The Image and the Mark: Revelation 13:11-17

   Which comes first, the baby or the birth pains? Any mother will tell you, that birth pains arrive before the baby does. What we are witnessing, is the rise of global birth pains; wars and threats of wars, famines and earthquakes, the beginning of sorrows - the birth pains that precede the baby's arrival. The baby represents the birth of a new era; the second coming of Christ Jesus. 

   The same logic applies to the image and the mark. You can not have the mark without the image. The image must be in existence before the mark is enforced. Just as the birth pains come before the baby, the image comes before the mark. 

   So, where is it? 

   We often hear about how this or that is the 'mark of the beast.' It's a barcode, a jab, A.I., a microchip, digital I.D., Sunday law, a fingerprint, an eye scan, our cell phones, a brain implant, an electronic pill.... If 'this and that' is the 'mark of the beast', then, where is the image? What is it and, when was submission to an image required to make everyday purchases? 

Idols of Gold and Silver: Revelation 9:20-21

   And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

 

   These two verses sum up the events following the sixth trumpet judgement, focusing on the unrepentant state of a godless population. The two-thirds 2/3 who are still alive after one-third 1/3 of the population is killed: (Rev 9:13-19), flock to the altar of self-indulgence to worship the Babylon gods of gold, silver, brass, wood and stone. 

   Mankind has turned primal; driven to madness by the demons they worship. They commit mass murders, and are addicted to potions of mind-altering drugs. They remain unrepentant of their evil works: murders, wicked pleasures of fornication, thefts and sorceries. Sorceries is a translation from the Greek word; pharmakōn - drugs: toxins and poisons used with spirit channeling, demon summoning and spell-binding. Wickedness rules a world where lawlessness abounds.  

Revelation 13 Rise of the False Prophet

Beast Out of the Earth: The False Prophet: 

   The beast out of the earth represents the religion or, religious system of the first beast; the beast out of the sea.  

   The beast out of the sea is a kingdom, specifically recognized by ten kings, and the eleventh king; the little horn or, antichrist. The beast out of the earth is the religion or religious system of the first beast, recognized by its 'king'; the false prophet. The beast out of the earth has the same power of the first beast: the beast out of the sea.

   During the tribulation period, the beast kingdom (iron) is regulated by its religious system (clay). This religious system  is governed by the sorcerer, the false prophet. This is the religious system that attacks Israel and those who have the testimony of Christ Jesus. 

   False prophet is from the Greek: ψευδοπροφητης which means: to prophesize falsely, a medium. This should come as no surprise, as the beast out of the earth, speaks the words of the red dragon: the murderer, the father of lies: John 8:44. The false prophet works as a religious cheerleader, promoting the kingdom of darkness and its king; the little horn. 

   The false prophet is a high priest, a sorcerer, the master magician who rules in the kings court, performing great signs and wonders, deceiving those who dwell upon the earth. These signs and wonders are nothing new, as they have been practiced by sorcerers and magicians for thousands of years, throughout the post-flood Mesopotamia. The courts of the Kings, along with the palaces of the Pharaohs, were filled with false prophets: magicians, sorcerers, seers, diviners, enchanters and necromancers; working in service to their kings. 

   This is what the false prophet represents; a master magician working in service to the king. 

Seed of the Serpent Genesis 3:15

And, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it (the seed) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Genesis 3:15.

   Year's ago, Pentecostal minister, William Branham took this verse and added to it, falsely teaching that Satan had impregnated Eve with the seed of Cain. Though it has no biblical basis, it began a series of Bible awareness surrounding the seed of Satan. 

   The only mention of the serpents seed is in Genesis 3:15, suggesting that there are two seeds; a good seed, and a bad seed. Enmity is placed between the woman's seed and the bad seed,  purposely causing a divide. Enmity is a deep seated hatred or hostility, between individuals or people groups, centered around the sovereignty of God, and the light of Christ Jesus. This represents an age old conflict between good and evil; a spiritual battle of sin and rebellion, and obedience to God. 

   In the Bible we find a stark contrast between two kingdoms; the kingdom of God (light) and the kingdom of Satan (darkness)  This spiritual division wrestles for the soul of man. The seed of man is the soul; and every seed has its own body. The seed, defines the division between the two kingdoms.