The Mark Of The Beast

The Mark Of The Beast

Editor's Note

This article was written by a Guest Author, Pastor Al Fletcher, and was used with his permission.  In this case, I agree with all of the teachings in this article and am supportive of his work.  I have used Grammarly to make a few ideal substitutions of certain words and punctuation, but the ideas have been well preserved.

Arthur Baldwin

Other Resources: Faith AND Works Simplified, The Nature Of The Beast!

Lately, there has been considerable interest, speculation, and information provided both online and in print regarding the “Beast of Revelation” and its “mark.” There is also some information provided that has been confusing and misleading. While many have correctly identified the Roman Catholic Church (religious system) as the “Beast of Revelation,” as this is the only church in the World that clearly fits ALL identifying points given in both Daniel and Revelation, however, its “Mark” has been misidentified by many as a microchip or possibly even an ID card of some sort.*

If you Google “mark of the beast,” you will discover endless opinions. Speculation abounds. Most misinterpret it as a technological mark, but this is mere guesswork. The Bible further clarifies in Revelation 19:20 that “…he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast.”

Thus, those who get the mark are “deceived,” or tricked, to their eternal loss. Now think about it. If this deadly “mark”-whatever it is- was utterly obvious, then how could the majority of Earth’s inhabitants be misled, as Revelation clearly predicts?

There are two sure ways to identify “the Mark of the Beast.” (1) Since “the mark of the beast” is directly opposite to “the seal of God,” if we find out what God’s seal is, we can then identify the beast’s mark. (2) Let the beast himself tell us what the mark of his authority is. First, what is God’s seal? Every government seal has three parts: (1) The Name, (2) The Title, and (3) The Territory.

We must look in the 2nd book of the Bible, Exodus 20:8-11, to find God’s seal.

The Seal Of God Is His Sabbath

"8 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 
10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

Exodus 20:8-11  KJV

Here are the 3 parts of the seal: (1) His Name-Verse 10. “The Lord” (2) His Title-Verse 10. “Thy God” (The Creator). (3) His Territory-Verse 11. “Heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is.” Ezekiel 20:12 says “Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a SIGN between me and them, that they may know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.” What could be plainer? The seal of God is His Sabbath.

This leads to the Second way to identify “the mark of the beast.” Before we allow the “beast” to tell us what the mark of his authority is, we need to be sure we understand that no one has yet received the “mark of the beast.” The mark will not be officially received until it is enforced through government legislation. On the other hand, we must also understand that when we receive light from God’s word on any subject, we are held accountable to begin walking in that light at that time. The Bible says in James 4:17, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

Daniel 7:25 tells us one of the identifying descriptions of the beast “…he shall think to change times and laws…” Because the nature and character of Satan is in direct opposition to that of God, his sign or mark has to be a challenge to the keeping of God’s law.

Many Christians today have been led to believe that the Sabbath commandment was only for the Jews of the Old Testament, or that God’s law was done away with.

Upon closer examination of the scriptures in Genesis 2:3, we read “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” This occurred over 2,000 years before the existence of Jews.

Jesus gave further emphasis in the New Testament that the Sabbath was made for humans, not just for the Jews. Mark 2:27&28: And he said unto them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath:” Verse 28-“Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.”

We also see that God’s law has not been done away with in Matthew 5:17 & 18 where Jesus says, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfill.” Verse 18- “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Heaven and earth have not passed away; therefore, the law (God’s Ten Commandments) is still in force.

All Ten Commandments are essential, and if we break one, we have violated them all; they are interconnected. In James 2:10 & 11, we read “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” Verse 11-“For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.”

1st John 3:4 says “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”

Since the Fourth Commandment is the Seal of God, and the church of the Living God is characterized as “keeping the commandments of God,” and “having the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17), then a counterfeit religious system would develop its own set of commandments and voice its own testimony.

God says Saturday; the Seventh-day Sabbath is His SIGN of authority. What does the “Beast” say is the Mark of his authority, and does the “Beast of Revelation” admit to tampering with God’s law? Let us now look below at several statements; all of them are direct quotes from the “Beast of Revelation” (the Catholic Church) herself:

“Protestants…accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church made the change…But the Protestant mind does not seem to realize that in observing Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the church, the Pope.” -Our Sunday Visitor, Feb 5, 1950

“…of course, the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. And the act is a MARK of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.” -Thomas, H.F., Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons

“Sunday is our MARK of authority…The church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.” – Catholic Record, Ontario, September 1, 1923

“It is well to remind Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians, that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church.” –Priest Brady, in an address reported in the Elizabeth, N.J. News, March 18, 1903.

