Religion is the beast! -------- No, beasts consistently...

Religion is the beast!
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No, beasts consistently represent political kingdoms or governments, exercising rulership and authority.

(Daniel 7:6) “After this I kept watching, and look! another beast, like a leopard, but on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. And the beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.
(Daniel 7:12) But as for the rest of the beasts, their rulerships were taken away, and their lives were prolonged for a time and a season.
(Daniel 7:23) “This is what he said: ‘As for the fourth beast, there is a fourth kingdom that will come to be on the earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms, and it will devour all the earth and will trample it down and crush it.

(Revelation 16:10) The fifth one poured out his bowl on the throne of the wild beast. And its kingdom became darkened, and they began to gnaw their tongues because of their pain,
(Revelation 17:3) And he carried me away in the power of the spirit into a wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored wild beast that was full of blasphemous names and that had seven heads and ten horns.

It is the ''woman'' that is false religion.