Revelation Bible Prophecy

Revelation Chapter 13

Rise, Reign, Ruin, Resurrection and Restoration

Something to keep in mind as we look at this chapter;

Verses 1-4. We see Antichrist's rise and reign, ruin/deadly wound and the healing of this wound which is his resurrection and restoration.
Verses 5-8. Now we begin to go back over the same information but enlarging upon it. This deals with how long the reign of Antichrist is and his activities.
Verses 9-10. His ruin or downfall.
Verses 11-12. Here is noted the resurrection and restoration of Antichrist and through whom it is accomplished.
Verses 13-15. The method by which it is accomplished.
Verses 16-17. The medium used to accomplish it.

It is also of interest to note that we left the previous chapter with the dragon being wroth with the woman and making war with the remnant of her seed etc. Chapter 13 shows a quick history of the power that persecutes God's people and then continues on with how he will reign again to persecute the remnant in the last days. Revelation 7 and 14:1-5 shows the character of God's people during this time, while Revelation 14:6-12 gives to us the message that is to be proclaimed during this time.

The Counterfeit to Christ.

Antichrist	Christ
Comes up out of the water verse 1.	Christ came up out of the water (Matthew 3:16)
Enters ministry after coming out of the water verse 5.	Enters His ministry after this (Matthew 4:17)
Ministers for (prophetic) 42 months or 3½ years verse 5.	Ministers for 3½ years (Daniel 9:27)
Receives a deadly wound at the end of 3½ years verse 3.	Receives a deadly wound, crucified (Matthew 27:31)
He recovers from this deadly wound verse 3.	Recovers from this deadly wound (Matthew 28:6)
This power receives worship verse 4.	Christ receives worship (Matthew 28:9, 17 etc)

Parallels to Daniel 7.

Daniel 7	Revelation 13
Blasphemous.	Blasphemous.
Persecutes the saints.	Persecutes the saints.
Reigns for 1260 days.	Reigns for 42 months (1260 days)
Arises out of divided Roman Empire.	Rome gives power, seat and great authority.
Lion, Bear, Leopard, 10 Horns.	Lion, Bear, Leopard, 10 Horns.
Diverse, Church and State.	Beast (State), Church (Object of worship).

Fifteen specifications to the identity of Antichrist

1. It is a political kingdom as it is a beast. This also shows that antichrist will not be an individual person but a political entity.
2. Arises amid numerous people, the sea. (Revelation 17:15)
3. It is one of the seven political powers or empires opposed to God. This is so as one of the heads was wounded to death.
4. It is connected with Western Europe. Initially the 10 horns in Daniel and Revelation are a reference to the divisions into which western Rome divided.
5. It reigns while the powers of Western Europe rule. Crowns are upon the horns, v 1.
6. Connected with the 4 kingdoms of Daniel 7, Babylon and their religion (imputing their wisdom and power unto false gods), Medo-Persia and their tyrannical (absolute monarchy) rule plus infallibility, Greece and her philosophy (Acts 17:21), Imperial Rome- strength of all the 4 kingdoms, a false religion, tyrannical government, false system of education.
7. Its seat, power and great authority came from Imperial Rome.
8. Becomes a universal or catholic power, v 4, 7.
9. It practices blasphemy, v 5-6.
10. It persecutes and destroys the saints.
11. Its number is 666.
12. Political supremacy is for 1260 years or 42 prophetic months.
13. Then it receives a deadly wound.
14. Its wound is healed.
15. Restored to world pre-eminence.

It is clear by all 3 ways that these parallels and identifying marks show that the power in question is the Roman Catholic Church State, the Papal power. Let us continue on with this in mind.

Revelation 13:1-10 “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. 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto 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 power, and his seat, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 9 If any man have an ear, let him hear. 10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”

Beast rise up out of the sea - We have already shown that this beast is the antichrist power, the Papal Church State. We also know that it arose amongst Western Europe and therefore the sea is representative of the peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues of Western Europe. (Revelation 17:15)

This is in contrast to the earth that helped the woman/church. Thus it is clear, as the papacy ruled from 538-1798, that the earth is to be recognized as that part of the world of which the papal power had no control over, it must be outside the old world. This helps to substantiate the Pilgrim Fathers flight to America as the earth helping the woman.