“The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the Catholic Church” – Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today (1868) p. 213

“Sunday is a Catholic institution and its claim to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles…From beginning to end of Scripture, there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first.” –Catholic Press, Sydney, Australia, 1900

“Prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ The Catholic Church says NO. By my divine power, I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week. And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the Holy Catholic Church.” –Thomas Enright CSSR, President, Redemptorist (Roman Catholic) College, Kansas City, MO February 18, 1884

“Perhaps the most revolutionary change the Church ever did happened in the first century (it actually happened in the 4th century). The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. The Day of the Lord (Dies Domini) was chosen, not from any direction noted in the Scriptures, but from the Church’s sense of its own power…People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority should logically become Seventh-day Adventists and keep Saturday holy.” -Saint Catherine Catholic Church, Sentinel, Algonac, Michigan, May 21, 1995

“…Hence the conclusion is inevitable: viz., that of those who follow the Bible as their guide, the Israelites and Seventh-day Adventists have the exclusive weight of evidence on their side, whilst the Biblical Protestant has not a word in self-defense for his substitution of Sunday for Saturday” –Catholic Mirror, Sept 9, 1893

Question: Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept? Answer: “Had she not such power…she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.” -A Doctrinal Catechism pg.174

And finally, the editor of the Catholic Mirror, the official organ of Cardinal Gibbons and the Papacy in the United States, published this editorial in an open challenge of the Papacy to Protestantism and the demand of the Papacy that Protestants shall render to the Papacy an account of why they keep Sunday and also of how they keep it. (Below)

The Catholic Mirror

“But when we add to all this the fact that whilst the Pharisees of old kept the true Sabbath, our modern Pharisees, counting on the credulity and simplicity of their dupes, have never once in their lives kept the true Sabbath which their divine Master kept to his dying day, and which His apostles kept, after His example, for thirty years afterward, according to the Sacred Record, the most glaring contradiction involving a deliberate sacrilegious rejection of a most positive precept, is presented to us today in the action of the Biblical Christian world. 

The Bible and the Sabbath constitute the watchword of Protestantism: but we have demonstrated that it is the Bible against their Sabbath. We have shown that no greater contradiction ever existed than their theory and practice. We have proved that neither their Biblical ancestors nor themselves have ever kept one Sabbath day in their lives.” 

“The Israelites and Seventh-day Adventists are witnesses to their weekly desecration of the day named by God so repeatedly, and whilst they have ignored and condemned their teacher, the Bible, they have adopted a day kept by the Catholic Church.

What Protestant can, after perusing these articles, with clear conscience, continue to disobey the command of God, enjoining Saturday to be kept, which command his teacher, the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, records as the will of God?” 

“The history of the world cannot present a more stupid, self-stultifying specimen of dereliction of principle than this.”

The Catholic Mirror Sept 23, 1893

As we can see clearly from the preceding quotes of the Catholic Church, that Sunday worship is the Mark of the Beast, which they also openly acknowledge has no scriptural authority anywhere in the Bible.

God says in Matthew 15:9, “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”

This Is Your Choice!

The choice is clear: will you embrace the Papacy’s ultimate goal, Sunday observance, or will you embrace the great sign of God’s power to create and to redeem – the Seventh-day Sabbath? A Sabbath day that God deemed to be of such great importance that he reminds us in over 188 Bible texts from Genesis to Revelation, as well as in the Fourth Commandment, the only commandment that begins with the word REMEMBER!

One will lead to receiving the Mark of the Beast and the plagues of God, whereas Sabbath observance and total submission to all of God’s Commandments will lead to everlasting life with the Lord Jesus Christ.

“15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."

John 14:15-21  KJV

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” 

1st John 5:3  KJV

“9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast (the Papacy) and his image (the USA Sunday Law), and receive his mark (the Mark Of The Beast) in his forehead, or in his hand,

10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:” 

Revelation 14:9, 10  KJV  Definitions in parentheses added.

Will you keep God’s Seventh-day Sabbath holy and receive the “Seal of God”?

A Very Common Mistake

Excuse #22 (See the DVD “The Bible Sabbath And 21 Excuses”)

Many Christians today are led to believe that the Law of the Ten Commandments is an “Old Testament Law” that was done away with upon the death of Christ. Pastors in pulpits all across this nation have told their congregations, on Sundays, that the 10 Commandments are no longer binding because Christ took it out of the way “nailing it to the cross.” This they claim would also include the Sabbath of the 4th Commandment.

There are a few favorite texts that are frequently quoted to support this claim; however, upon careful examination of these texts, it becomes clear that they reveal a very different meaning.

One of these favorite texts often quoted to support this theory is Colossians 2:16, which states: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:”

Many Christians will quote this text and then say, “See, it does not matter what type of meat you eat, whether you drink wine or alcohol, or what day you worship on. The Sabbath was part of the old covenant and was done away with at the cross.”

The question is, what is Paul really saying here? What do meat, drink, and new moons have to do with the weekly Sabbath of the 4th Commandment? The answer, which may surprise many, is “nothing at all!”

