By Pastor Aubrey Duncan
The Great Disappointment
It started with a bang. Almost all the political, economic, and religious leaders of note gathered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to discuss and hopefully arrive at a universal consensus to mitigate the broadly accepted climate change crisis. The highly expected declaration for eliminating fossil fuels did not materialize. While some experts thought that the very discussion of that issue was a positive move in the right direction, others felt differently. Many were disappointed. Their reaction was as if the last glimmer of hope had been extinguished.
Forbes magazine reported: Another contingent of researchers felt no need to hide their frustration with what they perceived as a lack of urgency from the assembled leaders in the face of increasingly severe climate impacts worldwide. James Dyke, of the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter, was unequivocal. “COP28 needed to deliver an unambiguous statement about the rapid phase out of fossil fuels … Unfortunately, that did not happen,” he said. “That this deal has been hailed as a landmark is more a measure of previous failures than any step change when it comes to the increasingly urgent need to rapidly stop burning coal, oil and gas.”
Notably missing, and perhaps a great disappointment to all attendees, was Pope Francis. After confirming his attendance just a few days before the conference, it was later announced that he would not be attending this auspicious gathering of international climate change experts and advocates. But he sent his representative who shared his views in a video message that summarized his position on the climate crisis: “May this COP prove to be a turning point, demonstrating a clear and tangible political will that can lead to a decisive acceleration of ecological transition.”
However, more than being desirous of solving the climate crisis, Francis’ goal is to take control of the world. In his last three encyclicals, Laudato Si, Fratelli Tutti, and his latest, released on October 4th, Laudate Deum, he systematically laid out the Papacy’s plan to regain control of the world. These are expanded upon and more thoroughly treated in the publication: Cathonomics. (Is this telegraphing the name of the New World Order?). While the nations are discussing the science behind the climate crisis and exploring initiatives to mitigate it, Pope Francis continues to manipulate the issue to bring about his papacy’s objective for world domination characterized by universal Sunday sacredness.
Vatican News reports: “The Laudato Si’ Action Platform provides guidance, suggests actions and gives support to families, parishes, dioceses, educational institutions, health facilities, organizations, workers, businesses and even religious communities in efforts to care for our common home” (Vatican News, November 12, 2023).
This drama, generally unnoticed, is being played out, primarily within the climate change ecosystem. Nevertheless, it is one that eclipses all others, including Trump, Israel vs. Palestine, Russia vs. Ukraine, China’s rise to greatness, Africa’s resurgence, and all others put together. It is the Drama of the Ages and we all, consciously or unconsciously, are involved. A significant chapter unfolded on October 4th, three days before the Hamas attack on Israel, which took the steam out of and obliterated the significance of that event. It was Pope Francis’ release of his encyclical, Laudate Deum, calling for the immediate implementation of programs to mitigate the climate crisis.
Laudate Deum is a reinforcement of an earlier game-changing encyclical, Laudato Si, released eight years ago. In it, Francis called for the nations to implement Sunday sacredness as a panacea for the climate change crisis and end oppression of the poor. He stated: “On Sunday, our participation in the Eucharist has special importance. Sunday, like the Jewish Sabbath, is meant to be a day that heals our relationships with God, with ourselves, with others, and with the world. Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, the “first day” of the new creation, whose first fruits are the Lord’s risen humanity, the pledge of the final transfiguration of all created reality. It also proclaims “man’s eternal rest in God.”
In this way, Christian spirituality incorporates the value of relaxation and festivity. We tend to demean contemplative rest as something unproductive and unnecessary, but this is to do away with the very thing that is most important about work: its meaning. … The law of weekly rest forbade work on the seventh day, “so that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your maidservant, and the stranger, may be refreshed” (Exodus 23:12).
Rest opens our eyes to the larger picture and gives us renewed sensitivity to the rights of others. And so the day of rest, centered on the Eucharist, sheds it light on the whole week, and motivates us to greater concern for nature and the poor.” (Pope Francis, Laudato Si, Section 237). “Even now we are journeying towards the Sabbath of eternity, the new Jerusalem, towards our common home in heaven.” (ibid, Section 243).
