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There are many theories about the  &ldquo;two-horned beast.&rdquo; Some have thought it is a grouping of Protestant churches,  and others think that it is the papacy linked to the United States. Most, however, claim  not to know what it is, and speak little of it. Therefore, we must let the  Bible explain its true meaning.<br>

Now let&rsquo;s examine the passage that  describes this other&nbsp;Revelation 13:1-18&nbsp;Beast: &ldquo;And I beheld&nbsp;<em>another beast</em>&nbsp;coming  up out of the earth; and he had&nbsp;<em>two horns</em>&nbsp;like a&nbsp;lamb, and he spoke as a&nbsp;dragon. And he exercises all the power  of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and them which dwell  therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he&nbsp;<em>does  great wonders</em>, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in  the sight of men, and&nbsp;<em>deceives them that dwell on the earth by the  means of those miracles</em>&nbsp;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&nbsp;<em>image</em>&nbsp;to  the beast&hellip;and <em>cause</em>&nbsp;that as many as would not worship the&nbsp;<em>image</em>&nbsp;of  the beast should be&nbsp;<em>killed</em>&rdquo; (Rev 13:11-15).<br>

Some important points emerge.<br>

This two-horned beast gives &ldquo;power&rdquo; to  the first Beast of&nbsp;Rev 13:1-5.&nbsp;Daniel 7:17,&nbsp;23&nbsp;revealed  that &ldquo;beast&rdquo; is a term for a civil government or kingdom, or the leader of the  kingdom. Therefore, our first important conclusion is that this beast&nbsp;<em>must</em>&nbsp;be  a government or kingdom. Second is that it gives power to the Roman   Empire system.<br>

It also appears like a &ldquo;lamb,&rdquo; but  speaks like a &ldquo;dragon.&rdquo; This is critical to understand. Here is why. Christ is depicted in the Bible, in several places, as a  lamb (John 1:29;&nbsp;Rev.  17:14). We have seen that the dragon is Satan. So this beast, then,&nbsp;<em>appears</em>&nbsp;to be Christian, but is really of the devil. In other  words, this is a&nbsp;<em>satanic</em>&nbsp;kingdom that appears on the surface  to be the kingdom   of God, and of Christ. Many scriptures reveal that Christ  did not establish His kingdom at His first Coming. He carefully explained this  to His disciples in&nbsp;Acts 1:6,&nbsp;John 14:1-3&nbsp;and&nbsp;Luke 19:11-27. <br>

We have already seen verses in&nbsp;Daniel  7:1-28&nbsp;describing when Christ  and the saints smash the fourth beast as they are given rulership over Earth.<br>

When&nbsp;Revelation  13:12&nbsp;states that &ldquo;he exercises all the  power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and them which dwell  therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed,&rdquo; it was the  Roman Empire to whom he was giving power. This occurred from the time of the  Beast&rsquo;s healing in AD 554.<br>

For the full 1,260 years that the wound  was healed, Roman emperors  acknowledged the supreme authority of religion throughout the empire. This is  one way it portrays itself as the kingdom   of God on Earth. Many encyclopaedias  state that the Holy Roman Empire was declared to be the &ldquo;kingdom of God  on Earth.&rdquo; In fact, in 554, many felt that the kingdom of God  had officially arrived.<br>

The second&nbsp;Revelation  13:1-18&nbsp;beast, however, has&nbsp;<em>two</em>&nbsp;horns.  This is because it represents a two-fold combination of church and government.  But since it is an actual kingdom, it does, in fact, have to be its own  independent, sovereign state. Remember also, this two-horned beast possesses  such awesome power that it inspires the world to worship the Beast, whose  deadly wound was healed. The power to bring fire down from heaven and to  perform miracles will win vast numbers of people as worshippers of the Beast.<br>

Rev 13:14&nbsp;explains this: &ldquo;And deceives them  that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do  in the sight of the beast,&rdquo; with&nbsp;Rev 13:13&nbsp;stating, &ldquo;he does great wonders.&rdquo;<br>

Recognize these facts: The second beast  is able to perform miracles. He does this &ldquo;in the sight of&rdquo; the first Beast&mdash;the  Holy Roman Empire. These miracles are so  extraordinary&mdash;so mesmerizing&mdash;that they allow him to&nbsp;<em>deceive the whole  earth</em>! And the Beast is worshipped as a result.<br>

This future religious leader will lead  the final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire  alongside a great civil leader. <br>

In&nbsp;II  Thessalonians 2:3, this same religious leader is called  the &ldquo;man of sin.&rdquo;&nbsp;Revelation 19:20&nbsp;refers to him as a &ldquo;false prophet.&rdquo; This  False Prophet embodies all that counterfeit Christianity has represented  through the centuries. In the near future, when the modern-day descendants of Israel  are taken into captivity, many will see the bitter reality of its killing  machine firsthand.<br>
This has been typical of this  Babylonish church throughout the course of history. Millions have been put to  death for not worshipping according to its false beliefs and practices.<br>
Plainly, the &ldquo;two-horned beast&rdquo; is  the&nbsp;<em>headquarters</em>&nbsp;of the great false&nbsp;<em>church</em>&nbsp;that  controls the first Beast. The description we have just read is an unmistakable  parallel with the &ldquo;little horn&rdquo; of&nbsp;Daniel 7:8,&nbsp;20-21,&nbsp;24-25.<br>

