Revelation 13 – Are We There Yet?
When buying and selling becomes politicised:
The last book of the Christian Bible, the book of Revelation, is admittedly a difficult book to understand. There are various major schools of interpretation that exist, and the book is loaded with plenty of mysterious and hard to understand symbolism and imagery. Thus we need to approach the book with caution and with humility. See more on this here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2018/12/26/bible-study-helps-revelation/
One of the portions of the book that has generated plenty of questions and controversy is found in chapter 13. The chapter discusses two strange beasts. The first one is discussed in the first ten verses. In verses 11-18 we find this about the second beast:
Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people,and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. 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. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.
Most generations of Christians over the past two millennia have wondered just who or what these beasts are, and just what this mark is. Plenty of guesses and suggestions have been proposed over the centuries. As to the mark, see my earlier piece for a more general look at things: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2015/09/19/babylon-its-fall-and-the-mark-of-the-beast/
But with all the hardcore hysteria and statist overreaction to the Rona over the past year and a half, all of a sudden this passage has taken on a new sense of interest – and urgency. Many, including myself, are wondering if all the lockdown measures, all the border closures, and all the demands being made by far too many governments and businesses for things like vaccine passports and mandatory vaccinations might be a part of all this.
My short answer is this: Beats me! But it could be! In many ways it seems like the perfect storm brewing here, and the things about buying and selling discussed in the chapter sure seem to fit in with what we are now witnessing. I have documented plenty of examples of this of late. Let me cover just one more, this one from France.
What the government there is now demanding sure sounds like it could come straight out of Rev. 13. As one report states:
Anyone entering a restaurant, café, shopping centre, hospital or taking a long-distance train in France will have to show a special Covid health pass from August, Emmanuel Macron has announced, as France tightens restrictions to contain the surging Delta variant.
The same Covid health pass – which shows that a person has been vaccinated or had a recent negative Covid test – will be similarly required for anyone over the age of 12 to enter a cinema, theatre, museum, theme park or cultural centre from as early as 21 July, the president said, in a bid to pressure more French people to take up vaccines.
“You’ve understood – vaccination is not immediately obligatory for everyone, but we’re going to extend the health pass to the maximum, in order to push a maximum of you to go and get vaccinated,” the president told the nation.
Macron also announced mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for workers in healthcare and in retirement homes. Vaccine checks on those workers will begin in September, with a risk of sanctions or fines for non-compliance. The compulsory vaccines also apply to all volunteers or staff in contact with elderly or vulnerable people in their homes, including home helps. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/12/france-mandates-covid-health-pass-for-restaurants-and-cafes
Hmm, in classic Orwellian Doublespeak, we have him telling us, ‘Oh no, it is not compulsory,’ while at the same time making it crystal clear that you MUST have these passes to be able to enjoy normal, everyday life – including the most routine matters of buying and selling.
And he says it is not “immediately obligatory”! That means it may well be tomorrow. Politicians are the last persons you want to fully trust when it comes to matters like this. As I have been saying for 18 months now, politicians love power and control, and they especially love a crisis where they can get even more – and permanent – power and control.
Plenty of nations have been heading down this route – even Australia. We already have numerous places where entry is denied or services are restricted to those who have the mark of the, I mean, the mandatory Rona paperwork. And it gets worse each passing day, with almost all businesses, shops and services now demanding that you sign in with the QR tracking code. No code, no service. How much longer before no code means no buying and selling of everything – including food and basic essentials?
But it is all to “keep us safe” we are being told: ‘You don’t want to kill grandma, do you?’ Whether or not it is keeping us safe is a moot point. What we do know is all this is perfectly keeping us in a place of total compliance and conformity, where the State becomes all-powerful and the people lose all basic human rights and freedoms.
