The first two commandments God gave Israel are theologically very significant.
Yahweh alone, the Triune God, was to be recognized and worshipped by Israel. And the only true God was not to be captured by human imagination and expressed through man’s ingenuity and creativity. All idols or images of the true God and all false gods were and are totally abhorrent.
But the devil is subtle in leading people astray. One of his chief lies is that truth and error can exist in harmony. That we can somehow bring light and darkness together. That we can bring together the true God and false gods. This detestable deception can be found throughout Scripture and today, it is present in power in the interfaith movement.
We tend to think that this snare is a recent feature in American history, but sadly this lie has been present for a very long time. Consider a few examples:
In 1893, the city of Chicago hosted the 400th Anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World (1492). As part of the celebration, known as the World’s Columbian Exposition (or the Chicago World’s Fair) famous architects transformed the city of Chicago.
Over twenty-seven million visitors came to see all the attractions in just six months. Part of the Columbian Exposition was the World’s Parliament of Religions, inaugurated on September 11. Meetings were held at what is now the Art Institute of Chicago.
Four hundred men and women representing forty-one denominations and religions met together, with audiences of four thousand or more people. The goal was a return to the primitive unity of the world according to John Henry Barrows.
This supposed unity was not a unity based on truth but rather the vain imagination of men and the devil. True unity can be found only in the truth of God, as all true believers must confess. Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)
Chicago also hosted the most recent gathering of the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 2023, where an estimated 8,254 people from 95 countries and more than 210 “traditions” came together. The buzzwords of this deceptive movement include “justice,” “freedom,” a “healthy environment,” “human rights,” and “democracy.”
Do you see the deception even in these terms? Who would stand against justice or freedom? Who wants an unhealthy environment? The question is, who gets to define what these terms mean? Who gets to determine how to implement a healthy environment?
It doesn’t take long to see that it is the United Nations and other power-hungry organizations that want control and more power over industry, whose actions (in the name of the betterment of society) have a profoundly negative effect on the needy and poor.
Man’s salvation is inevitably cruel.
Now, I don’t deny that there are some issues where Christians, Muslims, and Hindus might find some agreement. Last year in a predominantly Muslim suburb of Detroit, parents expressed their anger over objectionable content the government schools were promoting.
Some members of the mainstream media assumed these parents were Christian nationalists. But whatever areas of agreement we might share, we must be very careful to maintain two things:
1] The uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation.
2] Efforts to reach the lost with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Recently a flyer has been sent to homes in the Chicagoland area promoting an Islamic website called If Americans Knew that focuses on the war between Israel and Hamas.
There is no doubt about the horrors of the conflict that began when Hamas initiated attacks on Israel, murdering 1200 and kidnapping several hundred others. Israel’s military response has caused great suffering for people in Gaza.
This is a very challenging and complex situation that has resulted in the death of many innocent women and children. However, If Americans Knew does not admit how Hamas accentuates this suffering through their tactics like repurposing aid meant for infrastructure to develop weapons of war.
The flyer stresses how wonderful it was when Muslims occupied Jerusalem and ruled Spain. The Muslim Ottoman Empire protected Jews, it says. Later, it states that Islam was a place of refuge for Jews who were forcibly evacuated from their homes at different times in history.
Some of the details might have a grain of truth. But we are talking about the very long and complicated history of the relationship between Christians, Jews, and Muslims that covers nearly 1400 years. This is not something you can just fit in a few bullet points.
The Old Testament and New Testament both warn against deception. Just as the interfaith movement seeks to blur the differences between world religions, the information contained in this flyer and on the If Americans Knew website seeks to confuse and blend what is, in fact, black and white.
Read Deuteronomy 13:1-11 and 2 Peter 3:14-18. We must know Scripture, and we should also seek to strengthen and develop our knowledge of history, lest we be ensnared by the devil appearing as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:4).
Note: An excellent book on this subject is The Inter-Faith Movement, The New Age Enters the Church by Herbert J. Pollitt, published by Banner of Truth.
