Mark of the Beast.

Dilchannan wrote:

I believe the Mark of the Beast will be some form of microchip as well. Money is at a breaking point right now. Money as we know it, will soon be a thing of the past.

I choose to live in faith, to live in Christ..He has always provided for me and taken care of me so far...

Thanks for your thoughts! I would like to hear more from you abour living by faith, and the provision of God that you have experienced?

Yes, money is becoming extinct, and microchips certainly look like the most likely candidate for the Mark of the Beast. Did you have a chance to check out the link to the night club in Spain where this technology is already being used (albeit currently in the arm)?

I think the most important thing is that we just follow Christ's words, and be open to the leadings of the spirit. If we do that, then God will direct us. Jesus said the birds and the flowers don't have money, yet God feeds them, and clothes them. How much more will he do so for us?

Sadly God does not "let" 6 million people starve to death yearly. We do. We are supposed to help our poor, however; sadly people look down on the poor as though they are lesser humans. These are human things, not Godly things. As for an Absentee God, I do not know who you mean, for my God is alive and well, right here and right now...

Very true. Many people who disbelieve in God use the reasoning that poor people die, theirs starvation, epidemics, etc, as proof that God isn't real and doesn't care. But, we are God's hands, his eyes, his ears, his mouth. What we we doing to help the starving, etc? That's why I like you response.

About a week ago I was in the grocery store and came across a woman who had 666 tattooed on her forehead. First time for everything I guess.

Originally Posted by Gracey

About a week ago I was in the grocery store and came across a woman who had 666 tattooed on her forehead. First time for everything I guess.

Saw a guy who received the ticket number 666 while waiting in line at the Department of Motor vehicles. He went berserk and started to spit on people and had to be removed from the premises.

Originally Posted by ciel_perdu

Dilchannan wrote:

Thanks for your thoughts! I would like to hear more from you abour living by faith, and the provision of God that you have experienced?

Yes, money is becoming extinct, and microchips certainly look like the most likely candidate for the Mark of the Beast. Did you have a chance to check out the link to the night club in Spain where this technology is already being used (albeit currently in the arm)?

I think the most important thing is that we just follow Christ's words, and be open to the leadings of the spirit. If we do that, then God will direct us. Jesus said the birds and the flowers don't have money, yet God feeds them, and clothes them. How much more will he do so for us?



Very true. Many people who disbelieve in God use the reasoning that poor people die, theirs starvation, epidemics, etc, as proof that God isn't real and doesn't care. But, we are God's hands, his eyes, his ears, his mouth. What we we doing to help the starving, etc? That's why I like you response.

Hello C_p, I have not had a chance yet to check out the link.

I truly enjoy my time spent with God in prayer an meditation, in the mornings, evenings, and random times throughout the day. A time to offer up my worry, pray for others, ask questions, ask for help. Studying and enjoying his word. The hope and peace that comes from God is undeniable, profound, and wonderful.

My husband was laid off from work awhile ago. Needless to say finances were extremely tight. I kept trying so hard to grab a hold and take control to no avail. My water had been turned off, electricity was due, nothing to feed the kids for dinner. Payday was still weeks off. That day I just could not take it anymore. I poured my heart out to the Lord, confessing my dependence on worldly things, depending on myself and others and not on Him. My spirit cried out to Him and prayed. Not an hour later, I received enough money to have my water turned on, and food for the week. The following day, my husband received a phone call with an offer for work. All the Glory and Praise goes to Him. Not by my works, but by His. This is just a recent example of His provisions, I could tell many more.

When we listen to God, great things happen. Helping others through love, kindness, truth and charity, opens us up to it as well.

I continue to pray for those that are lost in this world, and will do so for the rest of my life.

Peace to you and yours.

Originally Posted by Dilchannan

Hello C_p, I have not had a chance yet to check out the link.

I truly enjoy my time spent with God in prayer an meditation, in the mornings, evenings, and random times throughout the day. A time to offer up my worry, pray for others, ask questions, ask for help. Studying and enjoying his word. The hope and peace that comes from God is undeniable, profound, and wonderful.

My husband was laid off from work awhile ago. Needless to say finances were extremely tight. I kept trying so hard to grab a hold and take control to no avail. My water had been turned off, electricity was due, nothing to feed the kids for dinner. Payday was still weeks off. That day I just could not take it anymore. I poured my heart out to the Lord, confessing my dependence on worldly things, depending on myself and others and not on Him. My spirit cried out to Him and prayed. Not an hour later, I received enough money to have my water turned on, and food for the week. The following day, my husband received a phone call with an offer for work. All the Glory and Praise goes to Him. Not by my works, but by His. This is just a recent example of His provisions, I could tell many more.

