Title: WARNING!
YOU CANNOT TAKE THE "MARK OF THE BEAST"
FOR ANY REASON AND STILL GO TO HEAVEN! Part 1 of 2 Title: WARNING!
YOU CANNOT TAKE THE "MARK OF THE BEAST"
FOR ANY REASON AND STILL GO TO HEAVEN! Part 1 of 2
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THE CUTTING EDGE
INTRODUCTION
Sacred Cows and Disinformation Agents
Before we can begin our study, we need to address these two concepts, above, beginning with "sacred cow".
Sacred Cow -- n -- A person, idea, institution, or object regarded as immune from reasonable criticism [Referring to the veneration of cows as sacred to the Hindu]. {Tormont Webster's Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary).
In practical terms, a "sacred cow" is a " person, idea, institution, or object" that no one had better criticize or the roof will literally fall in on top of the person leveling the criticism. Too often, a sacred cow is nothing more, nor less, than a creation out of thin air by a skilled propagandist. Truly, Adolf Hitler was correct when he defined truth: "Truth is not what is; truth is what people perceive it to be".
In this article, we shall be criticizing one of the "sacred cows" of our current culture -- Tim LaHaye and his book series, Left Behind. Many people have said to us, "that is only fiction" and should not be taken seriously. If that is your belief, you do not understand the techniques of propaganda. Skilled propagandists have long known that fiction and works of comedy are most effective in selling controversial ideas to a public that would reject the message in another medium, such as essay. As people get caught up in a story line of a well-written novel, they begin to identify with the characters of the plot; they feel the fear and the joy of the characters. In other words, they empathize with the characters. Readers also unwittingly inculcate into their subconscious minds much of the value system portrayed in the story line.
The degree to which a person will accept the value system portrayed in the plot depends upon the strength and integrity of their own convictions which they had before they read the novel. Convictions are given strength by the anchor upon which they are based. If the anchor of a person's convictions is strong and unmovable then that person will not likely accept the value system portrayed in the novel; however, if the anchor is not strongly based, that person may experience a values shift as they read the novel.
In the case of Left Behind, a person who is Born Again, filled with the Holy Spirit, and knowledgeable in Scripture will reject the deadly premise of the storyline and will not allow themselves to be changed by anyone, by any argument, and by any source. But, if a person is a weak or a new believer who does not know Scripture well, or if that person is an unbeliever totally unfamiliar with Scripture, that person is likely to accept the value system and the teaching portrayed in the Left Behind series. In our humble opinion, the latter two types of people are the targets of this series. Their view of End Times events, of the Rapture, of the 7-Year Tribulation, and of the "Mark of the Beast" will be most assuredly fashioned after the teachings of Left Behind.
What is your frame of mind at this point? Are you open to hear what the Bible says, so you can realize the deadly deception contained within this book series? Or, have you allowed your mind to be thoroughly "propagandized" to where you will refuse to change your mind, no matter the evidence? If your attitude is "my mind is made up, don't confuse me with facts", perhaps you should not proceed beyond this point. We have written about the subject of the propagandized mind and what you should do to change it in NEWS1558, "Breaking Out of the Propaganda Box: Learning to Think In The Opposite Direction To Discover The Truth".
Disinformation Agent -- I learned all about this type of agent when I served in U.S. Army Intelligence for nearly 4 years, working for 2 1/2 years at a Pentagon-level facility in Okinawa. This type of agent is placed in the field many years before he will be called to active service. During these preparatory years, this agent will be careful to not look like the enemy who sent him, nor portray any of those values. If his target is America, he will act the part of the normal American husband, father, and provider. He will be patriotic and attend the football. basketball, and baseball games in which his children are a part.
Once he has built up a reputation as a solid American citizen, he will be able to pass the most vigorous background check the FBI can conduct! This agent is carefully maneuvered into his target area over a period of years, passing through the most vigorous background check imaginable. Once in his targeted position, the Disinformation Agent will provide at least 90% good, solid information; a highly placed disinformation specialist will provide 98% good information.
He will provide wrong information only at the most critical moment -- in the midst of a battle when the outcome is in doubt. The wrong information he provides is designed to turn the course of the battle raging at that particular time. Some agents have worked for over 20 years just to get into position where they could carry out 20 minutes of disinformation.
If he is ever discovered, many people will refuse to believe that he is a turncoat, for they will point to the many years of his service, during which time he faithfully provided absolutely right information. Such doubters will never understand that this is THE definition of a Disinformation Agent.
