Sunday, 19 March 2017

Revelation: 666 & The Mark of the Beast.

I am posting chapters from my sister's book, "The End is near. End Time Bible Prophecy Anyone Can Understand." Available at lulu.com

Continued from previous post...

Mark of the Beast: Name or 666

          Revelation 14:9 says, “If anyone worships the beast or his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand….”  We see that the mark comes from worshipping the beast or his image.

          “And he (the United States) causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who had the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.  Here is wisdom.  Let him who had understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.”  Rev. 13:16-18

          It says here in the part of Revelation 13 that describes the United States that the mark of the beast is either his name or the number of his name and those who refuse to worship the beast or his image will not be able to buy or sell.


          We saw in the last chapter of this book that for every true and good thing from God, Satan has a counterfeit: God has a church, Satan has a church; God has a Sabbath, Satan has a Sabbath; God marks his believers, Satan marks his believers.  And just as we saw in the last chapter that the seal of God is not a visible mark, so too the mark of the beast will not be a visible mark or stamp.  The mark of the beast on the forehead represents those who are unwaveringly committed to following the false prophet and the beast and its image.  They are “named” among the most faithful and radical followers of the beast.
 The mark of the beast on the hand represents those who follow along simply because it is easier than fighting and dying for God’s truth.  They act a good part and are simply “numbered” among the throngs of those who follow the beast for the sake of convenience. 
We know that true and good things from God are counterfeited by Satan.  You have probably already noticed that God uses the number seven a lot when describing true and holy things (seventh day Sabbath, seven days of creation, seven churches, seven judgments, etc), so a close counterfeit, signifying those things that are untrue or unholy, would be the number six.  That is all the number 666 probably means. 
No sane or half intelligent person would willingly use, or allow to be used, an identification as obvious as the number 666.  Satan and his followers are much smarter than that.  We will be able to recognize the false prophet by his actions and words; a number is irrelevant.