Just as today Islam is biblical Christianity's most obvious and immediately dangerous enemy, so
Roman Catholicism held a similar position during the dark ages and the Reformation. Catholicism
was the relentless and vicious persecutor of a great number of men and woman who refused to
follow its dogmas. We tend to remember the Catholic practice of burning "heretics" at the stake, but a reading of the history reveals plenty of beheadings2 too (aligning to the vision of the saints
beheaded for the word of God in Revelation). Like Islam, Catholicism also has its eyes set on world empire, but with the Pope rather than the Mahdi as the head over it. In terms of connection to the
Roman Empire (which from Daniel's prophecy we know is somehow intrinsically connected to the
final world empire), Catholicism is arguably the most closely connected entity of all. It is in effect a hybrid religion in that through the Constantinian change, and the outworking of the forces that set in motion, Christian ideas and terminology were ultimately fused with the pagan religious ideas that
had previously formed the spiritual basis of the Roman Empire. Catholicism came right out of this
"Christianizing" of the Empire and its very power was largely inherited from the disintegration of Rome. Many of the reformers saw Roman Catholicism as the iron mixed with clay, the "Holy Roman Empire" (as it was often called) being that second, politically weaker, form of the Roman Empire prophesied in Daniel chapters 2 & 7. While Roman Catholicism seems less significant today it's
notable that ecumenical efforts, the emerging church and other forces appear to be bringing the
whole Protestant Christian world slowly back towards Rome and the Papacy. Rome may therefore
once again become the ascendant power that it was in times past.
NEW AGE / ILLUMINATI
This is a truly complex one to deal with in that it spans a wide range of occultic, New Age and Satanic beliefs, as well as touching on areas of conspiracy theory and elite power within world politics and the monetary system. In essence it would appear that in the west there has existed for many
centuries satanic secret societies, operating primarily amongst many of the most powerful and
influential people throughout the ages. In one of this spirituality's earliest forms, the Knights
Templar, the Catholic papacy actually attempted to wipe it out because even that hybrid and
corrupted form of Christendom was able to recognize pure Satanism when it saw it. Absorbed into
Freemasonry, which was originally just a tradesman's Guild, the Knight Templar's occultic mystery
religion came down through the ages embedded within the very core of an outwardly Christian
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society. With its members often masquerading as Christians it nevertheless possesses its own
definite ambitions for a new world order. Unlike Islam and Roman Catholicism it would seem that its absolute upper echelon are knowingly Satanists, worshipping a god whose name they conceal, but
who amongst themselves they know as Lucifer. It would appear that from this occultic core the new-
age movement received its birth, albeit stripped of the obvious Satanism. New Age is in many ways
no longer a movement in that it has simply become the lens through which most people in secular
society see the world. It seems likely that the New Age with its intrinsic acceptance of the occult is, out of the three great forces of Antichrist, the one that could be most easily be guided into direct Satan worship. Now with regards to the connection to the Roman Empire, the Western world as the
direct descendants of the western arm of the Roman Empire connects every bit as clearly back to
that empire as Islam and Roman Catholicism do. And in terms of ambitions for a new empire, the
new-age movement clearly seeks a "New Age". This new age is to be the age of Aquarius, a perfect new world order that will, they believe, replace the current age of Pisces (understood to be the age of many religions such as Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, etc). This is to occur after a time of much trouble and upheaval during which the forces of the old age will destroy themselves and ultimately
be completely eradicated. They also expect their (New Age) Christ to come, the Messianic figure who will reign over the earth and draw all things temporal and spiritual together. Much biblical
terminology is misused to support New Age ideas, and it's notable that, just as the protestant
denominations are being lead back to Roman Catholicism, so all forms of Christianity in the west are being heavily influence by New Age thinking, even to the extent that some parts of Christianity are now effectively just Christianized New Age movements. (e.g. The Word of Faith movement, The
Emergent Church.)