Eschatology is the study of the end of human history (end of times). In Christianity, most of the prophecies concerning it are found in the Book of Daniel (Old Testament) and the Book of Revelation (New Testament). From my study into it so far, it is perhaps the hardest part of the Bible to understand, because prophets were shown end times through heavy use of metaphor instead of a real-life movie reel.
It's worth to start the discussion with the mark of the best, and how I think it will look like. The relevant passage is Revelation 13:11-18. It talks about how the false prophet (antithesis to John the Baptist) heralds the arrival of the antichrist (the "beast") and does miracle-like work for him to sway the masses into taking his mark.
In this passage, the antichrist appears to come back to life from a deadly wound, thanks to the false prophet's healing powers, and that miracle is used to persuade much of the world that he is Christ, or at least a god. It then describes how everyone will be required to take the "mark" in their right hand or foreheads if they want to participate in commerce. If you take the mark, however, regardless of your prior faith or works, you are condemned to hell. Do not take the mark under any circumstance.
Revelation 14:9-11:
Many people speculate that the mark is some kind of chip, but we have to assume that it is visible, since it will serve as visible fealty to the antichrist. If it is not a visible mark, and is a chip, there still should be a way for antichrist followers to "proudly" display their mark as a way to pressure others to get it (or to condemn them). Therefore, I believe it's a tattoo of some sort, though a tattoo plus chip combination is also possible.
I have some ideas of how the mark may look based on my experience the past two days witnessing the gay pride extravaganza in the DC area. On Friday night, I went into a nightlife area of Washington DC. There was a gay flag on the front of nearly every bar or restaurant. I went into a restaurant that didn't have a gay flag outside, but when I used the bathroom, there was a flyer advertising the bar's "gay drink special." I later passed by another bar I used to pick up girls in, and it had multiple rainbow displays. Based on the busy crowds, people didn't seem to mind the pervasiveness of gay signaling, but it vexed me. I didn't feel comfortable.
On Saturday night, I went into a pizza place called Mod Pizza in the DC suburbs. After ordering my pizza, I went to pay for it and saw at the cash register a gay brownie (the package had a large gay sticker). When walking out, I noticed a smaller gay pride sticker on the door that I had missed when walking in. I decided that I need to be more diligent to avoid restaurants that signal for globohomo. But it gets harder when it involves companies that cater to basic needs. Here's a popular supermarket chain in the DC area that signals for gays:
So even if I don't dine in a homo restaurant and want to cook at home, I still have to think about where I am able to buy basic food ingredients. If you go to Twitter and look up everyday brands you use, you'll be surprised how many of them are on board with this.
Today, I had to go shopping for basic t-shirts. Everywhere I went (Macy's, Target, H&M) had gay paraphernalia inside the stores. Now while I can avoid certain restaurants, and even certain supermarkets, it is quite hard to avoid clothing shops, since just about all clothing sellers are big corporations that manufacture in Asia. I can't exactly make my own t-shirts (maybe in the future I can find a woman who can). But understand that making your own shirts or growing your own food is exactly what you will have to do when the mark comes. Unless you have the mark, you will NOT be able to buy from any store that is not explicitly Christian, which means any major corporation except for maybe Chik-fil-a.
If you think it's hard to avoid homo establishments today, you absolutely will not be prepared for when the mark comes, but again, the Bible makes clear that if you take the mark, you will be condemned, so things will get very difficult. In essence, what we are seeing today is a run-up to the actual Great Tribulation (the 7 years of when the antichrist takes over and institutes the mark), and how it will feel, though one-hundred times worse. I was in the DC area last June, and it was maybe half as bad as it is this June, so things are rapidly progressing towards the prophecy.
But how will the mark look like? Some people say it will be a number "666" or a word that somehow can be coded for that number. In the middle of last night, I woke up from a dream that I can't remember, and the words "Pride" and "Love" came to my mind. These words could be candidates for the mark, because they are "positive" words that already many misguided Christians have subscribed to. Another option is a tattoo of the pride rainbow, but this will be more difficult to tattoo, especially on people with dark skin color. The mark will be such that people will judge those who don't get it as evil or Satanic themselves (when the opposite is true), so I can easily imagine being labeled as a monster because I don't want "Love" tattooed on my face.
Even if the Tribulation won't happen until long after we're gone, it's clear that something similar to the mark will be made apparent in our lifetimes, especially if you live in major cities. The first step is for evil to make you accustomed to seeing globohomo imagery everywhere. The next one is to force you to make fealty to the symbol. This will come sooner than people think.
