In order for religious doctrine to be enforced in America and for the Papacy to once more obtain national and global dominion, church and state must be unified as it was in the Middle Ages.

...it is not lawful for the State, any more than for the individual, either to disregard all religious duties or to hold in equal favor different kinds of religion; that the unrestrained freedom of thinking and of openly making known one's thoughts is not inherent in the rights of citizens, and is by no means to be reckoned worthy of favor and support (Pope Leo XVI, 1885).ⁱ

In the United States, the Christian Coalition was formed in 1989 with this very objective in mind.

The separation of church and state is one of the most important criteria for the preservation of liberty and equality. Today, however, the same ideals of unifying the church with the state still hold priority in the minds of many politicians—if not publicly, then certainly in intention. This is exhibited through the push for national Sunday laws and the way the Pope is viewed as the spiritual leader and authority on world and UN issues.

Forced Submission

Christ never forced anyone to believe in Him, but demonstrated His love for humanity by His willingness to die for us. In fact, He even calls us to reason with Him so we can fully understand the forgiveness He offers us (see Isaiah 1:18). Satan is just the opposite. He has always forced people into submission.

Sadly, Revelation 13 predicts that, as in the Middle Ages and even the 19th century, religious intolerance will once again raise its ugly head. This persecution of those who follow the Bible as their only guide is already occuring. Ted Turner of the Better World Society claims that fundamentalist Christians are "bozos" and "losers."ⁱⁱ Pope John Paul II seems to have agreed with him, when he issued a bold statement in 1998 that anyone who opposes the Catholic faith is worthy of punishment:

Whoever denies or places in doubt any truth that must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or repudiates the Christian faith as a whole, and does not come to his senses after having been legitimately warned, is to be punished as a heretic...whoever obstinately rejects a teaching that the Roman Pontiff or the College of Bishops, exercising the authentic Magisterium, have set forth to be held definitively, or who affirms what they have condemned as erroneous, and does not retract after having been legitimately warned, is to be punished with an appropriate penalty (emphasis added).ⁱⁱⁱ

What is an appropriate penalty? How have heretics been punished in the past? In 2007 the Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano sparked concern by saying this:

Attacking the Church is terrorism. Fuelling blind and irrational fury against someone who always speaks in the name of love is terrorism. It is vile and terrorist to throw stones at the Pope (emphasis added).^iv

Along with intolerance, religious fervor will grow, legislating moral issues in the name of peace. We see this in the words of former UN employee Robert Muller, who said in 1997, "Peace will be impossible without the taming of fundamentalism through a United Religion that professes faithfulness only to the global spirituality and to the health of this planet."^v

The Papacy believes it is the head of "global spirituality," and has used the ecumenical movement to combine all religions under its rule. The Papacy has also subtly used the condition of the environment as an excuse for fear-based unity, and has watered down Christian teachings, Scripture, and the understanding of the God of the Bible to allow for unity across religions. With these three elements, the plans of Robert Muller and the UN are becoming reality, leading the Pope's position as a great moral leader.

Among the moral issues legislated will be doctrines originating from the authority of Rome. This will specifically include the legislation of Sunday as the day of worship, as Sunday is the mark of Rome's authority by their own admission:

Reason and common sense demand the acceptance of One or the other of these alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday, or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise is impossible.^vi

Learn more about the history of Rome and the Sabbath

US-Vatican Relations

Already the United States and the Vatican are working towards common goals. In 1982, there was a private meeting between the Pope and President Ronald Reagan, and soon after an American Envoy was posted to the Vatican. Previous presidents had tried to do this but their actions were considered unconstitutional. President Reagan accomplished this, however, by not referring to Senate or Congress. Read more about the relationship between Reagan and the Pope in the 1980s

Since Reagan, the successive presidents of the US have initiated repeated papal visits and meetings, inviting the Pope to America, and receiving him as a dignitary and world leader or meeting with the Pope in the Vatican itself. President Obama is no exception. Take note that "a whopping 52 members of the 111th Congress...are alumni of [Catholic]...institutions."^vii

It is natural for those in power to make decisions based on their religious allegiances. The problem arises when the doctrines their decisions are based on include unBiblical stances and intense punishments for those who disagree.

Catholicism is spreading throughout the United States, which now has the fourth largest population of Catholic adherents worldwide. As of 2009, two-thirds of US supreme court judges are Catholics. Twenty years ago, the Supreme Court had only one Catholic judge.

Priest-turned-Protestant Charles Chiniquy (1809–1899) tells us that "Rome is in constant conspiracy against the rights and liberties of man all over the world; but she is particularly so in the United States." He learned in college that "the principles and laws of the Church of Rome were absolutely antagonistic to the laws and principles which are the foundation-stones of the Constitution of the United States."^viii And according to Bishop O'Connor of Pittsburgh, "Religious Liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic Church.”^ix

The Papacy now has the political power to achieve their objectives in the US and the world. Charles Chiniquy writes, "I could cite many other facts, proving the Church of Rome to be an irreconcilable enemy of the United States; but it would be too long. Rome is a viper, sooner or later that viper will bite and kill this republic.”^x The final events described on Revelation 13 are on the horizon.

Read more about unity