Tomes have been written on this subject, and the Internet literally teems with ideas about the identity of the Antichrist and exactly what the "Mark of the Beast" might be. The bottom line is: Only God knows. We at The Refiner's Fire are of the opinion that the Antichrist will be a Muslim, the "beast" is Islam, and the "mark" will be acceptance of Islam by those who claim to be believers in Christ, simply because they fear death at the hands of Muslims.

The Book of Revelation contains prophecy concerning an end-time dictator who is to rule the world. Symbolically, he is called "the Beast", also known elsewhere in Scripture as: "the Man of Sin"; "the Man of Lawlessness"; "the Son of Perdition'; "the Little Horn"; and "the Antichrist". When this person appears on the scene he will order everyone on earth to receive his "mark" - an identifying sign in our right hands or foreheads:

Revelation 13: 16 Also, it [the beast "coming up out of the earth"] forces everyone - great and small, rich and poor, free and slave - to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead 17 preventing anyone from buying or selling unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. 18 This is where wisdom is needed; those who understand should count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person, and its number is 666. (Stern's Complete Jewish Bible)

According to the Bible, no one will be able to buy and sell anything without first accepting this "mark". Not only will this apply to everyone and anyone who refuses to take the "mark", but it will also mean economic sanctions on a scale the world has never before known. It will be a time of testing that very few will be able to pass....

YHWH, our Creator - the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - warns mankind that all who accept this Mark of the Beast will experience the full measure of His wrath. It would be an understatement to say that this is a terrifying prophecy, but Bible commentators have, through the centuries, attempted to interpret it; and there is no shortage of explanations contained in books and on the internet.

In order to understand the "Mark of the Beast" we must first understand that there is a "Mark of YHWH", as well. God put "marks" on people throughout the Old Covenant:

• Genesis 4: 15 But the LORD said to him, "Not so ; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.
  
  
• Ezekiel 9: 4 and said to him, "Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it."
  
  
• Ezekiel 9: 6 Slaughter old men, young men and maidens, women and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary." So they began with the elders who were in front of the temple.

The "New Testament" refers to "seals" instead of a "mark":

• John 6: 27 "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."
  
  
• 2 Corinthians 1: 21 "Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."
  
  
• Ephesians 1: 13 "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise."
  
  
• Ephesians 4: 30 "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
  
  
• 2 Timothy 2: 19 "Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity."

From the above Scriptures we can see that God uses "marks" and "seals" to separate the Godly from the ungodly. If you've read the Bible in its entirety, you know that the "Godly" are not only those who believe in Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ), but also those who follow the teachings and instructions contained in Torah - without which man would not know how to behave towards God or each other. ("I give you good instruction: Do not forsake my Torah" - Proverbs 4:2). God gave strict instructions to Moshe (Moses) who told the Israelites:

Deuteronomy 6: 1 "Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, 2 so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all Your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

In other words, the above orders the Israelites (and all those who have attached themselves to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) to keep His commandments in our hearts and minds - which ultimately translate into the deeds that we perform with our hands. Whoever belongs to God with all his heart, mind, and soul, will do his best to keep his hands from sinning....

Disciples of God are sealed with His Torah, indicating this is a symbolic seal, not a literal one.

Exodus 31: 13 "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you."

Exodus 31: 16 "Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'"

As we can see, the Sabbath is a sign of God, or His seal, representing His authority as Creator.

Many today insist that since we have God's Word "written on our hearts" (2 Cor. 3:3) they are exempt from being Torah-observant. They insist they are "are under grace and that the only commandments are to love the Lord with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself". However, this is not true, as Yeshua Himself said that He came not to abolish, but to fulfill (Matt. 5:17-20) which has been mistakenly misinterpreted as meaning "ended" or "done away with". God gave us a New Covenant via Yeshua who was our final SIN Sacrifice - which did not automatically replace Torah, God's teachings. Even the final book of the Bible, Revelation, tells us that God's people are those who bear witness to Yeshua AND obey God's commands (Rev. 12:17; Rev. 14:12). Those Scriptures don't say "or"; they both say "and".

