Who or what is “the beast?”
There are two “beasts” in Revelation. One is from the sea, and one is from the earth. These beasts probably represented the Roman emperor and the “cult” of emperor worship, especially the priests who forced Christians to worship the emperor or die. Some Revelation scholars believe these beasts predict a future anti-Christ who will rule the world and be the tool of Satan at the end of time. Others, like myself, believe that anyone who claims to be “God” and demands worship or death is an “anti-Christ.” Evil men like Hitler, Stalin and Mao come to mind. One of the biggest wastes of time that Christians engage in is trying to identify the “beast” as someone currently in the news. For two thousand years, Christians have been guessing wrong, claiming the Pope, Hitler, Ronald Reagan and others were the anti-Christ. If there is to be an anti-Christ at the end of time, he will be obvious by his actions, and Christ will destroy him. Revelation’s message is that we have nothing to fear from anyo
