The Beast of Revelation 13
By Elder Lawrence Nelson
Welcome to “Keep the Faith Tape Ministry.” This is Evangelist Lawrence Nelson bringing to you undeniable facts that will prepare you to live forever with Christ your Savior and never die. You are about to hear some of the most dire predictions ever given by God regarding this mystery beast of Revelation 13.
Now for a warning concerning the New World Order in which every nation of our world is becoming strangely involved. In this series we are going to give you some alarming facts that you have never heard before that will lead you to understand the final battle of Armageddon. I wish this message to be preached in every church in the world, for this beast of Revelation 13 is going to completely change our lives so that the freedoms we now enjoy will be gone forever. This is why God has given us the Bible to prepare. In Daniel the twelfth chapter and the first verse it tells us that this will be a time of trouble such as never was. How few of the people living in the world today are aware of what is taking place and what is about to happen.
We will discover in the book of Revelation that Jesus has given us a clear picture of what is soon to take place. It reads, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.” Revelation 1:1. I like that, don’t you? This is all summed up in Revelation chapter fourteen which tells of three angels flying through the midst of heaven with the last message of mercy to a doomed world. We are told in these verses that anyone who worships this beast, or anyone who obeys it, God is going to cast into hell fire. That is why this alarming truth must be given.
My dear friends, I believe that the Lord is coming very, very soon. I want you to be ready because I love you. I don’t want you to come to me in the near future and say, “Why didn’t you tell me about this beast? You knew these things, but you didn’t inform us and now we are lost.” This is why you are going to hear some things you have never heard before in your life, so you can be ready.
First of all we must seek divine aid in prayer. Father, please send us Thy Holy Spirit to guide us that we may hear all about this beast and become aware of its great danger. In Jesus’ name we ask, Amen.
I trust that you have placed the visual aid before you. Locate beast #6 that God describes in Revelation 13:1 – 3 and notice the details as I read. “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: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 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.”
Let us now take a closer look at this beast which the Lord has described. It is a strange looking creature, isn’t it? Notice that it has ten horns and each of them are crowned. It is a peculiar-looking beast because it has a head like a lion, the feet of a bear, and a body like a leopard. Whoever heard of anything like this? No wonder some evangelists don’t want to preach about it because it seems too difficult to understand. But we are going to make these symbols so clear that it will be as easy as learning to count.
God warns that if any man worships this beast which has a mark, a name, and a number and even makes an image to this beast that God’s wrath will be upon him. We had better know beyond a doubt what this beast is. But where are we going to find the definitions that will help us to understand? We may guess, but this means nothing. Only God’s Word will tell us exactly what each of these symbols represents – the horns, the head like a lion, feet like a bear, or the body of a leopard. I want you to know that God has an answer, a “Thus said the Word of God” for every one of these characteristics.
Perhaps it would be good to pause here and tell you that our God is a God of love. Just to think that He would take time from running the universe to show us what this power is so that we can know what to expect. Christ describes these things as a cartoonist does for He wanted to make it simple. I recall some years ago looking in a newspaper and there was a picture of a lion. It was nibbling at the tail of a bear. There wasn’t a word on it, but I knew what it meant. It was a cartoon of England trying to start a fight with Russia.
Now we could understand these deep truths if He made them simple. Those of us who have studied the Bible with much prayer and the help of the Holy Spirit have discovered a secret. If there is anything that we don’t understand in the book of Revelation we can turn to the book of Daniel and it will give us the answer. Both of these books were written by God through the Holy Spirit and He knows what this beast represents.
Let us turn in our Bibles to Daniel 7:2. We read, “Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.” Now you will recall that we read in Revelation 13 that this beast arose out of the sea. Both Daniel and John the Revelator were looking upon the same great body of water. The Bible is very clear in Revelation 17:15, “The waters which thou sawest, …are people, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” We are not guessing for God’s Word has told us. The waters from which these beasts were emerging represent the nations of the world.
What happens when a great wind blows upon the waters of the ocean? – The waves often reach forty to fifty feet tall and clash against one another. The wind is a symbol of what happens when there is strife among the people as representing war and bloodshed. The result – one nation goes down into destruction and another nation comes up and takes its place. I am reading this from Jeremiah 51:1 – 4. “Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, … a destroying wind. …Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, …destroy ye utterly all her host.” Winds stand for war. This is God’s way to picture wars as kingdoms are destroyed and new kingdoms arise.
Now back to Daniel 7:3. “And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.” What are these? – I am reading now from verse 17, “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.” Isn’t it marvelous that God explains every detail. We don’t have to guess.
