November 30, 2025 • 43 mins
666 - THE infamous number that strikes dread in all who hear of it. It is the mark of the beast and the number of his name.
The mark is symbolic for loyalty -- loyalty to the great system of deception and of control. But WHAT EXACTLY ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF DENYING THE MARK?
We take a journey through history in this episode and trace out the experience of thise who, out of loyaty to Jesus, have refused to take the mark.
Revelation 13:16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. 18 This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666
If you wish to contact me with any comments, questions, suggestions, etc please feel free to write to my email: jmrgrs9@gmail.com
Mark as Played
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Episode Transcript
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(00:23):
Welcome to the Bible UnboundPodcast, the book of Revelation
we find ourselves today inRevelation chapter 13, we've
considered the two beasts, onewho comes out of the sea, the
beast who comes out of the land.
But now we have to turn to theidea of the mark, the
(00:44):
identifying factor of those whofollow the beast.
That is the number six.
Six, six.
So we're glad you've joined ushere.
We hope you enjoy this episode.
Today we're going to talk aboutthe mark of the beast.
(01:04):
We looked at its nature lastweek.
We will look at the consequencesof the mark, and then next week
the calculation of the mark.
So the consequences of the markof the beast are found in verse
17, so that no one can buy orsell unless he has the mark that
is the name of the beast on thenumber of its name.
(01:26):
So the consequences of having ornot having the mark of the beast
are clear.
It has to do with engaging incommerce.
If you got the mark, you'regonna be able to buy and sell
everything that's gonna befried.
You're able to provide for yourfamily.
If you don't have the mark.
It's gonna be pretty different.
(01:46):
So that's what it really boilsdown to.
Last week we considered thenature of the numbering room.
Remember, it was a parody thatfalls Christ, it falls beside
Jesus said they would come andthey will come as a result of
this second beast.
And so I said that the way to befamiliar, the way to understand
(02:08):
and recognize the true Christ.
Is to by being familiar with thegenuine, like a bank teller is
familiar with dollars, they cantell when a a counterfeit bill
comes across their desk.
We as believers by peering intothe unsearchable riches of Jesus
(02:29):
that Paul talked about.
That's the way we becomefamiliar with the genuine.
If we lose that straightforwardpeering into he who Paul says is
preeminent in all things, and westart dabbling around the edges,
like so much of Bo Evangel do.
(02:51):
We even talked about this uniquelabel that's come up within the
last few years, istic,therapeutic deism that tends to
become.
The wrappings of much of modernday evangelicalism.
And so the focus is on self andfocuses on my needs and what
(03:13):
will help me.
How can I get over these issuesrather than looking at the
greatness, the grandeur of theglory of God?
How often do we hear, preachfrom the pulpit, the deep things
of Jesus Christ?
You know what the highest pointof all Christology is, and
there's a lot of high points ofChristology.
(03:35):
Colossians one 15 through 20 isultra high.
Ephesians chapter one and twoultra high.
You're in the Alps, you're inthe mountain piece.
Philippians two, five through11.
You're back up on the mountainpizza getting in.
Inner eye as to who Christ isand to what he has done and to
how he fits as the center.
(03:57):
When you think about logos,you're actually in touch with
the mind of God.
The mind of God conveyed throughthe one who took upon flesh and
dwelt among us as the logos.
And so there's the riches of thechristological narrative flowing
through the whole by the, notjust the New Testament.
(04:19):
And then it finds its highestclimax here in Revelation four
and five.
Revelation.
The entire chapter is devoted tothe backdrop of the coronation
of the lamb.
The backdrop is ground zero,nucleus of heaven, crystal seat
emerald, rainbow throne,lightnings, flashings, and it is
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a father seated on the throne,and he has a scroll in this guy.
That's the backdrop.
That's Revelation four.
Can you imagine?
Turn Revelation four into ateaching on the silly rapture
doctor.
Much of the church has donethat.
Oh, this, that's the rapture.
(05:05):
I think that's a cosmictransgression.
Given the, that the precisecontext is the greatest and
grandest because then in chapterfive, John looks and no man is
found worthy to take the scrollfrom, he sits upon the throne
and he is directed to the lionof the tribe of Judah, because
he's conquered, he turns and hesees the lab as if he'd been
(05:28):
slain.
And from that point on.
All the angelic praise, all thehopes to come.
It's pointed toward Jesus inwhat he has accomplished and who
he is.
And if we are not saturated bythat vision, as Christians can,
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we expect as Steven did when hewas being stoned, he looks and
there he is.
Jesus steady.
At the right hand of the father,there was Paul Saul in rebelled
against Scott, knocked off hisdonkey at the noon day with a
light that showed brighter thanthe sun.
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This is our conquering king, andwe better know him.
'cause if we don't, if possible,Jesus said the deception would
overtake even the elect.
It's that serious, it's thatclose.
The call is that close.
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So it's really serious that weunderstand the true and the
genuine as opposed to all thethings that are gonna come,
whether it be AI or Jesus apps,or thoroughly therapeutic
ministry.
Whatever it comes, we need toknow the true Christ.
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Okay, I'm gonna work veryquickly through this'cause I've
got a lot of material, but Iwant to leave time for
discussion.
So we have the dual mark.
There was a mark for a believer,there was a mark for unbeliever.
Remember that the priorities onthe mark of the believer, the
Revelation 13.
We have the mark of theunbeliever and we'll look at the
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calculation again next week.
But, quick reminder of chapter13 as a whole.
We met the beast from the seaverses one through two.
We met the dragon who givespower and authority to that
beast.
Verse two, we saw the mortalwound that was revealed.
It was as if dead came to life.
Another parody of theresurrection.
(07:37):
We saw in fourth place theglobal worship submission to the
sea beast human governmentalstructures.
When we saw the fact that theBeast from the Sea Exercises
authority for a period of 42months.
What's interesting is that 42month, that's the same period
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that the two witnesseswitnessed, that the church has
had a witness.
It's also the same period thatthe church is protected from the
dragon.
You gotta put your thinking capon.
List.
This 42 months actually meanit's a period where there's
faithful witnesses, a periodwhere the church is protected.
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It's also a period that thisantichrist being beast system
exercises authority.
You can go all the way back toone John two and one John four
lead to see that at least inJohn's mind, antichrist were
already there at that day withnothing new.
So then there was a rise ofdeceptive false prophets.
(08:41):
That was beast number two, signsand wonders.
There was a command to make animage, gives breath to the
image, the deception ofcommunication.
That's what launched us into theidea of AI possibly being a
platform.
Maybe it is.
And then where we are now themark is actually being given and
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we're going to look at theconsequences.
So when we have these two beats,when these two beats join in
union together, which is alwaysthe case, they work hand in hand
and they become a toxic union.
For example, during the MiddleAges when Roman Catholics is a
joined with the government ofFrance and what the government
(09:24):
of Spain, suddenly you had akind of religious system that
merged with the government.
And the power and the controlthat came out of that was
fierce.
