(Please read, "Daniel & Revelation Reveal THE ANTICHRIST" first)
At, about the same time the first beast (the Papacy) went into captivity (Rev 13:10) in 1798 under Napoleon, we read, "And I beheld another beast..."(Rev 13:11). The USA war recognized by France as a world power around 1798. He comes up out of the earth, a sparsely populated place and has two horns LIKE a LAMB (a christian nation), but speaks as a dragon. A nation/kingdom speaks through its laws. Two horns - civil liberty (NO KING) and religious liberty (NO POPE). While the USA arose out of a sparsely populated place,the first beast arose out of the sea (representing the Papacy's growth in the populated areas of Europe (please see Rev 17:15).
Early Americans made clear statements about the separation of church and state. GEORGE WASHINGTON in 1789 said, "Every man conducting himself as a good citizen and being accountable to God, alone, for his religious options, ought to be protected in worshipping the deity according to the dictates of his own conscience."
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN said this, "When religion is good, it will take care of itself. When its not able to take care of itself, and God does not see fit to take care of it, so that it has to appeal to the civil power for support, its evidence in my mind that, the cause is a bad one." (Christian Coalition? Didn't Jesus say, "My kingdom is not of this world, else would my servants fight"?)
ULYSSES S. GRANT, in the 1800s said, "Leave the matter of religious teaching to the family altar, the church and the private school, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separated."
Rev 13:12 says, "And he (the United States) exerciseth all the power of the first beast (Papal Rome) before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." Protestant America (the Whore's daughters, as seen in Rev 17:5 - Rome calls herself, the "Mother Church") will stretch its hand across the ocean to unite with the Papacy (Haven't we, alreaady, seen this,as when President Reagan united with the Pope to bring down communism in eastern Europe?)
Church, I never thought I'd see the day when Evangelicals would embrace the Roman church - men, I love and admire, such as Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, Chuck colson, etc. It must be the love of the Truth, the Word of God, alone, that unites us - whether Catholic or Protestant...doctrine DOES matter.
The Dragon (Satan) wanted to replace God, the first beast (Papacy) wants to replace our Lord Jesus Christ. "The leader of the Catholic church is defined by the faith as the vicar of Jesus Christ (and accepted as such by believers). The Pope is considered the man on earth who TAKES THE PLACE of the Second Person of the omnipotent God of the Trinity." JOHN PAUL 11, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, p.3, 1994. The last beast (Protestant America) will perform miracles and cause all to worship the first beast, thus, seeking to replace the Holy Spirit.
The Bible says, we are headed toward a one-world religion (Ecumenical Movement) and a one-world government (New World Order). How is that going to come about? How does "the greatest empire in the history of the world" spread her influence?
DEMOCRACY...Wake up, sleeping church.