Hi John and Doves,

The ‘Image’ and ‘Mark of the Beast’ may appear soon?

The funeral service for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (the former Supreme Leader of Iran), has been marked by the absence of his son-in-law (Ayatollah Mojtaba Hossenei Khamenei), who has been hidden from public view since his appointment in March 2026. His absence from the funeral has endorsed the belief that the new Supreme Leader of the SHIA sect of Islam is too badly disfigured and physically damaged to appear in public following the Roaring Lion and Epic Fury operational attacks on Iran’s hierarchy, by Israel and USA during Ramadan on February 28, when his father and family members were killed.  Mojtaba’s continuing absence raises the likelihood that the Iranian leadership and IRGC may soon be forced to produce a doctored replica or ‘live image’ of the Ayatollah to prove that he is not dead! This is when (according to scripture) the people will be forced to register their allegiance to ‘the image’ by receiving ‘a mark’ (a ‘stamp’ of ownership), allowing them to take part in Iran’s damaged economy.  (Cf. Rev. 13:14‒17) Note: 666 are Arabic numerals!

However, when trying to fit today’s current events into a prophetic or historical setting, many theologians and prophecy scholars do not understand that there are two very similar verses in Revelation 13:3 and 13:14, which distinguish between two different ‘leaders’ of two different ‘sects’ of the Islamic faith, at two different times, who act for the beast. To read these verses and understand how they fit into history, they need to be considered together with the angel’s retrospective explanation about the beast (recorded in Revelation 17:8‒11), which the angel describes as a ‘mystery’ that needs a mind which has wisdom to unravel it. (Rev. 17:9) Therefore, the angel’s ‘explanation’ needs to be well thought through, and not taken at face-value!

The first of these verses (Rev. 13:3), is about the beast that was ‘complete’ with seven heads (Rev. 13:1‒2), defined by the lion/bear/leopard kingdom-territories in Daniel 7:4‒6; which received a mortal wound. Thus, the 1^st beast fits the Biblical history of the successive idolatrous empires of Babel, Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia and Macedon-Greece, until Rome (i.e., the ‘one is’ Rev. 17:10, when John wrote his book). After Rome was ‘divided’ and moved, it became the  6^th ‘head’ Eastern Roman-Greek Byzantine Empire that was conquered in 1453 (at the fall of Constantinople), by the SUNNI Ottoman Caliphate that ruled as the 7^th head (x 1) on the God-opposing Beast until WWI. This Ottoman Caliphate was the other 7^th ‘head’ (x1) or ‘king’ that has not yet come in the 1^st Century (Rev. 17: 10a). Interestingly, John saw the beast in its ‘completed’ state, (after its territory had been divided up into 10 horns/smaller Islamic nations, in the mid-20^th Century)!

I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns... it was like a leopard, its feet were like the feet of a bear, and its mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave it his power, his throne, and great authority. (Rev. 13:1‒2)

In the 15^th Century, the 7^th ‘head’ (on the 1^st beast) signified the theocratic Ottoman Caliphate ‘headed’ by the Sultan or Caliph.  The Caliphate also came with an ‘administrator’ or an ‘enforcer’ of the Caliphate’s military power, its law, and its citizens’ loyalty to the Central Government. This 2^nd  beast (person) was traditionally called a Pasha or Bey; he was symbolised by  two horns (like a Ram-lamb) with a dragon’s voice!

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast... (Rev. 13:11a)  

This (x1) 7^th ‘head’ SUNNI Ottoman Empire (1^st beast) suffered a mortal wound during WWI (1914‒1918) when it was in league with the Central Powers: Germany and Austria-Hungary. It lost its formal titles and roles ― as a Caliphate and Caliph ― when both were legally written out of existence in 1922/24, and its land was divided up into ten Islamic ‘horn’ nations. Subsequently, in his conversation with the angel, John reports:

And I saw one of its heads as if it had been mortally wounded...  (Rev. 13:3a)  Later, the angel said:   

The beast that you saw was, and is not... (Rev. 17:8a), because the beast can only exist via its heads!

Consequently, after 1924 the 7^th ‘head’ Ottoman Empire (AND THE BEAST) ceased to exist for 90 years: until

...his deadly wound was healed. (Rev. 13:3b, 11b)

The 7^th ‘head’ was healed (x2) on June 29, 2014 ― with the reconstitution of the Islamic State Caliphate (ISIS) ― when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared himself Caliph Ibrahim and the Islamic State Caliphate to be in existence in Iraq and Syria at Friday prayers, during Ramadan in the Grand Mosque of al-Muri in Mosul.  