For more on eschatology, I recommend Dr. Robert Luginbill's take on it: https://www.ichthys.com/2B-Eschato.htm. It's quite long (about 100,000 words) but very complete.
It's worth to start the discussion with the mark of the best, and how I think it will look like. The relevant passage is Revelation 13:11-18. It talks about how the false prophet (antithesis to John the Baptist) heralds the arrival of the antichrist (the "beast") and does miracle-like work for him to sway the masses into taking his mark.
In this passage, the antichrist appears to come back to life from a deadly wound, thanks to the false prophet's healing powers, and that miracle is used to persuade much of the world that he is Christ, or at least a god. It then describes how everyone will be required to take the "mark" in their right hand or foreheads if they want to participate in commerce. If you take the mark, however, regardless of your prior faith or works, you are condemned to hell. Do not take the mark under any circumstance.
Revelation 14:9-11:
Many people speculate that the mark is some kind of chip, but we have to assume that it is visible, since it will serve as visible fealty to the antichrist. If it is not a visible mark, and is a chip, there still should be a way for antichrist followers to "proudly" display their mark as a way to pressure others to get it (or to condemn them). Therefore, I believe it's a tattoo of some sort, though a tattoo plus chip combination is also possible.
I have some ideas of how the mark may look based on my experience the past two days witnessing the gay pride extravaganza in the DC area. On Friday night, I went into a nightlife area of Washington DC. There was a gay flag on the front of nearly every bar or restaurant. I went into a restaurant that didn't have a gay flag outside, but when I used the bathroom, there was a flyer advertising the bar's "gay drink special." I later passed by another bar I used to pick up girls in, and it had multiple rainbow displays. Based on the busy crowds, people didn't seem to mind the pervasiveness of gay signaling, but it vexed me. I didn't feel comfortable.
On Saturday night, I went into a pizza place called Mod Pizza in the DC suburbs. After ordering my pizza, I went to pay for it and saw at the cash register a gay brownie (the package had a large gay sticker). When walking out, I noticed a smaller gay pride sticker on the door that I had missed when walking in. I decided that I need to be more diligent to avoid restaurants that signal for globohomo. But it gets harder when it involves companies that cater to basic needs. Here's a popular supermarket chain in the DC area that signals for gays:
So even if I don't dine in a homo restaurant and want to cook at home, I still have to think about where I am able to buy basic food ingredients. If you go to Twitter and look up everyday brands you use, you'll be surprised how many of them are on board with this.
Today, I had to go shopping for basic t-shirts. Everywhere I went (Macy's, Target, H&M) had gay paraphernalia inside the stores. Now while I can avoid certain restaurants, and even certain supermarkets, it is quite hard to avoid clothing shops, since just about all clothing sellers are big corporations that manufacture in Asia. I can't exactly make my own t-shirts (maybe in the future I can find a woman who can). But understand that making your own shirts or growing your own food is exactly what you will have to do when the mark comes. Unless you have the mark, you will NOT be able to buy from any store that is not explicitly Christian, which means any major corporation except for maybe Chik-fil-a.
If you think it's hard to avoid homo establishments today, you absolutely will not be prepared for when the mark comes, but again, the Bible makes clear that if you take the mark, you will be condemned, so things will get very difficult. In essence, what we are seeing today is a run-up to the actual Great Tribulation (the 7 years of when the antichrist takes over and institutes the mark), and how it will feel, though one-hundred times worse. I was in the DC area last June, and it was maybe half as bad as it is this June, so things are rapidly progressing towards the prophecy.
But how will the mark look like? Some people say it will be a number "666" or a word that somehow can be coded for that number. In the middle of last night, I woke up from a dream that I can't remember, and the words "Pride" and "Love" came to my mind. These words could be candidates for the mark, because they are "positive" words that already many misguided Christians have subscribed to. Another option is a tattoo of the pride rainbow, but this will be more difficult to tattoo, especially on people with dark skin color. The mark will be such that people will judge those who don't get it as evil or Satanic themselves (when the opposite is true), so I can easily imagine being labeled as a monster because I don't want "Love" tattooed on my face.
Even if the Tribulation won't happen until long after we're gone, it's clear that something similar to the mark will be made apparent in our lifetimes, especially if you live in major cities. The first step is for evil to make you accustomed to seeing globohomo imagery everywhere. The next one is to force you to make fealty to the symbol. This will come sooner than people think.
For more on eschatology, I recommend Dr. Robert Luginbill's take on it: https://www.ichthys.com/2B-Eschato.htm. It's quite long (about 100,000 words) but very complete.
