Revelation One & Two—The Beast Out Of The Sea and The Beast Out Of The Earth

Revelation  One & Two

The Beast Out Of The Sea  and  The Beast Out Of The Earth

Martin Cecil  December 2-3, 1956

The Beast Out Of The Sea

There is a request recorded in one of the Psalms, in the words, "Cleanse thou me from secret faults." Some might think of secret faults being those points of failure which the individual imagines that he has hidden from the eyes of others, but if we are honest we do not maintain conscious failures of that nature. The secret faults are really those which the individual has not recognized, factors in relationship to his own being which he has not yet seen or not yet faced. We have recently shared a deeper realization of the shortness of the time. Events in the world of mankind are moving rather rapidly toward it’s point of testing—trying by fire. As we see these things clearly ourselves we know that there is no more time to be wasted, and therefore it is essential that we should face facts and see what might be called the secret faults; for if there is anything of that nature remaining in us the prince of this world can come and find it, and of what value, then, would we be in the hour of the world's great need? I would reemphasize the need to face those things which should be looked at, in the right attitude, so that there is no rebellion against the unveiling of secret faults. If a person has indulged in self-delusion, is it not a wonderful thing to come to the point of being offered the opportunity to see it? That should be cause for deep thanksgiving to God, for only so can we be cleansed from such things and can we come into position to play our part in the Ministry of the Spirit of Truth on earth.

I can assure you that in the days to come, as issues are being forced for the world, issues will be forced for you and for all those who have the great responsibility of contact and awareness of the Truth offered through this Ministry. The very fact that any individual has had that opportunity places upon him the deepest possible responsibility. Human beings have responsibilities of various kinds in the world that they are anxious to fulfil, that is if the individual is honest and has integrity, but in actual fact there is no greater responsibility in the world pattern anywhere than the responsibility that devolves upon those who have had the opportunity of seeing something of the Way, the Truth and the Life. We have, over and over, emphasized this point, but I think the critical nature of the world situation should bring it home even more forcibly. So, we need to take a good look at the pattern as it relates to the situation in the world as a whole, recognizing that this over-all pattern has its smaller counterpart in relationship to each individual. I would like to begin an examination with you of certain passages in the Book of Revelation. Some of these we have meditated upon before, but perhaps our approach at this point will be somewhat different. Principles will not have changed, but the application of those principles can be seen in a little different light because of the unfolding events which we may observe in the world. I will start by reading something from the twelfth chapter of Revelation.

“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born, And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three-score days.”

I thought we might consider this creature which is here described as a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. The consideration is in relationship to something in Heaven, in the invisible realms of being. Whenever the things of God have come specifically into the world through any particular human being, or group of human beings, there has always been that present in the world ready and waiting to destroy it. This is true with respect to each one of you as an individual. There was, and perhaps still is to some extent, that in you which was ready to do everything possible to prevent the increase of the things of God in expression through you. The very fact that there has not been a greater manifestation of the things of God on earth through this Ministry reveals that there has been at least some measure of success on the part of that which has sought to prevent it. It is described here as a great red dragon.

Elsewhere the dragon is indicated as being the same as “that old serpent, the devil, and satan”—the self-active human mind. Considering it from the standpoint of the world, we may recognize here the focalization in that regard. Seven heads with crowns—crowned with authority—gives indication of the control pattern that operates with respect to the world as a whole. There are some who have imagined that these seven heads revealed a succession of seven focalizations of world power which would manifest over a period of time. We are not seeking to pin something down in that way. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2019/04/our-mandate-is-immense-from-spirit-and.html] We may remember our Master's word when He said that no man, not even the Angels in Heaven, knew the day or the hour in relationship to points of fulfilment. But there is something with respect to these things which we do need to see. In any time in the unfolding history of the world there is a supreme point of focalization in this regard; but remember, the dragon is in heaven. Human beings tend to look at the manifestation on earth to try to find the answer, but here is something that is in the invisible realm. The focalization of the self-active mind of man in the patterns of what we would call black magic does come to focus in a specific individual at any time during the unfolding patterns of history. There is such a focalization today.

