So I'm super-sure the Antichrist/sea-Beast/w/e will pose as a Christian, even a very devout one. Maybe behind closed doors he'll do things that most Christians (e.g. Catholics, Orthodox, Reformed---I think those are the three most populous denominations?) would find unseemly, but in public all his rhetoric will be Jesus this, Christ that, "down with the unbeliever and the wicked!"
Now, I don't want to argue that same-sex relationships are or can be good, or equivalent to marriage if romantic enough, or whatever. But I do think many Christians (true, good ones, even, for the most part) are way too easily and wildly goaded by this subject. Now, the end-times deception will involve or be strongly related to something that would fool even the Elect, if such were possible. Some sign or wonder wrought through a False Prophet, if you will.
So, what is something many genuine Christians might find tempting to believe in, that could be widely administered (like a "marking"), and would be administered by a fake Christian regime (if such came to power in, say, America)?
My theory also explains why mere acceptance of a mark would lead to eternal damnation, I think. Basically, the Mark of the Beast will (initially) be a medication that will "cure same-sex feelings" or "inoculate one against" those feelings. It will have exceedingly horrific side-effects, and the Elect, despite temptation to take the medication (there might be two methods of administering it, to correspond to the Mark being on the forehead or the hand), will be wary of it enough to, in time, learn what those side-effects would have been for them. So they will refuse to take it for every reason they have, in advance and after they learn the even more terrible truth.
Now I think the Harlot symbolizes sexual immorality in general, or something along this line (e.g. something to do with concupiscence). Patriarchy could even be an element in this problem; but suffice it to say that my super-weird idea, here, is that taking the Mark-drug will not only guarantee one's straightness, but it will do so in such an intense way that it makes its users willing to indulge in all possible sexual immorality with the opposite sex. To emphasize why this in particular will certify one for eternal damnation, I will suggest that something horrible will be done to massive numbers of children, in relation hereto. (You can fill in the details on your own, I imagine.) It could even be that this is where the twofold administration of the Mark comes in: either one cultivates this evil mentally (as with inappropriate contentography, say) or physically (by acting on the evil impulses in one's own life).
I even have a notion about what the pill form of the drug would look like (assuming it had one): the numbers/letters/w/e on it, would somehow mean "666." Not that that would literally be the number on the pill, maybe it would "F6F" (with "F" being the 6th letter in our alphabet, for instance), but even so.
Now, I don't want to argue that same-sex relationships are or can be good, or equivalent to marriage if romantic enough, or whatever. But I do think many Christians (true, good ones, even, for the most part) are way too easily and wildly goaded by this subject. Now, the end-times deception will involve or be strongly related to something that would fool even the Elect, if such were possible. Some sign or wonder wrought through a False Prophet, if you will.
So, what is something many genuine Christians might find tempting to believe in, that could be widely administered (like a "marking"), and would be administered by a fake Christian regime (if such came to power in, say, America)?
My theory also explains why mere acceptance of a mark would lead to eternal damnation, I think. Basically, the Mark of the Beast will (initially) be a medication that will "cure same-sex feelings" or "inoculate one against" those feelings. It will have exceedingly horrific side-effects, and the Elect, despite temptation to take the medication (there might be two methods of administering it, to correspond to the Mark being on the forehead or the hand), will be wary of it enough to, in time, learn what those side-effects would have been for them. So they will refuse to take it for every reason they have, in advance and after they learn the even more terrible truth.
Now I think the Harlot symbolizes sexual immorality in general, or something along this line (e.g. something to do with concupiscence). Patriarchy could even be an element in this problem; but suffice it to say that my super-weird idea, here, is that taking the Mark-drug will not only guarantee one's straightness, but it will do so in such an intense way that it makes its users willing to indulge in all possible sexual immorality with the opposite sex. To emphasize why this in particular will certify one for eternal damnation, I will suggest that something horrible will be done to massive numbers of children, in relation hereto. (You can fill in the details on your own, I imagine.) It could even be that this is where the twofold administration of the Mark comes in: either one cultivates this evil mentally (as with inappropriate contentography, say) or physically (by acting on the evil impulses in one's own life).
I even have a notion about what the pill form of the drug would look like (assuming it had one): the numbers/letters/w/e on it, would somehow mean "666." Not that that would literally be the number on the pill, maybe it would "F6F" (with "F" being the 6th letter in our alphabet, for instance), but even so.
