The New Holy Roman Empire
By Pastor Hal Mayer
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Something very intriguing is going on in Europe. It’s prophetic. Pope Benedict is trying to resurrect the Holy Roman Empire. Our long term Keep the Faith listeners have known about this for some time. Yet connecting the dots is not always as easy to do. However, prophecy helps us cut through the fog and get to the real issue. In the last couple of years there have been a number of important developments that tell us that the pope is moving steadily, firmly and determinedly forward and pressuring the nations to accept the Vatican as the cultural and religious authority in Europe.
Let us open our Bibles to Revelation 17. Listen to the words of the prophet John.
“And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters.” What are the waters in Bible prophecy? I’ll read it to you from verse 15. “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” So this evil woman controls and manipulates millions, and perhaps billions of people.
The Bible tells us in verse 2 that this whore is the same power found in Revelation 18. Listen. “…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.” Revelation 18:9 tells us that the kings of the earth commit fornication with the beast. Therefore the beast and the whore are the same power. In Bible prophecy a woman represents a church. This whore in Revelation 17 is an immoral woman or an immoral church. A whore then, represents a church in apostasy. If ever there was an apostate church it is the Roman Catholic Church. Interestingly, the Roman Catholic leaders refer to their church as “she” or “her.” But it is the fornication that interests us. These kings of the earth are committing a form of spiritual apostasy as they unite with the Catholic Church in their many and varied projects. The ultimate purpose of this collaboration is the persecution of God’s true people who keep all of His commandments in the moral law.
So this power has a dual nature. On one hand, in Revelation 13 & 18, it is represented as a beast power, which is the prophetic term for a nation state or civil power. This we know as the nation state of the Holy See. On the other hand this power is also represented in spiritual terms as a wicked woman or an apostate church. There is no other power on earth that can fit this dual nature of a combined civil and religious power than the Roman Catholic Church. She may try to escape this scriptural spotlight, but she is the only legitimate possibility.
I shall continue reading about this perverse prophetic woman from verse 3 to 6: “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, 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.”
What a description! Again the Bible depicts to the very detail, the way in which the papacy conducts herself both with the nations of the earth and with the rest of the religious world. In the name of love, peace and unity, this power persecutes God’s saints, or those that keep His commandments. She has blood on her hands. Before the close of probation she will again rise to power and persecute all of God’s faithful people who refuse to practice her substitutions for the grace of God. Just read Revelation 13.
The Church boasts more than a billion members, some in almost, if not every nation on earth. She has formal diplomatic relations with 177 nations now, and is continually building her power and influence in every region of the globe. Yet Rome has no tanks, no aircraft, no standing army, no traditional weapons of human warfare. But her spiritual power is enormous. And millions upon millions are being deceived. Revelation 13 tells us that she will gain control of the whole world, for all the world “wonders” after the beast in verse four. And verse 8 sweepingly tells us that: “all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him.”
But in order to be able to bring the whole world under her soon-coming one-world religion, she has to regain power that she lost. She has to control or “sit” on many “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” in order be in a position to persecute those that don’t go along with her religion. This she is working on diligently. But this is why Revelation 14 tells us in verse 6 that the everlasting gospel must go to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. So a great conflict is coming between God’s last day church and the whore and all her agencies. One is going to preach the fullness of the everlasting gospel, and the other is going to try to prevent it. In other words everyone who is being wooed by Rome must also be wooed by the everlasting gospel given by the very ones that Rome wants to destroy.
The battle lines are being drawn right now. Unfortunately many of God’s people are spiritually sound asleep. They have no idea about the powerful and destructive spiritual tsunami that is rapidly approaching them.
In recent times, particularly under the Bush administration, the United States came more solidly under the considerable influence of Rome. Bush fostered Rome’s power in the United States and elsewhere. But there is another geopolitical field we must watch. The Holy See is working very hard to regain spiritual control of Europe.
Listen to this statement from the pen of God’s last day messenger. It is found in Great Controversy, page 616. “Romanism in the Old World and apostate Protestantism in the New will pursue a similar course toward those who honor all the divine precepts.”
