Image of the Beast, the Trump Catholic Cabinet.

[reddogs]

Well, looks like we are coming to the 'Image' of the Beast as Trump is filling his administration with not just Catholics, but some much more intense if not fervent Catholics changing the Republican Party.

"The Catholics in Trump's administration could take GOP in whole new direction
The president-elect has nominated at least a dozen Catholics to top positions.

Trump, who was raised as a Presbyterian but now considers himself non-denominational, has nominated at least a dozen Catholics to top positions in his administration, including his own vice president JD Vance, a Catholic convert, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his pick for Health and Human Services Secretary. Their faith could play a direct role in shaping public policy, from pro-union policies and new tariffs to expanding the child tax credit and more tightly regulating the food and drug industries and also help carve a new path forward for the Republican Party..

In interviews, several conservative practicing Catholic leaders said they see a close alignment between many of Trump's second-term policy priorities and a conservative read of Catholic social teaching, which goes far beyond abortion. It's also focused on promoting marriage and having children, giving parents wide discretion on everything from school content to health care and empowering non-governmental institutions like churches and nonprofit organizations for social support.

"No one's walking into the administration ready to mount a crusade or anything,' said Rachel Bovard, vice president of programs at the Conservative Partnership Institute, a Trump-aligned think tank. But 'there's a very specific sort of Catholic paradigm that you may begin to see.'

It comes after decades of influence of a more individualistic evangelical Protestantism on the Republican Party that, among other things, strongly embraced individual liberty and free market capitalism.

In his nearly decade of political prominence, Trump has already dramatically reshaped the GOP, and it's clear that the Republican Party's future likely wont be found in Ronald Reagan's three-legged stool of conservatism, which was fiscally conservative, socially conservative and hawkish.

Where Republicans have long been skeptical of government intervention, some in the party increasingly see the government as a tool to reshape social policy...." https://www.politico.com/news/2024/12/15/conservative-catholics-second-trump-administration-000917

"President-elect Donald Trump may be known for his close relationship with evangelical Christians, but it's Catholics who figure prominently on the list of picks he's made so far for high-profile positions in his administration.

A review by the Deseret News found that at least nine of the 24 people tapped so far to fill top advisory roles come from a Catholic background, including Vice President-elect JD Vance and Trump's nominee for secretary of state, Marco Rubio.

Catholic voters helped Trump secure a second term in the White House.

Multiple polls have shown that Trump gained Catholic support from 2020 to 2024, including in the swing state of North Carolina.

Exit polls from The Washington Post showed that Trump's share of the Catholic vote jumped nine percentage points from 2020 to 2024, from 47% to 56%, as the Deseret News previously reported.

Using its VoteCast survey, The Associated Press identified a smaller but still significant jump in support for Trump among Catholics and reported that Catholics were one of few religious voting blocs to make a notable shift toward either party in 2024...." https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...lates-to-the-2024-faith-vote/ar-AA1uggzV

 

[reddogs]

Here is more insight into Trump's Vice Presidential pick, JD Vance...

"Since his nomination as the Republican candidate for vice president, focus has intensified on J.D. Vance's religious beliefs and how they connect to his politics.

Vance is a convert to Catholicism and seems to have the same policy positions that many American Catholic conservatives hold: opposition to abortion, support for the traditional family, skepticism regarding liberal immigration policies and efforts to combat climate change, and advocacy of economic tariffs.

Some news reports have also referenced Vance?s apparent association with Catholic Integralism, although Vance himself has not addressed the issue publicly.

So, now might be a good time to ask: What is Catholic Integralism?

What is Catholic Integralism?
The basic position of Catholic Integralism is that there are two areas of human life: the spiritual and the temporal, or worldly. Catholic Integralists argue that the spiritual and temporal should be integrated ? with the spiritual being the dominant partner. This means that religious values, specifically Christian ones, should guide government policies.

Catholic Integralists disagree about how to achieve this integration between the spiritual and temporal. Some argue that Christians, particularly Catholics, should have advisory roles in government and lead by example. Other Catholic Integralists want a more comprehensive approach to organizing society along Christian principles.

Catholic Integralists share an opposition to liberalism. Generally, liberalism is understood as a political philosophy that supports limits on the government's authority and constitutional protections for the rights of individuals and minorities. But Catholic Integralists argue that liberalism is incapable of establishing deep forms of human community because it values individualism and liberty above all things.

The irony, from the Catholic Integralist perspective, is that liberalism is not really that liberal. Instead, liberalism demands and enforces adherence to a certain set of values, like tolerance and pluralism, that prevents creating a social order in which human beings can realize a larger, God-given meaning for their lives.

