NOTES ON THE MARK OF THE BEAST: JUST WHAT CONSTITUTES BEING ‘MARKED?’ –(WITH VIDEO)

I.  THE THEOLOGY

SCRIPTURE. “Also he compels [‘to drive or urge with force’] all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead [signifying allegiance to the beast], and that no one will be able to buy or sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let the person who has enough insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the [imperfect] number of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.” – REVELATION 13:16-18, AMP

KEY TERM: “GIVEN.” ‘Didómi’ [δίδωμι]: “To bestow or commit; to grant power to; deliver up; ‘to [willingly] take, utter or yield [oneself];’to give into one’s care, to entrust; to give what is due or obligatory, to pay: wages or reward [for compliance]; to give forth from oneself; δίδωμιἐμαυτόν τίνι, to one demanding of me something, ‘I give myself up’ as it were; an hyperbole for ‘disregarding entirely my private interests, I give as much as ever I can.’”

QUOTATION.  “There is coming a Day, when Freedom will just be an essence of the mind, an inner dwelling that was once physically attainable. They will tell you where you can live, and what you can wear and drive, what and how much you can eat and drink, and how to purchase those. They will strip you of your Religion, race, gender, national origin, age, color, creed, views and power, and have control of the population. They will set in a New World Order, and put you in the back of the line, marked and branded. Everything before will be erased, and the new will be manipulated. And what you believe most, can only be kept secret, for all must fall in line of their Govern. Anything outside will be abolished. Even death, will be sought, but restrained. They will execute complete and total Control over everything, and be sole Owners of your soul. The Light, that once guided will go dim, and Liberty will be like an unwilled bird, suppressed in the cage of your ribs; wings cut off.” – ANTHONY LICCIONE, Author, Heaven’s Shadow, 2005; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘And he causeth’—Better, ‘And he’ [i.e.,probably, the second wild beast, and not the image, as in the latter clause of the last verse] ‘makes all men, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, that they should give them a mark upon their right hand or upon their forehead: (and) that no one should be able to buy or to sell but he who has the mark, the name of the wild beast, or the number of his name.’ 

We have read of the Sealing of the Servants of God [the Jews] in their foreheads (Revelation 7:3): We shall hear of it again (Revelation 22:4) – The Power of Evil also has its Mark or Stamp. As slaves received a Brand or Mark in their flesh, betokening to whom they belonged, so in the Spiritual Conflict there is on the side of Good and of Evil a Brand or Mark.’ St. Paul spoke of such marks in his own body that proved him a slave of Jesus Christ (Galatians 6:17). In the same way the subtle False Prophet, the Abettor of world-power, seeks to impress a mark on all, on the penalty of complete social exclusion.

‘It is utterly unnecessary to take this Brand of Evil literally, any more than we took the Seal of Christ literally. That Seal we understood as spiritual, in the faith and in the character; this Evil Brand we must interpret in like manner. It surely means the acquiescence in character and action to the Principles of this tyrannical World-Power.’ The right hand is the symbol of toil and social intercourse; the forehead is the symbol of character, as time is ever writing its awful tale upon men’s brows … The Days of the Future may bring intenser forms of this Tyranny, as the Days of the Past have shown them. ‘But the Days of the Present may afford us illustrations of how readily men may lose, lose much and lose terribly, rather than succumb to fashions which violate honour and dishonour Christ.’ But we read of more than a Mark here: We read of a ‘name,’ and the ‘number of a name.’ What are we to understand by these?” – CHARLES ELLICOTT, An Old and New Testament Commentary for English Readers, 1878, 1897; edited 

II.  THE TEACHING 

I have been understandably questioned, and in some instances, roundly criticized (and many times hated) for arguing that it is highly probable that ‘Christians who consistently support DONALD TRUMP, ANTICHRIST, forfeit their eternal lives for the sins of Blasphemy and Apostasy from Christ and Canon.’