This tells us very clearly that in the old world, or Europe, Romanism will reassert her power. It was the Holy See that controlled the so-called united Europe during the Middle Ages. But now once again Rome intends to take the spiritual control of Europe to herself. In order to do this and fulfill the prophecies that we have just read, Rome must be able to manipulate the economy and the politics of Europe. She is working on this persistently.
But before we go on, let me remind you of the three-legged stool. In order for Rome to fulfill verse 8 of Revelation 13, which says that “all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him,” and implement a one world religion, Rome must be successful in controlling world politics and the global economy. In other words, politics must be put under the control of world elites, or rulers who are committing “fornication” with her by helping to unite church and state, and the economy must be put under the control of central bankers, who are in league with Rome and getting rich by it. These two legs are being constructed right now. Incidentally the centralized control of the economy will speed up the centralization of world politics.
God richly blessed the United States as a protestant nation, and made it great, greater than all other nations. Other nations did not make major steps without reference to the U.S. government and it’s geopolitical influence for many, many years. The economy of the world essentially revolved around the United States dollar. Strategically, Rome must bring protestant United States to her knees or else she will not succeed in resurrecting the Holy Roman Empire in Europe. She cannot do this militarily. It has to be done by cooperation in sabotage. Piece by piece, bit by bit, the United States’ economic and political advantages must be removed. This is happening very effectively through the gradual globalization of trade, commerce, politics, and the economy through the UN and its related international institutions.
In other words, the economy has to be brought low. Rome has the cooperation of the merchants who are the central bankers of the world. They believe in one world government as we pointed out last month. The economy is being put into the hands of global bodies who claim to represent all the nations of the world. But in reality they are making themselves rich, according to Revelation, by being in league with the Holy See. The Vatican can control them.
The third leg, or one world religion, is also being steadily worked on quietly, and stealthily. And it takes a prophetic eye to see it. We don’t know how long it will take. That is up to the angels of heaven under God’s direction. For God is in control of all these things. Nothing will happen faster than God permits. But it is important to watch these developments, because in them we can see what is going on behind the prophetic curtain and see the struggle going on between good and evil.
There are many ways that Rome works, but I want you to think about some of the developments in recent years. For instance, 1989 was the beginning of the end for Eastern European communism. In recent times however, Russia has been reinserting herself into global politics and trying to control as much of her former republics as she can including the Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic states. However, Eastern Europe, has mostly gravitated to the West, and many of these former Eastern bloc nations have become part of the European Union. This was necessary so that Rome could reinsert herself into European politics more effectively and over a larger number of people. One of the key states that has helped Rome tremendously is Poland which is perhaps 90% or more Roman Catholic. When Poland became part of the European Union, her citizens could then easily move to Western Europe and take up residence and work. This would bring many Roman Catholics into Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, and other places that were once strong protestant countries. This has helped to neuter European Protestantism.
At the same time there has been a great influx of Muslims into the European Union. In recent years, France has seen the turmoil from Muslims whose culture doesn’t mix well, if at all, in Western Europe. Europeans are nervous about this influx of Muslims. Rome is also concerned about her influence in the countries where Islam is the strongest and is therefore sending lots of Catholic immigrants to those countries to offset the Muslim influence. Meanwhile she talks nicely to Muslim leaders.
All of this is part of the process of resurrecting the Holy Roman Empire once again, and because of the huge influx of Muslims into the European Union, there is an urgency to it. That is why the Vatican urgently wants the European Union to recognize Christianity as the historical and cultural religion of Europe officially and legally. In 2007, while Germany held the EU’s rotating presidency, Chancellor, Angela Merkel was actively involved in the process of re-establishing the old Holy Roman Empire. She and her compatriots organized a big public party in Berlin. It was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, signed by Europe’s leaders in Rome in 1957.
The Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community. Despite denials that the EEC would ever become a political union, this was exactly what was intended and what is now nearly accomplished. But the intention went far beyond the economic and political integration of Europe. In fact, the intention was and is to resurrect the Holy Roman Empire and complete the religious integration of Europe as well. The EEC eventually became the European Community, and then changed again into the European Union. Now the finishing touches are being put on the political agreements that will give the European Union some sort of constitution and a strong central government which would then have complete control of all the nations of Europe. The next step will be to change the Union once again, this time into a religious union, completing reconstruction of the Holy Roman Empire.
