For decades, the Watchtower Society has taught that the Anglo-American World Power ("The 7th World Power") was the "False Prophet" of Revelation, and that the "False Prophet" is the one who "gives life" to the United Nations, and tries to force everyone to worship the United Nations:
The Watchtower, October 1 1953 Issue, Pages 582-583:
4. Briefly, the two-horned beast out of the earth pictures the two-membered world power of one speech today, the Anglo-American world power. The image that this Anglo-American world power took the lead in recommending was the League of Nations, today the United Nations. In Revelation, chapter seventeen, this League of Nations or United Nations is itself pictured as a wild beast of scarlet color and with seven heads, upon which the prostitute woman Babylon the Great sits as rider. That seven-headed wild beast really results from the preceding seven world powers, but it acts like an eighth king or world power. It is so spoken of in these words: “And the wild beast that was [before World War II] but is not [during World War II], it is also itself an eighth king, but owes its existence to the seven, and it goes off into destruction.” (Rev. 17:8, 11, NW) In view of this eighth world power, the question now is, Did the seven-headed wild beast from the sea grow another head and become eight-headed? Did Satan the Devil then appoint an eighth spirit prince to supervise the League of Nations (now the United Nations) and thus did the great Dragon add another head to its seven? The Divine Record does not say so. When the Dragon is finally cast into the abyss at Armageddon and the wild beast from the sea is cast into destruction in the lake of fire, they are still understood as having each the same number of heads as before, just seven.—Rev. 19:19, 20.
5. One fact we must remember: The League beast or eighth world power is really under the seventh world power, for it was this Anglo-American combine that designed and then put breath of life into the League beast. Hence this eighth world-power beast is actually under the unseen control of the spirit prince of the seventh world power. This fact would do away with any need of an eighth demon prince. Despite the existence of the League or United Nations or along with its existence, the seventh world power and its spirit prince wield just as much power in Satan’s world as before the great Dragon was ejected from heaven and before the League of Nations was formed. Consequently there exists no eighth demon prince for the seventh prince to have a rivalry with or to be succeeded by. Such would be the case if Gog were a new and eighth spirit prince newly raised to power to act as Satan’s chief of staff on the battlefield of Armageddon. Since World War I Britain itself may have weakened, but her horn of power today is reinforced by the atomic bomb, and her partner America has become the world’s most powerful nation. In view of this fact the seventh world-power prince would still dominate in Satan’s unseen organization.
6. This seventh world power becomes the “false prophet” of Revelation (16:13; 19:20; 20:10), and when we see frogs hop out to croak and urge the world rulers on to Armageddon, what? It is not out of the mouth of the eighth world power or “image of the wild beast” that a frog hops, but it is out of the mouth of the “false prophet” and out of the mouth of the wild beast from the sea with still only seven heads. (Rev. 16:13-16) So there is visibly nothing on earth for any eighth spirit prince to be represented by in Bible symbolisms. Hence the suggestion of twenty years ago that Gog was an eighth demon prince is now seen to be without proof. However, that suggestion was leading us in the right direction for locating Gog, namely, in the spirit world and not in the visible earthly, human society. Therefore Gog still represents, not a visible human ruler or nation, such as Russia, but a spirit ruler. Whom, then, does Gog symbolize?
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The Watchtower, October 15 1955 Issue, Page 638:
Revelation 16:13 (NW) reads: “And I saw three unclean inspired expressions that looked like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the wild beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.” Preceding chapters of Revelation show the identities of the dragon and wild beast and false prophet. Revelation 12:3, 9 (NW) shows the dragon is fiery-colored and has seven heads and ten horns, and that it is the “original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth.” Revelation 13:1, 2 (NW) speaks of “a wild beast ascending out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads.” This wild beast is Satan’s visible organization that rises up out of the seas of humanity alienated from God, and it is similar in appearance to the dragon, whose evil it images and reflects, and from whom it gets its power: “And the dragon gave the beast its power and its throne and great authority.” One of the heads of the wild beast, each of which represents one of the seven world powers, is then shown in more detail as a beast that “had two horns like a lamb, but it began speaking as a dragon,” and caused “those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the wild beast.” (Rev. 13:11-15, NW) This two-horned beast is the seventh world power, the Anglo-American world power, and it caused the nations of earth to form the “image to the wild beast,” the League of Nations and later the United Nations, and it made great claims as to what these international political organizations would accomplish in the way of establishing world peace. Since these claims were never fulfilled, this two-horned beast that appeared lamblike but actually spoke for the dragon was proved to be a false prophet, and from then on Revelation speaks of it as “the false prophet,” at 16:13, 19:20 and 20:10.
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The Watchtower, April 15 1959 Issue, Page 231:
9. Of all the empires to dominate this globe, the Anglo-American dual world power has been the greatest of human history. The Bible also foretold it and the international organization for which it is chiefly responsible, the United Nations.
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The Watchtower, June 1 1960 Issue, Page 347:
the end of the Anglo-American pet, the eighth world power, the United Nations, is at hand.
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The Watchtower, June 15 1961 Issue, Page 360:
THE SCARLET-COLORED WILD BEAST
The Bible refers to Satan’s entire visible organization as “a wild beast ascending out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads.” (Rev. 13:1) It then describes “another wild beast ascending out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb, but it began speaking as a dragon.” (Rev. 13:11) This two-horned beast advocates that “those who dwell on the earth” should “make an image to the wild beast” that had seven heads and ten horns.—Rev. 13:14.
The two-horned wild beast that spoke like a dragon represents the Anglo-American dual world power of Britain and America. It appears as with lamblike horns, unaggressive in its nature; but, speaking like the dragon Satan the Devil, it advocates making an “image to the wild beast” to serve as a mouthpiece for satanic propaganda. The League of Nations and its successor the United Nations have proved to be the image of Satan’s entire visible organization. And as the Bible foretold, Britain and America have sponsored it and are responsible for its existence.
In Revelation chapter seventeen this “image of the wild beast” is called a “scarlet-colored wild beast,” and, identifying it, the angel said: “The wild beast that you saw was, but is not, and yet is destined to ascend out of the abyss, and it is to go off into destruction.” (Rev. 17:3, 8) The League of Nations “was,” it beginning to function on January 10, 1920; but in 1939 with the outbreak of World War II it went into the abyss of inactivity, only to come out again in 1945 as the United Nations organization.
This wild beast is further identified by its relationship to the preceding seven world powers, the account saying, “It is also itself an eighth king, but springs from the seven, and it goes off into destruction.” (Rev. 17:11, margin) Some recognize its destruction as near. British parliament member Anthony Fell said: “The United Nations has failed. It was our creature and it has failed us. Not because of lack of good intentions, but because it is an organization that is doomed to failure.”