Or Marxism joined withcommunism, so the ideology of
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Marxism, which would be thesecond beast, joined with the
power of the communist system,whether it was stolen or then
you had later on, Anglicanismjoined with Stateism.
Stateism is.
Where the state wants to be,God, that's all.
(10:05):
Doesn't want any rivals.
And then of course we've seenPlenty of Islam as the false
prophet joined with nationalism.
It's a natural combination.
So Beast One plus Beast Two doesequal the Antichrist, whether
it's presented as a system or aperson or both, that's what
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you've got.
Beast joined to Beast asillustrated.
In Daniel three, if you do notworship, you will immediately be
cast into the fiery furnace andwhat God can deliver you.
Interesting thought that in Actseight, Jesus is getting ready to
ascend into glory and havebestowed him his coronation.
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What does he say to hisfollowers at that point?
He says, you will be mywitnesses.
In Jerusalem, in all Judea andSamaria, the uttermost parts of
the earth.
Who knows what that word witnessactually is in the grief?
It's Marty loss, where weobviously get the word Marty.
(11:12):
He's calling his followersmartyrs.
I think the meaning is we aremartyrs to God if need be, so we
always carry about thatwillingness.
That commitment, even though wemay not have to, a few of us
will have to actually endure amartyr.
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But that's who you are.
You all martyrs, every one ofyou.
So the theme, the dreadfulconsequences of 6, 6, 6, being
financially displaced,marginalized, disadvantaged due
to central financial economiccontrol.
In other words you're a slave,you're Christian, you're a
slave.
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Unless you receive the mark ofbeast, then you're not a
Christian.
So if you refuse to take themark of the Beast, history
clearly reveals the cyclicalmanifestation of Beast joining
with Beast and those who willresist it.
So what we're going to do isjust take a little trip through
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history and show you those timeswhen people of God have said no.
To the mark of the beast.
We'll take a look at the tradeguilds of the first century.
We'll look at the hugins.
Some of you may or not haveheard of some of these people.
You get a little history.
This the Scottish covenanters.
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It is the first time you've everheard of them.
The brick kills of Pakistan.
The current CBDC option.
That.
If there's anything that fitsright into Revelation 13, that's
it.
We're gonna talk about that alittle bit.
Listen to Dave Ramsey, what hehas to say about it.
There were many others.
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Then the ones I just spoke toyou, there was horrendous
Hussites followers of John Huss,the 50th century Nagasaki,
Japan, some people don'tunderstand, but was very
Christian.
Place, but endured incrediblepersecution.
They would say no to the mark ofBeast Malice China.
(13:18):
Obviously Hitler, who was beastnumber one, and ethnic supremacy
and hyper nationalism werebeast.
Number two, Stalins Beast numberone, atheism and Stateism was
beast Number two.
Here's an interesting one, theOttoman Empire, which was
Islamic and it took placeprimarily in Turkey.
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And so the Empire leaders theIslamic leaders were beast
number one.
And beast number two was Islamitself.
And under the Ottoman Empirecame one of the most horrendous
genocides that has ever takenplace.
Now Turkey will deny it.
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This thing, which is absolutelyridiculous'cause it's been
documented a thousand times.
The Armenian genocide.
Armenia was, is the oldestChristian nation, oldest nation
that has never been conquered byIslam.
It's never dropped the ball.
It's always had a faithfulChristian presentation.
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And Jim, if you know a littlebit more about this, you can add
to it.
The likewise is Syrian, Syria, avery faithful, godly nation.
But gen, all I know about it isthat Ethiopian and Armenia had a
very tight relationship.
I think when the Ethiopians werefighting the Italians, the
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Armenians came in with arms andstuff and helped them a lot.
Yeah.
So they still have, it's wanedover the years, but it was very
strong.
At one point, the Armeniangenocide they tended to take the
men.
And immediately and slayed them,got rid of'em.
Then they took the women andtook'em on long death marches.
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The women were raped and werebrutalized along the way.
Most of them died on the deathmarches, and that's how they
ended all because they said noto the beast system.
So these system arises andrevolts primarily when the state
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feels threatened as it is inChina today.
Chi the CCP has cracked downover the last week even deeper
and rougher resistance againstthe Christian community in the
house.
Churches.
Why?
'cause they're growing.
They're growing.
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Chi is is scared.
Scar the pants off.
Too many Christians.
Stateism in John's day was theRoman Empire beast one where the
Caesars Beast two was emperorworship, along with Pagan, Roman
and Greek deities.
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Christians were in fact calledatheists'cause they wouldn't
believe in emperor worship or inthe.
Regional Greek and Romandeities.
So in rural agrarian areas, manywere shepherds.
Persecution was not so bad.
Same tent, we said for thecities, it was very different.
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And this takes us to our firstcategory, which is trade guilds.
Trade guilds were common, thefirst to the fifth century
professional associations in theRoman Empire that organized
artisans, merchants.
Craftsmen primarily in thecities in the seven cities that
John wrote to.
Trade guilds were very commonthere, numerous thriving, and
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Ephesus where John was fromactually there's a lot of
archeological evidence,including inscriptions and Trade
Guild records, and there's apiece of one.
But membership in a trade guildoften required participation in
the rituals.
So all the rituals, not goodemperor worship, veneration of
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Patrick deities, not to mentionthe sex, the orgies, and the
crazy stuff that would go oneven Acts chapter 19 When Paul
was in Ephesus, he sparked oneof these rebellions of the trade
guilt.
Naming Demetrius and thecraftsmen with him.
They ran, they tried to run Paulout of town on rail.
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So these trade guilds would be avery difficult place for a
Christian to participate.
You just took your, said no tothe beast like you, and it was
not just you who suffered, butit was your family.
It was your kids.
They were bullied, they were.
Marginalized ostracized fromsociety.
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And so they faced persecutionunder guys like Nero and Demian,
who demanded loyalty through theCultic system.
So it's hard to be Christianfirst century in that sense,
first through fifth.
Now I wanna talk about theCubans.
Who's heard?
Who's heard of the Cuban?
Okay, so the Cubans were aFrench.
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Protestant Resistance Group.
They're very accurate in theirunderstanding of the Bible.
And yet France swarmed with thebeast of the French government
along with the beast of RomanCatholicism.
And when they joined together,the bans found themselves cast
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out.
And so the OTs had to enduregreat starvation, economic
deprivation under Louis the14th.
He would command that soldiersported in the homes of Ganau
there.
They would wreak havoc in thathome.
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Soldiers would consume anddestroy food supplies,
livestock, household goods runrampant.
And it was all an attempt to getthem back under the fold of the
Catholic Church.
But the hugins increasinglybarred from employment, law,
medicine, public office tradeguilds were all controlled by
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the Catholics, and thismarginalization reduced their
income.
So the, there was a mass exodusof the hus, approximately
200,000, but they had to selltheir homes and their assets for
next to nothing.
And so when they ended up inEngland or in Holland or the
Netherlands, they had verylittle, they were the poorest of
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the poor at that point.
