END TIMES

Chapter 2

Receive the mark of the beast:

Now of course the next most obvious question is: What does it mean to receive the mark of this beast in the forehead or hand? The answer I've found is actually two fold.

Mark in the forehead:

One clue comes to us from another verse in the book of Revelation that talks about those "who have their Father's name written on their foreheads" (God's seal in their foreheads - Revelation 9:4) This obviously is a reference to believers who've been bought by the blood of Christ. The interesting correlation I find here, is the location of the name or (as well as) the mark. Both are on the individuals' forehead. Now obviously, believers don't literally have the name of our Father written on our foreheads; but we can be identified as what we are by our fruits.

The chief purpose of a Christian, as commissioned by God, is to "take the gospel into all the world". We proclaim the gospel both verbally and in action, by the lives we live and the works we perform. "Faith (belief, trust in Christ) without works is dead." The "works" and the "fruit" are both internal and external. We grow in trust, hope, love, patience, goodness, proper attitude, good works etc.

Comparing these two Scriptures with each other, I think is pointing out to us that a belief system (in the mind / forehead i.e. "mark of the beast" or "Father's name") is made manifest by the works of the hands.

Mark in the hand:

Now here is an interesting (yet I think significant) anomaly I discovered about the difference in the language of Revelation 13 (mark in forehead or hand) and the language in Revelation 19 that talks about those "receiving" the mark being cast into the lake of fire.

The words translated "received" in chapter 13 and 19 are two different words. The chapter 13 word means "to be imparted with" and is usually in passive voice, where as the chapter 19 word means to "run after and take hold of". In chapter 13, the second beast (the one with lamb horns) causes "all the peoples of the earth" to "receive" (passive) the mark of the (first) beast. In Chapter 19 though, only those who "received" (actively sought) the mark and worshiped the beast are cast into the lake of fire.

So as the language of the text indicates, we apparently have two sets of people who "receive" the mark of the beast; yet they do so in different ways. This I think could be the distinction between those who "run after and take hold of" it in their forehead and those who "are imparted with" it on their hand.

Now, why the distinction? Why not impart everyone who is to receive the mark on the forehead? Maybe because of Revelation 9? Could it be that some of those who passively receive it in their hand, have already been marked on their foreheads by their Heavenly Father? Keep in mind that only those who actively received the mark and worshiped the beast are cast into the lake of fire.

With all this being said; I just recently found another "monkey wrench" to be thrown into my theory on marks in hands and foreheads. That wrench was found in Revelation 20 verse 4. The context is those beheaded for the witness of Jesus ... "neither had received his mark in their foreheads or in their hands..."

Now the verb "receive" in Revelation 20:4 is consistent with chapter 19's "actively sought" version of "receive"; as opposed to being "passively imparted with". The perplexing issue is, if one is marked with the Father's name on their forehead, how can they have the "actively sought" mark on their hand? Would not the "actively sought" mark be on their foreheads, because they aren't marked otherwise?

Looking a little more closely at "or" in verse 4 though, I discovered that it's a different word "or" than in chapter 13. The word "or" in chapter 20 is usually translated "and" not "or". It's what's listed in Greek as a "copulative conjunction" (I know, doesn't that sound weird?) which means it joins two phrases as opposed to "in", "on", "under" which are prepositions.

So, Revelation 20 gives us a little more information about those who "actively seek" the mark of the beast, that not only do they "receive" it on the forehead, but apparently also in the hand. Now in Revelation 20's verse "hand" is actually translated "hands"; yet I don't see any indication in the Greek that this word is plural. Meaning they have one "siege trench" mark on one hand and a different "actively seek" mark on the other? In Revelation 13 though, those who "passively receive" the mark receive it in their right hand.

Why the distinction between the right and left hand; I'm not sure? I know "right hand" is the hand of favor. Yet if one is forcibly imparting a proverbial mark to another's right hand because the mark giver believes they are favored that way; I suppose that would make "earthy sense". It may be a type of covert spy move upon the part of God because the enemy can't tell by mark on hand who really belongs to Whom? And if I'm correct about the second beast having connection to apostate Christianity; that would make sense. After all, we do see other examples of spies being used in the Scriptures.