When we listen to God, great things happen. Helping others through love, kindness, truth and charity, opens us up to it as well.

I continue to pray for those that are lost in this world, and will do so for the rest of my life.

Peace to you and yours.

Thanks for sharing a little about God's provision. If we sincerely need God, then he will be there for us. It's a nice reminder that no matter what happens, we shouldn't (as Jesus said) worry.

One day when the mark comes, we won't be able to buy and sell anything. Where will we get our water, food, clothes, shelter, or how will we provide for our kids? Obviously we will need to be living by faith. If we work for love and listen to and obey God, he will look after us, like he does the birds and the flowers. Your story is a good reminder that God can help us when we are in need, but it's also a good second witness to what Jesus taught about working for love and not money, and living like the birds and the flowers, because it shows that ultimately GOD is in control.

I think God meets us where we are at, and helps us within the parameters that we give him to move, but I do think it's worth considering if God wants something better for us.

[Morpheus]

It is all about you eh?

Follow your God even as he lets about 6 million starve to death yearly.
As long as you have your security blanket God, no one else matters.

Sure sure. You do this or that for the poor. Big deal while your God plays hide and go seek.

No free will B S please. Our free will does not explain why your absentee God is not exercising his to do the right thing.

Regards
DL

In that you are ignoring a situation of overall Unity,
Issues of a fall, and especially "Ego" of this fallen organic, and carnal aspect.
The "animal/mammal" which has evolved in illusory time and space.

Which we should see is to be equated with evil, and, the devil.

But, things are going to change in the world, according to prophecy.

Originally Posted by ciel_perdu

In Revelation 13, there is a prophecy that says ''no man can buy or sell save he that has the mark in the right hand or the forehead''.

Now, there are so many theories that this prophecy has happened, but they are never cohesive enough to take into account what the prophecy actually says.

Obviously at the moment there is noting in our right hands or foreheads with which we use to buy or sell. But we are moving closer to such a time.

Money used to be gold, silver, then is evolved to cheaper metals, paper, and checks/cheques. It then became even more theoritical when plastic was introduced. Now we can buy and sell on line, via phones, etc. There is a definite evolution of money. And it has gone further...

In countries like Kenya, one can buy and sell from money loaded onto their phone, it's called M-pesa. There are similar technologys in places like the UK, and US.

However, the evolution is becoming more advanced.

There are nightclubs in Scotland, Amsterdam, and Barcelona (Baja Beach Club), where patrons can pay for admission and buy their drinks with a micro-chip implanted in their arm.

That, I believe is where the system is heading to with regards to the monetary system.

It makes sense. No more credit/debit fraud. No need to worry about being robbed, or forgetting your wallet, etc. It will give the governments/banks much more centralized control and tracking of funds, which will cut down on a lot of illegal activity, in which physical cash is very much needed in order to operate.

That's a brief picture of where money was and where it is going.

The Revelation says that anyone who takes the mark will recieve the full-undiluted wrath of God. I am sure many would ask, ''but why would a loving God punish anyone for just wanting to put food on their kids plates, to hold down a good job, providing for him family, etc? Well, in short, the answer is because their faith is in money (greed), and not in God (love).

Jesus made it clear in Matthew 6:24, that man has to choose between working for God, or for mammon. We can't serve both. We will end up loving one and hating the other. This teaching of Jesus is an excellent second witness to the mark of the beast prophecy.

While most of us continue to convince ourselves that we can indeed serve two masters, there is a time coming when we really will have to decide once and for all, what we love...God/Truth/Love, or Mammon, money, greed, fear, material possessions/reputation/status/respectability, etc.

Jesus gave an answer to all who wish to stop working for money. He taught that if we work for God/Love, then we don't need to worry about money, we don't need to work for it. All we need to do is seek to build his Kingdom, obey our conscience and follow his words, serving him and others in love, and God will provide all we need. Jesus said that the birds and the flowers don't work for money, yet God feeds and clothes them, and follows with, ''how much more important to God are you?''.

Now, back to the Mark. The things we know about it are:

1- it will be in the right hand or forehead
2- NO ONE will be able to buy or sell without it.
3- anyone who takes it will recieve the full wrath of God

I would like to hear people's thoughts on the prophecy and how it relates to the teachings of Jesus.

Please think rationally about your response, because so often people just react to this issue.

Just a couple of points to clarify.

