What You Need to Know

The Bible talks about a mark people will get in their right hand or forehead during the tribulation called the mark of the beast.

The beast is the antichrist. When a person receives this mark, it shows their worship of the antichrist. The false prophet will be performing miraculous signs and will be causing many around the world to take this mark. Without this mark, people won’t be able to buy anything (including groceries), and neither will they be able to work at a job.

Once an individual has received this mark, that person has lost his or her salvation (the biblical reasoning behind this will be discussed in part 2). During the tribulation the decisions you make may cause you to lose your life, but through Jesus you are able to save your soul.

The mark of the beast will not happen until after the rapture. Even though true Christians will not be present on earth, it’s important we all understand what this is so that we can warn our family and friends who may not have a relationship with the Lord. Things are happening now that are setting the stage for the mark. When people see Bible prophecy coming to pass, it should be a wake-up call for all of us to get ready.

Once the rapture happens, all kinds of evil will break loose. Those who did not fully give their hearts to God prior to the rapture will be left behind to endure a time of terrible distress on the earth. If they survive the initial chaos of the rapture, they will still have an opportunity to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but the circumstances for doing so post-rapture will be much more difficult. There will be immense persecution. As Matthew 24:9 states, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.”

The False Prophet Will be Persuasive

In the same way that God places a mark or a seal on someone (Revelation 9:4), the devil will also place a mark on the hand or forehead of those who belong to him. He will use the antichrist (AKA the first beast) and the false prophet (AKA the second beast) to accomplish this. The false prophet will be the one in charge of getting the masses to worship the antichrist and to take what the Bible calls the mark of the beast.

A prophet is someone who speaks divinely inspired words. Since he is a false prophet, that means he is not speaking the words of God.

Revelation 13:11, “Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.”

Jesus is the Lamb of God, and Satan is known as a dragon. The false prophet may appear gentle and religious due to the lamb reference, but he will be speaking words of the devil since he is speaking like a dragon.

Satan is going to use the antichrist and false prophet to display his power. The false prophet will perform signs and wonders to convince people to take this mark.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie.”

Miracles can be very convincing to get someone to follow false teaching. I see people who are convinced that the apparitions of Mary are from God because miracles are taking place. Tears roll down the face of the statue, and people are ready to believe them as a divine sign. If you want to read a good book about those apparitions, I recommend Messages from Heaven by Jim Tetlow.

Miracles are not only performed by God. The devil taps into the supernatural to lead many astray.

• Revelation 13:2-4, The devil has a throne, power and great authority, and he uses it.
• Revelation 16:14, The Bible says demon spirits perform signs.
• Matthew 7:22, People who don’t know the Lord can prophecy, cast out demons and perform miracles.
• Matthew 24:24, False Christs and prophets can perform great signs and wonders that even believers could possibly fall for.
• Exodus 8:7, Pharaoh’s wise men performed a lot of the same signs Moses and Aaron were able to do through God. They called up Frogs.
• Exodus 7:21-22, The wise men turned water into blood.
• Exodus 7:11-12, Aaron threw his staff down and it turned into a snake. Pharaoh’s men threw down their staffs, and they turned into snakes. Aaron’s snake swallowed up the wise men’s snakes. Satan will imitate God and his miracles, but Jesus is always more powerful.

It’s possible the devil may cause it to look like there was a resurrection or miraculous healing of the antichrist. The false prophet will then point to the antichrist for the world to worship him.

Revelation 13:12, “And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.”

The false prophet will also be persuasive, as is evidenced in Revelation 13:13-14: “He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast….”

The Mark and Its Consequences

Now that the false prophet has everyone’s attention, people will believe him, and he will convince people to take the mark of the beast.

Revelation 13:16-18, “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, 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. 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.”

It sounds like everyone, no matter their status in life, will be required to get this mark if they want to buy or sell anything. Sell could mean work. You’re selling your services or a product to make a living.

Imagine not being able to work or allowed to buy anything to feed your family. People will be tempted to take this mark for their survival or the survival of their loved ones.

The Bible says that when they take the mark, they will break out in horrible sores all over their body. Revelation 16:2, “The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.” Revelation 16:11 says they will curse God due to their sores.

Festering sores or boils, as some translations say, will be the least of their problems. The Bible says that those who receive this mark will be sealing their fate to everlasting damnation in hell. This might be the only time in history that a living person cannot repent and be saved.

Revelation 14:9-11, “A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: ‘If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.'”

Revelation 13:8, “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast – all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.”

