“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.’” Revelation 14:9-11 (KJV)
I grew up hearing about the rapture in the churches my family attended. For as long as I can remember, this subject has both fascinated and scared me. It frightened me because I knew I was living in the generation that would see these things come to pass, and I wanted to make darn sure I didn’t miss the boat, so to speak. To be left behind will be a fate worse than death.
Aside from all the obvious unknowns in regard to dates and times, through the years, there’s been one main question niggling in the back of my mind—something that just plain doesn’t fit in with the rest of the Bible. Really read the passage above. Do you see it? No? OK, here’s my question: WHY does taking the mark of the beast automatically guarantee you a place in the Lake of Fire for eternity? It seems to contradict other scripture.
“Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” Matthew 12:32-33 (KJV)
Jesus clearly stated ALL manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, EXCEPT the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Accepting the mark entails being physically marked in some manner visible on the right hand or the forehead; a mark of ownership, if you will. It’ll also involve worshipping the beast and his image in some as yet undetermined way. In other words, the person will make a conscious decision to renounce YHWH and Jesus Christ, and pledge loyalty to the care and oversight of the beast and his system.
It simply doesn’t make sense that taking the mark would be considered blaspheming the Holy Ghost, because it’s nothing more than your average, garden variety idol worship, which can be forgiven according to Jesus. People all through history, even up to today, have worshipped idols in ceremonies that involved offering food, wine, flowers, ritual sex, cutting themselves, and engaging in animal and even human sacrifice, including babies. There’s nothing new under the sun, right?
The ancient Israelites participated in these things on and off throughout their history, and God forgave their sins and took them back time after time. So, what’s different about the mark of the beast? What is it about this ‘thing’ that is SO heinous in the Lord’s eyes, that He will immediately issue a sentence of eternal death to the recipient?
I’ll tell you, but for those who get squeamish when it comes to ‘conspiracy theories,’ I state categorically that what follows is my personal belief based on many hours of research, Bible reading and listening to the teaching of prophecy experts who are infinitely smarter than me. These things may be difficult to believe, but I assure you, they are NOT science fiction, but rather Biblically based and very real in the realm of biology and genetic science.
To understand the big picture, we need to review the basics of human reproduction and genetics. Not to worry, I’ll keep it simple as I can.
Every living being, plant or animal, is made up of cells. The ‘brain’ of the cell is the nucleus, which houses the blueprint or ‘computer code’ which controls what kind of cell it is, how it functions and how it reproduces itself. That blueprint or code is called DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid).
Human DNA consists of chemical building blocks (nucleotides) called adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine, (ACGT). These building blocks join together in different patterns called base pairs. These base pairs always match A with T and C with G, and are held together by sugars located on each side. A long chain of these patterns form a twisted, ladder-like structure called a double helix. So, for one rung of the DNA ladder, you might have: sugar molecule—A—T—sugar molecule. The next rung might be: sugar molecule—G—C—sugar molecule, and so on to form long chains of information.
Every single cell, except red blood cells, contain 46 sections of DNA called chromosomes. Each chromosome contains approximately 50-250 million rungs on the DNA ladder! Our individual genetic instructions/blueprint are located on these chromosomes, and are called genes. The exception to this rule are the egg and sperm cells. Those cells only contain 23 chromosomes each.
At conception, the sperm cell combines its 23 chromosomes with the egg’s 23, to equal the normal number of 46 chromosomes every human cell normally contains, thus creating a brand new baby with genetic coding never before seen on earth! A completely unique human being, different from every other person ever born. (Yes, with the exception of identical siblings…)
How anyone could go through medical school, study the breathtaking complexity and stunning genius of the human body’s design, basically made of the dust of the earth, and walk out denying the existence of God just blows my mind. Such an egotistical individual is nothing more than an educated fool!
OK, you passed Biology 101. Congratulations! Here’s where it gets interesting.
The Bible describes how Mary came to be pregnant with the Lord Jesus Christ. The angel Gabriel appeared to her and told her she had been chosen to be the mother of the Messiah, and explained how this would take place since He would have no human father.
