Revelation 13:11 ¶ And I beheld
another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and
he spake as a dragon. 12 And he
exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth
and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was
healed. 13 And he doeth great wonders,
so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the
earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of
the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an
image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 15 And he had power to give life unto the image
of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as
many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 16 And he causeth all, both small and great,
rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in
their foreheads: 17 And that no man
might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the
number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom.
Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the
number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Another beast comes out of the
earth. If this earth represents religion as the other sea represents the
people, then we have a political beast followed by a beast of religion. He
looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon. He appears to be a spiritual leader
of peace and the humility of Christ but his words are that of the Devil.
This beast has equal authority
with the first beast and he performs great wonders. Jesus gave a warning.
Matthew 24:24 For there shall
arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and
wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
It’s at this point that the second
beast has an image of the first beast that recovered miraculously from the head
wound and causes all to worship it. He then requires a mark to be placed in the
right hand or forehead of every person so that no one can do any business
without this mark. Those who don’t worship the image of the first beast are
killed. The number of the beast that is the mark that is placed in the right
hand or forehead of the people is 666. The early church father, Irenaeus,
commented on an error by some copyists that led it to be written as 616, so
that nonsense can be safely dismissed when you hear an unbeliever or skeptic
declare it, just like the fictitious Gospel of Judas, which Irenaeus also dealt
with satisfactorily 1800 years ago.
This could mean that in chapter 11
when the Beast overcomes the two witnesses and they are taken to heaven that
his reign tightens in his paranoia or in the other Beast’s desire to keep at
least the image of the fallen first Beast at the head of government.
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