When the Lamb Begins to Roar: An Exhortation on Civil Religion, Artificial Images, and the Last-Day Deception

“Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.” — Revelation 13:11

Feb 10, 2026

1. A Twilight Familiar to Scripture

Babylon once glimmered with a ninety-foot image plated in gold. At the sound of music every official on the plain bowed, save three Hebrews who chose the furnace over idolatry (Daniel 3). John, exiled on Patmos, foresaw another image—one that breathes, speaks, and sentences the disobedient to death (Revelation 13:15–17). Isaiah looked behind both scenes and heard Lucifer boast, “I will ascend…I will make myself like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:12-14).

What men in Babylon forged with bronze, our age forges with algorithms. In 2022 “The Giant” project announced ten-story statues able to shape-shift, speak, and network globally—technology journalists immediately linked to Revelation 13’s living image (Israel My Glory). The boundary between sculpture and sentience is eroding; the boundary between worship and programming will be next.

2. May 17 on the National Mall: A Date with Civil Power

On 5 February 2026, President Trump stood before lawmakers and clergy at the National Prayer Breakfast and proclaimed a National Jubilee of Prayer for 17 May, pledging to “rededicate America as one nation under God.” The announcement, greeted with ovations, explicitly wove piety into statecraft (New York Post).

The calendar choice is not accidental. May 17 corresponds with the historic colonial call to fasting in 1776 and, this year, with the Feast of the Ascension—an audacious symbolism that marries patriotism to liturgy. Here the prophetic pattern surfaces: a power that looks like a lamb—public prayer, moral vocabulary, Scripture quotations—yet will increasingly speak like a dragon through executive orders, regulatory guidance, and cultural coercion (Revelation 13:11-12). The dragon’s hiss is rarely heard in the first applause; it is embedded in the apparatus that follows.

3. Why Public Piety Is Not Neutral

Civil religion is a golden cup: it shines with references to God while intoxicating nations with the illusion that citizenship equals covenant. Nebuchadnezzar raised an image “whose height was sixty cubits” (Daniel 3:1); the empire sanctified political loyalty as worship. The second beast does likewise, “exercising all the authority of the first beast” so that worship of empire is worship of the image (Revelation 13:12).

When political power adopts religious speech, the Church must ask: Who defines the God invoked? Which commandments will this God enforce? History answers grimly—state-sponsored piety soon requires incense at Caesar’s altar. The promise of unity mutates into penalties for dissent (John 16:2).

4. The Image that Breathes in Silicon and Marble

Revelation’s “image” is granted pneuma—breath, spirit. Today machines receive code that imitates thought, voice cloning that imitates breath, motion capture that imitates life. Projects like The Giant unveil statues able to preach environmental creeds, salute crowds, even display your own face at colossal scale (Israel My Glory).

Shall we marvel that Scripture foresaw a talking icon? The same spirit that demanded harp-strings in Babylon now craves broadband. Whether the final image is robotic, holographic, or legislative, its essence is the same: humanity enthroned without repentance, technology baptised without truth, command backed by commerce (“no one may buy or sell” — Revelation 13:17).

5. Trump, Israel, and the Mountain of Moed

Isaiah calls the throne of God “the mount of the assembly (moed) in the far north” (Isaiah 14:13). Lucifer covets that seat, not merely heavenly elevation but judicial authority over Israel—the earthly footstool of the throne (Psalm 132:13-14). Any coalition that weds political might to messianic expectation around Jerusalem risks replaying the drama of false enthronement; and every U.S. administration that touts unprecedented deals in the Middle East must be weighed with sober eyes. “The beast from the earth” arises in a land long allied to Israel’s fortunes, performs miracles, and directs global worship toward an image (Revelation 13:12-14). Geography alone does not identify the beast, but policy that sacralises politics inches the stage-props into place.

6. The Slow Burn from Applause to Persecution

Persecution is seldom the opening act. Babylon began with music; Rome began with civic festivals; the last beast begins with a national prayer service. Only later do decrees harden, “so that as many as would not worship…should be killed” (Revelation 13:15). The watchman’s task is to sound alarm while the crowd still cheers, not after the furnace is stoked.

7. Exhortation to the Church in the Age of Synthetic Worship

Beloved pilgrim, resist the seduction of spectacle—whether a bronze idol, a forty-foot LED apostle, or a bipartisan prayer summit. Christ’s kingdom “is not of this world” (John 18:36). To fuse the Bride’s voice to Caesar’s microphone is to invite the serpent to write our homilies. Test every spirit (1 John 4:1). Weep before you wave flags. Fast before you forward headlines. Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego: they honored the king, served the city, yet would not bend knee to the image even once.

8. Call to Holy Readiness

Guard the altar of private devotion. National liturgies cannot substitute the secret place (Matthew 6:6).
Preach the whole counsel of God. A lamb-like tongue flatters; a prophetic tongue pierces joint and marrow (Hebrews 4:12).
Discern technology’s theological claims. Every algorithm smuggles anthropology; every talking statue preaches a gospel about what humanity is and who saves it.
Prepare for exile before it arrives. Those who do not internalise the furnace story today will rationalise compromise tomorrow.

9. Maranatha: The True Rededication

The only covenant that secures a nation is the blood of Christ, not resolutions on parchment. The only throne immune to dragon speech is the cross, where the Lamb who was slain already roars with resurrection authority (Revelation 5:5-6). Therefore we await not May 17 on the Mall but the clouds splitting with the voice of the Archangel. Until then, “keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21) and “come out of her, My people” (Revelation 18:4).

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

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