Mark of the beast: It’s false teachings, it’s a worship lifestyle, many unknowingly have it and how to avoid it
Pastor Bankole Olusina
A teacher of the word and founder of Kingdom-Word Ministries based in Enugu, Nigeria, Pastor Bankole Olusina has given a compelling insight into what constitutes the mark of the beast in a new online book titled, “The mark of the beast.”
The book, which runs through 38 pages gives a clinical view of what constitutes the mark of beast warning however that believers should not despise technology in trying to run away from the mark of the beast.
Olusina who is a medical doctor by profession stated in the book that those who genuinely love the Lord will not take the mark even without knowing while those who don’t love the Lord will take it without knowing.
He states, “If however you have not been living for the Lord, if you do not love Him with all your heart but have only been a Christian of convenience, going to church but living in sin, then if the beast comes to you, introduces himself and shows you his mark, you will still take it when the pressure comes. God does not leave salvation to a game of chance. The young Hebrew men did not decide to worship the Lord their God just on the day Nebuchadnezzar came up with his image.”
Will the mark of the beast be a literal mark?
Will it be something that everyone can see on you? Olusina explained in the book that “Spiritual prophecies can be difficult to interpret so we have to be extremely careful.”
He said the mark of the beast does not have to be a physical thing. “It doesn’t have to be a physical mark any more than the world would be ruled by a literal animal with two horns. If the beast can be allegorical, why can the mark not be a spiritual type also? I don’t
think we have a proper reason from the scriptures to take the beast as only a type but insist the mark must be a real physical mark. If the beast is a type, so is his mark likely to just be a type too.”
He explained that there have been different interpretations of what the mark of the beast is right from when he was a young boy in secondary school “The earliest marks I saw illustrated were brand marks; you know, brand as in skin scar or tatoo. Then as time went on, it became barcodes. After some time it became microchips, and the latest I am hearing of is stuff so small that it can be administered along with vaccines. In our teachings it kept shrinking in size and visibility as technology advanced. It is now so small that it is actually no longer going to be a mark but a barely visible miniaturized electronic device. Basically I am now being told that the mark is nothing but an ID number which can be read off a person. (On a lighter note, one of my brothers, after he moved to the US called one day and said “Hey, I have now got my 666 number.” He was referring to the social security number of the USA. He is a comedian).”
He noted that “Christians have a sad record of throwing tantrums about any major development in technology, ascribing almost every major leap in tech to the preparation for the rule of the anti-Christ. We have been doing this for centuries. We seem so morbidly afraid of this beast. He is the coming tormentor of our souls. We fear any sound of him. We are paranoid. We are actually in dread of him.”
He recalled that those who condemned the internet in the past are now using the internet to do what God asked them to do adding that both good and bad will always grow together “People of God, don’t worry about it; the Lord will sort Himself out. As a matter of fact, you cannot fight technological advancement because you are trying to stop the antichrist. It is futile. If history is anything to go by, it is neither necessary nor would you succeed in the attempt.”
Technology is neutral
Olusina posits, “Technology is neutral—absolutely neutral. It is what each makes of it that is the issue. Just think about the internet; if we had stopped the development of the internet because of fear of the antichrist (and it was preached by many), where would we be today with conquering the earth with the knowledge of the truth of Christ? No wonder the Lord Jesus said, “Leave them alone; allow both to grow together until the harvest. I will take care of things when the time comes.”
He stated further in the book that “when the time for the anti-Christ to be manifested would come, he will use whatever tech is on ground. He will use whatever is there in the everyday life of the people. Whether there is GSM or not, or whatever G we are dealing with then—4G, 5G
or 10G; whether there are no computers at all or quantum computers are mainstream, his coming is not dependent on which tech you have on ground. All the former examples of the anti-Christ who have lived, or persons we suspected were him, used the tech of their times. What is stopping the man of sin from manifesting has nothing to do with lack of appropriate tech on ground.”