Catholic critiques
There are strong criticisms of Catholic Integralism coming from both within the Catholic church and beyond.

The Vatican II document, 'Dignitatis Humanae,' affirms that the state should protect religious liberty for all, not only Catholics. This is a position that some Catholic Integralists would find problematic.

Other critics have argued that Catholic Integralism is 'unreasonable' and unworkable because society needs to rely on the cooperation of individuals who inevitably have different ideas and values."... What is Catholic Integralism?


"Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance is one of the most overtly religious major politicians in America.

Vance has written extensively about his life in faith, both in a mega-selling memoir and in a long essay that describes how a drug-using teenager with anger problems, family problems, school problems, and doubts about God became an accomplished, successful family man excited about being a Catholic.

But nowadays, he?s also the most questioned of religious politicians, as pro-lifers ask if he?s still one of them.

Where did he come from in faith? And how did he get where he is now?

Vance, who comes from a long line of culturally Protestant Scots-Irish Americans from Appalachia, was baptized Catholic in August 2019.

Below are 13 items about his meandering journey to Rome and the aftermath, drawn largely from his 3-million-copy-selling 2016 memoir 'Hillbilly Elegy' and a 6,777-word essay he wrote about his conversion for the Easter 2020 issue of The Lamp, a Catholic magazine. .." 13 things to know about J.D. Vance’s Catholic journey

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

No problem with the spiritual guiding the temporal. It is when we get into the weeds of values in conflict that we see what we really have.

 

[BobRyan]

no doubt certain political action groups , denominations etc have been helpful to Trump and certain members/leaders in government have been members of the catholic church.

But the mark of the beast in Rev 13 and the Image to the Beast in Rev 13 - are much more specific than such generalities. We have yet to see that form.

I agree that Earth is moving steadily forward to a point where society is ready for such a thing

 

[reddogs]

no doubt certain political action groups , denominations etc have been helpful to Trump and certain members/leaders in government have been members of the catholic church.

But the mark of the beast in Rev 13 and the Image to the Beast in Rev 13 - are much more specific than such generalities. We have yet to see that form.

I agree that Earth is moving steadily forward to a point where society is ready for such a thing

When the temporal and religious come together, we will see the 'image' of the original.

 

[BobRyan]

When the temporal and religious come together, we will see the 'image' of the original.

Indeed.

For example -- see NAR -- New Apostolic Renewal... that is an example of the real thing.
We have had both the Senate and Congress having Catholic members as the majority Christian group for decades. That is not the big issue that is being predicted in places like Rev 13.

But NAR is getting much closer to the point of what SDA literature was talking about in the 1800's.

 

[Amo2]

Both parties are eaten up with Catholics, as our population becomes ever increasingly Catholic from one mass migration after another for well over a century now. These are among the waters of Rev. 17 which the great harlot sits upon, which the dragon casts out of his mouth to take away the woman (Christ's true church) with a flood in Rev. 12. The earth opened its mouth to swallow the flood of the dragon, by the beast which arose from the earth affording them a place of sanctuary while it had two horns like a lamb. But that beast, the United States, has been repeatedly flooded with mass migrations of Roman Catholics unto the continuing formation of an image to the first beast of Rev. 13 who arose from the sea. The lamb like beast is therefore beginning to speak like the dragon, who gave the first beast of Rev. 13 his seat and power.

Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3 And 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. 4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

 

[BobRyan]

Both parties are eaten up with Catholics, as our population becomes ever increasingly Catholic

denominations tend to have their strengths and weaknesses.

God calls the killing of babies "abomination" and also said that about a number of agenda items put forward in the past administration in the US. But the Bible says nothing against having a certain number of Catholics in a political administration.

 

[Amo2]

The bible of course says nothing about Catholics, since they and most denominations today are post New Testament. Our Constitution and bill of rights forbid restricting Catholics or any people of any other religion from participating in our government. This does not change the fact that the papacy instructs its people to implement their social doctrines and teachings by law wherever possible. Every Catholic therefore, must choose between the authority of our Constitution and bill of rights, or the papal authorities position of a combined church and state. A great deal of what we see being carried out by our government, is directly tied to the instructions which the papacy writes for their faithful and or anyone who agrees with their views, in papal Encyclicals and Doctrinal Notes.

The papacy itself represents a foreign nation and government which has and does disagree with many of the founding principles this nations was built upon. Often throughout history aligning themselves with our enemies. Including Hitler, Mussolini, the Chinese, the UN, and other globalist, socialistic or communistic leaning entities today. Not to mention the woke of many a nation.