It must also be noted that the second beast of chapter 13 also comes up out of the earth in contrast to this first beast. Here is another link to show that this second beast arose outside of the old world or outside of the papal church's reach.

Seven heads and ten horns - The crowns are upon the horns thus showing that it is the horns that have the power. The horns represent the divisions of the Western Roman Empire as is seen in Daniel 7. It was through the divisions of Western Europe that the papacy ruled, through the kings and leaders of the countries and therefore the crowns upon the heads.

Blasphemy - It is a blasphemous power according to verses 1, 5 and 6. In verse 1 it would represent the blasphemous titles that the head of the system takes to himself; Vicar of God, all names that are attributed to Christ he takes upon himself, God on earth etc.

As we see in verse 5 he also speaks blasphemies. The Bible defines blasphemy as; when being only a man you make yourself as God. (John 10:30-33) Also claiming to be able to forgive sins when only a man. (Mark 2:5-7) The Papacy also enters into and practices these things.

For verse 6 one may ask, 'how can the papacy blaspheme against the tabernacle of God, which is heaven, (Hebrews 8:1-2) and the angels?' The papacy has done so be setting up an earthly counterfeit tabernacle with counterfeited sacrifices by a counterfeit priesthood to a counterfeit god. Plus they claim that the priests are greater than the angels and that the Pope can excommunicate angels. Ligouri 'Dignity and duties of the Priest', pg. 31. Lucii Ferraris 'Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica Juridica Moralis Theologica', Vol. VI pg. 48.

Like unto a leopard etc. - This casts our minds back to Daniel 7 from whence all of these beasts are found. The papacy is a composite beast, a make up of those that have gone before it. See point 6 in the fifteen specifications. One thing we must point out though is that it has the mouth of a lion. The lion represented Babylon in Daniel 7 and so when the papacy speaks it speaks as Babylon which is also one of its names. (Revelation 17:5)

In looking at this a little more closely, the composite beast aspect, we can gain a greater understanding of the type of rule that the papal power would like, with history also laying open this fact. It is clear that this beast points us back to the image of Daniel 2, for it is a single image made up of a mixture of the kingdoms from Babylon the head through to Divided Rome in the feet, it is a composite image. (More information could be given on this point but space does not allow for it) So what is it that is in these kingdoms that is so vital to the establishment of Satan's empire/the Papal church?

If we take the main characteristic for each of these kingdoms we discover something very remarkable about this composite empire.

—Babylon was known for its idol worship, they were mad about their idols, Jeremiah 50:38. Their chief god was Bel/Marodach/Marduk who was the sun god, Jeremiah 50:2. So Babylon's main characteristic was idol worship, or more specific, sun worship. See Constantine and the origin of Babylon and sun worship.
—Medo-Persia was known for its passing of decrees/laws that cannot be changed, Daniel 6, Esther, Ezra.
—Greece. The Grecians were known for always seeking after wisdom, some new thing, through philosophy, 1 Corinthians 1:22; Acts 17:18, 21. Humanism, searching for truth by using human methods to support human interests, is based upon Greek philosophy.
—Rome is known for its persecuting/desolating power, as iron breaks and subdues all things, Daniel 2:40.
— And looking at the feet of the image in Daniel 2 we see that the strength of the iron/Rome continues through, its persecuting/desolating power of the state, with the miry clay being a symbol of an apostate church. (clay is used to symbolize God's people, His church, Isaiah 64:8; Jeremiah 18:1-6. Thus miry/dirty clay would symbolize a dirty church/apostate church) More information could also be given on this point but space does not allow for it.

So in putting all of this together we find the following points about the reign of the Antichrist power;
— There will be some form of idol/sun worship with decrees/laws that will be supported with human philosophy/wisdom, and it will be enforced by some form of persecution/death threat with all being done in the name of God, at the end of time.
— So there will be an enforcement of some type of sun/day worship by political decrees/laws, and it will be reasoned out of why this is done through human philosophy/wisdom with the threat of persecution and it will be done in the name of Christianity at the end of time. Chapter 13 shows this very thing.
— So, at the end of time Satan, through the antichristian papal power, wants to attack you spiritually with sun worship.
— He wants to attack you politically with human laws.
— And he will attack you mentally with human wisdom/the wisdom of man.
— He will also attack you physically with persecution.
— And then he wants to attack you in the name of God!

