The body of Christ is not held together by church affiliation...it is held together by the Holy Spirit with Christ as the ruling Head over the body of believers.
As for Romes affiliation with the church...it's also written in history they joined together politically...monies and power were exchanged in order to sustain the status quo.
I have no problem that not only the catholic church..but the world council of churches, and even the large organizations which claim Christianity will become strangely united with the rise of the Roman Empire...(One world governance and religion come to mind which we are taught clearly will be in the future.).
. I think what is meant by the Coming Roman Empire is a conglomerate of power over the world...we have seen these being positioned on the international stage over the years.... There has to be a religious element in order to garner the masses....politicians love to garner the religious for the monies they can generate if it becomes necessary...I suspect those powers will rake off the top of a united church a substanial amount of money and will no longer be a tax free entity then. Additionally we see there is religious unrest, demonstrations, outbreaks, etc. throughout the world and now showing evidences in our country. This will not be allowed to get out of hand...so it would not be surprising, as these religious skirmishes escalate..that the powers that be would unite them under a single banner...and yes because of the wealth and power the catholic church welds it will surely be included...
The body of Christ is not held together by church affiliation...it is held together by the Holy Spirit with Christ as the ruling Head over the body of believers.
ABSOLUTELY INDEED.
Actually, it is — look up the history of the Protestant reformation and you will see the splits from Lutheranism to Calvinism and Zwinglism to the Radical Reformers to Unitarianism and from thence the short steps to paganism