In part one of this series I wrote about the Biblically proven fact that during the height of the Roman Empire’s power a purge took place within the empire that was instigated by the Roman Catholic Church. The purge was directed toward those who would not obey the church’s orthodoxy, who chose to obey the Words of God instead. That choice resulted in over 50,000,000 holy saints being murdered by the Roman Government which, at that time, was “guided” by the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. This church-state religious-political combine is pictured in Revelation 17 as a woman (church) riding (controlling) a beast (government). The 50-150 million martyrs were killed because they refused to accept the “mark of the beast.” The “mark” designated those who were aligned with the church-state combine and obeyed her theological precepts which were the opposite of the Lord’s commands. Multiplied millions of God’s saints died for their stand for the Lord and His Law, which the church declared had been “nailed to the cross.” Her religious descendants continue to believe that lie today in spite of God’s oft-stated truth to the contrary.

This posting will take the reader into the inner workings of the “beast” (Roman Empire) and the “whore” (Catholic Church) that influenced the beast government to do her bidding which involved a two-fold endeavor: The beast’s first task was to force all within the kingdom to join the Catholic Church and to obey her heathen beliefs and customs. The beast’s second task was to kill those who refused to do so. The actions of the church-dominated empire revolved around what is Biblically called the “mark of the beast” which one either embraced or died for not doing so.

The Book of Revelation, written between 90 and 100 A.D. by the Apostle John, was a look into the distant future, into the final days of the final (Laodicean) church age of the world (read Rev. 3:14-20). At the end of that age there would arise the final “horn” (rulership) of the Holy Roman Empire which would become a world-dominating dictatorship. Guiding that “beast” government would be a religion comprised of all of the world’s religions combined into a one-world church led by a miracle-performing prophet. This church-state beast is described in Revelation 17 as a woman (church) sitting astride a beast (empire/government). The woman is drunk on the “blood of the saints,” referring to the first mass martyrdom of God’s true elect that would take place some 1700 years later. Those involved in this martyrdom are referred to in Revelation 20:4: “And I saw thrones, and they who sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, these were they who had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or on their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” Remember that this vision was for the final days of the world, the age in which we now live.

From this passage we learn that God’s saints had been killed en masse many years ago because they refused to take the beast’s “mark.” Note that they did not resist the legal penalty for obeying God and therefore disobeying the civil law. They knew they must pay the price for doing so according to man’s law. They were tortured and killed for their faith in and obedience to their Lord. Those millions of saints died because they would not worship (obey) the church and the empire it directed. THEY REFUSED TO BEAR THE MARK OF THE BEAST. This means that hundreds of years ago this “mark” was forced upon people within the Roman Empire which then encompassed most of Europe. The religious and governmental descendants of that beast and its religious advisor are once again rising up in Europe and preparing for one last attempt at world dominion–a world in which God would have no part to play.

The Book of Revelation reveals that the life or death determining mark will come into play again at the end of the age–the church era in which we are living today. We are now living in the “end of the end times” during which God is revealing the true meaning of Daniel’s and John’s visions. Until this time men could only guess as to the meaning of Daniel’s beasts and John’s single beast. For the time of Daniel the true meanings have been “sealed up” (Dan. 12:9). Only in the past several years have those mysteries been understood, and then only by those having hearts to believe God’s Truths. Those having such minds are few, as Jesus told us in Matthew 7:13,14; 22:14.

History, the Holy Scriptures tell us, is about to repeat itself. The Book of Revelation tells us that, just as in the past, those who refuse to take the “mark of the beast” will be tortured and killed. But in the final days there is an added twist: THOSE WHO TAKE THE MARK WILL ALSO SUFFER. There a connection between the mass martyrdom of the past and the future mass martyrdom. Since it will be those who have the mark of the beast who will suffer the last plagues that will be poured out on sinners just prior to the return of Jesus Christ, the mark must once again be enforced. And once again, those who refuse it will be martyred. The first mass martyrdom was called “the Inquisition.” The future mass martyrdom is called the “Great Tribulation.” The question remains: WHAT IS THE MARK OF THE BEAST?