I shall continue to argue that here, but with some doctrinal adjustment and clarification.And with the distinct understanding here that this is ‘My Interpretation,’ as over against the Absolute Truth of the Biblical Text. Still, my warnings about our Eternal Destiny being severely jeopardized by Alliance with the Antichrist,  Donald Trump, shall remain that: ‘Severe.’

CAVEAT. Of course, if Mr. Trump is not the Biblical Antichrist, but merely just another corrupt politician, then these arguments become null and void for the most part. ‘Almost All,’ is predicated upon forming an Unholy Alliance between a Christian and the Devil himself in the form of the Lord’s Arch Foe, the Beast, the Man of Sin, that Lawless One spoken of by the Prophets and the Apostles and the Messiah Himself.

On that Root and Branch, these words stand or fall from the view of Sound Doctrine. 

HOW FAR IS TOO FAR? The Vital Point of this essay will be to explore just what does constitute, “Taking the Mark.” Most of you know as a theological conservative that I lean toward Literalism in most instances. But there are also hints of a more symbolic rendering here that we shall explore as responsibly as possible, to ensure that we do not err in one direction or the other.

‘Why?’

Because lives are at stake, beloved, millions of them! So shall I present THREE THEOLOGICAL PILLARS to establish My Proposal that Christians who support Donald Trump may be paving their way toward nothing less than: ‘Full Apostasy followed by Perdition.’

ONE: ARGUMENT FROM COMMITMENT. This first section takes us straight into the Yaw of the ‘Once-Save-Always-Saved’ Heresy. To do justice to it, I turn to the work of VLADIMIR SAVCHUK, who serves as lead pastor of Hungry Gen Church in Pasco, Washington. Originally from the Ukraine born into a Christian household, he writes with the pen of an orthodox teacher of an unabridged Gospel.  What follows is a Summary of His Argument against the largely American Myth that a Christian can never lose his or her salvation, no matter their lifestyle.

From his online Blog titled “Debunking ‘Once Saved, Always Saved” (May 11, 2022; edited), he proposes NINE THEOLOGICAL ARGUMENTS that take down this cultural falsehood. I present them below in summary form.

1. The Bible teaches that Salvation is by grace, not by works. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8. We are not saved by doing good works and we don’t maintain our salvation by doing good works. God’s Divine Grace saves and sustains us. The grace of God saves but it also teaches us to deny sin.”

• Born-Again Believers have an assurance of their salvation. “Having an assurance of salvation is different from having evidence of salvation. The evidence of salvation is manifested through changes in a person’s conduct and character. The new birth produces a New Nature which results in a New Lifestyle. We are confident that we are saved based on the Promises of God, not on our subjective experience, feelings, or moods at any given time. We shouldn’t live in fear and doubt about the certainty of our salvation! We see in 1 John 5, that those who ‘have’ the Son have Eternal Life. Believing in Jesus guarantees us Eternal Life.” 

• There is plenty of Evidence that suggests that it’s possible for believers to willfully turn away from their faith in Jesus Christ. “God gives us The Choice to accept Him or reject Him. It’s evident in the words: ‘Whoever believes’ found in John 3:16. But, we don’t lose our Free Will once we surrender to the preaching of the Gospel and to the Holy Spirit who leads us to repent and turn to Christ. ‘Salvation is not an irreversible decision!’ Giving your life to Christ is not like joining a Colombian Cartel with no chance of getting out. You can renounce your citizenship if you live in the USA. If you’re married, you can break the Covenant of Marriage with your spouse. I am not saying that you would want to renounce your salvation, but you can. You’re not trapped.”

• JOHN WESLEY who summarized the “once saved, always saved” teaching infers or ‘Presumes’ that somehow: “No virgin’s lamp can go out (Matthew 25:8). No promising harvest can be choked with thorns (Matthew 13:7). No branch in Christ can ever be cut off for not abiding (John 15:6). No forgiveness can ever be forfeited (Matthew 18:32). No name can be blotted out of God’s Book (Revelation 3:5; Exodus 32:33). No salt can ever lose its flavor (Matthew 5:13).”

