And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. Genesis 3:4
NOTE: Here the serpent is speaking to Eve, but the book of Revelation clarifies that it was Satan speaking (Revelation 12:9). Satan used the serpent as a medium. In Revelation 13 God reveals that Satan, who is referred to as the dragon both sets up and gives power to agencies and gives them credibility and establishments, and delegates his authority to them to enable them to do his work in the world. Satan’s long term aim of a global kingdom, and to become as God, requires worship and service and loyalty from the human beings made in the image of God. The Bible refers to this world-wide structure as the kingdom of darkness, whereas the kingdom of God in the world is the kingdom of light. God offers a choice. Satan uses deception and will not allow any to be is dissent from his will.
Q4 In the prophecy of Revelation 13 how is an exceedingly powerful and important agent of Satan described?
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. 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. Revelation 13:1,2
NOTE 1: Here are seen all the characteristics of the four beasts that were shown to Daniel and recorded in Daniel 7. This beast is a conglomerate beast, having the elements of all the principal agents as an integral part of its being. The four beasts of Daniel 7 were Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.
- Babylon the lion, demanded the worship of the then known world to bow down and worship an image, that had been set up by an earthly king. The penalty was death for refusing to obey this command. Babylon also used the vessels of the temple of God for a drunken orgy. It demonstrated the mixture of both man-made worship and idolatry, whilst using the worship symbols of God Himself.
- Medo-Persia, the bear, made laws about worship that could not be altered, again with a death penalty for breaking them.
- Greece, the leopard, introduced grand philosophies that continue to this day, to stand in opposition to those things revealed by God in the Bible.
- Rome, represented by the horns in the beast of Daniel 7, that was unlike anything ever seen on earth. It was originally a fierce warlike and cruel pagan nation, but later, in its papal stage attached Christian vocabulary to the pagan symbols and rites and worship. These were enforced by law to maintain the unity of the Holy Roman Empire. Dissenters tortured and killed by the state on behalf of this religious power.
Today work is proceeding to rebuild the Holy Roman Empire once again, sometimes referred to, as did Robert Schuman on May 9th 1950, as the ‘High Authority’. Its power today is European, but the ‘High Authority’ will become global and ecclesiastical as other agents of Satan come into the full plan. These will work with Satan to complete his plan to be as God, to have a kingdom, and to have the allegiance of the entire world.
NOTE 2: A beast in prophecy, and there are at least seven, is the Bible way of expressing the powers that Satan has used and is using as his agents. This unique beast, incorporating the elements of all prior historical agents, is now crowned with blasphemy. Blasphemy is taking the powers of God to yourself. This composite beast, the final agency of Satan carries on its head the crowns of blasphemy, taking to itself the prerogatives of God alone - authority, praise and worship, lawgiving and salvation. |
