I hold three red-hot convictions:
1. We are living on the edge of eternity.
2. Jesus is coming soon.
3. America is in trouble. Big trouble!
The truth is that America was in trouble before the recent election, and it is in trouble after the election. Which is why it is critical we revisit the apocalyptic canvas of Revelation 13 for a vision whose time has come.
But we must do so hanging on to the Apocalypse’s opening salvo: “The revelation from Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:1).1 Whatever we discover in chapter 13 has the fingerprints of Jesus all over it.
Revelation 13
“Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon” (Rev. 13:11).
Welcome to the apocalyptic world of scary, weird beasts—dramatic prophetic symbols of ancient “global influencers,” kingdoms and empires, world-changing powers, some still writing history today. Embedded in this terse apocalyptic depiction are six clues to this beast’s identity.
Clue 1
It rises up out of the earth. The Greek verb (anabainō) is the same one Matthew uses in Jesus’ parable of the sower to describe the thorny weeds that sprang up overnight (Matt. 13:7). Whatever this power is, it sprang up seemingly out of nowhere.
Clue 2
It springs up from the earth. This is in contradistinction to the first beast of this chapter, which emerges, dripping and roaring, from the briny sea: “The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name” (Rev. 13:1).
Whatever this seven-headed sea beast is, Revelation identifies the sea as symbolic: “Then the angel said to me, ‘The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages’ ” (Rev. 17:15). “Water” in apocalyptic prophecy represents the masses, the peopled thoroughfares of earth, from which the sea beast emerges. The earth beast, however, rises up from quite the opposite, from barren wilderness land far away from the masses.
Clue 3
“Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth” (Rev. 13:11). “Then” means there is some sort of sequence transpiring. First, there is a sea beast, “then” there springs up an earth beast. So what has happened in Revelation 13 just before the “then”?
“One of the heads of the [sea] beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the [sea] beast. People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the [sea] beast, and they also worshiped the [sea] beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” (verses 3, 4).
Clearly this sea beast must be a religious power, since it receives worship. But then divine doom is pronounced over it! “If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints” (verses 9, 10, NKJV).
Whoever or whatever this sea beast power is, while it has been causing others to go into captivity, it is now taken into captivity. While it has been killing others with the sword, it is now itself fatally wounded with the sword.
The apocalyptic prophecies of both Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 led the Protestant Reformers to identify this sea beast as the antichrist power that ruthlessly ruled during the dark and bloody Middle Ages from Rome. It clearly is a religious power, since it receives worship from the masses. But it becomes wounded. As a matter of historical fact, in 1798, on the heels of the French Revolution, Napoleon’s General Berthier took Pope Pius VI captive and shut the Vatican down. Wounded! Which is precisely what happens to this sea beast power.
And “then [at the very time of the sea beast’s wounding] I saw a second beast, coming out of the [desolate] earth” (Rev. 13:11). So what eventual global influencer power sprang up far away from Rome and Europe in the barren New World around 1798? A national power whose birthday is 1776, and whose Constitution was ratified in 1788.
Clue 4
“It had two horns like a lamb” (verse 11). The Lamb, mentioned nearly 30 times in Revelation, is the undisputed Hero of heaven and Savior of earth. Whatever this earth beast is, to onlookers it resembles the Lamb, youthful and innocent. But unlike the sea beast with 10 horns and 10 crowns, note the two lamblike horns of the earth beast bear no crowns. For the earth beast is not a monarchy like the sea beast, but rather, as some have suggested, a republic that once championed the twin values of civil and religious liberty.