Dragon gave - Firstly we saw that Pagan Rome was the dragon in chapter 12. But we need to remember that, even though it was Pagan Rome that gave the Papacy its power etc which we will see in a moment, primarily the dragon is Satan. (Revelation 12:9) So ultimately the power behind this beast is Satan.

Seat - “When the Roman Empire became Christian, and the peace of the Church was guaranteed, the Emperor left Rome to the Pope, to be the seat of authority of the Vicar of Christ, who should reign there independent of all human authority, to the consummation of ages, to the end of time.” Papal Rights and Privileges, pgs. 13, 14. 1889. Francis P. C. Hays (who is a Roman Catholic).

“The removal of the capitol of the empire from Rome to Constantinople in 330, left the Western Church practically free from imperial power, to develop its own form of organization. The Bishop of Rome, in the seat of the Caesars, was now the greatest man in the West, and was soon forced to become the political as well as the spiritual head.” The Rise of the Medieval Church, pg. 168. Alexander C. Flick. Ph.D. Litt.D.

It is clear that Constantine gave to the papacy its seat when he moved the seat of government from Rome to Constantinople in the East, thus bequeathing her seat to the papacy. Read also did constantine change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.

Power and great authority - This was done through Justinian and his general Belisarius. See comments on verse 14 of chapter 12 for details.

Wounded to death - With one of its head being wounded to death it shows that the papacy has to be one of the heads. But remember that the papacy is a church/state and that the church never ceased to exist but the temporal/political power was vanquished. This took place in 1798; “In 1798 Berthier made his entrance into Rome, abolished the Papal government and established a secular one.” Encyclopedia Americana, 1941 Edition.

But this wound is to be healed and she will once again be resurrected and restored to her full power again, as is seen in the latter portion of the chapter. This means that her temporal/political power must be fully restored to her as it was during her first reign.

All the world wondered - To marvel or have in admiration. When the Papal power regains its supremacy the world will be amazed or will marvel at the sight of her being revived, being amazed that such a wound could be healed.

Worshipped the dragon - This is a remarkable statement for it clearly shows that in worshipping the beast you are worshipping and giving homage to the dragon. Applying the interpretation would mean that in worshipping the papal power you are giving your homage and worship to Satan himself. This is exactly what he has desired from the beginning as we saw in chapter 12.

The beast is just a front man for the dragon, one through whom the dragon works and operates, a visible agency.

Make war with him - This is a statement after she has been restored to power and as we can see from the latter part of the chapter, showing her to be a dominating/persecuting power, how can one contend with such a power that receives a wound and lives.

Continue forty and two months - As we have seen already the papal power ruled for 1260 prophetic days or 42 prophetic months. This is from 538-1798 the longest reigning power.

War with the saints - As we have seen in chapter 12 the papacy has an almost endless list of persecutions against the true believers. I do not think we need to go through more of her atrocities.

All that dwell upon the earth - In the end it is clear that there will only be 2 groups, those that worship the beast/papacy and those that worship Jesus Christ and have their names written in the Lamb's book of life. It is worthy to note that those that follow after the papacy and worship her do not have their names in the book of life to the loss of their salvation. (Revelation 20:15)

Notice that it is the Lamb's book of life. The lamb is a reference to the manifestation of His self sacrificing love to die for our sins, putting aside Himself for the salvation of others. A life that did not use force or coercion that is in contrast to the beast. We are to manifest the same self sacrificing love that Christ did, (Ephesians 5:1-2) a love that will put aside self and devote the entire life to Christ. True brotherly love. (John 13:35)

Leadeth into captivity - This is expounding upon verse 3. The papacy plunged many into the dungeon to rot; she killed, persecuted and coerced by the sword but she received that which she dealt out, “all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” Matthew 26:52. She was taken into captivity and received a deadly wound which took away her power. Thus the time frame of this verse is when the papacy is going down into captivity in 1798.

