The purpose of this document is to
illuminate the understanding of the three areas of the future
(immediate and far) that every human will face: Who?, Where?, When?, and now, With Whom?
It is all in the Holy Scriptures as you
will soon recognize as it is "decoded" before your eyes.
There
is a massive confusion about the First Resurrection, the Second
Resurrection, the End of These Times, the 1,000 Year Reign
and The End.
We have addressed the
First and
Second Resurrections and
the
placement of the 1,000 Year Reign in Section I
(1). Now we are trying to
identify the two beasts and the prophet mentioned in the Book of
Revelations.
We shall call this section....
Where
is the beast?
DETAILS
Let us see what the Holy Scriptures tells us about that. Thus,
the first step should be to sort out the Beasts, 1st and
2nd, the False Prophet, satan, etc. Think of it as a Who Is Who?
in the Book of Revelations.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their
armies gathered together to make war with him that sat upon the horse,
and with his army. 20 And the beast was
taken, and with him the
false prophet, who wrought
signs before him, wherewith he seduced them who received the character
of the beast, and who adored his image. These two were cast alive into the
pool of fire, burning with brimstone. [Revelations 19: 19-20]
It looks like this beast is a political world leader, and the
false prophet is the religious world leader.
Let us not get confused, "the beast" IS NOT satan. satan is
cast into the bottomless pit as related in the following verses of the
Book of Revelations.
1
And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the
bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. 2
And he laid hold
on the dragon the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3
And he cast him into
the bottomless pit, and shut
him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should no more seduce the
nations, till the thousand years be finished. [Revelations 20: 1-3]
As you may see, temporarily, we have in the bottomless pit: one beast;
one false prophet and one satan.
What we are told that will happen when
"...
the thousand years shall be finished" helps us confirm the latest count
of key players in the bottomless pit:
7 And when the thousand years shall
be finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go
forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the
earth, Gog, and Magog, and shall gather them together to battle, the
number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 8 And they came upon the
breadth of the earth, and encompassed the camp of the saints, and the
beloved city. 9 And there came down fire from God out of
heaven, and devoured them; and the devil, who seduced them, was cast into the pool of fire and brimstone, where both the
beast 10 And the false
prophet shall be tormented day
and night for ever and ever. [Revelations 20: 7-10]
As a matter of confirmation, let us review the current population of
key
players in the
bottomless pit. Permanently we have in the bottomless pit: one beast
and
one false prophet; and, temporarily, until the thousand years are
completed, one satan.
But wait! Didn't we read somewhere in the Book of Revelations
that one beast came out of the earth and
one out of the sea? Are we missing a beast.... or are we not?
Let us see....
The First Beast (2a)
1 And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having
seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten diadems, and upon his
heads names of blasphemy. 2
And the beast, which I saw, was like to a leopard, and his feet were as
the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his own
strength, and great power. [Revelations
13:1-2]
[Do notice - the dragon - satan has given this beast that came up
out of the sea "his own strength and great power"].
The Second Beast
11 And I saw another beast coming up out of the
earth, and he had two horns,
like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. 12
And he executed all the power of the former beast in his sight; and he
caused the earth, and them that dwell therein, to adore the first
beast, whose wound to death was healed. [Revelations 13: 11-12]
Now, this beast which came up out of the earth - with
two horns like a lamb - causes the
people of the earth to adore the first beast - the one out of the sea.
And, pray tell, who leads people to adoration? A religious leader!
Those "two horns" St. John is referring to are the two points in the
miter
(2b) used
by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy.
Now it seems that we have a problem with the counting of the
beasts. At every census of the
bottomless pit we either find: a beast and a false prophet
OR a beast, a false prophet and
satan but
in no other part
of the Book of Revelations we
find two beasts as we find in Revelations 13: 1-2 and 11-12.
The first time the false prophet "makes an entrance" on the Apocalyptic
scene is at Revelations 16 wherein we find a dragon, a beast and a
false prophet:
13 And I saw from
the mouth of the dragon, and from the mouth of the beast, and from the
mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. [Revelations 16: 13]
Next appearance of the false prophet is at Revelations 19:20 wherein we
find the beast and the false prophet again:
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the
false prophet, who wrought signs before him, wherewith he seduced them
who received the character of the beast, and who adored his image.
These two were cast alive into the pool of fire, burning with brimstone.
[Revelations 19: 20]
We now see that "
the false prophet....
seduced them
who received the character of the beast, and who adored his image" [Revelations
19:20],
which we now
can identify with "..
.another (the second) beast ....
caused the earth, and them that dwell therein, to adore the first
beast, ...."
[Revelations 13:11-12]. Both quotes
are related to the adoration of the first beast. Let us remember that,
just as we have stated before, both "the
false prophet" and "the second
beast" perfectly fit the profile of a religious leader of world
recognition.
Therefore, we now have the missing piece needed to
understand the full picture; that is, the False Prophet is no one else
than....
11 .... beast coming
up out of the
earth, and he had two horns, like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. 12
And he executed all the power of the former beast in his sight; and he
caused the earth, and them that dwell therein, to adore the first
beast, whose wound to death was healed. [Revelations 13: 11-12]
Logically a "beastly" religious leader would be also called "false
prophet". "Prophet" is always associated with a religious figure
and.... isn't that one of the claimed charisma of the Bishop of Rome?
"We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty." Pope
Leo XIII, in an Encyclical Letter, dated June 20, 1894. (3)
"The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ,
but he is Jesus Christ Himself, hidden under the veil of flesh." "The
Catholic National," July 1895. (4)
"We define that the Holy Apostolic See [the Vatican] and
the Roman Pontiff holds the primacy over the whole world." A Decree of
the Council of Trent, quoted in Philippe Labbe and Gabriel Cossart,
"The Most Holy Councils," vol. 13, col. 1167. (5)
At this point we must remind the reader
who may not be familiar with our positions that we are not against the
papacy. However, we are against the deification - by word or deed - of
any human being - Popes included.
We have clearly defined the Petrine Ministry (6) as Jesus intended it to
originally be as well a to when Infallible pronouncements (7) are called for.
However, recognizing the Petrine Ministry and the need for punctual
Infallibility does not mean
the approval of the many atrocities
(8) committed
by some Successors of Peter.
