“In order for the United States to form an image of the beast, the religious power must so control the civil government that the authority of the state will also be employed by the church to accomplish her own ends. Whenever the church has obtained secular power, she has employed it to punish dissent from her doctrines. Protestant churches that have followed in the steps of Rome by forming alliance with worldly powers have manifested a similar desire to restrict liberty of conscience” (Great Controversy, p. 443).
CBS News political correspondent Ed O’Keefe recently interviewed Roman Catholic Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who also serves as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. This is one of America’s most important and influential Catholic archdioceses because it is only four miles from the seat of the United States government—the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government.
Cardinal Wilton Gregory resides in the heart of political power and is the most important hub of governance, policymaking, and diplomacy on both a national and international scale. This is not a coincidence, as Cardinal Gregory frequently interacts with US politicians. During a live interview on CBS’s Face the Nation, Ed O’Keefe asked Cardinal Gregory if he was “comfortable with the role of Christianity in our politics today.” The Catholic prelate stated unequivocally that the church must be restored to its rightful place as the moral voice to which political leaders must listen.
It’s Time to Restore the Church to its Rightful Place in Politics #sda #adventist #adventista pic.twitter.com/AK6pYYWnDf
— Advent Messenger (@Advent1844) May 6, 2024
“Whereas faith used to be the moral voice that political people, whether they adhere to everything, they would turn to find the moral compass with faith. I think in some cases it’s the political world that’s beginning to set or claiming to set the moral voice. We’ve switched positions. There is a great need, I believe, to place faith in its proper position, which is not necessarily antagonistic to the political arena, but to seize the responsibility of being that guiding principle, that moral light, for our people to turn to” (Twitter Video).
The battle between the secular state and the religious world has taken on a new twist as Catholics are calling for the restoration of the proper role of the church in matters of government. The issue is one that can have world-wide implications, namely toleration and freedom. According to Revelation 13, the nations will, in the not-too-distant future, enforce a government-issued code of worship for all mankind.
“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” Revelation 13:11, 12.
It is well known, particularly in Adventist circles, that this two-horned beast represents the United States of America. Prophecy states that our nation, under the influence of Rome, will engineer a worldwide movement to reestablish the principles of church-state rule, not just here in our nation but also throughout the world. The first beast whose deadly wound was healed represents the papacy, or ecclesiastical Rome. When prophecy says that the USA will “exerciseth all power of the first beast” and will speak like a “dragon” this foretells the development of the spirit of intolerance and persecution that was manifested by the Papacy during the Dark Ages.
Our freedom-loving nation will establish an apostate religious-political system modeled after the Papacy. This will result in the loss of liberty and the rise of tyranny. The only piece of the puzzle that has yet to take shape is for the US President and the Pope of Rome to come together into a close-working relationship for the implementation of the world-wide Papal agenda.
“By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near” (Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 451).
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“Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his decep- tions. While the former lays the foundation of Spiritualism, the latter creates a bond of sympathy with Rome.” GC 588.
https://www.youtube.com/live/_1uZDC7nVmM?si=q3uJ1BKnXD13YXid
I agree. We were warned about the following:
“The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of Spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on
the rights of conscience.” (Great Controversy, p. 588).
“How the Roman church can clear herself from the charge of idolatry we cannot see. . . . And this is the religion which Protestants are beginning to look upon with so much favor, and which will eventually be united with Protestantism.” RH 6-1- 1886, p. 338.