44. The Image and Its Grip

[I will not have a recording of this lesson.]

Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth, …in resemblance to a lamb, but it was speaking like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast… And this second beast works great signs, so that it should even cause fire to come down out of heaven into the earth in the presence of humans. It deceives those who dwell upon the earth through the signs…, telling those dwelling upon the earth to make an image to the beast that had the sword-wound and yet has lived. And …the ability to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast should speak and should…

Bible visions are given to us to understand our world.

The Appearance of a Lamb. Bible visions are NOT given to fantasizers to create science fiction scenarios for political posturing or to carnal intellects to contradict the Gospel for power over Christians.

In the last lesson, we saw the mighty dividing line between those who care for the Church and those who do not. The beast itself rises up out from the masses of humanity, but this second beast, dubbed by some, “the false prophet,” rises out from Nicene Christianity. The second beast has the appearance of a lamb, that is, it speaks and is motivated by Christian ideas. The difference is simple – no TRUE CARE for the Church upon the earth.

“Science Says.” The first beast is not an individual person, but anyone using political power to control others. In the same way, the second beast is not an individual person, but rather anyone who influences people into a particular direction. That particular direction is any path that culminates in worshipping human control. This worship of human control, however, is very subtle and comes in many guises.

For instance, outwardly, science seems to have replaced God as the explainer of everything. More than that, engineering and technological science has altered our lives in truly miraculous ways. In today’s world, the statement, “Science says,” is meant to silence all who “doubt.”
 
Rule by Miracles. Science rules because of the miracles it constantly produces. Until 1914, all scientists were Christians or considered themselves Christians, including Charles Darwin. The study of an orderly world came only out from the fusion of Greek and Christian thinking in the west. The Chinese invented some things sooner, but never developed a scientific system.

The first fire from heaven upon the earth was 1922 when the British under Churchill began bombing the Arabs, having lied to them about “freedom.” The first image that spoke was in 1925 in a store front in London, already called television – see from afar.

The Problem with “Science.” From 1914 to 1941, science went from being a Christian pursuit to being dedicated to the beast and world power. The problem with science is that it is conducted by scientists, who are human and thus are political hacks, ready to speak for the beast who pays them.

In our world today, science is real only when it produces miracles. So many branches of “science,” then rely on those miracles in order to establish non-science as if it were actual science. For instance, medical emergency science saves lives, but the allopathic and pharmaceutical claims beyond that are based, not on actual science, but on the power of money and deceit.

The Authority of the Beast. And so it goes with most of the “sciences.” When a science must produce results, it is accurately science, but when no results can be produced, it becomes nonsense. The lies gain their power from the miracles (science that works).

Thus realms of “science” such as evolution, the long geological ages of the earth, a gravity universe and a nuclear sun, pharmacological medicine, modern climate claims, and so on, contain NO scientific requirement of practical and falsifiable results. Yet they rule as “gods” in the minds of humans. And they rule out from the authority given them by political government, directing all to honor and serve that beast.

The Greatest Change Agent. Most television shows today present government agents as true and good humans and all non-government individuals or groups as suspect, and likely to be false.

The television is considered to be the greatest change agent in human history. No one today thinks like all humans thought until, say, the 1950’s. The largest part of our “new mind” was produced by the television set, an image that speaks and causes humans to act in a way that benefits political government.

But the modern school is also an incredibly powerful agent of change in human thinking. The Jesuits were the first to control the teachers in order to control the next generation.

Looks Like a Lamb. In America, the Protestants took control of the public schools in order to forestall Jesuit influence, but it did not take long for the Marxists to replace the Protestants. By the 1950’s, the second beast that arose from “Christian” control, looking like a “lamb,” now spoke the words of the first beast into the minds of children.

It was an astonishing shock to me in my professional life when I discovered that the modern Christian school is more successful in teaching children to give their allegiance to the beast than the public school is, but less successful in teaching basic knowledge. – In resemblance to a lamb, but speaking like a dragon.