Eventually, there was a siege ina place called La Rochelle where
there was approximately 200,000Cubans slaughtered because they
wouldn't say yes to the beast.
Dying from hunger.
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Following them about 80 yearslater were what was called the
scotch covenanters.
The scotch covenanters werePresbyterian and then don't
think of moderatepresbyterianism.
When I say Presbyterian, talkingabout very conservative
Protestant they they were facingthe joint beasts.
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Of the state religion ofAnglicanism in England and the
Stewart Dynasty, very powerful,very authoritative, very hungry
for Power Dynasty in the later16 hundreds.
Scotch Covenanters they justwanted to be left alone.
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They just wanted to worship andin fact, they got, after they
got booted, out of all thebuildings, church buildings.
They began to meet in what theycall conicals, which were in
Moores or caves or forests orbeaches.
Anywhere where they could adhereto two documents.
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Now, number one, the SolemnLeague and Covenant, which was
basically their statement thaton a political basis we say no
to the beast.
Okay, so it was a formativedocument.
Covenant.
No.
Beast.
You're not gonna rule us.
And the political side waswhat's called the Westminster
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Confession of Faith.
They're the ones who wrote it.
You've probably heard of theWestminster Confession of Faith.
It's still used today by manychurches as a faithful guy.
The government forces left thosecommunities devastated,
especially in Presbyterianstrongholds.
Soldiers destroyed crops, seizedlivestock consumed household.
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Commodities and the covenanterswere left to flee, living as
fugitives in remote areasstruggling to survive.
Few sympathetic locals drilledout into the Scottish
covenanters To show you oneillustration that's very
touching.
The two s, this is what theydid.
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Horrific scene of courageousmartyrdom.
You can never forget.
It happened in May, 1685.
Horrible scene Beast Patrol tookthese two women named Margaret
to a point to where the riverbla not merged into Wigtown Bay.
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And if you know anything aboutthis Scotland in the fjords of
the MOS and all the tide is veryIraq and can rise very quickly
and it can lower very quickly.
And the beast knew just the spotthat would work the best.
So they took MargaretMcClanahan, 63 years old, I'm
(23:22):
sorry, Margaret McLaughlin, 63years old, and they tied her to
a stink.
And they drove that stake farout into the bay, but at a point
where they knew that the tidewould rise.
And so there she was giving upher life for her fate, saying no
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to the beast.
And they took the other MargaretWilson, she's only 18 years old
and they staked her closer in,but facing.
Her elder friend MargaretMcLaughlin, and she was made to
watch the older, the ElderMargaret Parish under the water.
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The younger Margaret eventuallysuccumbed to the rising tide,
not before crying out.
Praise to God, and reciting fromPsalm 25.
They're charge attending illegalles.
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It's a picture rough picture.
There's a memorial to the stateand go see it.
Speaking of the killing times,slaughter of Scottish
covenanters.
Okay, bring up to today thebrick kilns of Pakistan.
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Pakistan, approximately 4.5million people or 20,000 of
these brick counts across thecountry.
Pakistan is one of the centralsuppliers of building materials,
including brick, and so they'vegot 20,000 of these brick counts
4.5 million people, many of whomare Christians, and they work in
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these brick kilns full of.
Horrible, horrible heat, 2000degrees heat and breathing in
all this dust and becoming sickand having no access to health
and very little access to foodand water, and they weren't
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allowed to worship asChristians, victims of religious
discrimination.
It's all documented, and again,I say there's an organization.
I can't think of the guy's name.
It's associated with Summit thatprovides needs primarily in the
month of December, as Iunderstand it, to where these
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people can have some sense of aChristmas with a good meal.
So they haven't had a good mealat all, and they're sick and
they become indenture becausethey're paid two to$4 for every
thousand bricks.
And then they have to borrowmoney for their sick child to go
see a doctor.
And then they're strapped onhigh interest rates and they
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become indentured service forgenerations and they can never
escape the debt.
The debt load.
That's a picture of whathappens.
'cause they're saying no to thebeast.
The toil 10 to 16 hours a daymixing clay and molding bricks.
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Lung diseases, vision loss, skinconditions, little to no access
to healthcare, education, orworship.
I'm thankful to hear of what isbeing done through Summit to
meet the needs of these poorpeople in the brick kilns of
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Pakistan.
Finally becoming CBDC financialsystem.
Right now it's on hold, but itis a favored child of most
politicians.
Thankfully, Trump is holding itback, but it wants to lose
itself.
(27:21):
It wants to lose itself by mostof the powerful elites, the deep
state for sure.
Recently, Dave Ramsey sent outa, an urgent warning.
Y'all know who Da Dave Ramseyis?
Yeah.
Sent out an urgent warning toChristians.
(27:42):
He said, here's what it's gonnalook like under CBDC.
If you're struggling with yourmortgage on a particular month,
you can't do it.
Odd job to get you through.
Why?
Because there'll be no cash.
There'll be no more cash.
Your child can't go and help thelocal farmer to earn a bit of
seller cash.
Can't do that.
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No more cash slipped into thehands of a child from their
grandparent when going onholidays, no more money in
birthday cards.
No more piggybacks for yourchild to collect pocket money to
learn about the value saving.
No more little jobs on the side'cause your wage is barely
covered.
The bills are put food on thetable.
That's all gone.
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No more cash for a rainy day forfun.
Something special.
You've been putting 20 bucksaway every week for That's gone.
No more charity collections.
Pass the plate that's gone.
No more selling bits and piecesfrom your home.
Can't have garage sale.
No more garage sale, it's done.
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No more cash gifts fromrelatives or loved ones.
Here's what you go here.
This is what CPDC does guaranteeno question.
Every transaction will berecorded on the block sheet.
Banks will have full control ofevery single penny you want.
They do it already pretty closenow.
(29:06):
Venmo Cash app, you know you dothat.
Somebody knows you're given$200.
Why?
They want to know why you'redoing that.
You think of all that and thentake away the cash.
Now just remove all cash fromthat.
So all your movements andactions are being traced.
You'll have no choice but todeclare and be taxed on every
(29:30):
dollar in your possession.
Dave Ramsey would know a littlebit about that.
Access to your money can beblocked at the click of a
button.
At banks need clarification,which we were just talking
about, which could take up tothree weeks, thousands of
questions and tons of passwords.
The government will decide whatyou can and cannot purchase.
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If your transactions are deemedin any way questionable, those
who create questions, your moneywill be frozen for your own
good.
There's even talk of the beingable to set up like digital
fences.
If they don't want you, the coCOVID thing, if they don't want
you leaving an area, you gooutside that fence, you're cut
(30:12):
off called geofencing.
That's what I happened to theCanadian truck drivers.
No.
That's so fast.
Not It's so fast.
China's digital one hasprogrammable expiration dates
and limits spending to specificvendors, so it's already being
done totally in China.
CBDC is tied to your socialcredit score, so if you attend a
(30:36):
house, church, you got a lowscore, you might not be able to
ride the trade.
You're out.
