So here we find a religious personage called the false prophet. He is operating against Christ, he is anti-Christ. He is right in that period up to what is normally called Armageddon and we find demons coming out of their mouths, indicating the source of their supernatural power and the signs being done. So the association with the dragon is also very clearly stated. Revelation 17:1-6 - I will not read all of these, you're very knowledgeable about them, but again the symbol changes to a woman—the church who was shown to be guiding, controlling the beast—again, a close association with the political power.
