1995 is where I began my Christian walk and began to study the Bible. The country church my family attended was the typical hellfire and brimstone type preaching. Oftentimes the sermons were on the Rapture of the church with references from the book of Revelation. The thing that stood out the most to me was the scripture on the Mark of the Beast (666).
Revelation 13:16-18 (NKJ)
- 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads,
- 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or[f] the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
- 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
Thats pretty scary...there will be a time where the only way to buy and sell is if you have this "Mark of the Beast" affixed to your right hand or forehead? Well obviously after reading this you would be a fool to take the mark, right? I mean if the Government came to the south and told everyone they must take this mark there would be a true civil uprising. So how will this happen?
Massive change does not happen overnight. It is a gradual thing. Since 1995 I have wondered about the Mark of the Beast. I see how it will happen now.
A sign of the "End of the World" is that there will be a one-world government and monetary system. Look at our political environment today. What do you see taking place? universal health care, global trade and markets, electronic transactions, Internet, etc...
Have you heard of RFID Chips? RFID Chips are not science fiction. These devices about the size of a a grain of rice can be implanted into humans which may contain your medical history or virtually anything else. Recently, I saw a YouTube clip of a sermon by Perry Stone about the RFID Chip and it's implications relating to taking the Mark of the Beast.
Pastor Stone and many others on recent Internet postings claim that Obamacare has a mandate that all will eventually be required to have such a device implanted containing our medical history/information.
So, I decided to research this for myself. I stumbled upon the site Obamacare Facts This site was designed to explain to us and answer all our questions, and dispel all myths about Obamacare.
Interestingly enough it has a large section on the "Myth" about the requirement on an implantable RFID Chip. Here are the ObamaCare RFID Facts, directly from the site...
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| obamacarefacts.com |
- There is no mention of a mandatory RFID implant in the Affordable Care Act, but there was in an early version of the law HR3200.
- RFID chips are real and there is more than a decade's worth of legislation pertaining to their use.
- The only reference to "chip" in the ACA is CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program).
- While the ACA doesn't allow for data collection from class II devices, it does contain wording pertaining to electronic data collection to improve the quality of care and better coordination between doctors including SEC. 3015. DATA COLLECTION; PUBLIC REPORTING.
- It is very reasonable to think that in the future all Americans will elect to have RFID chips or legislation will be passed that mandates RFID chips. Not only could they monitor your health status, they could be used as GPS, a means to transfer currency, cell phones, computers, etc.
- Like the use of drones and other advents of technology that could potentially be used to control the population, the implications of RFID devices need to be discussed openly by the public. The way we regulate RFID chips and their usage will determine the dangers they pose to us.
- Despite the risks implants pose, the potential health benefits of being able to collect and monitor your health via a RFID chip could be a very useful medical tool that could drastically help people and revolutionize our ability to treat patients.
Ok...so there is no current mandate in ObamaCare requiring these implantable chips. But there was in the previous version? So according to the site there is no mandate yet there is paragraph after paragraph and a couple video's explaining the benefits of an RFID Chip implant.
How do you bring about change? Slowly. We are not mandating, however, this is a good thing...It's not evil...this can save your life. One day we wake up and realize its not so bad. Remember when on TV you NEVER saw a man and woman in the same bed together. Have you seen network TV shows lately. Slowly and incrementally we become desensitized to things. What was once called taboo, we now call art, freedom of expression, and entertainment.
Is the RFID Chip the Mark of the Beast? I do not think so. Is it a step in the direction of it? Most definitely.
Reader beware...If at any point you are mandated to take a mark on your right hand or forehead in order to buy, sell, or whatever...DON'T DO IT. Lift your eyes to Heaven and say this..."Father God, I believe Your son Jesus Christ came to this earth, died for my sins, and rose again on the third day. Please forgive me for all my sins. I believe. Save me."
Revelation 20
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.
In my opinion, to think of the mark as merely something that will happen in the future is a theological mistake. When John speaks of the mark of the beast, he is not merely predicting that some future form of technology will be utilized by one particular Antichrist to dominate and control the world’s population. He definitely isn’t speaking to something that will specifically occur in one country (USA) by one particular president. For John, there was already a serious threat to Christians in the first century (emperor worship). You have to consider the historical context for the visions of Revelation 13 and 17. John’s comments about the mark of the beast were made in a world where the emperor’s blasphemous image was everywhere, from coins to statues. John’s reference to the mark being placed upon the back of the hand or the forehead refers to the wide-spread first century practice of branding or tattooing slaves of the emperor. But in John’s case, he speaks as though some would choose to be a slave to wicked, Godless leader and willingly take such a mark. The beast is manifest to some degree throughout history, but is restrained until the time of the end through the preaching of the gospel or the providence of God.
