seven world powers of Bible history and prophecy referred to in the symbolism of the dragon and of the wild beast that came out of the sea. In John’s day five of these had fallen: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece. The sixth was then in existence, pagan Rome, which continued its existence later as the Holy Roman Empire, and one was yet to come, the Anglo-American world power, the two-horned beast. Its remaining for a short time indicates that the end of these powers is near.

This scarlet-colored beast appears in yet another form in the book of Revelation. This, however, should not seem surprising, since in Bible prophecy various persons and entities appear at times in more than one form, all of them appropriate and fitting, but used to show different aspects of a person, organization, nation or political entity. Thus we have noted that the seventh world power, the Anglo-American world power, is shown as the seventh head of the wild beast that came out of the sea, as the wild beast that has two horns like a lamb and yet has the voice of a dragon, and also as the false prophet because of its propaganda activities. So here with this scarlet-colored wild beast; it is also termed an eighth world power and, at Revelation 13:14, 15, “an image to the wild beast,” that is, to the sea beast: “And [the two-horned beast] misleads those who dwell on the earth, because of the signs that were granted it to perform in the sight of the wild beast, while it tells those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the wild beast that had the sword-stroke and yet revived. And there was granted it to give breath to the image of the wild beast, 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.”

According to this prophecy the two-horned beast, that is, Great Britain and the United States, told those dwelling upon the earth to make this image to the beast, the League of Nations. Do the facts of history bear this out? They certainly do, for, says The Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. 20, page 846, 1959 Ed., in its biography on Jan Christiaan Smuts, South African statesman: “After the [1918] Armistice, Smuts wrote his Memorandum on the League of Nations, The League of Nations: A Practical Suggestion (1918), which received the support of both President Wilson and Mr. Lloyd George, and in substance became the Covenant of the League.” The latter two were, of course, the heads of the United States and Great Britain at the time. While the United States never did officially join the League, its head did indeed take the lead in telling the world to make this image to the beast. With the years the United States did in effect get in the back door of the League through its support of covenants and treaties promulgated by the League members. The evidence is even stronger that the heads of these two nations, or this dual world power, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, took the lead in causing the people of earth to bring this scarlet-colored beast out of the abyss of inactivity into which World War II had plunged it, in the form of the United Nations.

What about this scarlet-arrayed woman that is shown riding this beast of similar scarlet color? Throughout the Scriptures, from Genesis 3:15 to Revelation 22:17, a woman is used to picture an organization, and especially a religious organization. Thus unfaithful Jerusalem is described as a prostitute, and the faithful Christian congregation as a chaste virgin. (Isa. 1:21; 2 Cor. 11:2) This woman would therefore well picture false religion and, in particular, apostate Christendom, which professes to be espoused to Jesus Christ but has proved unfaithful to him as seen by her consorting with and making common cause with the governments of this world instead of waiting for Christ’s kingdom. To her the words of condemnation apply: “Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth.” It is worthy of note that, whereas the King of kings, Jesus Christ, is shown as executing judgment against the various beasts, it is the ten horns or kings of the scarlet-colored beast that are shown bringing about the destruction of this false religious system, a precursor of which is seen in the avowed opposition of communism to all things religious.—Rev. 17:5.

Obviously, this thumbnail sketch, as it were, of the beasts of Revelation, could not touch on all the minute details. These, however, upon study will be found to be consistent with the foregoing, even as noted elsewhere in the publications of the Watch Tower Society.

Surely Jehovah God is causing light to shine upon his prophecies long ago recorded, in keeping with his promise that the path of his servants would grow ever lighter. Such is indeed reason for all his servants to have increased faith that He at all times has full control of world affairs and that the Bible is his inspired Word. It should strengthen their hope in the ultimate triumph of righteousness and assist them in serving God with the “form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father,” keeping themselves without spot from the world.—Jas. 1:27.

Courage Through Faith and Hope in Jehovah

“HOPE in Jehovah; be courageous and let your heart be strong. Yes, hope in Jehovah.” Thus Jehovah God speaks to his faithful servants upon earth today and that in spite of the fact that we are living in the most perilous time of the history of humankind. What does it mean to be courageous?—Ps. 27:14.a

“Courageous,” according to one dictionary, “implies a high and nobler kind of bravery, especially as resulting from an inborn quality of mind or spirit which faces or endures perils or difficulties without fear and even with enthusiasm.” According to the Hebrew expression used at Psalm 27:14, courageous means to keep an internal strength, to hold together as if tightly bound together and so not crumbling to pieces under pressure, as would dry clay, and not flying to pieces under the impact of tribulation or enemy attacks, as would a piece of china if struck a hard blow.

A sterling example of such courage is being given by the faithful witnesses of Jehovah, publishers of the Kingdom good news, behind the Iron Curtain and in other totalitarian lands. Concerning those in Russia the 1962 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses, among other things, states: “Fiendish means have been employed to break the integrity of Jehovah’s servants. Publishers are brought before so-called fellow-workers courts, made up of factory or farm workers, managers and party functionaries. They are threatened with the loss of their jobs, allotments, homes, pensions, and so forth, if they do not publicly denounce the organization and withdraw. A brother who courageously defended his stand was recently sent to a forced-labor camp. There are such camps in which whole groups of publishers are kept imprisoned because of their faithful stand for God’s kingdom. They are treated harshly by the authorities, even worse than if they were criminals.”

Not that it does not take courage to be a speaking minister of Jehovah in lands where there is relative freedom. It does. It takes courage to take Jehovah’s unpopular message from house to house, to offer it to passersby on the streets. It takes courage to speak up whenever an opportunity for incidental witnessing presents itself. It takes courage to