The New Papal Empire
By Pastor Hal Mayer
Dear Friends,
Welcome to Keep the Faith Ministry. Thank you for joining me once again for another compelling message on the times in which we live. I pray that you are living for Jesus and that He is at the center of your life. Thank you also for your prayers and gifts. They mean so much to us. We have come to the end of another year. Are you closer to Jesus today than you were a year ago? I hope so. I have rededicated my life to Christ and pray that whatever time I have left on this planet, I will do all I can, by the grace of God, to reach lost souls with our message of the soon coming of Jesus. I hope you do that too.
As we study the papal visit to the United States this month, I want you to understand some of the key principles of the world in which we live. The papal plan is to undo all that Protestantism has done against her, and regain control of the world, not just the old Holy Roman Empire. And this she is doing quite successfully as she carefully approaches the dignitaries of state.
The papal visit to America, though played as an apostolic visit and not a political one, was indeed a political process that is preparing America and the world to do exactly what the Bible declares they will do. Many will be deceived into thinking that Rome is the answer to the world’s problems, and they will all wonder after the beast, as it says in Revelation 13:3. We stand on the threshold of huge changes. So pay attention as we study.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, thank You for the Bible that gives us so much clarity about our times and the future. Thank You for Your guidance in this world of confusion and chaos. We need Your Spirit today as we study Your holy word. So, send Him to us, we pray, in Jesus name, amen.
Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Revelation, chapter 17. We’ll begin reading verse one. “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
This whore is a wicked political woman who fraternized in an illicit relationship with the rulers of the earth. A woman in Bible prophecy is a church, so this is a church that commits spiritual fornication with earthly presidents, prime ministers, monarchs, dictators and other rulers.
Verse 3, “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
A beast is a civil power in Bible prophecy. So, the wicked woman or church is riding on, or controlling a civil power, a terrible beast.
Verse 4 through 6, “And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.”
The Bible clearly portrays the shock of the Apostle John. The kings of the earth have committed fornication with the spiritual prostitute just as he was shown. This is referring to those rulers of nations that regularly visit the church that has prostituted her teachings and claims the prerogatives of God to forgive sins and places herself between God and man. She is full of blasphemy.
But the Roman Catholic Church is more than a false religion. It is also a political entity that cavorts with worldly rulers and bankers to control vast quantities of wealth and power. This gives her a unique position among the nation states of the world. And it gives her an opportunity to exert her ambitions into any political debate.
The papal encyclical on climate change issued at the end of June this year, is such an example. Through the encyclical Rome aims to insert her moral claims into the debate on climate change, thereby uniting globalists, secular people, city mayors, national leaders of every stripe and Christians in an effort to stem the negative effects of climate change. The real issue is not about climate change. The encyclical was published to increase Rome’s power on a global scale by inserting her influence at the global level on a global issue.
But there is an underlying reason for the papal visit to America that may not be as obvious to most observers. The papacy is aiming for an empire and is in collaboration with the United States to do achieve it. Revelation 13:11-17 explain the collaboration very clearly.
“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.
So, the second beast, or the United States, collaborates with the first beast to get everyone to worship the first beast. Note that the real issue is worship. Just like Lucifer in heaven wanted the angels to worship him, so his agents on the earth have worship as their aim.
Verses 16 & 17, “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
Listen to this from the book The Great Controversy, pages 565 and 566.
“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.”
Did you hear that about the fierce and determined conflict to regain control of the world? That’s a prophetic statement about what to expect in the near future. Rome is aiming for the end-game. Twenty-five years ago, Malachi Martin put it in his book Keys of this Blood. In 1990 this is what he wrote. “Willing or not, ready or not, we are all involved in an all-out, no-holds-barred, three-way global competition. Most of us are not competitors, however. We are the stakes. For the competition is about who will establish the first one-world system of government that has ever existed in the society of nations. It is about who will hold and wield the dual power of authority and control over each of us as individuals and over all of us together as a community; over the entire six billion people expected by demographers to inhabit the earth by early in the third millennium.
“The competition is all-out because, now that it has started, there is no way it can be reversed or called off.
“No holds are barred because, once the competition has been decided, the world and all that’s in it—our way of life as individuals and as citizens of the nations; our families and our jobs; our trade and commerce and money; our educational systems and our religions and our cultures; even the badges of our national identity, which most of us have always taken for granted—all will have been powerfully and radically altered forever. No one can be exempted from its effects. No sector of our lives will remain untouched…”
Keys of This Blood: Pope John Paul II Versus Russia and the West for Control of the New World Order
This amazing portrait of the future way back then is now with us every day. The competition is between three powers, the West led by the United States, the East led by Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) and the Vatican. The Soviet Union was crashing even as Martin wrote his book. And though Russia is rising again, it is still not anywhere near what it used to be. Russia has lost the competition. But now America is in decline for the time being, or at least much more quiescent than previously. In other words, there is developing a power vacuum that only the third competitor can fill!!
