Hi gudazdead,
And the second, who is the second beast? Is it people that are of, how did ray put it?, the earthly level of spirituality? I'm dying to know.
I too want to know and am in an ongoing study to understand how the beasts are presented in revelation. Like most everyone I use to think they had something to do with something outside of us until I came across Ray's papers.....but I knew he was right almost instantly...it was like, of course, that's me, I'm the beast! I finally had some understanding as to what's been wrong with me all these years!
So there is much I am still trying to grasp, but here's where my understanding lies thus far:
I am the wild beast, behaving like a wild beast, believing in wild philosophies that feed my carnality.
In my wanderings I finally come to know about and accept Jesus. He is the word of God, the sword of the spirit, and with the sword he gives the beast a deadly wound. I know I can do nothing without my Jesus. For a short time the beast feels like he has been subdued.
I search for more of Jesus in the church. I study the church doctrines and follow their teachings. I am losing my first love. The wound is being healed. The beast is no longer being killed by the sword of truth, but nurtured back to life by the lies and deceit of the church. I start thinking there is something I must do to be saved....I must make the right decisions or I will lose my Jesus.
I am worhsipping the image of the first beast, rather than being conformed to the image of God. The beast in us must come through a full process. The number three often denotes a process (notice how things happen by thirds in revelation). And thus the beast is 3 sixes. 666. The number of man is 6....and the process that man goes through includes "beast" stages.
1. You are a wild beast of the sea (of humanity).
2. The beast comes out of the sea. You are called and receive a deadly wound (by the word of truth), but you enter a church system (Babylon) and the deadly wound is healed. The beast becomes healthy again, believing once again in wild philosophies (free will, eternal hell, and countless other doctrines).
3. The beast comes out of the earth (the church). You are called out of Babylon.
Something like that, I think.
Anyways, the second beast is the same as the first beast, just in a different stage of the process.
Once the beast stages are complete, man has reached the pinnacle of how far he can go in carnality. The beast is purged in the consuming fires of God, so that the spirit may live.
Peace,
Diana