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A Mark in the Right Hand 

or in their Forehead.

Charagma

By:  David Deschesne

Editor, Fort Fairfield Journal

Fort Fairfield Journal, July 6, 2005

"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." - Rev. 13:16-17

  2000 some-odd years ago, when John penned what is now the book of Revelation, three is no way he could have explained what he was seeing in a vision given to him from a time in the distant future.  At that time, there was no understanding of electricity, data mining, computers, driver's licenses, banking account numbers, biometric photos, thumbprint scanners, etc.  Ancient Greek was inarguably the most precise language that ever entered on the world stage - with a vocabulary consisting of words more descriptive and precise than even our English language today.  Be that as it may, he simply didn't have the words in the vocabulary of his day to describe what he was seeing.  Therefore, he wrote using the words he had available - the same way you or I would have to write if we were to see some new technology in the future, that hasn't yet been introduced and explained - we'd have to use currently existing words to describe something that hasn't yet had words invented to describe it.

   A cursory analysis of the Mark of the Beast would lead one to conclude that it is a culmination of at least two systems working concomitantly.  One is some for of identification system, in order to determine who might "buy or sell," and Second, a monetary system that features units of money that are easily tracked and controlled in order to allow or disallow the disbursement of said money in a transaction.

  ID and Money.  Those are the two systems that will be required for the Mark of the Beast to work to the point that "no man might buy or sell" without it.

   Today, most people are openly embracing two systems that seem to operate very closely to the types that would be needed for the Mark of the Beast to even exist - State-issued Driver's License/ID cards and a Social Security number that links a person' identity to all of his/her monetary transactions through the banking system.

Right Hand

In the Bible, the "Right Hand" is symbolic of power, strength and authority over one's self and his surroundings.  

    Exodus 15:6  "Your right hand O Lord glorious in power, Your right hand, O Lord shatters the foe!"

    Duet. 33:2  "...Lightning flashing at them from His right."

    'Right' is from the Latin rectus - which means: "ruled"

    In Greek, 'Right' is derived from the word dexios and dechomai - to receive, accept, take (willingly) - an exercise of individual power to receive/accept something or not.   The adjectival semantic strands include: 'straight,' 'upright,' 'righteous,' and 'legitimate.'

"His right hand man." is an idiom describing one in whom authority is willfully delegated and can be trusted by the delegator.  Jesus sits at the "right hand of the father" making Him God's Right Hand Man.  Biblically, the 'right hand' symbolizes God's authority over His creation, and man's authority over himself (free will) to contract or not contract with others around him, also in whom he will place his faith and trust.

In Revelation 13:16 , the "Mark of the Beast" is prophesied as being placed in the "Right Hand."   It is quite probable that Right Hand in the socio-economic context of that verse, was meant by John, the author, to be an idiom for a person's power and authority over himself to willingly use some form of mark (or government identifier) when engaging in trade or commerce with another - not necessarily symbolic of a part of the body with five fingers and a thumb. 

Forehead

The Greek word for 'forehead' is :XJfB@< - metophon.  It is derived from the word meta, which means accompanying, participation, proximity, transfer or sequence and the word ops, which means face.

John was seeing something marked, or imposed upon either a hand or a face.  The power to impose is presumably the police power government exercises today.

Today, the digital biometric photos on driver's licenses are set up to allow face mapping of each individual's face.  Maine currently claims to not have the system in place, the Federal government is attempting to mandate such face mapping biometrics on threat of withholding funds for highway maintenance.

The only argument from legislators and bureaucrats has been "we can't afford to install and implement the software."  Nowhere in government is the complaint "it may be the mark on the forehead as noted in the Book of Revelation."

I am not saying here that the biometric photo is the mark on the forehead, I'm just noting that it is what John could have seen in his vision that describes such a "mark."

The word "mark" comes from the Greek word P"D"(:" - charagma - which means:  a symbol, its identifying signs; a stamp (as a badge of servitude); a stamp that was once used on deeds of sale that contained the name and regnal year of the emperor (see Light From the Ancient East, Adolf Deissmann, ©1995 Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., p. 341)

The Beast system that these voluntary marks will consist of has been around for hundreds of years, in lesser stages of development.  WE have reached a point where John's vision is more closely lining up with reality than it ever has.

