An interesting court case in Michigan slightly pries open a door for a brief discussion on the Mark of Beast, mentioned in the Book of Revelation, that I will take advantage of in this article.

In his vision of the end times, the Apostle John said that people would be required to take the Mark of the Beast and if they didn’t, they would be prevented from buying or selling (Revelation 13:17).

Though no actual mark is involved, a court case taking place in Michigan has a similar ring to it.

According to Charisma News, Country Mill Farms has been participating in an annual farmers’ market in East Lansing for several years. In 2016, the farm, owned by Steve and Bridget Tennes, a Christian family, were banned from setting up a booth at the market because after checking out the farm’s Facebook page, an East Lansing official discovered the family believed in the Biblical definition of marriage.

In 2017, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, the Tennes were able to overturn the ban with the judge stating that it was probably violating the family’s freedom of religion and speech, protected under the US Constitution.

But in 2018, East Lansing officials restored the ban, arguing that the judge’s order allowing the farm to sell products in 2017 was only temporary.

In addition, East Lansing implemented a new policy, that people selling at the market had to follow the city’s HR policy and were not allowed to make public statements about their beliefs if East Lansing officials considered them discriminatory.

Bridget Tennes stated, “All of a sudden I felt like we couldn’t even believe what we wanted to believe. We had to be quiet.”

In this instance, the Tennes were only prevented from selling at the farmers’ market, they could still continue on business as usual at other locales.

Over the years, there have been several opinions expressed about what the Mark of the Beast entails.

Some believe it is a physical mark and others suggest John was seeing the development of a computer chip, that would be inserted under people’s skins. And to be fair, that is not far off.

But others hold more bizarre opinions. I recently watched a video of a woman on a Christian panel who said that the COVID vaccine was the Mark of the Beast. And when asked about those people, including Christians, who took the vaccine, she abruptly answered, “Well, it is too late for them.”

This means, in addition to being put on our head or right hand, the Mark of the Beast can apparently be put on our left shoulder as well (read Revelation 22:18-19 for my opinion on that).

Now to be fair there is some similarity, as we are seeing several instances of unvaccinated people not be allowed to travel, go on cruises, eat in restaurants or attend football games. Some large corporations are even preventing people from working, if they don’t have a vaccine. In other words, they are being prevented from buying.

Perhaps, even worse, it is acclimatizing people to the idea that someone could be forbidden to buy or sell, if they don’t obey the governing elites.

However, others are not convinced that it refers to an actual mark.

When discussing the Mark of the Beast in Revelation 13:16-17, John uses the Greek word, charagma, that was a word used to describe the imprints or seals that the Roman emperors put on documents during the first century. In a metaphorical sense, it talks about being approved by the antiChrist.

Some argue if John was referring to an actual mark on the skin, he would have used the Greek word, stigma, which was the word used to describe marks or brands that owners put on their slaves or people of certain religious sects tattooed on their skin to indicate their membership.

In the third book of Maccabees, the Egyptian king, Ptolemy Philopator, branded the Jews with a Dionysian ivy-leaf a symbol of Dionysis, the ancient god of wine and fertility (3 Maccabees 2:29). The writer used the word stigma in this instance, as did the Apostle Paul when he wrote that he carried the marks of Jesus on his body in Galatians 6:17.

What we know for sure is that this mark is connected with the antiChrist and reflects the beast’s name, which is 666.

So are we talking about an actual physical mark, a vaccine, a computer chip or a belief system?

And if it is a belief system, does the mark on the head and right hand simply refer to what we think and do?

I am not adamant on any of these opinions, other than disagreeing with the vaccine theory.

Throughout the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John purposefully wrote in symbolic language, and this means that we would only understand what he was referring to as it actually unfolds before us.

READ: Banned for Biblical Beliefs: Christian Farmers in Court After Being Punished for Views on Marriage AND Mark of the Beast