TIM LAHAYE -- LEFT BEHIND SERIES
Some Initial Misgivings
When the first Left Behind book came out, I felt an inhibition in my spirit that kept me from buying a book, even though I had a couple of LaHaye Bible study books on my bookshelf already. Something just did not seem right. One of the major areas of caution occurred in the promotion of the book. I could see that LaHaye was getting great coverage from the Mass Media; now, why would the Illuminist-owned Mass Media be so interested in promoting a book about the Christian Rapture? I knew from my study of the occult plan to produce Antichrist that the Illuminati knows that the Rapture of the Church is a very real event! Their demonic Guiding Spirits have told them about this event so they can begin to prepare their followers for the "simultaneous disappearance of millions of people in the twinkling of an eye"!
Therefore, if the Illuminati also believed in the Rapture of the Christian Church, what could they possibly gain by promoting a book that popularizes the event? The only answer that made sense to me is that they would promote and popularize the Rapture so that they could possibly deceive people from all across the religious spectrum: 1) Believers who knew their Bible; 2) Believers who did not know their Bible; 3) Unbelievers who certainly knew little, if any, Bible prophecy and doctrine. After studying this subject and reading the books, we believe the targets of this series are persons #2 and #2, above.
Remember, Jesus repeatedly warned of extremely dangerous, historically unparalleled, spiritual deception at the End of Age. Listen to the Words of our Savior:
"Jesus answered them, Be careful that no one misleads you, deceiving you and leading you into error." [Matthew 24:4; Parallel Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible Commentary]
"And many false prophets will rise up and deceive and lead many into error." [Matthew 24:11; Ibid.]
"For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders so as to deceive and lead astray, if possible, even the elect (God's chosen ones)." [Matthew 24:24; Ibid.]
Three times in 24 verses, Jesus warned that unparalleled spiritual deception would be one of THE hallmark characteristics of the End of the Age. Christians living in that era were to be especially on guard against such spiritual deception. What is the best way to guard against unparalleled spiritual deception? By carefully paying attention to God's Word [Bible] and measure developing world events against Scripture. Jesus not only stated this fact, but He promised His Rapture only to those people who were being fundamentally true to His Word. Listen:
"Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." [Rev 3:10]
Not only must we insist that the preachers and teachers of the current age measure up to Scripture, we must not tolerate any deviance from the Bible. Listen to the very pertinent warning from the Apostle Paul:
"Do you not know that just a little leaven will ferment the whole lump of dough?" [1 Corinthians 5:6b; Parallel Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible Commentary]
In Scripture, God likens "leaven" to false teachings. Paul was saying that "just a little false teaching" ruins the whole lump of dough! Just a little!
Therefore, when you catch someone wrongly "dividing the Word of Truth", you must immediately take notice and apply that knowledge to your life, not willing to try to explain it away in any manner, shape or form! This understanding is critical to our article today, so keep it carefully in your mind, for Tim LaHaye wrongly divides the Word in his novels. This type of deception may take the form of either "adding to" prophetic Scripture, or "taking from" Scripture. God repeatedly warns against this type of heresy.
"You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish it ..." [Deuteronomy 4:2; Ibid.]
"Whatever I command you, be watchful to do it; you shall not add to it or diminish it." [Deuteronomy 12:32; Ibid.]
"Add not to His words, lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar." [Proverbs 30:6; Ibid.]
"I personally, solemnly warn everyone who listens to the statements of the prophecy ... in this book: If anyone shall add anything to them, God will add and lay upon him the plagues (the afflictions and the calamities) that are recorded and described in this book. And if anyone cancels or takes away from the statements of the book of this prophecy .... God will cancel and take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the city of holiness ... which are described and promised in this book." [Revelation 22:18-19; Ibid.]
Tim LaHaye both "takes away" and "adds to" in his novels. Remember, the two main targets of these Left Behind series of books are Christians who do not know Scripture and do not vigorously apply Scripture to their daily lives, plus rank unbelievers for whom these novels may be the only "Scripture" they will ever know! The more I thought of it, and prayed about it, the more I instinctively knew from the beginning that something was really, really wrong. Even when fellow Christians were simply "agog" over the book, I felt a great spiritual reticence.
The premise of the book implied by the title is that people had better get spiritually right with Jesus Christ, or they would be "left behind" when the Rapture occurred. There is nothing wrong with that premise, but there is a lot wrong with some of the details; however, the flow of the narrative is so smooth that the average person probably would not pick up on the problem, or would simply dismiss it as a minor issue -- after all, this is just a novel, right?
It is not our intent here to address all the various troublesome issues in this series. We shall limit this discussion to the two most dangerous deceptions of the Left Behind books, concerning the "Mark of the Beast". These two deceptions are:
1) That God places a visible mark on the foreheads of His believers
2) That a person may take the "Mark of the Beast" and still go to Heaven, still be in right standing with God
We shall discuss Deception #1 in this article, and Deception #2 in Part 2 of this series.
