Thread: The Mark of the Beast of Revelation 13: 16-17
Admin
The Mark of the Beast of Revelation 13: 16-17
Posted : 2 Jun, 2011 06:20 AM
Revelation 13: 16-17 says the second beast - which is the false prophet and the church in apostasy - causes
"all" to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads, and everyone must have this
mark of the beast, the name of the beast and the number of his name (Revelation 13: 18)
to be allowed to buy and sell. Of course, the first beast is made up of more than one head.
The mark of the beast can be said to be an indicator that one belongs to the part of the first
beast of Revelation 13: 1-2, the government.
If we have debt, and a Social Security number and a driver's license we may have the mark of the beast. The
implication here is that having debt to the big bankers, who are a vital part of the beast, having a Social
Security number, a driver's license, a marriage license and a birth certificate means "our papers are in order"
as the Nazi Gestapo and the Soviet police demanded, and that we belong to the beast. This more literal
interpretation of the mark of the beast is in line with verse 17, that we must have the mark of the beast to be allowed to buy and sell. Some of the patriots in the late nineties taught that during the Roosevelt regime, the birth certificates of millions of Americans were held as collateral to the big bankers for the national debt to them. That debt was small then compared to what it is under the Obama regime.
Some American patriots have tried to get rid of all their "papers that are in order" such as a Social Security
number and a driver's license in order to, they thought, get out of the grasp of the government beast. But they found that it is very hard in this country to buy and sell without these papers being in order. You don't have to have a bank account to buy and sell - if you can find someplace to cash the checks you receive. But in order to cash a check, say at Wal-Mart (Red China Central), they require you to have a valid photo ID, usually a valid driver's license. Of course, you must have a Social Security number to get up a bank account and do many other kinds of financial
transactions in this country.
So, at a somewhat more literal level the mark of the beast in Revelation 13: 16-17 can be interpreted as a person having
signed up with the beast government, to, in a way, give yourself over to that beast by obeying him and having a birth certificate, Social Security number, driver's license, etc. And - as Revelation 17: 17 says, you cannot buy and sell without having this mark, that is, having your papers in order. At a more extreme literal level Revelation 13: 16 is sometimes interpreted by followers of dispensationalism as being an electronic chip implanted in one's hand or forehead.
Under the financial part of the government beast we are required to buy and
sell with their money, which is fiat money. The lifeline of the beast is fiat money and the beast system runs on
usury, which is charging interest on loans of fiat money. The Bible forbids the practice of usury in many places, such as Exodus 22: 15. Revelation 18: 11-22 is talking about a part of the Babylon of prophecy which is the economic and
money system of the beast, and mentions more than once the emporoi, the world traders. The big bankers of the beast system are at the top of the ruling elite and they create fiat money out of nothing, loan it to the people, and charge them high rates of interest. If the people do not pay all that the big bankers claim are owned to them by the debts they put upon almost everyone, then the bankers send the collection agencies and the lawyers after the debtors
and may take their bank accounts, possessions and homes. The government acts as the enforcer for the banks to take over the assets of the people.
A part of the torment that may come upon many Americans during the tribulation may well be the collection of debts
by banks (foreclosure on one's home, etc), and collection of credit card debts by collection agencies and collection attorneys in local courts. We know from Luke 21: 11 that during the tribulation there will be "earthquakes in diverse places," and though scripture does not specifically predict a great earthquake in Japan, this should have been evident since Japan is prone to earthquakes. In addition, since we know that the San Andreas Fault in California and the New Madrid Fault which starts in NE Arkansas just below the Missouri Boot Heel and roughly follows the Mississippi are both prone to earthquakes, that in the tribulation there is a very good chance both will go off in great quakes. And the nuclear power plants near them will spew out radiation into the jet stream running east. The Bible does not predict the huge number of tornadoes, flooding etc specifically, but this is all part of tribulation.
A Christian can repent to God of having given himself to the beast, and try to come out of the system as much as possible, though if one's debt is big its not possible to get rid of it soon, and operating without a driver's license or Social Security number would be very difficult in America and in the world now. But God looks on the heart and if one's heart is to come out of the beast, then that is repentance.
The solution to the mark of the government beast is spiritual. Going to another country won't solve the problem, even if there were some other country to go to.
Jeff Baker, who owned Amerinet Broadcasting Network on short wave in the late nineties, went to Honduras to get out of "Babylon", and bought some land there. He soon loast his land,
apparently by some kind of crooked dealing by people in Honduras and came back to the United States with his tail between his legs.
In Ezekiel 9: 1-11 six "men" came to Jerusalem, which is metaphoric for physical Israel, and one of them was clothed with linen, and in verse 4 "...the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city,
through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the mist thereof. Then in verses 5 and 6 the Lord said "Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity. Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little childrenb, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary."
Ezekiel 9: 1-11 is about the mark of the Lord, which is a spiritual mark.
Revelation 13: 16 says "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:"
"He" is the second beast of Revelation 13: 11-18, the beast who has two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. He causes people to worship the beast whose deadly wound was healed. This beast is one head of the first beast of Revelation 13. This is also the little horn of Daniel 7: 8. Its not "THE" anti-Christ, but is of the spirit of anti-Christ.
The second beast has been called the False Prophet, though it is not one man, but is a number of false prophets (Matthew 24: 11). Is there any reason to think that the second beast does his work during the last days, right before and during the tribulation? Yes, if you see this second beast as being associated with the falling away of II Thessalonians 2: 3. The falling away is a falling away from the truth. Paul in II Thessalonians 2: 3 is giving us a prophecy for the last days.
How does the False Prophet, and/or the church after the falling away cause people to receive the mark of the beast?
One interpretation is that the beast who marks the people as being his is the government beast of Revelation 13: 1-2.
Another more metaphoric view is that the beast who marks the people as being his is the second beast, the church
after the falling away.
The mark to the government beast is still a spiritual mark. The second beast as the apostate church under false prophets leads the church people to obey the government and therefore receive its mark upon them.
Spiritually the Christians under the second beast are led to belong to that government beast. The literal "marks" such as debt, the birth certificate, the Social Security number, the driver's license are part of the mark, but its the spiritual belonging of the people in the churches which is most important. They can come out of that system, as Revelation 18: 4 calls. They can repent of belonging to the best and not continue to pile up more of its literal "marks," and may not have to do what is impossible in that system, such as getting completely out of a huge debt or operating without a driver's license or Social Security number. I don't want to be more explicit here, but repentance from some sins means we have remorse for doing them, and would not do them again, but we cannot erase what we did.