We find that the pattern of the seven relates to specific focalizations, specific individuals, in relationship to the control patterns which govern the lives of human beings the world around. Human beings—all are governed by that which comes to focus in this which is described as a great red dragon, and the governing factors in the final analysis are maintained by physical force. The color, red, relates to that. Here we have a description of something which is real in the world today as much as it ever was. And, of course, the ten horns describe the forceful methods which are used to maintain control. The great red dragon is in the world. It is the governing factor in relationship to the human race. But it is hidden. Human beings do not know what it is or where it is. They may suspect that it is there. There have been efforts made in various ways at various times to find it. Many different elements in the world pattern have been blamed for the troubles of the world, and yet, has the source of those troubles yet been found? Now, of course, there are many who would take the attitude that presently that source might well be found in the Kremlin. I very much doubt it. Human beings look at the outer manifestation, the outermost fringe of things, and seek to pin the blame there. There are those, undoubtedly, who are blameworthy, but the ill things in the world certainly will not be corrected by struggling with the elements which appear on the outer periphery. There is something at center which is the point, in the final analysis, which must be dealt with.

The great red dragon operates through, and by means of, other control patterns, and we have a description in the thirteenth chapter of Revelation of two beasts. I might read something with respect to the first one: “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” This beast is virtually a replica of the great red dragon, also having seven heads and ten horns. The distinction here is that the crowns are on the horns instead of the heads. The name of blasphemy is upon the heads. This beast is further described as being “like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.” An interesting picture—a beast rising up out of the sea— symbolized by the sea: the sea of glass, and also that sea which passes away with the passing of the old heaven and the old earth. Here we had a symbol of that realm which connects, or separates, Spirit and physical form. The restless sea, the sea upon which the storms move, symbolizes the lower levels of the pneumaplasmic realm, those levels which human beings have distorted and in which there is turmoil and the manifestation of that which is not of God. Out of the mass pneumaplasmic realm, at the lower levels of it, there arises this beast, the means of control established by the dragon which governs all human beings who are centered in the self-active human mind. And how is that government maintained? Through the emotions. Human emotions uncontrolled, distorted, produce that which is of a bestial nature on earth, and this beast here described provides the means by which human beings are controlled and governed in this fallen world, whether they realize it or not.

Let us take a look at the seven heads. We know that man, when he fell, did so on the basis of an attempt to be as God; it was necessary that he utilize the principles which were Divinely established. We take note of this seven, repeated both in the dragon and in the beast, and we remember that there are Seven Spirits Before the Throne of God. If the dragon was to be successful in his government of mankind through the beast it would be necessary for him to prevent the Seven Spirits of God from having opportunity of establishing control in relationship to human beings. We have taken note of the nature of those Seven Spirits: the Spirit of Love, the Spirit of the Womb, the Spirit of Life, the Spirit of Purification, the Spirit of Truth or Blessing, the Spirit of the Single Eye, the Spirit of the New Earth. In order to prevent the working of those Spirits in and through human beings, a certain pattern of substitution had to be established, on the basis of opposites. For instance, as long as human beings could be kept in subjection to the spirit of hate, the Spirit of Love had no opportunity of working as it should in the lives of human beings. There could still be some distorted manifestation of love in a very limited field, but as long as hate was present, and human beings could be kept hating, obviously this supreme point in relationship to the Spirit of God was kept out of the world insofar as any meaningful effect in the lives of human beings was concerned. Hate is one of the outstanding spirits which is constantly being activated in the world—the spirit of hate. If there is any of this spirit still present in any of you, maybe not in its virulent form but nevertheless a lesser manifestation of it, then, certainly, the prince of this world has something in you, something which he can use in a particular point of stress to govern you.

There is an opposite in relationship to each of these Seven Spirits Before the Throne of God, and they do constitute the heads of the beast, the focus points of the ill spirits by means of which human beings are governed. Maybe a number of those heads may have ceased to be governing factors in your lives, but if there is even one it is obvious that the prince of this world can come and find something in you. We are reaching the point now where these things are certainly going to be proven one way or the other. There has been a considerable period of time for training and for letting the cleansing of secret faults take place, but we have come to the point where we must be right, so that the prince of this world, the dragon, coming, can find nothing in us. Otherwise we are of absolutely no value. We are not called to be very good, but to be perfect, and nothing less will do, because as long as the dragon can come and find something in us, what difference is there between us and everyone else on earth?