The Beast system is a socio-political-religious-military-ideological system and will be expounded upon in a future edition of the Journal.

In the Christian religion, salvation is through the doctrine of Faith in the Lord for safety, security, and subsistence.  The Mark of the Beast is Satan's way of shifting the only parameter that matters - Faith - from God to man.

The Mark of the Beast will be voluntary, such as the aforementioned "marks" currently are.  A day will soon come when we will have to decide in whom to place our Faith - in God or in man.

Satanic Counterfiets

Part 1:  Does God Trust Our Money?

Part 2:  Did You Marry the god of the State?

Part 3:  Jesus, Inc.

Part 4:  Coerced Charity  

Part 5:  Identification

Part 6:  Surveillance Society

By: David Deschesne, Editor, Fort Fairfield Journal

What if you went to the gas station today to fill up and the station manager had changed the pumps to record a gallon of gas, but only physically pumped 3/4 of a gallon?

How about if you bought a yard of fabric at the store and the yard stick used only measured 32 inches?

You’d have to pay more money to get the same amount of product as you would have if the unit of measure had not been changed.

It can be agreed that subtly changing the measure of gallons, or shortening a yard stick, even holding a thumb on the scale while weighing apples would be dishonest and not permissible in a civilized society.

The Lord God agrees with that conclusion wholeheartedly and demanded we use “just weights and balances” in our trade.

Every state in the Union has a Bureau of Standards that goes around annually checking scales and gas pumps to make sure they are measuring accurately. You will see the sticker affixed to the measuring device if you look closely.

But, what if the unit of measure stayed the same and the unit of money changed? Would that be O-k? The gallon is still a gallon, but as the unit of value of the money falls, it takes more of it to purchase gas. A dollar, in that respect, is as much a unit of “weights and balances” as a gallon, a pound or a yard stick. So who’s checking our money to verify it retains its value? Nobody, that’s who.

Suppose you agree to shingle your friend’s roof for $1,000 cash. You finish the project, he pays you the $1,000 in cash (Federal Reserve Notes). If hamburger is $1.00 per pound, you could immediately take that money to the store and purchase 1,000 pounds of meat to put in your freezer. Now, let’s say instead of buying the meat, you simply choose to save the money. You fold it up and place it in a drawer and forget about it. Five years later, you discover it and decide you’d like to go purchase your meat now. You go to the store and, much to your chagrin, find hamburger is now $2.00 per pound, because of inflation. You are now only able to acquire 500 pounds of meat - even though you exerted 1,000 pounds of meat’s worth of labor at an earlier point in your life. That is how the Fed’s money is an “unjust weight or balance” - it is “elastic,” which means the Fed can decrease its value simply by printing and placing more of it into circulation.

Money is a lot like a baseball card: The more you print the less it’s worth! Since it is so easy to print paper money, and so tempting to those in government to allow it to go on unchecked, the unjust weight and balance that is our paper money robs you of your labor through the mechanics of inflation. Government doesn’t have to worry about inflation - they simply borrow more to compensate for the reduced value, unlike you...you have to work to replace the lost value - you have to work to earn back the 500 pounds of hamburger you just lost. The solution to a fluctuating paper currency is in hard money - gold and silver coin

Hard money is a term often used to refer to a barter currency which has surfaced to the top of the list of things people are willing to trade, which is both rare and, due to its demand and added value, valuable. The most common commodity money, which has been in use for over 6,000 years, is either gold or silver coin. Gold coin has been the most universally accepted money throughout the past 6,000 years because it has always had an accepted measure, standard and store of value.

One of the reasons gold and silver coin were adopted as our nation’s currency at the founding of our country is because God’s word said at Leviticus 19:35-36, “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just e’-phah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the Lord your God...” that rule was also echoed at Ezekiel 45:10. God knew that, as property, gold and silver have added value intrinsic to the metal itself. The value of the metal content is dependent upon the amount of labor (and energy) that went into mining the raw material out of the ground, transporting it to a refinery, refining it, transporting it to a coin minting service and minting it into a coin. Because this is much more difficult than printing paper notes, and the metal is of finite amounts, inflationary effects are much less prevalent.

