Pastor's Corner: Mark of the beast

(Revelation 13:11-14:10) Are we living in the end times? People have been asking me that recently. Some ask me about the mark of the beast. Many people have speculated on the meaning of the mark of the beast in Revelation 13, but however it might be fulfilled, it could "symbolize all our allegiances to the gods of this world or all the emperors who try to usurp God's place."

These chapters in The Revelation stir us Christians - who can face life realistically because we know the source of genuine hope - to be on the cutting edge, warning the world about the demonic deceptions that we see in various economic, political, social or other institutional practices and entities. If we speak as prophets, we will not necessarily be heard, but it is our Christian duty at least to speak.

What elements of our society illustrate the mark of the beast? When our youth idolatrously think certain brands of clothing are absolutely essential so that they can fit in with the right crowds at school, isn't that the mark of the beast on their right hands? When success becomes our only goal, the I-don't-care-whom-I-hurt-just-so-I'm-number-one attitude that dominates our culture, we have marked our foreheads with a 666. What about hatred and any groups of people who spread hate? Do they wear the mark of the beast on their foreheads or right hand? 

We do not have to be afraid of how the imagery of the mark of the beast might be fulfilled, but let us be vigilant against ways in which it is constantly displayed whenever we divinize human things in our lives, whenever we let that which might have been good become corrupted and beastly/demonic.

How do things become gods to us? Are we tyrannized by power, prestige, popularity, money, television, sports, hobbies, cell phones, technology, media, false news, AI, music of any sorts, clothes, or any other kind of possessions? What about dysfunctional political parties, and leaders who don't tell the truth and who often seek riches, fame, power, and prestige rather than serving the people who elected them?

Many of these things, fame, power, prestige and riches parody the abundant life that Jesus promised us, a life available to us only when our thinking and way of life reflect the relationship we have with God - desiring the divine purposes by the Spirit's power. All else is a blasphemous parody of the Triune will.

Tragically, the mark of the beast is often evident in our churches. ... Too easily some parishes thrive on the world's image of success ... rather than the deepening of genuine discipleship. These divinizations of human goals demonstrate the working of evil powers.

The idolatries of our culture, symbolized by the mark of the beast, beckon us with illusions of wealth, power, position, and success. In contrast, the Father's love in Christ frees us from the control of these and other gods. Jesus offers us an alternative model of giving, submission, humility, and even suffering for the sake of the kingdom, and the Holy Spirit empowers us to live in those ways that stand against the mark of the beast. In our limitations we learn the joy of total dependence upon the Triune God, whose baptismal mark of ownership is our foreheads instead.

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Pastor Michael O'Hearn

Hi-Line Lutheran Churches