Patience and faith of the saints - Through the trying time of persecution the saints remain stedfast in the faith, they endure the suffering for a time like a good soldier. (2 Timothy 2:3)

Revelation 13:11-18 “And I beheld 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 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. 13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14 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. 15 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. 16 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: 17 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. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that has understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”

The Identifying Marks of the Second Beast

1. Arises out of the earth in contrast to the Papal power that comes out of the sea, verse 11.
— Thus this power arises outside of Europe, or the papal dominion, where her tentacles have not reached.
2. Arises or becomes prominent after the deadly wound, as the papacy is going into captivity. After 1798, verse 11.
3. Did not come up by conquest, verse 11.
— “Coming up” in the Greek is applied to a plant growing up, quietly but continually growing up.
4. The horns are lamb like, verse 11.
— Lamb implies youthfulness, young of age, passive, gentile in appearance.
5. Two horns or as shown in Daniel 8:3, 20 two kingdoms.
a) Christ would refer to the Church as the kingdom of God/heaven in His parables.
b) Then we have the state or political kingdom.
— The kingdom of the Church and the kingdom of the State separate yet within the one nation.
— Therefore as the two horns are separate so is Church and State separate in this nation as Jesus taught in Matthew 22:21.
— This would give civil and religious freedom.
— The lamb is a reference to Christ; therefore it would be built upon Christian principles as the horns are lamb like.
— With these principles in mind we see that it would be an anti-catholic power. (separation of church and state)
6. There are no crowns showing that it is a democratic form of government which is also emphasized in verse 14, the people have the power.
7. Becomes a world-wide power and has world-wide influence, verse 12.
8. After the deadly wound is healed it will enforce the Papal policy.
— It speaks through legislature and enforces it.
9. It promotes the image to the beast/Papacy, verse 14.
10. Enforces obedience to the image which it gave life to, verse 15-17. (Shows the image to the beast is symbolic, for he gave life to it)
— Under pain of death.
— Also characterized by an enforcement of a mark.

An Application of the Identifying Marks

1. The Pilgrim Fathers, fleeing persecution, came to North America, a place where the tentacles of the Papacy had not reached.
— America was a sparsely populated area obviously outside the dense population of Europe.
— It was also known as the New World.
2. America was arising to power as the Papacy was loosing its power.
— Declaration of independence – 1776.
— War of independence – 1777 to 1783.
— Constitution voted – 1787.
— Constitution ratified – 1788.
— First president elected – 1789.
— Bill of rights adopted – 1791.
— First international recognition as a nation – 1798.
3. America did not rise to power due to her overthrowing/conquering another empire, but by quietly growing up.
4. America was only young or youthful of age around the downfall of Papal Rome, as can be seen by answer 2.
5. America was established on anti-catholic principles, separation of church and state, religious liberty etc, we shall speak more of this in a moment. The United States is a Protestant nation, the complete opposite to Catholicism.
6. It was easy for those fleeing the persecution to see the result of the Papal form of government. Therefore we see that America was to be a democratic/republican form of government, by the people and for the people.
7. It is not hard to see that America is the world super power, watchdog for the world.
— e.g. The war with Iraq, the United Nations said we do not want to go and America said so, we're going anyway.
8, 9 and 10 are creeping slowly into existence and this is not hard to see. Notice the following;

“Because Sunday is the Sabbath of the majority in our land (meaning America), and has been nationally established as a day of worship, it is the day that all should be compelled to observe as the Lord's day. And we further emphasis, that it is the duty of the government to enforce the observance of that day.” Destiny Publications' 'Special Alert' no. 43, 1983.

“The United States Supreme Court has fundamentally changed the ground rules for separating church and state. It is a term marked by one blockbuster decision after another. The US Supreme Court has altered lines of demarcation between church and state in the United States. Justice Berger expressed a view he had first announced in a decision last year, that not all burdens on religion are unconstitutional. That the state may justify a limitation on religious liberty by showing that it is essential to accomplish an overriding governmental interest.” 'Religious News Service' July 22 1983.

In other words, the Supreme Court said, “Look, there may be times when we have to restrict religious freedom for the sake of an overriding principle of the government.”

“Justice Antonin Scalia went far beyond the CSA and declared that when religious rights clash with the governments need for uniform rules, the court will side with the government.” Los Angeles Times, April 18, 1990.

“Religious adherents need to look to the political system not to the courts for protection.” Justice Antonin Scalin.

“The supreme court today forcefully declared that it would no longer shield believers whose practices violate general laws.” Ibid.