Pope Francis understands the end game. He is acting like a man on a mission. He is pushing hard for ecumenical alliances, and pressing for global political reform according to Catholic social teaching, which he and the Vatican see as above world systems, offering a corrective to both communism and capitalism.
He is traveling the world as if he only has but a short time. During his tenure, he has been successful in bringing many Pentecostals and Evangelicals into ecumenical alliance with Rome. He has published a powerful encyclical on the environment that appeals to secularists as well as scientists and also to Christians the world over. It is a globalist document. Through the encyclical and his public presence he is aiming to influence the climate summit in Paris this month of December.
Pope Francis is addressing all the global issues that the world presently faces, but he is laying the groundwork for an even more powerful aim. That aim is the object of his apostolic visit to the United States. It is the reason for everything he does. And the Bible is not silent about his significant and prophetic intentions.
Listen to what it says in Revelation 18:7. Please notice that the punishment of this papal power has a reason, “for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.”
Rome’s arrogance is the reason for her punishment. Even though her master, the pope, is very humble in appearance. Rome aims to sit as a queen upon the whole earth. She cannot help herself. She denies the obvious political intentions that she manifests in speaking to the U.S. Congress and the United Nations. Though she does not want to admit these ambitions, Revelation 13:8 tells us that everyone who is not with Christ and does not have his name in the Book of Life, will worship on her false sabbath. And she is aiming for global influence so she can enforce it. Anyone who wants to can clearly perceive the real agenda.
Now, Rome has made such tremendous progress in spite of having been exposed for her priestly sex scandals and Vatican banking scandals. Amazingly, Rome is more popular than ever. Whereas under Benedict XVI the news media was continually exposing Rome’s corruptions, now under Pope Francis, you hardly ever hear about those wicked things anymore. Benedict XVI’s five years as pope was, perhaps, providential. Perhaps, the Lord permitted a window of time for everyone around the world to see what Rome was really like before bringing the veil of pretended purity over her again. Anyone that wants to link the Papacy to scriptural prophecies can now do so. There is no excuse for blindness now. Yes, it looks like Rome is fixing these matters and to some extent she must. But you can be certain, that the five years of Benedict’s pontificate only exposed the surface corruption. Benedict XVI resigned because he could bring the veil over the Papacy himself. Perhaps the curia in electing Francis knew that they needed a charismatic pope once again.
Could it be that we are now finally arriving at the point of a global takeover? Is it possible that the end-game has matured to the point of that “fierce and determined conflict to regain control of the world?” What the book Keys of this Blood said would be the “stuff of tomorrow’s headlines” is actually happening to day!
Pope Francis clearly sees that his time has come! He sees that this is the opportune moment to engage the world in the geopolitical sphere. He sees that the moment is right for a major shift in political power to take place. He knows that if he can get the United States to collaborate with him, he, or his church, will become the ruler of the world. So, it was no accident that the world meeting of the Family was held in the United States. And since the pope was likely to come for that meeting, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives invited him to speak to a joint session of Congress. Even before that, Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations, had invited him to speak to the assembly. Many things converged to strengthen the papal visit. Francis could not pass it up.
Do you think the Papacy has undone all the Protestantism has done? Think about the ecumenical movement, for instance. Nothing has done more to mute the Protestant voice in Europe and the Americas than the ecumenical alliances. It has become so mature, that even the Waldenses have received the pope and have forgiven him for the brutal persecution done to them in the Middle Ages. There aren’t many churches left that don’t trust the Catholic Church and the pope and which are engaged in collaborative projects with Rome. They don’t see the danger of yielding to the darkness and the influential power of Rome. Meanwhile, as the ecumenical movement changes the political climate in formerly protestant-dominated countries, such as the United States, Germany, Britain, and other countries, Rome reaches out to politically manipulate them. The people support Rome. Otherwise, they would not elect Roman Catholic and in some cases, Jesuit-trained leaders to the Congress, to parliament and to other positions of influence. They view this as a good thing and they do not expect that Rome is stealing their liberties through back channels while covering it all up with smiling pious-looking public dignitaries.
Pope Francis’ apostolic trip to the United States was not an accident, but has been in the papal planning for a long time. That visit is one of the devices that the Papacy is using to build her credibility and power. And a charismatic pope is a device she can use very successfully to reach deep into the heart and soul of political America under today’s circumstances.
Let me read on from The Great Controversy, “Catholicism is gaining ground upon every side… Look at the growth of ritualism in England and the frequent defections to the ranks of the Catholics. These things should awaken the anxiety of all who prize the pure principles of the gospel.”
