The Second Beast: My Reading, Mark by Mark

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My proposal is that the second beast of Revelation 13, the false prophet, is Jared Kushner. I grade each mark possible or probable, never settled. The Church has not taught this reading, and nothing here speaks for her. Words and deeds are weighed here, never souls (CCC 1861), and nothing on this page invites hostility toward him or toward anyone. His Jewish faith and his people have no place in this reading: the Church teaches that the Jewish people are not to be presented as rejected or accursed, and she deplores every form of antisemitism (Nostra Aetate 4).

4. A counterfeit lamb

The text. "Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb's but spoke like a dragon. It wielded all the authority of the first beast in its sight and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast" (Revelation 13:11–12). Christ warned of false prophets "in sheep's clothing" who are known "by their fruits" (Matthew 7:15–16).

My reading. He seems mild-mannered, like a lamb: quiet, rarely heard, the face of peace. Yet he speaks for the first beast, wields its authority in its sight, and his words, when they come, serve possession and power. The two men never cross each other. I grade this mark probable.

Horns like a lamb's.

• In his first years at his father-in-law's side he was described as "seen but not heard": he had a Twitter account with no tweets, declined to comment on stories about him, and most Americans had never heard his voice (CNN, June 2017).
• His public work is peace. He led the Abraham Accords of 2020 and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 (Times of Israel). In October 2025 he flew with the envoy Steve Witkoff to Egypt to finalize the release of the hostages and the plan to end the war in Gaza (AFP, via Malay Mail), and in January 2026 he was named to the founding executive council of the Board of Peace that his father-in-law chairs (Al Jazeera).

Spoke like a dragon.

• Of Gaza, in March 2024, while its people were under bombardment: "Gaza's waterfront property could be very valuable," and "from Israel's perspective I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up," and "I would just bulldoze something in the Negev, I would try to move people in there" (The New Arab, citing The Guardian). People are spoken of as an obstacle to property.
• Of his father-in-law's rise, recorded by Bob Woodward in 2020: he had done "a full hostile takeover" of the Republican Party, and in the pandemic was "back in charge… not the doctors" (News 5 Cleveland, on CNN's audio).
• His peace and his profit run together. Within months of leaving the White House he founded Affinity Partners, which drew $2 billion from Saudi Arabia's sovereign fund and billions more from Qatar and other Gulf states; by 2026 it was under congressional investigation for the influence those investors might expect (Wikipedia summary).
• Even before that, in August 2018, while he served in the White House, his family's company was rescued from the debt on 666 Fifth Avenue by a $1.3 billion, 99-year lease from Brookfield, whose property fund had sold $1.8 billion of equity to the Qatar Investment Authority. In 2020 Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Joaquin Castro opened an inquiry into whether the deal touched American policy toward Qatar (Bisnow, December 2020).

A covenant of peace. Daniel's last king works through covenants and alliances: "For one week he shall make a firm covenant with the many" (Daniel 9:27); "After making alliances, he shall treacherously rise to power" (11:23); he is "skilled in intrigue," and "his cunning shall be against the holy ones" (8:23, 25). St. Paul warns: "When people are saying, 'Peace and security,' then sudden disaster comes upon them" (1 Thessalonians 5:3). In my reading the covenants are made in the first beast's name, and the second beast is the hand that drafts and carries them: the Abraham Accords, the Gaza plan, the Board of Peace. I do not use them to set or count any time; on that, see The Timing.

Scripture does not call the false prophet a peacemaker; the covenant in Daniel is the king's. But the Church's writers have long expected the last deception to come dressed as peace. Venerable Fulton Sheen warned that the Antichrist "will come disguised as the Great Humanitarian; he will talk peace, prosperity and plenty," not as means to lead us to God (radio broadcast, January 26, 1947; National Catholic Register). In Vladimir Soloviev's Short Tale of the Antichrist (1900), which Cardinal Ratzinger and Cardinal Biffi both drew on, the Antichrist wins the world with a book called The Open Way to Universal Peace and Prosperity, and his chief companion is a wonder-worker who masters the forces of nature, so that people say he can "bring down fire from heaven" (text; National Catholic Register). These are the reflections of a bishop and a philosopher, not the Church's teaching, but they describe a peace offered by the first beast and served by the second.