Jesus warned us that every Christian of every era must walk a very "Narrow Road" to Heaven, refusing to go down the "Broad Road" which the great mass of humanity is traveling --- that road leading to Hell where people believe that every religion is equally valid, that sin can be tolerated and that the Bible does not really mean what it says.
In this vein, let us now discuss the two most serious problems with the two Left Behind books entitled, "The Mark" and "Desecration". Now, let us examine each of these untruths in detail.
Unbiblical Contents About Which To Be Concerned
1) Visible Mark On Foreheads of Believers
"The authors used the propaganda technique of repetition to thoroughly embed into the reader's mind the false teaching that during the tribulation, those who really belong to Jesus Christ will have a visible mark on their foreheads that can be seen only by other Christians. They want the reader to believe that a Christian will not be able to see his own 'mark' but that he will know he is truly in the family of God because others with a visible mark will tell him they see his 'mark'. Only other Christians, not Antichrist's followers, will be able to see this mark. This is one of the most dangerous concepts in the Left Behind series. If the reader believes the 'mark of the believer' teaching is a real Bible doctrine", he can be spiritually mislead and possibly induced down that 'Broad Road' that Jesus says leads to Hell. ["God's Wrath On Left Behind", by Lisa Ruby, p. 95; Emphasis was in the original]
In the entire series of books, whenever the authors wanted to present a doctrine not found in the Bible, they use a slow and incremental approach to presenting the doctrine; in this manner, the reader would slowly "warm up" to the teachings rather than immediately rejecting them. The earliest instance we can see this gradual approach in the 'mark of the believer' doctrine occurs when Rayford is preparing to witness to Mac; he was fearful because he had no idea whether Mac was sincerely interested in hearing about Christ or merely pretending to be interested so he could betray him later.
Has God has placed upon every Christian a "Mark" of His own that is visible only to other believers? This most dangerous doctrine is a good example of a teaching from this Left Behind series that is not found in the Bible, nor even hinted at. This teaching is "added to" Scripture. Remember God's warning above:
"Add not to His words, lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar."
But, you say, Revelation 7:3 speaks of just this kind of mark in the forehead of believers! Let us examine this passage to show you that the meaning of this verse does not say that the marks on believers will be visible.
"Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." [Rev 7:3]
At first glance, you might think that this "seal" in the foreheads of these 144,000 Jewish evangelists are visible seals; however, a quick word study shows this not to be the case. The Greek word here for "seal" is, "sphragizo", Strong's Number 4972. Listen to the explanation given by Strong's:
"4972 - 1) to set a seal upon, mark with a seal, to seal -
1a) for security: from Satan
1b) since things sealed up are concealed (as the contents of a letter), to hide, keep in silence, keep secret: —Strong's Greek & Hebrew Dictionary
Please take a moment to understand the pertinent meaning: "to hide, keep in silence, keep secret". Obviously, this "seal" is a hidden seal, not visible. The same root word for "seal" is used in Revelation 9:4, where judgment is again delayed until God can put His "seal" upon their foreheads. However, we must understand that these seals are in the supernatural realm, and likely can be seen only by angels and demons, not by human beings. Two other verses clearly indicate this is the case.
1. Revelation 20:3 - "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled." [Rev 20:2-3]
Once again, we see the same word for "seal" as we saw in Revelation 7:3, the word "sphragizo", or Strong's Number 4972! Even Satan will be marked with a supernatural seal that is hidden from human beings!
2. Believers are currently sealed by the Holy Spirit, but we do not see any such visible seal. Listen:
Ephesians 1:13b - "... ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise ..." [Eph 1:13]
Ephesians 4:30 - "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." [Eph 4:30]
In both these verses, the same Greek word for "seal" or "sealed" is used: "sphragizo", Strong's Number 4972! This is a hidden seal that only God, angels, and demons can see. There really is not one verse in the entire Bible in which God placed a seal upon the foreheads of His elect that were visible to humans; His seal was always a supernatural seal visible only to beings which inhabit the supernatural realm! For the past 2,000 years, Christians have been "sealed" in the same manner as the believers in the Book of Revelation -- a secret seal, a hidden seal invisible to the normal person. Have you seen any Christian walking around with a visible seal in their foreheads, or have you read of any Christian in the past 2,000 years having such a seal visible to human beings? There aren't any visible seals on human Christians, for the seal of the Holy Spirit in Ephesians, above, is the hidden seal, visible in the supernatural realm. Remember, the same Greek word is used for "seal" all the way through the Book of Revelation!