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The Watchtower, October 15 1961 Issue, Page 629:
“MANY FALSE PROPHETS WILL ARISE AND MISLEAD MANY”
True to Jesus’ words, many false prophets, both individuals and organizations, have arisen to mislead many, turning them from God’s kingdom to support substitutes that are doomed to destruction. Outstandingly mentioned in Scripture is the two-horned “wild beast,” the Anglo-American world power, that serves as a “false prophet” in advocating the “image of the wild beast,” the United Nations, as the organization to which all mankind is to pay homage.—Matt. 24:11; Rev. 13:11, 14, 15; 19:20.
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The Watchtower, December 1 1963 Issue, Page 726:
27. True to the prophecy of Revelation 17:7, 8, and as modern history records, the scarlet beast went into the abyss of helpless inaction in World War II. When in 1945, with the help of the victorious Anglo-American World Power, it climbed out of the abyss, it did so in the form of the United Nations. Immediately Babylon the Great climbed on its back. The last encyclical by the late pope entitled “Peace on Earth” is only one of many available proofs that the world empire of Babylonish religion rides the scarlet beast.
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The Watchtower, August 15 1966 Issue, Page 499:
THE IMAGE WORSHIPERS
So the more stable governments of the earth have really advocated and supported the League. It is significant that Revelation 13:11 says that the beast with two horns like a lamb ascended out of the earth. The seventh world power is a dual one, the Anglo-American World Power, well represented by a two-horned beast. Britain, America’s joint partner in the Anglo-American World Power, was the foremost member of the League. It is true that the United States Senate voted against America’s joining the League of Nations. Nevertheless, the United States supported the image of the wild beast through its partnership with Britain and also because its then president was a strong advocate of the League. Since that time the United States has become a leading member as well as the home of the United Nations. Throughout this period of time since 1919 the United States has also given much talk to the self-determination of peoples, and to the reconstitution of nations that have been swallowed up by aggressive empires, such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Thus national aspirations have been stirred up among subject peoples. The United States promotes the ideologies of the League of Nations.
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The Watchtower, September 15 1970 Issue, Pages 567-568:
10. There is more to follow, however, with no letup on this theme of worship. John next sees “another wild beast . . . [with] two horns like a lamb . . . And it makes the earth and those who dwell in it worship the first wild beast.” Further, “it tells those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the wild beast,” which is given breath (or life), “so that the image of the wild beast should both speak and cause to be killed all those who would not in any way worship the image of the wild beast.” As if that were not sufficient, the record continues: “It puts under compulsion all persons, . . . that nobody might be able to buy or sell except a person having the mark, the name of the wild beast or the number of its name.” (Rev. 13:11-17) Here is pictured the development of Satan’s visible organization, seen in the Anglo-American dual world power, also the creation of an “image” by this great world power, seen first in the League of Nations and today revived in the form of the United Nations. But whatever the developments, it is the same story time and time again. “All persons,” small and great, rich and poor, free and slaves, are put under inexorable pressure to worship and serve these beastlike instruments and, through them, Satan the Devil himself.
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The Watchtower, December 1 1970 Issue, Page 722:
9. Today this peace-and-security organization is known as the United Nations, which in 1945 became the successor to the League of Nations that had failed to prevent World War II, it really being killed by that world conflict. The chief promoter of this international organization for world peace and security was the Seventh World Power, the Anglo-American dual world power.
10. For more than two centuries this Seventh World Power has professed to be Christian and has been a stronghold of Christendom. So how could the international peace-and-security organization promoted by it be the “abomination” or “disgusting thing”? Well, the United Nations of today cannot be called a Christian organization, for about half of the 127 member nations of which it is composed do not profess to be Christian. But primarily what causes the Bible to call it “disgusting” or abominable is that it was “put in place” of God’s Messianic kingdom for which Christians are taught to pray. (Matt. 6:9, 10) In fact, in December of 1918 the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America publicly came out in favor of the then-proposed League of Nations as being “the political expression of the kingdom of God on earth.”
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Awake!, December 8 1970 Issue, Pages 20-21:
Close Relationship
A close relationship has long existed between Great Britain and the United States. In 1946 Winston Churchill spoke of it as a “special relationship,” a “fraternal association.”
This relationship was clearly evident during World War I and World War II. It was the pooling of the military machines and economic resources of these two nations that enabled them to defeat the military might of Germany and her allies in those two wars. The atomic bomb that played such a prominent role in deciding the outcome of World War II was the result of a joint effort by British and American scientists. But that is not all.
It has been the partnership of these two nations and their initiatives that have played key roles in establishing systems for world trade and finance. In fact, the basic currencies for use in international trade have been the British pound sterling and the American dollar. Still another indication of the world influence of the Anglo-American combine is the fact that these two nations were the initiating force behind the formation of the League of Nations and the United Nations.
There can be little doubt that the Anglo-American world power has exercised a profound influence on world affairs in this twentieth century. Although Great Britain and the United States have had some differences of opinion, they have had, on the whole, a close partnership that has made them a dual world power unequaled in history. On this point the Saturday Evening Post of July 1, 1967, observed: “Winston Churchill was fond of pointing out that the United States and Britain together made an unchallengeable combination. This is still true, empire or no empire, gold drain or no gold drain.”
Noting the close relationship of the two countries, the British ambassador to the United States stated in a speech delivered on May 22, 1963: “Today, I believe our two governments are cooperating with each other more closely than any other two free and sovereign powers have ever done before in peacetime. . . . No alliancein history has wielded as much power as that of the Anglo-American partnership since the day in 1941 when we stood as comrades in arms.” This partnership is significant, as it was foretold in Bible prophecy.
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Know Jehovah Book (1971), Page 363:
34. That symbolic dragon is identified as Satan the Devil, now ousted from heaven and playing the role of Gog of Magog. (Revelation 12:3, 4, 7-12) The symbolic wild beast is Satan’s entire political system world wide, to which this dragon gave “its power and its throne and great authority.” (Revelation 13:1, 2) The symbolic false prophet is a part of that worldwide political system and is pictured as the two-horned wild beast that engineers the creating of a political “image” of the first wild beast, for worship by the peoples. So the “false prophet” proves to be the Dual World Power of Britain and America, and the political “image” is today the United Nations as an international organization for world peace and security. So then, since the worldwide political organization, including the Anglo-American Dual World Power, gets its power, throne and authority from the dragon, Satan the Devil, he invisibly controls the whole political system.