Most likely, the mark will probably have a person’s financial and medical information within it. We have seen technology increase so much that we have the ability to implant a device such as the Radio Frequency Identification chip (RFID), which is the size of a grain of rice, under someone’s skin. It can hold all your personal data, from credit cards to health history. The mark could be an invisible tattoo that has something like a bar or a QR code they can scan. There’s currently something in the works where invisible ink is placed in the arm of a person who gets a vaccine. The tattoo on their arm will highlight with a smartphone app or an inferred light.

We can only speculate what the mark will be since the Bible is not specific and technology is changing every day. What we do know is that we will recognize the mark because it will be in the right hand or forehead and you will not be able to buy or sell without it.

Endure Till the End

It won’t be easy to reject the mark of the beast, especially if your family is hurting. I guarantee they would rather have you in heaven with them than for you to receive this mark to save them from a temporary situation that probably won’t end well anyway. Don’t be tempted to do it for them.

Beheadings will be more common in the tribulation. As it is, we already see beheadings taking place in other countries because people are refusing to deny Jesus. It will get much worse, but if people are strong enough to die for Jesus, they will reign with him after the tribulation.

Revelation 20:4, “Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also, I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

As tempting as it may be to deny Jesus, don’t do it!

Matthew 10:32-33, “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.”

Matthew 10:28, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Hell on earth is temporary and will end the moment you die and are brought into the loving arms of your Savior, but the real hell is far worse than you imagined, and it’s permanent. A billion years from now, you will still be there.

Matthew 25:46, “And these [the cursed] will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Matthew 24:13, “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

Matthew 16:24-25, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.'”

Jesus had to endure the cross, but he was able to do that by looking toward the future.

Hebrews 12:2, “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Revelation 2:10, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

You can endure as well. The bigger picture of eternal glory with Christ puts our present sufferings in a different perspective.

Your sister in Christ,

Jenny

RiseAndShineLOTW@Gmail.com

 

A Dozen Signs That Tell Us We Live on the Edge of Eternity

We live on the edge of eternity. For those who know Jesus as their Savior, it will start when He catches us up to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:3-17). Those left behind will face the horrors of the seven-year Tribulation.

As many of you know, I often write about the signs of the time. However, I feel compelled to do so again as a reminder both to myself as well as to others of the nearness of Jesus’ appearing.

Apart from the first sign listed below, they appear in no particular order. Together, however, they shout to us that we indeed live in biblical times. We live on the edge of the start of our exciting adventure that begins with Jesus’ appearing to take us home.

1. Rebirth of Israel

The rebirth of Israel forms the bedrock of our conviction that we live in the last days of human history as we know it. Most, if not all, other end-time prophecies depend on a restored Israel. For example, according to Jesus, the antichrist’s future defilement of the temple happens during the Tribulation (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15). This could not happen apart from the rebirth of Israel as a nation.

The reemergence of Israel in 1948 as a nation after two thousand years was an astounding miracle, and it happened precisely as the prophet Isaiah predicted (66:8). It sets the stage for the rest of the signs regarding the end of the age.

2. Third Temple Preparations

In AD 180, church father Irenaeus wrote that someday the antichrist would defile a rebuilt temple. [i] Isaac Newton, known for his great scientific mind and discoveries, predicted over two hundred years in advance that Israel would again become a nation. Not only that, but he also predicted that the antichrist would desecrate the temple during the Tribulation period.

Today, this third temple is far along in the planning phase. Based on over thirty years of research, the Temple Institute in Israel has prepared most of the furnishings for it, procured the architectural plans for it, and is training Levites to serve as its priests. The fervor for building this temple is strong within the nation. Israel has already begun planning the infrastructure to deal with the large crowd of visitors once it’s completed.

Recently, the Facebook page of the Temple Institute in Israel displayed a LEGO depiction of the planned third temple in Israel.

3. Vaccine Mandates/Passports

The vaccine mandates, along with the issuing of vaccine passports, foreshadow the coming mark of the beast as depicted in Revelation 13:16-18. In several places in America and around the world, one cannot eat in restaurants or attend public events without proof of vaccination.

In a previous post, Transhumanism: The Path to the Mark of the Beast, I demonstrate how current technology, meant to enforce vaccinations, will later lead directly to the fulfillment of Revelation 13:16-18.

What we see today with the mask and vaccine mandates is conditioning people to accept the future mark of the beast. The push for transhumanism on the part of the most powerful people in the world lies behind the vaccine mandates of so many governments around the world.

