First it was the beast from the sea. Now it's the beast from the earth.

Apostle John wrote, "And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems (crowns), and on his heads were blasphemous names" (Revelation 13:1 New American Standard Bible). 

As we students of Bible prophecy have learned from the Old Testament book of Daniel, although we see our leaders and their governments as things of grandeur and beauty, God sees them as unreasoning and dangerous beasts in need of restraint. 

The prophet Daniel also had visions of beasts rising from the sea. Daniel, however, saw four. It turned out these beasts represented the four great Gentile empires that would dominate Palestine until the Messiah would come to establish God's kingdom. Babylon was represented as a Lion, Medo-Persia was seen as a bear and Greece as a leopard. The fourth, the Roman Empire, was described as different from the others and had ten horns (Daniel 7:1-8). 

Now, as we consider this beast that John saw many years later, we find that it also has ten horns. These horns identify it with the fourth beast Daniel saw the Roman Empire. But now these ten horns have crowns. This is the reason many Bible students have long believed that the Roman Empire is destined to return under ten kings. 

If you have been following my columns, you know it is my opinion that this ten- horned beast of Bible prophecy may already be on the rise in Europe. Not only does the European Union now have a 10-nation military alliance, the so-called Brussels Treaty Powers, they also have the Barcelona Declaration and the Euro-Med Partnership, which is nothing more than a European grab for the Mediterranean. If their plans are successful, the map of Europe will once again look like during the days of the Roman Empire. 

Yet Apostle John didn't only see one beast. He continued to write: "And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon" (Revelation 13:11). Once again we can avoid undue speculations by remembering the prior meaning to these beasts of Bible prophecy. These beasts represent powerful kings and their kingdoms that will rise to have dominion over Palestine. 

It is my opinion the second beast may now also be on the rise. I am talking about the recent United Nations Millennium Summit. Never in the history of humankind have so many of the world leaders come together for a common goal-- Global Democracy. 

Not only do the stated new goals of the United Nations make it a candidate for the second beast of Revelation, so does its description. If you recall, John said the second beast had two horns. In Bible prophecy horns means power. Interestingly, the U.N.'s new strategy for global control is mainly twofold-- economic and religious. 

Actually, John was describing some powerful religious leader when he mentioned the two horns. But remember, we can't separate the king from his kingdom. Scripture refers to this leader as the false prophet (Revelation 20:10) and to his kingdom as Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots (Revelation 17:1-5). This Babylon he controls is later described as both religious in chapter 17, and as economic in chapter 18. 

If this weren't enough to identify the United Nations' plans for Global Democracy with the harlot of Revelation, John also wrote about her, "And the woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth" (Revelation 17:18). 

So, in the uniting Europe are we seeing the rise of the beast from the sea? And, in the reforming United Nations are we seeing the rise of the beast from the earth? 

Stay tuned!