To many who think about Bible prophecy yet future, the thought is that the Tribulation will be an era completely against all restrictions imposed by religious order. It will be a free-wheeling, anything-goes time of hedonism and evil deportment of every description.
To an extent, this will be true. But immediately following the removal of the Church, a religious system will develop that harnesses all people left behind with religiosity beyond any that has ever before existed. We understand this by the following words John was given in his Patmos vision:
“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8).
This worship will be demanded and directed by the second beast of Revelation chapter 13: the False Prophet.
“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed” (Revelation 13:15).
So those left behind on earth after the removal of the Church in the Rapture will be, rather than free of religious restrictiveness, harnessed with the threat of death if they refuse to obey the most severe religious system ever imposed upon humanity. It will be a worldwide religion with Satan’s Antichrist as the object of worship.
Those who view Bible prophecy especially from the pre-Trib viewpoint have watched for numerous religious belief systems to come together in an “ecumenical” arrangement. That is, many different religions will, we believe, form a religious amalgamation Satan will use, through the False Prophet, to bring about the Revelation 13 system of worship. That system will require that people either worship the Beast (Antichrist) or die.
Additionally, many who investigate this prophecy believe the Catholic system of religious dogma will somehow be at the center of that ecumenical formation the closer the time nears to Christ’s call for the true Church to join Him in the clouds of Glory. This is because of what we believe is Catholicism’s false worship system with, for example, there being a number of mediators between God and man.
The tremendous spread of that system—which places a man (the pope) in place of Christ on earth—also gives reason to believe Catholicism will be at the center of the false worship system of Revelation 13.
I believe it is more than merely an interesting coincidence that in every direction we look at the world’s cultural horizon, we see the stage being set for the fulfillment of prophecies surrounding Christ’s soon return. At the same time, a profound matter of ecumenical movement involving the Catholic Church comes dramatically into the mix.
The Vatican Apostolic Library, one of the world’s most prestigious repositories of religious scholarship, has confirmed it now provides a dedicated prayer space for Muslim academics visiting its collections. This move has ignited passionate debate about the growing ties between the Vatican and Islam.
The revelation emerged from an interview between Italian newspaper La Repubblica and Father Giacomo Cardinali, the 48-year-old Vice Prefect of the Vatican Library. Speaking casually about the institution’s role as a global research hub, Father Cardinali disclosed: “Some Muslim scholars have asked us for a room with a carpet for praying, and we have given it to them.”
The comment, embedded in a broader discussion about the library’s digitization efforts and extraordinary collection, has since reverberated through Catholic and interfaith circles worldwide.
The decision represents a historic departure from Vatican tradition. As the center of the Catholic Church, Vatican City State has never before hosted non-Catholic places of worship within its borders. The world’s smallest sovereign nation—with a population of approximately 800 residents—consists entirely of Catholic citizenry and clergy. The establishment of a prayer space for Islamic worship, even in the context of academic hospitality, marks an unprecedented accommodation in the Vatican’s 95-year history as an independent state.
This makes Father Cardinali’s seemingly casual announcement all the more significant, as it introduces for the first time a designated space for non-Catholic religious practice within the walls of Vatican City. (“Vatican Opens Muslim Prayer Room Sparking Fierce Debate,” Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Israel365 News, October 19, 2025)
The great angst this has created is that Islam and the Catholics’ supposed Christian views are incompatible. Allah is the only god in Islam, and the thrust of Allah’s supposed dictate is to rid the world of all infidels and make everyone a Muslim.
Yet here we witness the ecumenical movement defying all odds while these two massive, worldwide religious entities apparently are coming together in what some have termed “Chrislam”—the merging of Christianity with Islam.
So, one more element of the stage being set for the terrifying Tribulation is coming to the forefront for us to plainly see. The previous pontiff, Pope Francis, said on numerous occasions that there are many ways to Heaven other than just through Jesus Christ. He said, too, that even atheists will be in Heaven. The Vatican has not disavowed this satanic lie in any way, I have heard. Islam, therefore, I must presume, fits within the Vatican’s view of what constitutes Christianity.
With the preponderance of evidence that God is on the verge of instructing His Son to bring His family to Him from the earth, such developments as this movement into end-times ecumenism is a major signal of where we stand on God’s prophetic timeline.
It was a great reassurance recently to hear Dr. David Jeremiah given time by Fox Network to answer questions by Fox News religious correspondent Lauren Green about true Christianity:
Q. Lauren Green: A lot of people are trying to earn their way into Heaven. Why is that not the right thinking?
A. Dr. David Jeremiah: That is the answer of every religion except Christianity, which isn’t a religion—It is a relationship!
If we try to reach God by way of works, nobody can do it. That’s why He sent His Perfect Son, Jesus Christ, who never sinned and was crucified on the cross for us.
If we put our trust in Him, He has promised to wash away our sins!
Here is how to make certain you have your sins washed away and will go to Heaven.
“That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).