I have heard some say the mark of the beast is Sunday worship. This is not quite true as we can worship God any day. It is about worshipping on a day commanded by man in place of worshipping on the day Commanded by God. Acts 5:29 says, “…We ought to obey God rather than men.” It is also about keeping manmade traditions in place of God’s Commandments. Jesus made it very clear that He does not want us keeping manmade traditions in place of the Commandments of God. See Mark 7:6-9. In Daniel chapter 3, the king commanded all to bow down and worship the golden image when they heard the music. But Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused because it would mean disobeying the Commandments of God. This is what it is all about. Obeying God rather than man. It is about giving our allegiance to our heavenly Father and obeying Him only when it comes to His Commandments.
The table below compares God’s True Church with an apostate Church that changed God’s law, which has affected what is truly important to God for a very long time. When God gave the Ten Commandments in such fiery majesty, He had purpose in every single Commandment. Not one Commandment was intended to change. Each and every one is to last as long as heaven and earth. If one studies the table below they should see the bigger picture and why Satan changed the day of worship through paganism.
God’s True Church |
The Apostate Church |
 |
 |
| Clothed with the sun. God, Church is light (1 John 1:5, Matthew 5:14) |
Clothed in purple and scarlet. Sin, Corruption (Revelation 17:3, Isaiah 1:18) |
| The remnant Church, from the original (Revelation 12:17) |
Mother of Harlots, other Churches came from her (Revelation 17:5) |
| It is God who wants the Worship and receives it (Revelation 14:7) | It is Satan who wants the worship and receives it (Revelation 13:4) |
| Christ is the head of the Church (Ephesians 5:23) |
Man is the head of the Church (Catholic Church quote 1, quote 2) |
| Christ is its power and authority (Jude 1:25) |
Satan gave it its power and authority (Revelation 13:2) |
| Based on scripture (Acts 17:11, 1 John 2:5) |
Based on Tradition (Catholic Church quote, Mark 7:6-9) |
| Keeps God’s Commandments (Revelation 12:17, 14:12) |
Changed God’s Commandments (Daniel 7:25) |
| Worships God only (Keeps 2nd Commandment) |
Worships Idols and Mary (2nd Commandment deleted) |
| Keeps God’s true Sabbath day of Worship (Revelation 12:17) | Changed the Sabbath to Satan’s day of Worship (Catholic Church quote 1, 2) |
| True day of Worship is based on the Word (Exodus 20:8-11) |
False day of worship comes from Paganism (Historic Quote 1, Quote 2) |
| True day comes from worship of the Son of God (Exodus 31:13-17, Isaiah 58:13-14) | False day came from worship of the Sun god (Ezekiel 8:16) |
| Our allegiance is to God when we worship on His holy day (Ezekiel 20:20, Exodus 31:13-17, Revelation 14:7) | Our allegiance is to Satan when we worship on their day (Hover or click , Revelation 13:2, Revelation 13:4) |
| Jesus is the capstone (Matthew 21:42, 1 Peter 2:7) |
Satan through Paganism is the capstone (Revelation 13:2) |
| Does not commit fornication (Revelation 12:17, 14:12) |
Commits spiritual fornication (Revelation 14:8; 17:2, 4; 18:3, 9) |
| Works on destroying the powers of Satan (Luke 9:1) |
Satan through her tried to destroy God’s true Church (Revelation 13:7, Daniel 7:25) |
| Preaches the 3 angels messages One warns of the Mark of the Beast |
Does not preach the 3 angels messages The MARK of the Beast is her MARK |
| Reigns with Christ for ever and ever (Revelation 22:5) |
Destroyed by God and thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20) |
How do we respond when the Mark of the Beast is enforced?