But the ability to excludepeople from economic
participation mirrors the feastsystem perfectly, even as it did
recent history.
(30:56):
Patrick already mentioned 2022,the Canadian trucker convoy
protests.
Do you remember what they did?
Do you remember what.
It was Revelation 13, pure andsimple.
(31:18):
Justin Trudeau pulled the plugon the accounts of people who
supported the truckers.
The protestors unbelievable.
They, our government did it toTrump.
De banked him and his wholefamily.
They couldn't, they could onlyhave like little amounts of
(31:38):
money in multiple places.
They couldn't have the bigbillionaire bank accounts.
They did it to him and his wholefamily until he got reelected de
banked.
It's called being de banked.
And when did you say COVID wasjust a foreshadow of revelation?
(32:01):
Absolutely.
I think there's a real stronglink between COVID and the Beast
System.
Oh yeah, of course.
So Patrick, thank you forbringing up that Deb, about the
truckers.
You're right on track.
Exactly what happened.
(32:21):
So anyway, again we've gotthings that seem to be perfectly
lining.
With Revelation chapter 13, thisstuff's been going on forever.
Persecution of Christians whowould not say yes to the beast.
(32:45):
So in closing, one observationthat I find very valuable is to
consider the brevity and thefragility of life itself.
The fact is if eternal life isnot true, then all of the
martyrs died in vain.
That something.
But if eternal life is true,then there is deep joy.
(33:14):
Moses wrote, Lord, you've beenour dwelling place in all
generations.
Before the mountains werebrought forth.
Whenever you had formed theearth in the world, from
everlasting to everlasting, youare God.
I'm gonna fall into that gut.
That's the one I want to fallinto from everlasting to
everlasting.
You are God.
(33:36):
The here now just isn't that biga deal, and that's how Paul
felt.
Very much so when he pinnedwords like Philippians chapter
three, verse 10.
He said oh, that I may know youoh Lord, and the power of your
resurrection and in fellowshipwith your sufferings and to be
(34:03):
made conformable to your death.
Again.
See, Paul was fixated on theperson of Christ.
He was dominated by the power ofJesus.
When he said phrase, justconsider a couple of phrases
(34:24):
that Paul uses.
Oh, that I may know him.
What in life is more importantthan that?
Lemme think of anything moreimportant that you know Christ.
That's why Paul prayed inEphesians one, oh Lord.
Grant them the spirit of wisdomand revelation into the fuller
(34:47):
knowledge of God and that theirhearts might be in illuminated,
hear that action of the HolySpirit that he's pleading for,
that they might know.
And then again in gloriousprayer in chapter three, he
says, oh, that the Holy Spiritmight strengthen you all in
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power in the inner man that youmight come to know what is the
breadth and height and width ofdeath, and to know the love of
Christ, which by the way, costsus knowledge.
How come you know something youcan't know?
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It's a deep mystery.
It's a deep mystery before whichwe should park our never dying
souls.
There is a love in Christ that Icannot even comprehend.
It is that deep.
It's an ocean.
Full and broad.
And when I am in his presence,I'm going to see the reality of
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thirst.
John four 15, God is loved andI'm gonna feel that in every
core of my being.
I'm gonna be loved, like I'venever thought of being loved.
All the loves I've knownthroughout my earthly life, put
together exploding times, 10,000times, 10,000, and you're going
to feel the grasp of his love.
(36:16):
In an instant through the doorthat we call death Power of his
resurrection.
Paul says, that's what I want.
A life that's elevated above theshadows of the things we call
(36:37):
reality.
A life that's transcendent andnot a slave to the fear of
death.
As there are so many looking notat the things that are seen, but
at the things that are unseen,some things that are unseen are
internal.
Things that are seen are temple.
(37:01):
I gotta think Paul is smart.
I'll follow Paul.
He says that's what we do.
That's what we do.
He says, if sharing in hissufferings is glory.
He said in Philippians one,seven, to you, it has been
granted not only to believe, butto suffer in his name.
Whoa.
(37:22):
Just as much as the gift offaith has been granted me, so
has the gift of suffering.
A Christian suffers withmeaning, intense meaning and
purpose.
God's in this.
God's in this.
He's teaching.
(37:42):
Peter says, Hey, don't fear thefiery trial as though some
strange thing has come upon you.
It's not strange for thebeliever.
Suffering has meaning and haspurpose.
Finally, Paul Pauls becominglike him at his death.
Paul knew, Hey, I don't knowwhich to choose to be with.
(38:05):
Christ is very much better.
But to be here remain on isservice to you.
And I don't know which to choosethat.
That's where his value systemscaled out.
You want to serve, be alsowonder just to sit the feet of
Jesus.
(38:27):
Oh, death.
Where is th stigma?
Grave, where is thy victory?
I'll close with these last fewsayings.
John 1224.
Truly, I say to you, unless agrain of wheat falls into the
earth and dies, it remainsalone.
But if it dies, it bears muchfruit.
You know anybody who's so alone,so much the center of their
(38:51):
universe, so out of touch withcommunity or family or friends,
they just sit there and wait todie.
Jesus said, let it go.
Let the great if we fall to theearth and die, whoever gives his
(39:11):
life, for my sake of the gospelthe same.
That's found it.
It's always been the case thatthe blood of the martyrs is the
seed of the church.
You've probably heard thatsaying it's true.
The blood of the martyrs is theseed of the church.
Maybe you haven't heard this onethough.
The Church of Jesus Christ.
(39:32):
Could be described as an anvilthat has broken many hammers.
So true.
We were part of that.
Part of the anvil that hasbroken many mini hammers.
(40:00):
Okay.
Thoughts, questions.
Further contribution.
I think realization to me, Idunno why it's so slow in that,
is that the antichrist has beenhere.
I've always heard we're goinglook for and so forth.
The other thing is, personally,I've always identified with
(40:24):
Peter.
I would like to think that Icould say no, but just like
Peter denied Christ, can I, willI be able to do that?
If you followed Peter'sfootsteps, you would follow him
out of that gated area and youwould fall on your face when the
(40:47):
cop crowed and you would crylike a little baby, and you
would hear Jesus.
Tell the disciples to go andtell the disciples and Peter
that I had risen, and then youwould hear him say to you,
Peter, do you love me?
(41:08):
Feed my sheep.
So you really won't know untilhe faced that point.
Depends on who you are.
We're all different.
Peter was made of a differentkind of stuff.
Peter was aggressive.
Peter was a fix it guy.
Peter was a dominant individual,but he wasn't perfect.
(41:30):
None of us are.
I don't think you'll know, butthe more you stay in your faith
and strengthen yourself, there'sa better chance that you're
deny.
If you're weak in your faiththat's most likely what you can.
I think that interchange betweenPeter and Jesus though were.
Jesus says, Peter, do you agapeme?
(41:52):
And Peter answers the Lord, Iphileo you.
And it happens twice and untilthey come into agreement.
Peter, do you philo?
You know I do.
No resolution you have.