Remember Roger Williams, the young Baptist pastor, who fled the bloody persecution of state and church in England in 1630? But when he landed on the shores of the New World, he discovered the Puritan fathers were practicing the same persecuting union of church and state they had all fled from in England! The 28-year-old pastor was quick to protest. “Williams attacked” the Massachusetts government’s intent to enforce the Ten Commandments and “stated that magistrates had no authority to enforce ‘the First Table,’ ” that is, “the first four of the Ten Commandments.” Williams asserted “that these most important duties lay outside the sphere of government. The state, he said, had no authority to inject itself in any way into an individual’s relationship with God. It must enforce only the commandments in the ‘Second Table’: those which govern human relations.”2
Driven from town to town, eventually Roger Williams was sentenced to banishment. Fearing the worst, he fled into a howling nor’easter blizzard, was befriended by Native Americans, and five months later settled on land that would become Rhode Island. As Ellen White notes, Roger Williams “there laid the foundation of the first state of modern times that in the fullest sense recognized the right of religious freedom. The fundamental principle of Roger Williams’ colony was ‘that every man should have liberty to worship God according to the light of his own conscience.’ His little state, Rhode Island, became the asylum of the oppressed, and it increased and prospered until its foundation principles—civil and religious liberty—became the cornerstones of the American Republic.”3
Thus for two and a half centuries America has championed the separation of church and state, as Roger Williams taught—favoring neither religion over government nor government over religion.4 But there is something ominous about this apocalyptic global influencer.
So what eventual global influencer power sprang up far away from Rome and Europe in the barren new world around 1798? A national power whose birthday is 1776, and whose constitution was ratified in 1788.
Clue 5
“It spoke like a dragon” (Rev. 13:11). The evil nemesis of the Lamb, the apocalyptic dragon, is the fallen angel Lucifer. And sad to admit, dragon speech has been heard in the New World from the beginning in two diabolical ways: (1) through the colonists’ slow but eventual decimation of Native American Indians from their own land, and (2) through the evils of the slave trade brought by immigrants to America, leading to this country’s becoming one of the largest slave-trading nations on earth, with a racism that continues to reap its baleful harvest today.
Who or what is this earth beast global influencer? Ranko Stefanovic is clear: “It appears that no single religious or political entity in modern history matches the description of the earth beast as does the United States of America. The United States emerged on the historical arena after the Medieval ecclesiastical system had received its ‘mortal wound.’ This nation has become a major dominant power in the world.” Further, Stefanovic explains, “As the leading democratic world power,” the United States “has been admired for its political and religious tolerance and freedoms.” And “today, the United States exercises a major role in world affairs.” Thus, “this power clearly resembles the two-horned beast,” and Revelation 13 “seems to foretell a key religious political role for the United States in the final crisis.”5
And what will be America’s endgame religious political role? Consider this final clue.
Clue 6
The earth beast has an apocalyptic nickname. Notice how it behaves like a religious power: “It [the earth beast] exercised all the authority of the first [sea] beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people” (Rev. 13:12, 13).
What a stunning prediction! This freedom-loving land, where church and state have been intentionally separated for centuries, will one day spurn that separation and channel its global influencer power into enforcing the worship of Rome, not only in America but throughout the planet.
To affirm that radical role change, both Revelation 16:13 and 19:20 tag the earth beast with the nickname “false prophet,” thus defining the global influencer as a religious wannabe performing supernatural signs “on [the sea beast’s] behalf” (Rev. 19:20).
Remember the Mount Carmel showdown where God’s lone prophet Elijah challenged the 850 false prophets? “The god who answers by fire—he is God” (1 Kings 18:24). Who doesn’t thrill to that divine fire flash that nukes the true prophet’s sacrifice, exalting the worship of the Creator and exposing the perfidy of those false prophets who worship the sun! But in a wicked endgame twist, it is the anti-Creator, sun-worshipping earth beast (aka “false prophet”) that through supernatural deception calls “fire to come down from heaven in full view of the people” (Rev. 13:13).
Is America already the “false prophet”? Consider the outsized religious and political influence the Christian nationalism movement is now gaining “from sea to shining sea.”
Christian Nationalism
What is Christian nationalism? Christianity Today succinctly defines it as “the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way. Popularly, Christian nationalists assert that America is and must remain a ‘Christian nation’—not merely as an observation about American history, but as a prescriptive program for what America must continue to be in the future.”6
Truth is, the false core of Christian nationalism is the mistaken notion that America was founded to be a Christian nation from the beginning.
