Shelby, in my studies I have determined that the Beast out of the Earth of Revelation 13 IS the false prophet in Revelation 19 and 20:
Revelation 19 - 19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
Revelation 20 - 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
The "false prophet" mentioned above is the one who performed signs on the behalf of the first beast. This is an identical characteristic of the Beast out of the Earth:
11 Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
The "second beast" is the false prophet. The Watchtower does indeed perform great signs and decieve the nations. One of these great signs is their preaching work empowered by systematic mind control (Ancient Egyptian). The Beast out of the Earth is real, but the image of the beast isn't actually real, it's an idol like I previously said. It has no real power whereas the Beast out of the Earth can perform actual greatness which is then used to deceive the nations (WORLD WIDE PREACHING WORK!). The Revelation At Hand book is part of this collective Image of the Beast. A literal interpretation would be man's, not JUST the Watchtower's, attempt to copyright Scripture by creating interpretive literature that they claim supersedes it. The true purpose of the Watchtower Writing Committee is writing false scripture that is then imposed upon the populace. Every JW that swallows the Revelation At Hand book, or any Watchtower publication for that matter, is engaging in cunning form of idolatry. They must immediately stop or face the ultimate consequences. That's why preaching is so important. A lot of people worship idols without knowing it and it's not just the Watchtower. People simply need to be informed.
As for your Hagar being the earth interpretation, I will have to give that a great deal of thought. I have a lot of business to attend to. This has been a great discussion.
Could anything be more Watchtower-like than arguing over the minutiae of so-called bible prophecy?
You are not helping anyone but yourself.
-Sab