Seeing all the bright-colored outfits Pope Benedict’s had on during his current visit to Germany made me think about how most people don’t know it but much of the Roman Catholic trappings—including its use of colored robes and tapestry, etc.—are described in detail in the Old Testament through its documentation of pagan Baal worship.

Now, as I’ve written about before, Baal worship will be the underlying religious system of the Antichrist during the Tribulation period.

As a preacher I liked in Florida, Doug Dodd, who died earlier this summer (Editor’s Note: Archived article is under “Loss of Focus,” June 22, 2006), summed it up in a recent sermon, “The Roman Catholic Church is poised to become the vehicle for the final ecumenical movement and union of all religions. Many commentators believe that the religion of the Antichrist and of atheism, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and the New Age, will be hammered together through the Roman Catholic Church.”

A story in yesterday’s New York Times about Benedict’s papal homecoming in Bavaria, Germany, revealed there is a “conscious strategy on the pope’s part, aimed at not alienating the secular world as he articulates as appealing a vision of Catholicism as possible.”

The pope is quoted saying to German reporters, “Catholicism is not a collection of prohibitions. It’s a positive option. It’s very important that we look at it again because this idea has almost completely disappeared today.”

According to the Times, “A second prong of the Vatican’s strategy is to cultivate those who already believe, in effect to shore up what Benedict calls a ‘creative minority’ to keep the church steady even in a shrunken state.

“And so his speeches address the faithful more than the culture at large. This effort also accounts for his emphasis on back-to-basics Catholic practice, visiting shrines, especially to the Virgin Mary, and encouraging activist lay groups.”

The Virgin Mary is the “Queen of Heaven” in Baal worship and she has shrines. A recent issue of the newsletter “Prophetic Observer,” published by Southwest Radio Ministries (Bethany, Okla.), observed:

“Apparitions of Mary, or claiming to be Mary, are appearing worldwide today: the United States, Mexico, the Balkans, Egypt, France, and other places. . . millions of people are rushing to these places to hear the latest pronouncements of this apparition, and thousands (are) claiming miracles of healing.

“The apparition of Mary claims to be a co-redemptress with Jesus, and also claims that she will gather all religions together as one and wait for the Son to return. This deception is being promoted by the Roman Catholic Church, and millions are being deceived. You will be shocked at the growth of this movement that is worshipping Mary as the Queen of Heaven.”

The July issue of the “Prophetic” newsletter gave an in-depth look at the Emerging Church Movement (Editor’s Note: Archived under “Ultimate Truth! New and Improved!”, dated Aug. 14, 2006), which included this quote from a news story on ECM in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

“In an era of suburban mega churches and declining mainstream churches, there are those who embrace the accouterments discarded by some Christians, especially candles, incense, Celtic crosses, labyrinths, elaborate Communion tables, prayer stations and the interplay of light and shadow.”

Again, this has Baal worship written all over it!

Indeed, leading ECM authority Dr. Robert Webber, who’s written the book, “Ancient-Future Evangelism,” speaks of “the Spirit working a new thing in the church” and an “ancient-future worship being born.”

A list he developed of necessary components to the new “worship renewal” movement includes:

· Rediscover how God acts through the sacred signs of water, bread and wine, oil, laying on of hands.

· Rediscover the central nature of the table of the Lord in the Lord’s Supper, breaking of bread, communion and Eucharist.

· Rediscover how congregational spirituality is formed through the Christian celebration of time in Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost.

Another preacher I liked in Tennessee, Darryl Mefford, who died of Leukemia several years ago (Editor’s Note: Archived article under “Often Copied, Never Duplicated,” dated July 12, 2005), once advised in a taped audio study:

“If we want to understand what the religion of the Antichrist is, all we need to do is go back and look at this doctrine of Balaam in the Old Testament Scripture and Jezebel. . . Jezebel called herself a prophetess and she taught (Israel’s) people to eat things sacrificed unto idols. Jezebel has a table where they eat that stuff sacrificed to idols.

“The Apostle Paul talked about the ‘table of God and table of devils.’ When you look out there, and you see it especially in the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the Greek Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, there's a table where there's some eating and drinking going on. . .

“There’s a fundamental principle in the Scripture. Jesus Christ says in Mathew 24:37, ‘But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.’ So He said, ‘You see that stuff back there in the Old Testament? That's how it's going to be.’

“We talk about how history repeats itself. If you look back and study history, examining the great events that have taken place, you see certain things repeat themselves over and over and over again.”

Speaking specifically about the Catholic Eucharist, my pastor, Richard Jordan, explains in an old audio study, “Matthew 26:26 is a verse people like to misunderstand. There’s a whole branch of Christendom—not Christianity but Christendom--that takes that passage and holds up a piece of bread and says, ‘This bread's your Savior.’

“And they believe that piece of wafer becomes the literal flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ! You're not even allowed to eat for at least a half-hour before Mass so you have an empty stomach.

“So you’re putting the literal body of the Lord Jesus Christ into your stomach, and the stomach's digesting it, and what's happening to it? Right there on the dung pile.

“Bread represents His body which is broken for you. He's saying, ‘Here's what's fixin’ to happen to my body. It's fixin’ to be broken for you.’ ”