|
2And the beast which I saw was 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. 3And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 5And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 9If any man have an ear, let him hear. 10He 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. 11And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 12And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14And 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. 15And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 16And 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: 17And 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. 18Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Josh Konnely stands behind a podium backstage at the Shanghai Arena. Dave Kilmister stands next to the podium at Josh's right hand.
"Still Standing is just hours away. Tonight, Revelation clashes with Bruce Kingston and Brice McQueen. Ironic, is it not, that Strike Towers should come to China and have a religious warfare such as this? The People's Republic of China as a state is officially atheistic: open religion is banned because Communism labels it a backwards and archaic superstitious practice.
In fact, there is some more irony in this. As has been mentioned multiple times, Bruce Kingston and Brice McQueen are Scientologists. Most of the world sees Scientology as inane superstition.
Anyway, back to the point. Although the official stance of the government is that religion is a mindless practice, I believe there is an alterior motive in the P.R.'s stance. I believe the real reason that Communism bans religion is because if people assemble together in the name of religion- any religion- they will eventually realize that their government is screwing them over at every turn.
I know, I'll probably need a small army of security for the rest of this China tour, but I speak the truth as I see it.
Tonight Revelation has the opportunity to earn a second chance at the SFT World Tag Team Championships. Believe it or not, this is important to Kyle Murphy and I. We let ourselves slip up against Jack-Diesel when the titles were vacant, and we missed our golden opportunity. Despite all our accolades, neither Kyle or myself have done much in the way of tag team wrestling.
I myself have never been a Tag Team Champion. It is one of the few things I have not done. So for Bruce and Brice, if you think this doesn't matter to me, you've got another thing coming.
In continuing with the heavy metal quotes, I would like to briefly discuss the number of the beast. It is in the thirteenth chapter of Revelation that the beast appears, and that his number is named a number of man.
Bruce and Brice might not be so familiar with this beast and his number, but perhaps they are familiar with Iron Maiden. I'm sure they've heard the song, which begins with these spoken words, paraphrased directly from Biblical texts:
'Woe to you, Oh Earth and Sea, for the Devil sends the
beast with wrath, because he knows the time is short...
Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the
beast for it is a human number, its number is Six hundred and
sixty six'
The devil sends the beast with wrath, for he knows his time is short. These words actually appear in Revelation 12, verses 11 and 12, which says 'but woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.'
It is said that the devil, or Satan, or Lucifer- because a pile of shit by any other name would smell as bad- hates humans. It is said that the reason for this hate is because when he was an angel, he saw that humans had free will while the angels in the heavens could only dance like puppets as God pulled the strings. He hates humans because God lives and dwells in and with the humans; He does not live with the angels, He does not live inside them.
Bruce and Brice, I hope you have heard these words before. Scientologists or not, the devil still hates you and attacks you every day of your lives. It's true. He hates you because you have the freedom of will to BE Scientologists, and he hates you because God still dwells within you, whether you believe it or not.
The devil will attack the two of you because he wants to separate you from the grace of God. He wants to push God out of you so that he can take you for himself and devour you.
We all fight this battle everyday, to beat back the dark powers of demonic influence. Whether we perceive it as such or not, there is always something- the proverbial serpent and apple- trying to pull us away from our inherent holiness.
So I will pray for you tonight, Kingston and McQueen. I will pray that you do not get torn away from the one true saving grace.
I cannot speak much to your own beliefs, because I lack the knowledge of Scientology beyond TomKat and L. Ron and the stuff you hear on television about aliens hovering over the Earth waiting to bring back their lost people. I admit I have no knowledge or understanding of the belief system of Scientology. For that reason, if no other, I will not condemn you for those beliefs. I only pray that you two are not devoured by the beast.
I also pray that you will be spared from the Horsemen. I pray you find the God in each of you.
Oh, and if you should ever get beamed up to Xenu, do us a favor and send Sheen Estevez and Mister Nesmith back to Earth. I'm sure they are missed."
The scene fades to RED.
|