The Seal or mark of God and the Mark of the Beast: are the two compatible?

        Is there any way that both Sunday worship and Sabbath (Saturday) worship can be acceptable to God from a biblical perspective? Will God be satisfied with either one?  The stakes may be high yet the answer is very simple.  Success among feuding nations often boils down to the art of compromise. The art of compromise has perhaps prevented many a disaster among individuals, families, nations and governments. 

        Must acceptability of Sunday or Sabbath (Saturday) worship be left to compromise or is there a way for both to be acceptable to God as far as the Bible is concerned? Let us review the simple answer. First of all, when it comes to worshipping God on a particular day we must consult God through His word to know if there are any instructions on how and when to worship Him. We read in Isaiah 8:20 “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” This text tells us that whoever informs us of anything concerning God and how to worship Him, must be in accordance with the revealed Word.  We also read in 2 Tim. 3:16, 17 “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. ¹⁷ That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”  In this passage, we are clearly told that all scripture is given for doctrine, reproof, correction, and for instruction in righteousness so that people may live an acceptable Christian life. So, like Isa 8:20 above, we are admonished to use the Bible as our guide in all matters of morality and spirituality.

        With the information from these two passages from the Bible in tow, let us look at what God, who gave humanity the Bible, says concerning the mark of the beast. We read in Revelation 14:9-10 the following warning: “If any man worship the beast and his image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of lamb.” We have seen in previous articles that the mark of the beast is Sunday keeping which the Roman Catholic Church introduced to Christianity and boasts of. The Catholic church claims that Sunday is the mark of her authority, and this church is even now calling on everyone in the world to accept Sunday as the Sabbath day.

       Today we are witnessing how the Roman Catholic Church calls for the unity of all religions across the globe; we witness how the Catholic church is utilizing every disastrous event that takes place in our world, like turbulent climate, droughts, and pollution in order to bring the nations together with the one objective of installing Sunday worship as the defacto day of worship in order to prevent these climatic events from happening. Even in the advent of Covid-19, we see the hand of the Vatican in preparing the world to accept some sort of ‘New World Oder’ that will be for the common good of humanity, culminating in a global Sunday sabbath.  According to the Bible, the Vatican will promote itself as the leader of our world, all under the watch-care of Lucifer. Let’s read it in Revelation 13:3, 4 “And I saw one of his heads as it were, wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?”

        The message of these passages above (Rev. 13:3-8) declares to us that there will be a resurgence of the once defeated Catholic church and that all the world will adhere to her teachings; this global adherence, as seen in the phrase in Rev. 13:8, “all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him.” This will be none other than a religious world government. Today people are being prepared for an elitist global takeover in Karl Schwab’s Fourth Industrial Revolution known as the “Great Reset.”  However, God has spoken and this is not to be, instead, there is to be a religious takeover of our world with the Vatican at the helm and with Sunday as the universal day of worship. All of this is in defiance and rejection of God’s admonition to humanity to return to Him, showing our loyalty to Him by worshipping Him on His Sabbath day, the Saturday, and rejecting the installation of the false Sunday worship. These actions of the Vatican pit the mark of the beast (Sunday worship) directly against the sign or mark of God (Sabbath or Saturday worship). All humans on earth will have to stand up and be counted, showing where their loyalty lies, and the consequences will be eternal, fixed forever.

        All this finality above shows us the importance that God attaches to our loyalty to Him as seen in Sabbath (Saturday) worship. Any rejection of His command to worship His way will have consequences that will never be reversed. The stakes are high indeed. The Vatican, guided by Lucifer as Revelation 13 shows us, is calling humanity one way and God, as the Scriptures instruct us, is calling us another way with eternal consequences. Only we humans can make that choice for ourselves. All of this begs the earnest question, what is so important about the Sabbath and Sabbath worship as against Sunday and Sunday worship? Is it Sabbath vs. Sunday, or God vs. the Vatican and united religion? Why must there be only one victor? Why must there be consequences for choosing one’s preference? Let us take some time to review why the Sabbath instituted by God must have no rival.