• 1 JOHN 2 which deals with Antichrists, not Backsliders, is used to argue that if you “lost” your salvation, it means you never had it. “It’s true that there are false conversions of people who are carrying the spirit of the antichrist. It is also true that when the sower sowed a seed only 1 out of 4 types of soils produced a good harvest. Not everyone who comes to the front of the church or raises their hand to pray the sinner’s prayer is born again. But to say that every person who walks away from Christ is an Antichrist and was never saved is a huge stretch. Plenty of verses we covered already prove otherwise.” 

• The Logic of “Once Saved, Always Saved” is very flawed at best. “For example, they say, ‘Once you are born again, you can’t be unborn’ and therefore you can’t lose your salvation. But there are many spirit beings who were once children of God. For instance, there were Angelic Beings like Lucifer and the others who took part in his Rebellion and are now outside of God’s family. The Bible often uses the picture of a family and marriage to illustrate the spiritual reality of belonging to God. But, everyone knows that you can disown your own family, and even divorce your spouse.”

• Christians can’t lose their Salvation, but they can willfully choose to forfeit their Salvation by walking away from the Lord. “‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. They shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand’ (John 10:27). The very Promise that is argued in favor of ‘Eternal Security’ is not unconditional but conditional! Those who are given the Promise of Eternal Life are: ‘Those who hear His voice and follow.’ Indeed, no one can snatch them out of Jesus’ hand, but they themselves can place themselves outside of His hand.”

• Christians don’t lose their Salvation by ‘struggling’ with temptation and sin but by ‘practicing lawlessness.’ “If a believer continually, deliberately, willfully, and knowingly practices living a sinful lifestyle, they place themselves on ‘dangerous ground’. ‘If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of JUDGMENT and of raging FIRE that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the Law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?’ (Hebrews 10:26-31).”

• If a Christian can lose their salvation, that means that the Holy Spirit can be taken away. “God took His Spirit away from King Saul, even though Saul, in the beginning, was counted among the Prophets, prophesied, and spoke in tongues (see 1 Kings 10:9-13 & 16:14). Another Scripture points out that King David, in repentance, cried out to God to not take His Spirit from him. ‘Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.’ Psalms 51:11 Paul writes in the word ‘sealed’ does not mean to be stuck in or sealed inside. It means to be ‘marked or stamped’ with a private signet indicating ownership. Ephesians 1 – that after we believed in Christ, God sealed us “With that Holy Spirit of Promise.’ [To be either honored and obeyed, or rejected].

• Final Thought. “The Scriptures consistently teach us that man has the power of freely choosing between life and death, and God will never violate that power. A True Believer can willfully choose to Apostatize, reject God’s grace, and forfeit their salvation. We are safe and secure in Jesus but, if we ultimately reject Him, we forfeit our secure standing in Him. ‘Nonetheless, we can rest assured that God’s Grace, which saved us in the first place, is ever-present to warn, check, encourage, and sustain us.’”

The Point. The entire framework of the Moral Universe is predicated upon the FREE WILL OBLIGATION TO CHOOSE. To Choose what, beloved? To Choose between Good and Evil. Since the Garden when Adam and Eve were given this Divine Charge, since we are first born into this world, and the raging Battle of all History for The Good to resist and overcome The Bad.

‘Even Jesus Christ in the Gaden of Gethsemane had to Choose, beloved!’

It is not only the Human Struggle, but the Divine Struggle as well – for the Forces of God’s Kingdom to overcome the Kingdom of Satan. While the Final Verdict is a ‘fait accompli,’ God has given to every man, woman and child of the age of accountability the “Right to Choose,” to properly recontextualize that important phrase.

The OSAS Dogma is just that: Human Spawn of the Pagan rather than the Christian world, and we are to soundly reject it in favor of the Biblical Canon!