We must know what is coming and be able  to recognize it when it emerges in full power.<br>

<strong>The&nbsp;</strong><strong>Revelation 17</strong>:1-18<strong>&nbsp;Beast and Woman Riding It</strong><br>
We saw&nbsp;Revelation  12:1-17&nbsp;describes a &ldquo;woman,&rdquo; which is to  marry Christ (Rev. 19:7;&nbsp;Matt. 25:1-10;&nbsp;Eph. 5:23) at His Return. These verses, and others, show  that the word &ldquo;woman&rdquo; is a symbol for a church. The entire chapter 12 is  devoted to God&rsquo;s Church and how she has been persecuted by a false &ldquo;Christian&rdquo;  church system throughout most of her 2,000 years. Many earmarks of&nbsp;<em>this</em>&nbsp;woman  of chapter 12 demonstrate and prove that she is God&rsquo;s Church&mdash;the true Church.<br>

Revelation 17:1-18&nbsp;introduces a  seven-headed Beast, different from any mentioned previously, but it also  described a very&nbsp;<em>different</em>&nbsp;woman riding it. Let&rsquo;s examine this  woman and the Beast she rides. It is vital to understand her critical  connection to seven revivals (resurrections) of the Roman  system. She never rode the first three heads of the Roman  system. Rather, she only rode it after the Beast was &ldquo;healed&rdquo; in AD 554. The  now&nbsp;<em>healed Beast</em>&nbsp;is the Beast of&nbsp;Revelation  17:1-18.<br>

Recall chapters 17 and 18 are an inset  to the book of Revelation, and describe the great Roman  system that is destroyed at the end of chapter 16. These chapters give a  somewhat more detailed picture of the great, false&nbsp;<em>universal</em>&nbsp;church.  The picture includes the woman&rsquo;s &ldquo;<em>harlot</em>&rdquo;&nbsp;<em>daughters</em>(Rev 17:5), which have helped her to deceive all nations (Rev 17:1-2;&nbsp;18:3).<br>

The&nbsp;Revelation  17&nbsp;woman is &ldquo;arrayed in purple and  scarlet&rdquo; and rides a seven-headed, 10-horned Beast.<br>

We have discussed the seven revivals of  the Holy Roman Empire. Six have come and  gone&mdash;and the last 10-horn revival, consisting of 10 kings (of 10 governments),  is now forming! The 17th chapter of Revelation describes the final revival of  this religious-political system. This revival (or resurrection) will last at  least three and a half years, coinciding with first the Tribulation (Matt.  24:21-22) and then the time of God&rsquo;s wrath. It  is prophesied to come &ldquo;out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition&rdquo; (Rev.  17:8). The Holy Roman Empire has been in  the abyss of history, or the bottomless pit, since Napoleon&rsquo;s 1814 abdication  prior to Waterloo.<br>

Rev 17:10, speaking of the heads, states, &ldquo;five are fallen,  and one is, and the other is not yet come.&rdquo; The five &ldquo;fallen&rdquo; heads are those  the woman rode during the 1,260 years from 554 to 1814. The &ldquo;one&nbsp;<em>is</em>&rdquo;  head was the&nbsp;<em>sixth</em>&nbsp;head, now past, which began with Garibaldi  and culminated in Mussolini. The &ldquo;is&rdquo; has become  &ldquo;was.&rdquo;<br>

Now understand. This verse is written  from the time perspective of&nbsp;<em>when</em>&nbsp;God revealed the meaning of  this prophecy, and many others, to the leader of His Church, in the late 1930s.  This is the only time that this&nbsp;<em>present tense</em>&nbsp;representation  of the sixth head could be accurate. (We would today say &ldquo;six have fallen.&rdquo;) It  also reveals when God wanted Daniel&rsquo;s  closed and sealed prophecy opened and taken to the world as a warning!<br>

Understand another important connection  to these resurrections of the Roman  system.&nbsp;Revelation 17:1-18&nbsp;describes each  as having &ldquo;a&nbsp;<em>woman</em>&nbsp;sit[ting] upon a scarlet coloured&nbsp;<em>beast</em>,  full of names of blasphemy, having&nbsp;<em>seven heads</em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>ten  horns</em>&rdquo; (Rev 17:3). The seven heads are seven separate  revivals, with a&nbsp;<em>10-horn</em>&nbsp;(composed of 10 kings)&nbsp;<em>final  revival</em>. It is&nbsp;<em>this</em>&nbsp;woman who spreads the &ldquo;mystery of  iniquity&rdquo; spoken of by Paul in&nbsp;II  Thessalonians 2:7.<br>