Welcome to the Bible UnboundPodcast, the book of Revelation
we find ourselves today inRevelation chapter 13, we've
considered the two beasts, onewho comes out of the sea, the
beast who comes out of the land.
But now we have to turn to theidea of the mark, the
(00:44):
identifying factor of those whofollow the beast.
That is the number six.
Six, six.
So we're glad you've joined ushere.
We hope you enjoy this episode.
Today we're going to talk aboutthe mark of the beast.
(01:04):
We looked at its nature lastweek.
We will look at the consequencesof the mark, and then next week
the calculation of the mark.
So the consequences of the markof the beast are found in verse
17, so that no one can buy orsell unless he has the mark that
is the name of the beast on thenumber of its name.
(01:26):
So the consequences of having ornot having the mark of the beast
are clear.
It has to do with engaging incommerce.
If you got the mark, you'regonna be able to buy and sell
everything that's gonna befried.
You're able to provide for yourfamily.
If you don't have the mark.
It's gonna be pretty different.
(01:46):
So that's what it really boilsdown to.
Last week we considered thenature of the numbering room.
Remember, it was a parody thatfalls Christ, it falls beside
Jesus said they would come andthey will come as a result of
this second beast.
And so I said that the way to befamiliar, the way to understand
(02:08):
and recognize the true Christ.
Is to by being familiar with thegenuine, like a bank teller is
familiar with dollars, they cantell when a a counterfeit bill
comes across their desk.
We as believers by peering intothe unsearchable riches of Jesus
(02:29):
that Paul talked about.
That's the way we becomefamiliar with the genuine.
If we lose that straightforwardpeering into he who Paul says is
preeminent in all things, and westart dabbling around the edges,
like so much of Bo Evangel do.
(02:51):
We even talked about this uniquelabel that's come up within the
last few years, istic,therapeutic deism that tends to
become.
The wrappings of much of modernday evangelicalism.
And so the focus is on self andfocuses on my needs and what
(03:13):
will help me.
How can I get over these issuesrather than looking at the
greatness, the grandeur of theglory of God?
How often do we hear, preachfrom the pulpit, the deep things
of Jesus Christ?
You know what the highest pointof all Christology is, and
there's a lot of high points ofChristology.
(03:35):
Colossians one 15 through 20 isultra high.
Ephesians chapter one and twoultra high.
You're in the Alps, you're inthe mountain piece.
Philippians two, five through11.
You're back up on the mountainpizza getting in.
Inner eye as to who Christ isand to what he has done and to
how he fits as the center.
(03:57):
When you think about logos,you're actually in touch with
the mind of God.
The mind of God conveyed throughthe one who took upon flesh and
dwelt among us as the logos.
And so there's the riches of thechristological narrative flowing
through the whole by the, notjust the New Testament.
(04:19):
And then it finds its highestclimax here in Revelation four
and five.
Revelation.
The entire chapter is devoted tothe backdrop of the coronation
of the lamb.
The backdrop is ground zero,nucleus of heaven, crystal seat
emerald, rainbow throne,lightnings, flashings, and it is
(04:43):
a father seated on the throne,and he has a scroll in this guy.
That's the backdrop.
That's Revelation four.
Can you imagine?
Turn Revelation four into ateaching on the silly rapture
doctor.
Much of the church has donethat.
Oh, this, that's the rapture.
(05:05):
I think that's a cosmictransgression.
Given the, that the precisecontext is the greatest and
grandest because then in chapterfive, John looks and no man is
found worthy to take the scrollfrom, he sits upon the throne
and he is directed to the lionof the tribe of Judah, because
he's conquered, he turns and hesees the lab as if he'd been
(05:28):
slain.
And from that point on.
All the angelic praise, all thehopes to come.
It's pointed toward Jesus inwhat he has accomplished and who
he is.
And if we are not saturated bythat vision, as Christians can,
(05:51):
we expect as Steven did when hewas being stoned, he looks and
there he is.
Jesus steady.
At the right hand of the father,there was Paul Saul in rebelled
against Scott, knocked off hisdonkey at the noon day with a
light that showed brighter thanthe sun.
(06:11):
This is our conquering king, andwe better know him.
'cause if we don't, if possible,Jesus said the deception would
overtake even the elect.
It's that serious, it's thatclose.
The call is that close.
(06:32):
So it's really serious that weunderstand the true and the
genuine as opposed to all thethings that are gonna come,
whether it be AI or Jesus apps,or thoroughly therapeutic
ministry.
Whatever it comes, we need toknow the true Christ.
(06:54):
Okay, I'm gonna work veryquickly through this'cause I've
got a lot of material, but Iwant to leave time for
discussion.
So we have the dual mark.
There was a mark for a believer,there was a mark for unbeliever.
Remember that the priorities onthe mark of the believer, the
Revelation 13.
We have the mark of theunbeliever and we'll look at the
(07:15):
calculation again next week.
But, quick reminder of chapter13 as a whole.
We met the beast from the seaverses one through two.
We met the dragon who givespower and authority to that
beast.
Verse two, we saw the mortalwound that was revealed.
It was as if dead came to life.
Another parody of theresurrection.
(07:37):
We saw in fourth place theglobal worship submission to the
sea beast human governmentalstructures.
When we saw the fact that theBeast from the Sea Exercises
authority for a period of 42months.
What's interesting is that 42month, that's the same period
(07:59):
that the two witnesseswitnessed, that the church has
had a witness.
It's also the same period thatthe church is protected from the
dragon.
You gotta put your thinking capon.
List.
This 42 months actually meanit's a period where there's
faithful witnesses, a periodwhere the church is protected.
(08:19):
It's also a period that thisantichrist being beast system
exercises authority.
You can go all the way back toone John two and one John four
lead to see that at least inJohn's mind, antichrist were
already there at that day withnothing new.
So then there was a rise ofdeceptive false prophets.
(08:41):
That was beast number two, signsand wonders.
There was a command to make animage, gives breath to the
image, the deception ofcommunication.
That's what launched us into theidea of AI possibly being a
platform.
Maybe it is.
And then where we are now themark is actually being given and
(09:02):
we're going to look at theconsequences.
So when we have these two beats,when these two beats join in
union together, which is alwaysthe case, they work hand in hand
and they become a toxic union.
For example, during the MiddleAges when Roman Catholics is a
joined with the government ofFrance and what the government
(09:24):
of Spain, suddenly you had akind of religious system that
merged with the government.
And the power and the controlthat came out of that was
fierce.
Or Marxism joined withcommunism, so the ideology of
(09:45):
Marxism, which would be thesecond beast, joined with the
power of the communist system,whether it was stolen or then
you had later on, Anglicanismjoined with Stateism.
Stateism is.
Where the state wants to be,God, that's all.
(10:05):
Doesn't want any rivals.
And then of course we've seenPlenty of Islam as the false
prophet joined with nationalism.
It's a natural combination.
So Beast One plus Beast Two doesequal the Antichrist, whether
it's presented as a system or aperson or both, that's what
(10:27):
you've got.
Beast joined to Beast asillustrated.
