Vol.8 No.3

Religious Liberty Under the New World Order
by Jeff Wehr

The Book of Revelation describes the two superpowers of the New World Order. It also describes the political and economic coercion that these superpowers will use to force humanity to give allegiance to their false, one-world religion. Yet the Bible warns that those who comply will receive the wrath of God (Revelation 14:9-11).

Does Revelation give clues to who these superpowers are and how they will come to political power? Does it shed light on how God’s people will survive this ordeal and emerge victorious?

Yes, it does. As you read the Bible passages in this article you may be surprised, even angry. But God has foreseen all of this and has assured us that we are safe if our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life and we follow Him wherever He leads.

The First Superpower Revealed

The superpowers are symbolically represented as beasts. In Bible prophecy, a “beast” represents a kingdom or a political power (Daniel 7:17).

The first superpower is described as a beast rising up out of the “sea” (Revelation 13:1, 11). The Bible tells us that “seas” or “waters” represent nations with their teeming multitudes (Revelation 17:15). Bible scholars have long identified the papacy as the first beast power that arises out of the populous old world.

Has the Papacy ever been a kingdom or political power? History records the following: “Long ages ago, when Rome through the neglect of the Western Emperors was left to the mercy of the barbarous hordes, the Romans turned to one figure for aid and protection, and asked him to rule them; and thus,... commenced the temporal sovereignty of the popes. And meekly stepping to the throne of caesar, the vicar of Christ took up the scepter to which the emperors and kings of Europe were to bow reverence through so many years.”¹

The prophecy predicted that the first beast, the Papacy, would receive a “deadly wound;” that is, she would cease to control the nations politically (Revelation 13:3). History records that the political power of the Papacy came to an end. “When in 1797, Pope Pius VI fell grievously ill, Napoleon gave orders that in the event of his death no successor should be elected to his office, and the Papacy should be discontinued. But the Pope recovered. The peace was soon broken: Berthier entered Rome on the tenth of February, 1798, and proclaimed (Rome to be) a republic. The aged Pontiff refused to violate his oath by recognizing it, and was hurried from prison to prison in France. Broken with fatigue and sorrows, he died on the 17th of August, 1799, in the French fortress of Valence aged 82 years. No wonder half of Europe thought Napoleon’s veto would be obeyed, and that with the Pope, the Papacy was dead.”²

But the prophecy also predicted that at the end of time the “deadly wound” would be “healed.” The Papacy would regain her lost supremacy and all the world would “wonder” after the beast (Revelation 13:3).

How will the world “wonder” after the Papacy? The Bible says, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him” (Revelation 13:8). In the realm of religion and worship, the world will give her allegiance and loyalty to the Papacy. What a crisis! Multitudes wondering after the Papacy both politically and religiously will receive the wrath of God.

This prophecy also teaches that the Papacy has already “made war with the saints” (Revelation 13:7). “That the Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind, will be questioned by no Protestant who has a complete knowledge of history.”³ How many lost their lives? “For professing faith contrary to the teachings of the Church of Rome, history records the martyrdom of more than one-hundred million people.”⁴ This represents more than 50,000 deaths each year from the time the Papacy began ruling the western Roman Empire in A.D. 538 and ending in A.D. 1798.

But one might say, “This was during the Dark Ages. This could never happen again.” In order for this to take place, the papacy will have to be given some political power and authority first. This is where the second beast comes in. 

The Second Superpower Revealed

In Revelation 13:11, the second political power is introduced—one that rises up out of the “earth.” This is in contrast with the first beast which arose from the “sea.” The “earth,” therefore, symbolically represents the new world with its few inhabitants.

Historians, commenting on the rise of the new world, especially the United States, wrote: “Like a silent seed we grew into empire.”⁵ The new empire sprang up “. . .amid the silence of the earth daily adding to its power and pride.”⁶ The United States arose out of the sparsely populated New World.

The Bible says, “And he [the second superpower—the United States] had power to give life unto the image of the beast [the image of the Papacy], that the image of the beast should both speak [legislatively], and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed... 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” (Revelation 13:15, 17).

But what is this “mark of the beast”? Is it a literal mark that a big computer reads through point-of-sale networks?

The “mark of the beast” is the mark of the first beast, the Papacy. What does the Papacy claim to be her mark of authority? “Sunday is our mark of authority... The Church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.”⁷

What is the “image of the beast”? The “image of the beast” is an image or likeness to the first beast, the Papacy. How did the Papacy rule? She ruled by having the state enforce her decrees and support her institutions.

