Their faces show concern, fatigue, and even fear. Some are downright angry.

While their reactions vary, their questions largely boil down to this: “Is the COVID-19 vaccine the Mark of the Beast?

The simple answer is, “No, it’s not.” The Bible states the antichrist – a future globalist despot who leads a brutal one-world government system – will implement the Mark of the Beast halfway into a well-defined seven-year period known as The Tribulation (Revelation 13:16-17).

That will be a future time when evil reaches a peak. In Daniel 8:23, we’re told it will be a point “…when rebels have become completely wicked.” Some translations put it this way, “…when the transgressors are come to the full.”

In other words, under the antichrist’s ultimate socialist rule, evil will be like a cup of water that is so full that it cannot take another drop. If it could, it wouldn’t be full. That’s the picture here; sin on the earth will reach maximum expression in this final chapter of human history.

Tough as things are becoming, we’re not yet at that point. The Bible is equally clear that the antichrist cannot be revealed until the ‘restrainer is taken out of the way’ (2 Thess. 2:1-7).

There is only one power that is infinitely greater than all the forces the devil can muster. There’s only one ‘restrainer’ that can stand against such evil. That is God.

The Holy Spirit lives within each person who is truly saved. As much as we see world conditions deteriorating, there is still a ‘restraining’ effect due to the presence of believers – and from those who support the laws and values which find their origin in God’s Word.

That will all precipitously change at some unknown point. A moment is coming where all who trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation will be suddenly and preternaturally removed from this earth. Poof! Gone.

It’s a blessed event for those who are taken from this planet to be with their Lord and Savior forever (Titus 2:13). It’s also imminent, which means we cannot predict its timing. Plenty try to, but that’s a foolish undertaking.

When it happens, there will be concerted political AND supernatural efforts to explain what took place as something other than what the Bible makes plain. I have no doubt about this. Many then – as now – will believe a lie instead of the truth.

Meantime, and until such point, we already see conditions in the world aligning for this future timeframe wherein this one-world leader and his ultimate socialist agenda will take center stage.

Some people today actually want all this to happen. They’re openly calling for a one-world government. They don’t evaluate their wishes through the lens of God’s Word any more than they do through any filters of common sense. Instead, they are keenly frustrated with anyone who takes a sensible stance against their supposed ‘utopian ideals.’

Why do you think there are hordes of radicals who hate anyone that supports constitutionally-based freedoms, secure borders, and law and order? Why do certain people cheat to win and lie to cover it up?

Why does a specific group of people despise Israel, devalue human life, believe in multiple genders, promote division, advance the fallacy of climate change, applaud sexual depravities of all sorts, incarcerate church leaders, defund the police, jail the good guys, release the bad guys, defend a two-tiered justice system, push depopulation, censor truth, celebrate lawlessness, and want to penalize anyone that doesn’t do and see things their way?

There’s a group of folks that are largely defined by these positions. It’s these kinds of people that are the prototype of the population that will support the antichrist and his depraved policies when that final apocalyptic leader arrives. The character of his future supporters has never been more self-evident than right now.

So – what about this Mark of the Beast thing? To be sure, the present ‘V’ is a conditioning process. It’s setting the stage. It’s a trial run for what’s coming down the road. I absolutely believe this.

The jab is a chance to control the population, to force compliance, to manipulate minds, to squash independence, to reward those who believe lies and to penalize those who don’t. It’s a chance to go door to door in a thinly-veiled campaign to gain personal information and to document anyone who resists this new tactic of a globalist agenda. It’s a chance to threaten people to conform – or else!

It’s also a key opportunity to publicly ridicule anyone who thinks for themselves and to blame certain folks for problems they really aren’t a part of. It’s a justification for building bias, for fostering hate, for imposing restrictions, for cultivating resentment, for removing rights, and for prospering deception.

Getting all these conditions underway will be helpful to achieving the ultimate goal of mass total control. That’s coming, believe me.

Meantime, the ‘V’ is little more than a precursor event. Much as it smacks of some of the same dynamics as the real Mark of the Beast, the latter is not here – – not yet.

You don’t want to be here on earth when it DOES come. Those will be terrible times – the worst ever according to Jesus (Matthew 24:21). It’s tough to wrap one’s mind around the implications of this.

Get your heart right with Jesus Christ while you still have a chance. “If you declare with your mouth that “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9).

There is no better time than now to do it.