The authority of the first beast, in its sight. He holds no office of his own in the second term, yet he negotiates for the president in the world's gravest conflicts and sits on the council of the president's own board. It was so in the first term too: Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in 2019 that Kushner met often with the Saudi crown prince and did not coordinate his foreign trips with the State Department or its embassies, and that raising it with him changed "not much" (PBS NewsHour, June 2019). Tillerson was fired in March 2018. In Revelation the second beast has no crown; it uses the first beast's authority "in its sight" (13:12).

The case against.

• Speaking and negotiating for a leader is ordinary diplomacy. A quiet manner is not deception, and "like a dragon" needs words that lead people away from God, which this card does not yet show.
• Blessed are the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9). The Abraham Accords were welcomed across much of the world, and the 2025 deal brought the living hostages home. These are real goods, and the card must not treat them as masks.
• He defended his Gaza remarks as a call for Palestinian leaders to be held accountable for spending aid "on tunnels and weapons rather than on improving their lives" (Fox News, March 2024).
• In Daniel the covenant-maker is the king himself: the NABRE note on 9:27 identifies him as Antiochus, and "the many" as the faithless who allied themselves with him. An envoy who drafts a treaty is not the one Daniel describes. And peace is good in itself; Daniel and Paul warn against a false peace, which must be shown, not assumed.
• Business with Gulf states is not in itself wrong; the investigations into Affinity Partners have not found wrongdoing. Brookfield has said Qatari representatives had no involvement in the 666 Fifth Avenue transaction, and no inquiry has found that the deal changed any policy. A 2026 book that alleges a Gulf payment to him rests on unnamed sources and is denied by his lawyers; it is not used here.
• The false prophet of Revelation is a religious figure who works signs and makes the earth worship the first beast (13:12–15; 19:20). He holds no religious role and has not promoted worship of anyone. Until those marks are shown (marks 9 and 10), this mark can be only partly seen.

Would strengthen: words of his that lead people from God or cloak the first beast's aims in religious language; his authority used to promote honor of the first beast. Would weaken: peace that serves the people it promises, without gain to him or to the first beast. Standing: partly seen.

What Scripture reveals: Mark 4 on The First Beast · How this reading is weighed: Mark 4 on Apocalypse 13

9. Deception by signs

The text. "It performed great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of everyone. It deceived the inhabitants of the earth with the signs it was allowed to perform in the sight of the first beast" (Revelation 13:13–14). Moses' rule: a sign that comes true proves nothing if it leads away from God (Deuteronomy 13:2–4).

My reading. The false prophet's signs are done "in the sight of the first beast": they serve him. I see the pattern in peace talks that were followed, within days, by fire from the sky in the sight of the whole world. I grade this mark possible.

Fire from heaven, in the sight of everyone.

• In February 2026 he and the envoy Steve Witkoff led the negotiations with Iran; he held indirect talks with Iran's representatives in Geneva two days before the war began (Bloomberg; Jewish Insider).
• On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel struck Iran from the air, killing its Supreme Leader, and the world watched (card 2 on The First Beast).
• A month later he said Iran had not been serious about a deal, and that it was trying to "play different games to just get beyond President Trump"; he said the president had asked him to "stay on" in a "volunteer capacity" to work on the negotiations (Jewish Insider, March 26, 2026).