Revelation 14 tells us that soon there will come upon the earth a spiritual darkness–a time when no one will be permitted to preach the Lord’s Word. That time has arrived. Finland and Canada have already passed laws which prevent their citizens from speaking or writing for public consumption anything concerning the Holy Bible. Preachers are told what they can say and what words they can and cannot use in their messages. Religion is apparently okay as long as it does not include the Creator of the universe. In Finland a man has been arrested because of a pro-God posting he placed on the internet TEN YEARS AGO. In the United Nations only one religion can be legally spoken against–the Judeo-Christian religion Only one religion is rejected by the constitution of that world-encompassing body–the Judeo-Christian religion. We are indeed living in the final days of this world. We are now beginning to shed true light on the identity of the “mark of the beast.”

In Revelation 14 we are told that during the coming Great Tribulation God will send angels with messages for those trapped in the hell they have brought upon themselves by their sins against God., the time known Biblically as The Great Tribulation. We are told that three angels will deliver messages, one of which will address the “mark.” Notice the warning of the third angel: “If any man worships 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.” He is referring to the seven last plagues, at full force and unmixed with mercy, that the Lord will pour out upon such people (Rev. 14:9,10). More on the forehead/hand situation later.

The fact that both marks involved not being able to work, buy or sell proves that the mark that was applied to those who worshiped and served the beast and its rider a many years ago is THE SAME MARK THAT IDENTIFIES SATAN’S CHURCH TODAY–THE SAME MARK THAT WILL BE ENFORCED ON THREAT OF DEATH DURING THE COMING TRIBULATION PERIOD. Once again, those who receive the mark of the beast will suffer the wrath of God without mercy. Once again those who refuse it will be martyred by the beast and its religious guide. Soon each person will be forced to choose which death to die based on which god they choose to obey. The choices will be A) the final resurrection of the Roman Empire that is taking place at this time whose official religion is Catholicism, or B) the Biblical God. Choosing the first will result in being cursed by God. Choosing the second will result in martyrdom at the hands of the church-state combine that will be ruling the world.

To obey God means to obey His eternal Ten Commandment Law which defines sin and righteousness–righteousness if obeyed, sin if not obeyed. By this we know that THE MARK OF THE BEAST INVOLVES THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD THAT HE WROTE IN STONE AND PLACED IN THE ARK OF HE COVENANT. Notice how He brings this out by describing those who refuse the beast’s mark during the coming Tribulation horror: “Here is the patience of the SAINTS who KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD AND THE FAITH OF JESUS” (Rev. 14:12). This means that during the Tribulation there will be those who will keep Christ’s ten commandments with Christ’s faith, which will cost them their lives.

In that those who have obeyed Him during the time leading up to the end will have been taken to a place of safety, WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE WHO WILL BE OBEYING HIM AND EXHIBITING FAITH WHILE SUFFERING THROUGH THE GREAT TRIBULATION? Be patient, God will tell us.

Verses 9-11 of chapter 14 of Revelation tells of an angel who will warn that those who today bear the mark of the beast will be punished by the plagues of the Lord. In verse 12 we are told that the saints who do not have the mark are those who keep the Lord’s commandments–His “little flock.” The mark of the beast, therefore, involves the rejection of the commandments (Law) of God–OR ONE OF THEM. James 1:10,11 tells us that TO BREAK ONE COMMANDMENT IS TO BREAK ALL TEN OF THEM. This makes one a “worker of iniquity” (Lawlessness) whom Jesus will reject on the day of judgment (Mat. 7:21-23). Notice that such people will have called Him their “Lord” but will have refused to obey His Law, thereby proving that He was their Lord in name only. These are they who had worshipped Him in vain (Mat. 15:9). This perfectly describes the modern (Laodicean era) church which has nailed not only God’s law to the cross, but also Jesus Himself with each breaking of that Law (Heb. 6:6), all the while declaring that He is their “Lord” whom they refuse to obey. TODAY SUCH PEOPLE WEAR THE “MARK OF THE BEAST” AND DO NOT KNOW IT.