In Daniel three, if you do notworship, you will immediately be
cast into the fiery furnace andwhat God can deliver you.
Interesting thought that in Actseight, Jesus is getting ready to
ascend into glory and havebestowed him his coronation.
(10:49):
What does he say to hisfollowers at that point?
He says, you will be mywitnesses.
In Jerusalem, in all Judea andSamaria, the uttermost parts of
the earth.
Who knows what that word witnessactually is in the grief?
It's Marty loss, where weobviously get the word Marty.
(11:12):
He's calling his followersmartyrs.
I think the meaning is we aremartyrs to God if need be, so we
always carry about thatwillingness.
That commitment, even though wemay not have to, a few of us
will have to actually endure amartyr.
(11:33):
But that's who you are.
You all martyrs, every one ofyou.
So the theme, the dreadfulconsequences of 6, 6, 6, being
financially displaced,marginalized, disadvantaged due
to central financial economiccontrol.
In other words you're a slave,you're Christian, you're a
slave.
(11:53):
Unless you receive the mark ofbeast, then you're not a
Christian.
So if you refuse to take themark of the Beast, history
clearly reveals the cyclicalmanifestation of Beast joining
with Beast and those who willresist it.
So what we're going to do isjust take a little trip through
(12:16):
history and show you those timeswhen people of God have said no.
To the mark of the beast.
We'll take a look at the tradeguilds of the first century.
We'll look at the hugins.
Some of you may or not haveheard of some of these people.
You get a little history.
This the Scottish covenanters.
(12:37):
It is the first time you've everheard of them.
The brick kills of Pakistan.
The current CBDC option.
That.
If there's anything that fitsright into Revelation 13, that's
it.
We're gonna talk about that alittle bit.
Listen to Dave Ramsey, what hehas to say about it.
There were many others.
(12:57):
Then the ones I just spoke toyou, there was horrendous
Hussites followers of John Huss,the 50th century Nagasaki,
Japan, some people don'tunderstand, but was very
Christian.
Place, but endured incrediblepersecution.
They would say no to the mark ofBeast Malice China.
(13:18):
Obviously Hitler, who was beastnumber one, and ethnic supremacy
and hyper nationalism werebeast.
Number two, Stalins Beast numberone, atheism and Stateism was
beast Number two.
Here's an interesting one, theOttoman Empire, which was
Islamic and it took placeprimarily in Turkey.
(13:41):
And so the Empire leaders theIslamic leaders were beast
number one.
And beast number two was Islamitself.
And under the Ottoman Empirecame one of the most horrendous
genocides that has ever takenplace.
Now Turkey will deny it.
(14:02):
This thing, which is absolutelyridiculous'cause it's been
documented a thousand times.
The Armenian genocide.
Armenia was, is the oldestChristian nation, oldest nation
that has never been conquered byIslam.
It's never dropped the ball.
It's always had a faithfulChristian presentation.
(14:24):
And Jim, if you know a littlebit more about this, you can add
to it.
The likewise is Syrian, Syria, avery faithful, godly nation.
But gen, all I know about it isthat Ethiopian and Armenia had a
very tight relationship.
I think when the Ethiopians werefighting the Italians, the
(14:44):
Armenians came in with arms andstuff and helped them a lot.
Yeah.
So they still have, it's wanedover the years, but it was very
strong.
At one point, the Armeniangenocide they tended to take the
men.
And immediately and slayed them,got rid of'em.
Then they took the women andtook'em on long death marches.
(15:09):
The women were raped and werebrutalized along the way.
Most of them died on the deathmarches, and that's how they
ended all because they said noto the beast system.
So these system arises andrevolts primarily when the state
(15:32):
feels threatened as it is inChina today.
Chi the CCP has cracked downover the last week even deeper
and rougher resistance againstthe Christian community in the
house.
Churches.
Why?
'cause they're growing.
They're growing.
(15:52):
Chi is is scared.
Scar the pants off.
Too many Christians.
Stateism in John's day was theRoman Empire beast one where the
Caesars Beast two was emperorworship, along with Pagan, Roman
and Greek deities.
(16:14):
Christians were in fact calledatheists'cause they wouldn't
believe in emperor worship or inthe.
Regional Greek and Romandeities.
So in rural agrarian areas, manywere shepherds.
Persecution was not so bad.
Same tent, we said for thecities, it was very different.
(16:34):
And this takes us to our firstcategory, which is trade guilds.
Trade guilds were common, thefirst to the fifth century
professional associations in theRoman Empire that organized
artisans, merchants.
Craftsmen primarily in thecities in the seven cities that
John wrote to.
Trade guilds were very commonthere, numerous thriving, and
(16:59):
Ephesus where John was fromactually there's a lot of
archeological evidence,including inscriptions and Trade
Guild records, and there's apiece of one.
But membership in a trade guildoften required participation in
the rituals.
So all the rituals, not goodemperor worship, veneration of
(17:25):
Patrick deities, not to mentionthe sex, the orgies, and the
crazy stuff that would go oneven Acts chapter 19 When Paul
was in Ephesus, he sparked oneof these rebellions of the trade
guilt.
Naming Demetrius and thecraftsmen with him.
They ran, they tried to run Paulout of town on rail.
(17:50):
So these trade guilds would be avery difficult place for a
Christian to participate.
You just took your, said no tothe beast like you, and it was
not just you who suffered, butit was your family.
It was your kids.
They were bullied, they were.
Marginalized ostracized fromsociety.
(18:14):
And so they faced persecutionunder guys like Nero and Demian,
who demanded loyalty through theCultic system.
So it's hard to be Christianfirst century in that sense,
first through fifth.
Now I wanna talk about theCubans.
Who's heard?
Who's heard of the Cuban?
Okay, so the Cubans were aFrench.
(18:37):
Protestant Resistance Group.
They're very accurate in theirunderstanding of the Bible.
And yet France swarmed with thebeast of the French government
along with the beast of RomanCatholicism.
And when they joined together,the bans found themselves cast
(19:01):
out.
And so the OTs had to enduregreat starvation, economic
deprivation under Louis the14th.
He would command that soldiersported in the homes of Ganau
there.
They would wreak havoc in thathome.
(19:21):
Soldiers would consume anddestroy food supplies,
livestock, household goods runrampant.
And it was all an attempt to getthem back under the fold of the
Catholic Church.
But the hugins increasinglybarred from employment, law,
medicine, public office tradeguilds were all controlled by
(19:42):
the Catholics, and thismarginalization reduced their
income.
So the, there was a mass exodusof the hus, approximately
200,000, but they had to selltheir homes and their assets for
next to nothing.
And so when they ended up inEngland or in Holland or the
Netherlands, they had verylittle, they were the poorest of
(20:03):
the poor at that point.
Eventually, there was a siege ina place called La Rochelle where
there was approximately 200,000Cubans slaughtered because they
wouldn't say yes to the beast.
Dying from hunger.
(20:24):
Following them about 80 yearslater were what was called the
scotch covenanters.