Deals on the side. The negotiations themselves have been shadowed by reports of private gain:

• Asked on 60 Minutes in 2025 whether Gulf business deals pursued during the Gaza ceasefire talks were conflicts of interest, he answered: "What people call conflicts of interest, Steve and I call experience and trusted relationships that we have throughout the world" (transcript; also reported by Mother Jones, October 2026).
• Iran told Vice President Vance that he and Witkoff were more interested in exploiting insider knowledge of the talks to profit in financial markets than in a deal, according to Drop Site's reporting (Common Dreams, July 2026). This is the accusation of a party at war with the United States, and it is weighed as such.
• The New York Times reported on October 3, 2026, that U.S. talks with Russia over Ukraine involve a multibillion-dollar oil deal that would benefit Middle Eastern business executives; CNN reported on October 1 that his firm holds a growing stake in an Israeli financial group with holdings in defense contractors. He called the CNN story "deeply misleading," and CNN found no indication that his diplomacy affected his investments. A House Democrat has opened an investigation (both as reported by Mother Jones).

Elijah called down fire to show that the LORD is God (1 Kings 18:38–39). In Revelation the false prophet calls down fire to win the world for the beast. Talks of peace, then fire from the sky: the sign is done in the first beast's sight and for his glory.

The case against.

• A military strike is an act of state, ordered by the president and carried out by armed forces, not a sign or wonder worked by the one who negotiated before it. Revelation's signs are wonders that deceive, like the magicians of Egypt, not acts of war.
• Negotiating before a war is ordinary diplomacy; failed talks are not proof of deceit. He says Iran was the one not negotiating in good faith; Iran says the opposite. Neither side's claim settles it.
• The signs of 13:13–14 lead directly to the making of the image and the worship of the first beast. Nothing here leads anyone to worship.
• Many people, not one man, were involved in the decisions that led to war.
• None of the reported side deals has been found unlawful; he denies the CNN account, the Iranian charge comes from an enemy at war, and an envoy with business interests is a conflict of interest, not a wonder that deceives.

Would strengthen: wonders, technological or otherwise, presented to the world as signs of the first beast's greatness and used to win honor for him. Would weaken: peace that holds, and no wonder used to glorify anyone. Standing: to assess.

What Scripture reveals: Mark 9 on The First Beast · How this reading is weighed: Mark 9 on Apocalypse 13

10. An image that speaks

The text. The second beast deceives the inhabitants of the earth, "telling them to make an image for the beast who had been wounded by the sword and revived. It was then permitted to breathe life into the beast's image, so that the beast's image could speak and [could] have anyone who did not worship it put to death" (Revelation 13:14–15). The idols of the nations "have mouths but do not speak" (Psalm 115:5); this one speaks.

My reading. I hold this mark open. Artificial intelligence may be the image, the means by which an image is given a voice and power, the means of the mark (mark 11), or all of these. What I see already is two things coming together: images of the first beast made by machines and spread to the world, and the second beast's hand in the machines themselves. I grade this mark possible.

Images of the first beast, made by machines.

• In February 2025 the first beast posted an AI-made video of a rebuilt Gaza with a giant golden statue of himself at its center (card 6 on The First Beast). In May 2025 an AI image of him as pope was posted on his account, and in April 2026 an AI image of him robed as Christ the healer (card 5). An image of the beast, made by a machine, set before the whole world: Daniel's golden statue, now on every screen.

The second beast's hand in the machines.

• In 2024 he co-founded Brain Co., an artificial-intelligence company that builds applications on OpenAI's models for "government institutions," health systems, energy firms and businesses; it emerged in September 2025 with $30 million led by his own Affinity Partners. He described its purpose as building "a bridge between Silicon Valley's best AI talent and the world's most important institutions," in "a once-in-a-generation platform shift" (CO/AI, from Forbes, September 2025; Ynet).
• The Holy See warns that "the presumption of substituting God for an artifact of human making is idolatry" (Antiqua et Nova 105), and Pope Leo XIV that technology "takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate and use it" (Magnifica Humanitas 9).

The case against.

