The Possible Marks of the Beast

The Mark of the Beast

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

As we may be in the preamble to the Apocalypse, it is only natural to discuss the antichrist and the mark of the beast. As I am the antichrist, I might be able to control my connection to the mark of the beast.

Since I am not a world leader, and I am deliberately not pursuing such an end, I am trying to nip the “mark of the beast” thing in the bud.

Satan and the Mark of the Beast

Still, I don’t think Satan will give up. He’s going to try to take the Divine Throne regardless of whether I cooperate with him or not. For the record, I intend to NOT!

But as he is infinitely smarter and more powerful than I am, I’m not sure I can escape his snares. Not by myself, but I can still pray to the real God. Not sure if He or Jesus will assist me. But it’s worth a shot.

Possible Marks of the Beast

So, what are some possible “marks of the beast?”

My Beliefs

Number one, it might involve me in some way. Since I am the antichrist, it is possible that the ideas and belief system I promulgate from this website constitute the “Mark.” So, perhaps,  believing that the Yin and the Yang are symbols of Satan (the universe) is the Mark.

However, I don’t see how that leads to not being able to participate in the economy. Perhaps, a case could be made that that is the “strong delusion,” but I only get about 20 hits on this site every week. That’s hardly a raging website.

Reason

Maybe it is Reason. As I am (or was) a Platonist and I had an obsession with intellectual disciplines, specifically philosophy, could that play a role? Socrates drank hemlock in the name of Reason and as a Platonist, I’m kind in the same “spiritual” place. Sort of.

Science grew out of philosophy, so is it science that constitutes the “mark of the beast?”

Again, if science is Satanic, I’m more inclined to label science the “strong delusion,” not the mark of the beast. I don’t see science qua science keeping me from buying and selling. But consider this…

Covid Passports

I heard on Glenn Beck that some big global economic agency or something (didn’t even know we had one) was instituting a plan to develop vaccine passports that would be required to participate in the economy.

So, the vaccine passports become the number one contender for the “mark of the beast.”

There’s another possibility.

Individuality

I watched a young Christian woman’s YouTube video on the “mark of the beast” a few months back. In it, she had a dream where she had to get somewhere or something. In order to get there, she needed a name tag. Someone was handing out name tags.

She accidentally dropped hers. And then she learned the name tag was the mark of the beast.

Obviously, I don’t think a literal name tag would be the mark of the beast. However, what about this: suppose it is that whole individuality (and acceptance) culture. Basically, the prevalent notion that you are good just as you are. Everyone just needs to express their individuality.

Personally, I think individuality is fine as long as there is a moral dimension to it. I don’t think you should tell people that they are fine just as they are and leave it at that. I think you should try to instill in them the notion that you should at least try to improve and be better.

I mean, don’t pulverize them with guilt, but tell them to better themselves through life. Otherwise, they will think nothing of wallowing in the mire of their faults and sins and never try to improve. That’s what I make of the name tag dream the girl had about the mark of the beast.

The Most Likely Candidate

Of course, the vaccine passport seems pretty solid to me. Of the above possibilities, I would go with that. Not only because of the whole buy and sell thing, but the fact that if I had become a Tyrannical Socialist World Dictator, I probably would have tried to impose those, too.

Anyway, I may be the antichrist, but I am not omniscient. And, by definition, I am a major sinner. Take that for what it is. Whatever that may be.

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

Sexual Morality

Sexual Morality in Modern Society

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

Abortion. Pre-marital sex. Homosexuality. And transgenderism. All issues that, apparently, society has come out in favor of, but which, at one time, it held very different opinions on. If we listen to modern culture, all four of these things are justified under the banner of “Acceptance” and “Diversity.”

Regardless, I feel inclined to add my two cents.

Christianity and Sexual Morality

Historically, Christianity, or, at least, Catholicism has been opposed to all four of those things. As a result, modern society is growing increasing hostile to advocates of traditional Christianity and Catholicism. In light of that, I feel inclined to share my views.

