Chapter 20
The Mark of the Beast and the Seal of God
ALTHOUGH the Bible states that the saints will receive
the seal of God that secures their eternal salvation, it also introduces
the mark of the beast, which will be received by those who reject the
invitation of Christ to separate from Babylon. This mark will be received
either in the forehead or in the hand.
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. (Revelation 13:16)
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud
voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in
his forehead, or in his hand . . . (Revelation 14:9)
Some students of Scripture have postulated that lost
men and women will receive a visible mark; however, in view of the
symbolic language of Revelation, it is evident that the mark or seal
received in the forehead is indicative of allegiance to Satan or Christ.
These marks will be embedded in the mind, the decision-making area of the
brain. Those who receive the mark in the hand (unlike those who receive it
in the forehead) will not be deceived by the papal power or its false
teachings; however, they will capitulate when the test comes. They will
obey the dictates of the antichrist and fail to secure eternal life
because of their refusal to fully accept Jesus and all His directions in
their lives. The following words of Jesus are of eternal importance to
every Christian:
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will
come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose
his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he
shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man
give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory
of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man
according to his works. (Matthew 16:24–27)
Now certainly is the time to draw close to Jesus,
allowing Him to lead in every step of our lives.
We can expect that, in its last, desperate effort to
subjugate the whole world to its nefarious deception, step by determined
step, the Papacy will attempt to enforce Sunday observance as a sign of
its authority and power. Because of the prophesied allegiance of the
nations to the Papacy (see Revelation 14:8, 18:3), there will be a
repetition of the past—the civil governments of the world will enforce
the wishes of the Papacy; thus national and international laws will be
framed, requiring all to worship on Sunday. It can be expected that
legislation will eventually be enacted, in an attempt to force
Sabbathkeepers to violate God’s sacred day of worship.
A careful study of Revelation, chapter 13, indicates
that the United States will play a significant role in these closing
events. As we have seen, the prophecy of Revelation 13 identifies the
second power that will play the primary role as the enforcer of the
dictates of the Papacy. This new power is brought to view in the second
part of Revelation 13.
And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth;
and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. (Revelation
13:11)
The following facts demonstrate that this power is the
United States of America.
1. A beast in biblical prophecy always represents an
earthly power, as is evident from Daniel’s prophecy of the four beasts.
And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one
from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld
till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth,
and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to
it. And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up
itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the
teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After
this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of
it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was
given unto it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth
beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great
iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with
the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before
it; and it had ten horns. (Daniel 7:3–7)
These four beasts represented the four successive
dominant political powers of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.
2. This new power, revealed in Revelation 13:11, arose
from the earth. It will be noted that the powers of Daniel 7 arose from
the sea.
And four great beasts came up from the sea,
diverse one from another. (Daniel 7:3, emphasis added)
The sea in biblical prophecy represents
multitudes and people.
And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest,
where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and
tongues. (Revelation 17:15)
These powers depicted in Daniel, chapter 7, arose out
of the densely populated areas of the Old World. This new power, by
contrast, must be a New World nation because it arises from the earth
(indicating a sparsely populated are) instead of the sea.
3. This second beast power had to arise around 1798
(the end of the 1260 years of European papal domination). Prophecy spoke
about the first beast of Revelation 13 which represented the Papacy.
And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great
things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and
two months [or 1260 days]. (Revelation 13:5)
The lamblike beast arose to power after the papal
beast, fixing its origin in the latter portion of the eighteenth century.
4. This new power is depicted as lamblike in its
beginning, whereas, the other beasts of biblical prophecy are generally
depicted as beasts of prey. Such a power would establish itself without
great conquest in a minimally populated region of the world.
5. The choice of a lamb rather than a sheep indicates a
very young nation.
The biblical criteria exclude every nation upon earth
except the United States of America. It arose under the banner of a
constitution which granted, as no other nation before, political and
religious liberty. In this enactment, the United States forged the
peaceable characteristics of a lamb. It arose, at the end of the
eighteenth century, in the sparsely populated territory of the New World
far removed from the densely populated nations of Europe and the Middle
East. When the United States gained independence, its total population was
a mere three million.
