Nebuchadnezzer’s monsterous dream soldier had four parts as depicted in the previous posting.  Daniel’s dream consisted of four Beasts.  Three of them had a total of seven heads.  His fourth Beast had seven heads, one of which had 10 horns.  The Apostle John, in vision, saw one Beast which had seven heads and ten horns that arose “out of this (fourth) kingdom.”  The seven heads represented the combined strength of the three Beasts (world-ruling empires) that had come and gone before the fourth Beast’s arrival on the world scene in 31 B.C.  This Beast government had absorbed the characteristics of the three that had come before it and therefore possessed all of their power, cunning, speed, ruthlessness, etc.  This fourth Beast rose to unparalleled dominance between 31 B.C. and 476 A.D., becoming an empire. However, with the passage of time the Beast Empire began to decline and, in 476, “died” from a “deadly wound”–moral degeneracy.  Recall that both Daniel’s fourth Beast and John’s singular Beast both had seven heads and ten horns, meaning that they were one in the same beast.  History reveals that this Beast was the Roman Empire.  Our focus is on this fourth Beast which John writes about in Revelation 13.

Let us return to the time of the fourth Beast’s  “deadly wound” that resulted in its “death–its disappearance from the world scene which officially took place in 476 A.D.  Biblically speaking, the fourth Beast is characterized as being cast into the “bottomless pit” (abyss).  John, in vision, focused only on this final head of the seven-headed Beast.  This head had ten horns, symbolizing that 10 successive governments/kingdoms/kings would rise from this one Beast.  From this point on John writes only about this one Beast government which had 10 horns (resurrections in the form of governments).  Nine of the horns (governments/kings) were named in the previous posting.  In Revelation 13:3-5 John tells us that the head that had been wounded to “death” would later (554 A.D.) have its head healed (after which) all the world wondered about the Beast.  The people worshiped the dragon (Satan) which gave the Beast its power.  They (also) worshiped the Beast itself, saying, “Who is like the Beast? who is able to make war with (defeat) him?”  And there was given to him (the Beast) a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given to him (the Beast) to continue forth-two months” (1260 days–days=years–totaling 1260 years).  Notice that the Beast was given a “voice” with which it (the Beast) spoke great things and blasphemed (God).  This was the “little horn” of Danial 7.  The Beast was given a spokesperson (“mouth”) which spoke blasphemous things against the most high God.

Recall that we earlier read about a second beast that would come on the scene who would be called the “False Prophet.”  Scripturally, prophets refer to church leaders.  False prophets use God’s true gospel in order to be accepted by the people, by then twist His Words to mean something else.  The Apostle Paul was already warring against such prophets within 25 years of the founding of the New Testament Church in 31 A.D.  Even then false prophets were speaking against God by perverting His Gospel (Gal. 1:6-9), thereby presenting “another Jesus” (2 Cor. 11:4).  See Simon of Samaria: The Legacy.  Use the key word “Samaria.”  The Beast whose “voice” was perverting God’s Words during Paul’s time had come to power in 31 B.C.  By the time of Paul’s ministry it had had gained control of a large part of Europe and had become an empire.  Over 500 years later the church Simon of Samaria had founded in Rome in 33 A.D. would come to dominate that empire after it “restored” the former “dead” Beast to its former greatness in 554 A.D.  Having brought the Roman Empire out of the “grave,” Simon’s  Universal (Catholic) Church then gained dominance over it to the point that she crowned its kings, gave it her blessings, directed many of its activities, etc.  It became a case of the tail wagging the dog.  This “little horn that was more stout than the others” (Dan. 7:20) was the “voice” of the empire–the state church.  When the church spoke the empire did her bidding.  Recall John’s vision of Revelation 17:1-5 where the “woman” was riding (controlling) the beast with 10 horns.  This woman was the Catholic Church.

The horns (fourth Beast governments) that rose, dominated, then fell were identified in the previous posting.  The first nine rose and fell between 554 and the defeat of Mussolini’s Italian/German Fascist Regime in 1945, thereby ending World War II.  This was the 9th horn (Beast government) that had risen, ruled momentarily, then went down in defeat, ending the fourth Beast’s life forever.  Or so the world thought.  The United Nations was established for the purpose of preventing the Roman Empire, particularly Germany, from ever rising again.  With Germany totally destroyed and Italy totally subjugated, there was no possibility of the Beast ever coming to fore again.  The world would never again be threatened by the Holy Roman Empire–Daniel’s fourth Beast and John’s lone Beast.  The world and the United Nations “knew” that the Beast was gone forever.  However they did not know what God said about the fourth Beast and its 10th resurrection, even though John and Daniel wrote extensively about it.  John, having received information about it in a vision,  wrote about the Beast that “was, then was not, and then was to arise again.”

It is this final (10th) resurrection of the Beast that looms in this generation’s future.  It will make the 9th resurrection, led by Italy and Germany, pale by comparison in that it will have a nuclear arsenal at it disposal.  And it will use that arsenal.  This Beast will attack the United States, Britain and the Jewish nation (modern day Israel) and will defeat them.  The fourth Beast is growing more economically and militarily powerful every day while its “voice” (the second beast) becomes more authoritative and blasphemous as he declares that his words trump God’s Words, and that his doctrines trump God’s doctrines.  His whore church, called Mystery, Babylon, is calling her estranged harlot daughters back to into the fold.  Who are they?  Are they returning?  Who is the modern day Beast that lurks in the shadows preparing to strike? What is its identifying mark? Is that mark used today to identify its followers?  What is its image that the world will be forced to worship? Who is the modern day False Prophet/second beast who will soon become the Beast’s all-powerful “voice.” Does his church exist today?  Who is the whore–the  “woman” drunken with the blood of the saints who will ride (control) the beast as described in Revelation 17:1-5?  Do the Beast, the whore and the harlots play any part in the modern Institutional Church? The reader will soon learn the answers to these questions.    L.J.