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REVELATION CHAPTER 13 KJV WEB See previous page Rev 13,1-18 (22b) Sin >> Greed tries to satisfy man’s need for security >> The idolatry of greed – The beast that emerged from the sea refers to a one-world economy/government/military/religion. It is controlled by the second beast: lamb (v11) ram (Dan 8-3,4) that had two horns, representing the antichrist and the false prophet. Note that the books of Revelation and Daniel never use the word "Antichrist", and they use the word beast interchangeably to mean either the antichrist or the false prophet. Consider the beast with seven heads and ten horns: the heads represent governmental power, while the horns represent economic power. It says in Dan 7-7,8 that three horns were pulled up by the roots, giving one head four horns, while the other six had only one, giving this one four times the leverage of the others, who became leader of the New World Order, whose title is the false prophet. The dragon, the beast (antichrist) and the false prophet together represent the unholy trinity, where the dragon represents the Father, the false prophet represents the Holy Spirit and the beast represents Christ. The beast whose fatal wound was healed counterfeited and even mocked Jesus’ resurrection. Obviously, the antichrist didn’t literally rise from the dead, since only God can do that, so the antichrist used trickery and deceit. It says the dragon gave His authority to the beast, like the Father giving authority to His Son. Crushing the Great Endtime Revival was the antichrist's purpose, but he failed, and instead of returning his authority (worldly riches) to the false prophet, the antichrist acted treacherously and sought to glorify himself. This incited the false prophet to destroy the beast (antichrist) and set his city on fire, the Vatican (Rev 17,16-18). See also: / Antichrist; 166e / Great Endtime Revival, Horns; 164c / Beast; 50f (46f) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Fall of Satan >> Resisting Satan’s deception (50f) Judgment >> Sequence of Revelations >> First half of the tribulation >> The seals of Satan's wrath >> Fifth seal - Mark of the beast -- Martyrdom – The time of the beast spans from the seals to Armageddon, whereas martyrdom occurs shortly after the seals begin, then slows to a crawl during the first four trumpets and finally ends at the fifth trumpet. Satan (the dragon) makes martyrs of the saints, though he knows that throughout history every time the saints were martyred it only worked against him to establish Christianity in the world all the more, and the last days will be no exception. Satan's repertoire of behaviors is limited to deception and murder, and when deception doesn't work, he resorts to murder. His kingdom will envelop the entire world; it won’t be local or regional as Hitler's Germany; rather, it says, 'he will have authority over every tribe, people, tongue and nation,' though his reign will be much tighter on the developed nations than on the undeveloped nations, because of their underdeveloped technology. Every developed nation’s economy went bankrupt, so third-world countries will be least effected, since they were already poor. Therefore, when the antichrist comes to power, we will all be better off living in third-world countries, which are essentially one step from the wilderness. See also: Martyrdom; Rev 13,1-8; 169l / Global economic collapse; Rev 13,3-6; 164e / Beast; 164c (164c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan rules the world >> The world is his kingdom – John said that the dragon gave the beast his power, his throne and great authority. If the heads are puppet rulers of the horns, then the horns are puppet rulers of the dragon. The beast consists of people, whereas the dragon is Satan himself. The dragon offers those who work for the beast monetary incentive and they trample on each other to be first in line for the unrighteous mammon. People have always loved money, and they have never acknowledged its consequences, so it is rarely fingered as the culprit of chronic poverty and civil depravation. It says that the beast has a throne which will be ultimately located in Jerusalem; however, it didn’t originate there. His throne actually originated in Rome, but when God’s Two Witnesses hit the scene in Jerusalem and raised up the 144,000 Jewish witness to orchestrate the Great Endtime Revival of the gentiles, the dragon will send an antichrist to the holy city in effort to stamp-out the flame like he has done so many times in the past, but the flame will explode in his face. See also: Two witnesses; Rev 13,1-7; 185g / Great Endtime Revival, Horns, Beast; 166e (166e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Wisdom of the world >> Nature of man’s wisdom >> Man’s wisdom is fixed on gaining personal advantage – Dan 11-37,38 says, “He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers… but will exalt himself above them all.” Also it says in the book of Daniel that there were ten toes to Nebuchadnezzar’s statue (See Daniel chapter 2). Satan's false prophet and his antichrist comes unannounced and uninvited and takes over the beastly heads of government and the horns of economic power, converting the world system from an economic plutonomy to a fascist totalitarian dictatorship, subjecting the whole world to his authority. The beast and the false prophet were initially enthroned in Rome, the antichrist holding the office of Pope in effort to ward off a Great Endtime Revival, but after a skirmish ensued between the antichrist and the false prophet, he burns the antichrist's city (Rome) and moves to Jerusalem where he pose as the Jewish Messiah in effort to squelch the Great Endtime Revival led by the Jews, but he will fail. See also: Great Endtime Revival; Rev 13,11-17; 162h / Antichrist; Rev 13,1-4; 181k / Horns, Beast; 245ll (245ll) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Manifestations of the devil >> Manifestation of the spirit of murder – The beast originated from a sea of people in the populations of the earth, consisting of seven heads representing governmental powers and the ten horns