There are two kinds of marks mentioned in the Bible – one is a mark designating God’s ownership and protection, and the other is a mark designating Satan’s.

A mark is a tattoo. Scripture says that God forbids his people from getting them, in the same way he forbids his people from worshiping demons. The only one who should be worshiped by God’s people is God, just as the only mark on God’s people should be God’s.

You don’t schedule an appointment to get God’s mark. God gives it to you at a time of his choosing. The books of Genesis, Ezekiel and Revelation are clear about that. God’s mark is invisible in the earthly realm, but highly visible in the spiritual one.

You’re not born with a spiritual mark. You’re born with spiritual chains. You are born into satanic slavery but reborn into godly freedom, courtesy of God’s grace.

The so-called mark of the beast has been getting a lot of press lately, even with unbelievers. Lots of chatter over whether or not the shots or the passports are in actuality the mark of the beast, or at least its precursor. I’m not a fan of either the shots or the passports, but I don’t see them as the mark of the beast. We know from scripture that those who get that mark lose their shot at Heaven. There is no more hope for them. So when that mark is taken, the age of Mercy has to have ended.

I don’t believe we’re there yet. I believe we’re still in the age of Mercy. I believe there is still time for a few last stragglers to turn back to God and to receive the mark of his seal. There’s not much time, but there’s some. We know from scripture that the age of Judgement begins with world-wide cataclysms. These (thank God) have not yet begun. When they do, we’ll know that God’s Judgement has started.

At that point, anyone who has not be sealed by God and received his mark will belong to Satan. There is no way out of it. So the mark of the beast will just be a formalization of what already, at that time, will have been established. It will be an outward sign of a spiritual reality. Those who take the mark in order to buy and sell will take it as a matter of course, as something that self-evidently needs to be done. They will not have to be coerced or mandated to do it. The only ones who will refuse to take it will be God’s people.

Remember that during the time of the beast system, all religion will be outlawed except for Satan worship. It won’t be called Satan worship (any more than the beast system will be called the beast system), but that’s what it will be. There will also be a world government that is not just operating behind the scenes, like the current deep state. It will openly be a world government. Neither of these things have come to fruition yet, so the shots and passports currently being mandated cannot be the mark of the beast. They may be a dry run and a softening up for that time, but the lack of world-wide cataclysms, global government and global Satan worship indicates they are not the prophesied mark.

The mark of God and the mark of Satan will definitively and for all time separate humanity into two distinct groups. The larger one by far will have Satan’s mark. In fact, most souls will have Satan’s mark. Very few will have God’s mark, and even of those few, some will lose it during the tribulation.

Jesus tells us to pray not to come to the time of universal testing, to be taken home before it starts. He doesn’t say to pray to stop it, but to pray not to have to go through it. If you haven’t yet added that petition to your daily prayers, it might be a good idea to do so. In fact, it might be a good idea to begin and end your daily prayers with it.

At the same time, pray to be found worthy to receive God’s mark, and pray to remain worthy to your dying breath. Because without God’s seal of approval, you’re not going home.