Another wonder that is almost unbelievable, but true, is that as we read Bible history God tells the future before it happens. God knows what is going to take place tomorrow and He knows what is going to happen a year from now. He knows the end from the beginning so He tells Daniel what is going to happen before it actually takes place.
Now let’s look at your visual aid. Note the #2 beast as I read from Daniel 7:4, “The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.” First, what does this lion represent? Let me read it to you from the Bible. We are not going to guess. It says in Jeremiah 50:43, 44, “The king of Babylon … shall come up like a lion.” It is God who explains; we don’t have to interpret by ourselves. We don’t have to guess if we will turn to the Bible and compare scripture with scripture.
Look closely at this lion that is #2 on the chart. You will notice that it had wings. I have been in the British Museum in England. Those in charge decided that they would go down to the Euphrates River in Iraq where the old kingdom of Babylon used to be to see if they could find anything. They dug in the ruins and they noticed that by every entrance to that city there was a winged lion. God used the same symbol to illustrate Babylon, isn’t that interesting? I have stood before that great winged lion some seventeen feet tall made out of stone by the Babylonians. God knew what He was talking about when He told us that it was a winged lion. God also said that a man’s heart would be given it. How strong is a lion when it has the strength of a man’s heart? It is no longer the king of beasts. Something was going to happen to this great kingdom of Babylon that came into existence in 606 BC as the first universal kingdom of this world.
Look again at your beast chart and locate beast #3. Daniel 7:5 tells us, “And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.” Now those of you who have studied ancient history know the next great kingdom that came on the scene of action arose in the year 538 BC. It was called the kingdom of Medo-Persia. Notice how God is so particular in telling us what would happen. God is revealing the future. He says that the bear would have three ribs in its mouth.
The kingdom of Babylon was composed of three provinces – Babylon, Lydia and Egypt. History reveals that Medo-Persia did exactly as prophecy predicted. It destroyed, or devoured, the three provinces of Babylon. But notice, it tells something else – the bear is lifted up on one side. When the Medo-Persia government overthrew Babylon then the Medes warred with the Persians and the Persians overthrew the Medes so Persia finally rules the world. Doesn’t God make it simple? God makes it so clear.
Then God said something else would happen. On your beast chart find beast #4. I am reading verse six, “After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.” History records that in the year 331 BC another power arose in the world. Now notice, first arose the kingdom of Babylon, then came Persia and next followed Greece. The scripture states this leopard beast had four wings. This made it possible to quickly conquer the then-known world. It is amazing as you look at the maps of how Alexander the Great conquered the world. He had no airplanes, no tanks, no modern ships – just a few wooden vessels and some camels and horses. But, in twelve short years he conquered the world. It’s amazing. That’s why God said it would have four wings; it would be done so quickly.
But this great emperor could not conquer his own appetite and he died a drunkard at 33 years of age. God also pictured this for us, for scripture says it would have four heads – not five heads or three, but four as pictured on your beast chart #4. Alexander had exactly four generals. Their names were Cassander, Lysimachos, Seleucus, and Ptolemy. When Alexander died these four generals got together and said, “Let’s not fight among ourselves; let’s rule concurrently.” So in the next year the world was ruled by four heads, or generals. Isn’t it marvelous that God told Daniel three hundred years before this took place exactly what would happen? The Bible is filled with such wonders.
Now look at beast #5 as I read Daniel 7:7. “After this I saw in the night vision, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.” Are you looking at beast #5? You will notice that this beast looks like a monster. It had great iron teeth. It was dreadful.
We all know the next great kingdom to rule this world was Rome in 168 BC. Those of you who have studied about the Roman Empire under the Caesars know that pagan Rome was ruthless. The whole world trembled under this power. In fact when you read history from Edward Gibbons’ book The History, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire you will discover that he uses these words, “the iron monarchy of Rome.” God said it simply, “It had great iron teeth.” How marvelous that God could predict these details.
This was the time when Jesus came into this world and died on a cross. It was a Roman cross. It was Pilate, under the authority of Caesar, who crucified our Lord using Roman soldiers. Isn’t it wonderful that the entire world was under bondage to Rome but that Jesus is born to bring salvation, hope and courage? Isn’t that just like our Savior? Our Lord knew when the world was in need and He came to this earth to die on a pagan, Roman cross for you and me; giving His life as payment for our sins. He died in our place that we might live. What a Savior!