representing the economic powers. This beast wields great military power, but the government does not run it because it has no real authority of its own. Rather all authority and power belong to the economic system. The government consists of puppet rulers, separate from the horns, a plutonomy, which is crowned with authority. These puppet rulers interface with the public to disseminate the lies and propaganda of the beast, effectively brainwashing the people to follow the antichrist, making them believe that what the world powers are doing will result in their benefit. On the heads of government were blasphemous names; the Talmud is the book of Judaism that blasphemes the Lord Jesus Christ, suggesting that the beast consists of Jewish unbelievers, and the fact that there is also a Jewish-led Christian revival at the same time shows tremendous contrast among the Jewish people in the last days. See also: TV; Rev 13-7; 242b / Horns; Rev 13,1-4; 181k / Beast; Rev 13,3-8; 151e KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 13,1-8 (169l) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Seeking the glory of man >> Stepping on people to get to the bottom >> Those who seek their own glory idolize men – Is it any wonder God sends the bowls of his mighty wrath against a world that would worship a man who represents the darkest recesses of the human soul, while helping the antichrist martyr the saints, rather than simply look to a God who longs for their faith and repentance? No one could blame God for wanting to end this horrible carnage of humanity that has bloodied the earth these thousands of years since the Father allowed man to shed the blood of His only Son for the forgiveness of sin. Man’s legacy is just a trail of wars with nothing but excuses behind them. When it says they worshipped the dragon, it means the human race will worship demons in the most literal sense. These things will transpire during the seals of Satan’s wrath, and for this reason God’s Trumpet judgments will allow demons to torture mankind. The time of Noah’s flood was probably no different, Scripture testifying that man’s heart continually ruminated on evil (Gen 6-5). Man has consistently chosen the least common denominator, taken too many steps down the spiral staircase and muddied the human gene pool, never to climb from the pit he has dug for himself. God will soon close the curtain on man's reign on earth. See also: Martyrdom; Rev 13,3-6; 163g Rev 13,1-7 (185g) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Mystery of lawlessness >> God helps Satan in the mystery of lawlessness -- These verses go with verses 11-18. God will set up His two witnesses in Jerusalem and wreak havoc on the kingdom of Satan, who is attempting to eliminate Christianity from the earth. The Rapture gives the devil his hearts desire and eliminates Christians from the earth, but now that the Church is no longer in the world, God no longer has to tiptoe around with His judgments to avoid harming his beloved children. Therefore, during the bowls, God will unleash a fury on mankind that would totally eliminate him from the earth, except that He steps in and delivers a small remnant who have since believed after the Rapture, huddled in Jerusalem for protection, waiting for Jesus to come and establish His thousand-year reign. See also: Two witnesses; Rev 13-5; 214c Rev 13,1-4 (160a) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit >> Counterfeit God >> Counterfeit Christ -- These verses go with verses 11-15. The world was amazed at the beast because it supposedly was slain and came back to life, but remained largely unimpressed at the Lord's resurrection, yet there has always been a remnant who believed in Jesus. The world’s creator can hang on a cross and be brutally murdered for the sins of the world, and no one much notices, but Satan can raise up a system of pure evil and demonstrate hatred for mankind, wanting to destroy them all, and when he feigns an interest in man and masquerades as coming from the grave, the world is amazed and follows after him, why? The antichrist speaks about greed, lust and pride in dollars and cents, which is a language the world understands, whereas Jesus called his followers to take up his cross and follow Him. (181k) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Self deception >> Deceiving and being deceived – This passage describes a mock assassination of the antichrist. The heads are puppet rulers of the horns, but then the antichrist, one of the heads, defected and became greater than all the others in power and authority to become the antichrist. Then, one of the horns did the same; it defected from its colleagues to become the false prophet, and the two of them, one a head and the other a horn, through the power of the dragon, betrayed the beast, harnessed it and used it to become the lamb (v11). This is an act of self-betrayal, which will prove to be the dragon’s undoing. (Read Daniel chapter 8 and Revelation chapter 17.) See also: Antichrist, Horns; Rev 13,3-8; 151e Rev 13-1 (185j) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Responding with contempt to the Holy Spirit >> Replacing the Holy Spirit -- This verse goes with verses 4-8 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 13,3-8 (93m) Thy kingdom come >> Following Jesus >> Exception >> Following evil along the broad way -- These verses go with verses 11-17. Most people know at least something about the Bible, yet they will take the mark anyway, because they don’t really believe. Knowing something to be wrong does little to avoid it; we must have some reverence for God who says it’s wrong before we can resist temptation. Any career criminal will gladly confess his contempt for the law and society, and those who take the mark of the beast will gladly confess their contempt for God and His people; it should make us wonder why mankind would follow the manifestation of Satan to their own undoing? He will have such magnetism that they won’t be able to resist him, like Medusa in Greek mythology, those who look upon her will be turned to a pillar of stone. His influence will be far too attractive to resist, and he will