How very true, my friends. Pope Benedict created an ordinariate, just for Anglican churches and groups of churches that want to join the Catholic Church, tied directly to the pope. And today, Rome is benefiting from those that have switched.
Here is more from The Great Controversy, “Protestants have tampered with and patronized popery; they have made compromises and concessions which papists themselves are surprised to see and fail to understand. Men are closing their eyes to the real character of Romanism and the dangers to be apprehended from her supremacy. The people need to be aroused to resist the advances of this most dangerous foe to civil and religious liberty.”
Rome is aiming for control of the world and they are happy for the Vatican to gain credibility. They have closed their eyes. I bet Romanists are surprised to see how easy it is to sow confusion in the churches over everything from Jesuit-inspired emerging church mysticism, celebration music, women’s ordination, etc. It just amazes me how gullible some people really are. And they think there is no danger. They modify the definition of the beast. Protestant churches refuse to speak up about the beast. And because the pastors are in silence, the people are in ignorance.
Now this important statement from The Great Controversy, page 571, “The Roman Church now presents a fair front to the world, covering with apologies her record of horrible cruelties.”
Did Rome recently apologize to the Waldensians for the “brutal persecution” during the Middle Ages? Yes, she did.
Pope Francis asks Waldensian Christians to forgive the Church
“She has clothed herself in Christlike garments; but she is unchanged. Every principle of the papacy that existed in past ages exists today.”
If Rome had the opportunity to persecute today, she would do so. If she could remove religious liberty today, she would do so. Right now she appears to defend religious liberty. Of course this is in her own interests for the time being. But it will not be difficult to organize religious laws when the time comes. She will not have to push very hard politically from the Vatican to accomplish it. She will have readymade agents that already hate the seventh day Sabbath and will easily pressure legislatures to enact laws that restrict religious freedom of those who honor the fourth commandment. Remember, this is the ultimate aim of everything she does – to get the whole world to worship on the day she has substituted for God’s true Sabbath. She sets herself up as if she is God in doing so.
Reading on. “The doctrines devised in the darkest ages are still held. Let none deceive themselves. The papacy that Protestants are now so ready to honor is the same that ruled the world in the days of the Reformation, when men of God stood up, at the peril of their lives, to expose her iniquity. She possesses the same pride and arrogant assumption that lorded it over kings and princes, and claimed the prerogatives of God. Her spirit is no less cruel and despotic now than when she crushed out human liberty and slew the saints of the Most High.”
Let me illustrate the way in which the popularity of a charismatic pope can have hidden diplomatic and power over nations. On Aug. 25, 2014, a special visitor arrived at the White House. He was Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino, the Archbishop of Havana. Ortega had covered his tracks very carefully so that no one would guess his real mission. He did not have his name put on the official White House visitor logs, and he arranged an event at Georgetown University that day so that he could explain his reason for being in the nation’s capital. Georgetown University is very useful to the Catholic Church in more ways than one, you see.
When Ortega arrived at the White House, he was quickly taken to a secluded patio outside the Oval Office. There he was met by President Barack Obama, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and two other top aides.
After the usual greetings, the Cardinal took out a letter from Pope Francis to Obama. Ortega informed the President and his aids that he had delivered the same message in person to Cuban President Raúl Castro a few days earlier. Ortega began to read the pope’s words out loud.
The United States and Cuba had been secretly pursuing an effort to end half a century of hostility and Frances wanted to facilitate it further. He wanted to be in the middle of it, actually.
Francis encouraged the two nations to resolve the sticking point in the negotiations on how to handle prisoners and offered the support and assistance of the Vatican.
That letter made a huge difference. The letter provided diplomatic and symbolic cover as the two sides weighted the political costs of reconciliation. Two months later, the two men, Obama and Castro sent officials to the privacy of the Vatican for a five-hour session to hammer out the details of an agreement to restore full diplomatic relations. Later both Obama and Castro would thank the pope publically for the papal intervention.
Pope Francis’ popularity as a religious figure in the U.S. gave President Obama the ideal cover as he cut a deal with godless communists across the Straits of Florida. Meanwhile, the pope’s credibility as a Latin American shielded Castro as he negotiated with Yankee capitalists.
“[The Cubans] were very clear with us that they saw Pope Francis as different from previous Popes,” said Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, who was present at the meeting with Ortega and the talks in Rome, “because of his stature as the first Pope from Latin America.”
