Mark of the Beast

[regentrude]

I know a person who refuses the Covid vaccine because it is "the mark of the beast".

Could someone explain to me where this comes from, and how this differs from the flu or tetanus vaccine which this personhas no issues with?

I know there are other reasons people have for not getting the vaccine and have no wish to debate these; just trying to understand the train of thought here. Thanks.

[pinball]

[DawnM]

Sigh, a friend just told me to watch this as it is "proof" that they are implanting something into you.

https://www.bitchute.com/video/bkfii8jpw2V2/

[Katy]

Just now, regentrude said:

I know a person who refuses the Covid vaccine because it is "the mark of the beast".

Could someone explain to me where this comes from, and how this differs from the flu or tetanus vaccine which this personhas no issues with?

I know there are other reasons people have for not getting the vaccine and have no wish to debate these; just trying to understand the train of thought here. Thanks.

It comes from internet “prophets.” The same prophets that said Trump would win, or would be declared the winner by the Supreme Court, and who now claim that “sometime before summer the truth will come out and Trump will be president again.”  

I know charismatic circles give New Testament prophets more room for error, but I think in this case you can hold them to the Old Testament standards:  if they were wrong about the one thing they’re liars, not prophets. 

[EKS]

Here's an article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/02/16/covid-vaccine-misinformation-evangelical-mark-beast/

[EKS]

27 minutes ago, DawnM said:

Sigh, a friend just told me to watch this as it is "proof" that they are implanting something into you.

https://www.bitchute.com/video/bkfii8jpw2V2/

I just tried this and was so disappointed that it didn't work 😉

Edited May 15, 2021 by EKS

[historically accurate]

It's a common thought in my childhood church which strongly believes in modern-day prophecy. Here is what I have been told (note I am only relaying the information I have been given - I have been vaccinated so obvs, I'm not a believer). I think these are all the things I have heard about it:

• The government will make you take the vaccine to re-enter society which is how the mark of the beast works. Note that countries using apps for vaccination records use green as their color marked "safe" which is just part of the Global New Order climate agreements. 
• Since it's made with fetal tissues, you will be marked as a cannibal and becoming a part of child sacrifice which is one of the greatest sins against God, furthering you to fall from God's grace
• It is only one of the first things to get people to cede control to a corrupt physical government. If they can get you to wear a mask for the flu, then they can get you to take the mark via a vaccine. If you're too smart for that, they'll do mandates where you can't do anything if you're not vaccinated.
• If you're still outsmarting them by not taking the vaccine, they'll just find a new way to mark you - perhaps the everchanging annual flu vaccine will be the next step. Or they'll release new "super-scary" Covid strains that require vaccine boosters which will have more people clambering to take the shot.
• Finally, the beast is supposed to come from "the land". Israel has been called "the land" in the Bible, and who is leading the way on vaccinations? Israel!  

[HeartString]

There are some churches that are so excited for the apocalypse that they spend all their time actively looking for it and trying to force its coming.  Pretty much every new technology is the new "mark" for awhile.  Social Security cards, Real ID.  Anything connected to commerce because I guess during the end times you can't buy things without the mark.  So right now if you can't shop without mask unless you are vaccinated, they see that as fulfilling that requirement.  

[gardenmom5]

6 minutes ago, HeartString said:

There are some churches that are so excited for the apocalypse that they spend all their time actively looking for it and trying to force its coming.  Pretty much every new technology is the new "mark" for awhile.  Social Security cards, Real ID.  Anything connected to commerce because I guess during the end times you can't buy things without the mark.  So right now if you can't shop without mask unless you are vaccinated, they see that as fulfilling that requirement.  

I once caught a few minutes of a guy on a talk show claiming it was UPC symbols.  He even brought in a selection of ones that only had 666 on them.  (Plus other numbers,  but he claimed all upc symbols had 666.)

 

Never mind there were a lot out there that didn't...

[Lecka]

My husband went to visit some relatives about a week ago and when he said he was vaccinated, one of them said “mark of the beast,” and my husband said “do you really believe that?” And he said “no.”

So — whatever.  
 

At a certain point you are making a mistake to expect something logical or internally consistent.  
 

Ask your friend if he/she thought Obama was the Anti-Christ, too, and how that worked out for him/her.  (And did Obama institute Sharia law etc etc etc.)

Edit: I am sure it just depends, but the “mark of the beast” people I know have a 100% overlap with the people who thought Obama was a secret Muslim and made a big deal about his middle name being Hussein.  

