The Mark: Part Two
Computer bar codes (like the one on the left) include three identical pairs of lines at the left, right and centre of the lines representing the number of the product you are buying. These three pairs of lines are slightly longer than the others, and in the most widely used coding system, they are the two lines that represent the number six. Three sixes keep popping up at each stage of the move toward a cashless society. Bankcard featured three sixes inside of each other (one red, one orange, and one yellow) which supposedly represented the letter 'b'. Then Keycard turned the six on its side and said it was a key. (see Revelation 13:16-18)
Wiser than Solomon?
We turned to the Bible to unravel the mystery of the number. We looked for the number 666 elsewhere in the Bible and found it in I Kings 10:14 where it says the amount of gold that came to King Solomon in one year was 666 talents (about 25 tons!). The Lamb (Jesus) referred to the events of this same chapter twice in his teachings: once when he said his teachings were greater than Solomon's wisdom, and yet the Queen of Sheba came to hear Solomon's wisdom, giving him almost five tons of gold in appreciation (Matthew 12:42); and once when he said that all of Solomon's wealth could not compare with what God could provide for those who would stop working for money and start working for God (Matthew 6:24-30). Jesus expected people to listen to him in preference to Solomon.
The Prostitute and the Bride
Two other characters in The Revelation are a Prostitute, called Babylon (Revelation 17:1-5) and a Bride, called Jerusalem (Revelation 21:1-10). In the Gospels Jesus called this Bride the "kingdom from heaven". And he taught that God would provide the basic needs of anyone whose first goal in life was to build this kingdom (Matthew 6:31-33). Babylon as such is not mentioned in the gospels. Instead, Christ says we have a choice between working for God or working for money (Matthew 6:24). He talks of giving to God what belongs to God and giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar (Matthew 22:19-21), and suggests that money is all that Caesar has been able to create, whereas real wealth comes from his Father, God;and God's children owe the Caesars of the world nothing (Matthew 17:24-26 KJV).
It is interesting to note that the greatest achievment of the Babylonian Empire was the invention of money. And throughout the centuries the spirit of Babylon has developed new ways to make it easier for the Solomon's of the world to move their tons of gold around. The electronic 'mark' spoken of in The Revelation is just the consummation of it all.
So what do we do?
Our response to the warnings of the Revelation are quite simple. We start obeying Jesus by learning to live by faith right now, working for God rather than working for money. St. John said, "You have heard that the Antichrist will come, but even now there are many antichrists." (I John 2:18) And just as we have heard that the Mark will come, even now there are many 'marks'. (What does Germany call its money?) 
If we continue to put our faith in money, and to work for it, we play right into the hands of the Antichrist. We can say we will refuse to take the final mark when it comes, but we will almost certainly use the same excuses for taking it then as we use for disobeying everything else that Christ said about money now. Revelation 7:3-8 says that God's people also have a mark, and Jesus refers to this in John 6:27, when he says, "Do not work for the food that perishes." Jesus says our refusal to worry about material needs will set us apart from the rest of the world (Matthew 6:31-33) But the churches say, "We would starve if we took that literally." Jesus says, "Sell what you own and give to the poor," (Luke 12:33) and they say, "He will forgive us if we don't follow that rule." Jesus says, "If you don't forsake everything that you own, you cannot be one of my followers," (Luke 14:33) and they say, "Times have changed. It won't work in today's world." Jesus says, "Teach others to obey all that I have said," (Matthew 28:19-20) and they say, "Nobody else is doing it, so why should we?"
So when he says, "Whoever receives the mark will feel the full strength of God's wrath," (Rev. 14:9-11) those who boast now that they will never take it will say, "We got away with disobeying everything else Christ said, why not ignore this one too."
In Conclusion
To sum it up, there is going to be a world government, and it is going to bring in a universal mark that will greatly improve the efficiency of banking, law enforcement, immigration, and related fields. Eventually the government will turn bad and will execute literally millions of people. But that could be a long way down the track. In the meantime this new government and the new economic system it institutes is going to be a massive improvement on anything we have at the moment. No matter what anyone does to protest against the mark, it will still come. Practically everyone will accept it, and you will almost certainly be one of those who does.
The only exceptions will be those who have taken the teachings of Christ very very seriously. If you are not more interested in knowing what Christ taught than the Queen of Sheba was in knowing the wisdom of Solomon (Remember, she paid almost five tons of gold to hear what he had to say.) then forget about it. You're pretty well destined to take the mark anyway, and you may as well eat, drink, and be merry until the end comes.
Of course if you are interested in following the teachings of Christ, you can find them in the first four books of the New Testament (The Gospel According to Matthew, The Gospel According to Mark, The Gospel According to Luke, and The Gospel According to John). Study them (and obey them) like your eternal life depends on it. Because it does.