The scotch covenanters werePresbyterian and then don't
think of moderatepresbyterianism.
When I say Presbyterian, talkingabout very conservative
Protestant they they were facingthe joint beasts.
(20:46):
Of the state religion ofAnglicanism in England and the
Stewart Dynasty, very powerful,very authoritative, very hungry
for Power Dynasty in the later16 hundreds.
Scotch Covenanters they justwanted to be left alone.
(21:07):
They just wanted to worship andin fact, they got, after they
got booted, out of all thebuildings, church buildings.
They began to meet in what theycall conicals, which were in
Moores or caves or forests orbeaches.
Anywhere where they could adhereto two documents.
(21:28):
Now, number one, the SolemnLeague and Covenant, which was
basically their statement thaton a political basis we say no
to the beast.
Okay, so it was a formativedocument.
Covenant.
No.
Beast.
You're not gonna rule us.
And the political side waswhat's called the Westminster
(21:49):
Confession of Faith.
They're the ones who wrote it.
You've probably heard of theWestminster Confession of Faith.
It's still used today by manychurches as a faithful guy.
The government forces left thosecommunities devastated,
especially in Presbyterianstrongholds.
Soldiers destroyed crops, seizedlivestock consumed household.
(22:10):
Commodities and the covenanterswere left to flee, living as
fugitives in remote areasstruggling to survive.
Few sympathetic locals drilledout into the Scottish
covenanters To show you oneillustration that's very
touching.
The two s, this is what theydid.
(22:35):
Horrific scene of courageousmartyrdom.
You can never forget.
It happened in May, 1685.
Horrible scene Beast Patrol tookthese two women named Margaret
to a point to where the riverbla not merged into Wigtown Bay.
(22:57):
And if you know anything aboutthis Scotland in the fjords of
the MOS and all the tide is veryIraq and can rise very quickly
and it can lower very quickly.
And the beast knew just the spotthat would work the best.
So they took MargaretMcClanahan, 63 years old, I'm
(23:22):
sorry, Margaret McLaughlin, 63years old, and they tied her to
a stink.
And they drove that stake farout into the bay, but at a point
where they knew that the tidewould rise.
And so there she was giving upher life for her fate, saying no
(23:44):
to the beast.
And they took the other MargaretWilson, she's only 18 years old
and they staked her closer in,but facing.
Her elder friend MargaretMcLaughlin, and she was made to
watch the older, the ElderMargaret Parish under the water.
(24:09):
The younger Margaret eventuallysuccumbed to the rising tide,
not before crying out.
Praise to God, and reciting fromPsalm 25.
They're charge attending illegalles.
(24:30):
It's a picture rough picture.
There's a memorial to the stateand go see it.
Speaking of the killing times,slaughter of Scottish
covenanters.
Okay, bring up to today thebrick kilns of Pakistan.
(24:52):
Pakistan, approximately 4.5million people or 20,000 of
these brick counts across thecountry.
Pakistan is one of the centralsuppliers of building materials,
including brick, and so they'vegot 20,000 of these brick counts
4.5 million people, many of whomare Christians, and they work in
(25:15):
these brick kilns full of.
Horrible, horrible heat, 2000degrees heat and breathing in
all this dust and becoming sickand having no access to health
and very little access to foodand water, and they weren't
(25:37):
allowed to worship asChristians, victims of religious
discrimination.
It's all documented, and again,I say there's an organization.
I can't think of the guy's name.
It's associated with Summit thatprovides needs primarily in the
month of December, as Iunderstand it, to where these
(25:57):
people can have some sense of aChristmas with a good meal.
So they haven't had a good mealat all, and they're sick and
they become indenture becausethey're paid two to$4 for every
thousand bricks.
And then they have to borrowmoney for their sick child to go
see a doctor.
And then they're strapped onhigh interest rates and they
(26:19):
become indentured service forgenerations and they can never
escape the debt.
The debt load.
That's a picture of whathappens.
'cause they're saying no to thebeast.
The toil 10 to 16 hours a daymixing clay and molding bricks.
(26:40):
Lung diseases, vision loss, skinconditions, little to no access
to healthcare, education, orworship.
I'm thankful to hear of what isbeing done through Summit to
meet the needs of these poorpeople in the brick kilns of
(27:01):
Pakistan.
Finally becoming CBDC financialsystem.
Right now it's on hold, but itis a favored child of most
politicians.
Thankfully, Trump is holding itback, but it wants to lose
itself.
(27:21):
It wants to lose itself by mostof the powerful elites, the deep
state for sure.
Recently, Dave Ramsey sent outa, an urgent warning.
Y'all know who Da Dave Ramseyis?
Yeah.
Sent out an urgent warning toChristians.
(27:42):
He said, here's what it's gonnalook like under CBDC.
If you're struggling with yourmortgage on a particular month,
you can't do it.
Odd job to get you through.
Why?
Because there'll be no cash.
There'll be no more cash.
Your child can't go and help thelocal farmer to earn a bit of
seller cash.
Can't do that.
(28:03):
No more cash slipped into thehands of a child from their
grandparent when going onholidays, no more money in
birthday cards.
No more piggybacks for yourchild to collect pocket money to
learn about the value saving.
No more little jobs on the side'cause your wage is barely
covered.
The bills are put food on thetable.
That's all gone.
(28:24):
No more cash for a rainy day forfun.
Something special.
You've been putting 20 bucksaway every week for That's gone.
No more charity collections.
Pass the plate that's gone.
No more selling bits and piecesfrom your home.
Can't have garage sale.
No more garage sale, it's done.
(28:44):
No more cash gifts fromrelatives or loved ones.
Here's what you go here.
This is what CPDC does guaranteeno question.
Every transaction will berecorded on the block sheet.
Banks will have full control ofevery single penny you want.
They do it already pretty closenow.
(29:06):
Venmo Cash app, you know you dothat.
Somebody knows you're given$200.
Why?
They want to know why you'redoing that.
You think of all that and thentake away the cash.
Now just remove all cash fromthat.
So all your movements andactions are being traced.
You'll have no choice but todeclare and be taxed on every
(29:30):
dollar in your possession.
Dave Ramsey would know a littlebit about that.
Access to your money can beblocked at the click of a
button.
At banks need clarification,which we were just talking
about, which could take up tothree weeks, thousands of
questions and tons of passwords.
The government will decide whatyou can and cannot purchase.
(29:51):
If your transactions are deemedin any way questionable, those
who create questions, your moneywill be frozen for your own
good.
There's even talk of the beingable to set up like digital
fences.
If they don't want you, the coCOVID thing, if they don't want
you leaving an area, you gooutside that fence, you're cut
(30:12):
off called geofencing.
That's what I happened to theCanadian truck drivers.
No.
That's so fast.
Not It's so fast.
China's digital one hasprogrammable expiration dates
and limits spending to specificvendors, so it's already being
done totally in China.
CBDC is tied to your socialcredit score, so if you attend a
(30:36):
house, church, you got a lowscore, you might not be able to
ride the trade.
You're out.