Divine prophecy predicted that the characteristics of
this lamblike beast would change. It would speak as a dragon; thus we must
expect the United States to become, even though founded upon the
principles of religious freedom, an oppressive power that will enforce
papal dictates.
Recent court rulings indicate a dramatic departure from
the time-honored American heritage of protecting the religious rights of
minority groups. A 1990 Supreme Court opinion (in the United States) is a
frightening example of this change.
In what was called a "radical departure" from
previous rulings protecting religion, the Supreme Court Tuesday forcefully
declared that it would no longer shield believers whose practices violate
general laws.
Religions that are out of the mainstream are most
likely to be affected because their unconventional practices and lack of
political clout have led them to depend on the courts for protection.
The ruling came in the case of two American Indians who
were fired from their jobs as drug counselors, in Oregon, after they
admitted ingesting peyote during a religious ceremony. On a 6–3 vote,
the court upheld their dismissal.
But in the sweeping opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia
went far beyond the case, and declared that when religious rights clash
with the government’s need for reform rules, the court will side with
the government.
As a nation, "we cannot afford the luxury" of
striking down laws simply because they limit someone’s religious
practices, Scalia said. He advised religious adherents to look to the
political system, not the courts for protection. ("Religious Fine
Print Blurred," The Fresno Bee, April 18 1990)
When the supreme court of Nebraska in 1990 ruled that a
Jehovah Witness father could not teach his daughter Jehovah Witness
beliefs in competition to his divorced wife’s Roman Catholic beliefs,
another nail was hammered into the coffin of religious liberty.
And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast
before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship
the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. (Revelation 13:12)
Sadly, we must expect that this great nation of freedom
will be transformed into a persecuting power whose main object will be to
obliterate God’s saints from the earth.
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: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark,
or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13:16,
17)
And he had power to give life unto the image of the
beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as
many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
(Revelation 13:15)
Is it not highly significant that members of the
Protestant churches in America are now seeking reconciliation with the
Roman Catholic Church? Even one of the most conservative of all Protestant
churches in the United States, the Southern Baptists, seek basic agreement
with the Roman Catholic Church (see chapter 9, entitled, "All That
Dwell Upon the Earth Shall Worship Him").
The Southern Baptists are not the only Protestants who
are drawing closer to Roman Catholics.
Roman Catholics and Lutherans stepped closer together
Monday, when church officials from both denominations announced plans to
draw up a covenant that will increase cooperation between the most
powerful religious bodies in Minnesota. (The Minneapolis Star and
Tribune, October 17 1989)
The capitulation of Protestantism to Catholicism is
seen worldwide. In July 1990, the president of the Australasian Council of
Churches, the Anglican bishop of Bendigo, Bishop Oliver Heywood, and the
Roman Catholic archbishop of Sidney, Cardinal Edward Clancy, sat side by
side, in Adelaide, talking about plans for a new national ecumenical body.
. . . The move has been described as "a revolution" in
Anglican-Catholic nations, and could be the first step towards the
eventual merger of the two churches. (Sidney Morning Herald, July
1990)
The new ecumenical body is projected to be operating by
1992. It seems that the 1992–93 era will be tremendously significant in
the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Ninety percent of the Christian
community, in Australia, will be represented in the new organization.
The following assertion is even more ominous:
Its [the new council’s] formation is also expected to
encourage the church community to take an even greater part in the
political area. "Politics is what drives our society in many ways,
and if the church is to be part of society, which it is, then clearly we
have to be involved," Bishop Heyward said. "If there is a bit of
rough and tumble, then so be it." (Sidney Morning Herald)
When the church unites with the state, persecution of
dissenters inevitably follows.