“. . . The problem with the (Smith) decision is that the United States supreme court has gutted the free exercise of the first amendment.” Washington Post, March 9, 1991.

“The wall of separation between church and state is a metaphor based on bad history, a metaphor which has proved useless to judging. It should be frankly and explicitly abandoned.” Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

March 26 1991 Fulminante confessed to a government informant (who was guilty of using psychological torture) that he had murdered his 11 year old daughter. Condemned to death, Fulminante appealed on the grounds of torture and the fifth amendment. Supreme Court found that torture had been used but still upheld the death sentence.

Dissenting Judge Byron White Stated:

“Permitting a coerced confession which could be part of evidence on which a jury is free to bare it's verdict of guilty is incompatible with the thesis that ours is not an inquisitional system of criminal justice.” Washington Post, March 27, 1991.

But we need to see that it is more than just America, as such, that is spoken of here. It encompasses the American Protestant Churches as they slide deeper into apostasy, e.g. :-

a) They have already departed from the original faith of Christ.
b) They lack spiritual power, as a result, to proclaim the gospel.
— False teachings and controversies have entered into the church and the power of love and the power of the gospel have been replaced by a love for power, a love of position and a desire to dominate.
c) Protestantism has lost its 'protest.'

As these churches continue to apostatize and unite together, they will begin to unite with the civil power of the state and the state will enforce the wishes of the church thus forming an image to the beast. Religious liberty will be gone, she will be intolerant.

Verses 11-18

Another beast - It is a separate beast to the first that had the deadly wound and did live. As we have seen this is Protestant America quietly growing in power as the Papal power is going into captivity.

Earth - In contrast to the Papal power, which arises out of the densely populated area of Europe, or the sea. Protestant America rises out of a sparsely populated area.

Two horns like a lamb - As we have seen already, Protestant America would be built upon anti-catholic principles- the 2 horns on the one beast a symbol of 2 kingdoms within this one power Daniel 8:3, 20, the kingdom of the church and the kingdom of the state (as the 2 horns are separate so are church and state to be separate in the nation of America)- a separation of church and state, civil and religious freedom which is contrary to Catholic teaching. Notice the following taken from Daniel and the Revelation by Uriah Smith, pg 538;

“Article IV, sec. 4 of the Constitution of the United States, reads: 'The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government.' Article VI: 'No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.' The first amendment of the Constitution (Art. 1) begins as follows: 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.' These articles profess the amplest guarantee of civil and religious liberty, the entire perpetual separation of church and state...”

The Lamb is also a reference to Christ, the Lamb of God verse 8 and John 1:29, thus the nation was to be built upon Christian principles, separation of church and state being one of them. (Matthew 22:21)

Spake as a dragon - Eventually Protestant America will turn against those great principles that made her a strong nation and speak as a dragon - a persecuting power as seen in verses 12, 15-17. She will change to the side of the devil who ultimately is the dragon. She will speak through her legislature.

It is interesting to note at this time, that the Justice system/Supreme Court of America is made up of the following people;

— Chief Justice John Roberts - Catholic.
— Stephen G. Breyer - Jewish.
— Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Jewish.
— Anthony M. Kennedy - Catholic.
— Antonin Scalia - Catholic.
— David H. Souter - Episcopalian. (Souter is resigning and it will be interesting to see who Obama replaces him with and their religious persuasion)
— John Paul Stevens - Protestant.
— Clarence Thomas - Catholic.
— Samuel Alito - Catholic.
— Two places became vacant, Rehnquist died and O'Connor resigned about 2 weeks later, during George Bush Jr's presidency and it is interesting to note that he placed 2 Catholics to the high court, Chief Justice John Roberts and Samuel Alito.

“Bush burnished his conservative credentials by naming Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito to the high court, and helped increase the overall conservative bent of most federal courts.” www. cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/01/souter.politics/index.html

— Something else that is interesting to note is that there is only 1 protestant filling a position.

So it is seen that the Catholics have 56% of the votes and thus the balance of power to push through decisions they want made. The Catholic Church already has control of the justice system of America. Which brings to mind a very relevant quote that Archbishop Quigley made back in 1903, “When the United States rules the world, the Catholic Church will rule the world.” The Chicago Tribune. This point is also shown by the following points made below.

