The Mark of the Beast

This article is an excerpt from the book 'The Return of Christ and the Love of The Saints' by michael Storey.

Peace Taken from The Earth

The prospect of war enveloping the world may have struck the reader as a remote possibility earlier in this book, now in consideration with the startling suddenness of the collapse of the United States, UK and allies we can view that possibility from a new perspective.
The literal disappearance overnight of the dollar as a trading commodity and the shock and uncertainty that now exists will be the biggest factor affecting the world as a whole. Virtually all nations retain large reserves of dollars in one form or another, all these will be totally worthless and as a result a great number of smaller countries will be bankrupt overnight. International trade will in effect become unmanageable for the foreseeable future. In the vacuum a total reorganization of the status quo is required which in slightly different words means a rearranging of the pecking order, and ‘peck’ as MacArthur said will be ‘via the crucible of war’.

Whatever the order of priorities, be it to settle old grudges, sheer opportunism or strategic necessity, with out the world’s policeman on duty the temptation to loot, pillage and conquer is too much:

And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. 4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. Rev 6:3

And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. Matt 24:6

The ‘Great Falling Away’

In this Matthew verse there is an implicit confirmation of how biblical events are matching up to world events, to specifically encourage those that are still persevering with their faith in Christ. An expression that had seemed a little ambiguous: ‘wars and rumours of wars’ (hasn’t that always been the case?) now makes a lot more sense. It is tied to a very special set of circumstances that will become obvious at the time; in hindsight prophetic events are always that way.

‘Peace and safety’ in one form or another had been the ‘dream’, the predominant version, an expected early mass rapture did not only not eventuate but incredibly it was replaced with the exact opposite. This inexplicable turn of events will sadly shatter the faith of so many. Almost universally the reaction to anything other than the resurrection ‘the blessed hope’ occurring before any hardship, trial or suffering draws a negative response; usually very heated.

Typically the following verse is quoted as the basis for the rejection:

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Rom 8:1

All through history God’s people have had to endure persecution, that does not mean for one moment they were under God’s condemnation, exactly the opposite:

And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Matt 10:22

Having the faith to endure ‘to the end’ through performing all that is expected of them is what defines who God’s people will be.

But without faith it is impossible to please him: Heb 11:6

Who Is Deceiving And Who Is Not

Following the gospel going to the world, there were those who tried to direct fellow Christians into believing their ‘reward’ was imminent. Christ said ‘be careful not to be deceived’ and since the instruction that followed ‘you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars but the end is not yet’ is directed towards His people (the ‘you’) then we can be more confidant that a more appropriate message should be ‘war is coming’, not peace.

The Watchmen

In the book of Ezekiel we have a severe warning delivered to God’s people (those acting on God’s behalf). It is stressing the importance of ensuring what is going to happen is made extremely clear to the house of Israel.
The first thing we need to do is check the relevance of this section of scripture to the end time. Both chapters before and after contain clear references to the return of Christ so this has definite duality for us.

For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near. Ezek 30:3

And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. 8 All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GO Ezek 32:7 This is a reference to the 6th seal.

Chapter 34 is speaking about the gathering of Israel and bringing them to the Promised Land, with a lot of emphasis on the former irresponsible leadership (shepherds that fed themselves) within the church.

The subject that is under discussion: Israel; Joseph and Judah are about to collapse (within one month of each other, Hos 5:5,7) and be taken into captivity:

For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through. 29 Then shall they know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed. Ezek 33:28

However, since it is such an important subject for us it is worth repeating the warning and instruction in Ezekiel 33 is not so much for Israel as it is for God’s people in the end time. It is a direction for them that they must adequately warn Israel exactly what is going to happen or God will hold them personally responsible. Emphatically God wants everyone warned whether thy listen or not.

Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: 3 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; 4 Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. 6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman' hand. 7 So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. 8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man , thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 9 Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 10 Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live? 11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? 12 Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth. Ezek 33:1

In a parallel section in chapters 2 and 3, Ezekiel is warned that for all his trouble, very few will appreciate what he is saying, that is not the issue.

And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day. 4 For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD. 5 And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them. 6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. 7 And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious. 8 But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee. 9 And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; 10 And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe. Ezek 2:3

The idea of Christ returning is greeted as wonderful news. Coupled with the remarkable phenomenon that was the gospel going to the world, these messages all of a sudden have a lot of credibility; it really grabs their attention.
The first time the Messiah was expected there was wild jubilation when Christ came riding into Jerusalem on His borrowed donkey. The crowd cried out ‘God saves us’ expecting to be rescued from the Roman occupation at any moment.
While the crowd was crying out ‘Hosanna’, knowing what they didn’t, Jesus wept.