But the ability to excludepeople from economic
participation mirrors the feastsystem perfectly, even as it did
recent history.
(30:56):
Patrick already mentioned 2022,the Canadian trucker convoy
protests.
Do you remember what they did?
Do you remember what.
It was Revelation 13, pure andsimple.
(31:18):
Justin Trudeau pulled the plugon the accounts of people who
supported the truckers.
The protestors unbelievable.
They, our government did it toTrump.
De banked him and his wholefamily.
They couldn't, they could onlyhave like little amounts of
(31:38):
money in multiple places.
They couldn't have the bigbillionaire bank accounts.
They did it to him and his wholefamily until he got reelected de
banked.
It's called being de banked.
And when did you say COVID wasjust a foreshadow of revelation?
(32:01):
Absolutely.
I think there's a real stronglink between COVID and the Beast
System.
Oh yeah, of course.
So Patrick, thank you forbringing up that Deb, about the
truckers.
You're right on track.
Exactly what happened.
(32:21):
So anyway, again we've gotthings that seem to be perfectly
lining.
With Revelation chapter 13, thisstuff's been going on forever.
Persecution of Christians whowould not say yes to the beast.
(32:45):
So in closing, one observationthat I find very valuable is to
consider the brevity and thefragility of life itself.
The fact is if eternal life isnot true, then all of the
martyrs died in vain.
That something.
But if eternal life is true,then there is deep joy.
(33:14):
Moses wrote, Lord, you've beenour dwelling place in all
generations.
Before the mountains werebrought forth.
Whenever you had formed theearth in the world, from
everlasting to everlasting, youare God.
I'm gonna fall into that gut.
That's the one I want to fallinto from everlasting to
everlasting.
You are God.
(33:36):
The here now just isn't that biga deal, and that's how Paul
felt.
Very much so when he pinnedwords like Philippians chapter
three, verse 10.
He said oh, that I may know youoh Lord, and the power of your
resurrection and in fellowshipwith your sufferings and to be
(34:03):
made conformable to your death.
Again.
See, Paul was fixated on theperson of Christ.
He was dominated by the power ofJesus.
When he said phrase, justconsider a couple of phrases
(34:24):
that Paul uses.
Oh, that I may know him.
What in life is more importantthan that?
Lemme think of anything moreimportant that you know Christ.
That's why Paul prayed inEphesians one, oh Lord.
Grant them the spirit of wisdomand revelation into the fuller
(34:47):
knowledge of God and that theirhearts might be in illuminated,
hear that action of the HolySpirit that he's pleading for,
that they might know.
And then again in gloriousprayer in chapter three, he
says, oh, that the Holy Spiritmight strengthen you all in
(35:09):
power in the inner man that youmight come to know what is the
breadth and height and width ofdeath, and to know the love of
Christ, which by the way, costsus knowledge.
How come you know something youcan't know?
(35:30):
It's a deep mystery.
It's a deep mystery before whichwe should park our never dying
souls.
There is a love in Christ that Icannot even comprehend.
It is that deep.
It's an ocean.
Full and broad.
And when I am in his presence,I'm going to see the reality of
(35:52):
thirst.
John four 15, God is loved andI'm gonna feel that in every
core of my being.
I'm gonna be loved, like I'venever thought of being loved.
All the loves I've knownthroughout my earthly life, put
together exploding times, 10,000times, 10,000, and you're going
to feel the grasp of his love.
(36:16):
In an instant through the doorthat we call death Power of his
resurrection.
Paul says, that's what I want.
A life that's elevated above theshadows of the things we call
(36:37):
reality.
A life that's transcendent andnot a slave to the fear of
death.
As there are so many looking notat the things that are seen, but
at the things that are unseen,some things that are unseen are
internal.
Things that are seen are temple.
(37:01):
I gotta think Paul is smart.
I'll follow Paul.
He says that's what we do.
That's what we do.
He says, if sharing in hissufferings is glory.
He said in Philippians one,seven, to you, it has been
granted not only to believe, butto suffer in his name.
Whoa.
(37:22):
Just as much as the gift offaith has been granted me, so
has the gift of suffering.
A Christian suffers withmeaning, intense meaning and
purpose.
God's in this.
God's in this.
He's teaching.
(37:42):
Peter says, Hey, don't fear thefiery trial as though some
strange thing has come upon you.
It's not strange for thebeliever.
Suffering has meaning and haspurpose.
Finally, Paul Pauls becominglike him at his death.
Paul knew, Hey, I don't knowwhich to choose to be with.
(38:05):
Christ is very much better.
But to be here remain on isservice to you.
And I don't know which to choosethat.
That's where his value systemscaled out.
You want to serve, be alsowonder just to sit the feet of
Jesus.
(38:27):
Oh, death.
Where is th stigma?
Grave, where is thy victory?
I'll close with these last fewsayings.
John 1224.
Truly, I say to you, unless agrain of wheat falls into the
earth and dies, it remainsalone.
But if it dies, it bears muchfruit.
You know anybody who's so alone,so much the center of their
(38:51):
universe, so out of touch withcommunity or family or friends,
they just sit there and wait todie.
Jesus said, let it go.
Let the great if we fall to theearth and die, whoever gives his
(39:11):
life, for my sake of the gospelthe same.
That's found it.
It's always been the case thatthe blood of the martyrs is the
seed of the church.
You've probably heard thatsaying it's true.
The blood of the martyrs is theseed of the church.
Maybe you haven't heard this onethough.
The Church of Jesus Christ.
(39:32):
Could be described as an anvilthat has broken many hammers.
So true.
We were part of that.
Part of the anvil that hasbroken many mini hammers.
(40:00):
Okay.
Thoughts, questions.
Further contribution.
I think realization to me, Idunno why it's so slow in that,
is that the antichrist has beenhere.
I've always heard we're goinglook for and so forth.
The other thing is, personally,I've always identified with
(40:24):
Peter.
I would like to think that Icould say no, but just like
Peter denied Christ, can I, willI be able to do that?
If you followed Peter'sfootsteps, you would follow him
out of that gated area and youwould fall on your face when the
(40:47):
cop crowed and you would crylike a little baby, and you
would hear Jesus.
Tell the disciples to go andtell the disciples and Peter
that I had risen, and then youwould hear him say to you,
Peter, do you love me?
(41:08):
Feed my sheep.
So you really won't know untilhe faced that point.
Depends on who you are.
We're all different.
Peter was made of a differentkind of stuff.
Peter was aggressive.
Peter was a fix it guy.
Peter was a dominant individual,but he wasn't perfect.
(41:30):
None of us are.
I don't think you'll know, butthe more you stay in your faith
and strengthen yourself, there'sa better chance that you're
deny.
If you're weak in your faiththat's most likely what you can.
I think that interchange betweenPeter and Jesus though were.
Jesus says, Peter, do you agapeme?
(41:52):
And Peter answers the Lord, Iphileo you.
And it happens twice and untilthey come into agreement.
Peter, do you philo?
You know I do.
No resolution you have.
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