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The Watchtower, December 1 1971 Issue, Page 724:
25. Beyond all denial, then, there was “transgression” on the part of the symbolic ‘small horn,’ the Anglo-American Dual World Power, in working for the restoring of the idolatrous “image” of the political “wild beast” to be worshiped by all peoples after World War II. In this way it was using insight and causing deception to succeed “in his hand.” This was occurring at the same time that it was hindering the sacrificial “constant feature” and trampling on Jehovah’s “holy place.” Here was “transgression” indeed. It was nothing less than a standing up against the Prince of princes, Jehovah, whose worshipers at his “sanctuary” were being opposed, oppressed and persecuted. The foretold “king fierce in countenance” took advantage of all those who were giving way to a false sense of “freedom from care,” and it kept “throwing truth to the earth,” especially truth as regards the Theocratic Government of Jehovah God by means of Jesus Christ.—Dan. 8:17, 25.
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Man's Salvation Book (1975), Pages 250-255:
23. Among those national groups that have members in the “image” of the wild beast are the former British Empire (which, since 1931 C.E., has been reorganized as the British Commonwealth of Nations), and the United States of North America. These two English-speaking groups have acted together in world crises, so that the two make up a dual world power, an Anglo-American world power, the Seventh World Power of Bible prophecy. In a general way this Seventh World Power has worked along with the symbolic wild beast, and has acted as a mouthpiece or prophet for the beastly worldwide political system. For this reason it is pictured in Revelation 13:11-13 as a dragon-mouthed wild beast that ascends out of the “earth” and that has two horns like those of a lamb. Quite properly this two-horned or dual world power has membership in the United Nations of today, for it was this Anglo-American World Power that proposed and put through the making of a political “image” of the “wild beast” that ascended out of the “sea.”—Revelation 13:14, 15.
24. During the throes of World War I, the then British Prime Minister Lloyd George thought of the formation of a postwar League of Nations to act as an impediment to another world war. America’s wartime president, T. W. Wilson, worked hard to set up the League. Similarly, in the closing months of the second world war, the United States as the other member of the two-horned “wild beast” promoted the formation of a successor to the then defunct League of Nations. In October of 1945 this revised organization for world peace and security emerged as the United Nations. It was, in effect, the same old “image” of the political “wild beast,” but under a new name. It was proposed and put in operation by worldly politicians in defiance of God’s Messianic kingdom that Jehovah’s Christian witnesses had been proclaiming and recommending since the end of the Gentile Times in 1914.
25. In the light of the foregoing, when Revelation, chapter seventeen, speaks of the scarlet-colored, seven-headed, ten-horned “wild beast,” we should think of the real power that is behind this symbolic “image,” namely, the worldwide political system of government symbolized by the wild beast that ascended out of the sea. The two-horned wild beast that ascended out of the earth, namely, the Anglo-American Dual World Power, is the dominant section of the larger political system pictured by the sea beast. Consequently, after the nations that are members of the symbolic “image” have destroyed religious Babylon the Great, it is the irreligious worldwide system of political government that the Christian witnesses of Jehovah will have to confront. They will still be standing firm for God’s Messianic kingdom as the only rightful rulership for the world of mankind. It is this heavenly government that they represent. In fact, the anointed remnant of spiritual Israelites are the “ambassadors” of the Messianic government.—2 Corinthians 5:20; Ephesians 6:20.
26. With the destruction of religious Babylon the Great, the first part of the “great tribulation” predicted by Jesus Christ closes. (Matthew 24:21, 22; see also Daniel 12:1.) The critical point of time on earth will now have been reached! The surviving Christian witnesses of Jehovah will stand as the only worshipers of the one living and true God, Creator of heaven and earth. Their form of worship is the only “religion” that the now radical political governments have been unable to wipe out; and that will be so because this is “the kind of religion which is without stain or fault in the sight of God our Father.” (James 1:27, The New English Bible) Till this “kind of religion” is effaced from the earth the ungodly nations will feel dissatisfied with themselves. It is this “kind of religion” that has kept the surviving Christian witnesses of Jehovah from amalgamating with the new political setup, from making themselves a “part of the world.” (John 15:19; 17:14, 16) They stand first, last and all the time for the universal sovereignty of the Most High and Almighty God, Jehovah.
27. The hot question, Who shall rule the earth without rivalry? has now reached the burning point. The irreligious nations are determined that God’s Messianic kingdom shall not take over the control of all the earth, which they claim as their territory. Unitedly, as by the agency of the United Nations organization, they will manifest their do-or-die opposition to the Messianic kingdom of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, which is in the hands of his Lamb, Jesus Christ. The end of the “times of the Gentiles” in 1914 means nothing to them. They will refuse to get out, refuse to surrender their national sovereignties to God’s installed Messianic King, the Lamb. They will never give in without a fight, and for such a last-ditch fight the nuclear-powered nations feel at the height of their battle strength. So, now, to the showdown fight!
28. Says Revelation 17:12-14 concerning this war of the ages: “The ten horns that you saw mean ten kings [all earthly political powers], who have not yet [in the apostle John’s day] received a kingdom [by membership in the League of Nations—United Nations], but they do receive authority as kings one hour with the wild beast. These have one thought, and so they give their power and authority to the wild beast [the world organization for peace and security]. These will battle with the Lamb, but, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, the Lamb will conquer them. Also, those called and chosen and faithful with him will do so.”
29. The apostle Paul describes this once-sacrificed Lamb of God in his present glorified state, when he writes to his missionary companion Timothy and says: “In the sight of God, who preserves all things alive, and of Christ Jesus, who as a witness made the fine public declaration before Pontius Pilate [the Roman governor of Judea], I give you orders that you observe the commandment in a spotless and irreprehensible way until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ. This manifestation the happy and only Potentate will show in its own appointed times, he the King of those who rule as kings and Lord of those who rule as lords, the one alone [out of all those lords and kings] having immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom not one of men has seen [in his glorified immortal state] or can see.” (1 Timothy 6:13-16) Consequently, the symbolic “ten horns” of the United Nations “wild beast” will be unable to see the Lamb Jesus Christ to fight against him directly over world domination.
30. However, the battle that the “ten kings” will carry on will be directed against those who are the visible earthly representatives of the royal Lamb, Jesus Christ. These will be the Christian witnesses of Jehovah, including the anointed remnant of spiritual Israelites and the “great crowd” of dedicated proclaimers of “this good news of the kingdom.” (Matthew 24:14) These, in spite of world pollution and distress of nations, will still be enjoying the spiritual paradise of God’s favor, protection and pure worship along with all the fruits of His spirit in their lives.
31. For their encouragement, the Lamb Jesus Christ made a statement in his prophecy concerning the “conclusion of the system of things,” and the statement was that whatever was done to “one of the least of these my [spiritual] brothers” was as if done directly to him the King. (Matthew 24:3; 25:40) Now, when we are actually in that “conclusion of the system of things,” that rule still applies. So, in making war on the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ for the purpose of exterminating them, the nations are making war upon the glorified Lamb of God. So Jehovah’s Christian witnesses will appreciate that the war is, not against them fundamentally, but against God and his Lamb.
