Gospel Opposition

[Gus Foster]

Hello Friends --been away for awhile- presenting- studying--

Here is results of identifying the Revelation Beasts as we see it today---

In the beginning Genesis tells us that the 'earth' was void and in darkness, and only when the Spirit was present was there goodness and life. Through out the history of the Bible there was always a presence of God's people who lived in the light and fought and rejected the darkness. We see this darkness in the souls of men illustrated early as Ham's descendents invaded Shem's territory and built evil empires and Satan's religious systems. By the time Revelation 12 arrives on the scene, where the transition of God's people of Israel passes the baton to the apostolic church, the Jewish religion had become Cabalistic, based primarily on Babylonian cultism. They continually want to kill Christ, and for the same reasons and in the same manner we witness through out history to all those who cherished God's law and love, those who recognized that all righteousness was from Christ and could only be experienced by giving up of world and self.

During the church history we see that best exemplified in each of the seven churches the only solution for the overcomers was the use and possession of Christ's attributes and character. This was magnified by the Revelation seals, the first four show the condition of the gospel, both in presentation and reacceptance, by the pure white, (Pentecost) then the red horse, (tainted gospel) black (darkness) and finally pale, a picture of Daniel's little horn of Daniel 7 and the beast of Rev 13 and 17.

The beast out of the sea is best defined by Daniel's little horn, where it grows out of the great red dragon of Rome into a worldwide, persecution power, with a vengeance to kill all of God's elect. The beast out of the earth again is the 'reformed church' that eventually forgets what it originally protested, and accepts much of the papal doctrines through the same growth pattern as the little horn. This beast creates an image, a copy of the image of Daniel 3, which was accompanied by a death penalty for all who did not succumb. Later this unholy trinity is called the Dragon, Beast and False Prophet. (Rev 16:13, called the spirit of demons)

In Rev 17 & 18 we find an apostate woman, the opposite of the pure Rev 12 woman, who is riding on this sea beast, which by this time is a composite of all secular rulers and merchants who offer obeisance to the rider, the reborn Holy Roman Empire. We know this to be true because at the demise of the woman those are the ones left mourning her judgment. The old testament testifies of the judgment against this 'Babylon' by many prophets, best may be Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea and Zechariah, using the geographical Babylon as a type of an anti-type of spiritual Babylon.

When we sort out all of the kings, heads, horns and crowns we can find the best conclusion in Dan 11:40-45. where the king of the north, Papacy and its allies, (Revelation beasts) will overcome the king of the south, secularism, and they do the North's bidding as they have carried out the death decree on the saints.

The most important thing for us to realize and remember is that throughout all of this, Christ is in charge, and John reminds us of that in every chapter, at every juncture. Our theme is always Christ -- Lord, Savior, Redeemer, Sustainer and Advocate. No information nor interpretation is of any substance without His presence in our lives, in action, thought and deed.

[Kevin H]

While we talk about two women, have you ever noticed that the one woman ran INTO the wilderness and it is a cliff hanger ending. Then we see a woman riding the beast coming OUT FROM the wilderness, and after all the amazing things John has seen, this is the one place where he feels hit in the head by a two by four, as he says that when he saw HER he was astonished!!!