I don’t usually delve into religious hogwash, but in this instance it was interesting to find out what bible bashers refer to as ‘the beast’. After a relatively easy google search of ‘the mark of the beast’ I found this through one of the links:
"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority" (Revelation 13:1, 2).
The beast is a symbol of a great super government. That the beast rose up out of the sea indicates it derived its power from masses of people. The seven heads are seven revivals or stages of this beast power, and the ten horns are symbols of individual governments, each presided over by a king, or absolute ruler, symbolized by the "crowns." That the label on each of these seven successive governments was the "name of blasphemy" indicates its amalgamation with a spiritual power, which is called, in Revelation 17, "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
Notice it is Satan who gives power unto the Beast (Revelation 13:4). The Beast sometimes refers to the human leader; the super-dictator who will rule over ten kings:
"And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone" (Revelation 19:19, 20).
It’s the ages old interpretations all over again which has been the norm ever since the 3rd century AD when most of the Bible was written and bastardized from much older pieces. And of course I cannot escape this subject without that wonderful ‘microchipped population’ bit of biblical prophecy:
"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, OR the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six" (Revelation 13:15-18).
This does read like the bar-coding system which has been called ‘the mark of the beast’; but wait a minute – it doesn’t look anything like the Revelations piece I memorised as a school kid 30 years ago (you mean you never memorised it as a kid?) … when the 666 phenomenon was kicking off in my life.
Shucks, it means I’m not The Beast then after all? There’s clearly no chance that I’m going to ever be the leader of a super power … if that’s really what The Beast is? Which I very much doubt as just I don’t trust the Elite and its dictatorship religions! They are all lying toads and always have been. Time for a new Index category ‘Deceptions’ I think …