Pages 271-272:
65. The first move is to break up the unity of the earthly enemies. This means breaking to pieces the world political system as symbolized by the “wild beast” out of the sea. With the dissolution of that comes the breaking up of the Eighth World Power, the United Nations as the global organization for world peace and security, which was symbolized by the “image of the wild beast,” and also the Seventh World Power, namely, the Anglo-American Dual World Power, as symbolized by the “false prophet.” Hence, the apostle John tells us:
66. “And the wild beast was caught, and along with it the false prophet that performed in front of it the signs with which he misled those who received the mark of the wild beast and those who render worship to its image. While still alive, they both were hurled into the fiery lake that burns with sulphur.” (Revelation 19:20) These political organizations being “still alive” when this action takes place, it indicates that these worldly organizations of today will still be functioning when the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon starts. Both the world-dominating “wild beast” and the Anglo-American “false prophet” will be caught in the midst of their destructive efforts against the anointed remnant and the “great crowd” within their spiritual paradise. Disorganization of them will follow, and, instead of destroying the remnant and the “great crowd,” these political organizations of God-defying men will be annihilated for all time to come. Their violent death will be a “second death” from which there is no reorganization. So they are pictured as being hurled into the fiery “lake that burns with sulphur.”
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The Watchtower, November 1 1976 Issue, Page 658:
9. Particularly for the past two centuries this Anglo-American “prophet” has let its voice be heard with an authority that has not yet been overthrown. As the seventh world power referred to in Bible prophecy, this British-American dual world power has performed “signs” with which to impress all the peoples and to mislead them away from subjection to the Creator of heaven and earth. It has been the chief proponent and backer of the present-day United Nations organization for ensuring the peace and security of the world. (Rev. 19:20) The British-American political combination ranks among the first nuclear-powered military forces on earth. Trusting in its own strength, it does not prophesy in favor of rulership of all the earth by the Creator, Jehovah God.
Page 664:
DEFENSE AGAINST “EXPRESSIONS INSPIRED BY DEMONS”
11. Today the anointed remnant and the “great crowd” unitedly face the devilish “dragon,” the nuclear-powered “wild beast” and the political “false prophet.” Revelation 12:17 makes it plain that the “dragon,” Satan the Devil, has gone forth to wage war with the anointed remnant. In doing this he uses his political “wild beast” and the Anglo-American “false prophet” here on earth. So the demon-inspired froglike expressions out of their mouths go on, about worship of the State, about national sovereignty, about materialism, about world peace and security through the United Nations. Nevertheless, Jehovah’s Witnesses have caused the good news of God’s Messianic kingdom to be heard world wide. This Kingdom message has penetrated into more than two hundred lands and islands of the sea. Obviously the croaking dragon, the wild beast and the false prophet would like to drown out the Kingdom message. Religious Babylon the Great, especially Christendom, would like to do this, as Christendom claims that she alone speaks for God.
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The Watchtower, December 15 1976 Issue, Pages 756-758:
5. The Dragon, Satan the Devil, and his demon army have been restrained from materializing visibly in the flesh in order to wage war on Jehovah’s Christian witnesses of today. Hence, they are obliged to use earthly agents under their unseen control, worldly persons, organizations and political governments. The political elements that are involved in the warfare make up the worldwide political system that Revelation 13:1-10 pictures as a ferocious “wild beast.” This includes the modern Anglo-American Dual World Power, the Seventh World Power spoken of in Bible prophecy. In fulfillment of Bible prophecy this Seventh World Power promoted the creation of an idolatrous “image” of the political “wild beast.” (Rev. 13:11-15) For more than fifty-six years now that “image” has attracted the attention of the world. The “image” is the international organization for world peace and security, first in the form of the League of Nations and now as the United Nations.
6. Patriotic believers in national sovereignty and man-made forms of political rulership over all the earth really worship the political “wild beast.” They also trust in the “image” of that “wild beast” rather than Jehovah’s sovereign rulership by Christ. Nationalistically they lend hand and head to the support of those man-made arrangements for world domination. This results in their getting the “mark” that plainly shows that they are serving, not the interests of God’s kingdom, but those of self-governing mankind. They are not ashamed to be connected with the meaningful number, six hundred, sixty and six, the identifying number of the political “wild beast.” In the Bible six is the number used to signify human imperfection, human shortcoming. Hence, 600 plus 60 plus 6 denotes human imperfection and deficiency in an intensified way, particularly in human rulership of the earth. Today we can see more clearly than ever before the frustrating failure of man’s political rulership because of its imperfection, inadequacy and corruptness. It is found wanting before God.—Rev. 13:16-18.
7. Patrioteers who worship the “wild beast” and its “image” proudly wear the “number of its name [666].” They put pressure upon everybody else to force them to join in worshiping the “wild beast” and thereby getting marked as belonging to the man-made political state, not to God. They resort to persecution of various kinds against Jehovah’s Christian witnesses. Why? Because these refuse to take part in idolatrous worship of man-made creations. This poses a severe test of faithfulness for all who uphold Jehovah’s universal sovereignty and Godship. That is why the angel seen in the apostle John’s vision said: “Here is where it means endurance for the holy ones, those who observe the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”—Rev. 14:12.
8. We who observe God’s commandments obey Him as Ruler rather than men, even at the cost of suffering at the hands of persecutors. We hold onto our faith in Jesus as the Messiah or Christ and advertise him as the anointed King whom Jehovah has enthroned and crowned at the expiration of the Gentile Times in 1914. For this vital reason we abstain from taking an active part in the politics and violent controversies of the “wild beast” and of the Anglo-American Dual World Power, the promoter of the “image” of the “wild beast” from the postwar year of 1919 onward. We are not ignorant of what it would mean for us to get the “mark, the name of the wild beast or the number of its name.” It would mean for us to “drink of the wine of the anger of God that is poured out undiluted into the cup of his wrath” and to “be tormented with fire and sulphur in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb [Jesus Christ].” This would lead to our everlasting destruction, “the second death.” We would be plunged into the symbolic “fiery lake that burns with sulphur.” (Rev. 14:9-11; 13:16, 17; 19:20; 21:8) Do we want that to occur to us? No!
9. The present situation where extreme nationalism and the worship of the political state have spread world wide indeed calls for endurance on the part of those who “observe the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” But our steadfast obedience to God’s commandments and the faith of Jesus is what now constitutes the will of God. It is only after we have done the will of God in this respect that we shall receive the fulfillment of his promise to us. Inasmuch as it is now but “a very little while” before “he who is coming” will arrive and will not delay, it would be foolish in itself for us to stop enduring so as to get selfish relief for ourselves before Jehovah arrives with vengeance against those who make it so hard for us to do His will faithfully to the end. But the thing promised by God serves as an incentive to us to continue doing God’s will out of love for him. The thing promised is held out to us, but we need to exercise strong faith in the Promiser, believing that he is absolutely faithful to his promise as well as being able to fulfill it to us.
