Examining Our Faith-16 quotes

2) Characteristic #10. This Beast has the number 666, revealing that since the Bible states that “It is the number of a man," and that it is "the number of his name", so this literal number of 666 is somehow connected with the numeric number of a man’s name who is closely connected with this Beast.

“The title of the Pope of Rome is Vicarius Filii Dei. This is inscribed on his mitre”. Our Sunday Visitor, (Catholic Weekly), November 14, 1915, under "Bureau of Information," p 3.

Answer: "The letters inscribed in the Pope's mitre are these: Vicarius Filii Dei, which is the Latin for Vicar of the Son of God. Catholics hold that the Church which is a visible society must have a visible head. Christ, before His ascension into heaven, appointed St. Peter to act as His representative. Upon the death of Peter the man who succeeded to the office of Peter as Bishop of Rome, was recognized as the head of the Church. Hence to the Bishop of Rome, as head of the Church, was given the title 'Vicar of Christ.'” Our Sunday Visitor, (Catholic Weekly), April 18, 1915, thirteenth question under "Bureau of Information," p 3, (on page 2 appears "sanctions [approval] for the editor" from Pope Pius X, dated May 17, 1914; from the Apostolic Delegate, John Bonzano, dated April 27, 1913; and from J. H. Alerding, Bishop of Fort Wayne, Ind., dated March 29, 1912).

"The temporal power in the hands of St. Gregory I was a fatherly and patriarchal rule over nations not as yet reduced to civil order. In the hands of St. Leo III it became a power of creating empires. In the hands of St. Gregory VII it was a scourge to chasten them. In the hands of Alexander III it was a dynasty, ruling supremely, in the name of God, over the powers of the world....So that I may say there never was a time when the temporal power of the Vicar of the Son of God, though assailed as we see it, was more firmly rooted throughout the whole unity of the Catholic Church.

"It was a dignified obedience to bow to the Vicar of the Son of God, and to remit the arbitration of their griefs to one whom all wills consented to obey." The Temporal Power of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, by Henry Edward Cardinal Manning, pp. 231-232, second edition, London: Burns and Lambert, 1862 (note: “Vicar of the Son of God” is used 9 more times in this book).

The numerical number of the official name of the Pope - “Vicarius Filii Dei” - adds up to the exact total of 666! This means that the number of a man’s name of 666 who is indeed closely connected with Catholicism is manifested within the Roman Catholic Church! Therefore the Catholic Church does indeed manifest this last and 10th characteristic of the Beast of Revelation 13!

4) Since the Roman Catholic Church manifests all 10 characteristics of the Beast then she is this Beast of Revelation 13. As this is true, then what is the Mark of this Beast - or the Mark of the Roman Catholic Church that the 3rd Angel solemnly warns against?

The Greek word used for "mark" is "Charagma", and it translates and means "a stamp (as a badge of servitude), mark" (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, word #5480). This means that the Mark of the Beast is not a credit card, or a lazar mark, or a bio-chip implant, or a National Identification Number, or even a giant computer. But it is a stamp or sign or seal or badge of servitude to some power or being.

"Protestants...accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church made the change...In observing the Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the church, the Pope." Our Sunday Visitor, February 5, 1950.

"It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians, that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church." Priest Brady, in an address, reported in the Elizabeth, N.J. "News" of March 18, 1903.

"It was the Catholic Church which...transferred this rest (Saturday as the Sabbath) to the Sunday....Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the (Catholic) Church." Monsignor Louis Segur, "Plain Talk about the Protestantism of Today," p 213.

"Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change (from Saturday to Sunday) was her act. It could not have been otherwise, as none in those days would have dreamed of doing anything in matters spiritual and religious without her, and the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters." Letter from H.F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons.

Since the Roman Catholic Church has changed the original day of worshiping God from Saturday to Sunday, then this change is the mark or stamp or sign or seal or badge of this Beast's authority and power!

“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Genesis 2:2-3.

"Moreover also I gave them My sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them....And hollow My sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Ezekiel 20:12, 20.

Saturday – the seventh-day of the week, the day before Sunday, is the Sabbath worship day of the Lord God. Because God Himself has blessed and made this Sabbath day holy, then this holy day is the mark or seal or sign of God’s authority and power. God has chosen this Sabbath day as a memorial of His creationary power above all the rest of the days of the week for all His people to worship Him on, and He even told His people not to forget this fact, but to remember it.

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hollowed it." Exodus 20:8-11.

The mark or stamp or sign or seal or badge of God’s authority and power is His making the 7th day of the week or Saturday as His holy Sabbath worship day. While the mark or stamp or sign or seal or badge of the Beast's authority and power is the Roman Catholic Church’s making of the 1st day of the week or Sunday as their worship day.

The Bible states that this Mark will be received “in their right hand, or in their foreheads” (Revelation 13:16, see also 14:9). As this Mark is symbolic and not literal, then how can it be symbolically received in either our forehead or our right hand?

-- Receiving this symbolic Mark in our forehead would signify mental acceptance of the Mark. Or in other words, you actually believe the Roman Catholic Church has the authority to change God’s Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday, and you then choose to bow to and obey their authoritative command to keep Sunday as the sabbath.

-- Receiving this symbolic Mark in your right hand would signify willing service for the Mark. Or in other words, even though you do not believe that the Roman Catholic Church has the authority to change God’s Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday, or even believe in a day of worship at all, yet you still choose to bow to and obey their authoritative command to keep Sunday as the sabbath anyway.

"Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claims to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles...From beginning to end of Scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first." The Catholic Press, Sydney, Australia, August, 1900.

"...prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the Holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says ‘Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.' The Catholic Church says, No. By my divine power I abolish the sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week. And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the Holy Catholic Church." Priest Thomas Enright, Redemptorist Catholic College, Kansas City, Mo., lecture "Sunday in History", p 56, February 18, 1884.

The Mark or seal of the God of heaven is choosing to bow down to and obey His authoritative command to worship Him only on Saturday - His chosen Sabbath. If you choose to do this, then it is a sign that you show that you love, serve, and worship God by recognizing His supremacy to rule over you as your God. While the Mark or seal of the Beast is choosing to bow down to and obey the Roman Catholic Church’s authoritative command to worship only on Sunday - the chosen sabbath day of the Pope who declares himself to be in God’s place. If you choose to do this, then it is a sign that you show that you love, serve, and worship the Pope of Roman Catholicism by recognizing his supremacy to rule over you as your god.

These facts of truth clearly shows us that the Mark of the Beast is not a literal mark: it’s not a lazar mark, or a credit card, or an implanted chip. And neither is it a National ID Number, or a giant computer, or any other literal thing! Although all of the above items may be used to try and coerce or force people towards receiving this Mark, yet none of these are the Mark of the Beast itself. But the Mark of the Beast is a symbolic mark of bowing down to and obeying the Roman Catholic Church’s authoritative command for you to worship only on Sunday, while knowing the truth about God's seventh-day Sabbath occurring on Saturday!

Whose authority and power will you bow down to and obey as supreme over you in this great controversy over this Sabbath/Sunday issue? The Lord God of heaven, or the Pope and substitute god of the Roman Catholic Church?