...and will ascend out of the bottomless pit.    And those who dwell on the earth will marvel... when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Rev. 17:8b)

And when it comes, (i.e., the seventh (x2) ‘head’/Caliphate), He must continue a short time. (Rev. 17:110b)  (i.e., when it/he made war and blasphemed God, for 42 months. Rev. 13:5)

Subsequently, the Islamic State Caliphate ‘continued’ until Syrian and Russian forces announced its defeat on December 9, 2017, when its land was conquered and it went to perdition (Rev. 17:8a, destruction). Later, the Caliph detonated his explosive vest, when cornered in a tunnel, by a US Commando raid in October 2019. 

So, although the first beast whose deadly wound was healed (Rev. 13:12b) came to an end (via the defeat of the dual 7^th ‘head’ SUNNI Islamic Caliphates in 1917 and 2017), we cannot rejoice during this interval; because a SHIA led eighth alliance is yet to come, which rises up from the Islamist/Jihadist enemies of God, and acts on behalf of the God-opposing beast!  This is when the people living under its jurisdiction are commanded to make an IMAGE to the beast (leader) who was ONLY WOUNDED by the sword AND LIVED! (Rev. 13:14b)

Accordingly, there is a matching repetitive mantra in Revelation 17:8a and 17:11, which identifies the (x2) historic SUNNI Caliphates) as: The beast that you saw was, and is not (1924) and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition in 2014‒2017 (Rev. 17:8a); COMPARED to the beast that was, and is not, is ‘HIMSELF’ also the ‘eighth’ and is of the seven (Rev. 17:11). Thus, the eighth alliance of combatants will come from all seven former kingdom-territories, in response to a ‘call sign’ that goes out to all the world from the demonic spirits in the dragon, the beast and the false prophet; which rallies the mujahidin and militias to gather at the place called Armageddon, for Jihad. (Rev. 16:13‒14) Thus, the beast who was ONLY wounded by the sword and LIVED refers to the latter-day representative of the SHIA sect of the God-opposing Islamic beast: (aka Mojtaba Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the theocratic Islamic Republic of Iran), who was wounded by the sword (of war) and LIVED; who will be responsible for the latter-day eighth alliance or coalition against the people of God. Notably, there is already a partially formed ‘Axis of Resistance’ proxy coalition of NTO’s or militias, like Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis from both SUNNI and SHIA sects etc., who will contribute to the Iranian led eighth alliance that wars against Israel (little Satan), the USA (big Satan) and their allies in the end time.  

The beast that was and is not, is ‘HIMSELF’ also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition. (Rev. 17:11, 14; [i.e., when the Lamb overcomes them] cf. Rev. 16:12‒14; 19:19‒21)

Obviously, there is a man leading the eighth alliance called ‘HIMSELF’ who fulfils the ‘role’ of the ‘man of sin’ and ‘lawlessness,’ (whom Paul says will be revealed, after some ‘thing’ and some ‘one’ who is restraining him are taken away, 2 Thess. 2:3‒8). He will enforce the authority of the eighth alliance in the end time. His symbolism is two horns (on the Ram in Dan. 8:20, aka the Media-Persian Empire), and he speaks like a dragon!

He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and LIVED! (Rev. 13:13‒14, in the end time.)

He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast (leader), that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Rev. 13:15‒17)

This blatant threat ― made by the ‘dragon-voiced’ man (? Antichrist aka Al-Mahdi) against the dissenting Iranian population ― is not out of the question these days: ensuing from the demonstrations and protests that have regularly erupted against the Iranian government and its oppressive theocratic regime ever since its Revolution in 1979. E.g., the Student protests in 1999, the Green movement protest in 2009, the November fuel protests in 2019, more recently the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in  2022, and lately the huge December and January 2025‒26 protests over Iran’s economic crisis: resulting in the internet being shut down for months, while tens of thousands of protesters were brutally killed or maimed in the Government’s ‘live-fire’ massacres that were ordered by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior officials, and delivered by the regime’s IRGC, Quds Force and Basij volunteers.

The final scenarios, via the ‘image’ and ‘registration mark’ of the beast (as above), are yet to be played out... 

God bless you all, as you search for the truth. 

EAR.