Hi all, this is my very first post here, so a quick update on who I am.
I am a young white Englishman, with non-devout christian beliefs, only strong beliefs in god himself, I am a true believer in the "afterlife" and God as my final saviour.
Recently due to the corona virus outbreak, I looked for guidance in the Holy Bible and learnt of The Revelations and the End Times. In, these End Time learnings I came across "The Mark of the beast" and the "False Prophet".
The Revelation is a fantastic book of the Bible, but it is also notoriously difficult, controversial, and immensely difficult to read. I would never suggest a new Christian attempt to read it on their own and try and understand it for themselves.
Even the assumption that it is talking about "the end times" is just that, an assumption. It is how some read the text, but just as many understand it very differently
There are actually four distinct schools of thought associated with how to read the Revelation of St. John:
1. Futurism - This is the school that is often most popularly known because those who subscribe to it are often more vocal and there is a thriving industry of literature and popular media that espouses this view. But that doesn't mean it's the most common or most appropriate position to take, only that it is the most well known, especially to those outside of Christianity because of that booming media industry that popularizes it. The Futurist position is that the Revelation is talking about events that will happen at the or toward the conclusion of history. And thus is about "the end times" as some call it. In this view "The Beast", often identified as being the same as "the Antichrist" is a future end of the world tyrant just before Christ's coming.
2. Historicism - This school of thought states that the Revelation describes an unfolding of things that began early on, at the time of St. John when he wrote it, and continues to do so as history marches on. That is, the Revelation describes in highly figurative language an unfolding of history that has been ongoing over the last two millennia, and continuing on until Christ's return in the future. In this view "The Beast"/"Antichrist" is a power that exists throughout history.
3. Preterism - This school states that the meaning of the text is found primarily in the events of the time St. John wrote, and thus describes things two thousand years ago. Here "The Beast" is often understood to be the Roman emperor, or more broadly Roman imperial power.
4. Idealism - This school states that the point of the Revelation isn't about very specific events from any specific period of time so much as it describes ideas and realities that are relevant in any time. The Beast, therefore, may not be a specific individual or group of individuals, but more representative of all oppressive evil power at work in the world.
Further, there are different variations within all the above, and there can even be overlap. For example I would broadly describe my own approach to the Revelation to be between the Preterist and Idealist schools. I am of the opinion that the Beast of the Revelation was a direct reference to Emperor Nero, whose name adds up to six hundred and sixty-six. The mortal wound which the Beast suffers was the death of Nero, and the revival of the Beast is Emperor Domitian who, according to ancient sources, revived the persecution against the Church and was the emperor at the time St. John wrote the Revelation. More broadly, the Beast is the imperial power of Rome, and can also be understood to describe all tyrannical, oppressive power in the world. All that which is in opposition to Christ and Christ's people. Thus the historical context of the Revelation was the ancient world in which St. John wrote, the point of why he wrote was to direct his original audience (the seven churches in Asia Minor) to their hope in Christ and Christ's ultimate defeat of all things at His return in glory at the conclusion of history. The text remains relevant for us, as we can be reminded of this same hope, the hope of Jesus Christ who defeated sin an death, ascended into heaven, reigns with the Father, and will come again in glory when God will make all things new. This is our hope in every generation, in every era, and so no matter how great the powers of this world rage, no matter how fierce the devil may seem, our hope and victory is always in Jesus Christ who has already won the victory.
To cut a long story as short as I can, I looked much further into this.
I believe the Mark of the Beast will be a vaccine microchip placed between the thumb and finger, incorporating a bitcoin or other blockchain "wallet" to store and hold currency, allowing us to buy and sell, this is why governments are printing money at alarming rates and devaluing their own currencies because soon it will not matter if they are transferring to a new currency. They will eventually restrict people to only buy and sell with this new currency.
I believe the Anti-Christ is Donald Trump, he has many past afflications with the number 666, including purchasing buildings with the number 666, paying 666million for properties and various other stuff relating to 666... He has already committed blasphemy on multiple occasions, he has declared to be "the chosen one" and "king of israel" and "the second coming of christ". He has already been leader for 38 months and the beast is said to be leader for 42 months. He comes from the "sea of people" and a "sea of wealth". He will be wounded by the deadly coronavirus and then healed. It all seems to fit.
The false prophet is Bill Gates... He will be the one to promote the usage of the"mark of the beast" the vaccine microchip, it will be almost impossible for people to not take this mark and will be deceived.
Could "The Rapture" be the virus and be happening now?
What does everyone/ anyone think about this?
Feel free to ask me any questions you wish, I will watch this post for a couple of days to see how it evolves.
Thankyou, and be safe in these worrying times!
"The Rapture" is, depending on how it is defined, either a completely unbiblical idea or a very misunderstood idea.
The Christian hope is that even as Christ was raised from the dead so shall God raise us up at Christ's coming. So in St. Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians) he wants to remind the Christians living there not to be disheartened over those who have died, and to not believe false teachers denying the resurrection of the dead. So he reminds them that when Jesus returns, the dead will be raised, and those alive at Christ's coming will join the dead; and all will be "caught up" to meet Jesus as He returns. This term "caught up" in the Latin translation of the Bible is rapiemur, a form of the Latin verb rapio, meaning "to seize"; a number of English words (including one very unpleasant one) comes from this Latin verb, including the English word "rapture".
Some, in recent times, see in this passage of the dead rising and being caught up to meet Jesus at His return as indicating a being "caught up" into heaven, that Jesus brings Christians up into heaven. This isn't, however, what has been believed historically in Christianity. Rather since Christ is returning, coming down from heaven, back to earth to judge the living and the dead, the catching up is about going to meet Him, like a royal entourage going out of a city to escort a returning king back home in victory.
The term "The Rapture" is often used by those who believe in the idea that Christians are taken directly into heaven; as such many Christians (myself included) simply don't use that term; seeing that it is by and large also a new one. Instead we simply speak of Christ's return to judge, and of the resurrection of the dead at His coming.
That is what Christianity speaks of and hopes for: Christ's return and the resurrection of the dead.
So the current COVID-19 situation has nothing to do with "the Rapture".
A lot of the things you've said here, and the ideas you have expressed, are one of the big reasons why I mention one shouldn't attempt to read the Revelation by themselves, especially someone new to the faith.
The temptation to engage in various conspiracy theory type thinking is often exacerbated by attempting to attach the cryptic, graphic imagery contained in the Revelation with contemporary events. One should not read the Revelation in one hand and a newspaper in the other--the result is any manner of speculation.
-CryptoLutheran