In other words, those who have the "Mark of God" are the ones who not only have the testimony of our Messiah, but those who are Torah-observant as was Yeshua who Himself kept kosher and observed the seventh-day Sabbath and the Biblical feasts. That, in itself, will be a very visible "mark" which will drive the YHWH-hating Antichrist insane enough to want to kill us!

That brings us to the "Mark of the Beast":

• Revelation 13:16-18....so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
  
  
• Revelation 14:8-10..... A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand,
  
  
• Revelation 14:10-12.... And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name."
  
  
• Revelation 15:2.... And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
  
  
• Revelation 16:1-3.....The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly and painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.
  
  
• Revelation 19:20..... And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

What is the "Mark of the Beast"? No one knows for sure, but chances are excellent that it is Islam. Why? For one thing, because Islam is against everything the Bible, YHWH, and our Savior Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ) represent.

The religion of Islam is completely "anti-Christ". The goal of radical Islam - as evidenced by a history of violence that includes "9/11" and other atrocities - is to force the world to convert or die. Their "mark" is visible because they worship an entity called Allah (which is a mere title for "God"). They pray five times a day while facing Mecca (not Jerusalem). They pray in mosques (not churches or synagogues), and they lead an antiquated way of life that includes keeping their women subdued and clothed from head to foot. Although their "final prophet" Mohammed "borrowed" Scriptures from the Torah (first five books of Moses), nothing they do or believe in any way resembles YHWH's teaching and instruction. They have twisted Scriptures to insist, for instance, that God made His covenant with Ishmael instead of Isaac (Genesis 16). When confronted about this lie, Muslims insist that man has misinterpreted that particular Scripture from the "Old Testament", and Mohammed corrected it (never mind the fact that Mohammed was just a mere man who murdered, raped, plundered, and pillaged in the name of God....)

And think about this: the Book of Revelation tells us that many believers in Christ will be beheaded (not shot or stabbed or hanged, but beheaded):

Revelation 20: 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years..

As we've seen in the headlines over the past few years, the Muslims have already started beheading "infidels" - anyone who doesn't adhere to the Koran. Furthermore, the Bank of Islam (which recently changed its name to the more "Western" sounding Arcapita (they used to have a website that proclaimed this, but it has apparently been removed) has started buying up U.S. enterprises such as Church's Chicken, Loehmann's Department Store, and the Caribou Coffee chain. They have also also made it VERY clear that they will NOT be doing business with anyone who doesn't adhere to Sha'ria Law (Koran). Over the course of time, when the Bank of Islam has merged with other world banks and owns the business of most of the world, what will happen to us believers who refuse to bow down to Allah? It is unfathomable that they would allow us to keep our jobs! The Koran orders Muslims to kill anyone who doesn't conform to Islam. And they have already begun....

The Bible-prophesied end times are inevitable. Yeshua Himself gave us the warning:

Matthew 24: 4 Yeshua replied: "Watch out! Don't let anyone fool you! 5 For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Messiah!' and they will lead many astray. 6 You will hear the noise of wars nearby and the news of wars far off; see to it that you don't become frightened. Such things must happen, but the end is yet to come. 7 For peoples will fight each other, nations will fight each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various parts of the world; 8 all this is but the beginning of the 'birth-pains'. 9 At that time you will be arrested and handed over to be punished and put to death, and all peoples will hate you because of me. 10 At that time many will be trapped into betraying and hating each other, 11 many false prophets will appear and fool many people; 12 and many people's love will grow cold because of increased distance from Torah. 13 But whoever holds out till the end will be delivered. 14 And this Good News about the Kingdom will be announced throughout the whole world as a witness to all the Goyim. It is then that the end will come.