Revelation 13 speaks of two beasts. The first comes out of the sea; the second out of the earth. While they are distinct, they also are in some way united. The first beast (the Roman Catholic Church) was given 1,260 years in which to speak arrogantly and blasphemously. We showed previously that this refers to more than one time period. We can date it from the beginning of the Church in 33 A.D., in which case it ends in 1293 with the crisis in the Church between Pope Celestine V and Boniface VIII.

It was a classic struggle between the rule of love and the rule of the love of power, as we saw in Part Eleven.

We can also date the 1,260 years from 529 A.D., when what was left of the Roman Empire (in the East) revamped its laws in the days of Justinian I. This law code, enacted by scholarly Churchmen, became the basis of all the legal systems in Europe to the present time. It was, in effect, the Church’s Talmud, their “traditions of men.” This does not mean that every law was unjust. In many ways it was based upon the principles of justice found in the Bible.

The problem was that Justinian’s law Codex was not the Bible itself. It was, at best, man’s understanding of the Bible, subject to Church revision where God was thought to be unjust or impractical. Being a man-made document, it could also be revised over time, and soon any early resemblance to the biblical definitions of true justice would be lost entirely.

From Justinian’s law Codex in 529, the Church reigned supreme over the courts and the minds of men for 1,260 years until 1789, the beginning of the French Revolution. This Revolution gave the Roman Church a “fatal wound,” as we read in Rev. 13:3.

It has been assumed (incorrectly) that the 1,260 “days” of blasphemy came AFTER the “fatal wound” of vs. 3. But there is no reason to assume this, other than the fact that the wound was mentioned before the 1,260 “days.” Yet it is more logical to see that the fatal wound would come at the end of this beast’s 1,260-year time of authority.

The fatal wound is said to be “healed,” which amazed the people who witnessed this. The reason for this fatal wound is given in the last verse of this section, verse 10,

¹⁰ If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.

This is an obvious reference to the death of the first beast, which, in the name of Christ, sought to bring men into captivity to the Church. It is a reference to the fact that the Church had used the sword on as many dissenters as it could—and hence, the Church was to receive a fatal wound as well. It was simply the judgment of God.

It is at this point that Revelation 13 speaks of the other beast rising up out of the earth. In one sense this second beast replaced the first beast. In another sense, it was just a continuation of the first beast in a modified form.

The Beast from the Earth

Revelation 13:11, 12 reads,

¹¹ And I saw 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 exercises all the authority of the first best in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.

This is like a picture of a resurrected beast, coming up out of the ground. The Church was somehow able to restore its power after the French Revolution with a new power base. As we will see, that power base was in a new nation in America that was just being formed. This does not mean that America itself is this beast. The beast is a spiritual entity that manifests in various forms on earth. Its chief characteristic given in Rev. 13:11 is that “he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon.”

In other words, this beast pretends to be a lamb, but it is really a dragon. To put it another way, it is a dragon in sheep’s clothing. It has the appearance of righteousness, but if you listen to what its leadership SAYS, you will recognize the true nature of the organization.

Keep in mind also that there are many good Christian people in the Roman Catholic Church. The Church has always had its share of good, sincere, Christian priests who truly have a heart for God. The “beast” of Revelation is not any individual person or priest. A “beast” is a corporate entity, an organizational structure that is not in submission to Christ. The first four beasts in Daniel 7 were the nations of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and the Roman Empire. Revelation 13 is dealing with the “little horn” that comes out of the Roman Empire and is an extension of it.

This “little horn” is subdivided into two phases that are represented by the two beasts in Revelation 13. The first is given authority for 1,260 years until 1789 (the French Revolution). Then that beast receives a fatal wound but is given a new lease on life through a different power base.

Rev. 13:12 says that this second beast makes all to worship the first beast whose fatal wound was healed. But in order to understand and appreciate how this has been fulfilled in modern times, we need to show its progression in history.

Deification: Man’s Carnal Goal

The original serpent’s half-truth in Gen. 3:5 was, “You shall be as gods.”

Many years later, a man named Nimrod (“rebel”) built a city and tower called Babel (“Babylon”) and set up his own government. In doing so, he rebelled against the legitimate rule of Noah and his son, Shem, who were the lawful rulers of the earth—the carriers of the birthright from Adam.

Shem left the area around Babylon and built his own city, calling it Salem (“peace”). There he ruled, not by conquering men for God, but by His peaceful witness to the truth of divine revelation. The full name of his city was Jerusalem, meaning “City of Salem” or “City of Peace.”

Babylon and Jerusalem became rival cities that came to represent the two competing kingdoms in the earth. Later, both cities were destroyed, but the original spirit behind these two cities continued to the present day. The book of Revelation refers to their later manifestations as Mystery Babylon and the New Jerusalem.

