The Mark of the Beast

by Sydney Watson

And the worship, in the Jerusalem Temple, of the image of Apleon, ("The Beast") was the worship of the man himself.

There is a very curious word in Habakkuk ii. 9, "Woe to him that saith to the wood, 'Awake!' to the dumb stone, "Arise, it shall teach." Apleon, the Anti-christ actually qualifies himself for that "woe" of God's.

A notice had been promulgated that in the "Broadway"—the wide, open square from which the great marble road to the Temple opened out,—throughout the whole day, the new "Covenant" brands would be affixed.

The "Covenant" sign, had for three years and a half been mostly worn (as we have seen) in the form of a ring on the right hand, or as a pendant frontlet upon the forehead. Some few million enthusiasts, it is true, had worn it branded on the flesh of the forehead, but this had not been universal.

Now it had been decreed by Apleon, and endorsed by his second, the false Prophet, that the wearing of a detatchable "Sign," be no longer permissable, that all must be branded—or die.

Brands, in several sizes, had been prepared, which, when pressed against the forehead, and worked by a spring-lever, left the damnable mark upon the skin in deep, rich purple characters. The surface of the branding instrument was peculiarly soft and yielding, so that when, by the automatic inking, the mark was made, there was never an imperfect sign, but every character was truly formed. The ink used, claimed to be absolutely indelible, and those who had tried it, more than two years before, had found no break in any single line or curve if either of the characters.

For two hours, a hundred branders had been at work at their truly hellish task, and if the donning of the badges, three and a half years before had been in a veritable holiday spirit, the acceptance of the brand, now, was with a blend of rapturous joy, and of actual worship.

With the infernal cunning which has ever characterized Satan's efforts to thwart God and His Christ, he has counterfeited every rite, every sacrament of Christ's Church. Hence Apleon, Satan's tool, is very keen upon this matter of a baptismal sign. He makes a sacrament of it (i. e. an oath or covenant of fidelity.) To show their allegiance to his infernal lordship, Anti-christ's subjects must now wear his brand so that it can never be erased or removed, and his chaplain ("The False Prophet") "causeth all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, to receive"—literal translation—"a stamp or brand, on their right hand, or on their forehead."

The preaching of the cross, of Jesus Christ as the World's Redeemer, the putting away of sin, and the gift of eternal life by faith in God's word of grace, the baptism into the name of Christ, had, for several decades, been growingly scouted as "foolishness." "An obsolete doctrine," all that was voted. "Men are far too intelligent to be bound by such a Bible creed as that. New times need new doctrines," etc., etc.

The twenty years immediately preceding the manifestation of the "Man of Sin," had been characterized by such utterances, and many others infinitely more impious, blasphemous, and senseless. "But after the world by its wisdom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the thing preached, to save them that believe … Because THE FOOLISHNESS OF GOD is WISER THAN MEN." But when Anti-christ shall promulgate his devil-doctrines, senseless, idolatrous, humiliating, the bulk of men of every grade and class, will suffer themselves to be branded like cattle in a round-up. Believing "the lie," deluded by that universal lie, they will have no choice, save to be branded, or to die. And to yield themselves to the infernal brand will mean to be cut off for ever from God.