Billy Graham is "still preaching that 'old-time religion'," says the headline in the Roman Catholic weekly newspaper, Our Sunday Visitor. In the center top of the page is a picture of the aging evangelist with the caption: "The Protestant Pope."

Elsewhere on the full-page article are two pictures side-by-side of Graham and Pope John Paul II. This caption states that Graham "has called Pope John Paul II 'The moral leader of the world.'" This recent tribute to Graham in a popular Roman periodical illustrates the Vatican's confidence in its ecumenical steamroller.

During the dark ages, the Vatican dominated the kings of the western world who cooperated in the murder of millions of "heretics" during the inquisition. When the protestant reformation broke Rome's chokehold on the nations' governments, the pope had to change strategies.

Although in operation for nearly a century, the new tactic was exposed to the world by the "Second Vatican Council" in 1964. Known as an Ecumenical Council, it formulated principles for promoting "Christian unity." These principles state that Christ made Peter the head of the church and therefore the first pope; anyone not in unity with Peter's successors may have a limited grace but are "separated" from the "fullness of grace available in the Roman Catholic Church." Catholics everywhere are urged to "do everything possible to foster the ecumenical movement" to bring these "separated brethren" back in full unity with Rome.

So, instead of trying to stamp out Protestants by burning them at the stake, Rome began saying to them, "Okay, you may possess God's favor in a limited way but we have it all, so come on home to Rome." The only requirement is for everyone to submit to the pope as the head of the church.

In this unity movement, Graham has been a useful instrument. His message has remained basically the true gospel of salvation through Christ, but when he hands new coverts in his crusades back to counselors from the local Catholic churches, he betrays them into the hands of a pagan-based system that God calls a prostitute church.

Graham's favorable appearance in a Roman Catholic newspaper illustrates how successful Rome's ecumenical strategy has been. Those fathers of the Reformation who were burned at the stake rightly labeled the pope as anti-Christ and his system a pagan cult. Today, the pope has persuaded Protestants that Catholicism is just another denomination that worships Jesus with a different "tradition."

Graham's contribution to Rome's new strategy has been so significant that he was awarded the Catholic International Franciscan Award in 1972 "for his contribution to true ecumenism." OSV boasts, "He (Graham) is now anathema to fundamentalist Christians, mostly because he embraced and has been embraced by the Pope and other Catholics."

Dr. Cathy Burns has recently published a book called Billy Graham and His Friends. In more than 700 pages she details Graham's involvement with hundreds of leaders of this ecumenical movement. But more than that, her book exposes the larger picture that ecumenism is only a part of. With over 200 pages of endnotes documenting thousands of quotes, this book ties together the details of Satan's strategy of a one world government and a one world religion. Burns' findings seem extreme except to Bible believers. Bible prophecy describes an end-time push for unity of both religion and politics.

How tragic that there are so many "evangelical" leaders who have been seduced by this subtle strategy of Rome. It appears to be far more effective in stamping out their opposition than burning people at the stake.