I have a few thoughts on the identities of the two beasts of the apocalypse. Enclosed find a paper I wrote a few years back. Please forgive the condition of the text, it is a bit marked up.
The 2 beasts the antichrist and the false prophet are in the future, and is the time for God to allow the world a certain amount of time to have their way and cause all people who do not love Him to follow the beast kingdom in Revelation 13 and then He will put them down.
Israel has 70 weeks, 490 years, to make an end of sin, being in everlasting righteousness, and anoint the most holy who is Jesus, which the time started before Jesus came for they were not in the truth for if they were the Roman Empire would of never controlled Jerusalem.
69 weeks have passed with one week to go which is the time God causes all people that do not love Him to follow the beast kingdom, and brings Israel to the truth that Jesus is their Messiah and God.
It is time for God to end this sin business on earth, and restore the kingdom to Israel which the disciples asked Jesus if He would restore the kingdom at that time, and He said the Father will do it in His time.
Which God will gather the whole house of Israel, all 12 tribes back to their land, and leave none of them in the nations anymore, and they shall know the LORD their God from that time forward, and He will never hide His face from them again, and the heathen shall know that Israel went in to captivity and their enemies ruled over them because of their sins and iniquities against God, but that He was always on their side and will restore the kingdom to them after they have borne their shame.
Which Israel is blinded in part, which they acknowledge the Old Testament for the most part but not the New, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, when salvation is no longer available to them, and so all Israel shall be saved, which God will make a full end of all Gentile governments but not make a full end of Israel although she will not be altogether wholly unpunished.
Daniel 7 says that the 4th beast the Roman Empire does not lose her dominion until Jesus puts her down, and she will become 10 horns which is the world split in to 10 sections with a leader in each section, which they shall devour the whole earth, tread it down, and break it in pieces, and the antichrist will come from them, and even though all nations governments came together the Roman Empire has the dominion.
It is obvious when the Roman Empire embraced Christianity that they did not get rid of their occult, pagan ways, but held unto them and it became their foundation for the interpreting of scriptures, and since the Roman Catholic Church is their religious institution they will change to become compatible with the plan that is going on in the world, and the Pope will be the religious leader, and the Vatican the headquarters of a unified religious system.
Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece also have not fallen yet, which they will never have physical dominion again, but their ways are still on earth, which in Daniel 2 the statute of a man does not fall until Jesus hits the feet of the statute the 10 toes, horns, and then it falls and all their ways are no more.
Which Babylon represents human religion, the occult, and the kingdom of man after they blew it from following the God of Israel as the greatest of all the gods.
Medo-Persia represents physical cruelty.
Greece represents human wisdom.
The Roman Empire represents pushing for power, territory, world domination.
The 4 ways of people which although all 4 kingdoms went by all 4 ways one of those ways was their chief mode of operation with the other 3 minor to that operation.
And they all show up at the beast kingdom the kingdom of man in it's entirety for it is not longer a chief mode and the other 3 minor to that but it is all 4 kingdoms chief mode of operation in that kingdom, which is a kingdom that has never been before on earth, and the worse one of all.
The Roman Empire has the dominion and is Babylon in spirit for she has not fallen yet for her ways are still on earth which she represents human religion, the occult, and the kingdom of man.
God warns the saints of the new age movement and their false interpretation of the Bible based on the occult, and evolution, and people can still evolve to be greater and spiritual, and Jesus is not Lord and Savior but a good teacher and love, and evolved to become an ascended master and avatar, and do not acknowledge a personal God but honor the God of forces, or the power of nature as their higher power the evolutionary process.
They will forbid to marry for population reduction, and command to be a vegan.
Which the time will come that the world will not want to endure the truth of the Bible but want to want to hear it according to their own lusts not believing in a personal God, and wanting to evolve to be greater and spiritual having greater power and intellect.
Which is the new age movement which is the future for this world, and the one world religious system, and the beginning of the end for the wicked, and will pave the way to the beast kingdom.
People say conspiracy this, and conspiracy that, and one world government, and New World Order, but the new age movement is the agenda and conspiracy, and evolution is the culprit for they believe they are still evolving so they pursue that and abandon a personal God and rebel against Him by going against the truth on a world wide level.
The man of sin, New Age Christ, will establish peace in the Middle East and it will pave the way for all Jews to go to Israel for the Gentile nations will see to it, and the New Age Christ wants them all back on their land, but God means it for good towards the Jews.
The Jews will have a new temple and go back to animal sacrifices for they are blinded in part with no hassle from the Palestinians, and the Jews will split Jerusalem with the Palestinians.
The Gentile governments will come together and say Peace and safety as they try to establish peace on earth, and the 7 years period will begin.
For the first three and one half years repentance and salvation is still available to the world, and the new age movement the unified religious system, and anything taught contrary to it is not tolerated for they say it is not the truth and they want peace.
But there is problems during the reign of the 10 horn kingdom who will rule for a short space, and a war between Islam and the world the 6th trumpet which a third of the world perishes, and 3 horns, sections of the world are plucked up by the roots which covers the Arab nations, and describes nuclear weapons as to why there is so much destruction.
Which that war is so terrible and the 10 horn kingdom failed at obtaining peace that the world turns to the New Age Christ as the solution to have peace on earth which God said after the 6th trumpet that the world will not repent of their sins and turn to Him but keep trying to obtain peace on earth by their own power so He gives them the man of sin to rule over them.
Which the 6 trumpets are warnings to the world to turn to God but after the 6th trumpet they do not do that.
Which an example is WW1, did not turn to God, set up League of Nations, WW2, did not turn to God, set up United Nations, and that pattern will continue until the 6th trumpet Islam against the world, did not turn to God, so He gives them the man of sin to rule them which is when the transgressors are come to the full.
Then a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up, and he shall be mighty but not by his own power, but by the power of Satan which God is allowing him to influence the world more than in the past for he is not restrained like the past, and will be off his leash concerning the wicked, which is symbolic of him coming out of the bottomless pit.
When they follow the New Age Christ and take the mark of the beast then repentance and salvation is no longer available to the world, and the fulness of the Gentiles have come in.
The antichrist will be the New Age Christ that established peace with Israel and the Palestinians that comes from the Roman Empire, and the false prophet will be the Pope who is following the new age movement interpretation of the Bible.
God will then turn Israel to the truth that Jesus is their Messiah and God for the last three and one half years, and at the end of that time Israel as a nation will be in the truth.
Evolution is the culprit as to why they rebel against God for the occult started interpreting all religions that way, and they want power through nature and believe it is possible so they pursued it and it became bigger and they slowly went about the plan to establish a kingdom based on the occult, evolution, and no personal God, but doing the will of nature the evolutionary process.
But technology and evolution go hand in hand for evolution is the motive, and technology is the reason they could communicate with each other, and travel to each other to be able to come together.
The beast and the false prophet are in the future and they rule because it is time for God to end this sin business on earth so He has to allow the world a certain amount of time to have their way and cause all people who do not love Him to follow the New Age Christ.