Hard money follows the First Law of Thermodynamics - The Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy, which states that matter and energy are inherent in the universe and when expended, never go away, rather they are simply transferred to other matter or back into energy over and over again.

Since labor is a product of expended human energy over time, the amount of labor expended by a person to mine a metal from the ground is roughly equivalent to the amount of labor somebody else would have to expend to obtain the same metal. Once mined, the miner’s labor is stored in the metal - following the Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy. As the metal is transported, refined, and stamped into a coin, the additional labor, vehicle costs, heat, etc. that went into the production of the coin are all stored in the value of that coin. Like a tree, which uses the sun’s energy (light plus water plus nutrients, over time) in order to grow, and stores that energy in its wood; a finished gold or silver coin also contains all of the labor and energy that went into producing it plus the metal itself, the same as any other finished product which man creates, thus making it a “just weight or balance” in compliance with God’s law. The reason hard money is desirable over paper notes is because all of the labor already expended to produce it is contained therein.

With a hard money system, where the labor is already contained in the coin which trades for another service or product with an equivalent amount of labor contained in it, The Lord God and the Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy are both obeyed, the money supply stays relatively constant and trade values for products and services remain, for the most part, in parity.

Substituting wealth-based gold for the debt-backed Federal Reserve Note was a Satan-inspired trick that the government purposefully foisted upon an unwitting American population.

When Jesus was betrayed, it was for thirty pieces of silver, not debt-backed “Roman Reserve Notes.” Though ultimately, the Romans did debase their coinage by substituting nearly worthless nickel (because of its abundance) for precious silver. The money lost its value, like the rigged gas pumps in our previous example and the monetary system ultimately crashed.

Gold and Silver can’t be tracked by government because they are private property and are traded privately between people. In order for Satan to usher in his “Beast” system he needs a system of money he can control. The Federal Reserve system and associated checks, credit and debt cards are all assigned numbers based upon the person’s government-issued serial number, also known as the Social Security number (a ruse I will unravel in a future part in this Satanic Counterfeits series.)

By eliminating a means of private trade, Satan uses the tools and systems of government to craftily change our daily activities to subliminally refocus our worship from the Lord God to man. That is all that’s required to affect a person’s salvation - take his/her eyes off the Lord and put them anywhere else - I believe this is the essence of the Mark of the Beast and hope I illustrated how our debt-based paper money is a Satanic Counterfeit of God’s Master Plan.

Did You Marry the god of the State?

Abridged Version Published:  Fort Fairfield Journal | December 21, 2006

Do you attend a government-run church?

By: David Deschesne, Editor, Fort Fairfield Journal

Fort Fairfield Journal | January 4, 2006

Since Jesus is head of the Christian Church, why do 90 percent of today’s Christian congregations allow Satanists, Atheists, Pagans and Evolutionists to run their churches? Christians began that incredible practice in the 1960s when they allowed the Federal Government, through the IRS, to gain control of God’s church through an IRS licensing scheme as outlined in section 501 (c) 3 of the Internal Revenue Code, and declare unlicensed church congregations as unlawful.

Black’s Law Dictionary defines a license as: “A revocable permission to commit some act that would otherwise be unlawful.”

Today, New Testament Churches are scrambling to become non-profit corporations.

Non-profit corporations are not allowed to accumulate capital. They must use all their capital for their original purposes intended and are under strict rules against accumulation. Non-profit corporations are created at the largesse of government because they are supposed to perform certain welfare acts for society that if society didn’t encourage them to perform, the burden would fall on the government and we’d all be taxed for it.

According to the late Dr. Gene Scott, Ph. D. (Stanford Univ): “The assumption behind foundations and non-profit corporations is that the government allows them to exist because of a stated purpose deserving of exemption because it is a purpose that otherwise might fall as a burden on all society.” The purpose of the Church is primarily to worship and serve the Lord Jesus and teach its followers in the doctrine of faith - responsibilities which, if the Church did not perform, the government certainly wouldn’t be charged with.