 

The occasion was the recent US-EU Summit, and it was an amazing quote from the leader of the free world.

“I’m going to get in trouble. But, anyway, we’ll get back to that. But we, uh, you know….there’s a lot that, that is….it’s happening. I used to always…” (awkward silence)

Amazing? Yes, indeed – but not for the usual reasons.

It was amazing for its ineptness, its lack of cogency, and its public display of foolishness. There are reports of other world leaders snickering whenever the US President spoke, and laughing when he mixed up countries’ names and bumbled through ordinary discussions and introductions.

The folly does not stop there.

Under this nation’s current leadership, illegal border crossings have soared to record heights. Under this new administration’s short watch, inflation alarms are surging, once plentiful energy resources have been cut off, Mideast tensions and conflicts have sharply escalated, Executive Orders have skyrocketed to unprecedented levels, and law enforcement applications and morale have utterly tanked. That’s just scratching the surface of the rough news.

We don’t even know what “infrastructure” is anymore. It has always been about roads, bridges, airports, railways, and seaports. You know – the “hard bones” transportation stuff. That was always the accepted definition on both sides of the aisle.

Now, under the present leadership, it includes social programs, media aid, paid leave, ‘woke’ ideology, transgender initiatives, and childcare. Basically, “infrastructure” is now whatever assists a progressive-socialist agenda.

What’s happening here is a real-time display of Prov. 29:2, “When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan.”

The point of that verse is not a political statement. It’s a spiritual reminder.

The truth of Prov. 29:2 is clear. It’s been manifest throughout human history whenever leaders choose to ignore God’s laws. Every time leaders color outside those lines, a nation suffers. What God cares about is how leadership conforms to His laws and complies with His principles of righteousness.

Let me give you some examples. If a leadership is noted for its fraud and deception, then God does not approve of it (Lev. 19:11; Psalms 119:163; Prov. 12:22, Et Al). When an entire leadership actively advances lies – the situation is especially onerous to God.

If a leadership supports a globalist ideal, then they are supporting an agenda that will ultimately be condemned (Rev. 13:2-7). This has already happened before; an ancient globalist agenda was judged (Gen. 11:1-9).

Even in the future Millennial Kingdom, a time of near perfection during Jesus Christ’s physical rule on earth, nations will still exist (Rev. 21:24). Individual nations are a part of God’s design.

What about law and order? When humans were created, law-based structures were implemented (Gen. 2:16-17). That has not changed. God still condones government and its primary function to stop anarchy and preserve the law (Romans 13:1-7). During those times when “every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Deut. 12:8; Judges 17:6; Et Al.), things went very badly. Societies fell apart, and lawlessness abounded. These things are always a symptom of evil.

Justice is a big deal to God too. He hates it when a system of fair justice is suppressed, when there is one system of justice for one group of people and a different one for another, and when proper accountability is stonewalled (Prov. 11:1, 17:15; Psalms 43:1; Isaiah 10:1; Et Al.).

Dare I state the obvious? I will.

God’s design is FOR two distinct genders, no more. God’s design is also FOR heterosexual relationships, FOR the nuclear family, FOR the protection of the unborn, FOR national borders, FOR moral behavior, and FOR capital punishment. All of these things find their foundation in God’s inerrant Word. When anyone – or any nation – embraces an alternate view, they are on the wrong side of God’s divine intentions.

Here’s the nutshell. When people choose to reject God, to deny that He exists or that He made us and put us on this earth – or when people decide they want to define God by their personal preferences – they put themselves in a very dangerous spot (Romans 1:20).

When leaders and nations no longer tolerate truth – when they choose to censor facts, enforce acquiescence, or reinforce deception with intimidation – they have completely abused their position.

Violence and censorship are first cousins. Violence is a primitive effort to force compliance, just as censorship is a symptom of those who wish to deflect from their own lack of integrity. These actions are regularly practiced by those who do not fear God, and who detest His laws and all who follow them.

When this point is reached, foolishness is no longer a symptom – it’s a terminal condition. It’s obvious to everyone around. It’s even clear to the world at large.

Oh – I know, those who arrive at this point won’t see it or believe it. They get angry when they’re made to look into a mirror. The fact is they “can’t handle the truth.” They exist in a sticky and suffocating delusion, and they vigorously defend where they choose to be.

Contrary to the evidence, they imagine themselves to be forward-thinking, elite, insightful, erudite, knowing, and even wise (Romans 1:22).

They may even imagine themselves to be President.