Verse 1: "And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems upon its horns and a blasphemous name upon its heads."

THE beast is the United Nations. It is a beast because it is secular, lacking the spirit. It was set up by F. D. Roosevelt who died before he could spiritualize it with the Revelation of Baha'u'llah. Roosevelt was secretly a Baha'i. This was because it was politically unwise to let this be known.

"the sea" is the sea of God's Revelations beginning with Adam and including Baha'u'llah.

"ten horns" are the Oil Producing Arab Countries (OPEC), who were formerly part of the dragon, the Ottoman or Turkish Empire, but who gained their independence when the dragon was conquered by the beast in 1921. They then joined the beast. These countries are: Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Saudi Arabia.

A diadem is a crown, so the "ten diadems" refer to the kings or rulers of these ten OPEC countries.

The "seven heads" represent the seven alive, revealed, apostate religions which exist in the world today. These religions are the Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Zoroastrian, Muslim and Baha'i.