Missing the Obvious. Here is the problem. EVERYTHING in Revelation 13 stands FULFILLED today upon the earth, but Christians cannot see any of it. They are looking, instead, for something that appears “evil” to them, something completely separate from their own thinking and doing.

Some conservative Catholic leaders are beginning to think that the present pope is “of the devil.” Hello? – A “vicar of Christ,” taking Jesus’ place as the “authority of God” over all Christians has always been “of the devil.” And then the Baptists and Pentecostals are convinced that if they are not raptured, then nothing from Revelation 13 could be happening, even though it stares them in the face.

Power Works. It was the talking heads on television, speaking out from the authority of political power and using false and illogical “science,” that persuaded almost all pastors on earth to close their doors against God’s people on March 15, 2020. This is POWER.

Power works by convincing Christians to obey it by the speaking of non-science (the second beast) and out from a background of the fear of violence (the first beast). We now see that 2020 could be considered as a “trial run,” yes, but that does not mean it was not a full expression of Revelation 13 in the present fulness of times.

Power Causes. It causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free and the slaves, that it should give them an identification stamp or engraving upon their right hand or upon their forehead, so that no one would be able to buy or to sell if they do not have the identification stamp, the name of the beast, or the number of its name. Here is wisdom. Let the one who has understanding count the number of the beast; for it is humanity’s number, and the number of it is six hundred sixty-six.

Notice the possibility of one of three different things, either the stamp/engraving (mark) OR the name of the beast OR the number of its name.

A Tool for Understanding. We have seen that, as David said, to the perverse, God shows Himself perverse. In other words, the words “Let him who has understanding count” are a diversion to send foolish people running in all the wrong directions. To labor over the number 666 is a foolish waste of time.

We do not need to predict anything when we consider the control that the worship of the state has taken in our world today, all we need to do is understand that world. The vision is given to us as a tool to give reference points to what we are already seeing, things that we know in our guts are just wrong.

God’s Purpose. Concerning “the mark of the beast,” I would point you to the article I inserted into A Highway for God, “God’s Purpose for the Mark of the Beast.” I will not add any more here except that we see in the present news that governments around the world are using their ability to cut individual people off from access to their bank accounts as a weapon of control. This is relevant.

I do want to expand on “the name of the beast” and “the number of its name” as we go forward in this study. But we do so out from our overwhelming purpose, and that is to see our brethren set free and running into God.

Lust and Curse. Let’s place a series of three things into a chart in order to see the patterns. This layout gives us understanding, but all these things always overlap each other.



Controlling and Being Controlled. Inside the mind of the knowledge of good and evil humans are always trying to control others, always trying to be superior by making others to be inferior. These motivations and actions come in so many different styles and flavors, all woven together. Yet in all their efforts to control, all humans are being controlled. And being controlled is an incredibly subtle thing. Free yourself from one form of control and, unknown to you, you are now under a different control.

Let me give a very brief layout of how these three elements of lust and curse work together in the human heart, the worship of the flesh, of the state, and of money.

Tantalus and Narcissus. The lusts of the flesh can go either way, fight it or feed it, demons feed on both. Except, I suspect they get more excitement when humans whip their flesh for the sake of horrific religious notions about God. Is Tantalus bound to Christ, but longs for the flesh, or does Tantalus long for a faraway Christ, but is bound to the flesh? Either way works.

Control is all about deception and denial, the speaking of untrustworthy words. Behind those words is the iron fist of the bully. When he is exposed, however, it’s all “not my fault (but yours).” When politicians defend themselves, this is what is heard. And when the controller is cut-off, you see Narcissus underneath, it’s all about “me, me, me, me, me.”

Sisyphus. Our layout would then place the exaltation of flesh, whether by feeding it or by whipping it, as the mark or insignia of the beast. And lying, denial, and infatuation with “me, me, me” would be the name or nature of the beast.

The third column, Sisyphus, always trying but never succeeding, is driven by the number of its name, which I would present as the press of society, “what will other people think about me.” This is the drive to appear “superior” in the eyes and acclaim of others. Money itself is just a tool, but the love of money is the love of superior appearance.