seduce those who pay attention to him. The only way to resist him will be to follow his opposite, the indwelling Holy Spirit, letting Him attract us toward Christ. Those who are born of God will find the antichrist revolting. (151e) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears witness of the Old >> The Patriarchs >> The Old Testament prophets – Look in the book of Daniel and we’ll find the leopard, the bear and the lion, proving that Daniel’s beast and Revelation’s beast are the same beast. For example, Daniel chapter 8 speaks of the ram and the goat. While the ram was butting against everybody, a goat came from the west and destroyed its power; this could easily be the United States. Shortly afterward the goat’s conspicuous horn was broken and four horns grew in its place, and from one of them a rather small horn grew and became exceedingly large and “magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host” (Daniel 8-11). These horns represent power, various antichrists. The antichrist that Daniel and John describe, whose fatal wound was healed, refers to the goat’s horn that was broken and then four others grew in its place with one horn growing larger than the other three. The larger horn grew in the place of the one that was broken, referring to the antichrist's mock death and resurrection, becoming larger as a result of the fame it received from its fatal wound being so-called healed. See also: Goat, Horns; Rev 13,11-17; 162h / Antichrist; Beast; 183b (183b) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Witchcraft >> Sin is the incubator of witchcraft >> Through satanic influence – The whole world worshipped the dragon, because he gave his authority to the beast. He will be a military strategist of war, a ruthless dictator who has no value for human life and will steal, kill and destroy in ways that will make his enemies gasp in horror at his pitiless bloodshed. His enemies will expect him to remain loyal to his friends and allies, but the beast will show loyalty to no one but himself. The beast will reflect the spirit of the world, who is Satan, the dragon, the epitome of man’s sinful nature, as Jesus is the image of His Father (2Cor 4-3,4). Lucifer did not mutate into Satan as an evolutionary process that occurred over a period of centuries but became Satan the moment he transgressed God's throne. God divested Himself from Lucifer and the result was Satan, absolute evil, the opposite of God, and mankind will worship him instead of Christ. Man is capable of good, but in the last days he will choose evil over good. Man may not have made the same decision in other centuries and eras of human history, but in the last days he will have fallen to new lows where he is willing to follow Satan’s unspeakable wickedness, which will lead man to his own demise. Everybody has curbed his sinful nature to some degree, even the most vial of psychopaths, but the antichrist will fully express Satan's nature. His lust for power and glory will transcend wickedness all of mankind, yet this is what people will find intriguing about him. All who receive the Mark of the Beast will gladly worship him, and in return he will destroy them. They never worshipped Christ, but they will worship this bloodthirsty psychopath who hates them. Worshipping him is like worshipping themselves. See also: Antichrist; Rev 13,11-17; 162h / Beast; Rev 13,3-6; 163g (217d) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> God gives up on you >> When you give yourself over to sin -- These verses go with verses 11-17 Rev 13,3-6 (163g) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Used by Satan to destroy the word of God >> Used to suppress the truth -- These verses go with verses 11-17. The antichrist, which is the mouth of the beast, will speak evil against the saints; John called them the tabernacle of heaven as Rev 21-3 also states, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men.” Satan's mouthpiece will speak against the children of God, instilling in them incentive to turn in Christians to the authorities for the purpose of exterminating them. The dragon only has deception and murder in his repertoire of behaviors; and when his deception quits working, he will turn to murder. This campaign of martyrdom is very effective during the seals of Satan’s wrath, but once the trumpet judgments begin, Satan’s glory days of murdering Christians will cease. See also: Martyrdom; Rev 13-5; 214c / Beast; 164e (164e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan’s system of authority >> Satan’s hierarchy of evil -- These verses go with verses 11-17. “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him,” suggests that this beast commands a military. We know that the greatest war machine in the world presently belongs to the United States, so if the book of Revelation were to unfold anytime soon, we know whose military the beast would use. If the book of Revelation doesn’t unfold for another thirty years or so, who knows which military would be strongest, but since there are 2000 year periods dating back to the creation where we see a changing of covenants in the way that God deals with man, it seems reasonable to expect Christ to come in our own lifetime and catch the United States holding the bag. As a culture and people and as a nation and world, civilization as we know it is teetering on the brink of destruction. When the United States economy fails it will take down every developed country with it, since their economies are all tied together, and if the beast uses the fallen global economic system to rise to power, it shouldn't surprise us that money and wealth are the glory of his empire. Satan's servants have been deliberately weakening the U.S. economy for decades, and though it is extremely resilient, eventually it will collapse, leaving only a mountain of paper notes promising to pay its debts. After driving the world economy into the ground, when the dragon reestablishes it, he will combine all the developed nations to make a one-world economy/government/military/religion. All this will take place during the seals, which describes Satan’s emerging empire, along with his absolute