The Mark of the Beast, his Name or Number

There is a lot of talk lately about what people think the Mark of the Beast is. It ranges from COVID-19 vaccines, to barcodes, QR codes, credit/debit cards or microchips implanted under or on the skin. Some even suggest people can be forced to have the mark against their will, in their sleep and so forth.

Such things are totally wrong and causes hysteria among what you might call, right minded people. Those who say such things have misinterpreted the bible or specifically, what is written in Revelation and cause people to worry when there is no reason to do so. Even the Beast’s number which is translated as 666 is imagined to range from everything including bank account numbers to personal ID numbers or passports.

Before jumping on the hysteria bandwagon, you have to ask yourself – does this make sense? Are all the things talked about in Jesus’ own words, the letters of the apostles and Revelation all happening now?

First of all, there is no world government or leader. There is no one world religion that everyone has to follow and no person has arrived to amaze and mesmerise the masses with (false) miracles and wonders to make them marvel at the beast or person.

No one can be forced to have the Mark of the beast.

It’s also worth mentioning that secondly, no one can be forced to have the mark of the beast against their will. The Devil knows this but doesn’t have to force people as he will just make it hard to live without this mark or name. These people have to accept the Beast and his mark which is either etched, engraved or branded on their right hand or forehead (depending on the bible translation). It is his name or a number, which represents his name, and clearly visible for all to see.  This means that they are agreeing with the evil forces at work. Only those who follow Jesus and have their name written in the book of life and have the mark of God, will not have this done to them.

At that time, all must trust in God to provide for their needs or be prepared to give up their life for Jesus.

You can only get the Mark of the Beast by accepting his authority and you can’t be tricked or deceived into accepting it either. We are given clues as to who he is by the remarks given in Revelation 13:4. So in those days there will be religious worship of the Beast and his image, that no one can oppose (all other forms will be banned). The Beast will seem invincible to any mortal at that time and he will be the opposite of Jesus, hence why he is referred to as the Anti-Christ as his other title. It will seem that he had a fatal wound but recovered or was healed and will think of himself as a god or bigger than our God, the Creator of the Universe.

False teachers and prophets

There will be false teachers and prophets that Jesus said would be here before the end times (Matthew 24:3-8, 11 & 24) but we must keep away from such teachings and lies (Ephesians 4:14) or those who say they are the followers of Jesus (Matthew 7:15-20) but refuse to be corrected (2 Timothy 4:3-4). Satan can make himself appear like an Angel of light or his Demons (as they were once Angels of light before they rebelled against God – 2 Corinthians 11:14) but are the opposite of what you would expect. We should not listen to such lies that some will follow without asking questions as to whether they are true or false (Isaiah 8:11-17). We must test what they say with prayer and ask God if they are right or wrong. If you pray about it and God say’s they are wrong, you should tell them and if they get angry, they are not children of light and are trying to deceive you or are full of pride and arrogance (Isaiah 8:20) and won’t listen to you. You can tell who they are by their lies about God (does God kill the innocent with the wicked? – nowhere in the bible does it say this, in fact, God tells us, that he wants everyone to turn to him to be saved and not perish Ezekiel 33:11, 2 Peter 3:9, Jeremiah 29:11 and John 3:16 to mention some. There are at least 100 verses in the Bible that attest to this.

Beginning of labour pains

There is still more to come. The frequency of signs from wars and disasters near and far have been getting closer to each other each year. We are getting closer to the End Times and when a person rises to power (like Hitler and comes out of the blue) to take over the world and make out he is good  but in fact will be evil (2 Thessalonians 2:9), we should start looking for Jesus to return.

The world is in the beginning of the labour pains before Christ returns but more and worse is yet to come.  Some Christians are looking at small issues rather than the bigger picture and are being divided by false teachers and prophets. Meanwhile the world is in disbelief at what governments are telling them, full of conspiracy and lies and fake news and this is growing around the world. When human rights are abolished or redundant, then we are near the end times, but this could be in years to come or in the process of happening now. Note that before Jesus comes again, certain prophecies have to be fulfilled and all the relevant pieces from what Jesus told us about, the letters of the apostles and the revelation of John all come together to form one big picture. As Jesus warned us, as it was in the time of Noah, when evil is at its worst, Jesus will return (Luke 17:26-27).

Two noteworthy messages

Before COVID-19 took over the world the Lord gave me two messages at two different points. He told me He wanted Unity in the Church or it would not survive the persecution that is coming and that the Devil was playing a chess game, moving pieces (pawns) here and there which seemed not important and not very strong but during the game he was going to be in a strong check position (make into a queen) and looking for a Checkmate by the end of the game.  This means that in the background Satan is moving laws and changing things without anyone knowing about it and not being publicised (like changing our timeline dating system from BC and AD to BCE and CE -Before the Common Era and Common Era-in 2005) and new laws being introduced to take away our rights, like the right to protest etc. All this is adding up from small scale to large.

We should be prepared for Jesus to return at any time and to pray that we will endure the things that are going to happen.

Rather than being scared of what is to come, we should look at the end of the book of Revelation when God showed me all things will be as they were in the beginning. Rather than looking at the disaster, suffering and pain, we should look at the New Heaven and New Earth with the New Jerusalem where God will dwell with us and where there will be no more pain or suffering and we will see God without dying as we have been changed and without sin in our new bodies.

We should look at the bigger picture so we can endure the persecution, trust God’s love for us and be prepared.