Before the U.S. government could even be allowed to come into existence, it had to acknowledge the right of the Church to exist and agree to not interfere with it. Non-profit corporations enjoy no such rights. “There is no Constitutional right for private, non-profit corporations to exist,” explains Dr. Scott. “It is the largesse of government that allows them to exist and they are given something from the government as long as their achievement of the stated purpose that gave them right to come into existence is being achieved. They thus are, quite properly, monitored.”

Carol Quigley described a phenomenon he called “Institutionalization of the Instruments of Production” in his book Evolution of Civilizations (© 1979 Liberty Fund), where the existence and perpetuation of the corporation becomes its primary objective, rather than the purpose it was originally created for. While allowances are made for the sustenance of those who exist and work within the non-profit corporation, their sustenance must not become the corporation’s reason for existence. “The charitable intent of the non-profit corporation must remain the primary purpose for its existence,” said Dr. Scott. “All of that is light years removed from the church. The Church exists by right, it doesn’t have to ask for anybody’s permission.”

While charitable support to the community via a giving Spirit is a definite side-effect of the Lord living in, and working through people in the Church congregation, it is the members’ - not the Church’s primary responsibility to provide said charity.

We are commanded by the Lord Jesus to pay our alms (tithe) in secret, not to be seen of men. But, whenever donating money to a 501 (c) 3 non-profit church corporation, the money is reported, along with the name of the donor. To compound the betrayal of that secrecy maxim, Christians then deduct the tithe from their income tax - showing their tithe to men in the anti-Christ bureaucracies of government - in direct violation of Jesus’ tithing in secret doctrine.

Those who choose to submit their church congregations to man’s will, through the non-profit corporation license, are submitting to a bureaucracy that is filled with all of the formerly mentioned pagan religions. Many Christians today are passively admitting that the gathering of two or more people in Jesus’ name (a.k.a. Christian fellowship) is actually unlawful; unless approved and regulated by the government.

501 (c) 3 Churches submit their congregations to man’s rule, instead of Jesus’, upon adoption of man’s systems. The 501 (c) 3 Church status is lumped in with: Community Chests, Funds for Scientific research, Testing for Public Safety, Literary or Educational Purposes, or to Foster International Amateur Sports. 501 (c) 3 Churches are prohibited from “carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting, to influence legislation and which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.” - see 26USC501 (c) 3.

When adopting a 501 (c) 3 status, the Church submits all authority to govern its affairs to man’s government, rather than God’s ordained Pastor. The Pastor should be the head of the congregation, as Jesus is the head of His church. Man’s government, the IRS and any of man’s laws have no Biblical authority or bearing on the operation of Jesus’ church; if they did, Jesus wouldn’t be Lord - a concept that is an anathema to Christians.

Today, the United States is on the verge of Christian persecution of its own citizens. With the first seizure of a church in U.S. History in February, 2003 (under the care of President George W. Bush and Attorney General, John Ashcroft) - the Indianapolis Baptist Temple - the government has illustrated what it intends to do to those church congregations who do not comply with its will. Dr. Greg Dixon was the pastor of the IBT when it was seized. “Besides giving the pastor his job description, the IRS is demanding many other things that are clearly designed to make the IRS Commissioner the new head of the churches in America,” said Pastor Dixon. “The church must collect a Federal ID number from visiting evangelists, missionaries, preachers and singers before they invite them to the pulpit. They must give a Form 1099 to any minister who receives up to $600 in a year’s time, which includes missionary support. If the ID is not received, the church leaders must withhold a jeopardy assessment of 39% on the spot and send it to the IRS. They must agree to the IRS’ definition of ‘benevolence.’

The 501 (c) 3 non-profit corporation church is truly a Satanic Counterfeit of Jesus’ Church and Christians should be wary of substituting man’s government for that of Jesus.

Coerced Charity

Fort Fairfield Journal January 18, 2006

One of the core doctrines of the Christian faith is freely giving; the type of giving described by the Apostle Paul: “Every man according as he puposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” - IICor 9:7 KJV

The word translated in the King James Version “cheerful” in that verse actually comes from the Greek ίλαρός, hilaros; meaning “propitious,” “merry,” also the cognate of our English word “hilarious.”

