Surviving without the Mark - An NDE Story

Apocalypse 14 makes it clear that humanity will be warned by "an angel" not to take the Mark of the Beast. I think after this final warning, the people who take it will not be "tricked." Rather, they will know that it is wrong to take it and will take it anyway. Here is the quote from Apocalypse, chapter 14:

6 And I saw another angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the eternal gospel, to preach unto them that sit upon the earth, and over every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people: 7 Saying with a loud voice: Fear the Lord, and give him honour, because the hour of his judgment is come; and adore ye him, that made heaven and earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters. 8 And another angel followed, saying: That great Babylon is fallen, is fallen; which made all nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. 9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice: If any man shall adore the beast and his image, and receive his character in his forehead, or in his hand; 10 He also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mingled with pure wine in the cup of his wrath, and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the sight of the holy angels, and in the sight of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torments shall ascend up for ever and ever: neither have they rest day nor night, who have adored the beast, and his image, and whoever receiveth the character of his name.​

There are actually 3 warnings from 3 angels mentioned above:

1. Give honor to the Lord and adore Him. Why? Because people are adoring something else besides God. Themselves or their own idol that they make up, an idol that permits them to sin.

2. Babylon (the counterfeit Church) has fallen into "fornication" with "the world." Flee it. See Apocalypse 18 for more detail.

3. If any person adores "the beast and his image, and receive his character [his Mark]" willingly, this will be a mortal sin. And they will receive God's wrath and be tormented "for ever and ever."

So before these final warnings, people might have been deceived into receiving the "character" [the Mark of the Beast] but they are excused if they repent of their sins. However, if they do not repent of their sins after the final warning from "the angel," they will receive "the operation of error," says St. Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2. In other words, they will be spiritually blinded by their sin because of their refusal to repent. In their spiritual blindness, they will voluntarily receive the "mark of the Beast," and God will then hand them over to Satan.

 

Yes, the "shema" prayer. Called such because of the word "sign" in that prayer. Shema = sign. Sign = miracle. The miracle is the Eucharist. So, the Shema prayer is a Old Testament figure of how one should properly receive the Eucharist.

The "mark of the beast" is the Beast's "character," his "sign" that opposes Jesus Christ in the flesh, Who is present to Catholics in the Holy Eucharist. That is what St. John is alluding to in the Apocalypse.

 

Examples of taking "the mark of the beast":

https://www.npr.org/2022/06/29/1108548298/pelosi-vatican-communion-abortion-rights

https://www.ncronline.org/news/politics/biden-said-pope-francis-told-him-keep-receiving-communion

https://www.ncregister.com/news/vat...uired-giving-communion-to-argentine-president

 

I don't know if anyone has ever noticed this before, but I was reading that the word Jezreel, the valley in northern Israel where the Beast will gather the kings of the earth for the final battle, has an etymological origin in Hebrew and means "God sows" or "God scatters." This seems to reference Babel, when God thwarted Nimrod's plans by confusing the languages and scattering the peoples across the earth, while the Beast and the False Prophet will attempt to gather them again against God.

Genesis 11:1-9
1 The whole world had the same language and the same words. 2 When they were migrating from the east, they came to a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to one another, “Come, let us mold bricks and harden them with fire.” They used bricks for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth.”

5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people had built. 6 Then the Lord said: If now, while they are one people and all have the same language, they have started to do this, nothing they presume to do will be out of their reach. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that no one will understand the speech of another. 8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the speech of all the world. From there the Lord scattered them over all the earth.

Revelation 16:12-16

12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. 13 Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

15 “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

16 Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

 

There may be a biblical correspondence between the inhabitants who came from the east to build Babel and the kings who come from the East, as the words "east" and "orient" in the biblical sense are generally associated with the direction where the sun rises. In the latter case, the kings of the East will consolidate the formation of the greatest global geopolitical entity—the new Babel. Since some Middle Eastern countries are strongholds of resistance against global governance, they would be the last to join the project.