4. Worldwide Obsession with the COVID-19 Vaccines

In Revelation 18, which speaks to the destruction of Babylon, we find these words, “and all nations were deceived by your sorcery” (v. 23). The word for “sorcery” in the Greek is Pharmakeia from which we get our English word “pharmaceuticals.” It’s more than a little interesting that during the Tribulation, drugs will be a key means of deception.

As JD Farag points out, there has never been a time when all the nations of the world are promoting a vaccine. Some are more forceful than others, but that does not diminish the prophesied worldwide obsession over them that we already witness.

Peter Koenig, a geopolitical analyst and former Senior Economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), wrote the following about the universal push for the COVID-19 injections.

What these measures do – “Vaccination Certificate / Passport” for the jabbed – is to separate society into the “good ones,” the “vaccinated” ones; and the “bad guys,” those who are not vaccinated, do not intend to get the deadly jab ….

. . . all 193 UN member countries whose governments have been coopeted in a long preparation period – would like you to believe that the non-vaccinated are a danger for society. [ii]

Just as John predicted in Revelation 18:23 in regard to the seven-year Tribulation, we find that all the nations of the world are already hooked on a Pharmakeia, or what we know as the COVID-19 vaccines.

5. The Great Reset/Build Back Better

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, the phrases “Great Reset” and “build back better” have become a part of our vocabulary, but so few recognize the sinister agenda behind them.

The “Great Reset” represents the building back of sustainable economic and environmental systems to replace the current failed system; i.e., capitalism. Klaus Schwab, the founder and chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), unveiled his Marxist agenda in May of 2020, hoping to capitalize on the turmoil caused by COVID-19.

Klaus Schwab said this in July of 2020, “The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world.” [iii] Here “reimagine” equals the merging of humans with machines, and “reset” refers to the Marxist regime that the WEF promotes under via its build back better campaign. The Great Reset is the economic side of the New World Order envisioned under the UN’s agenda 2030.

Prophetically speaking, these phrases point to the coming kingdom of the antichrist that’s already forming throughout the world. Do not be deceived by benign-sounding terms such as “build back better”; they foreshadow a wicked tyranny that will be far worse than anything the world has ever experienced.

6. Prince Charles’ Speech at COP26

Prince Charles, speaking about climate action at the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow on November 1, 2021, made a startling statement regarding “economic transition,” which is the Great Reset advocated by the WEF that helped sponsor the event. Here is a quote from his speech:

We also know that countries, many of whom are burdened by growing levels of debt, simply cannot afford to go green. Here we need a vast military-style campaign to marsh the strength of the global private sector, with trillions at his disposal far beyond global GDP, and with the greatest respect, beyond even the governments of the world’s leaders. It offers the only real prospect of achieving fundamental economic transition. [iv]

Many students of biblical prophecy wonder about Charles’ reference to having trillions of dollars at “his disposal.” Who is this mysterious person? Could it be the coming “lawless one” waiting in the wings for the right time to step onto the world stage?

How eerie is it that Prince Charles may have actually referred to the antichrist as someone already alive and able to demand such allegiance?

He also may have inadvertently confirmed that the massive transfer of wealth to corporations and the rich taking place through the climate change emergency and the COVID-19 vaccines is all about the coming New World Order.

7. Inflation

The inflation that’s sweeping across America and much of the world is just a small sampling of what lies ahead in the not-too-distant future. For many years, I have suspected that the economic turmoil described in Revelation 6:5-6 was just around the corner. In several ways, the fact that it has not yet happened defies some of the things I learned about economics in my MBA classes at the University of Iowa.

I believe the Lord is sovereignly holding back the fulfillment of the economic chaos predicted in Revelation 6. At some future point, however, the Lamb will open this seal and unleash the monetary crisis that many financial experts predict will happen as the result of the massive worldwide debt and printing of money.

8. Deception

Scripture tells us that the Tribulation period will be a time of widespread deception upon the earth (Matthew 24:23-25; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12; Revelation 13:11-15). The antichrist will deceive multitudes of people who will, in turn, worship him.

The amount of deception present in our world takes my breath away; it’s staggering. The duplicity already rampant in our world tells me that the Lord is already preparing the world for the future “wicked deception” that will pave the way for the rule of the antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:10).

9. Lawlessness

In Matthew 24:12, Jesus predicted that during the Tribulation, the world would see an increase in “lawlessness.” In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-9, Paul refers to the antichrist as the “lawless one” and the “man of lawlessness.” Lawlessness will define both the antichrist and his kingdom.