Rome wants this because if she can be seen as the center of Europe’s culture, she can more effectively resurrect her historic relationships with the nations of Europe and become the political and economic manager of Europe as well as the religious center. Her goal however goes beyond Europe. The Holy See is aiming to at least powerfully influence the politics, economy and religion of the whole world. But though she is working on all fronts, she knows that she cannot achieve her ultimate goal of the worship of the whole world, without first regaining control of Europe. In order to justify herself in this quest, she continually proclaims her right to be the cultural foundation of Europe.
The public party in Berlin was held on Sunday, March 25, 2007. But at the same time the leaders of the European Union were also gathered in the Berlin Museum to sign the Berlin Declaration commemorating the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, and to commit themselves to continuing the process of complete European integration.
The declaration was originally intended to include a statement saying that the European Union’s historical religion was Christianity, thus giving Rome the legal status she wanted. But political issues made that impossible.
After secret consultations in Rome between the pope and the leader of European Parliament, Hans Gert Pöttering, both of them German, Benedict published a strongly worded letter to the European bishops accusing the leaders of Europe of committing a form of apostasy for their opposition to legally recognizing Christianity as the cultural center of Europe. For more detail and documentation on these events ask for our sermon entitled Germany Infuriates the Pope. Or you can go online to our website and down load the MP3 or the text of that sermon.
But Pope Benedict isn’t finished attempting to restore the deep historical involvement of the Catholic Church in Europe’s politics. You may remember that Benedict visited France in September of 2008. This visit was very significant. The New York Times asked a question in an article on September 20 of that year; “Is the Catholic Church a beleaguered underdog, fighting for a voice in secular Europe, or a still-mighty power, wielding its influence on European law through friendly center–right governments? That question,” wrote the author, “has been building momentum throughout Pope Benedict XVI’s three-year-old papacy, [and] came mightily to the fore in his recent trip to France.” Though “no one, probably not even the Vatican, expects Europe to become newly devout any time soon…” continued the Times article, “this pope is looking to reconquer Europe, if not in numbers, then at the political table.” In other words, Benedict XVI is attempting to place the Vatican at the center of European politics.
Benedict officially traveled to France for the 150th anniversary of the day when a peasant girl said she saw a vision of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes. 250,000 people came out to hear the pope conduct a Mass. But the trip had far greater ambitions in mind.
When the pope goes on a personal crusade to “reconquer Europe” we should be very mindful of the prophecy that says that “all the world wondered after the beast.” Revelation 13:4. We should also remember that his Church in the Old World has to develop in tandem with its power in the new.
Europe is rather tumultuous at the moment because of the difficulties of political integration, energy crises, immigration and the economic recession. Rome presents herself as a stable, consistent voice calling Europe back to its ancient religious and political moorings, the Catholic Church. The Pope’s visit to France last September was very significant for France and for the rest of Europe. The papal visit to France was so important that, like President Bush in April, French president Nicolas Sarkozy, a Roman Catholic, met the pope at the airport, and then escorted him the Élysée Palace.
While Senator Barack Obama was touting change on the American presidential campaign trail, the Pope and the French president were privately discussing change in France; the most important change since the French Revolution; a change in church-state relations. France has very strict separation of church and state. It is called laïcité which comes from a 1905 French law establishing the secularism of the French nation. It is something of a sacred cow of French culture; untouchable and uncompromisable in French politics. Secularism, said Henri Astier writing for the BBC, “is the closest thing the French have to a state religion.”
The comments by Benedict and Sarkozy clearly pointed to a change in laïcité. Sarkozy said it would be “madness” to “deprive ourselves” of religion and repeated his call for a “positive secularism” in France, meaning that religion should be allowed to play a greater role in government for the improvement of society. This is exactly what Rome wants. The closer the Vatican can come to the centers of power in France, the more likely she can control or manipulate the nation in her interests, in the name of improving society of course.
“At this moment in history,” said the pope, “when cultures continue to cross paths more frequently, I am firmly convinced that a new reflection on the true meaning and importance of ‘laïcité’ (or secularism) is now necessary.”