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by Lecka

[marbel]

32 minutes ago, Lecka said:

My husband went to visit some relatives about a week ago and when he said he was vaccinated, one of them said “mark of the beast,” and my husband said “do you really believe that?” And he said “no.”

Some of my family members would say it as joke. My husband and son joke like that.  (It reaches a point where it's not funny anymore...)

There are some crazy theories and general nuttiness out there. As HeartString said above, there are some folks who want so much to predict the end of the world and even bring it along. So they are looking constantly for signs of it and, of course, want to shout it out to the world so they get some sort of "credit" for being right. 

[Lecka]

It would be a funnier joke if any of them were vaccinated.  I think some of them want to have it both ways (joke but also not disagree with people who do take it more seriously) and some do take it seriously.

The ones who know better but totally go along with it are more — why??????

It is one thing to joke but everyone knows you are joking.  

But to go along with it pretty actively unless someone actually calls you out, and then say you are joking?  

He also may have just wanted to get along with my husband — it is possible.  He was not prepared for my husband to say he was vaccinated.  
 

My husband was helping them build a fence at the time and doing a lot of the work 😉

I guess I don’t really know what you would say to someone if you really did think they had the mark of the beast but it was too late, they already had it.  

[KungFuPanda]

This is why I’ll never get behind school vouchers. I do not want to pay these yahoos to teach their own curriculum. 

[lulalu]

I think because of the pressure to go back to normal after the shot. The Bible says not having the mark will limit buying and selling (so being able to survive). People are worried. When things are out of control, it is easier to worry. This justifies the fear and uneasiness they are feeling to all the change. 

[Katy]

2 hours ago, DawnM said:

Sigh, a friend just told me to watch this as it is "proof" that they are implanting something into you.

https://www.bitchute.com/video/bkfii8jpw2V2/

I have to admit we just had fun with this too.  It doesn’t matter if you got your shot this week or more than a month ago, it doesn’t work for any of us.  

[DoraBora]

They've either casually wondered whether this could be it, or they've heard it somewhere and view the possibility as another excuse to avoid the vaccine.  (As if they need an excuse, apart from, "I don't want to take the Covid vaccine".)

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that folks who make this claim have never read even this one chapter of Revelation.  

Revelation 13:16-17...  Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,  so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

Edited May 15, 2021 by DoraBora
Typo

[DoraBora]

34 minutes ago, lulalu said:

I think because of the pressure to go back to normal after the shot. The Bible says not having the mark will limit buying and selling (so being able to survive). People are worried. When things are out of control, it is easier to worry. This justifies the fear and uneasiness they are feeling to all the change. 

The current "out of control" situation seems like a walk in the park compared to Scriptural descriptions of life in the end times.

[DawnM]

4 minutes ago, DoraBora said:

They've either casually wondered whether this could be it, or they've heard it somewhere and view the possibility as another excuse to avoid the vaccine.  (As if they need an excuse, apart from, "I don't want to take the Covid vaccine".)

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that folks who make this claim have never read even this one chapter of Revelation.  

Revelation 13:16-17...  Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,  so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

 

I remember hearing  a lot of people in the 60s/70s were very fearful of credit cards because they thought it was "a slippery slope" to THE MARK.

And then there were those who thought grocery check out scanners were a slippery slope.

 

[regentrude]

6 minutes ago, DoraBora said:

Revelation 13:16-17...  Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,  so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

yeah, both would be a very odd site to receive the vaccine

[DoraBora]

4 minutes ago, DawnM said:

 

I remember hearing  a lot of people in the 60s/70s were very fearful of credit cards because they thought it was "a slippery slope" to THE MARK.

And then there were those who thought grocery check out scanners were a slippery slope.

 

... and RFID tags

[Indigo Blue]

2 minutes ago, DoraBora said:

... and RFID tags

And health care places where you put your finger on a pad to scan your fingerprint. 

[Pawz4me]

And yet strangely enough none of them (or at least none of the ones I know) are concerned at all about the thing they carry around--often in the right hand--and hold close to their forehead often, and that does (to some extent) allow them to buy and sell.

The thing most of us know as . . .  "my phone."

[DawnM]

1 minute ago, Pawz4me said:

And yet strangely enough none of them (or at least none of the ones I know) are concerned at all about the thing they carry around--often in the right hand--and hold close to their forehead often, and that does (to some extent) allow them to buy and sell.

The thing most of us know as . . .  "my phone."

 

Now you are just talking crazy talk!

