QUESTION: What is the mark of the beast and how can one avoid having such a mark?

ANSWER: That is a good question. It is a question that Jehovah’s Witnesses should seriously reconsider. But to better appreciate the significance of the 666 mark of the beast the question ought to be rephrased to ask: What and when is the mark of the beast? Allow me to explain.

The Watchtower last touched on the topic of the mark of the beast more than 10 years ago. The April, 2004, Watchtower published an article entitled: Identifying the Wild Beast and Its Mark.

The article explains that people receive the mark of the beast by giving to caesar that which belongs to God. That might seem like an adequate explanation, but it glosses over and actually diminishes the real significance of what the mark represents. How so? The Watchtower is implying that people have already received the mark of the beast and they have done so simply by giving their allegiance to the political state. Here is what the article states:

Likewise, those having the mark of the beast proclaim their servitude to the beast. Thus, the mark, whether on the right hand or on the forehead, figuratively speaking, is a symbol that identifies its bearer as one who gives worshipful support to the beastlike political systems of the world. Those having the mark give to “Caesar” that which rightly belongs to God. How? By giving worshipful honor to the political state, its symbols, and its military might, to which they look for hope and salvation. Any worship that they render the true God is merely lip service.

Again, the Watchtower’s explanation seems reasonable; however, the notion that people have already received the mark is simply wrong. How can that be determined though? Well, consider what Revelation says regarding those who receive the mark of the beast. For example, in the 14th chapter of Revelation, we read: “And another angel, a third, followed them, saying in a loud voice: ‘If anyone worships the wild beast and its image, and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his hand, he will also drink of the wine of the anger of God that is poured out undiluted into the cup of his wrath, and he shall be tormented with fire and sulphur in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and day and night they have no rest, those who worship the wild beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.’” 

“Mankind has been put under compulsion to accept the mark of the wild beast, with the intent that “nobody might be able to buy or sell except a person having the mark, the name of the wild beast or the number of its name.” But there is a price to pay for this! Jehovah regards those who accept the mark as being stricken with “a hurtful and malignant ulcer.” Since 1922 they have been marked in public as having rejected the living God.” – Grand Climax para 4

Here are a few questions for thinking Jehovah’s Witnesses to consider: If people have already received the mark of the beast—and according to the Watchtower the marking began in 1922 with the establishment of the League of Nations—in what way have the supposed recipients of the mark been forced to “drink the wine of the anger of God”?

By describing the smoke of their torment forever ascending, it is assumed that the worshippers of the beast die an ignominious death, like Judas, who lives forever in infamy as the betrayer of Christ. But how can it possibly be true that the generations of persons that have come and gone over the past 90 years “have no rest”? (See article: Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mark of the Beast

Truly, the Watchtower recklessly minimizes the seriousness of receiving the mark. They, who claim to have echoed the heavenly trumpets of God’s earthshaking apocalyptic judgments to the Devil’s world, have denounced a pitiful few to everlasting death for what?

To be clear, the 17th chapter of Revelation says of them: “And when they see how the wild beast was, but is not, and yet will be present, those who dwell on the earth will wonder admiringly, but their names have not been written upon the scroll of life from the founding of the world.”

What does it mean if our name has not been written down in the scroll of life? It means we will never live again. It means we experience what Revelation calls the second death. It means we forfeit the opportunity to live again by means of the resurrection.

Furthermore, there is no indication that persons who receive the mark can by any means have the mark removed and thus have their names written down in the book of life. The mark of the beast, then, is the final judgment of God that determines the everlasting destiny of those living during the hour of judgment.

The Watchtower, however, cannot simply teach the obvious truth regarding when it is that the mark is administered, because to do so would result in the entire 1914 hoax coming unraveled. That is because the mark of the beast comes about in the aftermath of the recovery of the head of the beast from the sword stroke it receives. And the death stroke occurs as a result of Satan and the demons being ousted from heaven. And the wicked angels are thrown down to the earth when Christ begins ruling.

So, in order to perpetuate the 1914 delusion the Watchtower is compelled to absurdly imply that the victorious Anglo-American head of the beast actually suffered a tragic defeat during the First World War, only to miraculously recover to give rise to the League of Nations—the supposed image of the beast. And although the League by all accounts was an impotent institution, of which the mighty United States of America was not even a member, the Watchtower preposterously implies that all peoples of the world were coerced into worshipping the League. Of course, the Watchtower makes no attempt to explain how the League of Nations or its successor, the United Nations, may have prevented mankind from buying or selling.

