Revelation 13:1 Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising
up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten
crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. 2
Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a
bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power,
his throne, and great authority. 3 And I saw one
of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was
healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. 4 So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the
beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast? Who
is able to make war with him?" 5 And he was
given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority
to continue for forty-two months. 6
Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His
tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. 7 It
was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And
authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose
names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. …13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire
come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14
And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which
he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the
earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. 15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of
the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as
would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 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 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.
Numbers are very useful to humans. They indicate who we
are, (for social, corporate and governmental purposes,) they tell us how fast
we can drive, they tell us how wealthy we are, they tell us how many friends or
followers we have, and in this case – they tell us who we follow.
Of all the things counterfeited by Satan, his employment
of the mark of the beast is the most sinister. If you remember, previously
144,000 witnesses of the tribes of Israel had been marked, or sealed by God. Revelation
14:1 tells us they were marked by having His (Jesus’) Father’s name written on
their foreheads.
An act of the will was necessary to allow this, and this
act of the will completely exposes these 144,000 witnesses to BE witnesses
whether they say anything or not. It is written on their faces. One thing you
cannot run from is your face.
Now along comes anti-Christ, and one of his first acts of
violence is to the souls of men. He forces a ‘voluntary’ act of compliance to
the name of Satan – the mark of the Beast. There is no way around this but to
accept death by defiance to the mark being placed, and the only means by which
this may be carried out is to, ‘not love your life to death.’ (Rev 12:11) Given
man’s keen interest in his own survival, this will place following God on an
altar unprecedented in the history of the world, known only by those martyrs
who have preceded us in history. Never on this scale has death been required to
follow Jesus.
Today is the day of salvation. Don’t let it pass. This is
the day of an easy mark. Soon and very soon, the day of your salvation will be
marked by death.
-Pastor Bill
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