Are the visions of two mighty religions posing the greatest danger on Earth?

Iran just elected its most militant, right-wing candidate, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. His election as president places the entire political system in Iran under the complete control of the clerics. That kind of political control by the clerics is not seen in any other powerful Muslim nation.

Here is why this is so frightening. Iran is an unbelievably oil-rich nation, it is the world’s number-one terrorist-sponsoring nation, and it is about to get nuclear bombs. The fact that fanatical clerics are in control ought to terrify the world.

Already Ahmadinejad is declaring a worldwide Islamic revolution. That’s an extremely dangerous ambition. And even now his country strikes fear into the other Middle East nations.

Any way you look at this situation, it means deadly trouble for this world.

What makes this picture even worse is that these mullahs are often guided by religious visions. That makes them routinely over-confident and far more perilous.

America lacks the will to deal with Iran and radical Islam, and the European Union is too weak to do so at this point. So Iran grows stronger and more belligerent.

However, the EU won’t remain weak. The Vatican is going to unite the Union into a Roman Catholic superpower, but with fewer nations. The less zealous members are going to be removed. (If you want to understand how I can make such a bold statement, write for our free booklet Germany and the Holy Roman Empire).

Probably the most right-wing cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church was elected as pope in April. He is going to move the church much further to the right than any of his recent predecessors. When this happens in a church with such political power, we all should be deeply concerned.

Here is what Pope Benedict xvi said in his weekly address delivered from his summer retreat in the Aosta Valley on July 24: “[I]t comes to us … at this particular moment in history with all its problems, to reflect on the contribution that Christianity [Catholicism] has made and is continuing to make to building Europe.

“I would like to do so by thinking back to the pilgrimage in 1982 of my beloved predecessor, the servant of God John Paul ii, to Santiago de Compostela, where he made a solemn ‘Declaration to Europe’ … in which he spoke these memorable words of the greatest timeliness which I now repeat: ‘I, bishop of Rome and shepherd of the universal church, from Santiago, utter to you, Europe of the ages, a cry full of love: Find yourself again. Be yourself. Discover your origins, revive your roots. Return to those authentic values which made your history a glorious one and your presence so beneficent in the other continents’” (www.vatican.va).

The last two popes have been continually repeating that message: Discover your origins, revive your roots.

What origins is the pope referring to? What roots? Why must they find themselves again? He is referring to the history of the “Holy” Roman Empire. The real origin he discusses is Charlemagne, who waded through rivers of blood to make Catholic converts. Most people, however, know little about his bloody exploits.

Those roots also include several extremely bloody crusades against Islam in the Middle East. Maybe he was referring to that glorious history. That recent history even includes Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler.

The EU already has the nuclear bomb. Are we about to see a nuclear crusade?

The pope also said: “Let us ask this of God through the intercession of Mary most holy, who watches as mother and queen over all the nations as they journey on” (ibid.).

What an inflammatory vision that is! “Queen over all the nations”—queen over not just Europe, but over the Middle East, America, Russia, China, India and other nations? Remember, he is talking about the bloody history of the “Holy” Roman Empire—in Europe and in the other continents.No religious empire has ever spilled more blood. And the worst is yet to come!

What an ambition! The kind of ambition that causes crusades and bloody wars. And so horrendously dangerous in this nuclear age.

These two powerful religions are now turning their wrath toward each other.

This is bad news for the world. But it’s leading directly to the best news this world has ever heard. Our free booklet Germany and the Holy Roman Empire will explain that exciting subject to you.