QUESTION: In view of your latest article on the new world order, how does Revelation 13:11-16 fit in?
ANSWER: Revelation 13:11-17 states: “Then I saw another wild beast ascending out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb, but it began speaking like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first wild beast in its sight. And it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first wild beast, whose mortal wound was healed. And it performs great signs, even making fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the sight of mankind. It misleads those who dwell on the earth, because of the signs that it was permitted to perform in the sight of the wild beast, while it tells those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the wild beast that had the sword-stroke and yet revived. And it was permitted to give breath to the image of the wild beast, so that the image of the wild beast should both speak and cause to be killed all those who refuse to worship the image of the wild beast. It puts under compulsion all people – the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free and the slaves – that these should be marked on their right hand or on their forehead, and that nobody can buy or sell except a person having the mark, the name of the wild beast or the number of its name.”
Just as the multi-headed beast of Revelation is a composite of various parts of the individual beasts presented in the seventh chapter of Daniel, expressed as individual heads of the seven-headed beast from the sea, the two-horned beast is also represented as one of the seven heads. Which one? It is, obviously, the last one of the seven.
The Watchtower’s identification of the two-horned beast out of the earth as the Anglo-American dyad is correct. However, the question that ought to be considered is what the beast rising up from the earth signifies? The Watchtower attaches no particular importance to it.
If my memory serves me correctly (and it should after having been a book study conductor the three times the WT required Jehovah’s Witnesses to study the Grand Climax commentary) the Society teaches that the two-horned beast ascending from the earth symbolizes that the Anglo-American duo arose from the “stable” part of mankind, as opposed to the seven-headed beast arising from the tumultuous “sea” of mankind.
But that interpretation does not take into consideration the fact that the two-horned beast comes up out of the earth after the seemingly fatally wounded head of the seven-headed beast comes back to life.
As pointed out in numerous articles on e-Watchman, besides the obvious fact that Great Britain, France and America were on the victorious side of the First World War, it is simply absurd to suppose that the judgment of the second death has been imposed on the world in the aftermath of that war and the creation of the League of Nations.
Since the fatal wounding of the head of the beast initiates judgment day, it is evident that it is a future event. That being the case, so is the ascension of the two-horned beast. The beast rising up from the earth symbolizes the beast returning from the grave – the abyss – coinciding with the seemingly slaughtered head coming back to life.
In the event of the crash of the Dollar, which is considered inevitable, the present American-dominated world can easily change, literally overnight. Government will simply cease to function – as though it had been killed.
The two-horns of a lamb might be intended to signify that the beast is a counterfeit of the Lamb of God, who at that time will be ruling in his kingdom. Its speaking as a dragon portrays that Satan will directly speak through his resurrected earthly beast to command the world to defy Christ.
As for the beast making fire come down from heaven, this may become manifest in certain nations being obliterated by thermonuclear missiles raining down from the heavens. Or it may be some top-secret weapon that is yet to be unveiled, such as satellite-mounted lasers or even manmade meteors, dubbed “rods of God.”