I got a question for my Christian Brothers and Sisters i wanna see what you guys got to say Who do you guys believe the Beast is? and Who you guys believe the Mark is? Any opinions or interpretations are accepted God bless
Beasts in Apocalpytic liturature like Daniel and Revelation - are nations or geo-political-religious systems.
So in Daniel 7 and 8 the beasts are the various empires from Babylon to Rome.
"The mark of the Beast" and the "image of the Beast" and 666 can all be found in Revelation 13
The beast
"deceives the whole world" so you won't know what is going on when the time comes unless you are fully informed by the Word of God.
Rev 13
3
I saw one of his heads as if it had been fatally wounded, and his fatal wound was healed. And the
whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;
11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. 12 He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who live on it worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. 13
He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of the sky to the earth in the presence of people. 14
And he deceives those who live on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the wound of the sword and has come to life.
2 Thess 2
8 Then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will eliminate with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9
that is,
the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with
all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and
with all the deception of wickedness for those who
perish, because they did not accept the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason
God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false,
Matt 24
23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘
He is over here,’ do not believe
him. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and will provide great signs and wonders,
so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.
2 Cor 11
13 For such men are
false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves
as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even
Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.
========================
the Bible theme is that the deception works -- it gets the whole world. Only the few fully informed by the Bible will be able to withstand it.
Those who unwittingly receive the mark of the beast - will have no clue that what they are doing is some form of idolatry. Nothing nearly so obvious to them