Worst of all, the Society blasphemously implies that the God of justice has consigned hundreds of millions of souls to everlasting death because they may have thought the now-non-existent League of Nations was a good idea.

I say “imply” above because the Watchtower very cleverly avoids making clear and concise statements on the topic. They use carefully crafted weasel words to muddy the truth. They know the vast majority of Jehovah’s Witnesses would never dare question what they read in the Watchtower.

hand 666Up to this point, we have only considered the falsity of the Watchtower’s teaching of the meaning of the 666, the question still remains: What is the mark and how may we avoid receiving it?

Since the Watchtower’s 1914 doctrine is a demonstrable hoax, virtually everything Bethel has attached to 1914 must be reset to the future. That means the head of the wild beast has not received a mortal blow and then miraculously recovered, nor has the eighth king arisen from the abyss, which reasonably coincides with the recovery of the wounded head of the beast. That being the case, in order to get an inkling of what Revelation is foretelling we have to imagine what will happen in the event the present-day superpower known as the Anglo-American dyad were to suffer a catastrophic collapse.

Such a development is not at all far-fetched either. In fact, millions of people in the United States expect something catastrophic to occur in the near future. This fear has even given rise to what is called the Preppers movement—people who are preparing for disaster.

Presently the entire monetary and financial system is in a state of collapse. It is only being forestalled by fraud on a massive scale. But a day of reckoning is unavoidable, which is driving the leaders of the doomed system to ignite the next world war. 

“That symbolic “wild beast” was known at first as the League of Nations. It descended into the abyss of inaction during World War II of the years 1939-45 and then ascended out of the abyss in the form of the United Nations after that war. So since 1945 a perilous situation prevails that might affect the seeker after life eternal on a Paradise earth. He may be deceived into taking a course that will disqualify him for having his name written on “the scroll of life.” – WT 10-1-83 

As the day draws near some things are becoming clearer. For example, it appears as if Citibank has been selected to become the “bad bank” and the virtual detonator to blow up the system. That is because it appears that Citi is being loaded up with commodities derivatives contracts from other mega banks. In the third quarter alone Citi’s derivatives book swelled by nine trillion dollars. (Is Citi the next AIG?) As the price of oil continues to be collapsed by the London-Riyadh nexus those derivatives are going to come due in the trillions. In the event of the planned blowout of the financial system, all the big banks will lay claim to debt, which would include that of other banks, all private debtors, like anyone with a mortgage, corporations with bondholders, cities, states, and entire nations, in a word: The world! 

In reality, the mega banks are extensions of the Empire. They are supranational, now virtually above any regulation by nations, and are intended to enslave and plunder all the nations at the appointed time. Likely once the nations have been cut down a new system will emerge. From our perspective, it will probably most resemble communism—only total, from where the word “totalitarian” derives.  During that time the last king will emerge as a global government. The state will simply own everything and everyone. It is in that setting to which Revelation speaks, where it says:  “This is where it calls for endurance and faith on the part of the holy ones.”

Whether or not the mark will involve a chip or something of that nature really doesn’t matter. After all, there would be nothing inherently wrong with receiving an implanted computer chip. My dog has one and as near as I can tell it suffers no ill because of it. But it is what will be involved with being allowed to buy or sell that will matter. Since Satan is the god of this world and the Tempter, he surely knows what Jehovah requires and his design is to pressure us into being disloyal to God and his then-ruling Kingdom.

So, quite likely the mark of the beast will involve giving a pledge of support to the beast that will compromise our faith. Just what that will entail is not knowable right now. But we will be able to avoid the mark by being determined to be faithful to God even to the point of death. As long as we do not fear death the Devil will have no power to coerce us into worshiping his monstrosity during the day of terror.

It puts under compulsion all people—the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free and the slaves—that these should be marked on their right hand or on their forehead, and that nobody can buy or sell except a person having the mark, the name of the wild beast or the number of its name. 

This is where it calls for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the number of the wild beast, for it is a man’s number, and its number is 666.

 

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