Did you know that God has given us an Old Testament example of how we should respond when the mark of the beast is enforced? In Daniel chapter 3, King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold image with dimensions effectively equal to 66+6 that he commanded all to worship. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego would not disobey the Commandments of God and so refused to obey the king. Since they refused, the king threw them into a blazing furnace heated seven times hotter than usual. The King in amazement said,
“Why do I see four men walking around in the fire? They are not tied up, and they show no sign of being hurt and the fourth is like that of the Son of God. Praise the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! They disobeyed my orders and risked their lives rather than bow down and worship any god except their own. There is no other god who can rescue like this.” As a result, the king promoted them to higher positions in Babylon. This is a beautiful example of the obedience God desires from us and what is required from us during the time of tribulation when the mark of the beast is finally enforced. You will note from the table below that this is the perfect parallel of the mark of the beast issue in Revelation Chapters 13 and 14 and wonderfully demonstrates how we need to respond in the end times. So when the mark is enforced what should we do? We should obey God and worship Him only and not worship the Beast or his image and keep God’s Commandments even if it means enduring tribulation or facing death as millions did during the dark ages.
Remember that this 666 and the mark of the beast issue is very significantly about who sanctifies us and who we love, obey and WORSHIP by keeping the Commandments of God. It is extremely important not to forget that the fourth Commandment, the Sabbath, is not just about resting but is a SIGN that it is God we WORSHIP and hence give our allegiance to. Observe the parallels in this passage in regards to the mark of the beast issue.
Perfect Parallels between 666 and the Mark of the Beast |
||
| (Daniel 3:1) | Powerful kingdom in control | (Revelation 13:11) |
| (Daniel 3:1) | Makes an image | (Revelation 13:14) |
| (Daniel 3:5) | Image Worship is commanded | (Revelation 13:15) |
| (Daniel 3:6) | Those who refuse to Worship the image are threatened with death | (Revelation 13:15) |
| (Daniel 3:4) | It applies to all nations and people | (Revelation 13:16) |
| (Daniel 3:1) | Size of the metal man/image and the number of the man is 666. When width only is given, the depth is the same as the width | (Revelation 13:18) |
| (Daniel 3:18) | The choice is about who we Worship. That is to Worship God only or worship a false image | (Revelation 14:7 Revelation 14:9-11) |
| (Daniel 3:18) | Should Worship God only | (Revelation 14:7) |
| (Daniel 3:18) | Keeps the Commandments of God | (Revelation 14:12) |
| (Daniel 3:17) | Prepared to endure tribulation rather than break the Commandments of God | (Revelation 14:12) |
| (Deuteronomy 6:5-8 Deuteronomy 11:18) |
God’s Ten Commandments are a sign on our HAND and FOREHEAD which is the same location as the mark of the beast | (Revelation 13:16) |
The Mark of the Beast is Satan’s counterfeit system of Worship
To further demonstrate that the mark of the beast issue revolves around worship, the following information and table have been added to even better illustrate this fact. As we have already seen Satan wanted to be worshipped as God. If Satan asked us to worship him, would we do it? Of course not. Does Satan know this? Of course he does. So Satan gets himself a front man and props him up by giving him his power, throne and great authority. (Revelation 13:2) So when the beast power is being worshipped, who is really being worshipped? Satan himself! This is called worship by representation.
Jesus said in John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” So how do we worship the Father in spirit and in truth? We worship Jesus as He is our representative before the throne and the Father gave His power, throne and great authority to Jesus. As Jesus said in Matthew 28:18 “And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” So the way we have access to the father is by Jesus Christ. We worship Jesus in spirit and in truth and that worship is transferred to the Father because He is the representative of the Father. Jesus also said in John 14:9 “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how sayest you then, Show us the Father?”
We find in the book of Revelation that Satan counterfeits many things. Example: We find a counterfeit Godhead. We of course have the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and in the book of Revelation you have the dragon which is Satan, the false prophet and the beast. Note that the Bible does not use the word Trinity but Godhead. The word Trinity originated with Tertullian (160-225 AD) who only meant the word to mean three, not 3 in 1. And so the Trinity did not yet exist and the Bible was now written! The Trinity doctrine itself was established by the Roman Catholic Church in the council of Nicea in 325 AD that says the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, yet there are not three Gods but one God. See is the Trinity true or false?
