Contending With Two Feroious Wild Beasts

 By the end of the first century C.E., however, many in this early congregation had fallen away from the truth, and the true Christian wheat, "the sons of the kingdom," had been largely choked out by weeds, "the sons of the wicked one."  But when the conclusion of the system of thing arrived, anointed Christians  again appeared as an organized group.  During the Lord's day, the righteous ones were due to "shine as brightly as the sun."   Hence, the Christian congregation was organized for work.  (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43) By then, the Roman Empire was no more.  The huge British Empire, along with the powerful United States of America held the center of the world stage.  This dual world power proved to be the seventh head of the wild beast.

Is it not shocking to identify the ruling political powers with a wild beast?  That  is what some opposers claimed during World War II, when the status of Jehovah's  Witnesses, as an organization and as individuals, was being challenged in law courts and around the earth.  But stop and think! Do not the nations themselves  adopt beasts or wild creatures as their  national symbols? For example, there are the British lion, the American eagle, and the Chinese dragon.  So why should anyone object if the divine Author of the holy Bible also uses beasts to symbolize world powers? 

Moreover, why should anyone object to the Bible's' saying that is is Satan who gives the wild beast  its great authority?  God is the Source of that statement. and before him 'the nations  are as a drop from a bucket and as film of dust.'  Those nations would better to court God's favor than to take offense at the way his prophetic Word describes them. (Isaiah 40:15, 17; Psalm 2:10-12)  Satan is no mythical  person assigned to tormenting departed souls  in a fiery hell.  No such place exists.  Rather, Satan is described in Scripture as "an angel of light"-master of deception who exercises powerful influencew in general political affairs. - 2 CORINTHIANS 11:3, 14, 15; EPHESIANS 6:11-18.

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