Pagan Rome, like all these other kingdoms, had its problems. We find in the year 476 AD that the Roman Empire broke apart. Look again at your visual aid. Remember there was one Babylon, one Persia, one Greece and one Rome ruling the entire world. But now something different happens. The Bible says that this beast had ten horns. What do horns represent? – I am reading Daniel 7:24, “And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise.” History verifies that the Roman Empire divided into exactly ten kingdoms. How amazing that God can see the future and knows what is going to happen.
Now perhaps you are saying, “You promised that you would talk about the beast of Revelation 13 and explain all about the details, but all you have told us is about ancient history.” My friend, you have been learning more than you think. Let me show you something. Look at your chart at beast #6. God wanted to show you that this beast of Revelation 13 contains all the characteristics of the past beasts of history and so our heavenly Cartoonist took the horns from pagan Rome (beast #5), He took the body from the leopard of Greece (beast #4), He took the feet from the bear Medo-Persia (beast #3), and He took the head from the lion of old Babylon (beast #2) and He put them all together. Why? – Because He wants to show you that this beast of Revelation 13 is a composite beast containing the beliefs and the teachings of paganism found in those empire of past history. This is why God hates it. I believe you are beginning to have some understanding now about the beast of Revelation 13 (beast #6).
Let me show you something else. Look at the beast chart at beasts #2 – 5. The prophet Daniel was looking forward in time and he saw a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a monster. But the prophet John as he received the revelation of Jesus Christ he was pointed back in history. This is why these beasts are in reverse order starting with the horns of the monster (#5), then the body of a leopard (#4), the feet of a bear (#3), and the head of the lion (#2). I want to tell you that these two books of Daniel and Revelation embrace each other.
Now we are ready to hear some tremendous facts that will open your understanding of Bible history. Look on your visual aid at beast #5, the monster. In Daniel the seventh chapter and verse eight it reads, “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.”
Perhaps we should pause here for a moment. Maybe there are some Catholics listening with you to this tape, or perhaps some Protestants. I wouldn’t be surprised even some Jews or Mohammedans and maybe some atheists are listening. No matter who you are, God loves you and so do we.
Now the question: What is this power? – It is the little horn beast (#5 on your chart). We will let God’s Holy Scripture describe the little horn and what it does. Then we will turn to history and see if it actually happened. Since the little horn of this beast represents a church we will then read from the teachings of the church to see if she agrees.
What church are we talking about? – God has given us seven undeniable facts proving the little horn to be the papal power in the world today. He wants us be absolutely positive, and believe me He has not left any doubt. Listen carefully. I am reading from Daniel 7:24, “And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them.” Remember pagan Rome ruled the world from 168 BC to 476 AD as you see on your chart (beast #5). But, God foretold that pagan Rome would be divided into ten separate kingdoms.
Here comes fact #1 : Pagan Rome became so corrupt that a revolution developed in which the Roman Empire was divided into ten separate kingdoms. But not for long, because God prophesied by Daniel that another power would arise which would be of a diverse nature.
Fact #2 : The papacy, claiming to be a diverse spiritual power, destroyed three of the kingdoms – the Heroli in 493 AD, the Vandals in 534 AD, and finally the Ostrogoths in 538 AD. When the seven remaining kingdoms saw what had happened to the three kingdoms by this papal power, they capitulated, making it possible for the papal power of the little horn to rule over them also.
I am reading from the book The Question Box, written by Reverend Conway, a Roman Catholic. Papal Rome has given three seals of approval on this book which means that they have checked the writings and they are correct. I read on p. 166, “The difference from Constantinople, the interrupted communications with the Exter of Vereena, the constant fighting against the Goths, the Huns and the Hunbars [these are the common names for the Heroli, the Vandals and the Ostrogoths] tended to turn the pope willingly or unwillingly into a temporal sovereign.” Isn’t that amazing? God said when the little horn came into power it would destroy three of the ten kingdoms and the church says that is exactly what she did. We are not guessing here, this is a life and death issue; we must know the truth.
Seven of these nations are still in existence in our world today. I will read the names of them for you. They are: Germany, England, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Switzerland. The other three are gone – they have disappeared. You see, God doesn’t want you to have any questions.
He doesn’t want you to have any doubt in your mind for He tells us more. Fact #3 : It says in the scripture that this little horn had eyes. How interesting. Every person in this world today knows that this organization, the papacy, is headed up by a man called the pope. This is something that God has made so clear that there can be no doubt. But He adds more…
Fact #4 : I am reading from Daniel 7:25, “And he shall speak great words against the most High.” How revealing! I am reading from The Authority of the Councils, Volume 2, Book 2, Chapter 17, p. 266 which says, “All names which in the scripture are applied to Christ, by virtue of which it is established that He is over the church, all the same names are applied to the pope.” You may call the pope the Savior, or the Good Shepherd. Listen, I am quoting from another Catholic source. “The pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but is as it were God and the vicar of God.” The Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Dictionary, the article on the pope.