That is a summary from Time Magazine. Now think about this, my friends, Pope Francis is globally popular. And because of this, he is able to mediate between long hostile parties and help them resolve the stumbling blocks in their relationship. Incidentally, the Vatican was involved in some of the secret talks in Canada prior to the pope’s letter as well. If you would like to know more about the prophetic significance of the change in relations between the United States and Cuba, go to our website and download the sermon entitled “Game Changer: Secret Vatican Diplomacy,” or ask us to send you a copy.
The Vatican mediation opened the way for Francis to visit Cuba on his way to the United States. And while the pope had been highly critical of Yankee capitalism, and had been pushing hard for nations to move away from it, he was very careful how he approached these sensitive global issues while he as in the United States. He made sure that everyone, on all sides of the political spectrum, came away with something.
When the “rock star” Pope Francis landed in the United States, he and his retinue of cardinals and aids were met by President Obama and Michelle at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington DC who welcomed him with open arms and friendly smiles.
In almost the first words out of his mouth during his White House speech, the pope mentioned migration. “As the son of an immigrant family,” Francis said, “I am happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families.” And then referring to his forthcoming speech to the U.S. Congress, he revealed the true nature of his visit to the United States. He said, “…I hope, as a brother of this country, to offer words of encouragement to those called to guide the nation’s political future in fidelity to its founding principles.”
Imagine that, the pope saying that he would encourage the nation’s political leaders to guide the nation in harmony with its founding principles. It happens that Rome has been undermining those very principles for over two centuries. She has denounced them. She has manipulated them, and she has redefined them, including religious liberty. For instance, she has secretly worked to prevent the loss of slavery in the South before and during the Civil War. And now she has risen to defend her vision of religious freedom in harmony with her principles, not those of the founding fathers.
“Mr. President,” he said, together with their fellow citizens, American Catholics are committed to building a society that is truly tolerant and inclusive, to safeguarding the rights of individuals and communities, and to rejecting every form of unjust discrimination… They are likewise concerned that efforts to build a just and wisely ordered society respect their deepest concerns and their right to religious liberty.”
This papal rebuke of some of President Obama’s most cherished agendas, strikes at the heart of the debate over same-sex marriage and certain provisions of the Obamacare legislation. He spoke of “unjust discrimination.” In other words, not all discrimination is invalid. Discrimination would be appropriate or just, if it is in line with papal teaching against same-sex marriage, contraception, abortion, among other things. And taking aim at the rising legal framework that persecutes those who don’t go along with same-sex marriage and the offensive provisions of the Obamacare legislation that increasingly restrict religious freedom, he urged the leader of the United States to “respect religious liberty.” He ended the reproof by calling on all citizens of good will, “to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it.”
President Obama doesn’t agree with the pope on many things, but he, nevertheless, used the papal visit to increase his stature in the eyes of U.S. voters. He was not going to miss the opportunity to engage with the pope in papal politics. They have a lot in common actually. Both of them use the poor as the foundation for their appeal to redistribute wealth. Both of them have socialist and globalist aims. Both of them are aiming to do something about climate change.
It is now natural for U.S. presidents to fraternize with the popes. And this is exactly what prophecy claims will happen. Revelation 13 says that the United States, which is the second beast, or the lamb-like beast that eventually speaks as a dragon and persecutes God’s people, will unite with the Vatican to push her agendas. So the more alignment there can be on these key areas, the more closely the United States comes to Rome. The differences that conflict with Catholic social teaching will straighten themselves out eventually. Right now, the Catholic Church uses them to stir opposition and create a reaction. Then she presents herself as the moral solution.
In spite of the gentle papal rebuke, President Obama did exactly what prophecy declared would one day happen. He is one of the “kings of the earth,” as the Bible describes leaders of nations. The engagement with the Vatican is nothing short of biblical fornication described in Revelation 17. He along with many other dignitaries and leaders regularly visit the Vatican and the pope and regularly communicate with the papal intelligence community as well as official representatives.
The pope then complimented the president on his efforts to protect against climate change, support the most vulnerable (with more socialism, of course) and mend political and global relationships.
Pope Francis’ White House speech was a grand opening to his U.S. Apostolic tour that was full of prophetic significance. The pope is determined to bring America into alignment with Rome if possible. The Vatican will still work with the ruling elite until such a time as enough destruction and pain is inflicted on society through natural disasters, war, economic problems, etc., that the people demand the nation’s leaders to bring the nation back to God. Then Rome will be there to “encourage” its political leaders to enact worship laws with corresponding penalties for breaking them. And persecution will be upon those that are loyal to God and His law.
The papal U.S. visit was billed as an apostolic visit, but it was much more than that. Pope Francis applied the “Francis effect,” as it is called, to America and the world for political reasons. For a religious dignitary, such as the very popular pope, to set foot on U.S. soil was in itself a bold political statement. Remember, the United States was once a Protestant nation.