And what is that future Christian nationalists envision? Tim Alberta, in his book The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, explains: “In February 2023, a landmark national survey conducted by the Public Research Institute and Brookings Institution found that roughly two-thirds of white evangelicals either explicitly supported the notion of Christian nationalism or were sympathetic to it. The share of white evangelicals who expressed support for certain ideas—[1] that the government should declare Christianity the state religion; [2] that being Christian is an important part of being an American; [3] that God has called on Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of society—dwarfed that of white mainline Protestants, white Catholics, and Protestants of color.” In fact, “nearly 90 percent of white adherents to Christian nationalism agreed that ‘God intended America to be a new promised land’ run by ‘European Christians.’ The broader sample of respondents rejected that statement by a two-to-one margin.”7
God’s “new promised land” run by “European Christians”—are they serious?
Truth is, the false core of Christian nationalism is the mistaken notion that America was founded to be a Christian nation from the beginning. That assertion is patently false. Roger Williams’ successful experiment with the separation of church and state became the template for the vision America’s Founders shaped for this nation, evidenced by the “godless Constitution” they carefully crafted: “God and Christianity are nowhere to be found in the American Constitution, a reality that infuriated many at the time.” The “controversy of 1787-88 over the godless Constitution was one of the most important public debates ever held in America over the place of religion in politics. The advocates of a secular state won, and it is their Constitution we revere today.”8
Do I believe God raised up America? Absolutely. Do I believe our Founders intended to create a Christian nation? Absolutely not. “In a treaty with the Muslim nation Tripoli initiated by [President] Washington, completed by John Adams, and ratified by the Senate in 1797, the Founders declared that ‘the government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.’ ”9 Church and state must remain separated.
But please note: separation of church and state does not mean separation of God and country. Ellen White in no uncertain terms declared: “The Lord has done more for the United States than for any other country upon which the sun shines.”10 God has blessed America. But a few sentences later comes this sad prediction: “In our land of boasted freedom, religious liberty will come to an end.”11
And that is the somber warning of Revelation 13:12: “[The earth beast] exercised all the authority of the [sea] beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast.” But how could that constitutionally even be possible—government-mandated worship in a freedom-loving, church-and-state-separating land like America?
The Influence of Christian Nationalism
We must not underestimate the influence of Christian nationalism. Already in 2024 two states have legislated actions enforcing Christian values for the public. “Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry on Wednesday [June 19, 2024] signed into law a bill that makes the state the only one in the country to require displaying the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom [from kindergarten to university].”12 And a few days later “Oklahoma’s top education official ordered public schools Thursday [June 27, 2024] to incorporate the Bible into lessons for grades 5 through 12, the latest effort by conservatives to incorporate religion into classrooms.”13 Both states’ actions are the fruit of Christian nationalist lobbying, and both are being challenged in the courts.
On the national level, consider the proposal the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 has made to the recently inaugurated president of America.14 In this 887-page Manual for Leadership: The Conservative Promise (ostensibly to serve as governmental playbook for the president) is a proposal that begins with these words:
“Sabbath Rest.15 God ordained the Sabbath as a day of rest, and until very recently the Judeo-Christian tradition sought to honor that mandate by moral and legal regulation of work on that day.”16
Irrespective of the specifics of this recommendation for the Department of Labor, the very notion of a labor law proposal beginning with the words “Sabbath rest” and “God ordained the Sabbath as a day of rest” ought to give every reader pause. Of course the biblical facts are correct. But the compelling question is: Since when is it the task of government to advocate for God, the Bible, or the Sabbath? Obviously the unspecified writers of this proposal are not advocating for the seventh-day Sabbath of the Bible—they quickly note “that day would default to Sunday”—but are rather concerned that employers not compel their workers to “work on the Sabbath” (be that “Friday sundown to Saturday sundown” or Sunday); and if such “Sabbath” labor is required, the employer must pay time and a half “for hours worked on the Sabbath.”17
Revelation 13’s divine warning that this global influencer will one day command worship not only for its own citizens but for the world ought to flag a concern for Project 2025’s innocuous extra-pay provision by the government for religious observances. It is not the place of government to advocate for or against religion or worship. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution declares: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”18 And that includes the Sabbath, no matter which day is designated.
Crisis in America’s Future
But along with Christian nationalism, another plausible catalyst for Revelation 13’s dire prediction is the possibility of a crippling crisis in America’s future. One debilitating disaster (political, economic, military, terrorist, ecological, even international), one massive crisis event that strikes the continent, the planet—and all security and certainty for the future vanish! Remember the lockdowns, the mask and vaccine mandates, of the recent pandemic? What we never would have considered doing, we compliantly accepted given the crisis.
