CHRISTIAN TALK SHOW HOST REVEALS MARK OF THE BEAST

To almost everybody who has read the last book of the Bible, the mark of the beast is a mystery. Furthermore, many teachers and preachers have widely diverging notions of what it is. In all the welter of suppositions, one answer stands out as the most logical reading of Revelation and its mysterious imagery.

In The Apocalypse Code, Hank Hanegraaff reveals the key to understanding John's letter to the seven churches in Asia.  Knowing the other sixty-five books of the Bible is what decodes this mysterious book, writes Hanegraaff.

According to The Apocalypse Code, the mark of the beast was a mark of character. Just as the mark of the lamb was a mark of Christ-like behaviour on the part of believers, so the mark of the beast was a worldly attitude displayed by non-believers.

Unfortunately for those unskilled in biblical exegesis, many divergent ideas have been proposed by teachers and preachers today. Some say it's a microchip implanted in people's hands and foreheads. Others claim it's a spiritual mark which people receive for worshipping God on Sunday instead of Saturday. The errant teacher at a house church I attended for fifteen years claimed it was a tattoo visible only under ultraviolet light.

Hanegraaff's Apocalypse Code book clears up the muddle of ideas by noting that the books of the Bible were written to the people of the times when it was written. Though we learn much from these writings, they weren't written directly to us. Therefore, we must keep the customs and history of each book's readers in mind when reading scriptures.

Because I wasn't taught discernment skills when I gave my life over to Christ in 1969, I believed many errant and blasphemous doctrines. I wrote about how God led me to his marvelous truth in How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity. Visit Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm Publishers to read more about this glorious testimony of God's faithfulness.

DOOMSDAY? WHAT DOOMSDAY?

Every once and a while, Jehovah's Witnesses come around to people's houses with their message of a coming doomsday. They cite Bible verses that appear to predict dire consequences for the people of this planet. In fact, this theological cult has predicted worldwide disaster for more than a century. Each time their predictions fail, their leaders set a new date. But will this world end with apocalyptic plagues, falling meteors, and the deaths of millions in a global war? Up until this year, I believed that a time of tribulation would precede the return of Jesus Christ to this world. Hank Hanegraaff, the president of the Christian Research Institute, has convinced me that all these dire predictions are based on a misreading of The Revelation of John the Divine. According to The Apocalypse Code, the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and the terrible persecution of Christians by Emperor Nero was the great tribulation. Hanegraaff further explained in his book that John's descriptions of the sun turning black, the moon turning blood red, and the stars falling from heaven are symbolic, not literal events. Similar language has been used by various Old Testament prophets to describe the fall of empires Similarly, the mark of the beast isn't some sort of RFID chip or tattoo, as many "end times" pundits claim. The mark of the beast and the mark of the lamb are metaphors for character. Those who had the mark of the beast were wicked and unbelieving people who refused the gospel message. They were easily recognized for their opposition to Christians proclaiming salvation through Christ. Believers were also recognized by their behaviour. The great red dragon in Revelation chapter twelve wasn't communism or Islam but a picture of Satan's attempt to kill the Christ child. The woman mentioned was Israel and the flood was the soldiers of Herod searching for Jesus. The key to Revelation is to understand that book by the other sixty-five in the Bible. It was written to the seven churches in Asia and the message was of what would soon take place. Nobody in the first century could possibly guess the identity of a twenty-first century antichrist. Therefore, Hanegraaff says that six-hundred, threescore, and six are the numbers indicating the name of Nero. I could write much more about the false and true interpretation of Revelation but I'll leave it for The Bible Answer Man to do. Check out www.equip.org for details about The Apocalypse Code and other resources.