Notice Francis’ not-so-subtle shift from Saturday to Sunday as the Sabbath. But Sunday cannot be the first day of the week and the seventh at the same time. For as long as memory permits, Rome has and continues to call for Sunday, the first of the week, to be honored for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God’s Sabbath is the seventh day of the week (Genesis 2:1–3), given to all humanity to remember and honor Him as our Creator. Regardless of what Francis says, there can be no reconciliation between the two extremes.
Nevertheless, almost the entire world is indoctrinated into calling Sunday the Sabbath. But Creator God declared: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8–11).
In forging Sunday as the Sabbath and claiming that the Sabbath has been changed from the seventh to the first day of the week, Francis is presenting this spurious sabbath as a test of loyalty to him. The choice belongs to each of us. What will yours be? The apostle Paul declares: “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (Romans 6:16).
Following Laudato Si, Francis released Fratelli Tutti, calling essentially for the abandonment of individual rights in pursuit of what he calls the ‘common good’: “For my part, I would observe that “the Christian tradition has never recognized the right to private property as absolute or inviolable, and has stressed the social purpose of all forms of private property. The principle of the common use of created goods is the “first principle of the whole ethical and social order … The right to private property can only be considered a secondary natural right, derived from the principle of the universal destination of created goods. This has concrete consequences that ought to be reflected in the workings of society. Yet it often happens that secondary rights displace primary and overriding rights, in practice making them irrelevant.” (Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti, Section 120).
This dogma is dangerous and has catastrophic consequences. Individual property rights are a fundamental principle of the American experiment and a foundational pillar of the democratic system of government. To remove it is tantamount to the demolition of the only form of governance that seeks to preserve and protect civil and religious liberties. Lest you think that this is the opinion of just one man advocating world peace, do consider the position from which the pope speaks.
He has clearly made known his desire for urgent action by the nations on the climate crisis and the universal implementation of his church’s strongly-held doctrine of the common good: “Once and for all, let us put an end to the irresponsible derision that would present this issue as something purely ecological, “green”, romantic, frequently subject to ridicule by economic interests. Let us finally admit that it is a human and social problem on any number of levels. For this reason, it calls for involvement on the part of all.” Climate change is the galvanizing issue designed to bring all nations and religions into one accord. This rallying cry is highlighted in the promotion of COP28: BRINGING THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TOGETHER AT THE CROSSROADS OF THE WORLD. It is being used by Francis and his papacy to regain control of the world.
Early Warnings: Forgotten History
Major General Thomas Maley Harris, a member of the military commission that tried and convicted the Lincoln assassin conspirators, gives some insight into who might be the leading contender for leadership of the proposed new international community. In his account of that event, Rome’s Responsibility for the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Harris wrote: “It is, in fact, only a compact, well-organized, and powerful political machine, wielded in the interest of the greatest despotism that has ever cursed the earth.
“If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of His; and if this organization has not the spirit of Christ, it is not a church of Christ. That it is not animated by the Christ spirit is clearly manifest. It has never manifested the spirit of Christ in all of its past history, and so is not a Christian church at all; and as it has always been grasping after temporal power, and civil domination, and is now, as it always has been, laboring for civil supremacy all over the world, we are surely warranted in calling it a huge and dangerous political machine, that has stolen the livery of heaven to enable it the more effectually to serve the Devil; and the more easily to deceive and enslave mankind. But are our institutions in danger from this foe? Have we any cause for alarm? Is it necessary that we should sound the trumpet throughout the length and breadth of our land, and muster the hosts of freedom for the conflict? Yes, my fellow countrymen; there is cause for alarm, there is real danger in the immediate situation”.
Thomas Harris’ warning is more applicable today than it was more than 100 years ago.
