In our previous article, The Two Spirits of Antichrist, we identified two antichrist spirits that have roamed the earth for millennia.

The first was the spirit of Cain, which is the spirit of the devil himself — a spirit of violence and murder. The second was the spirit of Judas, the son of perdition — a spirit of theft and betrayal.

Together these spirits form the two horns of the beast from the earth. They are “like those of a lamb” (Revelation 13:11) — little horns — the same designation given to the Antichrist in Old Testament prophecies such as Daniel 8 and 11.

As in Daniel 8, the second horn — Judas — arises after the first and becomes greater. This follows a familiar biblical pattern where the younger surpasses the elder: Jacob over Esau, Ephraim over Manasseh, Rachel over Leah, and ultimately the second Adam, Jesus, over the first.

The most relevant example, though, is the New Covenant Church surpassing Old Covenant Israel. Likewise in the last days, Cain, as an Old Testament type, will primarily afflict the physical nation of Israel, while Judas, as a New Testament type, will primarily afflict the spiritual nation of the Church.

Both horns speak “like a dragon” (Revelation 13:11) — a voice of lies and blasphemy (cf. 1 Kings 22:21–23).

This beast “makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men” (Revelation 13:13). This is symbolic, but brings to mind Elijah’s literal contest with the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:20–40). Unlike those in Elijah’s day, this false prophet succeeds: “And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast” (Revelation 13:14). God permits this deception, which is the strong delusion:

Revelation 13:14 adds that the beast “[tells] those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast.” The word make is more often translated become. This is not a statue but a transformation: the beast deceives people into becoming its image, walking in the path of Cain and Judas.

It is then “granted power to give breath [spirit] to the image” (Revelation 13:15), imparting an evil spirit, or evil nature, to those who take its likeness. This is the true mark of the beast — a mimicry of being born again. As Revelation 9:6 shows, those who take this mark share Cain’s and Judas’ curse: unable to die, destined for destruction.

The image of the beast mirrors the image of God, counterfeiting the gift of the Holy Spirit. To become its image and receive its spirit is, in the truest sense of the phrase, selling one’s soul to the devil.

The same verse shows the fate of those who resist: “… and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.” Thus the beast wields power over both life and death.

2 Thessalonians 2:4 says the man of sin “sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” This too is not literal; it refers to usurping God’s authority. Since the temple is God’s people (1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 6:16), the beast shows itself as God precisely through the power it wields over life and death.

One aspect of the strong delusion is the widespread belief among many prophecy scholars that a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem is essential to the Antichrist’s reign. This view arises from stepping away from the principle of letting Scripture interpret Scripture, and instead selectively reading some symbols literally. Few expect the beast from the earth to be an actual two-horned animal; in the same way, they should not expect a literal temple.

Just as the image of the beast counterfeits the image of God, its two horns also reflect the divine image of male and female (Genesis 1:27).

Cain represents the male: aggressive, outward, destructive. Judas embodies the female: subtle, inward, manipulative. One strikes, the other corrupts. Together they form a distorted counterpart to the harmony of masculine and feminine in God’s design.

Scripture often uses ‘man’ to mean humanity as a whole. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4, the phrase translated ‘man of sin’ is ho anthrōpos tēs hamartias — literally, ‘the person of sin.’ Though grammatically masculine, in Koine Greek anthrōpos can refer to any person, male or female, or even humanity itself. Thus the ‘man of sin’ could, in theory, be female.

Judas, though male, reflects the female archetype: a thief who betrayed with a kiss. Cain reflects the male archetype: a murderer who struck in anger.

In the next sections we will trace two twentieth-century fulfilments of the male archetype, followed by two of the female. We will also show why the present day fulfilment of the little horn corresponds to the female archetype — the last horn to arise being judged first, echoing another biblical principle — while the first horn, the male archetype, will receive its final judgment last, after the millennium.

