Tag: Revelation

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Why the Vaccine is not the Mark of the Beast.

But this doesn’t mean it is a good idea! I need to state at the outset that I do not think the vaccine is a good idea, and the way it is being mandated casts much suspicion on the science behind it. This is a serious case of state overreach and if authority is granted to the civil government here it will become very difficult to pull it back.

Please do not think that my view that the vaccine is not the Mark of the Beast means that it meets my approval. It is certainly in the spirit of the Mark of Beast, but I don’t believe it qualifies as such.

  1. The rules surrounding Covid-19 vaccines have a strong similarity to the Mark of the Beast (Revelation 13:16-19).
    1. As vaccine mandates become more widespread it seems that employment is nearly impossible, and access to many marketplaces may be denied. So without the vaccine, one cannot buy and sell.
    2. This similarity is a strong one.
  2. If we are to understand the mark of the beast to be literal, it must be literal all the way down. It is not a good idea to take it literally (a mark) and not follow through consistently: 666 on the right hand or the forehead.
    1. The vaccines are not administered, nor do they leave a mark, on the right hand or on the forehead.
    2. The number 666 is not three sixes, but six hundred and sixty-six.
    3. There is no connection between the vaccine and this number.

  3. Worship: along with receiving the actual number, the Beast must be worshipped.

    1. Revelation 14:9 (ESV) 9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,
    2. It is not clear that receiving the Mark of the Beast is an act of worship. Worshipping the Beast is accompanied by receiving the Mark, but they are not synonymous.
    3. It is also not clear who is worshipped by those who receive the vaccine, so it is hard to say that they worship the Beast.
      1. Receiving a vaccine does not entail worship, although it may involve worship of medicine, safety, security, or the State.
  4. The identity of the Beast: if the Beast is to be worshipped, then the identity must be known to the worshipper. The connection between the Beast and 666 is intentional, not an accident. I would go so far as to say that receiving the Mark of the Beast is an act of worship of the Beast.
    Again, the issue is one of literal or figurative interpretation.
    1. Is the Beast an identifiable entity?
    2. It must not be automatically assumed that the Beast “the Antichrist,” since that name only occurs in the letters of John and never in Revelation.
    3. The identity of the Beast and the Mark of the Beast would have to be something that Christians in the 1st century as well as today can understand. First Century Christians would have no understanding of vaccines and would be unable to discern the Mark of the Beast, as they were commanded to do (Revelation 1:1 and Revelation 13:18).
  5. Voluntary: The Mark of the Beast seems to be voluntary and received by those who are willing participants in worshipping the Beast.
    1. This vaccine does not fit this qualification for:
      1. Many are vaccinated involuntarily. Not only under duress (such as to keep a job or to maintain custody of a minor child), but it is given to the impaired, frail, and mentally handicapped people are vaccinated without informed consent.
  6. Understanding the Mark of the Beast
    1. To understand the Mark of the Beast of Revelation 13:16, Revelation 14:1 should be read as its context: 14 Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads (see also Ezekiel 9:4, Revelation 7:3, 9:4, 22:4).
      1. The Mark on the forehead indicates ownership. All mankind is divided into two groups—those owned by the Beast and those owned by God.
      2. God does the marking of His people by His sovereign act. (Revelation 7:3)
    2. The Mark of the Beast and the worship of the Beast is in antithesis to the Worship of Yahweh.
      1. Deuteronomy 6:8 (ESV) 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
        1. Hand and forehead: thought and work (deeds)
        2. The Beast demands his mark hand or forehead
    3. It is very possible that the Mark of the Beast (666) refers to the name, “Nero” because the numbers six hundred, sixty-six in Hebrew spell the name “Nero.” Hebrew uses letters for numbers. The alternate reading of the text, 616, does the same thing using Latin numbers for letters.
    4. Emperor worship was a widespread demand by Nero by the early Christians. The emperors presented themselves as gods.
  7. Having said this, it should be remembered that:
    1. A government-mandated vaccine is a violation of the autonomy of the human body, and obedience to it forever changes the relationship between the government and the governed.
      1. This is an extreme example of government overreach.
    2. The current vaccines may be among the worst medical disasters unleashed on mankind.
    3. The Christian has an obligation to think critically and act accordingly.
    4. The conscience of the Christian must not be set aside for a government mandate.
    5. No Christian, pastor, or church should enable vaccine mandates.
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Five Reasons Why Churches Die

After hearing from the demographics party, it is easy to think that churches die because they are doing something wrong, or failing to do something right procedurally. That is, they have lost the technique, or have never gained the skills, “to reach their generation.”

I think this is bunk. Churches die for the reasons the Bible says they die; and by “death,” I don’t mean losing their property, finances, charitable status, but death—the congregation, a people gathered in Christ’s name, is no more.

Reason 1: Abandonment of the love of Christ (Revelation 2:4-5).

Reason 2: The false teachings of Balaam and sexual immorality. Toleration of false teaching (Revelation 2:14-15).

Reason 3: Tolerating a false prophetess, also called a Jezebel (as bad as it gets), who advocates for sexual immorality (Revelation 2:20).