Times have certainly changed and the United States is no longer a Protestant nation. Now Evangelicals, which formerly called themselves Protestants, are in collaboration politically and spiritually with Babylon and have fallen from their high position. Today, there is a very strong support for the man who has dramatically changed the global debates around the world. After all, he has elevated the climate debate to the moral plane where he is solely in control. He has elevated the debate on migration to where his influence changes the attitudes of nations, or prevents nations from limiting migration, at least of Roman Catholics. He has even deflected the attention of the media from the Vatican corruptions and scandals. These things reveal his personal power and the power of the pontifical office.
Today, we are on the verge of witnessing the establishment of a global government. And the pope and many world leaders are calling for it openly.
In 2009 Lord Christopher Monckton, a former advisor to Margaret Thatcher, said plainly that claims of human-induced climate change were a farce. Uncertainty about human responsibility for climate change would have been one of a number of the reasons for the lack of political traction at many climate change summits.
The United Nations: On the Brink of Becoming a World Government
Pope Francis, in taking up all matters global and inserting the Catholic Church into them, especially in connection with global political leaders, is playing the end-game by positioning himself to be the moral guide with the support of the United States when the New World Order becomes a reality. And that is very soon. Francis is racing against the clock. He’s also racing around the globe, pushing his agendas and publically calling for a global system of government to achieve his prophetic plan of making the Papacy the queen of the world.
The Clandestine Plot Against Greece
To the joint session of the U.S. Congress he said, “You are called to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good, for this is the chief aim of all politics.”
That may be the aim of papal politics, but it is not the aims of the U.S. founders. The aim of the U.S. founders was to create a nation that would defend religious minorities that would defend individualism, not the papal “common good.” The common good is a socialist concept adopted by the Papacy that claims that citizens must resign their personal sovereignty and individualism and dedicate themselves to working to build up the rights of the community, the nation and the global village.
On one hand, the pope talks about defending the founders’ original intentions, but then calls on the U.S. Congress to promote the common good as the aim of all politics. And while that sounds nice, it is, in fact, the opposite of what America has stood for during its two centuries of existence.
Then Francis laid out a diabolical argument against religious minorities, or those who would oppose the ecumenical movement. Listen carefully to what he said. “We know that no religion is immune from forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism. This means that we must be especially attentive to every form of fundamentalism, whether religious or of every other kind.”
Did you hear that, no religion is immune from fundamentalism? What is fundamentalism? The dictionary defines fundamentalism as a movement in Protestantism in the early part of the 20th century that stresses the infallibility of the Bible in matters of faith, morals and also as a literal historical record. Of course, there are broader definitions that include a strict adherence to any set of beliefs or ideas.
In other words, the pope is saying that fundamentalism must be avoided. That would include Protestant, Islamic, Hindu, Nazi, communist, etc. And he lumps them all together and links them to extremism. So, let’s apply that to Christianity. The pope would argue that Catholicism is not a fundamentalist religion, because it does not believe in the literal application of scripture, or of its sacred oracles. All Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and other persecuting religions must moderate themselves to minimize differences and join in ecumenical projects to avoid the label of fundamentalism. Other Christian groups, such as Evangelicals, Baptists, Adventists, Pentecostals, etc., must also become more ecumenical. If they do not, they will eventually be considered to be fundamentalist because they adhere to scripture as the foundation of their faith. The pope, remember, is aiming for all Christians to join together at the communion table in visible, sacramental unity.
Pope Francis is saying that those who hold to the Bible will be considered religious fundamentalists and extremists. Of course, right now he is talking about the violence of Islamic extremism. But just like in every other field, Muslim extremists are the excuse to justify removing Biblical fundamentalism too. Ecumenical collaboration, he is saying, is the only way to prevent fundamentalism from dividing society. “We must move forward together, as one, in a renewed spirit of fraternity and solidarity, cooperating generously for the common good,” though he says we should “respect our differences and our convictions of conscience.”
Pope Francis continued to redefine American politics by saying, “Politics is… an expression of our compelling need to live as one, in order to build as one the greatest common good, that of a community that sacrifices particular interests in order to share, in justice and peace, its goods, its interests and its social life.”
What is he saying? The pope did not mention Sunday laws, but he is certainly laying a foundation for them. Social life, in the definition of the Roman Catholic Church refers to the work/life balance, which in essence means that we should all take common, synchronized time off from work to rest, worship and rejuvenate. The time will come when the argument that we must sacrifice particular interests in the interest of the common good will be used to directly promote Sunday observance and to push the true Bible Sabbath into the background.
The ecumenical movement has done much to infect the political order with its “common good” sentiments. Soon, anyone that doesn’t join in the fraternity and collaboration of society in all its projects will be considered to be out of line with the New World Order.