TWO: ARGUMENT FROM SYNCRETISM. The Concept of Syncretism is defined by any Dictionary as: “The amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought, as with: ‘Interfaith Dialogue can easily slip into Syncretism.’” The Biblical Prohibition of such practices is clearly stated in GALATIANS 5:9: “A little leaven leavens the whole loaf” (New King James).

The Greek rendering for the word, “LEAVEN” is from, ‘Zumé’ [ζύμη]: Literally, “The fermentation that turns the substance sour, ‘even the whole lump.’ Used figuratively in Scripture of ‘corruptness, perverseness of life, doctrine or heart; the ‘spreading influence’ of what is typically concealed (but still very dramatic); i.e.,  ‘a slight inclination to Error that easily perverts the whole conception of Faith.’”

So, when Christians willingly take into their Doctrines “The doctrines of demons” in the form of MAGA ‘Christian’ Nationalism, the Trump Ethos and Lifestyle by excusing it, and the staggering Perversion that it brings to the Gospel and our Witness for Christ, they are committing a most grievous sin.

It is summarized by DR. DAVID REID formerly of Emmaus Bible College:

“‘Syncretism is the fusion of different forms of practice or belief.’ ‘Syncretism is a Sin only when Biblical Truth and moral standards are…involved. When vestiges of Pagan Religions and Unbiblical Beliefs and practices are mixed in and fused with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it is not only Syncretism – it is Sinful Syncretism…Spiritual Syncretism is insidious and disastrous.’” – “The Subtle Sin of Syncretism,” Growing Christians, ret. Aug. 14, 2024; edited

THREE: ARGUMENT FROM BLASPHEMY. Let me mince no more words here than the Messiah’s Words did: “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men” – MATTHEW 12:31, NKJV

You read that right. Presuming that Donald Trump is the Antichrist, the Viceroy of Satan, ‘Deep Structure Support’ of this man shall constitute an Unforgivable Sin, according to DR. KENNETH BERDING, Professor of New Testament at Talbot School of Theology.  He writes the following summary of a wide-ranging theological examination of this venal, ultimate Sin.

“The Unforgiveable Sin of Blasphemy Against the Spirit is not a wayward word uttered in a moment of anger. Nor is it some other dramatic sin, like murder, or suicide, or adultery. There is not a hint in Matthew 12 that Jesus had such sins in mind. (Besides, don’t we observe God forgiving such sins throughout the Bible? – Think only of the narratives of David and Paul). Rather, as stated before, ‘Blasphemy Against the Spirit is ongoing hardening of your heart against the Holy Spirit who is trying to lead you to repent of sin and believe in Christ. It is an issue of the heart that manifests in one’s words (and actions).’ Someone who hardens his or her heart against the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit and who refuses to repent of sin and turn to Christ in faith has committed a sin that never can be forgiven. ‘The person who repeatedly and without repentance rejects the Holy Spirit’s Testimony to Christ’ is the one who has blasphemed the Holy Spirit. That sin is the only sin that never will be forgiven.’” – “What is the Unforgiveable Sin? What is Blasphemy against the Spirit?” Biola Edu Blog, Feb. 3, 2021

III.  LAST THOUGHTS

I fully realize that what I have vigorously researched, prayed about, and presented here in THREE DOCTRINAL ARGUMENTS may well be found reprehensible by the vast majority of White Christians in America. Who have, as I have argued repeatedly, been fed an incomprehensively False Americanized Gospel that I now believe will send tens of millions of Trump-Supporting believers to Perdition.

Nonetheless, what I have written I have written, and can frankly do no other at this point. God help me!

Pray on these words, especially if you are a Full-On Supporter of Donald Trump’s Christian Nationalism Movement and its demonic sidecar, QAnon. MY THESIS: ‘You are willingly already bearing His Mark in your hearts. And if that’s you, beloved: I fear for you. Yeshua ben David shall not have it! Nor you, should you refuse to repent.’

CODICIL. Beloved, even if Trump is ‘not’ the Antichrist, you may still be in peril from the Sin of Idolatry. But if he is, you are in the gravest danger imaginable. Selah.

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/wdphLxZuTWQ