So, we may begin to undertake a specific analysis of these particular heads of the beast, that you may take an honest look at yourselves with a willingness to let yourselves be cleansed of secret faults. We have emphasized that if anyone can find an excuse for a fault, for a point of failure, that fault or point of failure cannot be cleansed away. The way the dragon works is to offer what seem to deluded human beings to be reasonable excuses for being governed by the heads of the beast. We know that there are no such excuses. Let us be very sure within ourselves that, as facts appear to be faced, we do not let ourselves be governed by this trick of the dragon—no excuses. Let us take an honest look at these things, that we may let the book of Revelation be a revelation to us.

The Beast Out Of The Earth

We were considering the nature of that which was symbolized by the great red dragon, and then by the first of the two beasts, the one which was observed to come up out of the sea. The great red dragon, that old serpent, the devil, and satan, represents to us the focalization of the self-active mind of man, and the beast out of the sea, the pattern of control used by the dragon in relationship to the world of mankind. And that control pattern is through human emotions. We were examining something about the seven heads, seeing that the dragon has to utilize the Divine principles in order to maintain himself as God on earth. It is not a matter of ignoring Divine principles and inventing something else. It has been necessary to utilize Divine principles—for the dragon to substitute spirits to replace the Seven Spirits Before the Throne of God. In order to fill the space which should be occupied by the Seven Spirits Before the Throne of God sent forth into all the earth, the dragon had to establish a pattern providing substitute spirits in this seven-fold form. As long as human beings can be kept filled with these opposite spirits, there is no opportunity for the Seven Spirits Before the Throne of God to have any real meaning in the lives of human beings. All of mankind has been unconsciously governed by the dragon through this particular beast representing the control pattern through the emotions by which human beings are controlled.

We anticipate examining the nature of the spirits which the dragon has utilized through the beast, recognizing the need to uncover what we were speaking of as secret faults, those things which have remained hidden from human beings, in relationship to which human beings have been deceived and deluded. But, first of all, I think it would be well if we shared a vision in the general sense of the over-all pattern. We recognize the difficulties with which the writer of the book of Revelation was faced. He was seeking to convey something with words totally inadequate to convey it. By the same token, I am seeking to convey something to you with words which, of themselves, are totally inadequate to convey it. Because you have a background of understanding, you should be in position to see beyond the words to that of which the word is but a symbol. The same difficulties are present today, in relationship to conveying that which the writer of the book of Revelation sought to convey, as were present with him. You should have an adequate background to enable you to see that which the words alone certainly cannot convey.

We have considered briefly something of the pattern as it relates to the first beast, and we saw how it came up out of the sea, out of the lower levels of the pneumaplasmic realm, those levels which are immediately in contact with the physical bodies of human beings. The dragon establishes the patterns therein which are those same patterns which are present in relationship to himself. This beast was a duplicate manifestation in the pneumaplasmic realm of the mass of humanity, and as long as human beings are polarized through their emotions in the things that are external to themselves they are governed by this beast. They give him his power and authority, and he seems to be completely invincible.

The beast is compared to a leopard; he had the feet as the feet of a bear; he was like a lion. A leopard is one of the swiftest animals on the face of the earth. You know something about the swiftness of human emotional reaction. Something hits you, and there it is—it takes over—it is what happens in relationship to those who are governed by this beast. The bear is a very powerful animal, and you have found that emotions are powerful things. And the carnivorous lion, the symbol of destructiveness, ripping and tearing his prey. We find three characteristics of emotional reaction: very swift, very powerful, and very destructive. This is that which controls the lives of human beings. And that control is directed by the dragon from the standpoint of something that is, insofar as its governing factors are concerned, a cold and calculating thing. No doubt those specific individuals who provide the focus in relationship to the dragon, whoever and wherever they may be, are motivated by emotions of various kinds, lust for power, for instance, but their actions are calculated. As long as human beings are subject to the control of their emotions they are subject to the beast and they are subject, consequently, to the dragon. They are his dupes. Whether they have any recognition of the existence of such a control pattern or not makes no difference—because of the heat of emotion, deep feelings all centered in the opposites of the Seven Spirits Before the Throne of God.