Then Francis carefully argued in favor of migration. In the United States, that primarily, though not exclusively, refers to the masses of illegal immigrants from Latin America that flow through America’s southern border every year. Millions of them now live in the United States and most of them are Catholic. No wonder, he calls for the United States to welcome immigration. He quoted the “golden rule” that says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” (Matt 7:12)
Promoting the flood of immigrants in the United States is also as much about globalism as it is about strengthening Roman Catholic politics. The mixing of cultures provides opportunity for conflict, globalization of criminal behavior, and the draining national and personal economic resources in dealing with the consequences, all of which in turn gives governments the excuse to increase their control and power. We must not lose global solidarity, he argued.
Knowing that there were strong opponents to the idea of climate change, he very gently mentioned the need to “avert the most serious effects of environmental deterioration.” This was a device that would appeal to all. No one is arguing that there isn’t environmental deterioration. The argument is over the human contribution to it.
Sweeping through many issues which he believes the U.S. Congress can do something about, Francis mentioned peace and the need to end blood soaked conflicts that plague the planet, redistribute wealth, use natural resources correctly and to stop the arms trade and the promotion of the family. All of these are major global concerns. And the pope is inserting himself into discussions and debates about them.
VISIT TO THE JOINT SESSION OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS
After meeting with the U.S. Congress, Pope Francis held a short unscheduled surprise meeting with one of the most polarizing figures in American politics in recent times. Kim Davis, the Kentucky Rowan County clerk that served five days in prison for disobeying a judge’s order to issue same-sex marriage licenses. The meeting was held at the Vatican embassy in Washington, DC. Matt Staver, her attorney at the Liberty Counsel, said, “He thanked her for her courage and told her to ‘stay strong.’” He gave Davis and her husband Joe two rosaries, which they gave to Kim’s parents who are Catholic. Kim Davis is a Pentecostal Apostolic Christian.
Private meetings which are announced, after the fact, is the Vatican’s way of handling controversial topics. It speaks volumes, but in a non-confrontational way. The pope also met with other groups such as the Little Sisters of the Poor, which have pushed back at the offensive Obamacare provision. He also met with victims of sex abuse privately and unannounced. The reason these are unannounced meetings is because they would have distracted from his larger message.
While on the American Airlines plane back to Rome, the pope gave a press conference. One of the questions asked him was if he supported those who disobeyed the law as a matter of conscience. “I can say the conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right,” he said. Then he added when pressed further, “It is a human right and if a government official is a human person, he has that right. It is a human right.” This doesn’t sound like the popes of yesteryear, does it? Don’t forget, the Papacy is playing politics.
Why Did Pope Francis Meet With Kim Davis?
While in Washington, Pope Francis canonized Junípero Serra at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, which is dedicated to the honor of the Virgin Mary whom Roman Catholics teach is the principle patroness of the United States.
Serra was a Franciscan monk that was part of the Spanish Inquisition in Mexico for a period of time and was quite savage and brutal in his persecution and enslavement of Native Americans and others who refused to join the church or follow its teachings. He was the first “Padre Presidente” of the California mission and was responsible for developing and enforcing the system that would exploit the natives and keep them in forced labor. He enforced slavery by whippings and allowed the Spanish soldiers to repeatedly rape the women. He separated them from their children so that they could not pass on the culture to them. It was genocide and “culturecide” according to some historians.
The last Padre Presidente, when closing the mission apparently said, “We are going to be judged very harshly. All we have done was consecrate, baptize and bury the Indians. There are no Indians along the coast of California. We have killed—they’re all dead.”
So the church came up with a myth that Serra was very gentle and kind and that he was good to the Indians and that they came of their own accord to the mission to learn agriculture and learn about God. Even the California school system adopted this myth in teaching the mission period to its students. But nothing is farther from the truth.
Needless to say, Native Americans strongly objected to the pope’s decision to canonize him, saying that Serra was part of the colonial system that brought forced conversions and deadly diseases that killed off hundreds of thousands of them.
Native Groups Protest Pope Francis’ Canonization of Junípero Serra over Role in California Genocide
Native Americans Protest Canonization Of Junipero Serra
Serra was quite a Roman Catholic fanatic. He believed in physically punishing himself for his sins both in public and in private. He would practice self-flagellation and other austerities even from the pulpit during his sermons.
In spite of this foolishness and brutality, the Vatican is very thankful for what Serra did to build up the Catholic Church in the western part of the United States and Mexico, and is using the canonization to oppose the Protestant narrative of the Pilgrims and others establishing the new nation.
While in Bolivia, Pope Francis apologized to the natives. “I humbly ask forgiveness, not only for the offenses of the church herself, but also for crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called conquest of America.” So, on one hand, the pope asks forgiveness for the sins against the natives, but on the other canonizes one of their most brutal persecutors.
