Part Four

And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free man and the slaves, to be given the mark on their right hand, or on their forehead [notice how this mocks Jesus putting His name on the foreheads of the saved in Rev. 22:3-4], and he provides that no one should be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.

Most of what I know about the Bible as been due to private study. I have done this because I know that one can unconsciously impose meaning to a passage based on a preconception such as an interpretation of Scripture that has almost become dogma over time. Now I have always been very unsettled when I came to this passage. Whenever I read it straight out, it did not seem to me that the beast in the mark ... of the beast must be the Antichrist which is referred to as the first beast in Rev. 13:12. Since this passage is about the beast ... of the earth, could it be possible that the mark/name mentioned could apply to him (the False Prophet) and not the Antichrist? I know that may sound like blasphemy since the prevailing opinion is that the mark of the beast is of the Antichrist, but remember that Preterism was once the prevailing opinion, too. Bear with me."

My Response:

Some very wise and godly expositors have viewed the beast from the earth as the Antichrist. They then give the beast from the sea a political connotation, i. e., the Roman Empire from whence the Antichrist is born. You and I agree, along with many other expert expositors, that the 1^st Beast is the Antichrist. I will now go about to prove that the 1^st Beast, the Antichrist, is the Bishop of Rome. If that is so, then the 2^nd beast cannot also be him. My explanation requires delving into the enigmatic and highly controversial subject of the Mark of the Beast.

We are told in Rev. 13:11 that the new character introduced is another beast. He is related to the first Beast because he is of the same species; i.e., he is wild, ferocious, bloodthirsty for the kill, and not able to be domesticated as a household pet. He exhibits traits of his father, the Devil. He speaks as the dragon. Like the Beast from the sea, the Man of Sin, the Antichrist, he covers himself in a cloak of Christianity. This is seen in his two horns like the Lamb of God. Yet he is inferior to the first Beast. This truth is taught in two ways:

(1)   He has less heads and less horns. The horns he does possess are inferior in size to the horns of the first Beast. His glory is less than the glory of the first Beast.

(2)   By stating "he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him," the Spirit places the Beast from the sea in the position of primacy and supremacy. The Greek word enopion, 'before,' denotes 'one who is in the sight of.' This translation is used in verse 14. Thus, the false prophet never loses sight of the one from whom his authority and power originates: the first Beast. It also conveys a meaning which would correspond to the characteristic of the little horn: that of the Antichrist being an overseer,  or bishop. In fact, when applied to the Papacy, the little horn is the Bishop of bishops, or Universal Bishop, Papa, Pope. He watches over his flock of bishops, who are always kept in his sight, who are under his dominion and authority.

Let us now consider the teaching of the RCC Magisterium to determine the applicability of Rev. 13 to the Papacy and bishops of the Church of Rome. I now quote from The Documents of Vatican II, Decree on the Bishops: Pastoral Office in the Church:

            ".....bishops exercise this episcopal office of theirs, received through episcopal consecration, in communion with and under the authority of the Supreme Pontiff. All are united in a college or body with respect to teaching the universal Church of God and governing her as shepherds......By virtue of sacramental consecration&a bishop becomes a part of the episcopal body......Together with its head, the Roman Pontiff, and never without this head, the episcopal order is the subject of supreme and full power over the universal Church. But this power can be exercised only with the consent of the Roman Pontiff."

In this revealing condensed paragraph we discover that the very language of prophecy is utilized by Mystery Babylon in her authoritative teaching. The very same terms, exercise and power, are used in Rev. 13:12, 14-15. The authority to exercise the power of the first Beast is derived from the first Beast, who is their head, and is given by sacramental consecration to his body of bishops. All popes are bishops, Rome being their ultimate bishopric. Not by coincidence, there is an allusion to the beast from the earth having a similar beginning as did Adam, the creation of God. The Pope is the Supreme Bishop who 'creates' Cardinals from Archbishops. The term, creates Cardinals, is official Vatican-speak. This the Pope does at will and according to his good pleasure. When Billy Graham received his honorary doctorate from the Jesuit Belmont Abbey College some years ago, he openly and willfully embraced the authority of the first Beast, becoming the Pope's Evangelical false prophet, leading millions to Rome.

It is also no strange coincidence that the bishop's miter has two horns. In researching papal symbols, I discovered that originally the horns were placed facing outward, rather than inward. Official Catholic teaching declares them horns, admitting their fulfillment of Rev. 13:11.

In studying the transference of power and authority from the Bishop of Rome, the head, to the bishops who are part of his body, the Mark of the Beast is revealed.