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World Government Book (1977), Pages 117-118:
23. The Anglo-American Dual World Power, the Seventh World Power of Bible prophecy, has been the chief one to propose and to maintain the “image” of the “wild beast.” This “image” of global rule by man-made governments was, first, the League of Nations, and, now, is the United Nations, for keeping world peace and security. The Anglo-American Dual World Power was pictured, as we will remember, by the “small” horn with eyes and a mouth on the head of the “fourth beast” seen in Daniel’s vision of the four beasts.
24. The faithful remnant of the 144,000 spiritual Israelites have refused to worship the political “wild beast” by engaging in worship of the State or any of its symbols. They have refused to worship even the most outstanding “head” of the “wild beast,” namely, the British-American World Power. And since they refuse to worship the symbolic “wild beast” itself, they consistently refuse to worship its “image” as proposed by the Seventh World Power, the “small” horn with eyes and mouth.—Revelation 13:1-17.
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The Watchtower, May 15 1980 Issue, Pages 25-26:
16. “I saw the wild beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage the war with the one seated on the horse [Jehovah’s field marshal, Jesus Christ] and with his army [of heavenly angels]. And the wild beast was caught, and along with it the false prophet [the Anglo-American World Power] that performed in front of it the signs with which he misled those who received the mark of the wild beast and those who render worship to its image [the United Nations]. While still alive, they both were hurled into the fiery lake that burns with sulphur. But the rest were killed off with the long sword of the one seated on the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth. And all the birds [mentioned in verses 17, 18] were filled from the fleshy parts of them.”
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The Watchtower, November 15 1980 Issue, Pages 30-31:
Questions from Readers
• The December 1, 1979, issue of The Watchtower refers to the United Nations as being “the eighth world power.” Is not the Anglo-American, the Seventh World Power, the last world power?
The United Nations, as the successor of the old League of Nations, is a “world power” in that its member nations, influence and organization are world wide in scope.
The Anglo-American combine, nevertheless, continues in its powerful dominating position as the Seventh World Power. Even the Soviet Union has not surpassed it because of coming to have superior military, political and commercial might. The Bible shows that there will be only seven world powers in this sense, to correspond to the seven heads of the wild beast. (Rev. 13:1) There is rivalry and competition between the Anglo-American world power as the “king of the south” and the socialistic “king of the north,” but there is no indication in Scripture that the latter will replace the former as an eighth world power before both come to their end.—Daniel 11:40-45.
Yet, both “super powers” have cooperated, along with other nations of the world, with few exceptions, in producing and keeping in existence the United Nations organization. This is in fulfillment of prophecy in that the scarlet-colored wild beast, representing the United Nations organization, is said to be “also itself an eighth king, but springs from the seven, and it goes off into destruction.” (Rev. 17:9-11) This wild beast also has seven heads to correspond with the seven world powers that have been on the world scene in past centuries and down to the present. But the whole scarlet-colored wild beast, heads included, comes to be like an “eighth king,” in that the United Nations is a tool used by the member nations in attempting to impose a collective will upon the nations as a whole, while holding on to their respective sovereignties.
The United Nations does not have much power in itself, not even having an army, except where the members make specific provision for this. It really derives its existence and power from the nations that make up its membership. Particularly is this true of the Anglo-American world power that took the initiative to bring into existence first the League of Nations and then the United Nations. (Rev. 13:11-15) Before it goes into destruction along with all the nations to whom it owes its existence, the Scriptures show that this “eighth” world power, with the prominent ruling elements taking the lead as the “ten horns” of the beast, will turn on “Babylon the Great,” the world empire of false religion, and destroy it.—Rev. 17:12-18.
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The Watchtower, September 15 1982 Issue, Pages 17-22:
High Time to Flee!
AS WE have noted, the true “holy place” is in the domain of the “heavenly Jerusalem,” God’s messianic kingdom. During World War II, the “holy ones” who serve with their companions, the “great crowd,” in the sanctuary of that “holy place” on earth were trampled down principally in lands of the Anglo-American dual world power. (Daniel 7:27; 8:10-12; Revelation 7:9, 15) Do we then conclude that Britain and America are “the disgusting thing that causes desolation”? No, for the “transgression” by the dual world power includes another feature. What is that?
2. The Anglo-American world power has served Satan’s purpose in another way. It has brought forth a counterfeit kingdom of God. As in Daniel’s prophecy, so also in the Bible book of Revelation, “beasts” and their “horns” are used to symbolize worldly political powers. Revelation chapter 13 describes the seventh world power of Bible history, Britain and America, as a two-horned wild beast that gives life to an “image” of the beastlike human rulerships. This “image” of the beast is a composite ‘scarlet-colored wild beast that has seven heads and ten horns.’ (Revelation 17:3) It appeared first as the League of Nations in 1920, and again with Britain and America as its principal advocates, along with the Soviet Union, it was revived in 1945 as the United Nations. (Revelation 13:11, 15; 17:8) This also fulfilled Daniel 11:31, which reads: “And they will certainly put in place the disgusting thing that is causing desolation.”
3. Here, then, is the modern-day “disgusting thing” of which Jesus spoke at Matthew 24:15. But how has it been made to ‘stand in a holy place’? What do the facts show?
4. When Britain and America took the lead in proposing the League of Nations in 1918, the churches of Christendom gave wholehearted support. The Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America hailed it as “the political expression of the Kingdom of God on earth.” What blasphemy! To say that a combine of the political nations of Satan’s world could be God’s kingdom on earth! A disgusting thing, an abomination, indeed, in the sight of Jehovah and of those truly standing in the “holy place” as ambassadors on earth of the now ruling “heavenly Jerusalem”! And what have the world’s clergy said of the League’s successor, the United Nations? They have described it variously as ‘the sole hope of survival’ for mankind, “the last hope of concord and peace” and the “supreme forum of peace and justice.” As with the League of Nations, they place it in “a holy place” by claiming that it will bring about what God’s kingdom alone is capable of accomplishing.
5. The clergy of Christendom have opted for putting the UN in “a holy place” that rightly belongs to the “heavenly Jerusalem,” God’s kingdom, and to the “holy ones” representing it on earth. But there is nothing “holy” about the UN. It has its prayer chapel and its Buddhist bell, and inscribed on its plaza wall are the words of Isaiah 2:4 (AV): “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” But these things do not make it “holy.” Its member nations are squabbling continually one with another, and an impressive number of them are now antireligion, anti-God. However, in another sense, also, we find “the disgusting thing . . . standing in a holy place.”