hatred against mankind, and the activities of the seals is detailed in chapter 13. See also: Global economic collapse; Rev 13,11-17; 164e / Beast; Rev 13-7; 242b Rev 13-3,4 (16a) Sin >> The sin nature is instinctively evil >> Man’s flesh is related to the devil >> Man's sinful nature wars against God (162h) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Addicted to sin >> Being a slave to the nature of sin -- These verses go with verse 8 (169f) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is blind to God >> Willful blindness Rev 13-3 (38j) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death >> Resurrection of the wicked -- This verse goes with verse 12 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 13,4-18 (19a) Sin >> Twisted thinking >> Evil is good >> Loving darkness Rev 13,4-8 (185j) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Responding with contempt to the Holy Spirit >> Replacing the Holy Spirit -- These verses go with verses 11-17. His mouth is on the head of the one who faked his own death and resurrection. He will speak arrogant words of blaspheme, and he will be a Jew. We know that based on the fact that he came from a culture of blasphemers, having come from the teaching of the Talmud. Satan himself is the ultimate blasphemer, and all other blasphemers draw from the one spirit of antichrist. Rev 13-4 (196b) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Worshipping the devil -- This verse goes with verse 8 (199i) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> The world rejects God >> World rejects God because it does not know Him Rev 13-5,6 (65c) Paradox >> Anomalies >> God helps Satan >> God gives the devil a mouth to curse the Lord Rev 13-5 (36e) Gift of God >> Gifts from the Holy Spirit >> The gift of authority – This verse proves that the tribulation is seven years long, for John is talking about the Seals of Satan’s wrath that come before the Trumpets of God’s judgments, which also are 3½ years long. The Beast was given an arrogant mouth and a designated period of time to accomplish whatever was in his mind to do. What does it mean for God to give Him these things? The incarnation of Satan is a judgment from God against the Church and the world, the world because it is evil and the Church because it allowed evil to manifest. “Antichrist” is a name not mentioned in the book of Revelation, but John, the writer of this book, used it in His first epistle. We call Him the Antichrist, though Revelation calls him the Beast, who works with the False Prophet. In the 1980s many said that the beast was a computer system that would control the world; there may be some truth to that. There is little teaching on the False Prophet, but one thing we know about him is that he says things that will never come to pass. The Beast and the False Prophet manifest in the world during the Seals, depicting Satan’s wrath against mankind, beginning with the collapse of the global economy, followed by poverty, theft, riots, murder in the streets, hunger, starvation, deteriorating to war, ultimately killing one fourth of the world’s population of eight billion, accounting for two billion people dying in 3½ years. The first Seal depicts a global economic collapse; we could blame the first Seal on all the others falling. The False Prophet will lie about getting the global economy up and running again. He is not a blasphemer, but the Beast does blaspheme God. Why is Satan’s regime religious at all? There are no religious inferences in the events that take place in the last days; when we look at the first five seals, they have nothing to do with religion, so why is this man blaspheming God? He is a religious figure, because of a Great Endtime Revival that was suddenly thrust into Satan’s empire like a wrench in the works, bringing millions of people into faith in Jesus Christ during those days, and so Satan attempted to quickly counteract this movement, returning to the dark ages of Catholicism, raising the Pope as the great religious leader of the world, a counter-measure against the revival that suddenly sprang-up under duress. The man of lawlessness will resemble the Pope, but not like any Pope before him. He will hold his position, but he will not be like any Pope before him. He will blaspheme God and those who dwell in heaven, including those who worship and serve Christ in the world. They have partaken of a spiritual ascension as God’s means of protecting them from the hour of testing. Their flesh remains on earth, but their heads are in the clouds. (214c) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> God’s timing transcends our comprehension >> God’s time line gives the wicked enough rope to hang himself – Forty-two months is 3½ years. It is the period of the seals, and knowing that the trumpets are also 3½ years gives us the seven-year tribulation. The bowls of God’s wrath are not part of the seven-year tribulation, for the Church was raptured at the last trumpet, and the Tribulation refers to the tribulation of the saints. The purpose of the trumpets was to stop the antichrist from martyring the saints. The Two Witnesses described in Revelation chapter 11 will control the trumpet judgments in that whatever they do locally against their enemies in Jerusalem God will do to 1/3 of the earth through the trumpet judgments. Satan is temporary; his fleeting moment in the spotlight will end in complete failure; it was not 3½ years of bliss; rather, most of it was horrific. There was a moment of glory when mankind worshipped at the feet of pure evil, which he sought since man ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Satan’s moment of glory accomplished three things: 1) it fed his massive ego 2) it gave him hope that he would somehow find a way around his impending judgment 3) and it spurned the Lord that mankind would rather worship him than Christ. Those were all three of Satan’s objectives, and they were all met, though it was short-lived, because God’s judgment fell on his kingdom and destroyed it. See also: Martyrdom; Rev 13-7; 45l / Two witnesses; Rev 13-10; 87j Rev 13-6,7 (160i) Works of the devil >> Temptation >> Overcoming temptation >> Prayer overcomes temptation Rev 13-6 (140b) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Hiding place >> Worshipping God in His temple – Whatever the antichrist blasphemes he hates the most. Satan jealously hates Christians here on earth, but he especially hates those who are already in heaven, because he knows they will receive an inheritance that far exceeds the inheritance that God promised him before he fell into transgression, but for Christians on earth, the devil still has hope to coax some of them to trade their salvation for a bowl of soup (Heb 12,15-17). KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 13,7-10 (6a) Responsibility >> Jesus’ yoke of obedience >> Our obligation to keep His commandments – These will be difficult times for Christians, for God will allow some of us to be killed, imprisoned, and mistreated. Our greatest temptation will be to defend ourselves, which would have the opposite effect that we intended. It is written, "For Your sake we are being put to death all day we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us" (Rom 8-36,37; taken from Psalm 44-22). He wants us to play our part in fulfilling prophecy by being innocent of all evil, so He can pour out His judgment on our enemies as previously ordained. This is God’s endtime refining process, prepared for His people, since the Church lived apart from His will throughout most of the age of grace. He wants to clean up His bride before the wedding. (100a) Thy kingdom come >> Perseverance (Working to keep in motion) >> Persevere in tribulation Rev 13-7 (42f) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Be like Jesus >> Innocent of all evil -- This verse goes with verse 10 (45l) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Subjecting your flesh >> Satan VS the saints >> Fighting against Satan – This prophecy will be fulfilled during the seals, so basically Revelation chapter 13 is describing what will happen in chapter five, particularly in the fifth Seal. It says he will make war with the saints and overcome them. This will make many people wonder if God has forsaken them. Circumstances will disintegrate to a point that many Christians will be martyred, and God will expect us to keep the faith during this time. It says that authority over every tribe, people, tongue and nation will be given to him, but that doesn’t mean he will reign equally on every nation. He will actually have more of a hold on developed nations than undeveloped nations, based on the technology of their infrastructure. We may be glad we don’t live in a third-world country now, but when the antichrist comes, third-world citizens will be glad they don’t live in a developed country. The Bible ends on a positive note, in that though the days grow dark, the light will shine ever brighter. These are days of giving way to the thousand-year reign of Christ that has been prophesied for millennia. Some of us may have to pay with our lives to see His kingdom come, yet God says even that is a small price in view of the reward of serving the very source of life. See also: Martyrdom; 189h (189h) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Martyr >> Dying to self through persecution – God never lifted a finger to stop people from killing their fellow man in World Wars I&II; why now at the end of the age does He use His great power and begin to reign? The whole world has developed a system of martyring the saints, that's why! In WWII the Jews were ushered into Hitler's concentration camps and systematically destroyed, and Christ didn't lift a finger to help them, because though they were God's chosen people according to the flesh, they didn't believe in Him, and for that reason they were not His people according to the Spirit. However, when people get it in their mind to round up the true saints for extermination while signs are performed to prove that God is working a wonder among them, it will rouse Christ to act on their behalf. God will stop man’s reign on earth and establish His own kingdom that will last a thousand years, which will prove to be the first Millennium of an eternal kingdom. Christ will show mankind how he could have governed himself all these millennia, peacefully, but man wanted war. See also: Martyrdom; 242b / Israel (Holocaust); Rev 16,1-7; 189f (204d) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Back-slider >> Practicing sin >> The apostasy -- This verse goes with verse 10 (242b) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecution to the death >> Martyrs – “The Lord knows those who are His” ( 2Tim 2-19), and “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from wickedness.” Everyone whose name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life will refuse to worship the beast and his image (Daniel 3,16-18). Satan is the dragon (other translations use “serpent”), and the beast is the dragon’s world system, and the image of the beast is the Media that legitimizes his global empire. The image of the beast will present Satan as responsible for developing a system of rounding up Christians and martyring them. The image of the beast therefore does two things: It depicts the dragon as he is and it conforms his worshippers to his image. His whole kingdom will revolve around the goal of eliminating Christianity and Christians from his world. Anyone who worships his image and receives his mark will by that agree to help Satan rid the world of Christians, so to worship his image is to worship Satan. See also: TV; Rev 13,11-17; 196b / Martyrdom; Rev 13-10; 42f / Beast; Rev 13,11-17; 162h Rev 13-8 (162h) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Addicted to sin >> Being a slave to the nature of sin -- This verse goes with verses 11-17 (196b) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Worshipping the devil -- This verse goes with verses 11-17 (219hh) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> The elect >> God chooses us as we choose ourselves >> The Lamb's book of life – It says all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Lamb's Book of Life. If we are blood-bought Christians, and if our name is written in the Book of Life, we will not