He stressed in the book that the antichrist won’t manifest before his time “It is apostasy, not advanced technology that promotes the manifestation of the man of sin. It is apostasy—not technology. Instead of fighting technology we should be fighting false doctrines which lead to apostasy. Instead of praying that networks will not be built we should be praying that Christians will walk in the light, love the word of God, come together in unity, be heaven-minded, forsake the love of the world and follow the Lord Jesus with their whole hearts.”
The Beast and the mark
Giving further insight into what constitutes the mark of the beast, he said the mark of the beast is figurative just like the beast. “The beast is not a literal animal so I would think it unlikely for the mark to be a literal mark. If it was literal then it has to be a mark, not an ID number, and not an invisible chip. If we say it can be any of these, then we accept it is figurative. Remember that God’s servants also had a mark or seal on their foreheads (Rev 7:3).”
“Whether it is figurative or not, it has to be beyond a simple externality, and it definitely cannot be something that will be sneaked on you. It is something one will accept for the benefit it confers even though he knows he will be breaking the law of Christ. And another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. Rev 14:9-10 NASB”
Olusina wondered why people are more concerned about taking the mark and not saying anything about the worship of the beast and the image? “The beast can only give his mark to the people who accept to worship him and his image. His mark cannot be put on anyone just so they can have it; they must before taking it, or by it, be worshippers of the beast. So I do not wish to spend much energy trying to decipher what that mark will be like; it is an unnecessary exercise especially since, if it is a physical thing by any chance, it is nearly impossible to know what form it will take ahead of time, and this is why we have changed from brand-marks to tattoos to microchips.”
He said those who take the mark have to take it on the right hand or the forehead explaining that those two parts of the body mentioned in the Bible are figurative of a lifestyle that is sold to the beast. “Scientists are already developing things that can be planted in every part of the body depending on what it is to be used for. The bionic man is already conceived by science and technology, and it will happen to one extent or the other, anti-Christ or no anti-Christ.”
He said “the right hand stands for strength, work, power and livelihood. It also stands to indicate who you are following in life. God takes a person by the right hand to lead him. The forehead is used to denote the name one carries, as in ownership. It indicates the principles and wisdom we operate by. It also stands for the teachable spirit.
“A strong forehead denotes stubbornness or steadfastness to a cause. My point here is that these things stand for the purpose we live for, the cause we pursue with our lives and whose principles we walk by. Paul showed us that those positions in his life have been marked with the mark of Christ when he said the following: God to whom I belong (forehead), and whom I serve (right hand) (Acts 27:23) , and I bear on my body the brandmarks of Jesus (Gal 6:17).”
Two categories of worshippers
According to him, “There will be two categories of worshippers of the beast: One, those who openly identify with the beast, these are the ones with the marks on their foreheads; and two, those who work for the agenda of the beast howbeit secretly—these are the ones with the marks on their right hands. These latter do not openly profess the name of the beast but their works are for the purposes of the beast.”
He explained further in the book that “many people have taken the mark of the beast but they are running away from a microchip that a tech company or government want to put in their hands or forehead. They worship money (where is a place the Lord indicated the image of the beast may be found) and run their lives with satanic principles but they might be campaigning against tech that appears like their idea of the mark of the beast. The mark of the beast is tied to the worship of the beast and his image.”
He said the love of this physical life will make people worship the beast “ These are people who go to church, and may even be ministers, but their god is their belly. They take the mark of the beast because of the love of money and the desire to preserve one’s life. You cannot overcome the beast except you die to self. It is not about technology. They won the victory over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the truth which they proclaimed; and they were willing to give up their lives and die. Rev 12:11 GNT”
“Christianity requires that we love Jesus so much that we are ready to die for him. Many are not even ready to be poor for the sake of righteousness and they are worrying about technology. They walk in sin and live a life that doesn’t glorify Jesus and they claim they don’t want to take the mark of the beast. I dare to say that anyone who is not willing to endure hardship for the sake of Christ is putting the mark of the beast on already.
Pastors and Christians who have the mark
“There are pastors who have taken the mark of the beast on their right hands, but not on their foreheads. They use ungodly methods, including using occultic powers, to draw crowds to the ministry. They fake miracles for money, use python spirits (or familiar spirits) for divination to mimic the word of knowledge, and then start preaching to themselves and their deceived followers that no matter what you do your salvation is not at risk. “Jesus died for you and no matter what your life is like, He will accept you on the last day.
