What is the “mark of the Beast?”  That question has been asked many times throughout the last 2000 years.  Many people have attempted to answer it.  Well-meaning church leaders have relied upon human reasoning in doing so and have been wrong.  Upon my true conversion a few years ago the Lord allowed me learn the identity of the mark.  When I shared this information in the local newspaper the response was unanimous and negative, which came as no surprise.  Church consensus held that I was not only wrong, I was evil.  Let us now examine the subject strictly from a Scriptural standpoint.  Perhaps your response will be the same as my peers.  I ask only that you examine the historical and Biblical facts before making a judgment.

The passage traditionally used when the MARK OF THE BEAST is being discussed is Revelation 13:16,17: “And he [the second beast] causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a MARK in their right hand or in their forehead.  No man could buy or sell except he who had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”  From the writings of the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages we find the exact same law being forced upon those within the Roman Empire.  At that time the law stated that no one could buy or sell unless he bore the “mark” that identified him as a member of the Catholic Church.  The Roman Empire enforced the rule by torturing anyone who refused to receive the church’s mark into recanting.  If one would not recant, one was put to death.  The mark/sign distinguished true Catholic believers from all others.  The Beast government enforced the rule/law relative to that mark.  That mark has been used to identify “the church” for 1700 years and is as popular today as it ever was.  Today the threat of torture and death at the hands of the civil authorities is not used on those who refuse to take the mark, but only because the law will not allow it.  As the Holy Scriptures tell us, that will change.

Let us assume that people will want to buy or sell [technically to make a living] during the 2 1/2 year reign of the Beast and the false prophet, a period known Biblically as the Great Tribulation.  And since one will not be able to buy or sell without the Beast’s MARK, we can also assume that people will gladly bear the Beast’s mark, his name or his number.  Anyone who is not a saint of God and is not in the place of safety will make sure that he has the Beast’s mark on his right hand or forehead.  Those finding themselves in the Great Tribulation will have a hard choice to make.  Those not having the mark will suffer at the hands of the Beast and the false prophet.  Those having the mark will suffer at the hands of almighty God.  Tribulationists will have to choose whose torture they want to endure.

Relative to the identification of the mark of the Beast, there is an additional passage that directly relates to the subject: “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them is filled up the WRATH OF GOD ….  And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven last plagues ….  And I heard a great voice coming out of the temple saying to the seven angels, ‘Go your ways and pour out the vials of the WRATH OF GOD upon the earth.’  And the first went and poured out his vial upon the earth and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men WHO HAD THE MARK OF THE BEAST, and upon them that WORSHIPPED HIS IMAGE” (Rev. 15:1,6; 16:1,2).  Note that if one has the Beast’s mark, one will receive seven plagues from the wrath-filled God.

We know that the Beast is the Roman Empire.  But let us remember that the Beast has a woman (church) “riding” (controlling) it (Rev. 17).  This woman is powerful and extremely wicked in that she has shed the blood of God’s saints.  The woman is the Roman Catholic Church.  Understand that the mark is not the mark of the woman/church, but of the Roman Empire.  The woman is organized in the IMAGE of the Beast upon which she rides (controls).  She is so powerful that she occupies her own independent nation, government, laws, political affiliations, international relationships, etc.  This mighty church/nation wielded all the power of the Roman Empire from 554 A.D. until 1945 when the empire supposedly “died.”  Adolf Hitler called his Nazi regime the 9th edition of the Holy Roman Empire.  His joining with Benito Mussolini’s Italy made it officially part of the Roman Empire.  With the empire’s defeat it “died.”  But God prophesied that the Beast would be revived 10 times.  Therefore, there is one more resurrection in the pipeline.  When it comes back to life it will turn the world into a global dictatorship that will split into two warring factions, resulting in a third world war.

Recall that the Catholic Church was organized in the exact IMAGE of the government of the ancient Roman Empire.  In Revelation 13:15,16 we are told that the leader of the church [the second beast–false prophet] will have power to BRING THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST TO LIFE.  Looking into the future, the Apostle John wrote:  “And he had power to give life unto the IMAGE of the Beast so that the IMAGE of the beast could both speak and cause anyone who would not WORSHIP THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST to be killed.  And he will cause all … to receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead” (Rev. 13:15,16).  During the Middle Ages the Catholic Church made everyone within the Roman Empire receive the mark of the Beast and to worship its image.  All were required to worship the Roman Caesars.  Emperor worship and worship of the church were strictly enforced within the Roman Empire.  During the Great Tribulation that same church and that same (resurrected) Beast will exercise that same power over the rest of the world.  The worship of the church/state consortium will again be enforced.  Today, even without the power of the Beast behind her, the Great Catholic Whore called Mystery, Babylon and her harlot [Protestant] daughters (Rev. 17:1-5) exercise considerable and rapidly-increasing power within many of the world’s nations.  Today the world’s only true empire [the European Union], which occupies and controls the same geographical area as did the ancient Roman Empire, has declared Catholicism to be her official, constitutionally-dictated religion.  Led by Germany, the E.U. is rapidly growing in military power and will soon become the world’s most powerful military establishment.  And let us not forget that Germany started two World Wars in the past.  Will the European Beast empire, though having “died” in 1945, once again rise up and attempt to rule the world?  Will Satan once again use the Catholic Church, this time accompanied by her Protestant daughters, to affect another mass martyrdom of God’s people at the hands of the Beast upon which she sits?  The Holy Scriptures says yes to both questions.  L.J.