Who makes an “image to the beast”? The second beast forms an image or likeness to the Papacy (Revelation 13:15). This lamb-like beast has two horns representing the two great principles of civil and religious liberty. However, the prophecy predicts that the United States will “speak as a dragon.” In other words, she will make an “image to the beast” by uniting the church with the state, thereby repudiating the great principle of liberty of conscience.

How does the United States form an image to the Papacy that leads the world to “worship” the Papacy? It is through the enforcement of Sunday legislation that America unites the church with the state and brings the world into harmony with the principles of Rome. Does Sunday have to do with worship? Of course it does. Does Sunday have to do with politics? The legislation of a Sunday law is political.

Enforcing the Mark

Sunday laws are not new. They originated with the Roman Emperor Constantine as a way to “Christianize” pagan Rome. Thousands were persecuted during the Dark Ages because they worshipped on a different day. Even in free America, Sunday laws have brought persecution upon dissenters. For example, the first Sunday law in America, passed in Virginia in 1610, read as follows: “Every man and woman shall repair in the morning to the divine service and sermons preached upon the Sabbath day, and in the afternoon to divine service, and catechizing, upon pain for the first fault to lose their provision and the allowance for the whole week following; for the second, to lose the said allowance and also be whipt, and for the third to suffer death.”

Sunday laws became a national issue in America in the 1880s, but were then correctly considered unconstitutional. However, of the forty-eight states that had Sunday laws at that time, seventeen of them were actually persecuting people who worshipped on the seventh day. The worst states were Arkansas and Tennessee.

But could this really happen again in this country? The Bible says yes. Current events say yes. The religious and political world is experiencing significant changes that would make it possible to pass a Sunday law. The wall of separation of church and state is being eroded. In March of 1994, leading Protestants and Catholics ended centuries of animosity and signed the document Evangelicals and Catholics Together. The apparent strategy behind this alliance was to create a strong political force in American politics.

In his book, Politically Incorrect, Ralph Reed stated, “The future of American politics lies in the growing strength of Evangelicals and their Roman Catholic allies. If these two core constituencies—Evangelicals comprising the swing vote in the South, Catholics holding sway in the North—can cooperate on issues and support like-minded candidates, they can determine the outcome of almost any election in the nation.”⁸

 Protestants and Catholics already work side by side as political activists in organizations such as the Christian Coalition. Leader Pat Robertson predicts that by the year 2,000, it will be one of the most powerful political organizations in the United States of America, with over 1.7 million members. “People will be calling from Washington (D.C.) to ask, ‘What is the position of the Christian Coalition, so we will know how to     vote?’ ”⁹

In the new Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994), paragraph 2187, the following is recorded: “Sanctifying Sundays and holy days requires a common effort... In spite of economic constraints, public authorities should ensure citizens a time intended for rest and divine worship. Employers have a similar obligation toward their employees.”

God sanctified the seventh-day Sabbath. (See Genesis 2:1-3 and Exodus 20:8-11.) Man is attempting to sanctify Sunday, the first day, through “civil authorities.” But can man truly sanctify a day? He can force people to cease from their labors on a certain day, but that does not make it a holy day. Only God can sanctify a day.

Notice the  Roman Catechism  of 1985: “The civil authorities should be urged to cooperate with the church in maintaining and strengthening this public worship of God [Sunday sanctity], and to support with their own authority the regulations set down by the church’s pastors. For it is only in this way that the faithful will understand why it is Sunday and not the Sabbath day that we now keep holy.” The fact that civil authorities pass a Sunday law does not itself prove that Sunday is the Sabbath.

The U.S. and the Vatican in Politics

But how much influence does the Church of Rome have in American politics today? Melady, former ambassador to the Vatican said, “ Just as the Evangelicals have become the base vote of the Republican party, Catholics are now today the swing vote in American politics. Any candidate who wins the Catholic vote will be able to govern America. . . . I believe if Catholics and Evangelicals can unite there is no person who runs for office in any city or state in America that can’t be elected and there is no bill that can’t be passed in either house of Congress or any state legislative chamber anywhere in America. It is the emerging force in the electorate today.”¹⁰

Henry Hyde, U.S. House Representative, said, “We now have 128 Catholics in the House and 21 in the Senate. If we had the Catholics behind us we would always carry the day.”¹¹

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Jim Hoagland wrote in the Washington Post that, “America would now determine all major global events.”¹²

