus of religious leaders. Rather, it will come together via the greatest counterfeit religious revival the world will ever see.
And it all began in 1893 when Swami Vivekananda became Satan's first prophet for a one-world religion.
Tragically, many more false prophets are yet to come. And when they arrive, they'll be embraced by sellout Christians just as the first one was 121 years ago.
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