Ten Reasons (9) Believing Lies

The Beast of Revelation arises to power when the people of a nation come to believe a lie. This monster does not need to establish its power by military force. It gains authority by deceiving the people into thinking that it is good, when its heart is evil.

The lies that deceive them came from two sources. The first source of the lie was the False Prophet. John received a vision of a powerful organisation that caused the people to believe a lie. This organisation helped restore the democratic republic that had died when the Roman Empire came to power.

Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed (Rev 13:11-12).

This beast had "two horns like a lamb". The two horns signify enormous worldly power, but there is an interesting twist. In Revelation, the lamb is Jesus, so it appears to represent Jesus, but it speaks like a dragon. This shows that it is actually working for evil.

John saw a lamb-like animal doing great evil. The beast with horns like a lamb represents a Christian organisation that has influence over much of the world. This church becomes a strong advocate for political power. This is a strange role for the church, because Jesus had refused to use force and coercion to establish his Kingdom. This church is different, because it has greater faith in human bureaucracy and political power than on the gospel and power of the Holy Spirit.

John calls this beast the False Prophet (Rev 19:20). God uses true prophets to constrain political power. The False Prophet builds up political power. It will support the re-emergence of a powerful democratic empire.

It deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honour of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived (Rev 13:14).

The Beast that was wounded yet lived was the Roman Republic. The False prophet will be an advocate for democratic political power.

The other source of the lie was the Woman riding on the Beast. This woman is Israel.

By your magic spell, all the nations were led astray (Rev 18:23).

John explains that Israel will contribute to belief in the lies that support the emergence of the Beast, the democratic/republican empire. Israel has a powerful and effective propaganda system that has deceived many Christians from all over the world.

The American people are generous, bold, positive, confident, active, entrepreneurial and outgoing. Whether because of this, or despite this, they have a propensity to believe lies, especially about political and military power. These lies could allow the United States to become the Beast of Revelation and Daniel.

LiesI was going to list the lies here, but they are too many, so here are just a few that I read or hear quite frequently. Not all these lies are believed by all people, but all people believe some of them.

• The United States has the only true free-market capitalist economy in the world (this is believed, despite the largest sectors of the economy being dominated by state-controlled, state-protected and state-funded corporates, such as telecommunications, finance, defence, agriculture).

• America is the indispensable nation with responsibility for delivering peace to the world.

• God wants the United States to intervene and transform evil nations by using military force to impose a copy of the American political system.

• The United States only fights good wars, whereas other nations fight wars for evil gain. The eighteen-year long war in Afghanistan that has empowered warlords and imposed corruption is a good war, despite the military being uncertain about what it is trying to achieve and lying about its lack of success.

• The people of the United States watched on television as their military forces attacked Iraq, killing thousands of people, damaging infrastructure, including power stations, telecommunication equipment, hospitals, schools, churches, mosques, roads, bridges, factories, oil wells, because their leaders had lied about Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). The Iraqi people, who had good education, health care, abundant electricity and plenty of food now face shortages of food, fuel, electricity, medicines, and items of daily life, and face life with lawlessness and chaos everywhere, but it is their fault, because they were too stupid to accept the good opportunity that the US invasion offered them.

• The US military is still the most moral in the world. The soldiers and contractors who tortured prisoners, deliberately shot civilians, and mutilated bodies are not true Americans.

• Many Christians believe that God sent Donald Trump to save the American nation. The idea that a political leader can save a nation is a distortion of the gospel.

• Many Christians assume they are prophetic because they are critical of Donald Trump, but their faith and interest in political power is strengthened, not weakened. They still believe that the American political system is the best in the world, despite it throwing up a choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

• Influential newspapers, like the New York Times and the Washington Post, are willing to lie in support of the political leaders, the military forces and the security agencies of the nation, even when they are doing evil.

• The United States is good. A few other nations, like the UK, Australia and New Zealand are OK, but a bit dodgy. Most others are evil.

• The Chinese police shooting rubber bullets against protestors in Hong Kong are evil, but the Israeli snipers who deliberately shoot protestors across the Gaza fence are good.

Lies like these make it easy for the United States to become the Beast of Revelation.

The people of other nations are cynical about political power. They assume that politicians will behave badly. They realise that people who are trained in war will begin to see violence as a solution to all problems. This counterbalance seems to be missing in the United States.

American Christians who believe the myths about their nation will not be surprised when it manifests fully as the Beast. They have always loved American dominance and power, so they will be glad when it becomes strong and more brutal.