More and more during the last 100 to 200 years religions have BECOME the governments of many countries of the world and the Christian right would love to see that happen in the U.S. Falwell and Robertson want their followers to believe that God influences U.S. history for good or bad just like he influenced Jewish history in the Bible.
Every country says god is on their side and they use religion to inculcate this belief. Without religion, countries would hold little power over their people.
Add this to the utter impotence of the UN (supposedly going to become the center of a new world government, laughably) and you have prophetic interpretations that don't make any logical sense.