ReplyDeleteWhen placed in the larger context of the New Testament, Christians are said to be “sealed” unto Christ in their baptism. The mark of the beast may be the theological equivalent of the rejection of baptism (in the case of apostasy) or the rejection of Christ’s Lordship through the confession that Caesar (or any other political figure) is Lord. Nero was the forerunner of all those wicked and godless leaders who come after him, and who take that which belongs to God unto themselves. Although the various manifestations of the beast and the false prophet in the coming age may use technological advances to further their quest for wealth and power, it is doubtful the mark of the beast will be specifically one particular type of technology. John is not speaking of an event isolated to the time, he is warning the faithful across the ages of the cost of following Christ and the importance of staying grounded in a discerning faith. Regardless, being sealed should render one protection against the mark - whether the mark is spiritual (more likely) or an RFID chip (less likely) or what meaning does salvation have? I refuse to believe my Lord could be undone by a microchip or whatever else might be the flavor of the month anti-Christ scare. But that's just my opinion, although I do have to admit I have been influenced by many books I have read on the subject over the years.
My purpose is simply to state that we now have technology that makes some of these prophecies able to come to pass...It may not be an RFID, it may be a imprintable tattoo that is currently developed that does the same thing as the RFID. True...your view may be influenced by books that you have read...but what are they? Their interpretations.
DeleteSome of the books that have helped me understand how Revelation fits into the message of hope and salvation of Christ: "More than Conquerors" by William Hendriksen. "The Returning King" by Vern Poythress. "A Case for Amillennialism" by Kim Riddlebarger.
ReplyDeleteIn an attempt to open lines of dialogue, I must ask the following: When reading the Bible, do you believe it is
ReplyDeletea) Completely literal. Everything written from Genesis to Revelation is literally written, with no symbolism.
b) Completely symbolic. The stories are all symbolic of some deeper meaning.
c) Mixture of both. If this is the case, how do you decipher which parts are literal and which are symbolic?
Katie B...that is a great question. I believe the old testament is a literal description of events that took place before Christ. Jesus used parables, which were stories used to symbolize a truth. The biggest question of the new testament is that of the book of Revelation. Interpretations vary greatly. My view is that the writer of Revelation did his best to describe events that took place in the visions he saw. For example...If you lived in biblical times, how would you describe an Apache Helicopter? John had no reference of a mechanical flying machine...however, he could describe it as a dragon that spits fire. Which is a description of events that will take place on earth in Revelation. Scripture says that when Jesus returns every eye shall see him... How could this be accomplished. Not until the internet and all the satellites could we have a mechanism that an event in one part of the world could be broadcasts all over the world in near-real time. Revelation is tough. After reading it again recently I believe the events it describes..the bowls and vial of wrath being poured out...i believe they represent events we will see that may happen over a period of time.
DeleteFor me, I try to interpret scripture with scripture. A literal interpretation of the Bible is impossible. Even "literalists" pick and choose which verses to "take literally." It took me years of studying the Bible before I even began to understand it. Accepting Christ was the was the easy part. As a Christian, I always interpret everything through the gospels. If something seems to be inconsistent with the message of Christ, I go with Christ and wrestle with it. I consult pastors, theologians, other passages. Usually, it eventually it becomes clear when something contradictory appears in the BIble, it is a failure of understanding the purpose of the passage. The Bible is the story of people's relationship with God. The relationship has changed over the eons, even though God has not. So to act like the Bible is literal in the sense that the Old Testament is the same as the NEw Testament goes against the very message of Christ. Does that make sense? The Old Testament is a necessary prerequisite to Christ, it foreshadows Christ, it proved to us that we needed Christ. But we should always read the Old Testament in the spirit of Christ, and in so doing, it helps us understand the troubling (to our modern ethic) tribal aspects of the law, the miltaristic violence of the history books, the lurid visions of the prophets.
ReplyDeleteCary, if you believe that John was using figurative language to try and describle apache helicopters, do you believe that Moses was using figurative language to try and describe a vision of a billion(s) year old earth?
ReplyDeleteI do believe John did his best to describe something he had never seen with his level of understanding. Anything I state that I believe can be countered by anyone. I do not study many books of men who interpret what they think scripture is saying...I study the scripture for myself and ask for wisdom, knowledge and understanding.
DeleteI know, nothing wrong with that. But I just want to point out that so do others but they sometimes come to different conclusions but they are just as saved.
ReplyDeleteAnd I do think it's helpful to read what others have thought about God over the centuries. There are some great minds, much greater than mine, that help me understand God and the Bible. People like Thomas Aquinas, St Augustine, Thomas Becket, CS Lewis, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, NT Wright, H. RIchard Niehbur, Karl Barth, Marilynne Robinson, Philip Yancy...the list goes on and on. They are my "cloud of witnesses" spoken of in Hebrews 12.
ReplyDelete