My Personal Views on Abortion, Sex, and Marriage

With respect to abortion, I am largely pro-life with two exceptions: cases of rape and true danger to the mother. I have discussed this issue elsewhere on this blog, quite in depth, so I won’t dwell further here.

With respect to pre-marital sex … I’m kind of up in the air. I think in an ideal world children would be born in wedlock where two parents can work together to raise them. But this isn’t an ideal world. If God wants to send all fornicators to hell, he can, but I suspect hell would get really crowded, really soon.

Does that make it fine and okay to have pre-marital sex? I’d say, no. It’s probably better to hold off until marriage, but I don’t think I would classify the act as evil (unlike abortion). I think looking at pre-marital sexual purity as a virtue, and, therefore, something to be strived for is probably better (and healthier) than looking at it as a binary choice between good and evil.

My Personal Views on Homosexuality and Transgenderism

As for homosexuality, I support government-recognized civil unions, but I don’t support government efforts to cram acceptance of gay marriage down the throats of various religious entities (like the Catholic Church). If a particular religious sect wants to accept gay marriage and begin marrying same-sex couples … fine. Just leave the government out of it.

And now we come to transgenderism. I don’t think transgenders should be harassed or ridiculed. At the same time, I don’t think it is entirely normal. A normal human being shouldn’t have well-formed feminine breasts and a penis. I think we should reclassify transgenderism back to what it used to be: a mental health issue (gender dysphoria).

In both cases (homosexuality and transgenderism), I think couples who practice such activities can really be “in love.” Life experience has taught me that. Not church dogma, academic education, or what-have-you. As a result, I’m not inclined to try to interfere in monogamous unions of such.

My Views on Sexual Morality

So, where does that leave me regarding sexual morality in general? Is there even a moral concern for sexual morality? Or does anything go and there is no meaningful discussion of ethics when topics related to sex come up?

I kind of think that the thing to avoid is sexual hedonism. Like many things, I think sexual morality goes on a sliding scale. On one end, you have monogamous unions like marriages and on the other are participants in sexual orgies, threesomes, rampant prostitution, and other hedonistic pleasures.

I think society should favor the monogamous unions and frown upon those other things. Still, as a moral minimalist, I don’t see much role for government when it comes to sexual activity.

I think you have the legal right to engage in an orgy, I would just be inclined to classify that as morally pathetic behavior (the act, at least) as opposed to morally evil (up until the point abortion comes into play).

Government and Sex

I don’t want a government that micromanages the behavior of its people. If you want to pursue morally pathetic activities, you should be free to do so. Your church may take offense. Your family and community may take offense.

But I don’t think the government should be in the business of stopping you unless you are committing truly evil acts (like abortion, rape, pedophilia, slavery, etc…).

So, if I had a “the-apocalypse-is-coming” comment regarding the rise of transgenderism, homosexuality, promiscuity, and the imminent wrath of God, I’d say something like, “Yeah, there is a lot of sexual chaos in this country, but I think the thing we should focus on avoiding is sexual hedonism. If we can get that under control and reduce it, I think we’ll be better off.”

How do we do that? I’m not entirely sure. It probably starts with parents and perhaps a rise of self-censorship in the rest of society. As far as school and education is concerned, I think the parents should have the final say. Children are parent’s children before they are school children. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Beyond that, I’m clueless.

Sexual Transgressions

Oh, and before parting, I’d say that, in general, most sexual transgressions deserve an asterisk by them. Next to survival, the sex drive is probably the strongest drive a human being has. It’s easy to fall prey to it (I have, many times).

Perhaps you can set a goal of perfect sexual purity for yourself, but most people will stumble along the way. When used, perfection is an ideal to be strived for, but you should never make the mistake of thinking you’ll actually achieve it. Otherwise, you’ll be beating yourself up your entire life. Set perfection as the goal and take baby steps in that direction.

As for what direction? I would refer that question to Jesus Christ although others might not be so inclined.

Conclusion

Anyway, even though I am convinced that I am the antichrist, I do NOT claim to be omniscient by any stretch of the imagination. We all know different things that other people don’t know.