Christ went on to explain a very different set of circumstances were about to happen. He gave them a ‘hard saying’ and promptly most of his disciples gave up on the spot. Christ even had to ask the twelve if they would stick with Him.
False expectations can lead to great disappointment. When deliverance and reward is expected but national defeat and captivity is the reality a ‘great falling away’ will be inevitable.

Hope deferred maketh the heart sick. Prov 13:12

Right from the word go, any message that is not what people want to hear will be unpopular; the messengers themselves even more so. As with Jeremiah, if someone is saying: ‘Christ is coming, but your behavior is a stench up His nose, prepare to be taken into national captivity’ that person will virtually be seen as committing treason, anyone with that tone of voice could be locked up.

God’s People Spring Into Action

The gospel going to the world was the signal ‘the Lord cometh’. That was the confirmation it is time to stand up and be counted. God’s people are about to enter the most dynamic era of the church’s history. Far from rejoicing that it is all over, it is one of the most critical times in the Church’s history to roll up their sleeves and fulfill their vocation.

The wise virgins who were ready, who knew what they were watching for who fully understood what was going to happen next must now and the emphasis is on the ‘must’, fulfill the commission to warn that it is war that is coming not peace.
They also fully understand that within a few months all money, stocks, shares, property and savings of any kind will be utterly worthless. Anything that is surplus to the needs of the moment (Acts 2:45) are dispensed with and funds raised, every ounce of effort possible is poured into this warning. Whatever it takes, be it full-page advertisements in newspapers, or television and radio spots, however the warning can be delivered it must be done.
We have a very good indication of how much time is allocated to this phase of the end time work of the church.

Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. 12 And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered. 13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice , and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? 14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. Dan 8:11

The information given in this passage is basically asking and answering a question for us: how long a period of time will be involved in the: (a) Daily sacrifice. (b) Transgression of desolation. (c) The sanctuary and host to be trodden underfoot. The answer that was given is a total for all circumstances and this was 2300 days.
Lets get the question clear. The subject is the beast, the question: how long will he be casting down truth, persecuting the ‘daily sacrifice’ and the ‘host’ underfoot, or to get right down to the most basic issue; how long will the persecution on God’s people be? The answer was six years and four and a half months. (A biblical month is thirty days, a biblical year three hundred and sixty days unless an intercalated month is added to stay consistent with the solar year). Take that away from seven years, the period of the end time and we are left with seven and a half months before the beast begins his persecution on God’s people. How sure can we be about the 2300 days?

And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. 26 And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days. Dan 8:25

The vision of the morning and evenings is referring to the 2300 days, so they must be literal twenty four hour days not the ‘day for a year’ principal and in God’s own words: ‘true’. See: Charts

We are still left with some further explaining necessary concerning ‘the daily sacrifice’ and Daniel 9:27 which will be answered in the next chapter, what we do know is the beast is in existence within seven months of the gospel going to the world.

Before we can put this information to maximum use we need to step back for a little while and understand some more of the background. If the beast is persecuting the true people of God where is the beast and who exactly is it he is persecuting?

The Rise of The Beast

Once again the biblical clues that help us arrive at the correct timing or order of events are critical. I can’t stress enough the importance of using every single detail given to us in the bible if we have any chance of coming to an accurate conclusion. In this particular case it is the Revelation 14 order of proceedings that tells us: (1) the gospel goes to the world, (2) Babylon falls, (3) the warning not to take the mark of the beast takes place, this is followed by words to the effect that the persecution on the saints accompanies the period in which the ‘mark’ is being introduced. All other chapters and verses are consistent with this. A warning not to take the mark of the beast obviously must occur before the fact or it is not a warning.

We are now going to add two and two and make a reasonable assumption. Since the beast’s empire with the ten kings is for ‘one hour’ (Rev 17:12), indicating a very short time which we are given as forty two months, in this case the last three and a half years of the end time, and since the warning not to take the mark of the beast occurs after the fall of Babylon, and since the beast power is not Babylon and you can’t have two ‘hammers of the earth’ at the same time it follows that the beast power is not in existence until after the fall of Babylon.

