The Mark of the Beast
Beware of “Marks”, for Fore-runners of Anti-Christ are Abroad in the World
By D. M. PANTON , E ngland
T is startling to confront, for the first tim e in modern Eng land, an appeal for the stamp ing of a flesh-mark; nor is it
b rand; a puncturing of th e skin so as to produce an indelible impression-?^ “ on th e ir righ t h and ”— th e selection of th e rig h t hand a t once proves it is a literal mar k— or upon th eir forehead” (Revelation 13:16);. Under the Mo saic Law one sex of God’s people had to receive a m ark in the flesh— circum cision : all other flesh-cuttings were strictly forbidden. “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor p rin t any m arks upon you” (Levit icus 1 9 :28 ). Upon only one Gentile in th e Old Testament was a m ark ever set w ith th e approval of God, and one full of an aw ful significance. “The Lord set a m ark upon Cain, lest any finding him ”— it m ust th erefo re have been a visible m ark, probably in the forehead— “ should sm ite him ” (Gene sis 4 :1 5 ). The first m urderer, the first apostate, God branded as a forecast and prototype of the m urderers and apos ta tes who will form the Church of the A ntichrist, and meet an identical doom. W hat the significance of a tattoo is, history has already abundantly proved. Slaves were branded by th e Romans as we brand cattle, to shew th eir ownership by th eir m aster’s m ark bu rn t into th e flesh. “You know slaves,” says a Roman w riter (P etron iu s) “by th eir foreheads.” Sov Roman soldiers also, as devoted body and soul to the emperor, had, branded as stigm ata on th e ir hands, the name of the emperor, so as to make desertion impossible. In 1912 th e E arl of Lytton suggested in the House of Lords (Daily Telegraph, Nov. 29, 1912) .'that certain crim inals should be branded, to make them marked men forever. The ancient ta t tooing was done in various ways: by
th e less ominous th a t the appeal comes from a professed believer in Christ. He says: I s th e r e n o t a n e e d fo r so m e u n m is ta k a b le s ig n , in th e s e , d a y s w h e n i t is f a s h io n a b le to d is c la im a n y r e lig io u s b e lie f? A n d , if so, c a n a n y o n e m a k e a s u g g e s tio n ? I h a v e s e e n a c ro s s ta tto o e d o n a m a n ’s h a n d — a n d , in a n o th e r la n d , a c re s c e n t ta tto o e d o n a m a n 's fa c e — e x tre m e le n g th s th e s e , b in d in g fp r life a n d e x p o s in g th e b e a r e r to m u c h , b u t u n q u e s tio n a b le p ro c la m a tio n s o f f a ith . C a n a n y o n e s u g g e s t b e tte r ? I w o u ld e v e n go th is le n g th if o th e r s w o u ld jo in , a n d g o o d c o u ld b e done,. ( C h u r c h Fam ily N e w s p a p e r , J a n . 14, 1921). This is exactly what was done by the more enthusiastic of the Crusaders. The historian Gibbon says: “The cross was, by some zealots, inscribed on th eir skins;' a ho t iron, or indelible liquor, was applied to perpetuate the m ark .” E arly in the W ar the Times (May 26, 1915) said: “ If the W ar has led to the dropping of old customs it has led also to th e adoption of new ones: th e most conspicuous of th e acquired h abits is th e wearing of badges.” Some secret societies are already adopting a flesh cu tting ; as the Menilmouches, a band of Apaches in Paris, who im print a five fold puncture on the w rist as a sign of th e ir sect. Now one of the huge figures of the Apocalypse, the False P rophet yet to come, enforces th e worship of the Anti christ w ith a cutting in th e flesh. “He causeth ail” —wealth cannot buy itself ou t of the obligation, nor is anyone so obscure as to escape notice— “th a t th ere be given them a m ark ”—-a tattoo, a
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