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

De-Escalations

De-Escalating Tensions

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

In my previous post, I discussed how the Right could, basically, use a gradual “boil the frog” approach to mount an effective protest against the IRS and the growing threat of government power. At the same time, I pointed out that this would likely lead to a bad end for everyone involved.

So, let’s try to avoid that.

Goals of Government

What are appropriate goals for government?

Preserving the peace. Protecting the rights of its citizens.

Can We De-Escalate?

How can we de-escalate? Our debt is out of control. One thing that just occurred to me is to do the reverse of what I mentioned in my last post. Instead of “boiling the frog” by withholding ever-increasing amounts from our taxes, we could do the reverse.

We could all chip in to pay down the debt. Like, say, pay an extra $20 apiece to go toward the debt. Of course, this only works if the geniuses in D.C. actually get spending under control and start working toward a balanced budget. And it will probably take a few years, but we’ve got to start somewhere.

So, instead of withholding money, let’s agree to contribute money. Let’s start at $20 extra apiece and go from there. If we assume, there are 100,000,000 taxpayers (I have no idea what the actual number is) that works out to an extra 2,000,000,000 (2 billion) dollars. Of course, given the current debt, that’s insignificant.

Okay, so, what are we up against?

Tackling the Debt

The debt is approaching 30 trillion dollars. That’s 30,000,000,000,000. If we assume 100,000,000 taxpayers, that’s 300,000 dollars apiece. Ugh. Obviously, we can’t do that in a single tax season. At least, I know I can’t.

Even if we spread it out across 10 years that amounts to 30,000 dollars a year. Ugh. Maybe I can start with $100 extra. Again, that is barely a drop in the bucket. But it’s worth a shot.

The Plan

Okay, so here’s the plan: Step 1) Congress has to get its spending under control. Step 2) The American people need to bail out the government. And I mean the American people, not just the usual taxpayers. If you don’t pay taxes, try to scrounge up at least five bucks and send it in this coming April 15^th.

Let’s get that debt down!

Hey, we have until April 15^th, right? What if we started saving extra money now? It’s about 20 weeks or so. I think I can come up with $5 a week or so. That’s another $100. What can you do?

Or Not

I just reread this and basically changed my own mind. I think the American bailout of the government is a good idea, but only if Congress stops running deficits. I will send in an extra $20 this year, and that’s it. If Congress shows me that it can control its spending and begin reducing deficits, I will start contributing more on a yearly basis.

I am not optimistic about that, though.

Regarding the Cancel Culture and Boycotts

As an aside, I really think the Right should stop boycotting and the Left should stop boycotting and canceling people. That attitude is now permeating both sides of the political aisle. If practiced on a large scale, I really think it will push us into economic collapse.

We may collapse regardless, but must we rush it?

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

Escalations

Escalations in the U.S.

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?

For the record, politically (as a citizen of the U.S.A.) I consider myself a constitutional conservative … I guess. I agree more with the spirit of the Right than the Left. Basically, I think we should keep the government as small and as unobtrusive as possible.

However, I also recognize that, in this day and age, big business is getting too big and too powerful. The goal is to decentralize power and authority as much as possible—in response to both big government and big business.

Rising Tensions

Anyway, as the Apocalypse draws near, the U.S. is getting more and more polarized. Tensions are escalating. Towards Civil War, I suppose—although I hope that does not come to pass. No one really takes talk of Satan seriously these days. But I do. Let’s look at a possible path to Civil War via Satanic influence.

I’m sure Satan has more tricks in his bag than I can list or describe, but I know enough to describe at least one. The Satanic trick I am most concerned with here is slow escalation. He wants to destroy the U.S. and/then the world (and/then the universe—or its inhabitants to be precise).

For the purposes of this post, I will discuss the influence Satan has on U.S. politics. As I said, he likes to use escalation. The Right and Left are becoming more polarized. I strongly disagree with a number of the draconian top-down policies of the Left, and yet, because of Satan I don’t quite know how to respond.

