Can anyone really doubt we are living in the Last Days?

Your sentiment seems to be the prevailing one so perhaps I'm not making my query clearly.
If I were to ask which covenant is is superior, most would say the new covenant. I would agree.
We have had at least 4,000 years of history under an inferior covenant that was put in place to come to the time of the superior covenant. We have spent 2,000 years under this particular and superior covenant. What sense does it make to spend so much time under an inferior covenant and only have half that time under the superior one?
In an attempt to illustrate how illogical this is, I used an example of a writer giving a foreward to a book twice as long as the body of the work. It simply never occurs. The preface is always shorter than the body of the work because it is only there to give reference and perspective of what is to come. In like manner, the old covenant gives perspective for what is most important...the new covenant. God didn't spend 4,000 years providing reference and perspective to now in a comparatively short time exercise His grace and mercy. We still have lots of history before us and God will continue through Christ to build His church and destroy all the works of the devil.

Hello Cameron! Thank you for your interesting post containing ideas new to me! The one thing I would say is that the Old Covenant was not in operation for 4,000 years. Between Moses being given the Law on Mount Sinai and the Lord speaking through the prophet Jeremiah that the Covenant was broken- only several hundred years, certainly less than a thousand. In that sense the New Covenant has already outlasted the Old Covenant by a good margin. God Bless You

If the terms old testament and new testament work better for you then use them.

Scripture speaks about the "end of the age" which is equal to the last days.

I know other people are posting that every generation before us felt this way too, but I honestly feel that the end times are really are close - like within our lifetimes. That we will actually see the very prophecies that were told in the Bible.

For me, when the government said that people couldn't work unless they got the vaccine, it was alarming to me because it felt like the governments all over the world were testing people to see how well they would accept the future mark of the beast. Like this can happen within years of our lives So this what I meant that the end times were really drawing to a close.

Plus the hate for Christians all over the world is increasing more and more. Here in the States, we had it good, but we are starting to get blamed for a lot of things that aren't our fault.

There's also the social corruption of norms - boy are girls, girls are boys - what gender? there is NONE, they're saying. And they're teaching that to young children! Even homosexuality and changing their genders - to young children! It's really disturbing! I don't have children and I was wondering why, but now I see that God was protecting me from a broken heart over any children I would have had if they were corrupted with these teachings.

There's also all these nations wanting to coalesce into a one-world government. That is the one main feature that hasn't happened before - but we're seeing now. Plus a lot of nations have nuclear bombs. Something that previous generations didn't have to worry about. I really think the US will be bombed - pretty sure the major cities like New York City are good candidates. I have family there and I've been talking to them about watching the signs and moving when the time comes (like move NOW).

Because of these things, I've been more serious about my walk with the Lord and have really taken to heart everything He's trying to teach me - being more serious about the armor and weapons He wants us to take up and I'm just much more obedient to whatever he says in the Bible - "Forgive" - so that's what I've been doing - no more excuses just how much a jerk someone was to me, "Help that person" - okay no problem, no excuses! Etc. Etc.

Another thing that the Bible says is that the love of most will grow cold - that is a sure sign of the end times drawing to a close. People who are close such as family or good friends will end up betraying others. And I see that! Even in the church!

Are other people noticing these things as well? I mean, this is what I think the thread is about.

What if the mark of the beast is not something material? What if it is Satan's alternative to the sealing of the Holy Spirit?

Whatever the mark is, it's something tangible enough that we can't buy or sell without it. That's all I know. People have theories about it being small chip for the hand, and Elon Musk is developing "Neurolink" which has to do with the brain. So who knows? But all I know is that when the time comes, we will be able to recognize whatever it is enough to be able to refuse it.

Also, the mark of the beast will cause a bad reaction for the people who take it. They will get sores:

Revelation 16:2 - The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

And of course will be forever punished:

Revelation 14:11 - And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.


I don't think that the mark of the beast would just be spiritual in other words. Of course the people who have that spirit will already behave in ungodly ways, but this is the physical manifestation of it. I also think that the fact Christians will refuse it is also a physical manifestation of the Holy Spirit as the seal over us in the unseen realm and that our godly behavior will express this too.