I am not saying the mark WILL be a microchip. I am just saying that currently, I don't see any other technology actually in use at the moment, or even on the cards, that would fit better the prophecy.

I am not saying that MONEY is evil (before people write that I am). What I am saying is that Jesus taught us to NOT WORK for money.

I am also NOT saying that people should stop working for money and do nothing, i.e. be lazy/greedy. I am saying that if we stop working for money, we will be free to really work hard for love, both for God and for others.

Well, I look forward to the repsonses.

The term "mark of the beast" refers to mans evolutionary, animal inheritance; our natural instincts and the abuse of them.

What John saw was "survivors" from this world passing through the mansion worlds that Jesus referred to. As these pilgrims of paradise pass through the many mansions that Jesus went to prepare for us, we are progressively spiritualized and "the mark of the beast" falls away.



Cano

Originally Posted by Cano

The term "mark of the beast" refers to mans evolutionary, animal inheritance; our natural instincts and the abuse of them.

What John saw was "survivors" from this world passing through the mansion worlds that Jesus referred to. As these pilgrims of paradise pass through the many mansions that Jesus went to prepare for us, we are progressively spiritualized and "the mark of the beast" falls away.

Cano

Please can you offer some evidence or logic for your assertations please?

The term 'mark of the beast' clearly refers to something that ALL who want to BUY and SELL, will need to have in their right hands or forehead. That's not my own thoughts, it's what the text clearly says.

Perhaps we become 'spiritualized' by rejecting the mark of the beast, by living by faith, and working for love in God?

Originally Posted by ciel_perdu

Please can you offer some evidence or logic for your assertations please?

The term 'mark of the beast' clearly refers to something that ALL who want to BUY and SELL, will need to have in their right hands or forehead. That's not my own thoughts, it's what the text clearly says.

Perhaps we become 'spiritualized' by rejecting the mark of the beast, by living by faith, and working for love in God?

I think the revelation of John on Patmos did not survive in it's original form. Apolcoliptic writers were lurking about in that age.

Consider the Gospel of John and contemporary scholorship:

The gospel identifies its author as "the disciple whom Jesus loved." The text does not actually name this disciple, but by the beginning of the 2nd century a tradition began to form which identified him with John the Apostle, one of the Twelve (Jesus's innermost circle). Today the majority of scholars do not believe that John or any other eyewitness wrote it,[12][13][14][15][16][17] and trace it instead to a "Johannine community" which traced its traditions to John; the gospel itself shows signs of having been composed in three "layers", reaching its final form about 90-100 AD. WIKI

Book of Revelation "Modern view"

Modern viewsMore recent methods of scholarship, such as textual criticism, have been influential in suggesting that John the Apostle, John the Evangelist and John of Patmos were three separate individuals. Differences in style, theological content, and familiarity with Greek between the Gospel of John, the epistles of John, and the Revelation are seen by some scholars as indicating three separate authors.[13]

The English Biblical scholar Robert Henry Charles (1855–1931) reasoned on internal textual grounds that the book was edited by someone who spoke no Hebrew and who wished to promote a different theology to John's. As a result, everything after 20:3, he claims, has been left in a haphazard state with no attempt to structure it logically. Furthermore, he says, the story of the defeat of the ten kingdoms has been deleted and replaced by 19:9-10.[14] John's theology of chastity has been replaced by the editor's theology of outright celibacy, which makes little sense when John's true church is symbolised as a bride of the Lamb. Most importantly, the editor has completely rewritten John's theology of the Millennium which is "emptied of all significance".[15]

John Robinson in "Redating the New Testament" (1976) has heavily criticised Charles' position and accepted apostolic authorship, dating John's Gospel before the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. He also argues that John's "poor" Greek is a literary device since Galileans were known to have excellent Greek.[16] He says: "The Greek of the Apocalypse is not that of a beginner whose grammar and vocabulary might improve and mature into those of the evangelist. It is the pidgin Greek of someone who appears to know exactly what he is about [to say]".[17]

It has also been contended that the core verses of the book, in general chapters 4 through 22, are surviving records of the prophecies of John the Baptist.[18] In this view, the Lamb of God references and other hallmarks of Revelation are linked to what is known of John the Baptist, though it must be confessed that little information about him is known. WIKI

So my question would be, what is the beast?

Cano

Cano, I think the mark of the beast is just some silly thing somebody wrote once and other people used for reasons of propaganda.

If there are beasts (read unenlightened animal instincts) they are things like one's own greed, lust, jealousies, angers and such. The battle of the Spirit forces is within the self, I think. I don't think that really has anything to do with money or other barter and exchange devices, though.