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Junípero Serra
Native Americans Protest Canonization Of Junipero Serra
The Great Controversy, on page 571 says that the Catholic Church covers her horrible cruelties with apologies, but she is unchanged. In the case of the canonization of Junípero Serra, we clearly see this exact principle carried out.
Perhaps, the speech that most concentrates on the papal claim of global authority was the speech given at the United Nations on its seventieth anniversary year. Pope Francis thanked the Secretary-General in his own name and in the name of the entire Catholic community. Friends, if you know your Bible, you will remember that Jesus said something about this in John 5:43-44, “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” You cannot speak for Christ when you speak in your own name.
The pope expressed his great esteem for the United Nations organization and said it is the “appropriate juridical and political response to this present moment in history… to overcome all natural limits to the exercise of power.” What did he mean by that? Overcoming limits to the exercise of power refers to the need for the United Nations to rise to unlimited power and overcome all barriers to its exercise. The Catholic Church, he said places great hope in the activities of the UN. And no wonder, their aims are very similar. They want global control. After all, the Papacy is aiming to guide that organization one day, if not outright control it.
Throughout his speech, the pope frequently mentioned the excluded, the vulnerable and the environment, two issues that have global consequences. He urged that the rights of the excluded, the vulnerable and victims of power badly exercised, should be protected.
Then he stated that a true “right of the environment” does exist because for man to exist there must be a favorable ecological environment. “Any harm done to the environment, therefore, is harm done to humanity,” he argued. Secondly, he said, “every creature is interdependent on other creatures.” Then he said, though Christians believe that the environment is a result of the work of a loving Creator, in all religions, the environment is “a fundamental good.”
But Francis went deeper. Misuse and destruction of the environment is the result of a selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity that leads to the misuse of available natural resources to the exclusion of the weak and disadvantaged. What does he mean by thirst for power? Is the pot calling the kettle black?
Then he made his most powerful appeal. “Our world demands of all government leaders a will which is effective, practical and constant, concrete steps and immediate measures for preserving and improving the natural environment and thus putting and end as quickly as possible to the phenomenon of social and economic exclusion…”
Keep in mind that the pope is speaking to the United Nations, an organization that aims to control the world in a supranational, one-world government. He is pushing for the UN to take charge of the world political order, and reign in the prevalent abuses including human trafficking, marketing of human organs and tissues, sexual exploitation, slave labour, the drug and weapons trade, terrorism and international organized crime.
“Consequently,” he says, “the defense of the environment and the fight against exclusion demand that we recognize a moral law written into human nature itself, one which includes the natural difference between man and woman, and absolute respect for life in all its stages and dimensions.”
The pope is appealing to the common sense of all those gathered together to hear him speak. He is aiming to convince world leaders that they should at least respect human dignity, if not higher moral purposes. But he is also aligning himself with them, so that they do not fear papal influence and power among them.
But Pope Francis wasn’t finished. After making an appeal for peace, he said, “the appeal to the moral conscience of man has never been as necessary as it is today… The common home of all men and women must continue to rise on the foundations of a right understanding of universal fraternity and respect for the sacredness of every human life.”
Friends, these are powerful arguments that speak to those of any religion, and any political persuasion, any cultural heritage. By these words of criticism he is aiming at placing himself and his church above the nations of the world as their leader and as their guide. And he does it in the smoothest and most pious language possible.
Here is how he put it. “Such understanding and respect call for a higher degree of wisdom, one which accepts transcendence, self-transcendence, rejects the creation of an all-powerful elite, and recognizes that the full meaning of individual and collective life is found in selfless service to others and in the sage and respectful use of creation for the common good… the edifice of modern civilization has to be built on spiritual principles, for they are the only ones capable not only of supporting it, but of shedding light on it.”
In other words, Pope Francis is suggesting that we need a global governing authority with his, or the Catholic Church’s moral guidance as an alternative to a secular regime with its lust for power manifested at the expense of the powerless.
To arrange a “secure and happy future for future generations…” he added, “the representatives of the States can set aside partisan and ideological interests, and sincerely strive to serve the common good.”
Friends, this is social ecumenism. Religious ecumenism has achieved near maturity, so now it is time, apparently for a social and economic ecumenism to arise.
MEETING WITH THE MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION
The papal appeal to protect climate is not so much about climate change, but about global governance. The Papacy is aiming to rule the new world order. Because he is pope, and presents himself as a moral guide and authority, he gets the nations to at least respect him and listen to him. He lectures them on the best way to govern, which of course is within the context of papal social teaching. This will eventually pay off. The pope is aiming to bring the Catholic Church to the place where it will sit as a queen upon the earth, according to Revelation 18:7.