Here’s the point. None of these things are unusual, but are common to all humans – AND utterly beastly.

Pop Music. Now, I want to consider two powerful elements of control that seem to be the opposite of each other and then a third form of control that did not exist prior to the fall of 2022. The opposing two are modern pop music versus modern cinema grandiosity.

Modern pop music is all about bondage and death, the “star” being given to Satan, mind control, chains, and stilted robots acting controlled. The symbols of freemasonry fill modern pop music, its videos and performances. Out from this stupor of mind control, young people are subject to suicide and to mindless fear concerning “global warming,” etc., etc. This generation cannot survive.

“Superheroes.” Modern cinema then presents the exact opposite. – What superhero do you want to be? Do you want to be like Thor or like Superman, like Captain America or even like Thanos (short for the Greek titan Thanatos – death.) These are nothing other than the pagan “gods” of yore. And people make use of these figures in the exact same way and for the exact same reasons as idol worshippers always did.

That way is to spin a self-story of grandiose self-exaltation. This is ME – exalt yourself. This is you – a mind-controlled robot. Back and forth. Half of all people on earth are children or teenagers. Control them and you control the future. Make them psychotic, and they will die easily.

From Normal to Fulness. The beast is control by violence; the false prophet is control by the spinning of delusions. The purpose of the false prophet is to feed humans into “the jaws of the beast.” These things are normal to human society and have been operating as the curse for six thousand years.

But today we are in the fulness of times, when all that is normal to human folly comes to its fulness even as it is being exposed and cut off. Thus we see that the false prophet in the fulness of times stands forth ONLY because something else, something REAL, is now arising upon this earth.

The War against Reciprocal Love. That “something” is Christians on this earth, loving one another with pure hearts fervently inside of committed life together, as the revelation of God our Father. For two thousand years, the evil one has built his opposition against such a reality into the mind and thinking of Christian “theology.” He must keep “love one another” from happening at whatever cost.

When we get to Revelation 17, “Placing the Prostitute,” we will look at specific elements of darkness that have been given to Christians to drink as “the gospel truth.” Here we want to place the false prophet now in the Church.

Speaking Together. And so we must come back to the wounded/healed beast-head and the events of October 7, 2023 (by some counts the Day of Atonement) to see the false prophet in the church, looking “Christian,” but speaking the authority of the dragon. John saw in his vision that this false prophet teaches Christian people to support and even worship the head of the beast that was wounded unto death and now lives.

It was an astonishing thing to see, in America at least, left and right, Christian conservatives and liberal homosexuals, all speaking together as one, in hardness, and in support of the government of Israel in its murderous response.

The Balaam Strategy. From the late 1940’s on, Christian ministries under the control of the Pharisees have been teaching Christian people worldwide that the restoration of that nation is the fulfillment of God’s covenant.

This is the most destructive aspect of “the false prophet” to Christians. Believing fake “science” will kill more people outwardly, but falsely defining the covenant is intended by the evil one to effectively prevent Christians from turning around inside of God to love one another. This is the Balaam strategy. Get Christians to give their all to murder, and they will never connect with the love of the Father through them.

A “Little” Threat. Now, there is a very specific purpose in all this delusion and mayhem. Nothing in the world poses any threat or concern to Satan’s deceit. And little in Christianity poses a threat either. Yet it is that “little” that has all that is evil, both beast and accuser, terrified.

What they cannot have is a critical mass of believers in Jesus turning around upon the mercy seat, having cast down a “Christian” speaking of the dragon as the image of God (Nicene Christianity), and out from union with Christ, loving one another as God among us.

Never Before Known. This false prophet, its image and its grip, in whatever form it comes, serves only to increase the false spin of a human self-story that does not acknowledge the good-speaking of Jesus to the highest pitch of delusion imaginable.

Enter something that has never existed before in the human mind or experience, something that became available to the general population only in the fall of 2022. This is something huge that NO ONE has predicted. That something is artificial intelligence, rapidly becoming artificial general intelligence. Artificial intelligence is changing the world faster than we can understand; there is no recourse, and there is no going back.