Therefore, when Tim LaHaye states in his books that a Christian will receive a seal that can be seen by other Christians, he is "adding to" God's Word! No Scripture actually states this, and LaHaye offers none in his books to back up his story line. But, he does introduce the subject in a very subtle manner; he causes the character to pray to God.
"Because the new doctrine was presented as coming from God in answer to
prayer, its credibility was greatly enhanced in the mind of the reader."
["God's Wrath On Left Behind",
by Lisa Ruby, p. 96]
We can see this story line in the Left Behind book, "Soul
Harvest", p. 46.
"Rayford covered his eyes briefly, 'God ... couldn't you give me a sign? Anything that would assure me I'm doing the right thing?"
The "right thing" that Rayford was so anxiously inquiring of God was affirmation that Mac was a true Christian and not a secret follower of Antichrist, who would betray him. Rayford wanted to make sure he was not going to lose his life for Jesus' sake; in fact, all throughout these books, we see Christians motivated time and again by a very strong sense of self-preservation. We do not see Christian self-preservation at any point in the Book of Revelation or Daniel, for that matter. Listen:
"They [martyred believers] cried in a loud voice, O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long now before You will sit in judgment and avenge our blood upon those who dwell on the earth? Then they were each given a long and flowing and festive white robe and told to rest and wait patiently a little while longer, until the number should be complete of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed as they themselves had been." [Revelation 6:10-11]
In fact, God hints that believers would be specially subjected to trials during the Time of the End in order to test their faith! Listen:
"And some of those who are wise, prudent, and understanding shall be weakened and fall, [thus, then, the insincere among the people will lose courage and become deserters. It will be a test] to refine, to purify, and to make those among [God's people] white, even to the time of the end, because it is yet for the time God appointed." [Daniel 11:35; Parallel Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible Commentary]
Therefore, when the Bible speaks of Christian martyrdom being a "test, to refine, to purify and to make those among [God's people] white", should we not be concerned that the Left Behind series consistently teaches that a Christian should be very concerned about his self-preservation! Ruby speaks to this issue very clearly, quoting from the book, "Nicolae", p. 325, where Rayford officiates at Bruce Barnes' funeral service.
"Can we be true Christians without being willing to lay down our lives for the testimony of Jesus? The Left Behind series teaches that we can and there are many examples of this in the lives of the Left Behind characters displaying the 'denying the Jesus Christ brand' of Christianity. The message that we can be truly saved but not be willing to give our life for the sake of the testimony of Jesus ...was presented ... in a passage in Nicolae ... the characters 'creatively' deny Jesus Christ before me while the reader is led to believe this is necessary in order to survive during the tribulation." [Ruby, p. 10-11]
While this attitude of self-preservation appeals to the flesh of a person not saved, it is not what the Bible teaches. People will testify of Jesus even if they know they will be turned in to be martyred, reflecting the attitude of our early Christian brethren. Listen:
"... and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." [Acts 5:40-42]
Thus, when the characters in this entire series spend much time and effort upon self-preservation, that attitude is not the attitude of the early Christian, nor should it be an attitude of a believer living at the End of the Age. We should be glad that we are "counted worthy to suffer" for Jesus, should that be our allotted part in the End of the Age struggle.
Now, let us discuss the second, and most important, doctrine presented in Left
Behind that can send many people to Hell.
Are you spiritually ready? Is your family? Are you adequately protecting your loved ones? This is the reason for this ministry, to enable you to first understand the peril facing you, and then help you develop strategies to warn and protect your loved ones. Once you have been thoroughly trained, you can also use your knowledge as a means to open the door of discussion with an unsaved person. I have been able to use it many times, and have seen people come to Jesus Christ as a result. These perilous times are also a time when we can reach many souls for Jesus Christ, making an eternal difference.
If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, but have been very lukewarm in your spiritual walk with Him, you need to immediately ask Him for forgiveness and for renewal. He will instantly forgive you, and fill your heart with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Then, you need to begin a daily walk of prayer and personal Bible Study.
If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, but have come to realize His reality and the approaching End of the Age, and want to accept His FREE Gift of Eternal Life, you can also do so now, in the privacy of your home. Once you accept Him as Savior, you are spiritually Born Again, and are as assured of Heaven as if you were already there. Then, you can rest assured that the Kingdom of Antichrist will not touch you spiritually.
If you would like to become Born Again, turn to our Salvation Page now.
We hope you have been blessed by this ministry, which seeks to educate and warn people, so that they can see the coming New World Order -- Kingdom of Antichrist -- in their daily news.
Finally, we would love to hear from you.
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God bless you.