A Striking Parallel
6. Down to the year of its destruction, ancient Jerusalem was looked upon by the Jews as a holy city, a holy place. About 56 CE even the apostle Paul went up to the temple in Jerusalem and there, with four other Christians under a vow, he ceremonially cleansed himself. (Acts 21:23-26) There he was mobbed by Jews of the kind that persecuted true Christians, charging that these ‘had filled Jerusalem with their teaching.’ (Acts 5:28) These Jews clung to their apostate traditions and worship, and in this they were like their forefathers of Jeremiah’s day, who put their trust “in fallacious words, saying, ‘The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah they are!’” (Jeremiah 7:4) But that trust was misplaced.
7. There is a similar situation today, for apostate Jerusalem of ancient times and its temple have a striking parallel in modern-day Christendom. Note that Christendom’s religion makes claim also to having “a holy place”—her claimed religious rights and realm of operation. Over the centuries she has built up a cherished domain in which she exercises control over the masses. This she claims to be her spiritual right. Her domain includes also costly cathedrals, bejeweled altars, priceless stained-glass windows, landed properties and huge bank accounts. All of this is part of her claimed “holy place.” It is sacred to her, and no one dare trespass on it! At least, so she thinks.
8. However, what happened to ancient Jerusalem and its “holy place”—in fulfillment of prophecy—in 607 BCE and also in 70 CE? And what does the Lord Jesus show us in the Revelation transmitted by him to the apostle John? There, in the seventeenth chapter, we read of God’s judgment to be executed on “Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth.” (Revelation 17:5) This “Babylon the Great” is no one else but the world empire of false religion, of which Christendom’s churches form the principal part. Christendom, which purports to be in covenant relationship with God, is the modern-day apostate “Jerusalem.”
9. Over the centuries, the “mother of the harlots,” false religion, has performed fairly well in controlling the affairs of beastlike nations and empires. As Revelation 17:9 shows, she has sat on governmental mountains, and verse 15 describes her as sitting upon “waters,” meaning “peoples and crowds and nations and tongues.” When the combination “scarlet-colored wild beast” appeared in 1920 as the League of Nations, and when it reappeared in 1945 as the United Nations, “Babylon the Great” maneuvered so as to get astride this international body, to gain benefit and profit. She takes no account of the fact that this “disgusting thing” of a political kind stands where it ought not to stand, trespassing in the “holy place” that is now rightly the domain of the “heavenly Jerusalem,” God’s kingdom by Messiah.
The “Horns” Go Into Action
10. But look! At a time when those nations will say: “Peace and security,” the “horns” of that fearsome “wild beast” will suddenly turn violent! Their long-time hatred of the “harlot” will be suppressed no longer! They will unseat the prostitute that has been sitting so prettily atop the “beast.” Those radical, militaristic “horns” and “the wild beast” will devastate “the harlot,” ‘make her naked, eat up her fleshy parts and completely burn her with fire.’ (Revelation 17:16) False religion will be utterly desolated, including Christendom, which has claimed to have a “holy place” before God on earth. Hence, Christendom’s destruction will be as complete as that of the temple of earthly Jerusalem, of which Jesus said: “By no means will a stone be left here upon a stone and not be thrown down.”—1 Thessalonians 5:3; Mark 13:2.
11. Is harlot-like false religion, including Christendom, apprehensive of what is about to happen to her? She should be, if she can interpret the pattern of world events today. And she would be downright scared if she paid attention to the prophetic truths in the Bible. Indeed, it was shortly after the “heavenly Jerusalem,” as rightful occupant of the “holy place,” was brought forth in 1914 that Christendom began to experience pressures on her own supposed “holy place”—her domain of operation. In 1917 the Marxist revolution took place in Russia. Since that time atheistic socialist powers have taken over large portions of the earth. These have advanced even more aggressively since World War II. They loudly proclaim religion to be “the opium of the people.” Christendom, on its part, laments Communistic intrusions on her claimed “holy place,” along with the loss of so many “peoples.”
Threat to Christendom’s “Holy Place”!
12. What has happened in Communist-dominated countries is indicated by the following report published in the Hong Kong Star late in 1981: “Vietnam’s Communist government has drafted Buddhist monks into the army, jailed hundreds of Christian clergymen and closed seminaries and churches, according to refugees, Western diplomats and foreign clergy. The aim, they say, is to bring all religions under the exclusive control of the government. Refugees claim that the Roman Catholic Church in southern Vietnam has come under particular pressure, with authorities citing upheavals in Catholic Poland as proof of the Church’s ‘counter-revolutionary tendency.’”
13. The Atlanta Journal and Constitution of January 2, 1982, carried a headline: “Many of Big News Stories of [1981] Tied to Religion.” It went on to list the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, the assassination of Egypt’s President Sadat by Muslim militants, assassinations and massive executions in Iran, deadly military exchanges between Arab guerrillas and Israel, and bombings, murders and hunger-strike deaths in Ireland. Yes, indeed, religion is tied in with much of the trouble in the world. But all these news items will pale into insignificance when the ‘ten horns and the wild beast’ go into action, shortly, to devastate completely false religion, including Christendom and her supposed “holy place.”
14. However, what of those who worship in the real “holy place”—those here on earth doing “sacred service” in support of the “heavenly Jerusalem”? These, too, will come under attack by militaristic “horns,” which even now make up part of the membership of the UN. According to Revelation 17:14, that political combine will demonstrate that it has no right to stand in “a holy place,” for it “will battle with the Lamb.”
15. Daniel 11:40-45 shows that the Communistic “king of the north” will be prominent in this attack against the “holy ones,” but “he will have to come all the way to his end, and there will be no helper for him.” Thus, all nationalistic “horns” and the “scarlet-colored wild beast” itself will be executed by Christ Jesus and his angelic armies. “Because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, the Lamb will conquer them.” There, at Armageddon, the reigning king of the “heavenly Jerusalem” will gain the decisive victory over all nations that have given “their power and authority to the wild beast.”—Revelation 17:12-14; 16:16.
“Fleeing to the Mountains”
16. How, then, do God’s people find protection? It is by “fleeing to the mountains.” (Matthew 24:16) Today, these “mountains” are the divinely provided place of refuge, Jehovah’s provision for protecting the remaining “holy ones” on earth, and also the “great crowd” of “other sheep,” through the “great tribulation.” This is in line with Jesus’ prophecy that some “flesh” will be saved. (Matthew 24:22) As mountains have permanence and are identified often in Scripture with governmental functions, so God’s haven of refuge today is to be found with his theocratic organization. This is represented on earth in “the congregation of the living God, a pillar and support of the truth,” now identified with the global society of Jehovah’s Witnesses.—1 Timothy 3:15.
