"Little children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour." (I John 2:18)
"God Is Not a Christian" by Desmond Tutu http://pulsene.ws/1NWI4
Almost anywhere in the civilized world, the name of Bishop Desmond Tutu evokes tremendous respect- even love by those who know him personally, and rightfully so, among friends. I have long heard of the endeavors of Bishop Tutu, of his tireless, relentless campaign against man's inhumanity toward man, and he should most certainly be applauded for not being content to serve his church behind the safety of the four walls of chapels and cathedrals. The name of Desmond Tutu now, on the "Mount Rushmore" of human rights champions, is etched into that honorable granite alongside the likes of Mother Teresa, Mohatma Ghandi, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. With all of the violence, societal upheaval, and pestilence, it warms the heart to see what would appear to be one of the most superb examples of the love of God in active, compassionate display.
Speaking of God, Desmond Tutu, who has more Biblical knowledge in his pinky toe than I in my entire body, said something in the above-noted article that really perked up my ears. He said that Christians, along with all mankind should "be willing to learn from one another, not claiming that we alone possess all truth and that somehow we have a corner on God." Therein is the lethal subtley of his plea. I understand the honorable intent of what he's urging mankind to do especially in light of growing distrust and hostility toward Muslims worldwide, the increasingly ferocious persecution of Christians globally, the palpable shadow of the Final Solution still lurking through Europe and millennia of spilled blood of millions of innocents in the name of religious purity and doctrine.
His resolution to humanity's problems in the area of religious tolerance absolutely seem to be found in a real understanding of each other's spirituality and the self-control to not allow one's own beliefs not to translate into violent conflict, be it physical or intellectual. Ah! If only it were that simple!
Archbishop Tutu (retired) leaves out the one, true salve to man's depravity, especially so when wrapped in the white raiment of spirituality and religious orthodoxy. (There's almost nothing more dangerous in the world than a confused or spiritually twisted, well-meaning religious zealot who thinks his wickedness is proper, sacred service to God.) Man has, in thousands of years of recorded human history, been inundated with religion, from the noble to the savage and he still has yet to fully subdue his own propensity for evil and self-destruction. It is my premise, based on the Bible, that man has not become better, more refined, more godlike with his myriad of religions simply because he is impotent to do so, he is totally incapable of removing from his own soul the scourge of that lethal condition that Jesus Christ addressed purely and simply as sin. The true culprit behind the slaughter of untold millions in the multiple wars instigated by religious agendas is sin, not ignorance of the truths of the religious doctrine of others. One need only read a newspaper or view the nightly news to understand the bottomless depths of man's total depravity. What transformative benefit is it to understand why the Quran advocates the execution of apostates? How will it further foster peaceful human coexistence if one understands the process of reincarnation? Mere understanding of one another's beliefs miserably fails to lift mankind to the ultimate height of responsible altruistic living. But that's exactly what Desmond Tutu believes will cure our societal ills.
In the Bible, specifically in the Book of Genesis, Satan convinces that if she should follow her own dictates, her own will, her own understanding in eating of the forbidden fruit, she would ascend to godhood, and if one objectively thinks about man's religions, they all aspire to transform man into his idealistic, perfect state: godhood.
What Desmond Tutu desires man to accomplish is most certainly a good goal but since he leaves out the necessity of man being born again through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ his hopes are built on shifting sand. As long as he leaves out the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit, man will never make his dream a reality and instead will always, despite his best attempts revisit the cruel crucible of persecution and war.
There is a man the Bible says is coming onto the world scene (very soon) who will unite the entire world under the umbrella of a one-world religion that will seek to do all that Desmond Tutu wants man to do right now. This man will speak of peace like no one ever has before and will have the means to make it so. I wouldn't want anyone to take this as a mere conspiratorial rant. All one has to do is just take a rudimentary look at history and one will be forced to admit that mankind's past has been full, almost from its origin, of egomaniacal would-be world rulers, bent on the absolute subjugation of everything that breathes. Just look at the twentieth century! So it's not outside the realm of logic that another will come, who will take full advantage of disaster and misfortune, that his own agenda succeeds above all else.
Humanity is ripe for a “new Caesar” to emerge, to “save” us from ourselves, from famine and war and economic crash after crash, from racism, religious persecution, pandemics, and the you-fill-in-the-blank. The Book of Daniel clearly says this world ruler will come to power peaceably and with enough intrigue able to make his rule absolute. One of his platforms, possibly his main platform, is one of peace between religions- obviously citing religiously motivated events in history that have been man's bloodiest conflicts. Just as Adolph Hitler was able to take full advantage Germany's squalor and devastation after her defeat in World War I, so Antichrist will exploit the looming threats of global economic collapse and a nuclear, biologically weaponized World War III.
Man wants peace so badly, believes he can achieve it so strongly without Jesus Christ that he will believe anything and anyone who convincingly claims power to deliver it. Yes, the message of Desmond Tutu is the message of Antichrist for it imagines a world united, but at the expense of Truth. The message of the last hour will be one of tolerant, if not loving unity that man will be able to take his collective leap to godhood. The message will be that “We're all praying/worshipping the same God; he has revealed himself through different prophets, using diverse names and we dishonor him with our ignorant bickering.”
This is why Desmond Tutu's message is dangerous. It naively attributes to man that which is, under his own power, infinitely beyond his reach. It assumes that the conflicts are all due to simple misunderstandings of each other's faiths; should one stand firmly on his deeply-held, time-tested beliefs, that one is misguided, intolerant, prepared for the road of blind religious hatred to his fellow man. It is my experience that standing on the immutable Truth of the Bible is the best, safest place in all of existence and the only true shelter against the deceptively cancerous, humanist treatises of men like Desmond Tutu who have exchanged the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for hopelessly flawed manifestos for the sake of peace and unity. “...Even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.”