Nimrod built a tower at Babel in order to “reach unto heaven” (Gen. 11:4). They were not so silly as to think that they could build a structure tall enough to reach a new land “up there somewhere.” No, their purpose was to attain the ability to do inter-dimensional travel from the earthly realm to the spiritual (heavenly) realm. They were trying to attain by carnal means the ability that Jesus was to have after His resurrection (Luke 24:31).

They were trying to learn how to transport themselves from one place to another like Philip was transported in Acts 8:39, 40.

They must have known that such things were not only a possibility, but also promised to mankind. But they resented God for removing from Adam’s descendants the knowledge and ability to move by the Spirit in this way. Nimrod’s quest was to build what the occults call a “portal” and what modern scientists call a “wormhole.”

A wormhole allows a person to transfer a piece of space-time from in front of him to behind him. To others, it looks like the person has disappeared, because he has moved into another dimension. He may reappear in another location or at another time. But in reality, he has not moved at all. It is the space-time that has moved from in front of him to behind him.

This is the power that Nimrod wanted. This is why he was building the tower of Babel. God did not say, “how silly of them!” He said in Gen. 11:6, “now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.”

That is quite a statement for God to make.

But now, in the days of Mystery Babylon’s rule in the earth, the secrets of Nimrod have again been uncovered. Science fiction is often closer to reality than people think. The technology of Nimrod is again known, and men are experimenting with it even now. The thought of such technology getting into the hands of power-hungry people would be terrifying, except that we have the pattern of Genesis 11 to show us that God is about to intervene.

When you see the counterfeit, where men are trying to be gods apart from Christ, you will also find the REAL sons of God. These will not need to learn such technology, any more than Philip had to study it to be caught away. They will only need to learn the character of Christ.

Years ago, I studied many occult writings to know the contrast between man’s way and God’s way. Man wants immortality and god-like powers, but does not want to wait for God’s appointed time. He does not want to wait until he has the character of Christ. He desires this power in order to increase his wealth and his power over other men.

Nimrod wanted to be a “son of God,” but he wanted to achieve it in an unlawful manner apart from obedience to God. In fact, Gen. 11:4 gives us his motive for wanting to build the tower of Babel: “let us make for ourselves a name.” The Hebrew word for “name” is SHEM.

First of all, Nimrod was trying to replace Shem as the rightful ruler of the earth. Secondly, the name he desired was that of “sons of God.” Shem was a true son of God and was also known by the title Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18), which means “King of Righteousness.” The numeric value of “Shem” is 340, which is 34 x 10. The number 34 means “the naming of a son.” So this shows Nimrod’s desire to be named as a “son of God.”

This is a prime example of the dragon dressing up so it looks like a lamb, but still speaks like a dragon. John sees a counterfeit son of God and a counterfeit kingdom. That is the spirit which began to come to power from 1789 to the present day. Such people, like Nimrod, will seem to succeed at first. But ultimately, they will fail to achieve deification or immortality, for God will again intervene.

Mystery Religions

The Greek word musterion, translated “mystery,” indicates something that is hidden or secret. A mystery religion is essentially a secret society, a religion that keeps its real leadership a secret. The mysteriousness of such societies arouses curiosity, and their claims to know the secrets of the universe lure those who sincerely want to know truth.

In ancient times there were Babylonian “mysteries,” Egyptian “mysteries,” Greek “mysteries,” and many other religions. The Bible has little good to say about these and makes it clear that they were not to be followed. In the law of Moses the people were commanded to destroy those other religions. In the New Testament we find that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way, and the only “Door.”

But during the days of the Apostles, a new religion was started, called Gnosticism. The early Church writings tell us its founder was Simon Magus. Acts 8:13 tells us that when Philip preached the Gospel in Samaria,

¹³ Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip; and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed.

Simon was very impressed with Philip and with Jesus through whom these miracles were taking place. He was more than happy to add Jesus to his mystery religion. But Simon’s heart was not right, as the story shows. He thought that he could buy the power of the Holy Spirit, as if the Apostles possessed some sort of secret knowledge or technology that they might sell to him if the price were right. Peter, with his usual bluntness, said in Acts 8:21,

²¹ You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

So began the conflict between the early Church and the Gnostics. As time passed, the Gnostics professed to be the true Christians. They even came to use the gospels of the Apostles, claiming to know the “true meaning” of them. Being a mystery religion, they claimed to have the true understanding of the New Testament.

The fact is that John himself wrote many things against the Gnostics. The Gospel of John begins by getting the attention of the Gnostics. He uses their own belief system against them. “In the beginning was the Word [Logos].” The Logos was the divine Mind behind the universe. So far, so good.

Then he writes in verse 14, “and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” That verse was designed to slap the Gnostic in the face. Gnosticism taught that spirit was good and matter was evil. They taught that a good God could never taint Himself with matter, particularly with human flesh. Hence, God could never manifest Himself in the earth in human flesh.