The most Antichrist-like figure of the twentieth century was unquestionably Adolf Hitler. Born on April 20, 1889, he turned twenty in 1909 — just one year after Satan was cast to earth (see It’s Time You Sleeping Virgins Woke Up!). Twenty was the cutoff age for entering the Promised Land after the Exodus, marking the age at which God counts a person an adult and accountable for their own actions. He was the right person, at the right time.

Hitler embodied the spirit of Cain. His genocide against the Jews in the Holocaust epitomises the “man of sin” sitting “as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

Yet what is most remarkable about Hitler is not the man himself, but his counterpart.

Charlie Chaplin, born only four days earlier on April 16, 1889, bore an uncanny resemblance to Hitler. Both had the toothbrush moustache, similar hairlines, and comparable builds in their younger years. Chaplin’s “Tramp” character predated Hitler’s rise, yet in retrospect appears almost like a parody of him.

The contrast is striking. Hitler was a master orator, using his voice to manipulate and control. Chaplin, in his early silent films, “opened not his mouth” — which is how Jesus was described in Isaiah 53:7. Where Hitler deceived, Chaplin embodied innocence. In them, we see spiritual balance played out almost too perfectly: Chaplin stands as Christ to Hitler’s Antichrist. Fittingly, Chaplin died on Christmas day, 1977.

Shortly afterward, in 1979, the same little horn arose again, in more direct fulfilment of the two-horned ram in Daniel 8. That prophecy links the ram with Persia, its two horns rising in sequence, the second greater than the first. In the modern era, this corresponds to the regime intent on continuing Hitler’s legacy of destroying the Jewish race. The first horn was Ayatollah Khomeini; the second, Ayatollah Khamenei.

The recent attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities may even reflect the continued fulfilment:

The remainder of the prophecy belongs to a future time. Daniel 8:23 points to the “latter time of their kingdom,” which occurs after the millennium. The first horn — the devil himself — will not be destroyed at present but imprisoned, only to be released for a final rebellion at the end of the thousand years (Revelation 20:1–3, 7–9). That is the true “time of the end” (Daniel 8:17).

We’ll now turn to the other horn — the second one to arise and the first to be judged.

If the Cain-spirit manifests as an overt, violent, masculine force, the Judas-spirit appears in subtler, feminine forms — cunning, manipulative, and secretive. It operates through influence rather than open aggression, shaping economies, morality, and events in ways less visible but no less destructive.

We are therefore looking for a female figure — a thief, a betrayer, one with global sway, bound up with the seven-headed beast. Revelation presents only one candidate: Mystery Babylon, the woman who rides the beast.

Mystery Babylon is not merely a symbol of corruption. She is the other little horn, the false prophet who compels the nations to worship the beast through the powers given her.

She is shown explicitly as female (Revelation 17:1–6), embodying Judas-like traits of deceit, theft, and betrayal. She is defined by her trade (18:11–13), wealth, and luxury (18:7), adorned in gold, precious stones, and pearls.

Her influence intoxicates the world: she makes “the inhabitants of the earth drunk with the wine of her fornication,” echoing Revelation 13:16, where none may buy or sell without her mark. She is also “drunk with the blood of the saints” (17:6) — vampiric in its symbolism, mirroring the spirit of Judas described in the previous article — and aligned with her role of sitting in the temple of God, showing that she is God. Or in her own words: “I sit as queen, and am no widow” (18:7).

She is also typified by Jezebel, the woman mentioned in Jesus’ letters to the churches. In the Old Testament, she opposed Elijah, who is himself a type of one of the last-days two witnesses. Just as Elijah was prophesied to return before the end, so too can we expect a Jezebel to appear.

She is further revealed as the woman in the basket from Zechariah 5. The angel identifies her plainly: “This is Wickedness!” (verse 8). She embodies the curse that spreads “over the whole earth” (verse 6).

For most of history she was confined, working behind the scenes — through secret societies, dynasties, royal families and hidden networks of power. But in the last days the basket’s lid was removed, she was set upon her base, and her activity shifted from covert to overt.

The woman in the basket is the “person of sin” who had to be “revealed” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). We misread the grammar, expecting a literal man, when in fact the prophecy points to a woman — not a literal woman, but a type.