In an earlier piece I discussed Communist China’s Big Brother social credit system, which basically works in the same way. Those people who are fully compliant and obedient to the State get a better credit rating – with all the benefits and perks which that entails. But those who fall afoul of the State get a poor rating, and they suffer accordingly. That too sounds like the perfect description of what Rev. 13:16-17 is talking about.
In that article I quoted Rod Dreher from his very important book Live Not By Lies:
The bottom line: a Chinese citizen cannot participate in the economy or society unless he has the mark of approval from Xi Jinping, the country’s all-powerful leader. In a cashless society, the state has the power to bankrupt dissidents instantly by cutting off access to the internet. And in a society in which everyone is connected digitally, the state can make anyone an instant pariah when the algorithm turns them radioactive, even to their family. https://billmuehlenberg.com/2021/01/03/big-business-and-the-big-state-mean-big-trouble/
I penned that piece seven months ago. Today things do not seem all that different in the Rona-reactive West – we seem to be fast approaching the situation found there. So those with some basic biblical understanding cannot help but wonder if Rev. 13 has any bearing on what is occurring here. Sure, some will say that Revelation speaks only about what has happened in the past. Some will argue that the contents of the book are all figurative and metaphorical, with no literal application.
There are plenty of takes on how we might best comprehend what is being said in the book. In my article on Revelation that I mentioned above, I quoted from one commentator, Grant Osborne, who rightly said that we need the “hermeneutics of humility”. Quite so. I do not know what exactly Rev. 13 is specifically all about. Perhaps no one does for sure.
But as I say, when I simply look around me and witness the utterly frightening direction that we are moving in because of the Rona panic porn, and as I come to understand more clearly movements like the Great Reset, I can easily see how Rev. 13 may well have something to say about what we are now going through.
Of course I could be wrong in all this. But Jesus did tell us to be wise as serpents while being harmless as doves. We are to be wise as we seek to understand the times that we are living in. At the very least, I and all believers need to be like the sons of Issachar who ‘understood the times and knew what Israel – or the church today – should do’ (1 Chronicles 12:32).
[1460 words]
In reference to your final paragraph, I doubt you are wrong Bill.
Yesterday I got my second shot of Pfizer. I’m in my mid forties with multiple illnesses and my wife is in 1B as she is in community aged care. I’ve had a virus like this before and it knocked me around for weeks
Any way, within minutes of receiving my second dose, I got a my gov email with my vaccination status
There were actually 2 documents, one with all my vaccines from the last 3 years (mostly influenza), the other a Covid-19 vaccination “certificate” to say I’ve had both doses.
Nice euphemism
In my view the certificate (I mean “passport”) has therefore already happened by stealth
I know it’s hard work but keep proclaiming the truth, we all need it
Thanks Timothy.
A determined agenda in our country also, to strip our freedom, by those whose salaries we pay to serve us – PM, Premiers, police etc.
‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.’ -attributed to Edmund Burke
The truth is that this is international – as indeed Revelation 13 is relevant to all the world.
This is about the Great Reset and Fourth Industrial Revolution agenda of the Davos crew (WEF) and the Bilderberg crew to try to destroy everything that matters to the people of this planet who love God, country, truth and justice – and to usher in atheistic world communism, with their expressed determination to remove ‘useless eaters’.
Refer Georgia Guidestones
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones
(Note especially point 1. In point 2 Diversity = non-white)
Thanks Bill, for this article. I recently listened to a sermon of David Wilkerson from some years ago on You Tube; which readers may find of great interest; below is the link to “Falling Away to the Anti-christ – David Wilkerson”:
https://youtu.be/rPcwdtFGBkc
When we look at those verses at the very end of Rev 13, about the mark and not being able to buy and sell without it, we need to look at the context of what precedes it earlier in the chapter – namely, the two beasts:
* Beast 1: “One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast” (v3)
* Beast 2: “And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people … It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived … and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.” (v13-15)
Have we seen someone who recovered from a fatal wound, that the whole world is following? (Trump or BoJo after coronavirus? Maybe not.) And have we seen someone else forcing everyone to worship the first beast on pain of death, and performing great signs and wonders? Until we’ve seen those happening, maybe it’s being a bit premature.