The Growing Intrusiveness of the Government

According to what I’ve heard, the government is planning on invading financial privacy by mandating that banks report all transactions greater than $600 to the IRS.

To me that is a gross abuse of power which justifies acts of Civil Disobedience. However, I hesitate to engage in such tactics because of Satan and his ability to escalate the tensions such acts would produce.

Fighting Back

If I considered the Left my enemy (which I do not—they have some valid points), I would withhold $20 from my taxes and publicize such.

I’m sure I would pay some penalty for doing so, but I don’t think it would be too severe (would the IRS seize all my assets because I withheld $20 when I would make good on that debt at the first sign of push back? Maybe they would. I’ve never gotten in trouble with the IRS, so I don’t know).

Of course, if other people joined me in this Civil Disobedience it becomes a much larger problem for the IRS than it does for me. The $20 could serve as a first step in a larger, more impactful movement.

It makes the IRS look really bad to act too draconian over a $20 shortfall. Yet, it serves to give me an idea of how many people feel the same way and are willing to act on such.

And then, next season, it becomes $50. Provided there is a sufficient tax-withholding following, I suspect the Right could, within a couple of tax seasons, bring the IRS to its knees.

But then there is Satan. And escalations.

Satan and Escalations

The method outlined above is a series of escalations. If used, I think it could effectively make a serious impact on Washington, D.C. But I suspect it is playing into Satan’s hands (or am I just being paranoid?).

Because the IRS and the government can do their own escalations.

I withhold $20. They fine me $50. I withhold $50. They fine me $100. I withhold $200. They close my bank account. I withhold all my taxes. They seize my home and arrest me. And so on.

One on one, I don’t have a chance. If I had the backing of the bulk of the Right, however, I doubt it would fare well for the IRS.

But every disobedient act invites an ever-more-severe response from those in power. If the Left acts as a cohesive whole, the result of this tactic is a massive split of the country between Right and Left.

Would Escalating Withholdings Even Work?

I’m not sure if the above tactics will bankrupt the government, particularly when they are digitally printing money the way they are.

Do they really need taxes at this point? Or can they sustain themselves simply by printing money and continuing to steal our purchasing power? My inclination is no, but economics isn’t my strong suit.

Regardless, I am wary of using such escalations because that is a technique Satan uses. I think the above is a legitimate path for the Right to take, and I think it might reign government in, but I’m unsure of unforeseen consequences.

Besides, I suspect that Satan, who is infinitely smarter than I am, could corrupt such an endeavor to serve his horrible ends. Particularly since it incorporates escalations as its primary method of action. A method he uses with frequency.

The Preferable Solution

Indeed, I would much rather find a path of de-escalations going forward to heal our country. But I’m not even sure what that would look like, and I don’t know if that is possible.

Oh, and also keep in mind that I am the antichrist, so, any plan of action I come up with is liable to have a bad end. Not because that is my intent, but because Satan has me in his crosshairs.

He wants to use me to destroy the world and unseat the real God. Yeah, I know. You don’t believe me.

Anyway, for the record, I don’t have any immediate intention of withholding taxes from the IRS.

A Last Few Thoughts on De-escalations

Here are a few possible de-escalations one could do. Some radio personalities on the right have called for boycotts of certain “Woke” companies. I think doing this full-boar is a going to have a bad end because the Right will boycott the Left and the Left will cancel the Right.

The result of both of those is, I think, a combination of chaos and economic contraction. We’re already on the brink of economic collapse thanks to the mismanagement of D.C. A boycott war between the two sides will likely push us over the edge making the Apocalypse a self-fulfilling prophecy.

So, my advice to the Right is to boycott, but only judiciously. Make your point then back off. Boycott Coca-Cola (or whoever) for a couple weeks to let them know how you feel. Then go buy a coke or two as a peace offering.

If the boycott works, make sure you continue to buy the occasional soft drink. I don’t know what else to suggest. Just remember. We are all Americans.

Satan is a Liar. And Jesus Christ is the Lord. Repent and be saved. Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before. But have you ever heard it from the antichrist before?