THE MARK | Frank Becker

Week Twenty-Six, 2024

It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name (Rev 13:16-17).

The retail giant, Amazon, has recently introduced a new method of shopping. Right in the comfort of your own home, you can take a picture of your hand and upload it. Then when you want to shop you submit a picture of your hand and it is matched, much like fingerprints.

Already one food chain has eliminated any cash transactions. You have to use a credit card and they are introducing the palm print method so credit cards can be phased out. This is scary. When universally adopted in the move to a cashless society, whoever controls the system can control your access to things you want to buy…. necessities like food, gad and medical help.

Many are now promoting universal “chipping”, like we do for our dogs as mandatory for all newly born babies. They cite many good reasons, like identity, medical information and the list goes on. However, the big negative is that whoever controls the system can control you.

Many American corporations are now requiring a “company chip” to be inserted as a condition of employment. The chip is as small as a grain of rice and can be inserted on less than thirty seconds between the thumb and index finger.

Revelation speaks about the “mark of the beast” and the consequences.: It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name (Rev 13:16-17).

Think about it. With this modern technology, lives can be controlled and wars can be won or lost. Forget the nuclear and write it off as old fashioned. Wars will be controlled at the computer at “Chip Central”.

Is Revelation coming or is it already here? Beware, I think it is here and growing by leaps and bounds. Are you prepared to respond as “chipping” becomes a requirement to shop or work.

SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES

Reaching your goals and dreams takes more than just doing what is expected of you, as good and as hard as that may be. Exceeding your goals and dreams is about doing what is expected and then some.

It’s about taking personal responsibility for it.

It’s about owning it.

It’s about more than just dreaming Big Dreams.

It’s about dedicating yourself to doing exceedingly more than what is expected.

It’s about striving to reach and exceed those Big Dreams.

It’s about attacking those Dreams. Marty Stubblefield

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A statue of Rev. Billy Graham was recently unveiled in the US Capitol. The likeness depicts Dr. Graham gesturing toward an open Bible in his hand. Its base is inscribed with two verses of Scripture:

• “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

• “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me” (John 14:6).

Visitors to our nation’s capital will therefore encounter the gospel every time they see Dr. Graham’s statue. This is consistent with the evangelist’s statement during his final sermon in June 2005 at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in New York:

I have one message—that Jesus Christ came, he died on a cross, he rose again, and he asked us to repent of our sins and receive him by faith as Lord and Savior, and if we do, we have forgiveness of all our sins.

When you venture out into the world, you may well find yourself in a job or a community or a social setting when you will be pressured to endorse ideas you don’t believe or to abandon core beliefs. It will be up to you to stand firm.

Does America need this “one message” more now than ever?

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Only one out of four Americans get at least eight hours of sleep per night, according to a recent Gallup poll.

QUOTES YOU CAN USE

If Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world, we shouldn’t condemn the world, either. Instead, we should believe the God we believe in and thus share his truth with his grace. R. C. Sproul

Be transformed from the inside and out by adjusting your thinking to the Word and the Holy Spirit.

Worshiping and thanking our God who, is our salvation through His Son Jesus, is something we do because He is worthy of our worship and praise. Elbert Nasworthy

Peace comes when we turn those overwhelming issues over to God and cease trying to dictate the outcome. Dan Shock

Going to church doesn’t mean you are a Christian. It just means you go to church.

What is a soul? It’s like electricity – we don’t really know what it is, but it’s a force that can light a room. Ray Charles

The Spirit of God speaks the thoughts of God from the Word of God to the people of God. Have God’s brain in your head.

This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.

It is love that causes God to be so patient and longsuffering with the wicked, giving opportunity after opportunity for them to turn, to repent, to change. Florida Marketplace Ministries

To care for those who once cared for us is one of life’s highest honors. Tia Walker

Walking is man’s best medicine. Hippocrates

The only rational thing to do when one encounters the beauty of a rose is to breathe in its fragrance and say: “That is a creation of my God.” Dan Shock

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