At the time when the
ten horned beast received its deadly wound another power was
to arise. This beast seems at first to be totally different
from the other.
Revelation 13:11 says, "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."
You will remember that
the first beast came up from the "sea”. But St John saw this
New Power coming up from “the earth”.
The sea is a prophetic
symbol for "peoples and nations, and tongues."
Revelation 17:15 says, “And he saith unto me, The
waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are
peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues”: which was
a true picture of Europe where the Papal Beast arose.
But the “earth”
represents something the very opposite: not a crowded country
of different nations, but a sparsely populated country. And
where was there such a place? It certainly was not in Europe.
The Great Reformation
Let us go back a
little, in which Martin Luther played such an important part;
it was far reaching in its effects. It was the Reformation
that gave birth to two Great Principles: religious freedom and
political freedom.
That fact is stated in
Revelation 12:16. "And the earth helped the woman,
and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood
which the dragon cast out of his mouth.”
The Church was in the
hands of a persecuting power and the dragon sent forth a great
flood, hoping to drown the truth. But the Earth came to the
rescue the church. The protest of the princes of Germany at
the Diet of Spires was like a pebble thrown into a lake. A
wave started and the circles widened until their effect was
felt far and wide.
A Beast
Coming Out of the Earth
John had another and
more definite view of the help given by the Earth. Turning
from the sea, from which he saw the great and terrible beast
arise, with its seven heads and ten horns and the names of
blasphemy, he saw another beast moving into prominence.
Revelation 13:11 says, “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.”
It was at the same
time that the papal power was being led into captivity, that
the prophet saw this new power “coming up.”
Papal Rome
sprang into existence in the midst of many peoples. It arose
in the boundaries of the old Roman Empire.
Revelation 13:1 says, “And I stood upon the sand
of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having
seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns,
and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.”
A Lamb
Like Beast
The beast of
Revelation 13 arose from the sea. But the second
beast arose in a new country away from all strife, outside
of the European darkness and it was brought into existence
by God Himself at the very time it was most needed: to give
relief to the persecuted, to enable men and women to study
their Bibles in peace and security.
Yes, it was in
America that the oppressed had freedom of worship, the right
to educate their children according to their ideas of God.
That is why the prophecy says in
Revelation 13:11, “ And I beheld another beast
coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a
lamb...." And true to the prophecy this happened.
A century and a half
before this time the Pilgrim Fathers had landed on the
shores of America and colonies began to spring up. By 1776
these colonies were ready to sever connection with the
mother country. They won the revolutionary war and laid the
foundation of a completely new nation.
Birth
of the Nation
In 1789 the
Constitution was framed and ratified. In the same year the
French Revolution broke out causing an upheaval not only in
France, but throughout Europe. During this time the ten
horned beast received its deadly wound in 1798, right at the
very time the Lamblike beast was “coming up.”
John Wesley,
interpreting this prophecy of Revelation 13, writing about
1754 said, “He is not yet come, though he cannot be far off,
for he is to appear at the end of the forty two months of
the first beast." Explanatory notes upon the New Testament
17th Ed p.704.
Beast
Had Two Horns
We have already
discovered that Horns represent power. And this new beast
has two horns, lamblike horns. In the Book of Revelation
Christ is presented as the Lamb.
Revelation 5:6 says, “And I beheld, and, lo, in
the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the
midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain,
having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven
Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.”
Civil
and Religious Liberty
For this new nation
to be Christ-like means that it is a Christian nation. Those
two horns represent the two great principles upon which the
government of America was established: civil and religious
liberty.
This statement of
J.A. Bingham makes this clear, "The object of those who
first sought this shore was found what the world had not
seen for ages, viz, a church without a pope, and a state
without a king.”
In the Constitution
of the United States is written these great principles. "No
religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to
any office of public trust under the United States."
“Congress shall make no law respecting any establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” First
Amendment United States Constitution, "The United States
shall guarantee to every state in this Union a republican
form of government.” Article 4 Section 4.
America indeed came
up at the right time and in the right way, and has fulfilled
this part of the prophecy alright.
From Lamb to a Dragon Beast
But the prophecy
goes on to say that America would not always be a peace
loving nation.
Revelation 13:11 says, “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.”
You see a big change
is coming; from Lamb to Dragon; from a Christian nation to
an atheistic power under Satan’s control; from one who
offered shelter to the persecuted to become the persecutor.
Listen to this.
Revelation 13:12 says, “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.”
There is a very
sound reason why these two beasts are in the same chapter.
They both do the same work, they both exist together.
Revelation 17:8 says, “The beast that thou sawest
was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit,
and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth
shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of
life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the
beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”
The American beast
arose as the Papal beast received his deadly wound. That is
the beast that was. Then he recovered from the deadly wound
and is now coming back into tremendous power.
Beast Performs Miracles
The second beast, that
is apostate Protestantism, performs miracles in the presence
of the first beast, Catholicism; so that the whole world is
deceived into making an image to the first beast whose deadly
wound is healed; And that the second beast compels the
inhabitants of the earth to worship the first beast.
Revelation
13:12 says, “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.”
