Of all world leaders in history, Ronald Reagan remains the best candidate for the first beast of Revelation.
- Ronald Wilson Reagan had 666 in his name. (Revelation 13:18) (Having six characters in three names is more impressive than anything that can be derived from numerology. With all the different languages, all the different variations in translation, all the different methods of numerology, numerology has been used to derive 666 from the names of a great many current and historical figures.)
- Reagan's press secretary had a head wound unto death, yet lived. (Revelation 13:3) (James Brady).
- Reagan died in his own bed in torment. (2 Esdras 12:26) (The book of Esdras describes a three headed eagle to appear in the last days. The three heads are said to represent three of the final kings of the kingdom of the eagle. (Reagan, Bush, and Bush) The first head of the eagle dies in his own bed in torment.)
- Reagan commanded the world's greatest military. (Revelation 13:4) (The beast does not actually rule the entire world because there are other countries who fear the beast, and make war both for and against the beast.)
- The first beast of Revelation leads into captivity and is led into captivity. (Revelation 13:10) (Reagan led into captivity: Iran-contra. Reagan was led into captivity: Alzheimer’s.)
The two Bush presidents are more consistent with the second beast of Revelation.
- The second beast has two horns like a lamb. (Revelation 13:11)
- Called a false prophet, George Bush is a fundamentalist who thinks he’s on a mission from God. (Revelation 16:13)
- George Bush was (president), is no longer (president), and yet at the same time is (president). (Revelation 17:11)
- Both presidents Bush have killed with the sword, and both will ultimately die by the sword. (Revelation 13:10) (This is consistent with the book of Esdras which says the other two heads of the eagle will die by the sword.)
- The beast is one of the seven kings, he is also the eighth, yet there are only seven. (Revelation 17:10) This is because having the same public name (George Bush & George Bush) means the two presidents are ONE person considering the Biblical importance and symbolism of a person’s name. In reality, Bush and Bush are two people. Thus, George Bush is one of the seven final presidents; and he is also two of the eight final presidents. (All eight being alive with Reagan took office).
- The first George Bush desecrated the temple. (Revelation 13:6) (During Vice President Bush’s trip to the Middle East in 1986, Bush prayed at the western wall in between conversations with Ollie North about Iran-contra which was ‘wickedness’).
- The second Bush proclaimed himself God. (2 Thessalonians 2:4 ) (Bush said he would “Destroy all evil”, and execute “Infinite Justice”.)
- Seven angels are said to blow seven trumpets. After the first trumpet is blown there are events which could be seen as WWI. After the second trumpet: WWII, after the third: Chernobyl, after the forth: Desert Storm. After the fifth trumpet is blown, smoke from the bottomless pit will darken the sun and the air, as locusts like scorpions are permitted to torment people for five months. (Revelation 9:2) Apache helicopters resemble locust with a scorpion’s tail and Operation Desert Scorpion lasted for five months. Any smoke that darkened Iraq came from oil fires. This means that the phrase ‘bottomless pit’ can, at least on some occasions, be referring to oil since oil was the source of the smoke and the ‘bottomless pit’ is said to be the source of the smoke. The beast is said to ascend out of the bottomless pit. (Revelation 17:8) Meaning the beast will come from the oil industry.
Your right, there is no mention of the beast's intelligence. We assume he is intelligence because he rises to such a powerful position.
It fascinates me that evangelical Bush is so consistent with the evil one foretold in the Bible who would bring great destruction. I'm not even sure if there is a God, and I haven't attended church in years, but even if there is no God, it is still possible that the author of Revelation was a psychic who saw a vision of this large Earth shattering war.