Buying and selling with the mark of the beast:

Now we've been talking about the fact that this beast is not a specific geo-political, economic or technological system, yet indeed has infiltrated all these systems and uses them to it's own greedy gain. Revelation 13 tells us that no one can buy or sell without either having the mark of the beast, his name, or his number. Note that the text does not say one has to have the mark to buy or sell. No, they have to have either the mark, the name, or the number.

So what does that all mean?

We've already noted how there are crowns and kings and kingdoms attached to this beast. We've also talked about how the beasts in Daniel are indeed political kingdoms. The text itself tells us that. So, making the assumption that because the geo-political realities this beast is involved in are real earthly kingdoms; I think it's a safe bet to say that the "buying and selling" Revelation 13 is talking about involves a real economic system.

So, taking a look at our current "global economy"; who knows anything about our world banking system - raise your hand!

Modern "coincidences"?

Here's where this all gets "scary real". All the world's currencies are tied to the American dollar. The US Federal Reserve isn't backed by anything other than it's own lick and a promise. No one is on the gold standard any more. The American government runs up debt and other countries buy that debt to "back" the American government because the American dollar is the world's currency standard. The dollar is backed by the promise of the US government to pay it's debts; but since there is no way the US government can actually pay off it's trillions of dollars of debt, it sells it off to other countries, who in turn sell it off to other countries and it just gets passed around "indefinitely". It's really a big Ponzi scheme and at this point it has gotten so bad, that I personally highly doubt that any other country is going to "call in the debts" because the United States has the largest economy in the world and if our economy goes down, planet earth goes with us. This is why the stock market did wild things when Trump was elected.

Now, all banks and banking systems are interconnected and run on the same schema. You have to pay interest to borrow money for anything (like houses and cars), plus what ever fees the banks charge for routing around and redistributing funds. What type of interest rate a person gets depends on their credit score. The better credit, the better bank terms; which means invariably that the people with poor credit end up paying more. They are the base of this Ponzi pyramid. This is how the rich get richer when investments turn back good dividends and the poor get poorer when they loose money because of crooked investment bankers, inside trading and stuff like that. Artificial inflation "bubbles" develop and when they pop, the market crashes and economies shrink and the system has to "reset" itself.

This is all based in a schema called "usury lending". This schema started in 1785 with a money lender in Germany who discovered he could make far more selling and lending to governments than individuals. His name was Mayer Amschel Bauer; which he later changed to "Rothschild".

So here is the financial aspect of this system. This "buying and selling"; and as anyone who uses money as part of their economic dealings understands, it is impossible to get away from. It is a world wide system and only 3 countries in the world today are not a part of it. They are Iran, North Korea and Cuba. In 2000 there were 4 others; Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and Lybia. (Thus lends some interesting insights to the current world political conflicts.)

Now isn't this all starting to look a lot like chapter 13 of Revelation? Wait! It gets better.

So, back to our first century Christian. Obviously they would not have known anything about Amschel Rothschild who was born in 1744, but would they have recognized the system? If they were familiar with 1st Century Judaism, Yes they would have, because it existed "way back then".

Remember the people Jesus threw out of the temple - the money changers! Well, here is how the system worked. Everyone at least once a year was to come to the temple to bring a sacrifice. The leadership at the time though had set up a system that forced worshipers to buy animals supplied by the system. (At an inflated price of which people would have to "borrow money" to cover the expenses of their desire to be obedient to God's commands.

Now even if you'd brought your own perfectly suitable lamb for a sacrifice, you had to exchange it for an "officially sanctioned sacrifice". This is why Jesus (after getting… seriously angry) said "My father's house is to be a place of prayer for all nations, but you have turned it into a den of thieves!"

In another place Jesus says "the love of money is the root of (the whole of / completion of) evil." Not only did the leaders of the nation hate Christ because they knew he was the Messiah, he also disturbed their little side business they had going.


Now, the next logical question is what is the name of the beast, who is the "man" who's number is 666? Well to tackle that question, we have to look at a little history.