“They say no matter how you live and what you do you cannot lose your salvation because the work of Jesus is eternal. I actually read of a preacher who wrote that even if you deny Jesus and for all intents and purposes live like an unbeliever your salvation is intact because the grace of God is just too much. This is definitely a false teaching but it soothes the sinful flesh. To me, anyone who believes that wants to be deceived because it is clearly illogical apart from being contrary to everything the Lord Jesus and his apostles taught us. Many have followed this. God may not be willing to give someone up, but He allows anyone to walk away if they so choose.
“He is not happy or willing about it, but salvation is not by force. Remaining in Christ is a choice, and many have chosen to leave Him. It is not a new thing. We are not people who turn back and are lost. Instead, we have faith and are saved. Heb 10:39 GNT
Those who decide to turn back from following Christ have existed, and the consequence is clear (See also Heb 6: 4 – 8; 2 Pet 2: 20 – 21).
The mark as a worship lifestyle
He then concluded that the mark of the beast is not a technology but a worship lifestyle adding, “watch yourself in that regard. You can’t afford to live carelessly; it is risky. Whether the mark is a brand-mark, a barcode, a microchip or a spiritual mark in the soul, the fact remains that it must be taken consciously, possibly under duress, but it must be accepted as part of a lifestyle of worship of the beast.”
The book gives further insight on how the antichrist has already began operation across the world pointing out that many believers have refused the mark in their businesses. He cited the instance of the rights of the gay where some bakers in the US had to forfeit their business because they will not bake cake for homosexuals. Some according to him have also paid the supreme price because they will not carry out abortions in their clinics or do business the illegitimate ways.
“Christians were to lose their businesses for not agreeing to support same sex marriages. Bakers and florists were fined crippling sums by courts for not providing services to same-sex weddings. People were being hounded out of their positions simply for supporting definition of marriage as that of the union of a man and a woman. A newly appointed CEO of Mozilla corporation had to quit after just a few days in the office for donating about 1000 dollars to support the biblical definition of marriage about six years prior in 2008.
“In the same year David Green, who I mentioned early in relation to The Bible App, fought a spiritual and legal battle for refusing to provide abortion coverage as dictated by Obamacare. He stood to lose his family business, Hobby Lobby, which was worth billions of dollars. The fines they were to pay came to about 425 million dollars a year for not doing what he said was against his faith in the Lord. He was willing to lose the company rather than compromise. It was a tough battle and they won only narrowly at the Supreme Court (5-4). Imagine if the court had had even the slightest majority of liberal judges.”
He said the church has a responsibility to watch the doctrine that is being preached “We must stop tolerating the Jezebel spirit just because it brings money. We must preach against sexual immorality. We must teach again about dying to self, about perseverance, about enduring hardship and about the earth not being our home. We must celebrate again losing the world so as to gain Christ and know the power of His resurrection. We must stop lying about the grace and mercy of God, that He never disciplines His children. We must remind the people that it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. We must teach the children of God to judge themselves so that they will not be judged by the Lord.”
He counseled that the church must also strive to maintain the bond of unity, walk in righteousness and take on the apostolic work with diligence. “Many times the church has prospered so much that it forgot the main aim of the prosperity. We spend more money taking care of ourselves and planning for the future than we spend promoting the kingdom of God. We must repent. Most of our money must go to advancing the spread of the gospel, not building bigger citadels that help us gather as if we are the new tower of Babel. The church must spread out with the truth, otherwise the Lord will once again visit the Babels with His judgement. If we do these things we will not have to worry about the mark of the beast..
You can download the full book here
Read also: How some Christians receive the mark of the beast unknowingly:https://churchtimesnigeria.net/animashau-oladimeji-how-some-christians-receive-mark-of-the-beast-unknowingly/
You can download the book here
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[…] medical doctor, Bankole Olusina had cited in his book, Mark of the Beast, instances where some bakers in the US had to forfeit their businesses because they would not bake […]