God loves the hilarious giver because when He sees someone giving freely, voluntarily and plentifully He sees an image of Himself within them. God’s Spirit is a giving Spirit. He gave His only begotten Son as a sacrifice to die for the sins of the world. When a person begins a faithing, trusting relationship with the Lord, that same giving Spirit enters into them and they too begin to exhibit those giving qualities - giving freely without force or coercion.

Those who are on the receiving end of the Lord-led free giving understand that the person giving is doing so freely because he/she wants to which is much more meaningful and appreciated than if the person were forced to give. God wasn’t forced to give His son, He doesn’t force us to accept his gift of eternal life and does not force us to help one another - we help each other because we want to, because it’s the right thing to do.

While God doesn’t force us to give, in the strict sense, He did lay down some guidelines to the ancient Israelites in the Old Testament. “The Lord does provide” is true. In some cases, he uses people here on earth as his tools toward those ends.

In Exodus, the Lord details what is to be done with the fields that are used for producing food in relation to feeding the poor. “But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat.” - Ex 23:11 This served not only to feed the poor and the beasts of burden, but also allowed the land to sit and rejuvenate some of the minerals it had lost in the previous six years. The resting of the field on the seventh year also tends to resemble the Sabbath - where God worked on His Creation for six days and rested on the seventh. In addition, “...it gave the Israelites a practical proof that they held their properties of the Lord as His tenants, and must conform to His rules, on pain of forfeiting the lease of them.” - A Commentary: Critical, Experimental and Practical on the Old and New Testaments, ©1945 WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., p. 372.

Now, the Lord didn’t intend to feed the poor every seventh year. In all of His Divine Providence, He had other methods as well, as described in Leviticus: “And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: “I am the Lord your God.” - Lev 19:10. “This was the earliest poor law that we read of in the code of any people; and it combined in admirable union the obligation of a public duty with the exercise of private and voluntary benevolence at a time when the hearts of the rich would be strongly inclined to liberalism.” - ibid, p. 488.

Not all of a field is to be harvested by the farmer. The Lord makes it clear in His “cornering the field” doctrine in Leviticus: “And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God.” - Lev 23:22. “The repetition of this law here probably arose from the priests reminding the people, at the presentation of the first-fruits, to unite piety to God with charity to the poor.” - ibid, p. 498

In addition to food, the Lord God establishes His doctrine of charitable giving in Dueteronomy: “If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother.

But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.” - Duet 15:7-8

When our country was first formed, we followed these doctrines much more closely than we do today, because there was no strong central or local government in place - especially with the first settlers - confiscating the wealth of the producers to give to the non-producers.

Thomas Jefferson recalls the situation in the early days of the United States in his Notes on the State of Virginia:

“The poor, unable to support themselves, are maintained by an assessment on the titheable persons in their parish...These are usually the most discreet farmers, so distributed through their parish, that every part of it may be under the immediate eye of some one of them...The poor who have neither property, friends, nor strength to labour, are boarded in the houses of good farmers, to whom a stipulated sum is annually paid. To those who are able to help themselves a little, or have friends from whom they derive some succors, inadequate however to their full maintenance, supplementary aids are given, which enable them to live comfortably in their own houses, or in the houses of their friends. Vagabonds, without visible property or vocation, are placed in workhouses, where they are well clothed, fed, lodged and made to labour...I never yet saw a native American begging in the streets or highways.” - Jefferson: Writings, ©1984 Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., p. 259

As far as health care in the early days, Jefferson writes of people voluntarily taking care of each other:

“Their situation too, when sick, in the family of a good farmer, where every member is emulous to do them kind offices, where they are visited by all the neighbours, who bring them the little rarities which their sickly appetites may crave, and who take by rotation the nightly watch over them, when their condition requires it, is without comparison better than in a general hospital...Nature and kind nursing save a much greater proportion in our plain way, at a smaller expence, and with less abuse.” - ibid, pp. 259-260.

When a person gives the Lord’s way, the recipient, even if he/she doesn’t consciously realize it, is experiencing the Lord’s work. It is at once meaningful to the recipient and fulfilling to the giver.