With enough time and research, I could write a very long post detailing the multitude of evidence pertaining to the increased lawlessness in our world. In the U.S., we read of flash mobs that overwhelm stores and steal vast amounts of valuable merchandise. Calls to defund the police and the virtual elimination of bail for arrested criminals all add fuel to the fire of the anarchy and violence present in some cities in the U.S. A dozen cities have already broken records for murders in a year’s time.

We also see lawlessness at the government level in America and across the world as elected officials defy written laws and constitutions and impose their own selfish will upon those they govern.

10. The Rise of a One-World Religion

Under the guidance of Pope Francis and many other religious leaders, the One-World Religion complex in the United Arab Emirates will open in 2022. The website for this initiative describes it as follows:

The Abrahamic Family House will be a beacon of mutual understanding, harmonious coexistence, and peace among people of faith and goodwill. It consists of a mosque, church, synagogue, and educational center to be built on Saadiyat Island, the cultural heart of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Through its design, it captures the values shared between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and serves as a powerful platform for inspiring and nurturing understanding and acceptance between people of goodwill. The vision for the Abrahamic Family House originated after the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity by Pope Francis and Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayeb in February 2019. [v]

Could there be a clearer indicator of the nearness of one-world religion that will emerge during the Tribulation? I don’t think so.

11. Mocking/Loss of Faith

The Apostle Peter warned about scoffers who would arrive on the scene during the last days asking this question, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Pet. 3:4).

Jude echoes this sentiment in regard to latter-day scoffers in verses 17-19:

“But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, ‘In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.’ It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.”

During much of the twentieth century, Bible-believing churches proclaimed our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:11-14) as the pretribulation Rapture, and no one laughed. Today, it’s mocked from many pulpits and ridiculed by a great many people both within and outside the church, just as the apostles said would happen in the last days.

12. Gog/Magog War

It’s staggering to contemplate how the prophet Ezekiel, who lived 2,600 years ago, could have so accurately predicted the current situation in the Middle East. Only God could reveal the future with such precision.

Consider three key aspects of his prophecy in chapter 38:

1. Russia, Iran, and Turkey will form a close alliance that will lead the future invasion of Israel (see 38:1-6; it’s based on ancient names for these nations).
2. The prosperity of Israel will cause this group to invade (38:10-12). Israel has incredible wealth through natural gas and oil, among other things.
3. Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia will merely protest the greed of the invaders rather than join with them (38:13).

Who could possibly have predicted these three things just twenty-five years ago apart from the words Ezekiel wrote long, long ago?

We see tensions continually rising as Israel repeatedly bombs Iranian installations in Syria and sabotages nuclear facilities within Iran.

Today, everything is in place for the spark that will ignite this war. I believe it will happen when the Lord puts into the heart of Gog to go after the current riches in Israel (Ezekiel 38:4, 16).

It’s Time to Look Up

It’s the sum total of these signs, along with others, that tell us we live in the last moments before our Lord Jesus intervenes in world history. As believers, it’s time to live with the awareness that Jesus’ return to take us home is ever so close. It’s time to look up in eager anticipation of the completion of our adoption into God’s family and the redemption of our physical bodies (Romans 8:23-25).

I am not saying He will come for us this year or the next, although that is entirely possible. I am saying that the biblical signs of the last day tell us that we already live in the shadow of the rapidly approaching Tribulation period, which signifies that our homegoing must also be close.

If you do not yet know the Lord as your Savior, please know that the time is short. Turn to the Savior today for the forgiveness of your sins and eternal life.

Romans 10:13 says, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Such faith recognizes that one is a sinner and that Jesus’ death on the cross suffices to pay the debt for one’s sins. It’s just as John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

This gift of eternal life comes as the result of faith, not of works. See this post on my website, Salvation in No Other Name, for more information on so great a salvation that comes freely as the result of grace and how you can know you are an heir of eternal life.

Jonathan Brentner

Website: Our Journey Home

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E-mail: Jonathanbrentner@yahoo.com

[i] Irenaeus, Against Heresies, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 10 vols. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979) Vol. 1, p. 560.

[ii] Peter Koenig, Video: Digital Tyranny and the Rockefeller-Gates WHO “Vaxx-Certificate Passport”: Towards a World War III Scenario, November 28, 2021 @ https://www.globalresearch.ca/worldwide-resistance-against-vaccine-covid-fraud/5755538

[iii] Quote from the WEF website: https://www.weforum.org/focus/the-great-reset

[iv] Prince Charles COP26 Climate Summit Glasgow Speech Transcript, November 1, 2021. @ https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/prince-charles-cop26-climate-summit-glasgow-speech-transcript

[v] About the Abrahamic Family House, @ https://www.forhumanfraternity.org/abrahamic-family-house/