Of this woman,&nbsp;Revelation  17:5-6&nbsp;state, &ldquo;And upon her forehead was  a name written,&nbsp;mystery, Babylon the great, the  mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.&nbsp;And I saw the woman<em> drunken with the blood of the saints</em>, and with the blood of the&nbsp;<em>martyrs</em>&nbsp;of  Jesus.&rdquo;<br>

Rev 17:1&nbsp;calls her a &ldquo;great whore that  sits upon&nbsp;<em>many waters</em>.&rdquo;<br>

Let&rsquo;s pause and ask: What are the &ldquo;many  waters&rdquo;?<br>

This is a classic example of allowing  the Bible to interpret the Bible. Fourteen verses later, the term is explained:  &ldquo;And he said unto me, The&nbsp;<em>waters</em>&nbsp;which you saw, where the  whore sits, are&nbsp;<em>peoples</em>, and<em> multitudes</em>, and&nbsp;<em>nations</em>,  and&nbsp;<em>tongues</em>&rdquo; (Rev 17:15). This shows that the influence of the whore and  her harlot daughters encompasses the earth. This reflects truly enormous power!<br>

In this case, the term &ldquo;many waters&rdquo;  was not&nbsp;<em>immediately</em>&nbsp;explained, but simply continuing to read  revealed what it means. The Bible interpreted itself!<br>

Rev 17:5-6&nbsp;are a graphic description of an  immense&nbsp;<em>Gentile church</em>&nbsp;that is a modern-day descendant of Babylon. She is a  &ldquo;mother&rdquo; of many &ldquo;harlot&rdquo; daughters, who came out of her in protest because  they disagreed with a&nbsp;<em>few</em>&nbsp;of her abominations. This is not a  small church, but rather a &ldquo;great&rdquo; church (&ldquo;great whore&rdquo;) ruling&nbsp;<em>many</em>&nbsp;peoples.&nbsp;Rev  17:2&nbsp;speaks of her &ldquo;fornication&rdquo; with  the &ldquo;kings of the earth.&rdquo; And&nbsp;Rev 17:18&nbsp;speaks of the woman as &ldquo;that&nbsp;<em>great  city</em>, which reigns over the kings of the earth.&rdquo; So then, this is a very  large church that has sought to influence kings, nations and world events. Only  one city and one church fit this description.<br>

Once again, this is seen to be a  very&nbsp;<em>different</em>&nbsp;woman than that of&nbsp;Revelation  12:1-17.<br>

This large Gentile&nbsp;<em>false</em>&nbsp;church  has long persecuted God&rsquo;s true Church (Rev 17:6).  God will destroy this whore and her harlot daughters by turning the Beast she  rides against her (Rev 17:16). But first she must &ldquo;ride&rdquo; the final  revival of the Holy Roman Empire&mdash;with her  Babylonian system!<br>

Daniel 7:19-20&nbsp;sheds light on what happens when  the saints return with Christ. Their first job is to  replace the &ldquo;fourth beast&rdquo; (the final world-ruling empire), which rules with  the assistance of the &ldquo;little horn&rdquo; whose &ldquo;look was more stout than his  fellows.&rdquo; This&nbsp;<em>little horn</em>&nbsp;is a&nbsp;<em>religious</em>&nbsp;kingdom,  and is the same as the woman who rides the Beast of&nbsp;Revelation  17:1-18. Again, this religious &ldquo;woman&rdquo; kingdom  has ruled over all of the previous resurrections of the&nbsp;<em>Holy</em>&nbsp;Roman   Empire.<br>

The saints will have endured tremendous  persecution at the hands of this &ldquo;little horn&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;woman&rdquo; church. But eventually  the faithful saints will be rewarded in an incredible way. Now more from  Daniel: &ldquo;I beheld, and&nbsp;<em>the same horn</em>&nbsp;[the Babylonish system  of&nbsp;Revelation 17:5-6]&nbsp;<em>made war  with the saints</em>, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of Days  came, and&nbsp;<em>judgment was given to the saints</em>&nbsp;of the Most High;  and the time came that&nbsp;<em>the saints possessed the kingdom</em>&rdquo; (Rev  17:21-22).<br>

A final explanation should be made. The  beginning of&nbsp;Revelation 17:8&nbsp;described this  different Beast as &ldquo;the beast that was, and is not,&rdquo; with&nbsp;Rev  17:11&nbsp;similarly beginning with, &ldquo;And  the beast that was, and is not, even he is the&nbsp;<em>eighth</em>&nbsp;and is  of the seven, and goes into perdition.&rdquo; This healed Beast, now the&nbsp;<em>Holy</em>&nbsp;Roman  Empire (the resurrections ridden by the &ldquo;woman&rdquo; since AD 554), is both  different&mdash;like an &ldquo;eighth&rdquo; system&mdash;and yet is &ldquo;of the seven&rdquo; heads of the&nbsp;Revelation  13:1-18&nbsp;Beast and the Daniel  7:1-28&nbsp;fourth beast, last seven of 10  horns of each.<br>
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'''[[Important Clarification]]'''
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