Benedict and Sarkozy are attempting to reshape French thinking toward this law. Significantly, Sarkozy said; “We don’t put anyone above anyone else, but we accept our Christian roots.” Accepting the Christian roots of France however, does in fact place Rome in a favored position, though not yet legally. Sarkozy isn’t meeting with the religious leaders of any other church or religion. Rome knows that eventually if France can officially or legally recognize her Christian roots, she will have a legal means of placing herself above other religions. While this has not happened yet, it appears to be President Sarkozy’s intention to at least acknowledge it officially.
Keep in mind that it was the Franc king Clovis I who in 496 A.D. became the first Catholic monarch in Europe by his baptism. When he defeated the Visigoths in 507 and 508 by driving them south of the Pyrenees mountains and united the Franks under his rulership, Clovis’ kingdom became the undisputed superpower of Europe at that time. He was celebrated as the first Catholic monarch of the empire and was known as “His Most Christian Majesty” (meaning Catholic Majesty of course). He then came to the assistance of the emperor Justinian in subjugating the whole Roman Empire under the pope and the papacy. France itself became known as the “eldest daughter of the Church.” France gave up on religion all together at the time of the French Revolution because of the tyranny that Rome exercised over her. But in 1996 Pope John Paul II made a trip to France to commemorate the 1500 year anniversary of the baptism of Clovis and symbolically claim the ancient patrimony of France for the Catholic Church.
Now more than 1500 years after the baptism of Clovis, these events may well be the first steps in moving France away from its secularism and closer to the Catholic Church. The ultimate goal is to once again bring France under the control of Rome. Right now, Rome has the willing help of the center-right government of Nicolas Sarkozy.
The main theme of Benedict XVI’s trip was that France needs to rethink and restructure its church-state relationships. The pope called for a new role for religion in building an “ethical” society. In essence the pope is demanding that France redefine secularism to allow a place for religion and morality to help it come to a just society, at least as the Holy See defines it.
Benedict XVI’s remarks at the Élysée Palace
Historically, the Papacy used the heads of state of the various nations of Europe for her own ends. She would ally with one and spurn another and keep them all coming to her for support. The nations would be played off one against another with the pope as the peacemaker. This placed Rome in the position to be the overall manager of Europe in the Middle Ages. This same process is now stealthily happening in Europe once again.
Here is how. Germany and France are the two largest and most powerful rival nations in the European Union which they both helped to create and mature. They are jockeying for power, even as they work together to build the European Union and resurrect the Holy Roman Empire. France needs Rome to strengthen it in its competition with Germany for power. Sarkozy wants political strength for France in the European Union. He knows that cooperation with Rome will greatly increase French standing. At the same time, the Pope knows that if France is allied with the Papacy, then she will also have Germany at her door seeking similar support for her projects. For now however, the Pope is essentially telling France that the only way in which France will succeed in its quest to become more influential in Europe, she has to become more friendly to the Papacy. Sarkozy knows this.
Benedict XVI is now working to restore the same principles that she used anciently to control Europe and she is deftly, and with finesse using France to do it. Everywhere Rome can, she is attempting to break down the wall of separation between church and state.
But there is something more going on that is very intriguing. The New Statesman published an article about this idea of “positive secularism.” Let me read a couple of paragraphs from this article. “According to the political scientist Caroline Fourest, author of a recent book on the Catholic Church, the sympathy between the Pope and the French president shouldn’t be surprising. Their ‘new idea’ is a Trojan horse. The term “positive secularism” was actually coined in 2005 by the then Cardinal Ratzinger, whose views have inspired two of President Sarkozy’s close aides and speechwriters…”
“So what we have witnessed.” Continued the article, “is Nicolas Sarkozy pretending to have an idea that [actually] originated at the Vatican, while the Pope, its delighted author, sits back and waits for the president to implement “his” idea. A few days ago, in an interview with the Catholic French daily La Croix, Benedict’s private secretary clearly stated that the Holy Father expected the president of France to diligently transform this idea into acts…”
This idea of “positive secularism” is sneaky. It is a way to break down that wall of separation between church and state. Is it possible that Ratzinger was preparing to undermine the government of France and perhaps other secular governments in western Europe all the way back when he was the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith? Perhaps we will soon see something of a Catholic revival in France, particularly at the political level.