Alberto, a Jesuit priest, spoke of a secret sign to be given amongst the Jesuit order, “...a secret sign was to be given to the Jesuits world-wide when the ecumenical movement had successfully wiped out Protestantism, in preparation for the signing of a concordat between the Vatican and the U.S.

The sign was to be when a president of the U.S. took his oath of office facing an obelisk.” The God Fathers; Alberto pt 3, pg 26.

From March 4, 1837 when Martin Van Buren was inaugurated through to January 20, 1977 when Jimmy Carter was inaugurated, the ceremony was conducted on the East Portico of the Capitol Building. But when it came to Ronald Reagan it all of a sudden changed to the West Front of the Capitol Building, from whence one looks to the west straight to one of the biggest obelisks. “Since the first inauguration of President Reagan in 1981, the swearing-in ceremonies have been held on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Building. The only exception was the 1985 swearing-in of President Reagan's second term, when cold weather forced the ceremony into the Capitol Rotunda.” http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa011701a.htm

Studying Reagan's Presidency we find that he did much to unite the U.S. and the Vatican. Much more information could be given but space does not allow it.

So we can see that the dragon, or Satan, is the controlling power behind both beasts in chapter 13, as the two horned beast eventually speaks as the dragon speaks.

Exerciseth all the power of the first beast - To understand this we must ask what power the Papacy had. The Papal power exercised authority over matters of the state and that of the church. So for America to exercise the same power/authority she must enter into the realm of religion and seek to dominate religious worship. It must change so as to allow church and state to unite and thus religious liberty would disappear with religious oppression being legalized.

Causeth the earth - Showing that it is a world-wide power which will force or coerce the inhabitants of the earth to worship the Papal power whose wound is healed. It will go from anti-catholic to pro-catholic, of which we already see taking place before our eyes.

Miracles and deception - These miracles are for the purpose of deceiving them that dwell on the earth. But these deceptive miracles that this two-horned beast does in the sight of the first beast, clearly links us to the false prophet of Revelation 16:13-14 and Revelation 19:20 who wrought miracles before the beast to deceive them that had received the mark of the beast and worshipped his image, which is the identical work of the two-horned beast. Revelation 16:13-14 shows that these deceptive miracles find their origin with the spirits of devils, that is, spiritualistic forces or demons. But why the miracles? One reason is as follows; Jesus pointed to the miracles/many mighty works that He performed as testifying to His divine mission as the Saviour of mankind and attested the truth of His mission. Jesus pointed to these mighty works as evidence of His divine authority and Messiahship. (John 5:36; 10:25, 37-38; 14:10-11)

Here in Revelation, the miracles are used to give authenticity and authority to the errors they are teaching and enforcing and thus aiding their work of deception, bringing the populous under their control, to encourage them to make an image to the beast/papal power.

Notice that the earthly government that it is to be connected with is the two-horned beast/false prophet, the United States of America. The agency that is behind the outward manifestations is Satanic, the spirit of devils. It is also interesting to note that The United States is the birth place of modern spiritualism.

In verse 15 we see John bringing the subject matter to its natural climax, the death decree for those who refuse to worship the beast/the papal power and his image/the replicating of the papal power in the U.S. Then in verses 16-18 John steps back and gives more information on the coercion tack ticks, the mark of the beast and the number 666.

Putting these verses together in their correct order, we see that there is a progression of coercion against those who do not bend the knee in false worship. First, laws will be made dealing with the enforcement of the mark of the beast (please note that the mark of the beast is the “mark” of the “beast” or the mark of the papal power. Also note that the entire issue in this chapter is, who will you worship? the beast and his image or the Lamb that was slain? Please read the mark of the beast of Revelation 13 for detailed information on this topic.

Secondly, laws will be made to boycott (so they cannot function in society nor survive physically) those who will remain faithful to God and worship Him alone, to try and bring them into submission. When they see that this is not working a death decree will go forward to exterminate God's true people. So there are three laws;

1. The mark of the beast
2. No buying and selling to enforce/coerce people to receive the mark
3. A death decree to coerce and enforce the mark.

For the understanding of the number 666 please go to 666 number of the beast - The origin of 666.

Select who is the real antichrist for a comprehensive and easy to understand version of chapter 13 and other information relevant to this topic. You can find this and other related links under popular links on each page for future reference.

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