It was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed

 Good morning. As if fire coming down from heaven were not enough: it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. Now that would definitely get people’s attention! Of course people believe that, but won’t believe “simple“ miracles that God does. Now here’s the part that you hear about from “conspiracy theorists“ a lot nowadays: and he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Because of these verses, some people refuse to have implants or identification marks of any kind (today it is common to talk about implants for identification or possibly medical information) saying that that is the mark of the beast. While it can be revolting/scary to think about implants for identification or information, these are not the mark of the beast. If one were the mark of the beast, then that would mean that we are in the middle of the tribulation, which would go against another of their main beliefs – that the church will be raptured before the tribulation. Father thank You that we have Your mark of identification – the Holy Spirit indwelling us.

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