I think that the mandates are in place to train people to be compliant so when the Mark is introduced people will sign up without even thinking about it.
For another perspective on the Book of Revelation, Stephen Armstrong of Verse by Verse Ministries International has in depth teaching, both on You Tube and podcasts. There are hours of teaching and it is certainly worth the time to listen. Unfortunately Stephen passed away earlier this year. His teachings are excellent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhNAG2zBkrw&list=PLmG7XE9fa-yTyJH_EcmenD5W-cyYCu5zI
https://versebyverseministry.org/bible-studies/revelation-2020
I believe this is all a precursor to the mark of the beast. If we take the book of revelation from a futurist point of view (which i do) and we take chapter 13 literally, then apparently the antichrist world leader would need to be on scene, followed by certain events (being killed, resurrected, image comes to life etc)
Nonetheless, that doesnt mean a system which implements mandatory conditions to buying and selling cant exist prior to the antichrist.
We didn’t think this was possible.
Now we know it’s already here. God has been good – the birth pangs are to wake us up.
As you can see, very few wake up.
Quite right Faith.
Stew Peters is good value re Corona / Vaccines:
https://rumble.com/vjukvf-exclusive-dr.-judy-mikovits-drops-bombs-fauci-exposed-covid-defined..html
John Haller is good value re the Biblical implications:
https://rumble.com/vjpnpd-2021-07-11-john-hallers-prophecy-update-fault-lines.html
In all you see and hear, be like the Bereans:
https://biblehub.com/acts/17-11.htm
“Search the scriptures to see if these teachings are true”.
Hi Bill,
Have read many of your posts here and found them to be timely, concise and informative. I make it a point to share on Facebook any that resonate with me.
Regarding the mark of the beast, I quote from a teacher whose material I think is amongst the best I’ve ever read. Also a link to the page on his blog regarding the mark of the beast.
https://godskingdom.org/blog/2021/07/is-the-covid-vaccine-the-mark-of-the-beast
“If we think logically, would anyone lose their salvation if they were tricked into taking the vaccine? The plan is to trick as many as possible and then forcibly vaccinate the rest of the population. Would anyone lose their salvation if they were forced against their will to take the vaccine—even if it were the mark of the beast?“
Yes plenty of questions arise here Andrew.
If the above Stew Peters link does not work. Try this one:
https://rumble.com/c/StewPeters
Re Denis Vulinovich’s comment. Nimrod (1st globalist?) and also known by many other names was, according to the Book of Enoch, killed by a fatal head wound and according to many was found, just prior to the invasion which sought the ‘weapons of mass destruction, in a “remarkable state of preservation” and if you have noticed many gates of Baal are now being erected all around the world and with cloning as it is …. perhaps anything is possible?
And so re the mark, I’m leaning toward the vaccine and wondering is it just aborted baby’s cells that are in it or if there could there be others cells added to the mix.
I’ve had my cash (legal tender) refused a couple of times now and last week noticed a large sign at the Bendigo Council offices stating they will not accept cash. I don’t know if they can enforce that or not but never the less it is there.
I think it is a precursor maybe to gather more Intel on who is for Christ and who isn’t and if people can be persuaded to get something that without which you can’t basically do anything.
Some say WWII was a similar trail run to see if a person from nowhere could rise to power and control a vast populace. Obviously WWII was on a continental scale vs global but it proved it could work.
Just yesterday from computing forever in Ireland: https://www.bitchute.com/video/RflDGjJltGB2/
God is not the author of confusion. The biggest problem causing lack of understanding of these prophecies is the idea that the Beast of Revelation is one man or that there is just one antichrist. When people try to wrap up all these different aspects of wickedness that are being described in scripture regarding the Beast, the Second Beast, The False Prophet, The Man of Sin, Daniel’s King of the North, the King of the South and the Small Horn that rises up to take power, into one person they are completely missing the point of the various aspects and tactics of wickedness that are being described and this, inevitably, leads to confusion because it simply does not fit with scripture nor with reality.