So who is she? And when was the lid lifted?

As discussed in earlier articles, the answer lies at the beginning of the final 120 years. In 1913 the U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) were established. Since then, the dollar has lost 99% of its value, while the IRS has stolen much of what remains.

The Fed and IRS mark pivotal moments, both in timing and scale of influence, but they are not alone. The 18th-century economist Richard Cantillon described a dynamic now called the Cantillon Effect: those closest to the creation of new money — governments, banks, large corporations — benefit first, while ordinary workers and the poor bear the cost through inflation.

Investment giants such as BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street, together with Big Tech companies like Amazon, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, and Meta, and Big Pharma corporations including Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca, form the leading edge of this global system. Working alongside central banks, commercial banks, and governments, they consolidate power and extend influence far beyond national borders. International bodies such as the IMF and World Bank further reinforce and coordinate this structure, magnifying its reach and binding economies together under a shared monetary framework.

Alongside these financial and corporate powers, the mainstream media functions as an indispensable partner in shaping perception. Major news networks, entertainment conglomerates, and social platforms act as amplifiers, softening scrutiny and framing narratives that protect the system’s interests. Rather than challenging central banks, Big Finance, Big Tech, and Big Pharma, much of the media industry has become intertwined with them through shared ownership, advertising revenue, and revolving-door careers. This symbiosis ensures that public attention is directed away from structural abuses and toward carefully curated distractions, allowing the larger system to advance largely unopposed. In recent times, slogans that illustrate this coordinated narrative include “We’re all in this together”, “Safe and effective” and “Build Back Better”.

Jesus warned that no one can serve two masters: you cannot serve both God and mammon (wealth, riches). Money is the wine that has intoxicated the nations. Mystery Babylon is a religion, but one that worships mammon.

Fiat currencies — conjured from nothing, then lent at interest — have drained wealth from the many into the hands of a very few. That is how the richest 1% now hold more wealth than the bottom 95% combined [Oxfam International].

This is not the overt violence of Cain-Hitler types, but the covert theft and betrayal of Judas — systemic, manipulative, parasitic.

Yet her time is short. The woman has been exposed, her nakedness uncovered, and her fate sealed. Her wealth is already being stripped away. God has commanded His people to come out of her, and He has provided a way (see our earlier article How to Come Out of Mystery Babylon for practical guidance).

In these last days, this woman is epitomised by another group: the World Economic Forum (WEF). Famous for “The Great Reset” and statements like “you will own nothing and be happy” and “we penetrate the cabinets,” it mirrors the prophecy of the “vile person” who was “not given the honour of royalty” and who “[seized] the kingdom by intrigue” (Daniel 11:21) with “a small number of people” (verse 23).

This “small number of people” may correspond to the WEF’s Young Global Leaders (YGLs). A few of the members of this exclusive group include: Emanuel Macron (president of France from 2017 to present), Justin Trudeau (prime minister of Canada from 2015–2025), Jacinda Ardern (prime minister of New Zealand from 2017 to 2023), Gavin Newsom (governor of California from 2015 to present), Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook), Peter Thiel (founder of Palantir Technologies, a data analytics company heavily used by governments and large corporations), and Alexander Soros (son of George Soros).

The YGLs number roughly 1,400. Even if only half have risen to positions of influence (a reasonable estimate based on the fact that most of the information concerning them is not made public), that is close to 666 — the “number of his name” (Revelation 13:17). This is not about gematria, but a literal count, hinting at one possible fulfilment of this enigmatic prophecy.

There is another possible explanation of the number 666, tied symbolically to the thousand years and the Day of the Lord. Six hundred and sixty-six is two-thirds of a thousand. Throughout Scripture, the pattern of thirds recurs: two-thirds are destroyed while one-third is brought through the fire and spared (cf. Zechariah 13:8–9). This maintains balance — the two-thirds of wicked humanity perfectly counterbalance the one-third of the righteous, who are rewarded double for what had been taken from them — just as it was done for Job (Job 42:10; Isaiah 61:7; Zechariah 9:12).