This is why he says again in 1 John 4:2,

² . . . every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist. . .

The Gnostics thus had to reinterpret the New Testament in their own way, claiming that they had the true keys to understanding it. With this came their claim that the New Testament was a “code book” that could not be understood apart from the keys which they alone possessed.

As time passed, these ideas were developed in various secret societies of Europe which taught that Gnosticism was the true form of Christianity. These groups were opposed to the Roman Catholic Church, which did not mean that they were true Christians. They simply felt that they were the ones chosen to rule men, rather than the Pope. One significant group came to be called “the Dragon Court.”

The Dragon Court

The Dragon Court was established under the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund and Vlad the Impaler (the original Count Dracula) in the 12^th century. It is also called the Dragon Sovereignty and Rex Deus Grail fraternity. Gosticism re-emerged in the 12^th century through the Knights Templar who had come into contact with these Eastern teachings during the Crusades.

The political wing of the Dragon Court is the European Council of Princes that helped form the Bilderberger Group. Today, Laurence Gardner is the Chancellor of the Dragon Court and Presidential Attache to the Council of Princes. They advocate Synarchy, which is governing by or through a secret society. There are 33 “Holy Grail” bloodline Royal Houses of Europe who lay claim to this divine right to rule.

The purpose of the Council of Princes is to reclaim what they believe is their birthright to rule the earth. To accomplish this goal, they concern themselves with alchemy, witchcraft, vampirism, and the occult. They have a website (www.dragoncourt.org) where they discuss some of these things openly.

This organization bases its claim to the right to rule by making Jesus and his brother James their direct ancestors. Jesus supposedly was the high priest in Jerusalem and did not really die, but fathered two children, one of them also named Jesus. James was supposedly Joseph of Arimathea.

We know from history that Joseph eventually was exiled to Britain, and that his descendants married into the line of the kings of Europe. Thus, the Council of Princes lay claim to direct descent from James, the brother of Jesus. Laurence Gardner writes in his book, Bloodline of the Holy Grail, p. 110, about Jesus’ son, Jesus:

“In AD 53 Jesus junior was officially proclaimed Crown Prince at the synagogue of Corinth, and duly received the Davidic Crown Prince’s title of ‘Justus’ (the Righteous or the Just – Acts 18:7). He thereby formally succeeded his uncle, James the Just, as the kingly heir. Having reached the age of 16, Jesus Justus also became the Chief Nazarite that year, gaining entitlement to the black robe of that office—as worn by the priests of Isis, the universal Mother Goddess.

Gardner weaves real history with fancy in his attempt to give the royal lines of Europe direct descent from James and even from Jesus Himself. In doing this, they hoped to outdo even the Vatican’s claim of apostolic succession from Peter, which made no claim of direct bloodline descent from that apostle.

In order to construct their claim, of course, they had to reinterpret the New Testament, making it a code book, rather than an authentic historical account of events. Gardner admits this openly on page 32, saying,

“The Gospels of the New Testament . . . were not intended to relate history.”

Writing of the Gospel of Mark, Gardner says,

“. . . it was issued at a time when the Jews of Judaea were in revolt against the Roman occupiers, and were being crucified in their thousands. The Gospel writer therefore had his own safety to consider, and could hardly present a document that was overtly anti-Roman.”

Gardner’s view is that Jesus’ disciples entertained the same views as the bad figs of Judah who desired to overthrow Roman rule over Judea. He thus makes the New Testament into a code book that revealed a hidden message that was supposedly anti-Roman. Thus, they make the apostles into conspirators against Rome!

To do this, they remove its historic basis and claim much of the account was designed to deceive any Romans (and us today) who might read it. They make Jesus into an Essene and say John the Baptist was really Zadok, a priest of that day. Jesus’ disciple, Simon Zelotes, is made out to be Simon Magus. (In fact, he even claims that Lazarus was also the same as Simon Zelotes and Simon Magus.) Jesus’ wife was Mary Magdalene—a favorite occult belief.

All of these claims are designed to change the New Testament into a book that supports their claim of the divine right of kings. Gardner cleverly weaves real history with pure speculation and downright falsehood. If a person is not well read, their view might seem plausible.

The bottom line, however, is that while this group may have two horns that make it look like a lamb, it speaks like a dragon. Their methods and actions, as well, show that they have not the character of Jesus. These princes had many opportunities to rule Europe with righteousness in past centuries, but they merely oppressed the people like King Saul. History itself bears witness to their injustice. They have no right to the claim to be of David or of Jesus.

With the rise to political power of occult organizations and belief systems, culminating in what we see today all around us, we see the fulfillment of that powerful little statement in Rev. 13 about the second beast that masquerades as a lamb but is in actuality a dragon.