Satan has managed to upset this system of giving in today’s society. Rather than the Lord’s method of voluntarily giving to provide for the needs of the poor, Satan has created a counterfeit system which is implemented by man - a system that is based upon the antithesis (opposite) of the Lord’s - a system premised upon forced confiscation of one’s property in order to provide for the poor.

Such social welfare programs that obtain their funding from coerced, confiscatory taxation are destructive in two ways:

1.) Through the compulsion of forced taxation to take care of the poor, the person paying feels “stolen from” as he/she is coerced into involuntarily giving up a portion of his/her produce to a strong, impersonal central government; and

2.) the recipient’s eyes become less focused on the Lord working though a voluntary giver and become more focused on man’s systems for their sustenance.

At the end of the day, the poor are taken care of by both systems. However, with the Lord’s there is love and compassion through the act of voluntary giving; with Satan’s system of compulsory confiscation, there is hate and animosity - the exact opposite of the Lord’s.

Satan will never come bearing horns and a tail, but will always appear as an “angel of light.” His systems will seem kind and benevolent on the surface, but once he has the recipient’s eyes taken off the Lord and has directed their faith from the Lord God to man and man’s systems, then he has done all that is needed to prevent them from enjoying the eternal life promised to them through the life of a faithing, trusting relationship in the Lord God - instead, focusing their new-found faith on man and man’s government. When one is dependent on man’s systems for their sustenance, then he/she must comply with the dictates and decrees that government establishes for them to receive its charity. This system, today is a system of identification cards and numbers that are the tools Satan will use when he finally ushers in his Mark of the Beast system.

The Psalmist wrote: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.” (see Psalm 118:8-9)

“The monarchies and aristocracies have always lived on the fiction that they exist for the good of the people, and yet it is an appalling fact how few kings have loved their people and have lived to serve.” - Christianity and the Social Crisis, ©1911, Walter Rauschenbush, p. 87

Today’s coercively-funded social welfare systems as instituted by man and man’s government are in strict opposition to giving God’s way of volunteerism, and are therefore Satanic counterfeits of God’s Master Plan.

And he caused all to receive a mark

By:  David Deschesne  

Fort Fairfield Journal | February 1, 2006

   The Bible makes reference to two forms of identification:  one that is from God and one that is from Satan.  Identification schemes exist in order to provide for the safety and sustenance of those identified.   Identification schemes exist in various forms.  In all cases, the one being identified is thus "marked" or "sealed" by an entity superior to himself, thus submitting to and gaining the protection and endorsement of that superior.

   The first time God marked someone for His Divine protection was when he placed a mark on Cain.¹   The Hebrew word for 'mark' in that context is ;&! - owth - which means a signal, flag, beacon, monument or evidence. A mark is also "something that shows what or whose a thing is."² "The mark the Lord set on Cain was not a brand of rejection, but a sign of protection from blood revenge."³

    A mark can be either literal, like a brand or tattoo; or figurative.  An example of a figurative "mark" on a person would be a mafia hit man's contract.  When a contract has been placed on your life, you have been "marked" - or singled out - for death.  The antithesis, of course would be "marked" for protection.  In both cases, the mafia would not physically place a mark on you, the mark exists as an understanding within their own minds, but may or may not exist within your mind.

   The Lord God marks people for protection and he also "seals" them.  In Revelation, God seals selected members of the twelve tribes of Israel.  The word "seal" in Greek is FnD"(Ælf - sphragizo - which is to stamp with a signet or private mark for security or preservation.  The seal and the signet are of very ancient use, by the Hebrews (Gen. 38:18, 25), Egyptians (Gen. 41:42) and the Persians (Esth. 3:10; 8:2).  Seals were used in the place of signatures; as a sign of authority; to secure a place or an article from intrusion.⁴

   Unlike the blood on the doorpost in Exodus, the seal in Revelation is likely a figurative marking because God and His angels will know who is to be provided the protection, and who isn't. Indeed, a Christian is identified by living a life of Faith in the Heavenly Father, through His son, Jesus.