 

East = Orient = Grand Orient Freemasonry

 

It is interesting that King Cyrus of Persia diverted the course of the Euphrates River, led his troops through the dry riverbed, and thus conquered the city-state of Babylon. In the biblical chronology of Revelation, the drying up of the Euphrates precedes, by one chapter, the destruction of the great Babylon of the end times. Perhaps this is because the leader of the kings of the East may present himself as a new King Cyrus, and when the Euphrates dries up by the supernatural power of angels, many people might interpret this as a divine sign that he is a sort of reincarnation of Cyrus in the current geopolitical context.

Notice that Isaiah called the benevolent Persian king "Anointed," which in Hebrew translates to "Messiah." Additionally, Cyrus used the title "King of Kings," which, after the coming of Our Lord, applies exclusively to Him. It is also noteworthy that whenever Cyrus conquered a nation, he respected its customs and religions, which today would be considered a form of ecumenism. The first universal declaration of human rights was written by him, and a modern reissue of it would be an oasis in the Middle East.

These facts lead me to think that this significant biblical figure may be transformed into a prototype of a Gentile Messiah for the Jews in the end times. We must also remember that he is still honored by the Jewish people for abolishing the Babylonian captivity and allowing the construction of the Jewish temple.

Now, add to this the image of a leader who, at the beginning of his reign, liberates Middle Eastern Christians from persecution, presenting himself as a kind of deliverer, a new Moses, abolishing Egyptian tyranny while at the same time elevating himself above the one and only true Liberator and Redeemer—Jesus.

Revelation 16:16-21

16 Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. 19 The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. 21 From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on people. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.

Revelation 17

17 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

5 And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.

6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

 

Good subject, Luan. I want to make sure I understand what you are saying. Are you saying that these Biblical symbols will be co-opted and twisted by deceptive people to justify an earthly Messiah? If that is what you are saying, I agree with you completely. Bad people (and confused people) will use those symbols incorrectly for that purpose. Specifically, I think the Freemasons are doing exactly that.

Here is my take on the correct interpretation of those symbols. I interpret the "Cyrus" [equivalent of the Greek Kyrios or "Lord"] of Isaiah as either Jesus or the prophesied "Holy Pope." Regardless, "Cyrus" is the name given to the agent of the end times restoration, which I interpret to be an event on a supernatural plane, not something of this world. I think the "Cyrus" who restores "Israel" is the same person who ushers in the "New Heaven and New Earth" of the Apocalypse. This same restoration is described briefly in CCC 677.

The word "Euphrates" I interpret as the Greek Eu="good" and Parthian phraates="merited, obtained." So the Euphrates is normally a "river of grace" but it has been dried up. This drying up of the river of grace turned "Babylon" into a desert, as desolate place. This ties in with the "abomination of desolation" in the Holy Place [Matthew 24]. Babylon is a symbol the end times Church [1 Peter 5:13] which has become bereft of heavenly grace, meaning its sacraments are ineffectual after the "abomination of desolation" is accomplished.

Apocalypse 17 is describing the Harlot of Babylon and the Beast in great detail. The worldly behavior of the Harlot is what brings about the punishment of the "abomination of desolation." The Beast, "that goeth into perdition," is the last illegitimate leader of the Church, the Antichrist, who accomplishes the abomination of desolation. This is the same "son of perdition" mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2, who sits in "the temple of God." The Harlot is a symbol for all Roman Catholics who "fornicate with the world." In the Apocalypse, the Harlot is contrasted with "the woman clothed with the Sun," the immaculate bride of Christ, the remnant Church, who faithfully awaits the return of her Lord.

I could go on, but you get my point. In my opinion, none of these Biblical symbols are actually about geopolitical entities or leaders. All of them refer to the Roman Catholic Church and the usurpers of the Church hierarchy in the end times. But they are misused by deceivers for other purposes.

 

I believe so. In fact, the figure of Cyrus unites the three Abrahamic religions along with Zoroastrianism, to which he adhered. Finally, another piece of information I consider important is that the original Bavarian Illuminati used a special calendar based on the Persian Zoroastrian calendar, in which the year begins on March 21 and the counting of years starts from the reign of Yazdegerd III.