Tim Maas Supporter Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

To me, the following considerations gravitate against the COVID vaccine having any connection whatsoever with the prophecy in Revelation regarding the number assigned to the Antichrist:

First, the number (whatever its meaning) is described specifically by Revelation as the number of a MAN -- not of an inanimate substance.

Next, the number (as I understand it) is something that people voluntarily take upon themselves as a mark of both loyalty (in order to be able to engage in commerce) and worship, as in the case of worship of the Roman emperor as a living god (as opposed to Christians' worship of Christ) in biblical times. People do not worship the vaccine, nor are they generally prohibited from buying or selling because of being unvaccinated.

The number has discernible possible meanings in the specific stated first-century context in which it was written -- as a letter to the seven Christian congregations of Asia Minor -- that would not necessitate the possession of the same (or any) meaning to Christians of all future times.

The COVID vaccine is just one in a long line of similar preventive treatments developed by God-given human intelligence against identifiable diseases or other risks to human health, including smallpox, polio, influenza, hepatitis A and B, rubella, Hib (haemophilus influenzae type b), measles, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), pneumococcal pneumonia, rotavirus, chickenpox, and diphtheria. People have been routinely taking these immunizations (including as infants) for generations, and their availability has been regarded as a life-saving blessing, without any of them having the sinister, anti-Christian significance attached to them as is being invoked by opponents of the COVID vaccine.

September 07 2021 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Eldon MavBeth Supporter

Be sure the covid vaccine is not the mark of the beast. It is not given in the right hand or the forehead. There is not a requirement that you worship the beast. No where is there any indication of the number 666. The vaccine is merely a preventative measure against covid 19. When the mark of the beast comes on the scene, you will recognize it if you are a Christian.

September 06 2021 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Shirley H Supporter Wife, mother, veteran in the spiritual war we all face!

This is a really good question. But if I may share what I found in a book I own from the year 1929 (Revelation 13:18):

"The meaning is unmistakable...Rome and the cult of the emperor are enemies of the church on earth. In them the heavenly war between Satan and Christ is palpable and incarnate. In one way or another, every Christian is faced with the challenge - emperor worship, or persecution, the service of Satan or of Christ. 

In the ordinary business of every day the implications of the choice are made clear (vs. 17). There can be no hesitation or compromise. The application of his vision (John's) is appropriate to many expressions of the blasphemous spirit, which has shown in the imperial cult of ancient Rome. We may legitimately see an application in the events in history without supposing that John had these in his mind when he wrote. Whenever the church or the state has usurped the place of God, and claimed unquestioning authority over the consciences of men, the same spirit of Anti-Christ has been manifested, and the same duty of unhesitating opposition is demanded from the servants of Christ. 

In the mediavel church, with its encouragement of idolatry, its use of material power and the blasphemous claims of its Popes, the same spirit was at work. In our own time, without the claim of unlimited authority of the state to obedience, the World War of 1914 -1918 would hardly have been possible. More insidiously, but no less mischievously, the idols of the market place and of the forum, the tyranny of social and political customs claim obedience from men today, and in the blurring of the distinctions between the church and the world the warnings of John to recognize that there can be no compromise is all the more necessary."

Wow, what shall we say then? 

Deuteronomy 7:24: "And He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you will destroy their name from under heaven; no one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them."

Deuteronomy 4:4: "But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today every one of you."

We are going up!

September 07 2021 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report