What is the unholy trinity in the end times?

Read now Revelation 16:13-14, where we find the three great allies in wickedness, the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, unclean spirits proceeding from each to gather together the kings of the whole habitable earth to the battle of the great day of God Almighty.

In Revelation 19:20, we find Satan's two great instruments — the Beast and the false prophet. The Beast, with his vassal kings, as we have seen before, gathered together to make war with the Lamb, the Lord of lords, and King of kings. The Beast and the false prophet here meet their doom. Allies in wickedness and blasphemy, they are allied in judgment. "These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone."

Three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. Here we have the trinity of evil working together. Satanic influence of an extraordinary nature emanates, and the awful result is seen in the kings of the earth and of the whole world gathering themselves to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

Revelation 16:12-16 tells us of the fearful trinity of evil—the Dragon (Satan), the Beast (the head of the revived Roman Empire), the False Prophet (the Jewish Antichrist)—uniting in gathering the whole world to battle.

But let us turn again to scripture for light on this important subject. In the 13th chapter of Revelation there are three distinct personages who act as one. They are indeed a Satanic anti-trinity. A distinguished writer has remarked that from what the Bible tells us of Satan, he appears to have no originating power: he can only imitate. God sets up a church; Satan has his false church. God has His Christ, Satan his antichrist. And here in this chapter of the Revelation, there is a Satanic anti-trinity, consisting of Satan himself, the Roman prince (eighth head of the beast), and another beast, which has "two horns like a lamb" (imitation of Christ), but "he spake as a dragon" (ver. 11). Satan's grand aim is to get himself acknowledged in the place of God. He is the rival as well as antagonist of God, and seeks to use man as the instrument of his exaltation.

The dragon (Satan) persecutes the woman (Rev. 12). But how will this come to pass? By the two beasts that are the instruments of Satan (Rev. 13). The Roman emperor receives his might directly from Satan (Rev. 13:2b). The Roman emperor resembles the dragon (seven heads and ten horns, cf. Rev. 12:3; 13:1). Antichrist, the second beast, uses all his skill, power and influence to induce the earth dwellers to worship the first beast who, in turn, has received its power from Satan. The three characters, Satan and his two chief instruments, share a common judgement: in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10). Satan and the two beasts (the Roman dictator and the Antichrist) join forces in opposition to Christ.

Not only are natural hindrances and barriers removed, so that the great Asiatic powers might have the way prepared to take their allotted part in the conflict and confederacy of the last days, but Satan himself provides a “universal ministry” to effect the most gigantic combination of opposing forces ever witnessed. The sixth Bowl of wrath is not exhausted in the judgment on the Euphrates. There are “three unclean spirits,” termed the “spirits of demons,” likened to frogs — loathsome, filthy, disgusting, bred out of the mire and pestilential vapours and moral wickedness of the corrupt scene — these are sent out on their terrible mission. They are to influence by word, and sign, and miracle the peoples of the earth; to lure them on to the “war of (that) great day of God Almighty.” God is about to set His King on mount Zion (Ps. 2), so the might of the whole habitable earth is gathered to thwart and defeat the divine purpose. It is a universal gathering of the powers. A trinity of evil — the concentrated malignant influence of Satan — is employed to effect the gathering together of the kings of the earth. These spirits issue out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the False Prophet. The mouth is regarded as the source and means of destructive agency (Rev. 1:16; Rev. 2:16; Rev. 9:17; Rev. 19:15; see also Isa. 11:4). The dragon not only works actively to effectuate his plans, but his two prime ministers share in the work — the Beast and the False Prophet. The former is the vast apostate civil and political power of Rome; the latter is the second Beast of Revelation 13, here termed for the first time the False Prophet, as by his lies and influence he can the more readily act upon the peoples. We have here a combination of direct satanic power, apostate brute force, and malignant influence, all employed in this hellish work (compare with 1 Kings 22).

We must give one other scripture as to this judicial "strong delusion." In Rev. 16 we have, connected with the same crisis to which reference has been already frequently made, the following passage: "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together unto a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." Now here is plainly predicted a dread, and, apparently, almost universal delusion. It issues forth specially from three sources; from the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. What mean these symbols? In Rev. 12 and 20 the "dragon" is expressly said to be "the Devil and Satan." The first delusion therefore is diabolical. The "beast" is the same "fourth beast" that has already been described. The second delusion, then, would appear to be political. The "false prophet" is certainly the second, or two-horned beast of Rev. 13. Compare Rev. 13:14, with Rev. 19:20, and no doubt will remain. Whatever may be denoted by this two-horned beast of Rev. 13 as seen there, it seems clear that, at the time of the crisis and decisive battle, this "false prophet" will be the religious agency of the beast, in its last state. So that the third delusion appertains specially to religion. It is an agency that "causes the world to worship" the beast. (See Rev. 13:12.) Here then is a threefold delusion; diabolical, political, and religious. How much of the spirit of these three delusions may be perceived working around us even in the present day! The prime actors themselves may not as yet have come upon the stage, but how much is there of their nature already in the world! They will surely come, ere long, and gather the deceived, deluded nations together, to the battle of the great day of God Almighty!

The first thing we see is, that the power which will act upon the kings of the earth and the whole world, when the Church has gone, is Satanic. We have three personages in verse 13: the dragon or Satan, the beast who is the head of the revived Roman Empire and who represents political power in the world, and the false prophet or Antichrist who will be received by the ungodly Jews in Jerusalem as their Messiah. Unclean spirits like frogs go out of their mouths, and these are "the spirits of demons, working miracles, which go forth into the kings of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty."

These three — the dragon, which is the devil, the beast, and the false prophet — will form a terrible trinity of evil; they are brought together in the unity of their purpose in Revelation 16:13-14, and that purpose — war. The present League of Nations, which is a mere shadow, is for peace, the real League of Nations when it appears will be for war. The evil spirits that go out of the mouths of the diabolical trinity are deceptive and inflammatory words and doctrines. And in the conception and broadcasting of these, Antichrist will take the lead. He will be the great deceiver and will probably tell men that the only road to the goal of their ambitions is to blot out God and Christ and that they are able to do it, and aroused by his arrogant and lying words (2 Thess. 2), the cry will be: "Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears" (Joel 3:9-10).

On earth he sees in vision a scene of unparalleled horror. Energized by the three unclean spirits emanating from that unholy trinity of evil—the head of the revived Roman Empire, the antichrist and the devil—he beholds “the kings of the earth and of the whole world gathered to the battle of God Almighty” (Rev. 16:14).