Reason 4: Having a reputation of being alive, but that reputation is only among men and not known to God. Therefore, it is note having the works pleasing to God. (Revelation 3:1-2).

Reason 5: Pride, smugness, self-assuredness, which to God means uselessness (Revelation 3:15-18).

The Christian church, as a group in Ontario, is but a shell of its former self. By saying this I do not mean we must yearn for a nostalgic “good old days,” but admit that we are in decline (this is a place where demographic studies might help). What is unique in our message is lost to a majority of the people in Ontario. The province is growing in population, we are not.

I think it is far too easy to assume that the reason for our decline is that we are doing the wrong things (or failing to do the right things). There is no fix, technique, model, program or church growth guru that will turn this around.

We must somehow come to see that the problem we face is one of belief and life. We must also that Christ has never tolerated false teaching and ungodly living in His church. We are no exception. No technique can grow death, and growth in false belief and ungodliness is the mark of the Mormons, Islam, the prosperity “Gospel,” and such abominations. A methodology may work but not be true and faithful.

Unfaithfulness and ungodliness always results in God’s judgement. To say that we are under the judgement of God reflects reality more than to say that the population is simply not open anymore to the gospel. The Gospel grows in closed lands, and Ontario is hardly closed. If we think we live in an impossible land, we should ask ourselves how it was that the small band of outsider disciples flipped the world over in one generation.

In summary, we are dying because God wants us dead, if we continue in our present state.

What to do? Let’s look at the five reasons again:

Reason 1: Abandonment of the love of Christ (Revelation 2:4-5).

Are we more in love with programs, worldly reputation, methods, and signs of success? Do we claim to care so much for people that we fail to realise we serve Christ first, and people as a part of that? Do we spend time in the Word of God, or is our approach, “I already read that.” Are we mining the depths of God’s wisdom in Scripture and communicating to Him in prayer? Is our first inclination to read the Bible and pray at the onset of a challenge? Are our sermons an explanation of the Bible, or our opinions with the Bible added for authority? What is our final authority, and how often do we consult it?

Solution: Repent and go back to the beginning (Revelation 2:5). We never outgrow the love of Christ.

Reason 2: The false teachings of Balaam and sexual immorality. Toleration of false teaching (Revelation 2:14-15).

The religion of Balaam, is what taught the Israelites to indulge in the pagan practises of their neighbours (Numbers 25:1-4). Do we tolerate those of unholy living to encourage others to do the same? What are our neighbours’ pagan practises? Greed, immorality, sexual immorality, shallowness, pride, lust, hatred—to name a few. Do we stand in these or against them? What do we tolerate? Answering this question will show us the danger we’re in, the danger of Christ’s judgement.

Do we tolerate false teaching? Do we welcome books like “The Shack” or “Jesus Calling” into our homes and fellowship? Do we even understand why these are problems?

Solution: Repent. Repentance in Scripture means to change our minds, and therefore our actions.

Reason 3: Tolerating a false prophetess, also called a Jezebel (as bad as it gets), who advocates for sexual immorality (Revelation 2:20).

The teaching of the false prophetess is that one can be an idolater and sexually immoral and remain a Christian (Revelation 14:8; 17:1-19:10).

It is no secret that churches have not done well holding the line against the sexual revolution of the 1960s, which is now bearing the bitter fruit of every kind of deviancy. Many once strong congregations have caved into this pressure, and, in the name of reaching people, have abandoned the truth of the Gospel and the hope it brings to those caught up in immorality!

Solution: Develop a holy intolerance of this false teaching. Prepare to take an unpopular stand, and prepare yourself to be betrayed by those you thought were Christian brothers and sisters.

Reason 4: Having a reputation of being alive, but that reputation is only among men and not known to God. Therefore, it is not having the works pleasing to God. (Revelation 3:1-2).

Are our works things that matter to God, or what brings prestige to ourselves? Do we look good to others because we have made that our aim, rather than pleasing God? Do we have an uneasy sense that we are alive on the surface, but dead inside (and if we do, that is a gift of God)?

Solution: Wake up, strengthen what you do have that’s good, remember, keep it, and repent (Revelation 3:2, 3).

Reason 5: Lukewarm: Pride, smugness, self-assuredness, which to God means uselessness (Revelation 3:15-18).

Are our churches neither healing, like the hot medicinal pools of Hierapolis (near Laodicea), or refreshing like the cold springs of Colossae (also near Laodicea), but putridly lukewarm like the water piped in to Laodicea? Are we useless to God, because we have defined usefulness according to the world’s standards and not according to Christ’s? A Laodicean Christian would recoil at the comparison!

Is our confidence in the Gospel, or in our wealth and self-confidence? Are we poor before God, or wealthy, even if only in our own eyes? Do we have a holy dependence upon Christ or do we only need Him for salvation and try to take over our lives after that?

Solution: Come back to Christ for what we need as a church; buy from Him (Isaiah 55:1ff). We renew our relationship with Him by opening the door to our churches to Christ.

Common to all of the above solutions is that we must remember the faith we once had, repent for giving it up, and returning to our First Love. Failing this, why would we linger? We may remain, but our lampstands will be removed.