The beginning of the end?

I have included all of chapter 13 for the sake of clarity…..It is wise not to take Scripture out of context. The Book of Revelation is essentially prophetic, a vision of future times was given to John whilst he was on the island of Patmos (Rev 1:9). He was shown what will happen to all of mankind when God‘s wrath is levelled at all those who refuse to put their faith in Him. It will be a time of destruction and of woes of all different kinds. There will be signs pointing toward these events so that there will be no excuses when they come about. It is a warning, God always warns His people before taking action giving the opportunity to repent and be saved. He would rather everyone repent and be saved but being a just God He allows us to make the decisions ourselves.

I saw an item of news on television last night which caught my attention. It appears that office workers in some organisation in the UK have had electronic chips inserted beneath the skin on their right hand. This authorises them access to various areas and to make use of equipment by placing their hand close to it. It also allows them access to their cafeteria and I presume make payment for the food. When I first saw animals being ‘chipped’ I thought to myself it is only one small step to do the same for human beings. Now it seems that day has come and like anything let out of Pandora’s box, it cannot be put back again. Mark my words this system will be extended until everyone is obliged to be chipped. I can see our health records programmed onto a chip and inserted beneath our skin which will make treatment much easier in the event of accidents or ill-health. I can see a time when goods will be paid for in this way, in fact the precursor to this has been the implementation of credit and debit cards followed by ‘smart apps’ on mobile phones. Once that happens we will be slaves to a system that will know everything about us and even where we are or where we’ve been. Do you really think all of this is harmless? Think again. It may not all happen in your lifetime but it will certainly come about in the lives of those who follow………..and it is all written in Scripture…..

Fresco illustrating the Apocalypse (Book of Revelation) Osogovo Monastery, Macedonia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Revelation 13 New International Version – UK

The beast out of the sea

1 The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 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. 4 People worshipped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshipped the beast and asked, ‘Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?’

5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling-place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast – all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world

9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.

10 ‘If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword,
with the sword they will be killed.’
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.

The beast out of the earth

11 Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honour of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.

Shirley Anne