At the time of Tyndale’s translation perhaps this was a reasonable assumption but, interestingly, the end of Daniel specifically says that his prophecies (which are clearly, integrally linked to those in Revelation) are closed up until the end times I.e they are specifically designed to be understood when people are living through them.
Yes we are obviously living through a time when the forces of wickedness are attempting to prevent people from doing business unless they are prepared to blaspheme God (the Beast’s name is “Blaspemy” Rev 13:1). We are obviously living through a time when people’s thinking is being manipulated by imagery and we obviously have a counterfeit culture raising up which purports to be for the underdog and for equality but is, in fact, an obvious tool of the Devil.
We are obviously living through a time when the harlot of sexual sin is having even more influence than in the past. It may have taken Satan over a millennium but he, along with wicked people, have finally come up with a strategy, like the one which allowed Christianity to conquer Rome, but which (by using greed, sexual sin and deceptive idolatry) paints Christianity as the oppressor – hence the Second Beast that causes people to worship the Beast of humanist, anti-God governance I.e blasphemy. So what we are seeing has been precisely prophesied.
The Beast that was and is not and is about to rise out of the abyss (Rev 17 ), fairly obviously, is not speaking of one human being. Human governance only exists because God temporarily allows it to prove its failngs and His righteousness and so this is the reason it is allowed to rise out of the abyss and there are seven “kings” that relate to the Beast over time, so very clearly and obviously the Beast is not one man.
The Apostle Paul is renowned for his sometimes confusing way of describing things but in 2 Thes 2 he is obviously describing the end-times apostasy/falling away. Paul may have used singular terms when describing the Son of Perdition but if there was one, and only one, Son of Perdition it would be Judas Iscariot because Jesus Himself defined Judas as the Son of Perdition (John 17:12) but clearly and obviously there is not just one person going into destruction. This section of scripture is only confusing because Paul is quickly reiterating the in depth lesson he had previously taught the Thesselonians and we can be pretty sure what that lesson was from other scriptures.
Paul, by using the Son of Perdition analogy is likening the end-times falling away to Judas’ behaviour. The standing in the temple declaring he is God image is exactly describing what apostate people do and what we are currently seeing. Both Paul’s repeated teaching and the other prophetic teaching is that the church, I.e the gathering of Christians, is now the only possible temple. When people stand in God’s church and teach that which is opposite to what God teaches they are fullfilling the biblical description of being apostate and are defiling the temple.
All of this has been prophesied and is easily understood from scripture when you turn away from the obviously wrong and confusing idea that there is only one human antichrist.
There is one truly mandatory vaccine that is the one where they hold you down and inject you against your will. Short of that it is ALWAYS optional, even if they want to call it mandatory, yes in some cases the COST of not taking it are much higher BUT you still have that option. In the real mark your options will be take it or die. There will be no living in your own home without it.
I think this is a global trial run to see who the resisters are and what there objections are and if those objections can be a baited enough for them to take it. A list will probably be made of those who still refuse and they will be the first to be rounded up when the time comes. Christians first non Christians next.
Part of how we got here is we Christians as a whole stopped seeing satan as an powerful enemy to be on guard against but as a weak pathetic shell of his former self to be laughed at. Like people who laugh and taunt a caged lion or tiger. Yet it is satan who has been laughing at us all along.
Thanks for the brilliant write up Bill and thanks to each one who wrote in for discussion which added thoughts. The comments and events of the last 2 yrs seem to dove-tail pointing to paving the way for Revelation 13 and to be a warning so we are circumspect, alert to other underlying agendas and to awaken us to pray more.
Thanks Gail.