This is not the first time that a president has plagiarized a pope. After being tutored by many Catholic advisors and two popes President Bush frequently quoted John Paul II using the phrase “culture of life” to bolster his arguments. When Benedict XVI visited the United States in April of 2008, President Bush gave him a warm welcome speech in which he quoted the pope by saying; “we need your message to reject this dictatorship of relativism.” This term “dictatorship of relativism” was coined by Cardinal Ratzinger himself at the funeral of John Paul II. Nicolas Sarkozy is doing exactly what President Bush had done.
Friends, this tells us a lot about what is going on behind the scenes in the friendly relationship between presidents and popes. Ratzinger dropped seeds in the minds of Bush and Sarkozy who then took them as their own. Bush then used his to promote the papal social agenda in the United States. Sarkozy used his to help reshape the thinking in France about secularism.
Moreover, don’t think that the pope’s words to France are falling on deaf ears throughout the rest of Europe. The New York Times article said; “Benedict’s insistence that religion and politics be ‘open’ to each other… sends a direct message: the church doesn’t want European law to be at odds with church teaching, and he wants Catholics to make some noise about it.”
“The Vatican… is concerned about ‘a progressive secularization of European institutions’ that are ‘heavily influenced by the French model.’” Benedict’s message in France was designed to speak to all secularized governments and the EU institutions as well. Benedict is masterfully bringing France into the Vatican orbit and is angling for the rest of Europe to do the same thing. “‘…There are laws in Europe that the Vatican would like to change,’ said John L. Allen Jr., a columnist for the National Catholic Reporter. Benedict’s remarks in France were ‘not an apolitical reflection,’ he said.” In other words, Benedict is trying to restructure European politics to fit the old model of the Holy Roman Empire.
Friends, nothing is more prophetically significant than a Europe steered by the Vatican. This has tremendous implications for the people of God in the last generation. Prophecy is going to be fulfilled to the very detail. An ambitious papacy is on the move, and it behooves the people of God to pay attention.
While all this political stuff is going on in France, there is another dimension that we need to understand. The economic balance in Europe is being restructured to suit certain dominant powers who will ultimately give their power and strength to the beast or the Holy See. Listen to what Revelation 17:13 says about the kings of the earth. Speaking of the ten kings of the earth it says; “These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.” In other words, the ten kingdoms, of which Europe is one, are going to support Rome by using their power and authority to enforce her dictates. It will not be a long time, but it will be a potent time. They will use their political power to put enormous pressure on God’s people.
At the same time that Sarkozy was glowing over his recent successful visit with Benedict, he along with Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of Britain and Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany were working to bring the world economy under the control of global and international bodies. In last month’s sermon called Economic Turmoil to Economic Takeover, we pointed out that these leaders, with the help of other nations are radically restructuring global banking and finance. By centralizing the economy under the control of fewer people, and with Europe having much more say, this could well place the Holy See in a position to guide the global economy. Remember, the ambitions of the Holy See are to manage more than just the old empire. The Papacy is seeking to be queen of the whole world.
There is yet another level of development in Europe however, that needs our attention. Germany is rising to become the main powerhouse of European economics and politics. When divided, this was impossible. But now, with Germany reunited, the nation has begun to manifest strong and powerful sway over the direction of the European Union.
When Russia invaded Georgia last year, most of the European states suspended relations with Moscow under pressure from the United States; but not Germany. Instead, Germany acted approvingly. When other nations in Europe go one direction, Germany often goes the other. Stratfor, a strategic forecasting group, wrote in its analysis of the invasion of Georgia that “sources in Moscow have said that [President] Medvedev has offered Merkel a security pact for their two countries.” Moscow knows that Germany is dependent on Russia for energy in the form of oil and gas. Moscow apparently also knows that if it can make a pact with Germany, the rest of Europe will be friendly too. This should not go unnoticed.
And sure enough, last November (2008), in the French city of Nice, a huge change took place in the attitude of EU nations. “EU leaders and Russian President Medvedev agreed to new talks… about political and economic partnership between Moscow and Europe. There was even talk of a “pan-European security pact,” wrote Spiegel Online.