Would a denial of Jesus or lack of such denial be tangible?

I'm not sure what you mean about that? I guess what you mean is that for people who deny Jesus, would it become more apparent?

This is what the Apostle Paul wrote:

2 Timothy 3:1-5
1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

I mean, that kind of behavior has always been here before but in the end time more intense and often. He continues further:

2 Timothy 3:12-13
12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

I'm not sure what you mean about the lack of denying Christ, but Jesus said that our faith will be tested. If you can survive all that, with your faith intact, I guess this is a tangible way to see it:

Matthew 24:9-14
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

So people who deny Jesus will get worse in their behavior. But as you can see in that passage, Christians will be tested in their faith too! What is really alarming about this is that Jesus said that MANY will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other. So this is something we have to watch out for!

Yeah, the mark of the beast isn't the only thing we have think about.

I was merely asking if the mark had to be a literal mark or some technology as opposed to a manner of life that characterized the presence or absence of the Holy Spirit.
Some would view the mark of the beast juxtaposed to the sealing of the Holy Spirit.
You brought up the question of whether the mark was something tangible. I offered that the results of the sealing of the Holy Spirit is something tangible in that it is evidenced in behavior...particularly not denying Jesus, even in difficult situations.

Some interesting quotations.

2 Timothy 3:1-5
1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

What is Paul talking about here?

Can anyone really doubt we are living in the Last Days?
Not if they believe the scriptures, which state that Jesus and his 144,000 chosen elect, will rule the earth with justice for one thousand years, and that the war to end all wars in which no flesh would survive if not for the intervention of the Lord and he will intervene for the sake of his elect and chosen, will occur at the close of the 6th day or the 6th period of one thousand years from Adam, this war is the greatest tribulation the world has ever seen, after which, Jesus will establish his thousand year reign in Jerusalem.

Jubilees 4: 30; And he (ADAM) lacked seventy years of one thousand years; for one thousand years are as one day in the testimony of the heavens and therefore was it written concerning the tree of knowledge: ’On the day that ye eat thereof ye shall die.’ For this reason, he did not complete the years of this day; for he died during it.

The seventh day is the day that the Lord has fixed as seen in Acts 17, 31; For He (The Lord God our saviour) has fixed a day in which he shall judge the whole world with justice by means of a MAN he has CHOSEN. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising that MAN from death.

The seventh period of one thousand years, is the seventh day Sabbath, the day of the LORD after which heavenly fire will descend and incinerate all physical life forms on this earth as foretold in the prophecy of Zephaniah 1: 2-3; where it is written, The LORD said, “I am going to destroy everything on earth, all human beings and animals, birds and fish. I will bring about the downfall of the wicked. I will destroy the whole human race, and no survivors will be left. I, the LORD, have spoken.

Then in verse 18; On the day when the LORD shows his fury, not even all their silver and gold will save them. The whole earth will be destroyed by the fire of his anger. He will put an end — a sudden end — to everyone who lives on earth.

This happens after the thousand years Sabbath has finished and heavenly fire incinerates all physical life forms that remain on this planet. But a Paul says; ‘’We shall not all fall asleep in death, but at the sound of the last trumpet immediately before the heavenly fire is to incinerate this earth and evaporate the oceans, we shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, from bodies of corruptible matter into glorious bodies of brilliant and blinding incorruptible light.

So, when does the Great Sabbath begin?

This modern Jewish chronology which was originated by Rabbi Akiba goes like this. From Adam to the flood is 1656 years, from the flood to Abraham's birth is another 290 years, then to the Exodus from Abraham’s birth is 505 years, from the Exodus to the building to Solomon’s temple was another 480 years, to its destruction 410 years later, then the captivity 70, then 40 to the Seleucid era, then 311 to the Christian era = total 3761 BC PLUS 2023 = 5784, BUT THESE DATES ARE very ambiguous.

According to classical Jewish sources, the Hebrew year 6000 (from sunset of 29 September 2239 until nightfall of 16 September 2240 on the Gregorian calendar) marks the latest time for the initiation of the Messianic Age.