Let us take a closer look at this text to find out what sabbath days Paul is talking about, and what they have to do with meat, drink, and new moons. To gain proper context, let us examine a few verses directly before and after verse 16. In verses 11-13, we see that Paul is talking about circumcision.

This is a spiritual circumcision (made without hands) or “cutting away” of our sins by accepting Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross. Then, in verse 14, we see another clue. Paul talks about “blotting out the handwriting of ordinances” which were nailed to the cross. Our 3rd clue is in verse 17, where it says “which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”So the obvious question is: What is the “handwriting of ordinances” that was blotted out, nailed to the cross, and is a shadow of things to come?

What does all this have to do with meat, drink, new moons, and sabbath days?

Some Christians are surprised to learn that there was more than one set of laws given to Moses at Mt Sinai. Besides the 10 Commandments which were written with the finger of God on stone tablets, there was also the “Mosaic Law” which is often called “The Law of Moses,” “Book of the Law,” or the “Ceremonial Law” because it regulated the priesthood sacrifices, rituals, meat and drink offerings, etc., all of which foreshadowed the cross.

Moses wrote the “Law of Moses” or “Mosaic Law” and recorded approximately 640 separate ordinances in his own handwriting, hence the name “handwriting of ordinances.”

The ritual and ceremony of “Moses Law” pointed forward to Christ’s sacrifice. This law was added “til the seed should come,” and that seed was Christ (see Galatians 3:16 & 19). When He died, this law came to an end, but the 10 commandments “stand fast forever and ever.” (Psalms 111:7&8). That there are two laws is made crystal clear in Daniel 9:10 and 11.*

Going back to Colossians 2:16, in all of Judaism, the Jewish “Festivals” or “Feast Days” are the only things that connect meat, drink, new moons, holydays, and sabbaths. These yearly feasts and holy days, which included meat and drink offerings, are as follows: Passover Feast, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Ceremony of the Wave Sheaf, Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, and Octave of Feast of Tabernacles.

There were seven yearly holy days in ancient Israel, which were also called “sabbaths.” These were in addition to or “beside the Sabbaths of the Lord,” (the weekly 7th day Sabbath), Leviticus 23:38. These all foreshadowed, or pointed to, the cross and ended at the cross.

God’s 7th day Sabbath was made before sin entered, and therefore could foreshadow nothing about deliverance from sin. That’s why Colossians chapter 2 mentions explicitly the sabbaths that were “a shadow.”These seven yearly (ceremonial) sabbaths, which were abolished, are listed in Leviticus chapter 23.

Connected to these ceremonial sabbaths were *meat (grain) offerings (the word for meats is bromata), which simply means food in general, and drink offerings (unfermented grape juice).

Yeast or leaven, which causes fermentation, is a symbol of sin; hence, its use was prohibited at the feasts. Jewish feast days were based on the new moon (monthly cycle). Feast day (ceremonial) sabbaths could be on any day of the week. These (new moon) ceremonial sabbaths were considered holy days; therefore, no work could be done.

In Paul’s day, there were Jewish Christians who were zealous for the ceremonial law and believed that because of Paul, the peculiar sacredness of the Jewish customs would soon be lost sight of. This element of Judaizers continued to seek to promote their forms and ceremonies (feast days) and to discredit Paul throughout his ministry.

In Galatia, things got so bad that Paul told the Galatians that their reverence for circumcision, ceremonies, and feast days was a perversion, a false gospel, and brought them under the control of demon spirits. (Galatians 1:6, 7, Gal 3:1). Paul called them “beggarly elements.” (Galatians 4:9, 10).

Some Christians mistakenly use Romans 14:5 to claim that the day of worship does not matter, but notice that the whole chapter is on judging one another (verses 4, 10, &13). The issue here is not over the seventh-day Sabbath, which was a part of the great moral law (the Ten Commandments), but over the other religious days (ceremonial sabbaths). Jewish Christians were judging Gentile Christians for not observing them.

Paul is simply saying, “Don’t judge each other. That ceremonial law is no longer binding.”

Notes And Resources

*For a detailed description of “The Beast Power of Revelation,” including supporting Bible texts, please refer to the book National Sunday Law by A. Jan Marcussen.

*Please refer to the book “Sunday is Not the Bible Sabbath” for more detailed information on the difference between the Ten Commandments and the Ceremonial laws.

*The word “flesh” is used in the Bible to designate “animal meat.” The word “meat” as used in the Bible means food or grain, in general, and not animal flesh or animal meat.

*Please email us if interested in the DVD, “The Bible Sabbath & 21 Excuses,” or the books: “Sunday is Not the Bible Sabbath” or “National Sunday Law”.

For Free Bible Studies, DVDs, and Books, Contact

Truth & Nature Ministries
P.O. Box 279
Springdale, WA 99173
Email: afletch2000@pm.me

Please check out our other Articles!