Nineteenth and early twentieth century Bible commentator Ellen G. White, whom the Smithsonian Institution rates as one of the ten most influential religious personalities in America, agrees with Thomas Meely and writes in her classic, The Great Controversy: ”But Romanism as a system is no more in harmony with the gospel of Christ now than at any former period in her history. The Protestant churches are in great darkness, or they would discern the signs of the times. The Roman Church is far-reaching in her plans and modes of operation. She is employing every device to extend her influence and increase her power in preparation for a fierce and determined conflict to regain control of the world, to re-establish persecution, and to undo all that Protestantism has done (Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy).
The Roman Papacy has controlled more people for longer periods of time than any other political system in history. It is the longest-existing, most intricate monarch in the history of the nations.
Another initiative, not generally identified as a Roman Catholic enterprise, is the Heritage Foundation. Its recently announced Project 2025 ought to make every thinking American cringe. It speaks for itself: “the effort of a massive coalition of conservative organizations that have come together to ensure a successful Administration begins in January 2025. With the right conservative policy recommendations and properly vetted and trained personnel to implement them, we will take back our government”.
We find among those policies: Sabbath Rest. God ordained the Sabbath as a day of rest, and until very recently, the Judeo-Christian tradition sought to honor that mandate through moral and legal regulation of work on that day. Moreover, a shared day off makes it possible for families and communities to enjoy time off together, rather than as atomized individuals, and provides a healthier quality of life for everyone. Unfortunately, that communal day of rest has eroded under the pressures of consumerism and secularism, especially for low-income workers. Congress should encourage communal rest by amending the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to require that workers be paid time and a half for hours worked on the Sabbath. That day would default to Sunday, except for employers with a sincere religious observance of a Sabbath at a different time (e.g., Friday sundown to Saturday sundown).
And here we are today. While the world is sleeping, or otherwise caught up in the Donald Trump reality show, wars in Israel and Ukraine, or just simply engrossed in the day-to-day activities of life, including mindless entertainment, Bible prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes.
Before the COP28 event in Dubai, Pope Francis expressed his expectations: “May, COP28 represent a historic step forward in responding with wisdom and foresight to these clear and present threats to the universal common good”. But what is this common good the Church of Rome is pushing upon the world?
The Roman Catholic Catechism gives the answer: “In respecting religious liberty and the common good of all, Christians should seek recognition of Sundays and the Church’s holy days as legal holidays. They have to give everyone a public example of prayer, respect, and joy and defend their traditions as a precious contribution to the spiritual life of society. If a country’s legislation or other reasons require work on Sunday, the day should nevertheless be lived as the day of our deliverance, which lets us share in this “festal gathering,” this “assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.” (R.C. Catechism, Section 2188).
His emissary to the conference repeated his message: “What stands in the way of this? The divisions that presently exist among us. Yet a world completely connected, like ours today, should not be unconnected by those who govern it, with international negotiations that “cannot make significant progress due to positions taken by countries that place their national interests above the global common good” (Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, 169). As will the societies in which you live, which are sadly divided into “fan bases”, between prophets of doom and indifferent bystanders, radical environmentalists, and climate change deniers … It is useless to join the fray; in this case, as in the case of peace, it does not help to remedy the situation”.
He continued: “May the year 2024 mark this breakthrough. I like to think that a good omen can be found in an event that took place in 1224. In that year, Francis of Assisi composed his Canticle of the Creatures … Shortly thereafter, Francis added a stanza in which he praised God for those who forgive; he did this in order to settle – successfully – an unbecoming conflict between the civil authorities and the local bishop. I too, who bear the name Francis, with the heartfelt urgency of a prayer, want to leave you with this message: Let us leave behind our divisions and unite our forces! And with God’s help, let us emerge from the dark night of wars and environmental devastation in order to turn our common future into the dawn of a new and radiant day.”
As disappointed as some may be with the final declaration of COP28, the push for the implementation of universal Sunday sacredness is accelerating at an alarming rate. Could it be that that disappointment has extended the probationary period for you to choose? Choose wisely.
About: Follow Pastor Aubrey Duncan at his Unfolding Prophecy Page.
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well done article.