We are getting there, as not only does Trump see himself as leader of the free world, but it seems he wants to be more..

"President Trump shared an AI-generated photo of himself dressed as the pope just days after telling reporters that he'd "like to be pope."

The image ? which Mr. Trump first posted on his social media platform Truth Social ? was also shared by the White House's official social media account on Friday. It comes as cardinals from around the world are set to gather in Vatican City to choose Pope Francis' successor as the leader of the Catholic Church.

The image shows Mr. Trump seated in an ornate chair, dressed in white papal vestments and headdress, with a finger raised.

? The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 3, 2025
Mr. Trump, who is not Catholic, joked to reporters outside the White House on Tuesday that he would like to succeed Francis, who died at 88 last month.

"I'd like to be pope. That would be my No. 1 choice," he said."


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-ai-generated-photo-pope-vatican/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-posts-spoof-picture-himself-104515475.html

Well, the Catholic world has expressed "outrage" and called out for Trump to stop this "mocking" and "disrespectful" "joking".
The Vatican does not react with any favor to this display by Trump. At least not publicly, who knows what psychological manipulation is going on underneath all this.

Trump uses psychological tactics to manipulate the emotions of the masses to get what he wants.

His emotional psychological manipulation is playing hugely with the politics of other nations. Wonder what he is trying to manipulate with this new exaggerated depiction of himself in Vatican power.

We do notice he's already pictured himself as the golden image statue which looks much like Bible prophecy.

In full agreement. This makes him so scary. Sadly, too many of the more liberal side wants to turn America into French Revolution Europe, and Trump and far, far, far too many on the "conservative" side are trying to turn America into the catholic Europe (yes, small "c" catholic as it was the idea of the church-state which was not just limited to the Roman Catholic Church). Both sides are forgetting a little something called the American Revolution. We have lost sight of the issues brought to light by Roger Williams, Thomas Jefferson/James Madison, Ellen White, John Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and others (willingly or reluctantly).

Yes, they are forgetting history!

Another huge part of that history which they are forgetting is that sacralist society will always be persecuting society.

A sacralist society is bound together by a common religious loyalty. A religion to which all the members of that society are expected to be committed.
Israel was a sacralist society, one religion, everyone was expected to worship according to it's laws, though they often wandered far afield, yet they still considered themselves as part of the sacralist society.

That's the big problem in sacralist society, in which people claim a religion in an outward way simply because they are in that geopolitical/religious group where it is the state religion, not because of any strong loyalty or conviction.

The New Testament is built on an entirely different plan. A plan in which members of God's kingdom of grace can live in any geographical society and still be citizens of God's kingdom. They are members of God's kingdom because they have chosen Him and are loyal to Him. They render under "Caesar" the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are God's.

The whole idea of Israel as a nation being God's people, ended. Israel now are "those in Christ", not because of biological process.
God's children are such "by faith in Jesus Christ" they are the ones who are "baptized into Christ have put on Christ" "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal 3:26-29)
God's true children do not persecute those who believe differently, but they do witness and proclaim the gospel.

Persecution is part of sacralist societies.

In a sacralist society there is a huge perceived threat to the society as a whole, if some people in that society hold to a different religion than the state religion. There is a big "need" to either convert them or eliminate them. It is thought their disloyalty in the state religion will destroy the whole nation. Thus sacral societies always persecute.

The United States (by God's grace) implemented to a big degree, the New Testament plan for government.
Christianity is not a culture rope and rod to hold society together, but rather a culture influencer . It is wrong to say the nation was founded as a Christin society because there was never a time when everyone in the USA was a Christian. And there were always many different "flavors" of Christianity, none of which were to be government support, but neither were they to be condemned, or hindered.
Yet the USA was highly influenced by Christianity, sometimes more, sometimes less, but no one is expected to be a Christian in order to be USA citizen. There is freedom of religion.
The state is a secular institution, not an enforcer of religion, it is not a punisher of what some think, heresy.

The Papal church on the other side, was, during the middle ages, very much a sacralist society. The people were expected to adhere to certain beliefs and practices or face the inquisition, persecution, exile, or death. There was considerable zeal to root out all "heretics".
The protestants were not immediately cured of the sacralist mind set either, and did some serious persecuting as well. It took a while to realize the sacralist method was not the NT method


What is looming ahead, is an attempt to make the USA a sacralist society. Trump himself is hardly an example of genuine Christian. He, like Constantine, sees Christianity as a possible binding power to bring the USA into a cultural with a unifying, correcting mode.

In the time of the end, we are warned, those who resist the religious mandate (sunday keeping) will be seen as destroyers of the society. That can happen only if the United States turns into a sacralist society.
A sacralist society doesn't need conviction and genuine religion, all it needs is to reign people in to adhere to certain practices to show they "agree". Thus the mark of the beast is satisfied with the mark just being in the "hand" (adhering to certain practices of a religion), while God will only honor the sign being in the forehead (frontal lobe of the brain) where true belief, faith and commitment show a genuine loyalty and trust in HIM.