So what happened? Moscow invaded Georgia on a flimsy excuse. Germany acted approvingly while other European nations suspended relations with Moscow. Then when the other nations of Europe realized that Germany was not going along with them, they changed course and went along with Germany and mended fences very quickly with an unrepentant Russia. In other words, Germany emerged during this political tussle as the dictator of EU foreign policy. Germany saw its opportunity to flex its muscles with the rest of Europe. And the other 26 nations of the EU were quick to come into line. They are learning that unless EU policies are backed by Germany, they are weak and unenforceable. The significance of this is that the rest of Europe now understands who is in charge. And the Vatican is positioned to take advantage of Germany’s emerging role. If the Vatican can control Germany, just like in the Middle Ages, she will control Europe. That may be why we have a German pope right now.
Moreover, this narrows the playing field significantly in Europe. Now Rome only has to deal with France and Germany for the most part, and use their rivalry to strengthen herself, and the rest of the European Union will be hers too. Meanwhile, as we have noted, both Germany and France are trying to resurrect the Holy Roman Empire. One was the power center of the religious break with Rome during the Protestant Reformation, and the other was the power center of the political break with Rome during the French Revolution.
Note: For the original source article from Stratfor, in Google.com, search for “Stratfor Germany Merkel’s Choice and the Future of Europe.” It was published August 20, 2008.
But there is more. The economic crisis has been another opportunity for Germany to flex its muscles. When the other nations of Europe and the European central bank were promoting an American-style bailout and stimulus package for the whole of Europe, Germany refused to go along with it. In fact, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel “lambasted the bailout mentality gripping western leaders and lauded financial discipline, balanced budgets and the ethic of thrift…” “We have to have the courage to swim against the tide,” Merkel said.
Also Germany’s finance minister Peer Steinbrück threw a match into the tinder in an interview with Newsweek by criticizing Britain’s VAT tax cut, and the EU’s plan for spending its way out of the economic crisis. In other words, when most of the rest of Europe had decided that the best way to handle the economic crisis was through huge deficit spending, Germany, the largest economy, and the nation that would bear the greatest share of the cost, balked. This unsettled some of Europe’s leaders and analysts. The Daily Telegraph wrote that these developments placed Germany out of step with the rest of Europe and were a “dictatorial turn in Berlin’s EU strategy.” A New York Times columnist wrote that “you can’t have a coordinated European effort if Europe’s biggest economy not only refuses to go along, but heaps scorn on its neighbors’ attempts to contain the crisis.”
The New York Times wrote that “Germany has taken a different path.” The question is why? The reason lies in the understanding that a reunited Germany is aiming to become the political and economic power of Europe.
To understand this better, let us take a brief look at history. The Holy Roman Empire was dominated politically by Germany’s princes under the manipulation of the pope for centuries. The Reformation in Germany created an upheaval that reverberated throughout the Empire. Germany was key to papal tyranny. Without Germany, it was only a matter of time until Rome would lose its sway over the rest of Europe. That demise was completed in 1798 with the “deadly wound” inflicted by Napoleon through his general Berthier. But after World War II, Germany was broken in half and for more than 50 years was very weak. Rome knew that the only hope for a resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire included a reunited and powerful Germany. That is why European communism had to go. For the Holy Roman Empire to rise again, Germany, now the biggest economy, and arguably the most politically powerful of all European nations, has to take the reins again.
Finally, we are beginning to see the outlines of the soon resurrected Holy Roman Empire. With Germany in the lead as it was in the Middle Ages, the key leaders of Europe are working to place the pope on the throne of the European Union.
So let us see if we can summarize what we have said. In the project to resurrect the Holy Roman Empire, there are a number of key factors that are now in play. A reunited Germany must rise to political and economic prominence for there to be a papal resurrection to power. That is now happening. Secondly, there must be at least one competing power so that Rome has a means of keeping herself in the middle of the power struggle and can play one side against the other. France has this role just like in the Middle Ages. These developments show us that the three-legged stool has two of its legs, the political and economic structures, now almost in place. The next step is to construct the third leg.