It is indicated that at a certain point one of the heads of the beast received a mortal wound. And yet, that wound was healed and the beast continued as a governing factor in the world. That point when the mortal wound was received was when our Master was on earth, for He defeated the prince of this world. The prince of this world came, and found nothing in Him. Our Master met and vanquished the supreme head in relationship to the control pattern established by the dragon at that time. That was, and is, the victory. But human beings, instead of letting it carry through so that the manifestation of it might appear in all the earth, became subject again to the old controls, and miraculously the beast has remained, even though the devil was met and defeated. “The prince of this world is judged.” Our Master spoke those words nineteen centuries ago. It was established back there. The supreme head was defeated. The victory was ready to be received by human beings. But all the world wonders after the beast, for it is still here, apparently as invincible as ever and yet, actually, already defeated if human beings were willing to share the victory which our Master established. It is to that sharing of the victory to which you and all are called, to let the form of it, the fact of it, the Truth of it, be revealed on earth. It is not something that has to be established. It has been done already. It just has to be cleared through into the patterns of manifestation and acknowledgment on earth.

There is an interesting verse concluding the statement concerning this first beast.: “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity; he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” The Law works with absolute certainty. “As ye sow, so also shall ye reap—The patience and the faith of the saints.” We know that if the wind is sown the whirlwind will be reaped but, by the same token, if the true seeds are sown the true harvest will be reaped. And if the dragon and the beast are defeated, their defeat is acknowledged in relationship to ourselves as individuals, we have the absolute assurance that the same victory over the dragon and the beast must appear for the world. If you experience the victory for yourselves you can have patience, you can afford to wait, for you have absolute faith, the absolute conviction, that what has been sown in the world will be reaped in the world, and in that reaping the way will be opened for the manifestation of the victory in relationship to mankind on earth. The dragon imagines that he is almost at the point of gaining the absolute supremacy on earth. How he deludes himself! The self-active human mind, no matter how cunning and sly and wise it may seem to be in its own eyes, is fundamentally stupid. There has been a failure to appreciate the Truth: “As ye sow, so also shall ye reap.” The means of the government of the dragon on earth is established through destructiveness of every kind, through ill spirits of every kind, through evil of every kind, and to some extent through good of every kind. There must be a reaping. The days of the dragon are numbered.

He not only has this beast out of the sea to provide him with a control pattern in relationship to human beings, but another beast out of the earth, the beast that has two horns like a lamb but he speaks like a dragon—he is the mouthpiece of the dragon. This beast is also spoken of as the false prophet. We have the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. What does this beast symbolize? The focalization of control through the emotions. Beasts, in the destructive sense, always refer to something working in relationship to human emotions. This beast comes up out of the earth, the physical and material realm of being, that which is all around us in manifestation, in form. This previous beast related to something that was invisible except insofar as human beings feel and know the effects of control through emotional reaction. Here, in this second beast, we have the manifestation in form of something which looks like a lamb. Now, the lamb relates to that which should be Divinely established on earth. We speak of the One Christ Body, a form through which the Power of God should work.

This lamb has two horns. From the Divine standpoint, what would we say those horns are? The methods of control. We recognize their relationship to the Spirit of Love and the Spirit of Truth—the Rod of Truth and the Staff of Love. But, from the standpoint of this beast, what do we have? The primary methods of forceful control in the outer sense we might perhaps define in the terms religion and science, and we have recognized the relationship of religion and science to the old heaven and the old earth. Human beings who are not dominated by religious controls are likely to be dominated by scientific controls, in the outer sense, and vice versa. It covers pretty well everyone. Science covers a great deal more than the word “science” generally indicates in its ordinary usage—it would include all the patterns of commerce in the world, all those things that are based in human knowledge. And human beings find themselves caught on the horns of a dilemma, the horns of the beast.