 

🤣

[HeartString]

11 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

And yet strangely enough none of them (or at least none of the ones I know) are concerned at all about the thing they carry around--often in the right hand--and hold close to their forehead often, and that does (to some extent) allow them to buy and sell.

The thing most of us know as . . .  "my phone."

I could definitely build up a case for that matching the criteria. Especially right now. I text the doctors office when we arrive. I use apps to buy food.  Use apps for grocery pick up. 
 

 

But can one “accidentally” take the mark of the beast?  Be a good Christian, tithing, feeding the hungry and oops, no heaven for you because you got a REAL ID to fly? 

Edited May 15, 2021 by HeartString

[regentrude]

20 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

And yet strangely enough none of them (or at least none of the ones I know) are concerned at all about the thing they carry around--often in the right hand--and hold close to their forehead often, and that does (to some extent) allow them to buy and sell.

The thing most of us know as . . .  "my phone."

and that is the very thing government could so easily use to track you, too. No need to inject a chip

[Lori D.]

Here is a series of short videos by Curtis Chang, a Christian pastor, who explains and dispels some of the most widespread myths and conspiracy theories surrounding covid and the vaccine. Here is the video that discusses "Is the COVID Vaccine the 'Mark of the Beast'?"

Chang designed these videos to be a tool for pastors to point their congregants who may be hearing and fearing about the "mark of the beast" and other issues raised by the conspiracy theories.

ETA -- Just to be clear these videos are COUNTERING conspiracy theories with truth and calm understanding, and are NOT promoting conspiracy theories.


ETA #2 -- Also, anyone could point friends with worries to these videos (such as @regentrude with the person she was speaking to who refuses the vaccine out of concern for the "mark of the beast"). Also, the full text of the video is below the video link, so you can read if you prefer to watching.

Edited May 15, 2021 by Lori D.

[Lady Florida.]

Wow, I haven't heard mark of the beast stuff since bar codes first showed up. There was a time remembered by those of us of a certain age, when no product had a bar code. Everything had a price sticker and the cashier had to look at the sticker and enter the price in the cash register. When bar codes first came to be, they were only on a few products. As time went on more products had bar codes. At first those people who thought it was the mark of the beast refused to buy anything with a bar code. Eventually we all had no choice and the beast talk just disappeared (kind of like dates for the end of the world just disappear).

All that to say there will always be people who believe weird stuff. The past few years have proven that. Sadly, in this case it affects the rest of us since it just adds to the number of people who won't take the vaccine for totally non-science, non-medical reasons. 

[Lady Florida.]

29 minutes ago, regentrude said:

and that is the very thing government could so easily use to track you, too. No need to inject a chip

Yep.

 

[kokotg]

I remember my stepmother very earnestly explaining why she thought Bill Clinton was the antichrist back in the day. The more things change....

My favorite response to all my stepmother's talk about the end times was when my lifelong Baptist grandmother scoffed and said, "preachers have been saying all that since I was a little girl!"

[Lady Florida.]

3 hours ago, lulalu said:

I think because of the pressure to go back to normal after the shot. The Bible says not having the mark will limit buying and selling (so being able to survive). People are worried. When things are out of control, it is easier to worry. This justifies the fear and uneasiness they are feeling to all the change. 

 

2 hours ago, DoraBora said:

)

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that folks who make this claim have never read even this one chapter of Revelation.  

Revelation 13:16-17...  Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,  so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

That's the one that caused people to go nuts over bar codes when they first came out. Hey, they were half right! You can't buy anything now without a bar code on it unless you just buy from other people. 😄 

Even when I was still a Christian I never understood a literal interpretation of the bible (probably due to my Catholic upbringing), especially when people cherry picked verses and used them to spread conspiracy theories.

[El...]

Wait...can we have photos now? Or will the site still get sued? 

Those are hilarious, though.

[ktgrok]

4 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

This is why I’ll never get behind school vouchers. I do not want to pay these yahoos to teach their own curriculum. 

If it helps, I use what is basically a voucher from the state to educate some of my kids in hopes of counteracting all the crazy in society. So maybe it balances out?

[Matryoshka]

18 minutes ago, Seasider too said:

I’m curious. Was there a similar outcry about the smallpox vaccine in the US in the early 20th century? Did folks then object, thinking that it was the mark of the beast?

Inoculation against smallpox goes back even further - Cotton Mather (the same Puritan minister who headed up the infamous Salem Witch Trials) spearheaded a successful smallpox inoculation campaign in Boston in the early 1700s.  So the same guy who put a whole lot of people to death for witchcraft thought God was good with it...

