The Mark of The Beast and Chick-Fil-A

National Catholic Register ^ | 7/30/2012 | Patrick Archbold

[marcbold]

"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. "

There will be many antichrists before the world bears witness to the lawless one. The Church teaches us that " Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh."

Many suspect the scenario in my opening quote from the Book of Revelation (the mark on the right hand or the forehead that will be a requirement of commerce) will be a feature of the reign of Antichrist.

How about another bible quote?

"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."

When the day comes in which visible allegiance to that faith, which is against Christ, is a requirement of commerce, most people will go along with it. How do I know this? Because many people are going along with it now.

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[marcbold]

My brother wrote this.

[nandrew]

Excellent article! Thanks for posting it.

[Yashcheritsiy]

The eschatology on this is wrong. The "church" isn't going to go through the tribulation period because the tribulation period is *specifically* said to be a time of the outpouring of God's wrath upon the earth - and the churches will not undergo God's wrath, neither temporally in the tribulation nor eternally in the wrath of hell.

Surely there will be tribulations that the churches will have to endure, and have endured for the last 1950 years, and will continue to endure. But they will not endure God's special and specific wrath during the antichrist's tribulational period.

[DannyTN]

I thought most Catholics were per-millenailists, thinking everything occurred in the first century.

Is that an incorrect perception, or is that view changing?

[Claud]

Your brother is a very good writer, and he is 100% right. Excellent, excellent article.

[Claud]

Not everything in the first century no. I believe we fit in the amillenial category:

http://www.catholic.com/tracts/the-rapture

We don’t ever use that language, so I’m not sure. But the general teaching is a reign of Christ on earth through the Church that began at Pentecost and will end with the Second Coming and the Last Judgment.

[Springfield Reformer]

But this has been done before. It would be difficult to argue that the ten plagues against Egypt were anything less than an expression of God’s wrath, yet the Israelites were protected from the worst of them while still a captive people. God is not like us. We have collateral damage. God does not. All of his wrath will reach the appropriate targets and no one and nothing else, not even the least of the sparrows. I do not see any warrant in Scripture for two second comings, one of them secret, and the other public. It is all one event, and Christians of that era will indeed be faced with hard choices. But like captive Israel of old, God will preserve his people as he sees fit, because some of us will survive to see his coming.

Peace,

SR

[Buckeye McFrog]

I think that is an incorrect view. The Church has always taught the Second Coming (in fact we say a prayer at Mass each Sunday attesting that we believe it will happen). But Catholics have long been warned off of reading the Book of Revelation by the Jesuits and other elements of the clergy who felt that “we” need “them” to interpret it for us.

[The_Reader_David]

I have thought since SCOTUS ruled on Obamacare that the reason those without the Mark of the Beast will not be able to buy and sell won’t be that it’s forbidden, but because the implementation legislation will impose a confiscatory tax on those who refuse the Mark and they won’t have any money with which to buy and sell. (All perfectly constitutional here in the U.S.)

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Loved his last sentence.

[wolfman23601]

Incorrect perception. Catholicism doesn’t claim any knowledge of where and when.

[mc5cents]

I have often wondered what it would be like in the time of Antichrist when real Christians, those who refuse the mark, are scattered and seemingly alone. How will they know each other?

Simple. They will be the ones eating a chicken sandwich without a rainbow lapel pin.

Yes!

[cuban leaf]

Although I respect your right to hold that opinion, I must mention that it is an opinion, and one this guy disagrees with.

http://www.watchmanbiblestudy.com/biblestudies/Definitions/PreTrib.htm

I post that because his story is rather similar to mine. I was a member of Assemblies of God for 18 years and was a pre-tribulationist at first. It is what they taught. Then I started studying on my own and reading various opinions and interpretations. I became a mid-tribulationist or, what the site above calls “post trib, pre wrath”.

[Mach9]

Yes, quite good. Except for the business about “tolerance,” which is NOT a Christian virtue. We’ve been inundated with this notion for nearly a century and in the process have lost the fact that it is CHARITY, not tolerance, which is the virtue. As Christians, we’re not permitted to tolerate sin, which is exactly what today’s meaning of tolerance requires. We can and do tolerate bad language and grammar, waiting in lines, awful music, faulty products. Today’s toleration is nothing more than a democrat invention for silencing theists and conservatives.

[marcbold]

He said Christian “concept” not “virtue.” I think there is a difference there.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Incorrect perception. Catholicism doesn’t claim any knowledge of where and when.

Though it has been implied that the Church came into such knowledge through one of the reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary (though it is not biblical, and hence one assumes that again some clergy have put that out there in the name of self-promotion)

[wolfman23601]

The clergy, I believe, are free to offer their theories, but there is no canonic dogma on the matter.

[BrandtMichaels]

Well since we can know the signs of the season but not the day nor the hour, I have to go with a pre-trib rapture.

How can the rapture be a surprise if it is mid-trib or post trib? The 7 years tribulation starts with a peace treaty between Israel and the Anti-christ. Exactly 3.5 years into this ‘peace’ the Anti-christ sets himself on high in the new temple to be worshiped as God, and at the exact end of the 7 years Christ returns with the church. Doesn’t matter one whit to me what any expert says if it flatly and directly contradicts the Bible.

[cuban leaf]

I used to use the same argument you are using. Fact is, even with the mid trib scenario you won’t know the exact day or hour. But you will see signs of the season.

It could be argued that with pre-trib you would not see the signs of the season since you would be caught up before any take place.

[cuban leaf]

I used to use the same argument you are using. Fact is, even with the mid trib scenario you won’t know the exact day or hour. But you will see signs of the season.

It could be argued that with pre-trib you would not see the signs of the season since you would be caught up before any take place.

I accidentally hit post before I was done...

continued...

Also, it is possible that what I said above about seasons is bunk, and after the beginning of the “tribulation portion” we will know exact times, which is why he gives them to us. So we won’t know exactly when it will start, but once it does, we will know what to expect and when. I’m thinking out loud here. I have not studied this in depth for several years.