Thus 666 signifies a proportion of humanity, not merely a single person or organisation. It represents the two-thirds who will follow the devil and be destroyed in hell. This is grammatically defensible as Koine Greek often uses the singular to represent the class as a whole (like “man” meaning “mankind”).

Two-thirds of humanity will take the mark of the beast, aligning themselves with it. Some will align through violence — principally against God’s people (Christians and Jews) but ultimately against the one-third who resist. This may correspond to taking the mark “on the hand” — representing actions. Others will align through belief, remaining within Mystery Babylon and following the deceitfulness of riches. This may correspond to taking the mark “on the forehead” — representing thought or allegiance.

But what actually is the mark of the beast?

Scripture teaches that God judges the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Therefore the mark of the beast must reflect what is in a person’s heart — whether it is evil or good. The New Testament frequently lists outward traits that reveal an evil heart; these can be understood as “marks of the beast” — visible signs of a beastly, unregenerate nature.

Jesus explicitly taught that behaviour springs from the heart:

Similarly, the fruit of the Spirit reflects the outflow of a transformed inner life (Galatians 5:22–23). Evil traits are visible signs of an unregenerate heart, just as godly traits are signs of a heart being transformed into God’s image.

Revelation presents the “mark” as a sign of belonging and allegiance. While some interpret it literally, it also functions symbolically as an inward identity expressed outwardly. In biblical thought, “mark” and “seal” language often refers to spiritual ownership:

Seeing the “mark of the beast” as the visible fruits of a beast-like heart is consistent with how Scripture consistently ties internal state to external signs.

With that in mind, here is a fairly exhaustive list of traits the New Testament links to an evil, unregenerate, unrepentant heart. These are all marks of the beast.

For completeness, the following are traits that reflect someone with the seal of God:

At the Sheep and Goat Judgement the world will be divided along these very lines. Many of the sheep will not know or have known their Shepherd; yet He will know them (Matthew 25:37–40). On the other hand, many of the goats will claim to know Him, but those He never knew (Matthew 7:23). The true dividing line is whether we “do the will of [the] Father in heaven” (verse 21) or “practice lawlessness.”

Based on what we’re seeing in the world today, and with the timelines we’ve presented in earlier articles, that judgement is already well underway, and may be nearly finished.

We now move on to the final aspect of the mark of the beast — the prohibition against buying and selling.

This too has found a strikingly literal fulfilment in recent times, as those who declined the COVID-19 jab were restricted from buying, selling, working, travelling, and more. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), by the end of 2023, exactly two-thirds of the global population had completed the primary COVID-19 vaccination series — two doses for most vaccines:

Based on the dates provided on the WHO site, the period from the first COVID-19 jab to the end of 2023 spans 1,257 days — just three days short of the 1,260 days of prophecy. In our earlier article The Seventy Weeks of Daniel Are Almost Over we refined these dates and showed how they fit precisely into the larger prophetic framework beginning in 2017 and ending in 2027 — with the abomination of desolation and the great tribulation occurring from August-2020 until early 2024, and overlapping with the start of Jacob’s Trouble on October 7, 2023. The WHO’s own data makes the pattern unmistakable.

Few would deny that the period of COVID lockdowns and mandates was a time of unprecedented trouble, unlike anything the world had ever experienced before.

In that article we also wrote:

Remember, the mark of the beast is not about outward appearances; it’s about the heart.

This has been a challenging article to write.

For generations we’ve been conditioned to expect a single “man of sin.” Yet Scripture and history show that God often works through patterns rather than one-off events. The result is not a single isolated fulfilment but a series of types and shadows that repeat across time.

In this article we’ve highlighted several instances of that pattern, but there could be others. Now that we know what to look for — not just a future event but repeating historical motifs — other past fulfilments may be discovered.

In our next article we will turn to the equally difficult topic of the beast from the sea. And as with the beast from the earth, we will show how this other beast is not something in our future, but has also been with us for decades.