Not a man moved at the order of the High-Priest, and he thundered forth his command again:
"Take that abomination down, and hence, or I will call upon Jehovah to send His judgment fire down and consume you all, and the idol as well."
With a blasphemous oath, the false Prophet, spat in the forehead of the fulminating Priest, and hissed:
"Silence, fool, idiot, driveller!"
As the foul spittle touched the face of the Priest, he fell prone upon his back on the pavement of the Temple. A dead hush fell upon everyone present, for as they gazed upon the face of the dead Priest they saw that the whole forehead became filled with the "Mark of the Beast."
The silence of this awesome hush was suddenly, startlingly broken by a peal of mocking laughter. It came from Lucien Apleon's deputy, the false Prophet.
Then, more startling still, the lips of the golden image parted, and in deep, solemn tones the idol cried:
"So perish all who shall dare to oppose the Emperor Lucien's will."
This was no trick. It was not a mechanical device within the image. It was not a clever piece of ventriloquism. Of this we are assured—the image actually spoke. God's word cannot lie, and John, under the command of God, wrote it down: "It was given the false Prophet to give spirit to the image of the Beast, that the image of the Beast should even speak."
"To give SPIRIT to the image!" What does that mean? Does it mean that life was given to it, temporarily? Who shall say? Certainly it spoke!