There are many other things that Satan counterfeits of God eg. When God brought His chosen people out of captivity from the land of Egypt, He performed many miracles like turning Aaron’s rod into a serpent, changing rivers to blood and bringing up frogs to cover the land. The pharaoh’s magicians through the power of Satan were also able to counterfeit all these same miracles. (Exodus 7:10-11; 7:20-22; 8:6-7)
In Job 1:16 Satan burned up Job’s sheep and servants with “fire from heaven” and in Job 1:19, Satan used a “great wind” to bring down a house killing the occupants and in Job 2:7, Satan smote Job with “sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.” If Satan has the power to change rivers to blood, bring up frogs to cover the land, change rods to serpents, control the weather, bring down fire from the heavens (see also Revelation 13:13) and inflict illness, then he can certainly heal people. Note Satan needed God’s permission to inflict illness on Job. (Job 1:12; 2:6) So we know God heals and Satan counterfeits, God gives the gift of tongues and Satan has a counterfeit, God has true Prophets and Satan has counterfeit false Prophets, (Matthew 24:11) God is going to seal His people with His mark in their foreheads (Revelation 7:3) and as we already know, Satan has a counterfeit mark in the forehead and hand. (Revelation 13:16)
The mark of the beast issue is inarguably about worship and we find in Revelation that Satan has a total counterfeit system of worship in relation to the ministry of Jesus Christ and in regards to the mission of the beast power and its mark. This can be seen with careful exegesis. The table below makes it very easy to see Satan’s total counterfeit system of worship. When referencing scriptures, do not forget that a lot of symbolism is involved in the book of Revelation. Where obvious, scripture references have not been given. As discussed earlier, Antichrist does not just mean against Christ but Antichrist also means in place of or as a substitute as is the case here in Revelation. So in actual fact, the Antichrist will not appear as a violent opposer of Christ but a subtle impostor as seen in the first table above.
Ten Points revealing Satan’s Counterfeit System of Worship |
|
| The ministry of Christ | This mission of Antichrist |
| 1) Rises from the water to begin ministry (Baptism) (Matthew 3:16-17) |
1) Rises from the water to begin mission (Revelation 13:1) |
| 2) Resembles Father (John 14:9, Hebrews 1:1-3) |
2) Resembles Satan (Revelation 13:1, Revelation 12:3, 9) |
| 3) Horns and Crowns (Revelation 19:12-16, Revelation 5:5-8) |
3) Horns and Crowns (Revelation 13:1) |
| 4) Receives authority from the Father Matthew 28:18 |
4) Receives authority from the Dragon (Satan) (Revelation 13:2) |
| 5) Ministry lasts 3.5 years (Daniel 9:27) |
5) Mission lasts prophetic 3.5 years (Revelation 13:5) |
| 6) Wounded to death on the cross and then resurrected | 6) Wounded to death then deadly wound healed (Revelation 13:3) |
| 7) Receives worship after resurrection | 7) Receives worship after deadly wound is healed (Revelation 13:3-4) |
| 8) Given universal dominion (Daniel 7:14) |
8) Given universal dominion (Revelation 13:7) |
| 9) Placed the Sabbath on the Seventh day of the week as the true day to achieve the Worship He desires. When kept, it defines it is God we give our allegiance to. | 9) Changed the Sabbath to the First day of the week as the counterfeit day so Satan could achieve the Worship he desires. When known, who do we give our allegiance to? |
| 10) God has His seal or Mark (Revelation 9:4) |
10) The beast (Papal Church) has its own Mark (Revelation 13:16) |
There are many excuses given as to why this Commandment does not matter anymore. I hope after what you have just read that you will realize that these are perpetuated lies from the enemy. Do not go by what others tell you but study the Word and see what it says. This is what counts. For much more detailed information see 666 and the mark of the beast or select the following to just see additional information with some very enlightening mark of the beast comparison tables and an excellent revision. Those who want to investigate the real truth about the fourth Commandment should start with the which day is Sabbath day and follow on to God’s Sabbath truth. You may also like to read more on the change of the Sabbath to Sunday.
Paganism Images Mark of the Beast and Pagan Symbols - Page 16