“Then said Mary unto the angel, ‘How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?’ And the angel answered and said unto her, ‘The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.’” Luke 1:34-35 (KJV)
Somehow, God joined His heavenly 23 chromosome DNA with her egg’s 23 earthly chromosomes to form the 46 chromosomes that made up Jesus’ human/God body. How fantastic is that?! I can’t wait to find out how this was accomplished, but what an incredible miracle, and what a special privilege for that little Hebrew teenage girl!
However, do you realize that wasn’t the first time a heavenly being impregnated a human woman? The first time it happened, it was an abomination and grave sin to God! He never meant for ANY species to mix their DNA together. “And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, with the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” “And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:21, 25 (KJV)
“After his kind.” “After their kind.” Separate species were to reproduce within their own species. God never meant for elephants to mate with giraffes, or dogs with cats, or even donkeys with a Hildabeast. He created everything to His liking and expected it to stay that way. That included heavenly beings!
Because He is a loving, secure God, He created the angels with free will, just like He did human beings. He never wanted those around Him to love and worship Him out of obligation or by force. He wants to be loved and appreciated for the magnificent Holy Being He is! But, creating the angels with the choice to serve Him or not, was a risk. And one of those angels rose up in pride and defiance, desiring to be like God and enjoy His throne and stature amongst all the other heavenly beings.
That takes a special kind of stupid, if you ask me. Lucifer rebelled against the authority and omnipotence of God and talked 1/3 of the angels into trying to usurp God’s throne, so he could be crowned king of all. Let’s just say it didn’t work out for him, and he’s been throwing an unholy tantrum ever since.
Some of the angels that rebelled against God were originally assigned to roam the earth as “Watchers.” They were in charge of observing the activities of human beings and reporting back to God what was going on. However, the Bible tells us a very interesting story about these guys.
“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” Genesis 6:1-2, 4 (KJV)
The Hebrew for the term “the sons of God” in this verse is: בְנֵי־הָאֱלֹהִים, beneha’elohm. This term is only found in Gen. 6:2, Gen. 6:4, Job 1:6, Job 2:1, and Job 38:7, all of which refer to angelic beings–NOT human beings! The Hebrew for “giants” is הַנְּפִלִ֞ים הָי֣וּ בָאָרֶץ֮, Nephilim. The giant Goliath that David killed with a sling and a stone, was a Nephilim.
There are some Christians who accept the Biblical account of the virgin birth, Jesus walking on water and His resurrection, but can’t bring themselves to believe that angels came down to earth in human form and mated with human women, producing hybrid offspring, even though the Bible is quite clear this happened. They believe this verse is stating that the descendants of Adam’s son Seth, married the descendants of his other son, Cain. In this view, the crime was the marriage of the supposed holy line of Seth with the cursed line of Cain.
This interpretation actually appeared about 400 AD, and there are several problems with this theory. First, the phrase “sons of Seth” doesn’t appear in the Bible, and the Word never indicates that Seth and his descendants were considered holy. Also, God never threatened to destroy a race or culture due to intermarriage. He brought the flood upon the earth mainly because human and animal DNA was overwhelmingly contaminated due to being mixed with Nephilim DNA. Finally, there is no instance in history where intermarriage produced a giant.
Jude, the Lord’s half-brother, wrote “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” Jude 1:6-7 (KJV)
The Greek word for habitation in verse 6 is: Oiketerion, which means “a dwelling place—of the body as a dwelling place for the spirit.” I’m sure Jude got an accurate account of what happened from Jesus Himself and, if you notice, he didn’t happen to mention Seth at all.
The fact is, angels have the ability to assume human form. This is clearly described in scripture. In Genesis, Abraham had a conversation with angels who appeared to him as human beings. They were on their way to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, and stopped at his invitation to rest, eating a lavish dinner he prepared for them. Also, in the New Testament we’re warned “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby, some have entertained angels unawares.” Hebrews 13:2 (KJV)
So, it’s obvious that Genesis 6 was speaking of angelic beings (the Watchers) who assumed human form and mated with human women, producing what the Bible calls Nephilim, or half- angel, half-human hybrids, which were creatures cursed by God.
I will finish this series in Part 3 of Why the Mark Equals Spiritual Death. Maranatha, Lord Jesus!
author: bensmomi99@gmail.com