Today many Christians of various faiths and their
ministers are joining together in special days of prayer for Christian
unity, little recognizing that such prayers do not ascend to God, but to
the archdeceiver. At these ecumenical prayer meetings, Christians are
being subtly conditioned to unite with Rome.
It is obvious that not only the churches of
Protestantism are turning their faces toward Rome but also the nations of
the world are uniting under the supervision of the Papacy. We can expect
these unions to continue to accelerate their cooperation in the near
future. The closer they come together, the more secure the unity achieved.
The persecution of God’s people will consequently follow this renewed
union of church and state. The Bible predicts it. History confirms that
persecution has always been the result of such a union. The gospel will be
taken to every part of the world under most difficult and trying
circumstances. Many faithful children of Christ will lose their lives
during this time.
Communist nations have officially apologized for their
past wrongs. Poland and East Germany have openly apologized for joining
the Russian Army in quelling the democracy movement in Prague during 1968.
Even the U.S.S.R. has at last confessed its guilt to Poland for the
liquidation of 15,570 officers of the Polish Army in the Katyn Forest in
1940. Even the emperor of Japan, in 1990, apologized for the actions of
Imperial Japan against Korea during its occupation in the years 1905–1945.
But no such confession has ever come from the lips of
the Roman Catholic hierarchy. When Pope John Paul II visited
Czechoslovakia in April 1990, he had a golden opportunity to visit Huss
Square, where his spiritual predecessors burned John Huss at the stake
simply because he refused to acknowledge the Roman Catholic blasphemy that
priests are capable of creating our Lord’s body and His blood in the
Mass. The pope studiously avoided such a confession of wrong. This
attitude stems from the papal dogma of infallibility, which protects the
seeds of further persecution when papal authority exercises the power that
it had during the Middle Ages. Since she has never repented of her evil
excesses of the past, she is capable of persecuting God’s people again.
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the
word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
(Revelation 12:11)
We must expect to see large numbers of professed
Protestants capitulating to Roman Catholicism. This tragic trend is
already accelerating; on the other hand, we must expect significant
numbers of God’s faithful people to leave the apostate churches, and
join one fold under the bloodstained banner of Jesus Christ.
Before the return of Jesus, there comes a time when
every human being’s destiny is sealed. All have made an irrevocable
decision for Jesus Christ or for Satan. A million years would not change
that decision.
At that time, Christ will make His awesome
pronouncements;
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he
which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let
him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
(Revelation 22:11)
At this time, the Spirit of the Lord will no longer
call people to repentance, for there is no purpose in the Holy Spirit’s
appeal to the heart once each person’s destiny is sealed. The Bible
speaks about this time.
There shall be a time of trouble, such as never was
since there was a nation. (Daniel 12:1)
The prophet Jeremiah also refers to it.
It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble. (Jeremiah
30:7)
At this time, the full fury of Satan will be turned
upon God’s faithful people in an attempt to eliminate them from the face
of the earth. The effort to destroy God’s people becomes universal. God
pours out His judgments upon the earth during this period of vicious
persecution. Many of these judgments, as recorded in Revelation 16, are
directed against those who have worshiped the beast or are at the center
of papal power. Two typical plagues are cited. There are seven in all.
And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the
earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had
the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
(Revelation 16:2).
And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat
of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their
tongues for pain. (Revelation 16:10)
Prior to the return of Jesus, Rome is destroyed.
And the great city was divided into three parts, and
the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance
before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his
wrath. (Revelation 16:19)
And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is
fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of
the wine of the wrath of her fornication. (Revelation 14:8)
At that time, God’s saints who have been sustained
only by His love and preserving power will see, with great rejoicing, the
return of their long-awaited Lord and Redeemer.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the
dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall
be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17).
These saints have not worshiped the beast, for they
have fully surrendered their lives to Jesus, and their names are recorded
in the Lamb’s book of life (see Revelation 13:8).
The Lord is now calling all readers to total loyalty to
Himself, so that their eternal destiny will be secure in the One who gave
His life for the salvation of every human being.
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