Sprinkled or dunked? Required for infants, kids, teens or adults only? Performed before salvation, after salvation or is it the actual act of salvation? Baptism. One of the key ‘sacraments’ of most ‘Christian’ denominations, is fraught with disagreements. Who, what, when, how and even if followers are to be baptized is one of the major defining tenets that differentiates between the denominations. Who is in-line with God? Let’s sort this all out.
…The pastors of the people in America are paralyzed and confused by having to choose what to do. It is a case of the blind leading the blind; they are all groping in darkness. A recent article, ‘Many Bible Belt preachers silent on shots as COVID-19 surges’ on AP, states:
Those involved with the COVID-19 vaccination effort are having a problem getting pastors to publicly advocate for the shots because some have referred to them as “the mark of the beast,” a biblical reference in the Book of Revelation. They say it represents a reference to “allegiance to the devil.”
“Some pastors are hosting vaccination clinics and praying for more inoculations, while others are issuing fiery anti-vaccine sermons from their pulpits. Most are staying mum on the issue…”
While the Protestant Evangelicals remain silent, a major stockholder in the pharmaceutical companies has “demanded that all relevant stakeholders/stockholders exhaust all efforts to confront vaccine hesitancy…” They manifest themselves by their all-out efforts. And show themselves to be a House divided against itself.
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Revelation Chapter 13 is arguably the best known piece of scripture in the Bible. This is the prophecy of the Mark of the Beast. We are going to focus on the last few verses to answer this question, but I encourage you to read the entire chapter for context.
To summarize, there is a dragon (lit. serpent, same as in Revelation 12:3) and two beasts. The first beast is a governing or secular power having the traits of those governments or kingdoms that have gone before and symbolized by the leopard, bear and lion (cf. Daniel 7). The dragon empowers the first beast with seven heads and ten horns. The second beast is a false religion that looks righteous (like a Lamb) but speaks wickedness (like a dragon). The second beast, the false religion, will cause all to serve and take the mark of the first beast, the oppressive government. Historically, this dynamic of religion empowering government has always existed, but not on a worldwide scale. These two entities are the Whore and Beast of Revelation 17.
Now we are going to focus on the last few verses to determine how we will know if or when Revelation 13 is being fulfilled.
…And he (the first beast) causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive their mark in their right hand, and in their foreheads: And that no one might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, the name (or authority) of the beast, and the number of their name.
Revelation 13:16-17
Facebook has recently announced it wants to use its platform to hear the prayers of its members. Isn’t this just another marketing tool for them to make even more money on the data they collect? They say it will be a “tremendous tool to spread the Gospel of Christ.” Do they even know what that is or care? An “I prayed” button will be available for their faithful to chalk up numbers and algorithms. Prayer requests are already rolling in. One asks to pray for a job interview to go well.
Will Facebook hear this prayer? Apparently and they share it with all their readers to hear also. But is this the kind of prayer God will hear? NO! Not at all.
The word ‘pray’ or ‘prayer’ means ‘to offer devout petition, praise, thanks, etc. to God or an object of worship…’ An ‘object’ of worship is nothing more than a lifeless idol or image with eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear made by the hands of man. But what about God?
Jesus was a healer, he healed the sick, but not in the way most of the world has come to understand. Most believe Jesus was a ‘miracle’ worker; making the blind to physically see, the deaf to physically hear and the lame to physically walk again. Jesus did not heal anyone – physically that is. What other “healing” could this be?
…Q&A: “Jesus ‘Healed the Sick’, can he Cure Covid?”Read More »