Most human beings feel that they have to be governed by the factors in relationship to their external environments; they have to act thus and so in order to make a living. The dragon has human beings convinced that they have to worship him if they are to continue to live on earth, let alone to be successful in life according to the human standards. And what does it say here about building an image to the other beast? What are the controls in the human pattern in the external sense? People say, “Business is business. Anything goes.” Jealousies and envyings, resentments, fears, hates, all the other emotional factors are present with respect to the daily round of human function in the world as it is. Unless the individual acts like a beast, with fang and claw, he is pretty soon going to be submerged, and overwhelmed, and lost in the shuffle. That is the idea, and the dragon has got everyone convinced. It is true, is it not? It says something about doing great wonders—there are some marvelous things being done in the world—even making fire come down from Heaven in the sight of men. The world is a pretty hot place. There are lots of human beings in the fire. “And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live”—the idea being that that beast is completely invincible.

We have got to worship him and keep him alive; otherwise, we are all going to perish. The dragon surely has human beings well deceived. “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads”— in their acting or in their thinking, “And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Everybody has to conform. If you don't, look out! That is the word of the beast, but he is the mouthpiece of the dragon, and the dragon we will recall was a liar from the beginning, and it is not necessary to subscribe to the principles which the beast or the dragon has established in order to live on earth. The dragon offered the world and everything in it to our Master—the supreme point of arrogance on his part—and yet human beings had given complete backing to this offer which the dragon made, having placed the world and everything in it in the dragon's hands, all completely deluded by the dragon. We do not need to stay deluded, but we recognize that it is no use getting into a battle with the false prophet, or with the beast out of the sea, because these are only the willing dupes of the dragon. If you destroy the dupes without destroying the dragon he will find some others. We have seen it happen, over and over again. Just look at world history. This emphasizes once again the futility of fighting. The dragon is very happy to have people fighting. As long as people can be kept fighting each other, imagining that the other person is the enemy, the dragon is quite safe, and human beings have never been able to penetrate all the way through to the dragon. He does not appear on the front page of the newspaper. We see evidences of the false prophet, evidences of the beast. There may be a certain awareness that somewhere or other there must be something back of it, but where, or what, is it? Human beings do not know. Because they are governed by that which the dragon has established, they remain in a state of blindness and ignorance, in bondage and in darkness, struggling with each other, fighting here and fighting there, imagining that the enemy is “lo here, lo there.” All this gives evidence of the presence of the enemy, but he will never be destroyed by fighting. Fighting is one of the ways of maintaining the control which the dragon uses. It is not a matter of changing systems, in the ordinary human sense—that is believing the lies of the false prophet. There is a right system, it is true, but that right system will not appear as long as human beings are under the control of the dragon. They do not know what it is. They do not know how they could let it appear. They cannot let it appear as long as they are under that control. It is impossible.

We see how very simple the answer really is. Let us stop being controlled by the patterns which the dragon offers, stop being controlled by the outer elements of the human pattern, stop being motivated by reaction to those things. We have recognized that, in relationship to our program, our motivation should not be in that which the dragon offers through the false prophet. Money—that is a primary control in the world. [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-from-of-babylon-uranda-may-30-1954.html] Oh, we can use it when we are under the right control. Work is another means of control that is used in the world, the idea of the horror of work. We can work without being controlled by work. We can have money for the Lord's use without being controlled by money. Once these things are proven in you then this is your patience and your faith, because you know absolutely that as you sow, so also shall you reap, even as you know absolutely that as the world sows, so also shall it reap. As long as there is any point of control in either of these two beasts in relationship to us the dragon still governs in some measure in our lives and, as the prince of this world, he may come any time and find something in us. He only needs to find one thing. Everything else may be as it should be but if he can find one thing, that is all he needs. Perhaps you have moved away from the more obvious controls of the dragon through the false prophet but not yet are you completely clear, nor yet in relationship to the beast out of the sea.

In our examination of these things I trust that the pattern is clearer to you so that, seeing the Spirit within the words, you may have increased understanding, increased vision, of that which is necessary. While the patterns in the world seem very complicated, when we begin to examine the situation as we are doing it becomes rather simple. There are endless ramifications in relationship to the control patterns established by the dragon. We do not need to be particularly concerned about them—we may know they are there—provided that we cannot be deluded either by the beast or by the false prophet. Then we have the dragon where we want him, no longer above us but under our feet. Then we know the victory. There may be much more to be made manifest, but, insofar as we ourselves are concerned, we know the victory; we know the Truth of it, the actuality of it. And, because it is so in relationship to us, we know that it certainly can, and will, be so in relationship to the world. We have patience and faith.

... to be continued

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