      The mark or seal is usually placed on the forehead.  The Greek word for 'forehead' is :XJfB@< - metophon.  It is derived from the word meta, which means accompanying, participation, proximity, transfer or sequence and the word ops, which means 'face.'   Today, the digital biometric photos on driver's licenses and state ID cards are set up to allow face mapping of each individual's face by a strong, central governing authority.  Maine currently has biometrics on its ID cards and driver's licenses, but claims to not have the software in place to use it yet.  It could be this face-mapping that John foresaw when he penned the Book of Revelation.

   There is nothing encoded in the US Constitution establishing the power of the government to “mark” the citizenry or otherwise identify them.

   Our modern day identification infrastructure was originally conceived to maintain a record of habitual criminals - not law-abiding citizens.   "The major concern of criminal investigation is the professional criminal - the recidivist, whose name will appear periodically on the arrest record.  If his identity can be conclusively established, his later efforts at concealment can usually be thwarted.  A system whereby the identity of the criminal can be positively determined at each arrest is an invaluable aid to the investigator."⁵

   Today, the government considers everyone to be a criminal and virtually mandates the possession of a state-issued ID card.  It is a Class E crime in Maine to refuse to identify yourself to a government authority; those who refuse may be charged with a fine, imprisoned or both.⁶

   The start of man's identification system is with the birth certificate.  Barrons' Dictionary of Banking Terms defines a certificate as "a paper establishing an ownership claim."  With the birth certificate functioning as the “certificate of origin” of the human flesh, and the newly created Social Security Number serving as the “serial number”, since 1921 live-born humans have been marked as if they were cattle owned by the government.

   Over the past 60+ years the driver’s license - originally intended as a privilege for corporations or people to use the road for profit or gain affecting a public interest - has developed into a convenient way for the government to identify its chattels.  While a human may carry a state-issued identification card, new features such as digital photographs and thumb scanning now allow the identification system to be linked up from State to State and to the Federal government as well.   Following the identification scheme to its logical conclusion, it may ultimately evolve into the Biblical “Mark of the Beast.”  The Mark of the Beast states that no man shall "buy or sell" save he that has the mark.⁷

    Satan uses a counterfeit of God's system of identification, luring and tempting God's children to place their faith in man for their safety, sustenance and security by demanding the use of an identification card in all of their social/political/economic interactions with their fellow man.  

   "Since God marks his children with a distinctive brand of some kind, the Devil, imitating God, puts a mark on all his children...This sign distinguishes the devil's children from God's children, and will probably be branded upon all the unsaved during the tribulation days."⁸

        Satan isn't so stupid as to present a 'Mark of the Beast' that everyone is expecting and watching for.  Satan is much more clever than that. While implantable computer chips seem to be the latest fad Satan has sold to the Christian community, he is forging ahead unchecked through man's identification system of biometric face scanning (forehead) and ability to freely enter into contracts (right hand).⁹ Satan - the Great Deceiver, the Father of Lies - is building his Beast system right under Christians' noses and amazingly, with their unwitting acceptance and assistance!

     Today, you may not get on a plane, or in many cases a train or bus without a state-issued ID card; you may not ship packages via UPS¹⁰ and you may not purchase some products at stores without it.  You may not open a bank account or get a job without the government's ID card and concomitant Social Security tracking number (even though there is no law requiring you to have a SSN¹¹).  This is the beginning of the "shall not buy or sell" paradigm which Satan is slowly, methodically establishing.

   Faith is a voluntary act.  God will not compel people to faith in Him.  Satan understands that each man and woman must make a conscious decision to Faith in God or faith in man, thus his goal is to tempt men away from God - a process he started in the Garden of Eden and is continuing quite effectively through this day.  

   Man's identification cards are a satanic-inspired counterfeit of God's program and Christians and non-Christians alike are being conditioned to accept and perpetuate them through the force of man's law and society.