worship the antichrist, but it does not matter if we call ourselves Christians, if we receive the Mark of the Beast, we will be barred from heaven. The Bible even refers to erasing our names from the Book of Life (Rev 3-5). The Book of Life represents God’s gracious choice of certain people to inherit eternal life (Rom 11-5). Is there anything we can do to ensure our name is written in the Lamb's book of life? Predestination is God's perspective, not ours, so no; yet from a human standpoint there is plenty we can do to ensure our name is written in His book. Salvation is a decision that we have made, according to God's will; both God and man involve their wills in salvation. From God's infinite perspective He has personally written our name in the Book of Life with His own hand before He created the heavens and the earth, but from our limited perspective we too must exercise our will to effect our own salvation, metaphorically writing our name over the name he has given us in His Book. Essentially then, the book of life is a roster that we vicariously sign the day we believed in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord and received His Spirit. (220a) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> Predestination >> Predestined before the foundation of the world (241ib) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecution to the death >> Kill Jesus >> Kill Jesus by the predetermined plan of God >> The Jews had Jesus murdered KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 13-9 (106e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Attaining the hearing ear >> Having the ability to hear – If we can hear His word in our innermost being, it proves that we are His children. John emphasized what the Spirit (not the Bible) says to the Church. The facts of the Bible alone cannot save us, not even the fact that Jesus died for our sins can save us; rather, we need to believe these things and let God reveal them to us by the Spirit. We can memorize Scripture and recite it verbatim, but if the Spirit of God has not revealed His word to us, it indicates that He does not live in our heart, and in that case we are not saved. Jesus said to Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Mat 16-17). Jesus was saying that facts are useless without a revelation of them. God wants us to understand His truth by revelation of the Spirit, so we believe Him in places of the heart that we never knew existed until we heard God's voice speaking in us. Rev 13-10 (17g) Sin >> Judging in the flesh >> Perceiving reality according to the flesh (Satanic world view) – It is imperative in the last days to walk in the anointing and continually renew our mind in the word of God and prayer, just to avoid the pitfalls of bitterness. The temptation to defend ourselves will be too great to resist without God working in us. Fighting our enemies will result in losing the protection of the Holy Spirit to our own demise. (42f) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Be like Jesus >> Innocent of all evil – This verse goes with verse 7. If we don’t want to be killed, then we shouldn’t kill anyone. That is easy to say, but in times of anarchy the temptation to defend ourselves and protect our loved ones and our provisions will be an everyday situation. This is why Paul advised us to remain single (1Corinthians chapter 7), indicating that he expected Jesus to return in his lifetime. The first century Church modeled Christianity for us, so every generation after them should have expected Him to come in their lifetime even thousands of years before His return. Therefore, how much more should we prepare, who are more likely to see His return than any generation before us? People will take everything we own and leave us with nothing, like a school of piranha attacking dead meat. How will we respond? Will we get a gun and shoot them? Shooting our way out of the Seals will only get us shot, and stabbing our way out of the Seals will only get us stabbed. The seals will be the hardest time of the Church's history, and that is saying a lot! The worst thing that can happen to us is death, but death will only usher us into the presence of God in heaven, and if we die as martyrs, we can hope for a better resurrection (Heb 11-35). None of our possessions can save us. If we have a hundred dollars in our pocket, the store shelves will be empty and hyper-inflation will turn it into toilet paper. If we have food and someone takes it, in the long run it won’t matter, because chances are highly improbable we had 3½ years worth of stored food, so eventually we would run out anyway; then what will we do? God has a plan, and that is why it says in the verse 9, "If anyone has an ear, let him hear." See also: Martyrdom; 87j (87j) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Being a slave to obedience – God's protection in the Two Witnesses will not come until the Trumpets, which is a full 3½ years down the road from the first Seal. The only thing that promises to get us through the arduous times of the seals is our faith, trite as it sounds. If we die, we need faith to get to heaven, and if we survive the Seals, we will need faith to enter God’s protection provided by the Two Witnesses. Genuine faith is defined as true knowledge conveyed by the Holy Spirit. When the global economy collapses, we will need true knowledge articulated by the Spirit, who leads us into the true will of God. That is, we will need the hearing ear to navigate through unfolding endtime prophecy. If anything causes us to doubt or question, we won’t make decisions that are necessary to stay in God’s will. Decisions that lead to the will of God won’t make sense to the natural mind, so we will need the Spirit to guide us. Most people think that to die is to fail, but God’s definition of failure is failing to reach the shores of heaven. If we are martyred doing the will of God, we have not failed, but have entered eternal life with the martyr's promise of a better resurrection (Heb 11-35), which is the ultimate victory! See also: Martyrdom; 126d / Two witnesses; Rev 13,11-15; 160a (126d) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Peace >> Peacemakers avoid violence – God will expect His people in the last days to avoid reaching for the sword (knives, guns, bombs, cannons, etc.) to defend ourselves from our enemies who are trying to kill us. God is saying that it is better to die as martyrs than kill. We simply cannot pick up a gun and blow somebody's head off by faith in Jesus Christ. See also: Martyrdom; Rev 13,11-17; 162h (160l) Works of the devil >> Temptation >> Tempted to act like an animal (163b) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Being slaves of men >> Prison (189j) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Masochism (Self-made martyr) >> Fasting >> Fasting simulates dying to self (204d) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Back-slider >> Practicing sin >> The apostasy -- This verse goes with verse 7 (219j) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> Predestination >> God’s calling is our destiny Rev 13,11-18 (185g) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Mystery of lawlessness >> God helps Satan in the mystery of lawlessness -- These verses go with verses 1-7 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 13,11-17 (93m) Thy kingdom come >> Following Jesus >> Exception >> Following evil along the broad way -- These verses go with verses 3-8 (162h) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Addicted to sin >> Being a slave to the nature of sin -- These verses go with verses 3&4. This passage is about the antichrist and the false prophet. The little horn that grew larger than the other is the antichrist. The false prophet sponsors the Pope (antichrist) for the purpose of quelling a Great Endtime Revival, which he fails to do, but he did manage to betray the false prophet and glorified himself. The first beast with seven heads and ten horns emerged from a sea of people, but the second beast, the ram, emerged from the earth, that is, from hell. John's account is an abbreviated version of Daniel's narrative detailed in chapter 8, where he wrote about a goat that comes from the west and has one horn that destroys the ram's two horns, and then the goat's horn is broken and four horns grew in its place, and from one of them proceeded a fifth horn that was smaller than the others but grew very large, and this was the horn that concerned John. He didn't mention the goat; he just said that this devilish fifth horn that grew from one of the four was responsible for martyring the saints. See also: See also: Martyrdom; Rev 13,16-18; 165e / Great Endtime Revival, Horns; Rev 13,1-18; 22b / Goat; Rev 13,3-8; 151e / Antichrist; Beast; 196b (163g) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Used by Satan to destroy the word of God >> Used to Suppress the truth -- These verses go with verses 3-6 (164e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan’s system of authority >> Satan’s hierarchy of evil -- These verses go with verses 3-6. Is there conspiracy within our global economy? The answer is ironically yes and no at the same time. Think how long the economy has been running and how long there has been evidence of conspiracy. We can see traces of economic conspiracy going back hundreds of years, but a safe place to start looking for conspiracy is at the convergence of new ideas, and for many nations that period was after World War II. Everything changed then for good or for bad depending on the country. We are talking around 1945, and here we are now in 2022. That was 75 years ago. If anyone were interested in establishing an economic conspiracy, he would never see the fruit of his labor; he would be working for his progeny. Maybe this is how the greediest people in the world thought after World War II, but that is not how they think today. Rather, corporations are sacrificing their children’s future for a better return on the dollar. A multi-trillionaire will not design and perpetuate a grand conspiracy for his descendants; that is not how rich people think. We are living in a very self-centered generation. There is no one strategizing a conspiracy for someone else to reap the benefits. No one is investing all his time, effort and money, sacrificing his life for the sake of his grandson becoming chancellor of an empire, so who is at the root of global conspiracy? "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph 6-12). The evidence of world conspiracy is obvious, but finding the culprits behind it all is impossible until we introduce satanic forces into the equation. When we see a logical progression of events transpiring over multiple generations with no one seemingly at the helm, we know that Satan is afoot. These conspiracies act just like social paradigms (akin to cultural evolution and social engineering), suggesting that he controls them too. See also: Global economic collapse; Rev 13,1-18; 50f (183d) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Witchcraft >> Anointing of error (185j) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Responding with contempt to the Holy Spirit >> Replacing the Holy Spirit -- These verses go with verse 1 (196b) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Worshipping the devil -- These verses go with verse 4. Satan, who is not technically alive, will instruct man to make a lifeless idol that appears alive, representing the union between man and demon. It’s not the false prophet who makes the image, but “those who dwell on the earth.” Many say that the image of the beast is the television set in every person's house, and they are probably right, at least to some degree. All human civilization will come together and broadcast the same propaganda for everyone to hear and believe, like an overcast sky from horizon to horizon. Man will make an image to idolize the beast in all the ways he has so-called improved life on the earth. Those who make the image are one with those who made the golden calf in the days of Moses. They made an idol to reflect their greatest wish while roaming in the dessert, who longed for a land flowing with milk and honey. So what kind of idol will Satan’s worshipers make in the last days? This image will again resemble man’s greatest