Featured What is the Religion of the Beast

I believe this was about the apostate Jewish religion. Not the true Jewish religion, but one where the Jewish priests joined themselves to Rome in the 1st Century.

 

I believe that the beast out of the sea is anti-Christian government of any stripe, and the beast out of the earth is false religion of any sort which allies itself with the state to persecute Christians.
It has been going on certainly since Daniel 3:1-6, and it will continue until our Lord's return in glory. It seems that it may get worse as that time approaches.

 

Agree!

"....The seven heads correspond to the four beasts of Daniel and represent seven ‘epochs’ of world powers (ultimately not flesh and blood, but principalities, powers, world-rulers of this darkness, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places, Ephesians 6:12) which have ever warred down through history with the Heavenly Born of the Woman of Genesis 3:15 and Revelation 12.....Egypt was the first of the 7, followed in order by Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, and the Germanic tribes. Each is represented by a head, a mountain, a king....."
Spiritual Interpretation pt5.

 

I believe it will be a type of false Christianity. Satan is the master deceiver He want's the people to worship him as God. So he will attempt to copy Christ, because Christ is Lord.
MB

 

[EDIT] Yes, sir, I do take a historical view. However, I think this was apostate Israel's priesthood when they aligned with the Romans. Hope that makes sense.
I will also agree that, in today's times, the "religion of the Beast" could easily fit both New Age / universalist teachings. Anything that tries to replace the true Christian teachings is of the Devil.

 

Keith Green came to Christ when he noticed that every religion he investigated claimed Jesus as their own in some way. Carl Sagan replaced Jesus with the Cosmos. Seems some physicists once predicted a triune Omega Point when the Universe would reverse and deliver itself. Soviet Communism replaced Jesus with Lenin. No doubt there are many other parallels.

 

Did you read the linked post? It's actually a Historicist view.

 

….and Revelation 12

 

I should clarify my views a bit, since we are looking at Revelation 13 and 17. These are just my personal views, and I could very easily be mistaken. In Rev 13:15, everyone who did not worship the image of the Beast was killed. I personally believe this fits in with emperor worship. The "image of the Beast" may have been a representative of the Beast (Rome / Nero), or something that represented Rome's authority, like a decree or something.

Rev 17 is all about the Great Harlot, which I believe was apostate Israel. During this time, the priests had aligned with Rome. I don't want to go into too much detail, as it would become a rabbit trail, and the topic is about the religion of the Beast.

 

You are too kind, Brother. All I know for sure is that I won't really know for sure until He comes . Until then, I'll go with my views, but I don't worry about it if someone has a different view. (Unless it's a point of your salvation, such as works vs grace, of course.)

 

Jesus once presented the situation as two options, to serve God or to serve Mamon, the latter generally understood to be worldly wealth. Lately, I hear China has implemented a system that alternately rewards or penalizes citizens based on purchasing choices, all tracked through smart gadgets via AI.

 

I'm sure we agree that the beast of Rev 13:12 is also known as the False Prophet. I personally view the FP as Apostate Israel, who had joined with Rome. Admittedly, I'm not quite sure about the signs that he does in verse 13.

The harlot (Apostate Israel, in my view) "sits" in an exotic way upon the Beast. To me, this fits, because she is described as a harlot. The language implies a sexual union - "in bed with the Beast", to use today's vernacular. I believe the Beast of the Sea was Rome, represented in part by Nero (666). In Rev 13:12 and following, we have a reference to the beast who had recovered from a fatal wound. This fatal wound was Nero's suicide, which nearly killed the Roman empire. Then we had "the year of 4 emperors", and finally Vespasian became emperor. Vespasian kept the Roman empire together after it nearly fell apart from civil war. Long story short, I don't really see a false religion in these passages. Rather, I see the history of the Jewish War.