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The Renewal Bible Study

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Tuesday, June 06, 2006

From The Desk Of Pastor Paul Viggiano


What drives the 6-6-6 furor?

There's another side and some interesting biblical interpretations to this so-called satanic controversy.
By The Rev. Paul Viggiano

Driving down Pacific Coast Highway, I see one billboard for the "DaVinci Code," a few blocks later another billboard with the numbers 6-6-06. It's spooky; actually kind of depressing. Here I go out of my way to ridicule Dan Brown for his bad fiction -- faction -- and then it dawns on me that there is equally bad fiction revolving around the mark of the beast.

Whether it's Hollywood's "The Omen" or Tim LaHaye's Left Behind, it's fiction, fiction, fiction! Whatever happened to reality -- especially when it comes to something as serious as the Christian faith? This end-of-the-world hysteria borders on the ridiculous.

Don't misunderstand me. The Bible clearly refers to a thing called the mark of the beast. But it has nothing to do with tattoos, subcutaneous computer chips, bar codes, credit cards, your ATM machine, the re-entry hand stamp at Disneyland, June 6, 2006, or any of the other hype seen in these movies and novels.

Christians who have been influenced by this very sensational presentation of the mark of the beast (with the best of intentions) placard their bumpers with stickers warning their potentially ill-fated friends to "Refuse the mark." This means people should not take upon their hands or foreheads the number 666 in any fashion -- doing so seals your fate in hell.

Revelation's warning is unambiguous. To take the mark of the beast upon your hand or forehead forfeits your soul. But what does it mean? How does a person actually do this?

When ATM cards first came out, the end-times prognosticators warned us that the beast was at work in these cards. Should we really worry about signing the wrong form at the bank and accidentally finding ourselves in the hands of Satan? Then they warned us about the supermarket bar codes secretly encrypted with the three sixes. If Satan can trap us through bar codes, it's probably too late for most of us. I knew a man who wouldn't let his kids get their hands stamped at Disneyland for fear that they may inadvertently receive the mark. Is that the way it works?

Most people don't know that the Bible speaks more about the mark of God than the mark of the beast. Jesus writes his name on his people and seals the servants of God on their foreheads. Moses writes about God's people binding God's law upon their hand and foreheads. Ezekiel writes of God putting his mark upon the faithful.

The biblical references to the hand and forehead allude to faith (forehead) and obedience (hand). There are two marks to consider: the mark of God and the mark of the beast. In thoughts and deeds, is God served or the beast?

So, the mark has to do with heart commitment rather than tattoos. But who is this beast?

Untold acrostics, anagrams and speculations have been played with this 666. It makes me hesitate to make any suggestions at all. Guesses have been the pope, Martin Luther, Napoleon, Hitler, Kissinger, Reagan, enough! One thing the Bible does tell us about 666 is that it is the number of a man; man was created on the sixth day.

Seven is acknowledged by Bible scholars as the number of divinity, completion and perfection. The threefold repetition of six reveals man's full scale opposition to God. It is the sin of sins -- men wanting to be God.

When the Revelation was written, the epitome of man's power was found in the dominion of the Roman Empire. Rome was considered the most powerful human government ever assembled. To serve God in Rome (taking God's mark) meant hardship and often death. To serve Rome (taking Rome's mark) meant temporary ease; but it also meant denying one's faith.

Perhaps the most blatant passage of scripture ever given as a demonstration of taking the mark of the beast is given in the gospel of John. When Pilate asked the persecutors of Jesus if he should crucify their king, their response was "We have no king but Caesar." They took the mark of man over God.

Once again the government wants to be our savior -- to educate us, feed us, clothe us, care for us. The vestiges of deity must be swept away from our culture that the government (corporate man) may assume its rightful place as the messiah of a needy people. Rome sought to instill allegiance through fear of death. Today it is fear of being neglected.

Movies are fun. But computer chips or the latest "beast" prediction are matters of small consequence. All men bear a mark. According to biblical Christianity, the deeper question is whether one bears the seal of the living God. To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is to have his name -- his mark.

2 Comments:

Blogger Soli Deo Gloria said...

I recall in the 10th grade, a friend, who was a Jehovah's Witness, just would not shut up about the End Times and how everyone was going to hell, while he was going to be on Paradise Earth. I was a Roman Catholic at the time, but not really "into" the faith. Still, I thought I was a good enough kid to go to heaven, so hearing him tell me that I was going to hell was disturbing. Because of his remarks, I was prompted for the first time to actually open up a Bible and see what he was talking about.

That's right. I opened up that huge, gigantic, cinder block of a Bible that, it seems to me, every Catholic has. And where do I turn to? Revelation! You want to talk about having hell scared outta ya! LOL

Naturally, I wanted to know more about the End Times and asked my friend about it. He handed me a JW pamphlet and left it at that. I never converted (thank God!), but I was hooked on the End Times stuff. I even started watching "The World Tomorrow" by the World Wide Church Of God (when it was still a cult, before the split). If that wasn't enough, when I did convert to Christianity, it was in an Assemblies of God church. All in all, I was inundated with a very dispensational outlook concerning eschatology.

From my experience, I can say that it really does captivate you, thinking that such events are happening in the here and now, and that you will be a witness to the end of history. It's so grand and so epic to think that your God would be here soon to lay the holy smackdown on evil. Comic book writers could only dream of writing such a story. But, then again, we already have enough authors living that dispen-sensational dream.

I wonder what the demographics are among the dispies. Like how many are antinomians vs. theonomists? Or socialists vs. capitalist? If dispensationalism it the prevalent eschatology among American Christians, it would be interesting to know if a majority of them are antinomian socialists. If it is shown that this is true, then could it be that the whole notion of a one world government be self-fulfilling? Could it be that they are becoming "the beast"?! GASP!

Ok, ok. So I'm being sensationalistic. :-P But sensationalism does tend to breed more sensationalism. Unfortunately, that just gives more fodder for non-Christians to throw at us. There sure were plenty of them this morning (06/06/06) on the radio.

Thanks for putting this out to the public, Pastor Paul! It definitely helps clear up all the hooey and draws the lines of de-mark-ation. *snicker* (Ok, bad pun)

In Christ,

Victor

12:26 AM  
Blogger Soli Deo Gloria said...

Wasn't there something about the Latin translation of Revelation where the number wasn't 666, but 616?

11:18 PM  

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