The global religious institutional quagmire is very useful for the instability phases and will be used for the whole final cycle of global war leading to world government as in WW1, WW2 and the Cold War global war cycles. What defines a world war is global scope, not "hot" or "cold" nature. So we are in the preparatory GWOT stage of the FOURTH cycle with the same intended outcome a number of years from now: world government.
Global religions will not be removed until AFTER world government is completed, though a few may be sacrificed along the way, like Jehovah's witnesses organization[*], but overall the global complex is retained through the final cycle.
Now why keep religions in tact and functioning a while longer?
1. They aid division, confusion and fighting which is required in a global war, as in the others, religion aids the process of directed violence for a political agenda; and that will be useful for the whole final cycle.
2. Religions have an enormous global hard wealth store in 100s of trillions of dollars value that is to be maintained until the end of the cycle. That wealth store can then be used to aid the final stage boost into global national system recovery as religion begins to be dissolved and provides a handy massive hard capital boost. It takes time, but it will be a global accelerated operation.
3. Deposing religions make world peace more believable and thus the world government presentation is more acceptable that it will achieve "world peace" by its own definition which requires final reorganization of all global institutions. The mass quagmire of global religion is removed for one world religion, and people will understand removing religions aids the world peace process greatly.
"Sweet victory for earth is the destruction of religion" is to be a globally recognized reality, that is why world government deposes religion at the end of the cycle under their full global authority because many in the world realize religion is part of the global problem. This is the Daniel 8:25 "bring many to ruin" parallel Daniel 11:44 "devote many to destruction" world government period as religious adherents will be part of those global purges, but others are also slated for removal.
(Revelation 16:12,19; Revelation 17:11-18, and Revelation 18:9-19 all place global religion as existent deep into the final cycle, and destroyed after the cycle completes.)
The most significant period in human history may seem to be the WW4 global stressing cycle we are entering, and it will be up to its time, but the period under world government is when the real world ordering will be applied and it will be far more significant because they will not sell their agendas with political, ideological and religious propaganda, they will do whatever they want whenever they want and they will tell no one what is up, yet it will be a real period of world "peace and security" at the same time as per Daniel 8:25 "freedom from care" AND "bring many to ruin" simultaneously. (Rev13:15-18)
Now prophecy AND global cycle logic BOTH point to a final cycle and the removal of global religion as that cycle ends and after under world government. (the "8th King", "King North", etc)
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That is the period that will trigger greater super-universal rival sovereign forces as it is not humans who will rule earth, but prostitute religions forgot who that person is, he is immortal spirit being. Human world government is eventually deposed as well, thus all the big changes go in a final sequence people can recognize when it comes: WW4/tribulation -to- world government -to- global religion removal -to- super human "kingdom" arrival for final sovereign confrontation and universal/global conquest, aka "Armageddon".
One does not need to be religious to see this, in fact imo it aids the process to not be blinded by religion—the logic is present in the WW cycles since WW1. It is a fourth global cycle coming up, and imo in it will result in world government and that basic anti-religious process above.
The coming big global tribulation cycle is just the global "problem" to be applied in controlled manner for which world government is the ultimate "solution". Most of the world's rich and powerful will fully accept and admire world government global healing (Rev13:3) and astounding final presentation (Rev17:8). The final cycle takes several years to unwind to world government.
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[*] As an example Jehovah's witnesses "Bethel" "worldwide organization" will be deconstructed as the final cycle begins soon. That corporate takeover is an example of a religious attack peppered in along the course of the final cycle, but it is not the "attack on Babylon the Great". The global religious complex is saved for last for the full effect of that destruction of that global institution. This is why JWs are deluded to expect "the end of the world"; it is a cover for the end of the JW organization, the world keeps plodding along into the fourth cycle that will just be beginning.
Uncertainty and premature "end" delusions, present in the Christian complex of religious error, aid the cover for the final cycle that is a final phase of some years towards full World Government, a very basic and easy to see reality imo, by logic and knowledge of the three cycles that preceded the fourth one coming up: they all end in a United Nations related presentation—the fourth cycle "UN" presentation is world government.