Facts of Faith

The Mark Of The Beast

IN REVELATION 13:16 the Apostle John has penned these significant words: “And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.” What is this mark? It must be of great importance to understand this, for Jesus gives us a solemn warning against receiving the mark. (Revelation 22:16; 14:9, 10) Some claim that it is the mark of the labor unions; but the “small” cannot belong to them, neither are the “rich,” or capitalists, members of labor organizations. Others say this prophecy refers to the peculiar “handshake” of the Freemasons; but the “bond,” or slave, and the “small,” or children, cannot become members of that organization; and yet all these will receive the mark of the beast. (Revelation 13:16) FAFA 288.1

This mark must belong to religion, for it has to do with “worship” (Revelation 13:12), and it must have originated with the Papacy, for it is “his mark” (Revelation 15:2), and yet it must be something both Catholics and Protestants agree upon, for “all” will receive it (Revelation 13:12, 16). It is something in which not only the people but also “the earth” on which they dwell, can show obedience. (Revelation 13:12) There is but one thing that answers to all these specifications; namely, Sunday-keeping. Sunday is a religious institution that originated with the Catholic Church, and yet Protestants agree to keep it, and we shall now show how the earth can have a part in receiving the mark. FAFA 288.2

God required ‘thy manservant,” “thy stranger,” and “thy cattle” to rest on His holy Sabbath (Exodus 20:10); that is, no work should be allowed in a field of which we have control. And because the Jews did not obey this, the Lord declared: “I will scatter you among the heathen, ... and your land shall be desolate .... Then shall the land rest, and enjoy her Sabbaths; ... because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.” Leviticus 26:33-35. And so the Jews were taken into captivity to Babylon for seventy years. (Jeremiah 17:27; 2 Chronicles 36:20, 21) Generally speaking, the people of this world have not allowed the earth to rest on God’s holy Sabbath for six thousand years, therefore He will lay it desolate for one thousand years, to give it the rest man has denied it. (Jeremiah 4:23-25; Revelation 20:1, 2) FAFA 288.3

We have now seen that God wants the earth as well as the people to rest on His holy Sabbath. But the Roman Catholic Church has put herself on record as flatly denying God’s claim. Father Enright declares: FAFA 289.1

“The Bible says: ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,’ but the Catholic Church says: ‘No, keep the first day of the week,’ and the whole world bows in obedience.” — “The Industrial American,” Harlan, Iowa, Dec. 19, 1889. FAFA 289.2

When our government, under pressure from the churches, shall by law enforce the papal Sunday in open violation of God’s command, so that the people rest on Sunday, and work their land on the Sabbath, then “the earth and them which dwell therein” will yield obedience to the papal power. (Revelation 13:12) FAFA 289.3

Some will ask how a day can be a mark in a person’s forehead or hand. But we read in Exodus 13:3, 4, 9 that a day can be “for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes.” But some one will ask how this “mark” can be received by some only “in their right hand,” while others receive it “in their foreheads.” (Revelation 13:16) That is easy to see. Many people tell us: “We know that the seventh day is the right Sabbath, but we have to work on that day or lose our jobs.” Such people have no Sunday-Sabbath in their mind, or forehead, because they do not believe in it; but their “hand” obeys it, and so they receive it in their hand. There are others who see the seventh day is the true Sabbath in the New Testament, but they love their old friends and their old ways more than the unpopular truth, and wish they did not have to obey it. Now, as God cannot accept unwilling service, He will no longer impress them with the importance of obeying it. God’s Spirit is grieved away, and another spirit steps in unnoticed and leads them against the truth. “Because they received not the love of the truth, ... God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” 2 Thessalonians 2:10, 11. (We have an example of this in 1 Kings 22) After rejecting the truth they become enthusiastic believers in the false sabbath, and thus they receive this mark “in their foreheads.” FAFA 289.4