I don't get into how locusts prove Russian helicopters or the prophet represents The Beatles. I do feel the book is given to Christians at that time in history for Christians through all times in history. One of the mega-lessons is perseverance. Don't lose faith. Stay close to God, even when the world seems to be collapsing around you and turning against you.
Yes, there are certainly digs against things like Rome that are steeped in apocryphal symbolism. But the greater message is that as the Church struggles with its place in Rome, and as Rome changes and events unfold, it's important to remember what the Gospel is all about. Don't be like those who curse God. Don't be like some in the seven churches who simply find ways to compromise with the pagan world. Be faithful, even to the point of persecution.
A famous passage from the book is the Mark of the Beast. Theologians have pondered that for centuries. Most agree it has to do with gematria, calculating the number given and ending up with a name, likely Nero. There are debates of course, as there always are in scholarship. But everyone agrees that it would have made sense to the first century reader within the Christian beltway.
Debates about particulars aside, the Mark represents the willingness of people to sign off on the grave evils of the age in order to get along. In order to continue buying and selling in the marketplace, you sign off on something that is clear and obvious evil - an afront to God. You receive the Mark willingly.
Therefore, the Mark is simply that thing which you openly and willingly accept in order to keep on keeping on, rather than suffer hardships or persecution. In Nazi Germany, the Mark was going along with, if not supporting, the Nazis. In the Jim Crow south, accepting or defending Jim Crow racism. It might be continuing to support and defend the sexual revolution in light of 36 million dead from AIDS. It could be turning a blind eye to the oppressions in the Islamic world or persecution in China out of fealty to an ideology. It typically means something so nakedly bad with overwhelming evidence that it's without excuse, and yet you sign on anyway.
Hence transgenderism, which I have called the eugenics of the 21st Century. In fairness to eugenics, it's likely that the average schmuck in America or Europe had little to no clue about eugenics or the practices visited upon people groups because of the theory. Most were likely ignorant of such evils.
Transgenderism, which continues to lower the age in which we will surgically alter the bodies of teens, push to keep parents from having say, and increasingly says anyone who believes in boys and girls had best watch their derrières, is not hidden in the halls of science and academia. It is visible for all to see, shouted from the rooftops and increasingly laid out as the Mark you will receive if you wish to continue buying and selling in the marketplace. Hence, Mark of the Beast. It's obvious, it's clear, most in their guts know it is bad news, most with brain cells know it is idiocy and lies. The harm and damage done? It can be put in lights on Broadway and we won't say anything. It is pure evil based on cowardly idiocy.
Yet how many are fully embracing it? How many more are simply burying their heads in the sand to avoid it? That second one is also a way to receive the Mark. Remember, the Mark merely symbolizes a willingness to openly and willingly side with a force of evil in order to keep on with life in this world. The point of Revelation being that if you do so, then this world is likely all you're going to get.
As you have said in other posts, where are the bishops? Oh that’s right, at cocktail parties shmoozing with the elitist left.
ReplyDeleteI think we have to be careful here when we consider the Mark. You as I do look at these events from our western culture. I may be wrong but I think that transgenderism is mostly affecting our western societies and is not in the main stream in South America, Africa and most of Asia. We however have accepted to a point(head in the sand) that men can be women and women can be men whereas the rest of the world has not. The Mark would have to accepted by the whole world and not just the western industrialized countries.
ReplyDeleteOnce again..... In writing, always use quotation marks with "transgender," “transgenderism” (also “trans,” “trannie,” etc.), to signify that it is a faux term since nobody can change their genders. In conversation, be sure to make it clear that the term is not accepted and won't be acknowledged for the same reason. Don't ever give in on this, even for so-called politeness reasons. Apply the same approach to the despicable, anti-freedom-of-speech insistence that people must deny objective reality and refer to other people by their “chosen pronouns” that do not coincide with their biological/gender realities.
ReplyDeleteAlso, nobody can “transition” or ever has “transitioned” or is in the process of “transitioning” from one sex to the other. Such is impossible, so this must also be resisted and made clear that it is merely a fantasy that also attacks objective reality and God’s creative order. And, because nobody can so “transition,” it is also flat out stupid to wrongly praise some people for allegedly “de-transitioning” as if they had indeed “transitioned” from one sex to the other and have subsequently worked at reducing or eliminating any mutilation and so on from their ill-conceived efforts to change what cannot be changed. Such people can be praised and encouraged for recognizing the error of their initial efforts to try to change what cannot be changed, but in no way should this ever be looked upon rationally as actually “de-transitioning,” which is simply impossible.
Bottom Line: Male sex = Male gender. Female sex = Female Gender.
Many years ago the late, great Monsignor William Smith frequently advised that "all social engineering is preceded by verbal engineering." The more we give in to the use of such malevolent and false terminology used by "transgender" advocates (no matter how many doctors, psychologists, church leaders, and so on believe otherwise), the more we help to normalize the abuse of properly recognizing God's creative order of male and female.