Contending With Two Ferocious Wild Beast - The Mark of the Wild Beast -Conclusion

 What does it mean to be marked on the forehead or  in the right hand with the name of the wild beast?  When Jehovah gave Israel the Law, he told them: "You must apply these words of mine to your heart and your soul and bind them as  a sign upon your hand, and they must  serve as a frontlet band between your eyes."  (Deuteronomy 11:18)  This meant that the Israelites had to keep   that Law constantly before them, so that it influenced all their actions and thoughts.  The 144,000  anointed ones ae said to have the Father's name and that of Jesus written on their foreheads. This identifies them as belonging to Jehovah god and Jesus Christ.  (Revelation 14:1)  In imitation, Satan uses the demon mark of the wild beast.  Anybody  engaged in everyday activities such as buying and selling is pressured to do do things the way the wild beast  does, as for example, in celebrating holidays.  They are expected to worship the wild beast, letting it rule their lives, so as to receive its mark. 

Those who refuse to accept the mark of the wild beast  gave ad constant problems.  Starting in the 1930's, for example, they had to fight many court battles and endure violent  mobbings and other persecutions.  In the totalitarians countries, they were thrown into concentration camps, where many died.  Since the second world war,  countless young men  have suffered lengtht  imprisonments, some even being tortured and killed, because of their refusal to compromise their Christian neutrality.  In other lands Christians are literally  unable to buy or sell; some are unable to own propherty; others are raped, murdered, or chased from their native land.  Why? Because in good conscience they refuse to buy a political party card. - JOHN 17:16.

In some areas of the earth, religion is so ingrained   in community life that anyone who stands for the Bible truth is ostracized by family and former friends.  It takes great faith to endure. (Matthew  10:36-38; 17:22)  In a world where the majority worship material wealth and where dishonesty is rampant, the true Christian often has to trust imlicitly in Jehovah that He will uphold him in pursuing an upright course.  (Psalm 11:7; Hebrews 13:18)  In  a world awash with immorality, it greats great determination to remain clean and pure.  Christians  who fall sick are often pressured  by doctors and nurses to break God's law  on the security of blood;  they even  have resist court orders that conflict with their faith.  (Acts 15:28, 29;  1 Peter 4:3, 4)  Yes, the wor;d is a difficult  place for those who do not have the mark of the wild beast.  It is an outstanding demonstration of Jehovah's power and blessing that the remaining ones of the seed of the woman, as well as more than six million   of the great crowd, are keeping integrity despite all the pressures to break God's laws.  (Revelation 7:9) Unitedly, throughout the earth, may all of us continue  to magnify Jehovah and his righteous ways, as we refuse to receive the mark of the wild beast. - Psalm 34:1-3. 

Next time:  Sining The Triumphal New Song

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