[KungFuPanda]

23 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

If it helps, I use what is basically a voucher from the state to educate some of my kids in hopes of counteracting all the crazy in society. So maybe it balances out?

I think that homeschooling is so much work and expense that the numbers will always be pretty low. When there isn't a pandemic going on, we're not very statistically significant.  When it comes to the government paying religious school tuition, I have serious reservations because some of those religious schools teach some really weird, and sometimes dangerous, stuff.  

[KungFuPanda]

1 hour ago, Lady Florida. said:

 

That's the one that caused people to go nuts over bar codes when they first came out. Hey, they were half right! You can't buy anything now without a bar code on it unless you just buy from other people. 😄 

Even when I was still a Christian I never understood a literal interpretation of the bible (probably due to my Catholic upbringing), especially when people cherry picked verses and used them to spread conspiracy theories.

I'll bet half the people complaining about being microchipped and bar coded have already given their DNA to a private company and paid them for the privilege.

[ktgrok]

4 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I think that homeschooling is so much work and expense that the numbers will always be pretty low. When there isn't a pandemic going on, we're not very statistically significant.  When it comes to the government paying religious school tuition, I have serious reservations because some of those religious schools teach some really weird, and sometimes dangerous, stuff.  

I hear you. My state provides an educational savings account for kids with certain disabilities or illnesses that make public education difficult. The money can go to private school tuition or homeschool materials, tutors, etc. Kids with anaphylaxis, homebound, ASD, rare diseases, etc. 

[Danae]

3 hours ago, kokotg said:

I remember my stepmother very earnestly explaining why she thought Bill Clinton was the antichrist back in the day. The more things change....

My favorite response to all my stepmother's talk about the end times was when my lifelong Baptist grandmother scoffed and said, "preachers have been saying all that since I was a little girl!"

The first prediction of the end of the world based on the book of Revelation (that we currently have record of) was in the 200s.  It didn’t happen then and it’s been failing to happen on fear mongers’ schedules ever since.

[vonfirmath]

5 hours ago, regentrude said:

yeah, both would be a very odd site to receive the vaccine

But not at all a odd site to receive a mark Proving you had the vaccine.

Whenever people start complaining about their being no proof someone has had the vaccine, I get concerned THAT will be the Mark. Not the vaccine itself but a mark to prove you have it that will enable you to buy or sell, etc.

[Matryoshka]

25 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

But not at all a odd site to receive a mark Proving you had the vaccine.

Whenever people start complaining about their being no proof someone has had the vaccine, I get concerned THAT will be the Mark. Not the vaccine itself but a mark to prove you have it that will enable you to buy or sell, etc.

You already have to prove that you've had a zillion other vaccines to do just about anything (esp attend any school or university).  There's a host of other vaccines that have long been required before traveling to certain countries.   People in the military have been vaccinated with all sorts of sketchy and not so well tested vaccines that have had some funky side effects in the past without being given a choice in the matter (think a big one was anthrax).   But if this particular one is eventually required (one that's now been proven safe and effective against a freaking global pandemic that's killed millions), it's the sign of the end of times because....???

Edited May 15, 2021 by Matryoshka

[historically accurate]

34 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

But not at all a odd site to receive a mark Proving you had the vaccine.

Whenever people start complaining about their being no proof someone has had the vaccine, I get concerned THAT will be the Mark. Not the vaccine itself but a mark to prove you have it that will enable you to buy or sell, etc.

The Mark of the Beast is an allegiance to the anti-Christ. As far as I understand (which I am no longer a Bible student, so my skill/knowledge is rusty), people will not be "tricked" into it. When the mark is taken, the anti-Christ is known. However, when I made the argument that you will know what you are doing to one of my Covid vaccine=mark acquaintance, that is where the conversation turned to being a cannibal/complicent in child sacrifice. 

 

Revelation 14:9 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,

 

Italics mine: you have to worship the beast and his image.

Edited May 15, 2021 by historically accurate

[regentrude]

57 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

But not at all a odd site to receive a mark Proving you had the vaccine.

Whenever people start complaining about their being no proof someone has had the vaccine, I get concerned THAT will be the Mark. Not the vaccine itself but a mark to prove you have it that will enable you to buy or sell, etc.

To the best of my knowledge,  noone has suggested using a tattoo on hand or forehead as proof of vaccination status. Even the vaccinated might balk at that.