Who Is The Beast

The balance of power in the world from a biblical perspective currently could be divided roughly along these lines: America and Britain and allies, the European Union, Russia and China with Asia combined and lastly the Middle East holding the oil reserves.
The EU combined is the world’s largest economy, the USA is the largest single nation economy, Russia is relatively small by comparison to both the USA and the EU and so is China.
If Europe could overcome its ingrained reticence and become truly united it would automatically become the leading ‘nation’ of the world.

When the world encounters the catastrophic financial shake-up at Babylon’s fall, the nations with the most distance from the dollar will be at an advantage. Asia will survive, Russia will survive and the Middle East will survive. Europe has a separate currency but is not wholly integrated. Its only real chance of survival is to finally amalgamate into a unified whole.
It will take a very charismatic leader to do that.

These are really desperate times. We live in an age when nations are very interdependent on each other for the smooth flow of daily necessities. Disruption to the logistics chain will leave billions of lives vulnerable to whichever way the winds of adversity blow.

As nations resort to the most desperate of all measures to carry on; fighting for survival, the situation only compounds the misery shared by everyone.

The Third and Fourth Seal

And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. 7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. 8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. Rev 6:5

The warfare and the resulting starvation and disease result in a quarter of the world’s population ceasing to exist.

Commenting on this situation Christ said, “these are the beginnings of sorrows” (Matt 24:8)

This is the environment that now faces Europe. As the world violently disintegrates around them something very profound and very far-reaching must occur and very quickly. Anyone that can rescue order out of this chaos and provide hope and a way forward will be a hero. It does not matter how drastic the measures, it does not matter what the conditions are, if it will work, it is acceptable.

A Great Mystery

One of the curious aspects of the end time is despite the bible having outlined all the details of the beast and his activities, when the time comes no one recognises him for what he is.
The answer to that query is easily understood under the circumstances. The events now transpiring are too urgent, too overwhelming and they are not seen as connected with the bible. ‘This is a real emergency, this is the real world, we have to get on with it’.

The Mark Of The Beast

The Devil Is In The Detail

The borders of Europe are quickly shut as refugees threaten to flood in. Martial law becomes necessary while Europe quickly drafts emergency legislation. Unification at all costs is essential; the same conditions must apply to all, any degree of variation will only fracture the chances of success. Only those within the union have a right to receive work, food, housing and necessities. Registration is compulsory to receive any benefits and a ‘mark’ is established to determine who is eligible.

At the most simplistc level for clarity, the mark of the beast could be seen as a type of 'ration book' system as in World War 2. If you are not registered in the system you cannot take part in it. Whatever technical means is used to establish 'the mark' is immaterial. What it is at the time under the circumstances will be very obvious to any true Christian.

The conditions are thought to be more than reasonable under the circumstances. Typical of the problems solved with the stroke of a pen was the division in society caused by the growing presence of the Moslem population and other minority ethnic groups, they will now need to abandon any prior convictions and accept they give their total allegiance to the new regime, either they choose to become part of the ‘Unified EU’ or they will have to leave the EU. Since there is nowhere else (safe) to go, in effect they and everyone else have adopted a new and compulsory universal religion. Europe’s traditional spiritual leader heads the new church and it is declared the official and only religion, no exceptions. The 'mark of the beast' entails more than just buying food, you must be part of the system and that means 'a complete part' of the system, allegiance to the 'false prophet' and all.

After years of frustrating attempts to create a Pan European Empire, unexpectedly a new world superpower is formed. Not in the circumstances of their choosing but with enormous relief and with adulation for its architect. The man that rose to the occasion when needed and who deftly supervised what started out as a rescue mission but ended as a personal triumph however will only last for 'one hour'.

And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Rev 13:4

A very bleak new world is taking shape. The EU is the undisputed superpower; Russia and China may work in tandem for the time being. The Arab world, driven by an unnatural desire to rid themselves of their distant relative eventually combined forces to annihilate Israel; that success will be very short-lived.

Britain, America, Israel, Canada, Australia and New Zealand; all have suffered terrible defeat and no longer exist as nations. Other nations have disappeared as well and many more face endless despair and anguish in the ongoing turmoil.

Life in Europe is just one shade above tolerable, all those with the lifesaving ‘mark’ are ‘making do’, for those without the ‘mark’ life is precarious. Due to the fanatical following, almost worship of the new leader, society is becoming more and more obsessed with obeying his dictates.

Those that speak up in opposition, those that want to indicate all is not well tend not to be seen again.
That is the position God’s people are now in.

Difficult as it may be, they have some miraculous help. See: Come Out of Babylon