Notes

1.   Gen. 4:15

2.  World Book Dictionary, ©1969 Doubleday,

     Inc., p. 1262

3. The Torah: A Modern Commentary, ©1981 

     Union of American Hebrew Cong., p. 45

4.  Peloubet's Bible Dictionary, ©1925 John C.

      Winston Co., p. 600

5.  Encyclopedia Britannica, ©1958, Vol. 12, p.

     560

6.   Maine Revised Statutes Title 17-A, §17 (2)

7.   Rev. 13:16-17

8.   A Dictionary of Bible Types, ©1999 Hendrick-

       son Publ., Inc., p. 273

9.   Fort Fairfield Journal, July 6, 2005, p. 9

10.  Fort Fairfield Journal, November 9, 2005, p. 9

11.  US Code Title 42, Chapter 7  

Surveillance Society

By:  David Deschesne

Fort Fairfield Journal | February 15, 2006

Ever since Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, in a futile effort to “be like gods,”¹ man has been on a continual quest toward that end.

“In the Bible, the expression “good and bad” ("&) 39&) sometimes means “everything” (Duet 1:39; II Sam. 19:35), as when we say, “I know the good and bad features,” meaning that I know everything that can be known. The tale may therefore be understood to say that primal man ate of the Tree of Omniscience. Having tasted of it, man forever after will attempt to know everything; he will, in other words, play the part of God.”²

Man has always sought to have power and control over his fellow man. The fulcrum of a command and control society is surveillance.

As technology increases, man’s ability to watch over all in society also increases.

The Lord God is the Supreme Overseer and watches over mankind from His Heavenly Throne.³ However, Christians don’t give enough credit to Satan who also commands significant powers to monitor the earth.⁴

Surveillance today comes in many different forms; wiretapping, video, voice, data-mining, and banking.

The reasons government gives when implementing a new surveillance system or policy are always benevolent on the surface. It is always to help stop vandalism, catch a thief, find a lost child, catch “tax cheats” or the most recent buzz phrase, “to protect us from terrorists.”

Satan will never come bearing horns and a tail, but as an Angel of Light. He inspires man to set up systems that seem good and are well-received. Systems that always seem to allow man more knowledge, more surveillance. However, Satan has a more sinister plan for these systems - these tools that government sets up. His plan is command and control of the entire world population with his “Mark of the Beast” - which is more a system than an individual entity.

The Mark of the Beast is a command and control grid which is comprised of the substructures: Identification, Monetary System, Banking System, Social Welfare system, and Business/Commerce that will require all people to turn to him (the Beast) for their safety and sustenance; to buy and sell. The thread that weaves all of the substructures together is

Surveillance.

Without the ability to track and trace, the Beast System would have no power.

Currently, Satan is slowly acclimating society to the “no man might buy or sell” paradigm⁵ by requiring us to use Social Security Numbers or Employer Identification Numbers before we can earn a paycheck or otherwise be paid for our products and services; hence, to gain money for our labor so we can “buy and sell.” It could be argued, that an identification card with concomitant Social Security Number could combine to become the vehicle that so “Marks” the man (or woman) thereby allowing them to buy or sell. The use of such numbers is purely voluntary, since there is no law in the United States that requires a person to have a Social Security Number to live or work.⁶

Instead, Satan inspires man to set the system up and intimidates employers with perceived fines and fees if they don’t comply. The purpose and function of the government’s ID numbers is mostly for surveillance of a person’s money (the government actually prints the money, so what do they need ours for?). The systems of government will become the tools of Anti-Christ and his Mark of the Beast system in the end times. Ironically, it is society voluntarily choosing to use and enter into this surveillance grid that gives the Mark its power.

With security cameras, government ID numbers, bio-metric face scans, thumb scans, retina scans and the Echelon and Carnivore satellite-eavesdropping systems for phone and computer traffic, government is on a gluttonous rampage toward omniscience - the same omniscience Adam and Eve sought so many years ago; an omniscience that was originally tempted to them by Satan, and warned of by God.

Man’s lust toward surveillance is Satan’s quest toward total human submission to his authority - a counterfeit of the Lord God. Man’s global track and trace “security” grid is a malevolent tool toward those ends and, quite likely, the infrastructure that will maintain and support the Mark of the Beast - whether it’s a computer chip, fingerprint, face scan, or other type of information technologies-based platform.

1. Gen. 3:5

2. The Torah: A Modern Commentary, ©1981 Union of American Hebrew Congregations, p.p. 38-30.

3. Ps 11:4

4. Job 1:7

5. Rev. 13:17

6. Letter from Charles H. Mullen, Associate Commissioner,