I find the need to be biblically truthful much greater than being popular, and I hope that everyone will read this through the end before coming to conclusions about what I am saying.
Since nearly the beginning of COVID, when vaccines began to be discussed, an undercurrent of concerns bubbled up over the internet: everything from tiny mind-control capsules incorporated into the vaccines to turn people into zombies, to fear that the vaccine is the mark of the beast. The mark of the beast is the topic of this article.
The zombie issue, as well as the thousands of other possible issues with vaccines, I will leave to you readers to investigate and come to your own conclusions. The reason I am writing today about the mark of the beast issue and not zombies is because the mark of the beast issue is biblical.
Let me provide the requisite disclaimers: I believe that the vaccine was rushed and, in many ways, is untested. I also believe that we have no idea at this time the long-term effects of the vaccine. I, like many others, have grown to not be overly trusting of the government, as more evidence of corruption and ungodliness comes to light in both parties.
While I do not believe that the vaccine is the mark of the beast, I do believe that governments around the world are using the crisis to enact controls that could very well set the stage for the mark of the beast.
As I said above, the mark of the beast is a biblical topic, and the best way to find out about a biblical topic is to look at the Bible. Here’s what it says in Revelation 13:11-17 (TLV) and Revelation 14:9:
Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. He exercises all the authority of the first beast before him, and he makes the earth and all those who dwell in it worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. He performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth through the signs he is permitted to perform, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image in honor of the beast who has the sword wound yet lived. The second beast was permitted to give life to the image of the first beast, so that the image of the beast could even speak and cause all who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He also causes all—the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free and the slave—to receive a mark on their right hand or upon their forehead. And so no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark—either the name of the beast or the number of his name.
And another angel, a third one, followed them, saying in a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand…”
First, note that in both of these texts we read that the person who receives the mark of the beast will first worship the beast. Worship requires choice, purposefulness and intentionality.
Someone must decide they want to worship someone or something. True worship cannot be done accidentally; it must be done from the heart. So, if the vaccine is the mark of the beast, who (or what) is the beast, and how are those people intentionally worshipping the beast?
Worshipping anyone or anything but G-D is idolatry, which is a sin. It is actually the very first sin listed in the Ten Commandments spoken by G-D from the mountain.
Idolatry is an intentional sin, and when we discuss intentional sins, they require purposeful choice. In the case of vaccines, while a person would be making a purposeful choice to take the vaccine, the vast majority are not making a choice to worship anything; they are making a choice to receive a vaccine. They are not being presented with a person or idol to bow down before or to worship.
I know that people are listening to and reading about the possibilities of neither buying or selling without having the vaccines and trying to make a connection between the vaccine and the mark of the beast. While not being able to buy and sell is a result of not taking the mark, we must remember that one must worship the beast before taking the mark for this to be an accurate interpretation.
So please study, watch, pray and stay aware as the days approach. But, while doing so, remember that the testimony of believers gets weakened whenever we say or share things that are unbiblical and sow fear instead of faith.
Yes, there will one day be a mark of the beast, but before people are forced to choose to receive the mark or not, there will be a recognizable beast that people choose to worship instead of the G-D of the Bible.
The choice to receive the mark comes only after the choice to worship the beast. {eoa}
Eric Tokajer is the author of Overcoming Fearlessness, What If Everything You Were Taught About the Ten Commandments Was Wrong?, With Me in Paradise, Transient Singularity, OY! How Did I Get Here?: Thirty-One Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before Entering Ministry, #ManWisdom: With Eric Tokajer, Jesus Is to Christianity as Pasta Is to Italians and Galatians in Context.
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