The dragon is the
controlling power of both these beasts and gives them his
spirit, power and authority. The dragon and the two beasts of
Revelation 13 are the most prominent of all the enemies of
God
and His people.
The False Prophet
In
Revelation 19:20
the two horned beast is identified as the false prophet: “And
the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that
wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that
had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped
his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire
burning with brimstone.”
Inasmuch as the false
prophet and the beast work hand in hand, both in this passage
of Scripture and in Revelation
chapter 13 where the beast and
the two horned beast are featured: this is a main point of
identification.
Also the false prophet
is mentioned as a miracle worker.
Revelation 13:14 says,
“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.”
In
verse 13 we are
told that the false prophet performs great wonders. He even
makes fire come down from heaven. As a true prophet performs
miracles before God in order to convince men of the fact that
he is genuine; so this false prophet performs counterfeit
miracles before the great antichrist to deceive the
inhabitants of the earth. He is called a prophet
because his activities are chiefly religious.
At the beginning of
this century Roman Catholicism in North America was regarded
as a mission project supported by gifts outside the nation. However today, more
money pours into Rome’s coffers from the U.S.A. than from all other
sources put together.
Image of the Beast
An image is not the
exact thing but is something that look or acts the same. Everyone have heard
this saying "You are the image of your father." One thing is sure, and
that is you are not your father but closely resemble him.
The papal beast came
into existence as a result of the "falling away" or great
apostasy in the early church.
The image to the beast
is formed when the apostate protestants succeed in uniting
with the state. This was prophesied
way back in the Old Testament in
Isaiah 4:1. "And in that day seven
women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own
bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy
name, to take away our reproach.”
Isaiah is describing
the conditions of the Churches in these last days.
Church Symbolised as a Woman
In the Book of
Revelation the church is symbolized by a woman. The true
church a pure woman clothed in righteousness; the
apostate church portrayed as a harlot clothed in purple and
scarlet.
Revelation 17:5 says,”
And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE
GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
The seven women who
take hold of the one man are these daughters of the old harlot
mother. They take the name of Christ, they call themselves
Christian but prefer to eat their own bread. That is, they
reject the bread of life, the Bible teachings, and instead
substitute their own traditions, their own doctrines and
man made ideas. They wear their own
apparel instead of the perfect robe of Christ’s righteousness.
And that is a perfect picture of the religious trend today.
Trend Toward State Religion
The growing demand for
a Union of Churches of the U.S.A; the activity of Moral
Majority for political as well as religious ends, is growing
more insistent as the apostasy increases. To bring about this
union the "National Reform Association”, the “Lord’s Day
Alliance”, the “Federal Council of Churches of America”, and
other national and international organizations have been
formed.
Tremendous strides have been made toward the the fulfillment of the
prophecies concerning the false prophet and the image to the
beast. The union of the
protestant churches of America is practically an assured fact.
As soon as the State
yields to the pressure and begins to advance the interests of
the Protestant church then the image of the beast will be
formed and will become an active persecuting power.
Dr R.H. Martin, one
of the leaders of the 'National Reform Association’ declared
that their program “will bring the nation to accept the will
of Christ in all that it does so that the ideals of Christ can
be written down in the law of the land and a national
confession of faith made." There it is! Can’t you see it?
State religion.
Why State Religion?
I could back that up
with statement after statement. Why do they want to get State
backing? The Bible tells you why.
Revelation 13:15 says,
“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.”
That is clear enough.
They want power in order to force people to worship the way
they want them to worship.
Verse 16 says, “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:”
Verse 17 says, “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.”
Enforcing Sunday Worship
It is the mark of the
beast or of Papal Rome that is enforced by false Protestantism who make it the
mark of their own religion.
Now what is it that
the Roman Catholic church has given to the world that all the
world has accepted? Do you know what it is? Why, it is Sunday
keeping. It is recognized by every country of the world and
that goes for Australia as well.
If they got out those
old Sunday laws and started to enforce them you would be
surprised just what you could not do on Sunday.
Dr Harry Bolby,
secretary of the 'Lord's Day Alliance’ said this, "Everybody
knows what would happen to any man showing disrespect for the
American flag, and we mean to put the American Christian
Sabbath upon exactly the same basis as the American flag."
Did you get that
clearly? You can see that they mean business. There is no
question about this. The Rev J.W. Foster
said, “…even know we hang a man for murder for violating the
sixth commandment, and I believe that those who persist in
violating God's Sabbath (Sunday) should be put to death."
There you are! So
called men of God are saying the very thing that God said they
would, and more than that, would do it in these last days.
A minister in
Philadelphia said, "I pray to see the day when all people will
be driven to the church to worship as they should on Sunday."
Who to Worship?
The issue in the
coming crisis is clear. The great question is, will we obey and
worship the Papacy and its Protestant image, or the Creator of
the heavens and the earth. It was Woodrow Wilson, President of
the U.S.A., who made this statement, "I would sooner perish in
a cause that will triumph than triumph in a cause that will
perish.”
Here is the promise of
God.
Revelation 3:10 says,
“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will
keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon
all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”
What a wonderful
assurance of protection to His people. God says that things
will look grim. They will seem desperate but when God makes a
promise He always fulfills
that promise. So take heart and let God carry out His
promises.
Music Page