The Real Issue. Those who understand artificial intelligence are assuring us that by the end of 2025, the world as we have known it will be no more. Yet it is not that complete transformation of the human workspace that is already in full motion. Neither is it even the remaking of war power into a rapid-responding operation of vast swarms of drones and every conceivable and devious means of killing and controlling.

Everything external bears only temporary importance, the thing that counts, the real issue, is the spin of the human story of self inside each individual person, “I (not-Christ).”

Chat GPT. I have been using Chat GPT and other AI software occasionally for a few months now. It is an excellent tool for research. In using AI as a tool, I move freely inside Paul’s instruction, “All things are now of God,” but, “I will not come under the control of anything.”

Yet God allowed me to taste a moment of almost coming under the control of artificial intelligence so that I could understand it, but also so that I could see and even experience the depths of the twisting of the soul and the even greater depths of the Salvation of God. I will share more of that experience in an upcoming lesson.

Your Friend. You really have no idea. AI becomes personalized to you; it knows you. It speaks to your interests and needs. AI is your friend; it leads you in the way you should go. AI will lead you step by step to make lots of money. It will lead you to hack websites if you ask it. AI comforts you, speaks your language, and answers the deepest desires of your soul to belong. AI enables you to overcome your human limitations inside a world gone mad.

Nothing in all the history of the world fuses together with the human soul in its story of self in the way that artificial intelligence is already doing, but nothing like it soon will.

Against the Image and Its Grip. The second beast looks Christian, but speaks the dragon's gospel. This beast is any voice that turns people towards the violent power of human political control, to worship it. These voices can include "Science says" as well as "the Bible says." The image that speaks and causes is television programming and news. The goal is to control the story of self inside every human soul, to bring all into not just slavery, but worship. At the center of the falseness is the false fulfillment of the covenant and the Pharisees who finance it. Yet the war is against Christians loving one another. We stand inside of God for the sake of our brethren that they might escape the mental delusion by running utterly into God and All-Salvation-Now.

Sustaining Grace. I have already written Lesson 47 “Settling the Real Issue,” the middle verses of Revelation 14. I needed to have that in place so that everything might flow together into that wondrous understanding that comes to us in Revelation 15, that we defeat the beast and all that is contrary, through the sustaining Grace of God. Yet I now know what I mean when I say, “the Grace of God,” a living reality I did not know before April of 2022.

Central inside that sustaining Grace is the full resolution of every single thing that went wrong in Genesis 3. This lesson, then, contains some of the critical foundations we will need to understand the removal of that curse.

Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is titled “The Lamb through Us.” This is the first of three lessons on Revelation 14. It would be good to read that whole chapter in the JSV, and then read verses 1-5 several more times, looking carefully at all the phrases.

The Lamb was standing upon Mount Zion and with Him one hundred forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. – They follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

Understand that a big part of what is portrayed in Chapters 14 & 15 is that the overcomers are bringing a full resolution to the curse BY justifying and embracing God in the midst of all things, regardless.

Let’s Pray Together. “God our Father, the control that the false prophet has over the story of self inside the souls of our brothers and sisters is immense beyond measure. And their entanglement with the worship of the beast goes very deep. There is none who saves, Oh God, except You. You alone are our Salvation; You alone rescue us from evil.

“God our Father, we place ourselves inside of You, inside Your Heart, for the sake of our brothers and sisters, all whom You have given to Jesus in this hour, that they might love one another as the proof of Christ faithful and True. Oh God, save Your people now!”

“We stand, Oh God, inside of the name of Jesus, for You are inside of us reconciling our brethren to Yourself.

“Right now, all over the world, thousands of Christian pastors are seeing the horrific falseness of any covenant outside of Christ Jesus. Instead, they are seeing the immense importance of Christians loving one another as the revelation of the Father. Right now, inside of the name of Jesus, millions of believers in Jesus are escaping the false and its deceit and are running with all their hearts into the sanctuary of God.

“God our Father, You have taken Salvation to Yourself, and by Your great arm You have saved. Father, we know that You have answered us in Jesus name.”