During the Middle Ages the members of the church/state consortium were identified by a “MARK.”  Though the Beast has not yet made its presence known in these latter days, its mark has remained on those within the mother whore/harlot daughters organization that “rode” it after each of its 9 resurrections to date.  This mark, we are told in Scripture, will have a profound effect on the world’s unsuspecting victims upon the arrival of the 10th horn (Beast government).  Therefore it is imperative that we identify it.

The third of God’s angels of Revelation 14:9,10 warns mankind about what is to come: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receives his MARK in his forehead or in his hand, that man will drink of the wine of the wrath of God.”  Once again the MARK OF THE BEAST WILL AFFECT MEN’S LIVES ON A LIFE OR DEATH LEVEL.  As was the case in the past, the Beast’s mark in the future will be THE SIGN OF ONE’S OBEDIENCE TO THE BEAST WHICH WILL BE MANIFESTED THROUGH THE CHURCH THAT “RIDES” IT.

At that future time there will be three classes of people living on earth: God’s saints which He will have taken to a place of safety known as “her place” (Rev. 12:14); those in the Great Tribulation who have voluntarily received the mark of the beast and those in the Tribulation who have refused to take the mark.  The last group is described in Revelation 14:12: “Here is the patience of the saints.  These are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”  These are those who, during their pre-tribulation lives, had refused to obey God’s Law while being super religious.  These are the people Satan had lured into Catholicism/Protestantism.  Among their number will be the relatives of God’s true saints who rejected what they (His saints) had told them about God’s Truth.  Due to the devil’s control over them they had chosen to believe and obey his church doctrines.  These people will realize their error, refuse to take the Beast’s mark, and will be martyred by the Beast at the behest of the whore and her harlot daughters who will bear the Beast’s mark, worship the Beast and the image of the Beast–the church.

Just as the wearing/bearing of the mark of the Beast identified those who were obedient to it, the “mark” worn by those who will be martyred during the Great Tribulation will identify those who are obedient to God.  This is the same mark that identified God’s saints during the Middle Ages and the Inquisition, the mark that brought about their deaths.  As was the case with first martyrdom, the second mass murder will be massive.  These people are characterized in Revelation 15:2,3 as “… them that had GOTTEN THE VICTORY OVER THE BEAST, AND OVER HIS IMAGE AND OVER HIS MARK AND OVER THE NUMBER OF HIS NAME ….”  In Revelation 12:17 we find Satan, in a rage that the saints had escaped his wrath, has set out “make war with the remnant of her (the church’s) seed who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”  This “remnant” is comprised of the Tribulation martyrs who will voluntarily give their lives in order to join Jesus, God and the Very Elect in paradise.  See Revelation 6:9-11 where we find the Lord telling the first martyrs to be patient, that their fellow saints must also be martyred before He will avenge their deaths.  He is referring to the future Tribulation martyrs.

In the previous posting we learned about the seven plagues that God will pour out on those who have the mark of the Beast during the Day of the Lord.  With the “remnant” martyred, He will unleash His seven acts of vengeance on those who rejected His mark during their previous lives and during the Great Tribulation.  Let us now narrow our view and determine exactly what the mark of the Beast was, is and will be in the future.

Historical records, including those generated by the Catholic Church, reveal that the mark of the Beast is the Sunday Sabbath.  Of the multiplied millions of people martyred for not conforming to Catholic doctrine, more have been killed for refusing to observe Satan’s Sabbath than for any other reason.  The Roman Emperor decreed in 325 A.D. at the Council of Nicea that the Sabbath that the church had been observing for almost 300 years, the 7th day (Saturday) Sabbath commanded by the Lord on Mt. Sinai, would no longer be observed throughout the Roman Empire.  In 364 A.D. Pope Sylvester I, during the Council of Laodicea, institutionalized the law into the church’s catechisms.  Anyone who did not bear the “mark” or “sign” of the Beast would be tortured unto submission or, failing that, put to death.

Today the whole of professing Christendom, with the exception of God’s tiny church, continues to honor Tammuz the sun god to whom she pays weekly homage.  By doing so billions of people openly reject God’s command to observe His Sabbath on the 7th day of the week.  The fourth Commandment was long ago declared meaningless by the church.  Incredibly, the other nine were found acceptable.  The Sunday Sabbath will be the sign that those who will be put to death by the Beast during the Tribulation will have refused to bear.  THE BEAST’S (SUNDAY) SABBATH IS THE BEAST’S MARK.  Observance of the Sunday Sabbath is the sign that one is obedient to the Beast government and to the whore–Mystery, Bablyon–that has kept the sign in play between the resurrections of the Beast government.  At the present time the 10th edition of the Beast [horn] is preparing to be resurrected yet again.  The Catholic Church–Mystery, Babylon–has preserved the Beast’s sabbath for many generations and through many resurrections.  Her harlot daughters [Protestant Churches] have dutifully followed their mother’s lead by obeying the Beast’s commanded sabbath, called Sunday–the “venerable [holy] day of the sun.”  History will repeat itself during the Great Tribulation when the Beast and its whore rider will once again slay millions of saints for refusing to bear its (the Beast’s) mark  Those who are already doing so will gladly continue to do what they have been doing for hundreds of years.  Together they will persecute and kill those who, realizing their deadly error, will turn to the Lord and to His Sabbath.  For this they will be beheaded.  And because of their willingness to be beheaded for His sake, God will welcome them into His kingdom upon the arrival of His Son.  L.J.