The only hill worth dying on is Calvary.
Forty-eight hours from the time I sat down to write, Christendom commemorates a very special Passover meal. The one, by our calendar, in 33 anno Domini.
Add another 16 hours and you are at the hour when the God-man climbed that hill.
For many dogs have encompassed me: the council of the malignant hath besieged me. They have dug my hands and feet.
They have numbered all my bones. And they have looked and stared upon me.
(Psalm 21:17-18, DRA)
The Vaccine Passport is coming. It will be required to travel, yes, but also to transact, to buy or sell online, to hold a bank account, to hold a job. It’s coming.
Is this passport the “mark of the beast” from Revelation 13 and 14?
And he shall make all, both little and great, rich and poor, freemen and bondmen, to have a character in their right hand, or on their foreheads.
And that no man might buy or sell, but he that hath the character, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
(Revelation 13:16-17)
I don’t know. Neither does anyone else. So don’t let anyone tell you this isn’t the mark of the beast. They don’t know.
This thing, though, bears a remarkable resemblance to the mark in Revelation. The vaccine passport will demonstrate complete allegiance with man and little faith in God. Bearers of the mark might profess faith in God, but their actions speak louder than words. (Have you noticed how, in recent years, the culture has made words more important than actions?)
To bear the passport is to say, “I believe in Fauci. I believe in Gates. I believe in the World Health Organization.”
Bearers of the mark will say, “What difference does it make? Why not go along with it. What choice do I have?”
They won’t remember, or never read, the consequences of receiving the mark.
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice: If any man shall adore the beast and his image, and receive his character in his forehead, or in his hand; He also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mingled with pure wine in the cup of his wrath, and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the sight of the holy angels, and in the sight of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torments shall ascend up for ever and ever: neither have they rest day nor night, who have adored the beast, and his image, and whoever receiveth the character of his name.
(Revelation 14:9-11)
We don’t know if the COVID vaccine passport is the mark of the beast, but only a fool would dismiss the possibility. And there’s hell to pay if you make the wrong choice.
Think long and hard.
Is this the hill to die on?
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
(Luke 9:23)
Amen, amen I say to thee, when thou wast younger, thou didst gird thyself, and didst walk where thou wouldst. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and lead thee whither thou wouldst not.
And this he said, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had said this, he saith to him: Follow me.
(John 21:18-19)
Very possibly, refusing the mark is our Golgotha.
Christ told us that the path is narrow. He told us that we will bear a cross. (Will the mark spare us the cross?) He warned as that another will gird us and lead us where we would not go. Finally, He told us, “Follow me.” To the cross. To Calvary.
The vaccine passport seems close enough to the mark of the beast to demand, at least, deep, prayerful contemplation. Our society is in ruins. Our nation has fallen to the mob. The bulls and dogs stare at us with their mouths agape.
There has never been a better time to stand. There has never been a harsher test for half the people of the country.
Pray, friends, that I receive the wisdom to discern this challenge and the strength to stand with God on that hill. I have no faith in myself, but I know that if He wills it, it will be done.
And I will pray, likewise, for you who read this and pray for me.