And this is already happening too. We have already mentioned how Rome is manipulating France to change the relationship between church and state. This is essential because France was once the foundation of Roman Catholic Europe, but it also became the foundation of European secularism. Without a change in France, a change in the rest of Europe is impossible.
But there is a more open and blatant effort on the part of Rome to resurrect the principles of the Holy Roman Empire and to construct the third leg of the three-legged stool.
At the very beginning of his pontificate, Benedict XVI visited the Eucharistic Congress in Bari, Italy in 2005. In continuity with his predecessor John Paul II, he emphasized Sunday worship as central to human existence.
He said “the intention of this Eucharistic Congress… was once again to present Sunday as the ‘weekly Easter,’ an expression of the identity of the Christian community and the centre of its life and mission. The chosen theme of the congress was ‘Without Sunday we cannot live.’
When Benedict XVI travelled to Austria in September of 2007 ostensibly to visit the shrine at Mariazell, he gave a speech in which he encouraged Austria to protect Sunday as a day of rest as an example to all of Europe. “Without Sunday [worship] we cannot live!” he declared before a crowd of nearly 40,000. “Give the soul its Sunday, give Sunday its soul.” While saying that Sunday worship is a necessity, the pope also called on the Catholic nation to revive its Catholic heritage. Speaking to the diplomatic corp. on that trip he said: “Much of what Austria is and possesses,” he said, “it owes to the Christian faith and its beneficial effects on individual men and women… An Austria without a vibrant Christian faith would no longer be Austria,” he said. Of course by using the term “Christian” Benedict means Catholic.
But speaking more broadly for all of Europe, Benedict said “Europe cannot and must not deny her Christian roots.” Think carefully about this. These words should help us see that the pope views the Christian community and the European Union as one and the same. It should also help us see that Benedict’s intention is to establish Sunday as a day of rest for all of Europe. The trip to Austria may well have been the signal to begin the papal push for Sunday laws in Europe in 2008.
In late 2008, the European Parliament updated its Working Time Directive. This is the law that controls how many hours of work per week that people in the EU are permitted to be employed. It also determines minimum time off from work, among other things.
The Vatican linked up with the ecumenical Protestant Church in Germany, Trade Unions and others to pressure Parliament to enact a phrase in the Working Time Directive that said that time off from work “shall in principle include Sunday.” But several Members of the European Parliament blocked it from debate. They may well have perceived that Rome was attempting to resurrect her power.
“Piotr Mazurkiewicz, secretary general of the Brussels-based Bishop’s Conferences of the European Communities (COMECE) expressed disappointment that a debate on the protection of Sunday had not taken place…” wrote TheParliament.com.
“…The failure to put this amendment to the vote incensed Mazurkiewicz. He said the protection of Sunday “is a cornerstone of the European social model and an issue of central importance for workers and their families.” That’s powerful. The bishops were doing their best to get Sunday rest as part of European law.
Listen to this statement from God’s last day messenger. It is found in Great Controversy, page 579. “The influence of Rome in the countries that once acknowledged her dominion is still far from being destroyed.” Prophecy foretells a restoration of her power in Revelation 13:3. Let us refresh our minds. “I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after the beast.” …In both the Old and the New World,” the author continued, “the papacy will receive homage in the honor paid to the Sunday institution, that rests solely upon the authority of the Roman Church.”
It should also be noted that trade unions will play a role in preparing for the last great crisis. God’s messenger says that “trade unions will be one of the agencies that will bring upon this earth a time of trouble such as has not been since the world began.” That is from Manuscript Releases, volume 4, page 88.
Sunday laws come in at least four phases. First, there is the Sunday closing laws in which shops and industries are closed. The second phase is Sunday rest laws in which people are required to not work, except in essential services such as in hospitals, and in the lines of transportation. That is why the proposed language for the EU Working Time Directive used the term “in principle.” Also in this second phase is included laws that prevent people from doing many activities that are considered to be work such as mowing the lawn, or fixing the porch on the house, or other types of labor.
The third phase is Sunday worship laws requiring church attendance and worship on Sunday. And the fourth phase is the forbidding of worship and the requiring of work on God’s seventh-day Sabbath.