wish, which is to live in the land of a booming economy, complements of the dragon, his antichrist and the false prophet. See also: TV; 217d / Antichrist; Beast; 217d (217d) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> God gives up on you >> When you give yourself over to sin -- These verses go with verses 3-8. Here we have the world being totally amazed at this beast and the false prophet. When has the world ever been this amazed about God? These two demonic entities clothed in human flesh represent the essence of man! Therefore, to worship the beast and his false prophet is to worship self and the dragon (Satan). Mankind has always had an affinity to worship demons. Although God originally made man in His image, after Adam ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he took on a different image, that of a beast, the image of man in rebellion against God, just like the devil! See also: TV; Rev 13,1-18; 245ll / Antichrist; Rev 13,11-15; 160a / Beast; Rev 13,16-18; 165e KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 13,11-15 (160a) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit >> Counterfeit God >> Counterfeit Christ -- These verses go with verses 1-4. When it mentions fire coming down from heaven to the earth, this happens after the false prophet sees the two witnesses doing it. Although the scene John described happens during the seals, and the Two Witnesses call down fire during the Trumpets, referring to the transition toward the end of the seals. When the false prophet calls down fire from heaven, he will be doing it as a trick and not a miracle. The false prophet counterfeits the two witnesses for the purpose of making him and his antichrist appear to be equal with the two witnesses, who literally call down fire from heaven, whereas the false prophet’s demonstration of power will be just an elaborate fireworks display. In other words, the endtime standoff will be similar to the Old Testament skirmish between Moses and the pharaoh of Egypt, whose conjurers used wizardry to counterfeit the miracles that Aaron performed with Moses’ staff. See also: Two witnesses; Rev 13,1-18; 164c / Antichrist; Rev 13,1-18; 22b (179g) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> False prophets >> False prophets confess to be the Christ – Many people hate the god they have imagined in their minds, which in no way resembles the true God, and for this reason they cannot see Him behind the imagery they placed in front of Him like an idol, and they can’t hear His word over their violent rage. This is what it means to have a hardened heart, and Satan's goal for each person is to die without Christ and lose his soul in hell. In Satan’s twisted mind, he thinks it would be better if we joined him in hell than if he suffered alone. He is an utterly perverted spirit, and surrendering to his influence is the ultimate travesty. Satan and the demons are a mental illness that has made the world sick throughout the ages, and we should not allow him to lead us an inch in his direction. Rev 13-11 (55h) Paradox >> Opposites >> Looked like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon (180d) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Be shrewd as wolves and more innocent than they appear >> Wolves in sheep’s clothing Rev 13-12 (38j) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death >> Resurrection of the wicked -- This verse goes with verse 3 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rev 13,16-18 (165e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Do not partake of the world >> Do not desire the treasures of the world – A lot of people have speculated about this number over the centuries. It seems strange that we would have to calculate the number of the beast if John gives us the number: 666. What is there to calculate? This number has two glaring attributes: it is composed of the number six, and it has three digits. Seven is the number that represents God; six is Satan’s number, being one less than seven, "You have been weighed on the scales and found deficient" (Daniel 5-27). Three is the number that represents man: body, soul and spirit (among those who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them), so the number 666 is a composite of the numbers six and three (Satan and man), the name of his number. Our social security number has 9 digits, displayed in this manner: 000-00-0000. The mark of the beast, will be a computerized information system that will use the person’s current social security number, and they will migrate the old information to the new system using a second number that will be assigned to each person, appended to the original number. This will be a global number system, and since not every country has a social security number, and since there are more people alive on the planet than the value of a nine digit number, meaning there will be at least ten billion people alive when the antichrist comes to power, giving reason for this new social security number to be elongated. They will add another 9 digits to our social security number, making it an 18 digit number, and they will arrange these digits in three equal sets: 000000-000000-000000, thus 666. This number will be entered into a chip and then planted under the skin of a person’s hand, who chooses to participate in Satan’s New World Order. If they receive the mark, the Bible says they are doomed to the eternal flames of hell, because the devil will see to it that this mark doubles as the participant’s vote to martyr the saints. The name of the beast is: Satan and man. Thus, there are two forms of the mark; the Bible says it either represents “the name of the beast or the number of his name.” What is the difference? The mark of the beast without a number associated with it essentially is a blank mark, guaranteeing the person a place in hell while excluding him from the beast’s economic system. Those who break the rules of the system are penalized by deleting their number, so they can no longer by or sell, yet they are guilty in the eyes of God of taking the mark in the first place. See also: Martyrdom; Rev 13,1-18; 50f / Beast; Rev 13,1-18; 22b See next page