17. All who flee to Jehovah’s organization must cease giving support to any part of Satan’s system on earth. They must become “no part of this world,” and they must stay out of it. They must shun its religion, its politics, its campaigns of violence, its materialism, its immorality. (John 18:36) They must dedicate themselves to Jehovah God, live according to his righteous principles and make known to others his glorious kingdom purposes. Never may they grow drowsy or return to the fleshpots of the world. Continually, they ‘must exert themselves vigorously’ to gain God’s approval and entry into his new order.—Luke 13:24; 9:23; 2 Timothy 2:15.
18. In this year, 1982, the threat to Christendom’s claimed “holy place” has become a real one. Indeed, world religion’s perch on the back of the UN “beast” is most precarious. ‘Discerning’ this, Jehovah’s Witnesses give urgency to the call: ‘Flee out of false religion, yes, out of all of Satan’s world system—flee to God’s organization for refuge!’ Like Jerusalem of the first century, Christendom now faces “desolations . . . an extermination.” And so does the entire world empire of false religion, Babylon the Great!—Daniel 9:26b, 27b; Revelation 18:2, 4.
19. Happily, the “mountains” of refuge will become also “mountains” of blessing, for Psalm 72:1-8 tells us: “Let the mountains carry peace to the people, also the hills, through righteousness . . . [In the days of Messiah, the King,] the righteous one will sprout, and the abundance of peace until the moon is no more.” Do you want to be counted among those who will enjoy that “abundance of peace”? Then “become steadfast, unmovable, always having plenty to do in the work of the Lord.” It is most urgent, while there is yet time, that you expend yourself in helping right-hearted persons to “begin fleeing to the mountains.” So, “stay by these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.”—1 Corinthians 15:58; 1 Timothy 4:16.
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The Watchtower, October 1 1985 Issue, Page 15:
7. Do you recognize the beast now? Yes, it is the same as “the disgusting thing that causes desolation” that began as the League of Nations and that now exists as the United Nations. (Matthew 24:15; Daniel 12:11) How does this organization ‘spring from the seven world powers’? In the sense that the whole beastlike organization, like an eighth power, is brought into existence by already existing governments, with the Anglo-American world power being its chief sponsor and supporter.
8. In addition, as the angel told John, all the “ten horns” give “power and authority to the wild beast.” (Revelation 17:13) In fact, without support from the governments represented by the heads and the horns, the beast would be powerless. Why? Because it is merely an image. (Revelation 13:14) Like all images, it is powerless in itself. (Isaiah 44:14-17) Any life that it has comes from its supporters. (Revelation 13:15) At times some of these have taken decisive action through the United Nations, as, for example, during the Korean War.
9. Our identification of this beast is confirmed by some further details given by the angel: “The wild beast that you saw was, but is not, and yet is about to ascend out of the abyss, and it is to go off into destruction.” (Revelation 17:8) This has already been fulfilled in part. The second world war effectively killed the League of Nations. In 1942, when Jehovah’s Witnesses came to understand this prophecy clearly, it could be said of the League-beast: “It ‘is not.’”* [FOOTNOTE SAYS: While World War II was escalating in all its fury, the president of the Watch Tower Society, on September 20, 1942, delivered to the New World Theocratic Convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses the speech “Peace—Can It Last?” Therein, he showed from Revelation chapter 17 that, contrary to the expectation of many, World War II would not culminate in Armageddon. First the ‘peace beast’ must rise again from the abyss of inactivity to rule for a figurative “one hour” with the political powers.] But in 1945 it ‘ascended out of the abyss’ as the United Nations organization. Will it succeed in its mission to bring peace and security? The prophecy says no. Rather, it is “to go off into destruction.”
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The Watchtower, February 1 1986 Issue, Pages 6-7:
The Land Beast
“And I saw another wild beast,” writes John, “ascending out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb, but it began speaking as a dragon.” By claiming to be Christian and nonaggressive, the Anglo-American world power puts on a lamblike appearance. But it has really acted like a dragon. How? By colonizing many nations and greedily exploiting the earth’s resources. Also, “it makes the earth and those who dwell in it worship the first wild beast, whose deathstroke got healed. And it . . . tells those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the wild beast.” (Revelation 13:3, 11-15) How was this fulfilled?
Satan’s worldwide political system suffered a “deathstroke” during the first world war. To prevent such a thing from happening again, Britain and America promoted “worship” of the political system. They did this by getting the nations “to make an image to the wild beast.” How did this happen?
Toward the end of the first world war, President Wilson of the United States began a crusade in favor of the newly proposed League of Nations. To this end, he told the delegates to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919: “Representatives of the United States support this great project for a League of Nations. We regard it as the keystone of the whole programme which expressed our purpose . . . in this war. . . . We are here to see, in short, that the very foundations of this war are swept away.”
After President Wilson finished his speech, none other than the British prime minister, Lloyd George, spoke: “I arise to second this resolution. After the noble speech of the President of the United States I feel that no observations are needed in order to commend this resolution to the Conference, and I . . . state how emphatically the people of the British Empire are behind this proposal.”
Later that year, at a meeting in London to support ratification of the League of Nations, a letter was read from the King of Great Britain: “We have won the war. That is a great achievement. But it is not enough. We fought to gain a lasting peace, and it is our supreme duty to take every measure to secure it. For that, nothing is more essential than a strong and enduring League of Nations. . . . I commend this cause to all citizens of the Empire, so that, with the help of all other men of good-will, a buttress and a sure defense of peace, to the glory of God . . . may be established.”
On January 16, 1920, the League of Nations was established with a membership of 42 countries. By 1934 it embraced 58 countries. The two-horned land beast had succeeded in getting the world “to make an image to the wild beast.” This image, or representation of Satan’s worldwide political system, is depicted by the final beast of the Apocalypse.
The Scarlet Beast
Here is John’s description of this final beast: “A scarlet-colored wild beast that was full of blasphemous names and that had seven heads and ten horns.” Regarding this beast, John was told: “The wild beast that you saw was, but is not, and yet is about to ascend out of the abyss, and it is to go off into destruction. . . . It is also itself an eighth king.” (Revelation 17:3, 8, 11) True to this description, the League of Nations tried to act like a world power on the world scene. However, it failed to prevent World War II, which started in 1939. The beast disappeared, as it were, into the abyss.
During World War II, the Anglo-American world power worked hard to revive that international organization. In 1941 the prime minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill, held secret talks with President Franklin Roosevelt of the United States on board a ship in the Atlantic ocean. They made a joint declaration about “their hopes for a better future for the world” and “the establishment of a wider and permanent system of general security.” The following year in Washington, D.C., 26 nations subscribed to this Anglo-American proposal in what was called the “Declaration by United Nations.” This led to the creation of the United Nations organization on October 24, 1945. The scarlet beast had ascended out of the abyss with a new name. At present, 159 nations have joined this organization, which, they hope, will perpetuate the now-existing system of human political rulership.
