the-mark-of-the-beast

This is the continuation of Appendix A. “The Image of The Beast” (Revelation 13:15)

“All, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, receive a mark on their right hand, or upon their forehead.”

The word rendered “mark” is “Charagma,” any graven mark, or line, character, inscription, a totally different word from that used in Rev. vii. 3, xiv. 1, concerning the “seal” on the forehead of servants of God. It is called, in Rev. xiv. 11, the “mark of his name”; and the “name” and “mark” are bracketed together repeatedly (Rev. xiii. 17; xiv. 9, 11; xv. 2); whence one is forced to infer that there is some connection between the two.

Now the “name” of the Roman “Beast” was long ago suggested by Irenaeus as “Lateinos,” or the Latin Man, and no better solution has ever been suggested, for Latin was in John’s day, and has ever been, the sacred tongue of Rome, whether Pagan or Papal; and “Lateinos” was the correct way to spell “Latin” in Greek, according to Iraeneus, Hippolytus, Andreas (Greek “Fathers”) the Roman Poet Ennius, and by the Poet Plautus (Latin Poets). The “mark” then must be connected with Latin; it must be “the mark of the Latin man.” Was there, and is there now, any “mark” which is inseparably connected with Roman Latinity?

Undoubtedly this “mark” is religious, for it forms the foundation for the Beast’s claim to rule over “all” (i.e., all within the orbit of his tyranny, not “all” in the earth), and to force idolatrous “worship” (Rev. xiii. 15) upon them (cf. Rev. xiv. 9; xv. 4) through his co-adjutor “the false prophet”—clearly a religious class.

Now antiquarians, archaeologists, and other scholars, with unanimous voice, declare that the Latin Cross was a sacred Roman symbol (as it was a common Heathen symbol universally adored) long before the First Advent. It is found on coins, medals, tombs, temples, clothes, banners; and Montfaucon, the learned Benedictine, gives numerous examples. It is, indeed, an undeniable fact. This being so, the next point to observe is that the “mark” is impressed upon all subjects of the Latin man—in a particular manner, viz., on the right hand, or upon the forehead. It is so made as to appear graven. It is, in short, a distinguishing mark, the use of which, in a particular way, for purposes of devotion, is the characteristic emblem and certain indication of obedience to the Latin man.

Is the sign of the Latin Cross such a mark? To ask that question is to answer it, for from the moment of birth to the moment of death that mark is impressed with the right hand to the forehead, of all “the faithful” slaves of the Latin Pope or Father of the Latins. Nay, this very fact is actually boasted of and claimed as a proof that this outward mark seals indelibly a “character” upon the soul. Here is what the widely distributed “The Faith of our Fathers,” by James, Cardinal Gibbons (J. Murphy & Co., New York, 1897, PP. 320-321) says:—

“The Sacrament of Confirmation is also known by the name of CRISM, because the FOREHEAD … is anointed . . . in the form of a CROSS”; … “In the Sacred Crism which is marked on our FOREHEADS He hath sealed us by the INDELIBLE Character Stamped on our souls, which is indicated by the SIGN OF THE CROSS impressed on us.” “The bishop performs the external unction, but GOD sanctifies the Soul by His SECRET OPERATION.”

Observe the exact correspondence between the prophecy and its fulfillment. The sign of the Latin Cross, made with the right hand to the forehead, upon all followers of the Latin Papa, is declared to be a magic charm which indelibly impresses character upon the Soul; the false prophet of Rome performs the external mark, and simultaneously a secret supernatural operation is effected!

What need to look elsewhere, then, for the Mark of the Beast, when every scholar knows the esoteric meaning of the Latin Cross symbol and its phallic origin? What deadlier insult can be offered to a Holy God than to use that “mark” under pretense of initiating men, women, and children into the Kingdom of God and of His Christ?

LATIN CROSS.

Always with the right hand, never with the left: always upon the forehead. (See Pontificale Romanum, Pars Prima, De Confirmandis, p. 1; also Ordo Administrandi Sacramenta.) In baptism the priest makes with the thumb of the right hand the Sign of the Cross on the forehead and also on the breast of the baby, once, and again on the forehead—to keep the devil out of him!

Continued in The Antichrist: His Portrait and History – Appendix C. He That Exalteth Himself. 2 Thess. II. 4