And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea.
The Beast out of the Sea
And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. 4 Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?”
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. 6 He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.
9 He who has an ear, let him hear.
10 If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity he will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword,
with the sword he will be killed.
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.
The Beast out of the Earth
11 Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. 12 He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. 14 Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, 17 so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
18 This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.
Wow! I clicked onto Internet Explorer to get this passage in Revelation from biblegateway.com. Then I had the notion to check my gmail, which I rarely check because it is not my primary email. Well, I had some emails from Youtube that were notifications of subscriptions, though I don’t recall having subscribed to anything, though I may have and just don’t remember. Anyway, one of these emails caught my eye because it was titled, “Obama administration unveils beast system tracking cyber IDs” – Political Seer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc5hDVOXMlI&feature=digest. This definitely fits with the mark of the beast spoken about in this passage of scripture.
My Understanding: The book of Revelation has many interpretations, as so much of this writing is in symbolic form rather than literal, and thus its meaning is subject to interpretation. I am no Bible scholar when it comes to interpreting this book of the Bible, so I must trust the Lord Jesus to just give me the understanding from it that he wants me to have, recognizing that I am a clay vessel and am thus subject to error in understanding. Yet, I will share, to the best of my understanding, what I believe the Lord Jesus wants to teach me and for me to share with others from this passage in a very practical manner that can be applied to our lives today.
Again, the dragon is Satan. The beast is an entity of some kind consisting of governments and corporations, i.e. the wealthy and powerful of the world. The sea represents many peoples, multitudes, nations and languages (see Rev. 17). The horns and heads represent kings and kingdoms. The beast resembled a leopard, had feet like a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. Compare this to Daniel’s dream in Daniel 7 - http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+7&version=NIV1984. Daniel dreamed of four beasts, the first had the appearance of a lion, the second of a bear and the third of a leopard. Daniel’s fourth beast sounds like the beast of Revelation, which is a type of one world order of government, which I believe we are presently coming underneath.
The dragon gave the beast his power, throne and authority, i.e. this beast is of Satan. One of the heads (kings or kingdoms) seemed to have had a fatal (death) wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. A previous kingdom or a similar kingdom to a previous one, in nature, will arise out of the ashes. Some people believe this is a revival of the Roman Empire. Whatever it is, it represents a previous power and dominion that is coming back to rule, only this time to rule the entire world. The Lord has shown this to me previously as a Hitler-like regime, only with believers in Jesus Christ as those marked for extinction.
The whole world was astonished and followed the beast and men worshiped the dragon and they also worshiped the beast. To worship means to give honor, praise, adoration, pledge of loyalty, heart, conscience, duty, and allegiance. The Lord has previously shown me how our pledge of allegiance to the US flag is a type of worship of the US government and our constitution. I am amazed continually at the number of believers in Jesus Christ who follow the government of the USA blindly and believe everything they say and put in print as though it is the truth. The Bible tells us that this beast is going to deceive the inhabitants of the earth. We will be deceived when we believe everything we hear or read in print or see on TV if we don’t take what we hear, read and see before the Lord in prayer, asking him to show us what is true and what is false. How do we know, for instance, that Osama bin Laden was just killed? We need to be so discerning so that we are not captivated by the beast and we become worshipers of the beast instead of worshipers of Almighty God.
This beast was given a mouth to utter proud and blasphemous words, yet he is also a deceiver and will come as a wolf in sheep’s clothing until the time in which he is ready to be revealed for who he truly is, so that is why we need to weigh carefully everything we see and hear to make sure it is of God. We need to look to see if our leaders’ actions match their words or even if their words match their words, because many times they speak the opposite of what they testify to believe and to practice, as well as they practice the opposite of what they proclaim to believe. Do we really know what our government is doing in the nations around the world? Do we believe all the propaganda they spout out all the time just because it sounds good? Our US government is part of this beast which is of Satan. Check the internet for the connections between Washington D.C. and Satan and you will be astonished to learn how D.C. was built upon Satanic and cultic and Masonic themes and upon the worship of false gods and goddesses. Look at our monuments and our money and the symbols on our money. We are not the Christian nation we have become to believe we are. That is why this passage ends by saying, “This calls for wisdom.” Don’t be blind-sighted. As believers in Jesus Christ, we need to make sure we are not following this beast without realizing it just because it comes under the guise of a Christian nation.
This beast was given power (given by God) to make war against the saints and to conquer them. This is where the rubber meets the road. Don’t think for a moment that this is going to be obvious. It is very subtle with many, many subliminal messages. Don’t be lulled to sleep. We need to wake up, oh church! One of the greatest means Satan and this beast will use for conquering the saints of God is to render them ineffective for the gospel of Jesus Christ by lulling them to sleep, by entertaining them to death, by getting them to believe everything they hear, read and see via the government and via the media and to never question anything, as well as to get them to water down the gospel message to where it barely resembles the true gospel at all and to where believers in Jesus Christ are more concerned with their own lives than they are in being witnesses for Jesus Christ, out of fear they might offend people or lose friends. Yet, a day is coming when the beast will take serious action against the saints of God here in the USA. He is already doing that in other nations. And, our government and military in combination with NATO and the UN are party to the killing of Christians and innocent civilians in other nations in order to conquer them.
When the reality of what is taking place finally reaches the American people, and/or when the time for the fulfillment of these 42 months in which the beast will truly rule the entire earth and will force people to take this mark if they want to buy or sell, comes to fruition, there will no longer be fence riders, spiritually speaking. Our eyes will be opened and we will have to make a choice between worshiping God or worshiping the beast. All those who are not true believers in Jesus Christ, if for no other reason than survival, will worship the beast, i.e. they will take its mark in order to be able to buy and to sell. Yet, I have always seen this “mark” as more than just a physical mark or as even some kind of card or chip, but rather the true “mark” has to do with the symptom, stain and/or evidence in one’s life of the power, influence and control over one’s life of this beast of Satan, so this begins in the heart when we are so easily deceived by what we hear, see, or read via our government and media and when we take upon ourselves the pattern of the world and follow after men instead of taking upon ourselves the cross of Jesus Christ and follow after Him.
This calls for wisdom and insight. Oh, how I pray that we would all take this before the Lord in prayer and in seeking his face and in inquiring of him as to how we are being deceived, manipulated, led astray, hornswoggled, and made to believe lies fed to us daily by our government and media, and how we are following the ways of the world instead of following our Lord Jesus Christ - to obey and to worship HIM ONLY!
My Jesus, My Savior / Michael W. Smith
My Jesus, My Saviour,
Lord there is no one like you…
My comfort, my shelter,
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship You…
http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/m/michaelwsmith2601/myjesusmysaviour310697.html
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