All of this, however, leaves out of account the Messianic Kingdom of God, established in heaven in 1914. Every human on earth must choose between rulership by God and rulership by man. Soon, the scarlet beast, along with all human governments, will be involved in a battle with God’s installed King, Jesus Christ. The result? “Because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, the Lamb [Jesus Christ] will conquer them.” Yes, the scarlet beast together with the entire system of human government will ‘go off into destruction.’—Revelation 17:11, 14; see also Daniel 2:44.
What a blessing it will then be not to have been misled by the dragon and his three beasts! Those who have proved themselves loyal subjects of God’s Kingdom will survive to become part of “a new earth.” God “will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.” (2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:3, 4) Hence, subject yourself to God’s Kingdom, the only effective world government. Then you, too, will be in line to enjoy these everlasting blessings.
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Revelation -- Its Grand Climax At Hand Book (1988), Pages 240-241:
16. What, then, is this new scarlet-colored wild beast? It must be the image to the wild beast that was brought forth under the urging of the Anglo-American wild beast that has two horns like a lamb. After the image was made, that two-horned wild beast was allowed to give breath to the image of the wild beast. (Revelation 13:14, 15) John now sees the living, breathing image. It pictures the League of Nations organization that the two-horned wild beast brought to life in 1920. U.S. President Wilson had envisioned that the League “would be a forum for the dispensation of justice for all men and wipe out the threat of war forever.” When it was resurrected after the second world war as the United Nations, its chartered purpose was “to maintain international peace and security.”
Pages 253-254:
Why Called an Eighth King?
8. The angel further explains to John: “And the wild beast that was but is not, it is also itself an eighth king, but springs from the seven, and it goes off into destruction.” (Revelation 17:11) The symbolic scarlet-colored wild beast “springs from” the seven heads; that is, it is born from, or owes its existence to, those heads of the original “wild beast . . . out of the sea,” of which the scarlet-colored wild beast is an image. In what way? Well, in 1919 the Anglo-American power was the ascendant head. The previous six heads had fallen, and the position of dominant world power had passed to this dual head and was now centered in it. This seventh head, as the current representative of the line of world powers, was the moving force in establishing the League of Nations and is still the major promoter and financial support of the United Nations. Thus, in symbol, the scarlet-colored wild beast—the eighth king—“springs from” the original seven heads. Viewed in this way, the statement that it sprang from the seven harmonizes well with the earlier revelation that the wild beast with two horns like a lamb (the Anglo-American World Power, the seventh head of that original wild beast) urged the making of the image and gave it life.—Revelation 13:1, 11, 14, 15.
9. Additionally, original members of the League of Nations included, along with Great Britain, governments that ruled in the seats of some of the previous heads, namely Greece, Iran (Persia), and Italy (Rome). Eventually, governments ruling the territory controlled by the previous six world powers came to be supportive members of the image of the wild beast. In this sense, too, it could be said that this scarlet-colored wild beast sprang from the seven world powers.
10. Notice that the scarlet-colored wild beast “is also itself an eighth king.” Thus, the United Nations today is designed to look like a world government. At times it has even acted like one, sending armies into the field to resolve international disputes, as in Korea, the Sinai Peninsula, some African countries, and Lebanon. But it is only the image of a king. Like a religious image, it has no real influence or power apart from what is invested in it by those who brought it into existence and worship it. On occasion, this symbolic wild beast looks weak; but it has never experienced the kind of wholesale abandonment by dictator-oriented members that sent the League of Nations reeling into the abyss. (Revelation 17:8) Though holding radically different opinions in other areas, a prominent Soviet leader in 1987 joined the popes of Rome in expressing support for the UN. He even called for “a comprehensive system of international security” based on the UN. As John soon learns, the time will come when the UN will act with considerable authority. Then it, in its turn, “goes off into destruction.”
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The Watchtower, December 15 1988 Issue, Pages 19-20:
3. During the world war of 1914-18, Great Britain, as the seventh world power, received a “sword-stroke” that could have been fatal. But the United States of America came to her rescue. Since then, America and Britain have cooperated as a dual world power, which John goes on to describe as a wild beast with two horns, coming out of an established human society, “the earth.” This two-horned beast takes the lead in making an image to the first wild beast and breathing life into it, portraying how the Anglo-American World Power became chief sponsor and life-giver both to the League of Nations and to its successor, the United Nations. The first wild beast has a number-name, 666. Six is an imperfect number—short of the Biblically perfect seven—so that six to the third degree suggests the woeful imperfection of today’s human rulers. Though Jehovah’s Witnesses respect government and are exemplary in obeying the laws of the land in which they live, they courageously refuse to worship “the wild beast” or its image.—Revelation 13:3-18; Romans 13:1-7.
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The Watchtower, May 1 1991 Issue, Pages 22-23:
John next beholds a wild beast to which a disgusting image is made. (13:1-18) This seven-headed, ten-horned political wild beast arises from “the sea,” the turbulent masses of mankind from which human government springs. (Compare Daniel 7:2-8; 8:3-8, 20-25.) What is this symbolic creature’s source of authority? Why, none other than Satan, the dragon! And just imagine! To this political monstrosity a two-horned beast (the Anglo-American World Power) is seen to make an “image,” now known as the United Nations. Many are coerced to worship the wild beast and accept its “mark” by doing things its way and letting it rule their lives. But Jehovah’s Witnesses staunchly reject the demonic mark of the wild beast!
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However, due to recent developments in the Iraq War, it appears that this is another False Prophecy of the Watchtower Society!
Notice the News Articles below, about the United States and the United Nations no longer on very friendly terms:
"Forget the UN": http://www.ctnow.com/news/opinion/op_ed/hc-krauthammer0321.artmar21,0,6035312.story?coll=hc%2Dheadlines%2Doped
"Why spend $800 million on U.N. dues?": http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31626
"The U.S. Congress Vs. the United Nations": http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=3028
"United Nations or Untied Nations?": http://www.mid-day.com/news/world/2003/march/48106.htm
"Can anyone check the power of the president?": http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?Category=7&ID=91361&r=1
"US Plans to Run Iraq Itself [without the United Nation]": http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/25/international/worldspecial/25POST.html?ex=1049173200&en=6964edbd9f62b531&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
"Reassert UN Authority": http://allafrica.com/stories/200303250735.html
"USWAR/MP criticizes UN for passive approach towards Iraq crisis": http://www.irna.com/en/head/030325163541.ehe.shtml