• An image posted online is not an image the world is told to make and to worship, and none of these images was made by him. The Gaza video was made by others as satire, and the first beast himself took the Christ image down.
• Brain Co. is one of many companies applying AI for businesses and governments; building AI is not making an idol. Nothing shows him "telling" anyone to make an image of the first beast.
• No image of anyone has been given breath and honored by command, and no one has been put to death for refusing it.
• Speaking machines are made by many hands, in many nations; their existence does not single out one man.

Would strengthen: an image or voice of the first beast, made or powered by AI, presented for honor and required of people; the second beast's systems used to give it a voice or to enforce it. Would weaken: AI governed for the common good, with no image of any ruler made to be honored. Standing: not yet seen.

What Scripture reveals: Mark 10 on The First Beast · How this reading is weighed: Mark 10 on Apocalypse 13

11. Control of buying and selling

The text. The second beast "forced all the people, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to be given a stamped image on their right hands or their foreheads, so that no one could buy or sell except one who had the stamped image of the beast's name or the number that stood for its name" (Revelation 13:16–17). "Anyone who worships the beast or its image, or accepts its mark on forehead or hand, will also drink the wine of God's fury" (14:9–10).

My reading. As I have written, we will recognize the mark when we realize that we cannot buy or sell without it, and that to receive it we must worship the Antichrist (What the Mark Is). Neither condition is met. But the tools that could make such a mark are being built now, and three lines meet in them: a system that identifies every human being by the eye, the first beast's name on the means of buying and selling, and the second beast's place among the builders. And a model of such control is already working elsewhere. I grade this mark probable.

1. Tools for Humanity: an identity for every human, read from the eye.

• Who. Tools for Humanity was founded in 2019 by Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, with Alex Blania and Max Novendstern; Altman is its chairman and Blania its chief executive. Its project, first called Worldcoin and renamed World in October 2024, has three parts: a global proof of identity (World ID), a currency (the WLD token), and a payment app (World App), on its own blockchain (World Chain) (Wikipedia summary).
• How. A person looks into the Orb, a device that scans the face and the iris, and receives a World ID proving that he is a unique human being; new users have been paid in WLD tokens for enrolling, an idea the company links to universal basic income. Its stated purpose is to tell humans from machines on an internet filling with AI: Altman says, "We wanted a way to make sure that humans stayed special and central" (CNBC, via NBC New York, April 2025).
• How far. About 450,000 people were verified in 2022; 33 million used World App and 15 million were verified by September 2025; by October 2026 World says more than 18 million people in over 160 countries hold its proof of humanity (KuCoin News, October 2026).
• Into America. World launched in the United States on May 1, 2025, in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville and San Francisco, planning 7,500 Orbs by year's end and an Orb assembly line in Texas (CNBC). In May 2025 its foundation raised $135 million from Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Crypto to expand in the U.S. (FXStreet).
• Into buying and selling. A "World Visa card" was announced in 2025, available only to people whose irises World has scanned (CNBC). In June 2025 Circle's dollar stablecoin went live on World; nearly two million users already held it in their World App wallets (The Block). On October 18, 2026, World launched a "World ID Suite" for banks and financial institutions (KuCoin News).
• Into daily life. Tinder, Zoom and DocuSign have added World ID checks; a "Concert Kit" reserves tickets for verified humans; "AgentKit" lets verified people authorize AI agents to act for them (DL News, April 2026). Reddit considered using it (Semafor, June 2025), and OpenAI was reported to be considering the Orb for a social network open only to verified humans (The Block, from Forbes, January 2026). Taiwan and Malaysia explored it for digital identity (Wikipedia summary).
• Resisted by nations. Kenya suspended it in 2023, and in May 2025 its High Court ruled the collection of Kenyans' biometric data unconstitutional and ordered it deleted; Spain and Portugal halted it in 2024; Hong Kong found it violated privacy law; Indonesia suspended it in May 2025; the Philippines ordered it to cease in October 2025; Thailand ordered data from 1.2 million people deleted in November 2025; Brazil, India, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and South Korea have suspended or investigated it (Wikipedia summary; OECD.AI). Critics object to paying the poor for their irises; Edward Snowden warned, "The human body is not a ticket-punch" (The Conversation).