Most of Europe already has phase one; Sunday closing laws. Croatia recently harmonized its laws with the rest of Europe, and beginning January 1, 2009 closes shops on Sunday. The news reports said Croatia’s parliament passed this law in a concession to the Roman Catholic Church. Obviously the Church put a lot of pressure on Croatia’s parliament.
Notice that the attempt to influence the Working Time Directive was not just to get stores to close on Sunday like in Croatia, but to require rest from labor. That is phase two. If a centralized European government becomes so strong that it can make a specific day of rest for all of Europe, we will have come to a time when the prophecy of Revelation 13 will be nearly fulfilled. When a secular power is able to enforce Sunday rest on behalf of the Roman Church, Europe will have resurrected the Holy Roman Empire.
If the Church should be able to get the European Parliament to implement a Sunday law, it will also be a way of legalizing the Roman Catholic Church. Rome has had great difficulty inserting a clause in the European Union’s constitutional documents identifying Christianity as the foundation of European culture and society. But there are other ways to accomplish the same thing. If Rome can persuade the European Parliament to establish Sunday rest laws in a concession to her, it will legitimize Rome’s pre-eminent position as the guide for Europe’s soul. Rome can then claim its historical role as the center of European life and culture.
‘USA Today News Article on Croatia
Rome failed in the first attempt to get parliament to implement a Sunday rest law. But the mobilization to get Sunday laws enacted in Europe continued. On February 2, 2009 a declaration using identical language proposed for the Working Time Directive was introduced into Parliament. If signed by more than 50% of the Members of the European Parliament then it would be officially adopted and would be sent to the member states requesting that they harmonize their laws with the declaration. A declaration does not need to be debated, and has 90 days to get the signatures before it lapses. Rome was making another attempt at Sunday laws. If she cannot get an EU law for all of Europe, she has the personnel and resources to pressure each member state to implement them. An adopted declaration would help her in this tremendously.
When the 90 days were up, of the 785 members of Parliament, fortunately only 261 had signed the document, only 33%, so the declaration lapsed. But you can be sure that Rome will not stop there. She will continue to work for Sunday rest because it is part of her unchangeable principles. Perhaps we can see the angels holding back the winds of strife in setting the limits on Rome’s power, at least for now.
Also, in late 2008 another important event took place. The Pope divorced the Papacy from Italian law. He issued a papal decree initiating a new process. Beginning January 1, 2009 the Vatican no longer automatically adopts Italian law. Instead the Vatican will examine each law and adopt only those that are acceptable to the Vatican. The Vatican is also going to examine treaties in the same manner. The reason is ostensibly because the laws of Europe are increasingly at odds with Vatican principles such as same-sex marriage and euthanasia.
Since the Lateran Treaty of 1929 which gave the Vatican its independence as a state, “Italian laws are automatically incorporated into the Vatican legal code,” wrote the TimesOnline. “Marco Politi, a leading Vatican expert, said the true cause of Vatican alarm was not only ‘liberal’ Italian laws on divorce and abortion, but also a ‘trend in European legislation’ which ‘sooner or later’ could lead to the introduction of laws in Italy relaxing the ban on euthanasia or sanctioning ‘civil unions’ between homosexuals.”
But there is a larger issue. By this new step the pope is publically distancing the Catholic Church from national and supranational laws. Once the Holy See gains universal power or influence, it will be a natural step, in due time, for Rome to set herself as judge over the laws they enact, resurrecting the old principle of the Middle Ages in which Rome dictates what laws the nations can impose and which they cannot. Without this step of independence, Rome can never take that one. If she is not a sovereign over herself, she will never be sovereign over other nations.
Europe better take notice noted Marco Politi. The EU lawmakers will have to face an increasingly independent Holy See. EU leaders, who are trying to establish the Holy See as the cultural center of Europe in EU legislation will no doubt pay increasingly closer attention to Papal decisions concerning Italian laws as well as its own.
My friends, God is merciful. He gives us time. But we need to watch these amazing developments in Europe. The Pope and the Papacy are determined to be recognized as the foundation of European culture. They are patient, but persistent. As we near the end, the Vatican will be given more freedom to work her will. We must watch and be ready for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.