mark or number of the beast

All of us have INDIVIDUAL Social Security numbers. The mark of the beast is one number, and it is the number of a man, and his number is 666. Or so says the writer of Revelation.

Debates like this are proof that legitimate biblical scholarship has not benefitted the contributers to this post.

 

I agree, as is the case with most of Rev, it is useless information in context until that time comes, even then, the rest is still useless since we don't have a valid time sequence for the remainder.

Rev is not a book to be used in context to where we are in history nor when the end time comes, but rather a fuzzy picture into the future of man which predicts Israel and the Church will still be intact until the very end. It supports the will of God and acts as proof of his hand on the future of Mankind and the planet.

The mark of the Beast is meaningless in context. It was never meant to be understood. The Rapture is equally meaningless in the actual happening of such an event. Like all future predictions in scripture, it is not a sign of what is to come that is at issue, but a way of proving God spoke through a particular person and that God exists. It equally invokes hope in a person.

The effects of a prediction have no other importance on a person, as in the case of the Rapture or the Mark of the Beast. Many millions have read these things throughout history and die without the event happening. How much effect did these two predictions have on the majority of Christians throughout the age? None in the sense of the event. But much in the knowledge that God will always be in control. The mark of the beast could have stated that the number is 222 or that he had no number and it would not have changed anything for Christians up to that point.

 

It falls to me to put the offering amount on the board on the wall behind the pulpit and one Sunday the offering was something like $664.45, so I reached into my pocket and came up with enough to make it an even $666.66 and posted it. It did spark a little conversation but most of our people have a pretty soild grasp of scripture and weren't upset, most thought it was funny. What was really funny was one year later when it was posted what the offering was a year ago and the numbers came up again. One Sunday I did this again (after a few years) and the next Sunday the offering was near an amount that I was able to "up" it to $777.77. Another time I was working as a cashier and we sold a particular item that with tax came to $6.66, I loved it when that happened, I always told them the amount this way, "That will be six-six-six, please" A lot of people reacted but none refused. Finally, anytime someone wants to give me $666 they are more than welcome.

Seriously, for a moment. The SSN is NOT the number of the beast IMHO but the prophetic events in the future will not come out of the blue and we must first be set up with lead-in events.