A mark on the forehead; an identity read from the eye. A system without which, more and more, one cannot prove one is human, date, sign, buy a ticket or hold its card. I do not say this is the mark. I say it is the kind of tool through which the mark could one day be required.

2. The first beast's name on the means of buying and selling. The mark bears "the beast's name" (13:17).

• His signature is to appear on the nation's currency, his face on a proposed dollar coin and on an approved gold coin (card 6 on The First Beast; TIME, via AOL).
• His family's company, World Liberty Financial, founded in 2024 with the sons of the envoy Steve Witkoff, issues its own dollar stablecoin, USD1, launched in March 2025; an Abu Dhabi state-backed firm used $2 billion of it in a deal with Binance; the Trump family receives most of its token proceeds; and in January 2026 it applied for a national bank charter (Wikipedia summary).
• By a Reuters count, the family made more than $800 million from its cryptocurrency ventures in the first half of 2025 alone (WBUR's Here & Now, citing Reuters, November 5, 2025).

3. The second beast among the builders.

• On January 21, 2025, his father-in-law's first full day in office, Sam Altman stood with him at the White House to announce Stargate, $500 billion for AI infrastructure (News Channel 9).
• His own AI company, Brain Co., builds on Altman's OpenAI models for governments and institutions, and its backers include the heads of Coinbase and Stripe, two of the largest companies in digital payments (card 10; Ynet).
• His fund draws its money overwhelmingly from the sovereign funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE (Wikipedia summary).
• I have found no direct tie between him and Tools for Humanity. I note the nearness, not a connection.

4. The pattern, already built elsewhere. What could be required of all has already been required of some.

• Believers registered. In China, the state requires its religious ministers to hold a digital identity. Buddhist and Taoist monks were required to register on February 22, 2023; by May, Catholic priests, Protestant pastors and Muslim imams were included. Each card carries the minister's name, title, denomination and registration number, is linked to a telephone number, and is held by the government, which presents it as a guard against fraud (ZENIT, May 26, 2023).
• Money, identity and surveillance joined. John Cassara, a retired U.S. Treasury special agent who investigated money laundering, argues that China's digital identity, surveillance and social credit, joined to its digital yuan, are a model that is spreading, and that a state able to freeze or cut off a person's money can control his life: "A tripartite 'digital authoritarianism' is just around the corner" (Crisis Magazine, July 13, 2023).
• What comes after. The encryption that now protects banking, e-commerce and private messages could one day be broken by quantum computers. On August 13, 2024, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology released its first standards for encryption designed to withstand them, and urged that they be adopted at once (NIST). Whoever holds the keys to the systems of buying and selling will hold great power over everyone who depends on them.

The case against.

• Neither condition of the mark is met: no system is required to buy or sell, and none requires worship. World ID is voluntary, and its makers say it is built to protect privacy.
• Tools for Humanity is not his company. Linking him to it through Altman, OpenAI or investors he shares with others is association, not evidence.
• Many nations have resisted World, and none requires it. The mark, when it comes, will be "forced" on all (13:16).
• A president's name on money and a family crypto business are conflicts of interest and matters of law and taste, not the mark of 13:16–17, which is joined to worship (14:9).
• Digital identity and payment systems are being built by many governments and companies across the world; their existence does not single out any one man.
• China's registration of clergy is state control of religion: closer to the war on the holy ones (card 7 on The First Beast) than to the mark, and it asks for no worship. Quantum computing is a capability still being built, and the new standards show that its risks can be guarded against.

Would strengthen: a system of identity or payment made necessary for buying and selling, and joined to an act of allegiance or worship; the second beast's hand in building or enforcing it. Would weaken: such systems kept voluntary and free of any oath or honor to a ruler. Standing: not yet seen.

What Scripture reveals: Mark 11 on The First Beast · How this reading is weighed: Mark 11 on Apocalypse 13