The pope’s visit to Philadelphia, which was his pastoral reason for visiting the United States, was almost anti-climactical in light of these other major prophetically charged meetings with the U.S. President, the Congress and the United Nations. Yet it too was laying an important foundation that must not be overlooked. In a number of our previous monthly messages, we have explained the relationship between the family and the global worship laws that the Bible predicts will come upon the earth. The pope understands these clearly.
During one of his speeches concerning the family, he linked the family to creation, which would also link it to the Sabbath or Sunday as he prefers. He said, “But the most beautiful thing God made – so the Bible tells us – was the family. He created man and woman. And he gave them everything. He entrusted the world to them: “Grow, multiply, cultivate the earth, make it bear fruit, let it grow”. All the love he put into that marvelous creation, he entrusted to a family.” He ended his speech by saying, “Let us care for the family. Let us defend the family, because there our future is at stake.” While defending the family has specific meaning in the context of same-sex marriage, it also has meaning in that it is the family that must help defend the faith. It is the family that needs to have cohesion as the basic unit of society.
PRAYER VIGIL FOR THE FESTIVAL OF FAMILIES
Francis recognizes that secure, positive and cohesive family life includes the “work-life balance.” This is referring to having synchronized time off from work in order to promote family life. That means that everyone should have time off from work at the same time so that families can join together in recreation, sport, worship and other activities for refreshment and rejuvenation. That is referring to Sunday rest. Pope Francis is aiming to strengthen families so that he can one day push through universal worship of the Roman Catholic Church, Sunday worship, so that all will come under papal influence.
Of course, synchronized time off from work was organized by God to be the seventh day of the week. He even enshrined it in the Ten Commandments. But the popes have tried to transfer not only the day of rest, but all the benefits of the day of rest to another day, a papal day, a day for worshipping the sun.
Let me read you a statement from The Great Controversy, pages 571-572. “It is not without reason that the claim has been put forth in Protestant countries that Catholicism differs less widely from Protestantism than in former times. There has been a change; but the change is not in the papacy. Catholicism indeed resembles much of the Protestantism that now exists, because Protestantism has so greatly degenerated since the days of the Reformers.
“As the Protestant churches have been seeking the favor of the world, false charity has blinded their eyes. They do not see but that it is right to believe good of all evil, and as the inevitable result they will finally believe evil of all good. Instead of standing in defense of the faith once delivered to the saints, they are now, as it were, apologizing to Rome for their uncharitable opinion of her, begging pardon for their bigotry.
“A large class, even of those who look upon Romanism with no favor, apprehend little danger from her power and influence. Many urge that the intellectual and moral darkness prevailing during the Middle Ages favored the spread of her dogmas, superstitions, and oppression, and that the greater intelligence of modern times, the general diffusion of knowledge, and the increasing liberality in matters of religion forbid a revival of intolerance and tyranny. The very thought that such a state of things will exist in this enlightened age is ridiculed. It is true that great light, intellectual, moral, and religious, is shining upon this generation. In the open pages of God’s Holy Word, light from heaven has been shed upon the world. But it should be remembered that the greater the light bestowed, the greater the darkness of those who pervert and reject it.”
On page 573, we read, “In the movements now in progress in the United States to secure for the institutions and usages of the church the support of the state, Protestants are following in the steps of papists. Nay, more, they are opening the door for the papacy to regain in Protestant America the supremacy, which she has lost in the Old World. And that which gives greater significance to this movement is the fact that the principal object contemplated is the enforcement of Sunday observance–a custom which originated with Rome, and which she claims as the sign of her authority. It is the spirit of the papacy–the spirit of conformity to worldly customs, the veneration for human traditions above the commandments of God–that is permeating the Protestant churches and leading them on to do the same work of Sunday exaltation which the papacy has done before them.”
Friends, do you think that the United States has opened the door wide for the Papacy to regain in Protestant America the supremacy which she lost in the Old World? Has Protestant America almost been completely given over to the papal power? Are you ready for what is coming? Are you purifying your life in light of these things so that you will be able to stand firmly for the right in the time of trouble? I hope so, my friends. I pray so.
Let us pray, our Father in heaven. We are living in the last moments of earth’s history. All the prophecies given us in Your word are coming to pass, and soon there will be a time of trouble such as never was. The timing is incredible. We must have our lives right with Jesus. We pray for Your forgiveness of our sins and that the righteousness of Jesus will be our life. We pray that we might be humble and submissive to Your will. We pray that the Holy Spirit will come into us and empower us to live with a Christlike character, for as the end approaches, we will need it more than ever. Please be the moral guide of your people. In Jesus’ name, amen.