        In Genesis 2:3 we read that God sanctified (made holy, set aside for holy use) the seventh day, which we know through Bible study to be the Saturday day. It is the only day that God made holy of all the other days. And it is the only day that God asks us to remember to keep holy (Ex. 20:8).  In Ex. 31:13, 14 God tells His people to keep His sabbaths for they are a sign to them that God has sanctified them, and that the sabbaths are holy. In the New Testament, we read that Jesus calls the Sabbath “the Lord’s day,” Revelation 1:10; and in Luke 6:5 Jesus says that He is Lord of the Sabbath.  These passages make it very clear that God’s view of the Sabbath is a serious one. He regards the Sabbath as 1) His day; 2) sacred; 3) A day to be kept holy; 4) A day that is a sign between God and His people, that He sanctifies them as He did the Sabbath; 5) A day to be remembered as a holy day for worship. Elsewhere in Isaiah (Isaiah 66:23) God ensures us that the Sabbath will be kept in the new earth for eternity. Also, God has enshrined the Sabbath and its observance in the moral law of the ten commandments; it is the fourth commandment.

        Can you now see, folks, why God is so particular about His Sabbath?  The Sabbath commandment is made God’s seal to the sons of men, to all humanity and to the entire universe. It demonstrates that 1) He is God or Yahweh, that is his name, and that is Jesus. 2) He is the creator, that is His title.  No other god or being made this earth and universe. In fact, there is no other God that exists but Yahweh (1Cor. 8:4; Isa. 45:22); without Him, nothing can be created. 3) The entire universe belongs to Him; it is His jurisdiction.  4) God loves us. He has devoted a whole day in the week for fellowship with us humans. It’s not our time, it’s His time; it’s not our invitation to Him for a whole day of fellowship, it’s His invitation to us. What is your response? Your destiny rests in that response.

        While the Sabbath shows God to be the LORD of the universe and the benefactor of all goodness, Sunday observance unclothes a pseudo god, a traitor, a demon, a usurper. From aeons ago, Lucifer sought to eclipse his Maker in honour and authority.  The Bible makes this clear in Isaiah 14:12-15; of those dark ages past the record tells us that this leader of the angels, God’s right-hand man, envied God; his jealousy led him to envy everything God was and had; he sought in his heart to “ascend above the heights of the clouds…” and to be “like the Most High.” This is ‘perfect’ envy!  Listen to what the founder and promoter of Sunday worship says: “The Pope has power to change times, to abrogate laws, and to dispense with all things, even the precepts of Christ.”[1]  And again, “Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the Church ever did, happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday…not from any directions noted in the Scriptures, but from the Church’s sense of its own power…”[2]  Finally, Pope Leo XIII writes, “We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.”[3]

        Understand, my friends, our loyalty to God is seen in our obedience to His Commandments and His instructions found in the Bible.  God has given the world a sign in the fourth commandment of who He is. Every time you keep the Sabbath holy, you testify to this.  Every time you disregard the Sabbath and choose Sunday worship instead, you proclaim that your loyalty is with the “sons of men” and their leaders, the founders of Sunday worship. But because God loves us He gives us this clarion warning: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, ¹⁰ The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God…” Revelation 14:9-10.

        Yes, friends, there is a difference between the seal or mark of God and the mark of the beast as you have read in this article. How you respond will determine where your loyalty lies; where your loyalty lies will determine your destiny.  May God enable each of us to choose Him so that we may live forever.

[1] Decretal De Translat. Espiscop. Cap.; Catholic Record. September 1, 1923.

[2] Saint Catherine Catholic Church Sentinel, May 21, 1995.

[3] Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter, June 20, 1894.

If you have any comments or questions please contact Pr. Ron Henderson at ronhende@outlook.com.

If anyone would like to study the Bible in his own language or in English, please click here and choose your preferred language. And here also.