Clearly here in Revelation 13 something has gone terribly awry for such draconian actions to be taken. We are not told the crisis; we are simply given the outcome. But remember how Daniel described the end of the world: “There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then” (Dan. 12:1). Jesus Himself depicted earth’s final chapter: “For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened” (Matt. 24:21, 22).
Whatever happens in America’s future threatens the existence of the entire planet—including God’s people. Social scientist Michael Barkun studied the effects of disasters and crises on the human psyche: “Disaster produces the questioning, the anxiety, and the suggestibility that are required [for rapid alteration of a belief system]; only in its wake are people moved to abandon old values of the past.”19
How long would constitutional freedoms last were the nation struck by a crippling crisis and Christian leaders demanded a “back to God” national law mandating worship? “Rapid alteration of belief system” means rapid.
In the panic of an unnamed crisis, Revelation 13’s America takes a terrible radical turn. “Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the [sea] beast, [the earth beast] deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the [sea] beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. The [earth] beast was given power to give breath to the image of the [sea] beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed” (Rev. 13:14, 15).
Consider this prescient commentary on Revelation 13 from The Great Controversy: “In order for the United States to form an image of the beast, the religious power [Christian nationalism] must so control the civil government that the authority of the state will also be employed by the church to accomplish her own ends.”20
Revelation 13 warns that the uniting of church and state—Rome’s dark modus operandi during the bloody Middle Ages—will recur just before the return of Christ. And America, through its own hybrid union of church and state (Christian nationalism), will lead the world to worship Rome and its image. But just like the three young Hebrew exiles in Daniel 3, who refused to bow down to Babylon’s towering image, there will be a generation of Christ followers who will “not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” (Rev. 12:11).
Just like Jesus. In fact, our Savior knows all too well what it is like to suffer at the hands of the confederacy of church and state. All the players were there at Calvary:
The Pharisee leaders were the conservatives—they wanted Him dead.
The Sadducee leaders were the liberals—they wanted Him dead.
The Herodians were the “nationalists”—they wanted Him dead.
The governor was a pagan—he wanted Him dead.
The crowd, feckless and fickle—they, too, wanted Him dead.
Jesus was crucified by the uniting of church and state. And in the end it will be so for those who radically, boldly, humbly follow Him.
Shall we be afraid? Never! How did Jesus put it on the eve of His own execution? “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
1 Unless otherwise noted, biblical references are from the New International Version.
2 John M. Barry, Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul (New York: Penguin, 2012), p. 151.
3 Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1911), p. 295. (Emphasis added.)
4 Ron Capshaw, in Liberty, September-October 2020, p. 6.
5 Ranko Stefanovic, Revelation of Jesus Christ (Berrien Springs, Mich.: Andrews University Press, 2002), pp. 423, 424.
6 https://www.christianitytoday.com/2021/02/what-is-christian- nationalism/, accessed Nov. 14, 2024. (Emphasis added.)
7 Tim Alberta, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism (New York: HarperCollins, 2023), pp. 433, 434.
8 Isaac Kramnick and R. Laurence Moore, The Godless Constitution (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1996), pp. 27, 28. (Emphasis added.)
9 Jon Meacham, American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation (New York: Random House, 2006), p. 19.
10 Ellen G. White, Maranatha (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1976), p. 193.
11 Ibid.
12 https://www.reuters.com/world/us/louisiana-requires-display-ten- commandments-all-classrooms-2024-06-19/, accessed Nov. 18, 2024.
13 https://apnews.com/article/oklahoma-bible-schools-religion-ryan- walters-d15be2f74df2ffbbdfdc549569d06c4e, accessed Nov. 18, 2024.
14 The Heritage Foundation, Manual for Leadership: The Conservative Promise (Washington, D.C.: The Heritage Foundation, 2023), p. 589 (downloaded from www.project2025.org).
15 Bolded in the original.
16 Heritage Foundation.
17 Ibid.
18 https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/#:~:text=Congress%20shall%20make%20no%20law,for%20a%20redress%20of%20grievances.
19 Quoted in Marvin Moore, The Coming Great Calamity (Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1997), p. 81.
20 E. G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 443.
