Musings from the Book of Revelation

So I just finished a New Testament class, and we got a great article given to us to help us understand the book of Revelation.  I've been very interested in the book and would love to understand it better.  In particular, there is a beast mentioned in one of the chapters that has a bunch of heads, and is really terrible.  The beast, representing an anti-christ, is "wounded unto death", but then returns later on, having recovered from his mortal wound.  Here's an artist's rendition of the beast:

Religious scholars have discussed and wondered aloud concerning the identity of this beast for longer than any of us need to know.  While some people think that our current president is this beast, other propositions are more credible, and therefore intriguing.  I've heard it suggested that the beast is communism—seemingly wounded to death at the end of the Cold War, but apparently will be revived.  I don't know how that will happen or if it will happen, but after reading the article we received in class, I got some additional insights into this possibility.

Roman Emperor Nero (ruled from A.D. 54-68) began the first persecutions against Christians, and they were horrible.  Nero was paranoid, murderous, capricious, and utterly selfish.  Christians feared Nero and the persecutions and killings he had sanctioned.  When Nero committed suicide, many Christians felt they could breathe a sigh of relief.  However, many feared that Nero, or a personality like Nero, would rise in the future, and would commit again all the same atrocities Nero had, or worse.

Domitian (Nero Redivivus), "Nero Revived"

Unfortunately for the Christians, such an emperor did arise—Domitian ruled from A.D. 81-96, which was about the time the Apostle John received and wrote down his Revelation.  Domitian was worse than Nero, bringing back all the old persecutions, and instituting a form of Emperor worship.  He too was cruel, murderous, and believed he was divine.  Anyone found resisting the state religion of emperor-worship would be accused of treason and blasphemy, and put to death.  Clearly, Nero and Domitian fit the description of the beast who was, then died, then came back again.

But we have a modern parallel to these Roman emperors, although I hope not too close a parallel, in North Korea.  Kim Jong-il is the ruler there, and he is often referred to as "Our Glorious Leader"  or the "Supreme Leader".  He apparently is eccentric, conspiring, and demanding of his people.  There are claims of human rights abuses and all kinds of economic and social deprivation occurring regularly throughout the country.  Instead of emperor worship, we have a personality cult around Jong-il, with his birthday being the biggest holiday in North Korea.

Now even though North Korea would be a great candidate for an explanation of the beast from Revelation, I'm not saying that Kim Jong-il is the anti-christ.  I don't know nearly enough about anything, I haven't studied the books, learned the history, or received any revelations.  We know that there's not necessarily any one personification of the anti-christ—there can be many groups, organizations, or people that all fall into that category.  All I want to do with this post is point out the similarities between the ancient Roman Empire and modern-day North Korea, and explain what I learned from reading that cool article.