Revelation 13:4: And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

In Revelation 13:4, the Dragon (Satan)¹ and First Beast were separately worshipped.² The separate worship of both may be explained by the fact that many people lived beyond the geographical limits and reach of the First Beast that represented the Roman Empire.³ On the American continent, for example, Christ ministered and established his church among the Nephites after his resurrection.⁴ However, the Nephites eventually worshipped the dragon and fell into a state of complete apostasy.⁵ By the year 420 AD, the Nephite civilization on the western hemisphere had succumbed to Satan and the Nephites were completely destroyed.⁶ Their worship of the Dragon was separate from worship of the First Beast by people and nations within the Roman Empire.

Within the Roman Empire, worshippers of the First Beast also worshipped the Dragon,⁷ because the Dragon gave his power to the First Beast.⁸ Since the First Beast was the earthly agent and embodiment of the Dragon,⁹ the worship of one was tantamount to worship of the other. In their worship of the First Beast, people within the Roman Empire mockingly asked: "Who is like unto the beast?"¹⁰ The question rhetorically elevated the earthly ministers of the First Beast to a blasphemous status above God.¹¹

Worshippers of the First Beast also asked, "who is able to make war with him?"¹² This rhetorically asks who could question the supremacy of Roman emperors from Imperial Rome and the Roman pontiffs from the Holy Roman Empire in either secular or ecclesiastical matters.¹³ Submission to papal authority began with emperor Constantine, who compelled all people within the Roman Empire to accept his apostate form of Christianity at the point of his sword.¹⁴ This practice of forced worship continued in the Holy Roman Empire throughout the Dark Ages.¹⁵