When you turn on your television, as I have done, and see the pope, who claims that he is not a mere man, but is as it were God, is it any wonder when he came to America that thousands were kneeling before him? I saw it with my own eyes. But I read in John 10:30 that Jesus said, “I and my Father are one.” He was, for He was the Son of God, but the Jewish priests said that they were going to stone Him. Why? – “Because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” (verse 33). According to the Bible this is blasphemy.
What did the scriptures say? – “That he shall speak great words against the most High.” (Daniel 7:25). I am reading from The Catholic National, July, 1905. “The pope is not only a representative of Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ Himself.” What’s that? I read in the scriptures that in the last days false christs would come. These are undeniable facts. Paul told us that this would happen. I am reading from 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come (speaking of the second coming of Christ), except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself about all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”
Fact #5: The Bible tells us in Luke 5:20 that Jesus, when he was healing a poor, sick man said, “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” Isn’t it wonderful that we have a Savior who not only can heal us, but can forgive us of our sins! What a God. But did you know that this man of Rome also claims to forgive sin? I am quoting, “The pope is the vicar of Christ, or the visible head of the church on earth. The claims of the pope are the same as the claims of Christ. Christ wanted all souls saved, so does the pope. Christ can forgive all sin, so can the pope.” That is taken by a sermon by Reverend Jeremiah Prendergast preached in The Church of St. John the Baptist Syracuse, NY on March 13, 1912 as reported in The Syracuse Post Standard March 14, 1912.
Now comes Fact #6 : Daniel 7:25, “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High.” If you will look back in history you will find that this great power has destroyed more people in this world than any other institution that has ever existed. Let me read this to you from William Edward Hartpole Lecky in his book The History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe, Volume 2, p. 32. “The Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind.”
God has revealed these facts and the church admits it. I am reading from The Western Watchman, a Roman Catholic magazine of December 24, 1908. The church says, “The Church has persecuted. Only a tyro in church history will deny that. 150 years after Constantine the Donatists were persecuted and sometimes put to death. Protestants were persecuted in France and Spain with the full approval of Church authorities. We have always defended the persecution of the Huguenots and the Spanish Inquisition.” The facts are that thousands and tens of thousands were destroyed by the papal power.
Here is something else to really think about. I continue to quote, “But will the Catholic Church give bond that she will not persecute at all? Will she guarantee absolute freedom and equality of all church and all faiths? The Catholic Church gives no bond of her good behavior.”
Here is Fact #7 : Daniel 7:25, “And he shall … think to change times and laws.” If you pick up any Catholic Catechism you will find that the second commandment is missing which reads, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” I have been in St. Peter’s Basilica of Rome and I have looked at the statues and the people kneeling before them. God says, “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them.”
But I hear someone say, “Doesn’t the church teach ten commandments?” – Why of course they do. They took the last one and divided it into two so that they could tell the world that they keep the ten commandments, but they don’t.
Now let me summarize what we have discovered. We have found undeniable proof that the beast of Revelation 13 and the little horn of Daniel 7 are one and the same. Let me review this for you. Both will blaspheme (Revelation 13:5; Daniel 7:25). Both would hold universal rulership (Revelation 13:7; Daniel 7:23). Both were a religious power (Revelation 13:8; Daniel 7:24). Both were to rule for 1260 years (Revelation 13:5; Daniel 7:25). Both would try to change God’s law (Revelation 13:5, 16, 17; Daniel 7:25). Both would persecute (Revelation 13:7; Daniel 7:25). Therefore the beast of Revelation 13 and the little horn are one and the same.
This is becoming exciting, isn’t it? Now the question: “Where did this beast get such power?” This is what our next tape is all about. This is why God warns us in Revelation 14:9, 10, “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.”
In this tape you have heard some alarming facts, but the next tape will bring you some astonishing facts so that you can see, without a doubt, what God is trying to tell us about this beast. Don’t miss it!
Let us pray. Loving Father, we thank Thee that Thou hast made things so clear in Thy Word so that we can decide not to have anything to do with this beast of Revelation 13. Grant us retentive memories so we will be ready for tape #2 entitled “The Beast, The Dragon and the Woman.” This we ask in the name of Jesus, Amen.”