In the near future those who receive the mark of the beast will suffer the wrath of God manifested in the final plagues poured out on them by the Lord. They will wear the mark for having disobeyed His commandments–OR ONE OF THEM. In Colossians 3:5,6 the Apostle Paul speaks to this truth by telling the people to rid themselves of sin, otherwise they will remain “children of disobedience” (to God’s Law). In the Book of Zephaniah God warns those who call themselves by His name but continue to sin, saying: “… and I (God) will bring distress upon men so that they will walk like blind men because THEY HAVE SINNED AGAINST THE LORD (1:14-17). Sin is defined in First John 3:4 in this way: “To transgress the Law is sin, for sin is the transgression (breaking) of the Law.” One of those sins involves the wearing of the mark of the beast. Question: What professing Christian would deliberately break one of God’s commandments? The answer: 99.99% of them.

Which commandment is considered by the whole of professing Christendom to be “the least of the commandments?” (Mat. 5:19). Number four–the Sabbath commandment. THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH IS GOD’S SIGN/MARK THAT SHOWS THAT ONE BELONGS TO HIM. For most of the past two thousand years that which calls itself “the church” has born the mark of the beast and its god–Satan. Satan, knowing that the Sabbath Law would be the one commandment man would consider the least important, substituted a heathen sabbath for God’s Sabbath throughout the Roman Empire in 325 A.D. at the council Nicea. Knowing that this would happen, God had made a separate covenant with Israel 40 days after giving her His Law from atop Mount Sinai (Exo. 31:12-17.) Here He tells Moses that the keeping of His seventh day Sabbath would FOREVER BE THE SIGN THAT ONE IS HIS DISCIPLE. In Romans 6:16 we are told that the one whom we obey is the one to whom we belong. When one says, “I belong to __________ church,” one is professing that he/she belongs to (obeys the dictates of) a man-created, Satan-dominated religious organization.

A sign is an emblem of ownership. Western ranchers branded their cattle to establish ownership. God “brands” His sheep for the same reason–to identify His children. Satan’s brand identifies His children. God’s brand is His seventh day (Saturday) Sabbath which He created at the same time He created man. After creating His Sabbath He recorded it in stone, thereby establishing it forever. He gave the Sabbath to man as his day of rest. At no time did He change it or give man the authority to change it. He BLESSED only one day of the week, SANCTIFIED it (Gen. 2:3) and CALLED IT “MY HOLY DAY” (Isa. 58:13). What He called holy then He calls holy now. Man says He lied about that.

The Catholic Church claims the authority to change God’s Law. Pope Sylvester I officially changed the church’s sabbath from Saturday to Sunday on May 7, 364 A.D. at the Council of Laodicea. Today the entire church world obeys Satan’s command to worship the sun on the “day of the sun”–Sun day–Sunday. Only God’s very elect reject the counterfeit church’s heathen sabbath, but also all of her other pagan beliefs and customs, some of which are listed in the homepage of this website.

The entire world recognizes the other nine commandments and agrees that they are good rules to live by. The entire world agrees that Sunday is the Biblical God’s Sabbath. What the world “knows” is right is Biblically wrong. Relative to the Sabbath question, the world calls evil good and good evil., as does the worldly church.

The Sunday sabbath is not Satan’s only false holy day. Christmas, Easter, New Year’s Day and St. Valentine’s Day are also religious holidays borrowed from the world of heathenism. We must designate the Biblical God as our LORD/MASTER if we are to have any hope of salvation. Only by obeying Him will we be ready when He takes His Very Elect saints to their place of safety shortly before the beginning of the Great Tribulation. All not included in that group will suffer the ravages of the Great Tribulation.

A great many of those who have heard the true Gospel preached and taught but rejected it will remember the Truths they heard and read and will turn to the Lord during the Tribulation. They will comprise the “great multitude” who will turn to the Lord during the Great Tribulation, knowing that they will be killed for doing so. These are the Tribulation martyrs about whom Jesus was speaking in Revelation 6:11. L J.