"If the people of God today would stop following after preachers and personalities, turning a deaf ear to the slick advertising of unscrupulous men who love to promote themselves, if they would forget about revivals and crusades and supposed signs and wonders and begin to turn the knob of their prayer closet door, seeking not to run here and there, and do this and that, but seeking to enter into harmony with the mind of Him who worketh all things after the counsels of His own will, to do only those things they see the Father doing, to speak only those things they hear of the Father, then all the world would know that the Father is glorified in His sons even as He is glorified in His Son. Let us seek God that He might fashion our lives according to His eternal wisdom, conforming us into the image of His Son, so that the glorious image of God may be seen in us instead of the image of the beast!"
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“Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six” (Rev. 13:18).
"The number of the beast denotes the nature and character of the beast. The beastly system is ingrained in the minds of God’s people and they are so saturated with it in their very natures that they can neither think nor function apart from it. God’s name is not in their foreheads. They do not have the mind of Christ, but rather the distorted mind of the beast of religion. They are incapable of either thinking or acting outside the “box” of “going to church,” “being religious,” and “doing things” according to the carnal order of the religious systems. Someone has well said that numbers may not have the appeal of a modern “thriller,” nevertheless they constitute an integral part of God’s language unto man. The number of the beast is not a Greek number. It is not written with numbers as we have in English, but with Greek letters, just like Roman numerals. Each letter in the Greek alphabet has a numerical value — here the numerical value of the Greek letters given is 666. All the words in the New Testament have a numerical value. If you study Biblical numerics you will discover the perfection of the mind and wisdom of our God! The Bible is not an accident. It transcends every other book that has ever been written. No human genius could make it so finely devised!"
"Of all the words in the Greek New Testament there are only five words that have a numerical value of 666. There is neither time nor space to study all of these words at this time, but it is interesting to note that the very first one is used thirteen times — and that first word with the numerical value of 666 is the word tradition."
"Yet, this is not the true way of the Lord, nor is it sanctioned by the Lord. He truly condescends to meet with and bless those who call upon His name in spite of all the corruption surrounding them, but what a mixture it is! Only the Holy Spirit can teach us these things. Only the sharp two-edged sword of the Spirit can divide it, separating between soul and spirit. How we praise God that the consuming fire of His dealings and processings in the lives of all who have received the call to sonship has been kindled to THOROUGHLY PURGE AND CLEANSE OUR HEARTS from the spirit and ways and image of the beast, until once and for all we forsake all the apostasy and shame, giving ourselves wholly and only unto Christ, that He may teach us how to walk and worship and minister in spirit and in truth. When our minds are one with Him and all earthly tradition and program and system has vanished away and He takes His royal seat upon the throne of our hearts, then we are truly able to walk as the sons of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Then are we led by His Spirit and can grow up into Him in all things, putting on His mind, conformed to HIS IMAGE, to be His sons and His daughters indeed!"
"This verse reads literally, “And it was given him to give spirit to the image of the beast.” “To give spirit” is the same as to give life. The Greek word is pneuma meaning “breath” or “spirit.” With only one exception, in every other place in the book of Revelation where this word is used the reference is to the Holy Spirit. For instance, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” (Rev. 1:10). “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (Rev. 2:7; 2:29; 3:6). “And immediately I was in the Spirit” (Rev. 4:2). “The spirit of life from God entered into them” (Rev. 11:11). “Yea, saith the Spirit” (Rev. 14:13). “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness…” (Rev. 17:3). “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10). “And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain…” (Rev. 21:19). “The Spirit and the bride say, Come…” (Rev. 22:17). Imparting “life” or “spirit” to the image of the beast signifies that now the life-giving ministry of the Spirit is being administrated through the image — the organization. “He had power” to give this life is in the Greek “it was given him” to give life to the image. It is something that God cedes to him, that which he would have no power at all to do of himself. Every living body is animated by a spirit. “The body without the spirit is dead” (James 2:26). "
"There are many organizations, including religious ones, that are dead, having no spiritual life in them at all. Political organizations, business organizations, charitable organizations, and the list goes on and on. Then there are religious organizations — Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and a thousand others that contain no spiritual life whatever, for HE who IS the LIFE has no place in them. But this image, this “Christian” image, in spite of being fashioned like unto the systems of the world, does possess a show of life! What many of us missed in times past is the mixture in this Christian beastly system. We thought this beast was only evil, entirely a monster, totally non-Christian, and that its appearance as “the lamb” was entirely contrived. We could not believe that he could perform any miracle that wasn’t a trick, or have any life that wasn’t demonic, or speak any word that wasn’t vile. But multitudes of the Lord’s people are in this beastly system, and there is still One who walks in the midst of the candlesticks! And the image speaks — proclaiming a measure of the word of the Lord. What a paradox this is! What a mystery is this!"
"And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed” (Rev. 13:15).
"Taken literally this certainly sounds ominous, and it is true that the earth has been stained by the blood of the martyrs who have been slain as “heretics” by the church systems of man, from the days of the Papacy, the Inquisitions, the Reformation, and in many lands then and now throughout the earth. Yet millions more have been slain metaphorically, that is, denounced, cast out, ostracized, excommunicated, anathematized, and cut off. The deeper meaning of “killed” is to be killed spiritually, that is, to be condemned. And because being condemned is signified by being killed, it speaks of all who pronounce damnation upon those who do not acknowledge the doctrine of their faith as the divine truth of God, and who condemn all who do not think as they do, and as far as they dare, they deny that they are brothers and sisters in Christ. And all this is done simply because men refuse to worship their image of the beast!"
“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads…” (Rev. 13:16).
"The preachers have everyone looking outwardly for the mark of the beast and that’s exactly what the dragon inspires — get people to look away from the true source, from the spiritual realm, to fear inanimate objects of man’s invention. That’s the craftiness of the carnal mind — every new advance in technology, each new card, laser, or computer chip — surely one of these will be the mark of the beast imposed upon mankind! The spiritual mind understands that the mark of the beast is the mark of the second beast, the one that comes up out of the earth, out of the soulical religious dimension of man’s life. It should not be difficult to understand by this that it is, therefore, first and foremost, a spiritual mark — not an economic or political mark. The mark of the beast identifies those who have subscribed to the authority, doctrines, structure, practices, and spirit of the bestial religious orders of man. Practically every Christian living is in some way associated with, or submitted to, this wanton religious harlot who calls herself “the church.” The message of chapter thirteen of the Revelation is not, “You’d better watch out, be very careful or you will get branded with the mark of the beast.” The message is, instead, that because of carnal-minded religion almost every believer already bears the mark of the beast and we must get rid of the mark of the beast! We must be transformed in the way we think, in the way we worship, in the way we serve, in the way we act. It’s not a matter of someone stamping, tattooing, burning, or inserting 666 on the forehead. Should the government arrest me today, knock me out with an injection, and somehow apply the numbers 666 on my forehead, there is no way under heaven that it could affect my relationship with my Father, because it would not change one iota the way I think, act, or my heart condition before God! Therefore, it cannot be an outward, physical thing! We are dealing with spiritual realities! You cannot examine any man or any woman physically to determine whether they have received the mark of the beast. It is impressed in the forehead or in the hand — signifying one’s thinking and one’s actions!"