Former President George Bush said in his State of the Union address, “It’s a big idea: a New World Order, where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause... only the United States has both the moral standing and the means to back it up.”¹³

An article in Time magazine called the United States the “world’s sole remaining superpower, no prospect in the immediate future of any power to rival the United States.”¹⁴

Melady, former ambassador to the Vatican, said, “I believe that the U.S., as the world’s only superpower, and the Holy See, as the only world-wide moral-political sovereignty, have significant roles to play in the future. Their actions will impact the lives of people in all parts of the globe.”¹⁵

Pope John Paul II “insists that men have no reliable hope of creating a viable geopolitical system unless it is on the basis of Roman Catholic Christianity.”¹⁶

These individuals are only echoing what the Bible has already predicted. The two superpowers today are the United States and the Vatican. The United States is the greatest nation in human history—with a strong and diverse economy and superior military force. The Vatican is the world’s most multi-racial and multi-cultural institution, claiming one-fifth of the world’s population as her adherents. The pope is the most popular international figure who controls a worldwide infrastructure of schools, universities, churches, hospitals, libraries, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, radio and television stations. He has a working force of half a million priests overseeing more than 200,000 parishes. The Vatican Bank has holdings and investments in virtually every sector of the world’s commercial and industrial activity, making the Papacy a major economic force in geopolitics today.¹⁷

God’s People

Now we must ask, where will God’s people be in this religious crisis? While an apostate coalition between the Papacy and Protestants in America will seek religious legislation, God’s people will be giving God’s warning throughout the world (See Revelation 14:6-12).

The first message tells us to “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Revelation 14:7).

How do we “worship” the Creator? We worship Him by keeping the seventh-day Sabbath holy. The Bible says, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God:... For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8-11).

Then God’s people proclaim that Babylon has fallen. Babylon is symbolically used to describe those who rebel against God and cause spiritual confusion. Tragically, so much of Christianity has fallen away from purity of doctrine and is teaching for commandments the traditions of men.

The third message warns the world not to worship the beast and his image, or take his mark, lest they receive the wrath of God. But when will people receive the “mark of the beast”?

Those who have died have not received the mark of the beast.  In fact, some of the most dedicated Christians have been Sunday-keepers. But God has chosen to bring His law, the Ten Commandments, to the forefront in these last days. For centuries His law has been trampled on by both Christians and non-Christians. God seeks to bring His church back to the purity of the faith and to uplift His downtrodden law. When the powers of the world have enforced the papal Sunday and an individual has received sufficient light upon the Sabbath issue and still refuses to obey God, then they receive the “mark of the beast.” But God will make sure that all will have enough light to make an intelligent decision. God desires all to be saved.

Soon the whole world will have to choose between the “mark of the beast” and the Sabbath of the Lord. This controversy is over more than a day. It is an issue concerning authority. It is an issue concerning allegiance and loyalty. Even now the issue has arisen in different parts of the world.

A conference by Pope John Paul II was held in Kenya, Africa, on June 26, 1985. During this conference sixteen articles were proposed. Article 5 stated, “No one shall be able to sell or buy food, nor shall they be able to plant food, without the number.” Article 7 stated, “If anyone does not recognize or denies the articles of this union, they shall be severely punished with death.” Article 12 stated, “The churches shall unite on one day, Sunday, according to the number.”

Today, God needs men and women who will take their stand for truth though the champions be few. Will you champion the cause of God by keeping His Sabbath holy? I pray that you will be part of that group the Bible describes as those who “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).

References:

1. American Catholic Quarterly Review, April 1911.
2. Joseph Rickaby, The Modern Papacy, p. 1.
3. William E. H. Lecky, History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe, Volume II, p. 32.
4. Brief Bible Readings, p. 16.
5. G. A. Townsend, The New World Compared with the Old, p. 462.
6. The Dublin Nation, p. 1850.
7. The Catholic Record, London, Ontario, September 1, 1923.
8. Ralph Reed, Politically Incorrect, p. 16.
9. G. Edward Reid, Even At The Door, p. 32-33.
10. G. Edward Reid, Sunday’s Coming!, p. 71.
11. Ibid., p. 68.
12. Clifford Goldstein, Day of the Dragon, p. 25.
13. Los Angeles Times, February 18, 1991.
14. Time, July 29, 1991, p. 13.
15. G. Edward Reid, Sunday’s Coming!, p. 31.
16. Malachi Martin, The Keys of This Blood, p. 492.
17. Ibid., p. 111.