[vonfirmath]

Just now, regentrude said:

To the best of my knowledge,  noone has suggested using a tattoo on hand or forehead as proof of vaccination status. Even the vaccinated might balk at that.

I am vaccinated and I will balk.

I didn't say it WAS the mark. I said I was concerned. 

[HeartString]

1 hour ago, vonfirmath said:

But not at all a odd site to receive a mark Proving you had the vaccine.

Whenever people start complaining about their being no proof someone has had the vaccine, I get concerned THAT will be the Mark. Not the vaccine itself but a mark to prove you have it that will enable you to buy or sell, etc.

Except you would have the choice to be vaccinate or mask.  And we’ve all been doing delivery/take out/shopping while masked all the time.  All of the “vaccine passport” programs also allow for a negative test within 48-72 hours too.  Lots of options. Only NYC and cruise ships are even talking about using those anyway.  

Edited May 15, 2021 by HeartString

[vonfirmath]

4 minutes ago, HeartString said:

Except you would have the choice to be vaccinate or mask.  And we’ve all been doing delivery/take out/shopping while masked all the time.  All of the “vaccine passport” programs also allow for a negative test within 48-72 hours too.  Lots of options. Only NYC and cruise ships are even talking about using those anyway.  

Somebody was asked for explanation of what people were thinking. I am not saying it IS  the Mark of the Beast. I am saying I am watching. So its ineffective to argue its not when I'm not saying it is in the first palce.

[ktgrok]

21 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

Somebody was asked for explanation of what people were thinking. I am not saying it IS  the Mark of the Beast. I am saying I am watching. So its ineffective to argue its not when I'm not saying it is in the first palce.

But WHY would you be watching htis, and not say, apple watches. (I wear mine on my left hand, so I'm safe?)

And how do you explain the "worship the beast" part away?

Edited May 16, 2021 by ktgrok

[TravelingChris]

1 hour ago, regentrude said:

To the best of my knowledge,  noone has suggested using a tattoo on hand or forehead as proof of vaccination status. Even the vaccinated might balk at that.

I know I would

[MercyA]

7 hours ago, Lady Florida. said:

There was a time remembered by those of us of a certain age, when no product had a bar code. Everything had a price sticker and the cashier had to look at the sticker and enter the price in the cash register.

Okay, this is COMPLETELY off-topic but I have happy memories of this time. My dad was a grocer. He'd set the price sticker gun on the correct price (using mechanic dials, nothing digital!), hand it to me, and let me price cases of canned green beans, soup, etc. Almost everything in the store had to be priced by hand! And of course the gun would jam, run out of ink, run out of stickers, etc., but it was still great fun. 

I remember when the scanners were put in and I was scared that I'd accidentally look into them and the red laser would scar my eyes forever. 

Good times. 😉 

[MercyA]

9 hours ago, lulalu said:

I think because of the pressure to go back to normal after the shot. The Bible says not having the mark will limit buying and selling (so being able to survive). People are worried. When things are out of control, it is easier to worry. This justifies the fear and uneasiness they are feeling to all the change. 

Here's what kills me. Things would have never gotten to this point if people had just done the right thing. 

I don't get people saying, oh, I'm so scared, I'm so worried, when they've been out doing basically whatever they want, just like they always have, for the past year and a half. 

Do the right thing, THEN as a Christian you have nothing--ultimately--to fear. Not do the wrong thing, call it faith, and still be fearful. 

[Catwoman]

2 hours ago, vonfirmath said:

I am vaccinated and I will balk.

I didn't say it WAS the mark. I said I was concerned. 

 

1 hour ago, TravelingChris said:

I know I would

Not for anything, but I’m pretty sure there is not a single person on this planet who would agree to getting a tattoo on their hand or their forehead — or anywhere else, for that matter — to prove they were vaccinated. 

I find it a little disconcerting that anyone would have thought @regentrude actually meant that only some people might balk at the idea of it! 

This whole “mark of the beast” thing is absurd. Why must some people constantly look for the least probable and most horrible explanation for things? I am getting so tired of the ridiculous conspiracy theories surrounding every single aspect of Covid.

[regentrude]

1 minute ago, Catwoman said:

 

Not for anything, but I’m pretty sure there is not a single person on this planet who would agree to getting a tattoo on their hand or their forehead — or anywhere else, for that matter — to prove they were vaccinated. 

I find it a little disconcerting that anyone would have thought @regentrude actually meant that only some people might balk at the idea of it! 

Of course I was being sarcastic. It baffles me that this has to be pointed out explicitly