The Zohar states: In the 600th year of the sixth thousand, the gates of wisdom on high and the wellsprings of lower wisdom will be opened. This will prepare the world to enter the seventh thousand, just as man prepares himself toward sunset on Friday for the Sabbath.

Continued from post number 52.

Prophecies concerning the war to end all wars

chapter 63; 1-6; “Who is this coming from the city of Bozrah in Edom? Who is this so splendidly dressed in red, marching along in power and strength?”

“It is the LORD, powerful to save, coming to announce his victory.”

“Why is his clothing so red, like that of someone who tramples grapes to make wine?”

The LORD answers, “I have trampled the nations like grapes, and no one came to help me. I trampled them in my anger, and their blood has stained all my clothing. I decided that the time to save my people had come; it was time to punish their enemies. I was amazed when I looked and saw that there was no one to help me. But my anger made me strong, and I won the victory myself. In my anger I trampled whole nations and shattered them. I poured out their lifeblood on the ground.”

Zechariah 12: 10; "They will look upon me and see the one who they pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child etc."

See also Zechariah 14: The Lord will gather all the nations together to make war on Jerusalem. The city will be taken, the houses Looted, and the women raped. Half the people will go into exile, but the rest of them will not be taken away from the city. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he has fought in times Past. (This has not yet happened)

The Lord will come to fight for his people Israel as he has fought in times past he will fight the enemies of Israel; those Nations who surround Jerusalem in their attempt to drive God's chosen people into the sea.

The African tectonic plate in its northern migration, grinds against the Arabian plate in a line that runs up through the Red Sea and along the Jordon valley beneath the Mount of Olives.

Zechariah 14: 3-4; Then the Lord will go out and fight for his people as he has fought in times past. At that time, he will stand on the Mount of Olives, to the east of Jerusalem. Then the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west by a large valley. Half of the mountain (On the African plate) will move to the northwest, and half of it (On the Arabian plate) will move to the southeast.

Could the violent activity around the earth at this time, be the trigger that will cause the super volcano beneath Yellow stone to erupt, enveloping the planet in a cloud of debris? And that day shall be neither day nor night, but a perpetual twilight.

Zechariah 14: 13; Then the Lord will throw those nations that surround Jerusalem, into a state of total confusion, and the weapons of destruction with which they would destroy Israel, he will cause them to turn upon their own allies and they shall suffer a terrible disease, the soft tissue such as their eyes and tongues will melt in their sockets, and their radiated flesh, cooked to the bone, will slide from their bodies while still standing. Then all the surviving Nations will send their representatives each year to Jerusalem in the land of Israel, to worship and pay tribute to the Lord who will rule the whole world with justice for a thousand years, and woe betide those who refuse to do so.

Numbers 24: 17, "A king, like a bright star, will arise in that Nation. Like a comet he will come from Israel. He will strike the leaders of Moab and beat down all the people of Seth. He will conquer his enemies in Edom and make their land his property. While Israel continues victorious. The Nation of Israel will trample them down and wipe out the last survivors."

It is in that thousand years of peace, where in my opinion, all our resources will be used to prepare for the ultimate destruction of all physical life forms that remain on this planet. Knowing that which is to occur after the one thousand year Sabbath has ended, when heavenly fire incinerate the surface of the earth, with the great wealth that will be paid in tribute by the nations of the world during that thousand year rule of our king and high priest, genetic banks of all physical life forms will be created, (The Ark) and sent to a place of safety in order that when the incinerated earth is once again able to sustain physical life forms, Plants will be planted, animals will be created anew, and when the system for the sustainability of mankind has been put in place, the Lord, our brother, king, and high priest will say, "And now, let us make man in our image and likeness." And a new and more humble Race of men will people this earth.

Those helpers with Jesus are the elect and chosen of the Lord, who, at the sound of the last trumpet before the heavenly fire incinerates the earth, will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye from corruptible bodies of physical flesh, to glorious bodies of incorruptible Light and carried up to be with CHRIST.

"Under the guidance of Jupiter (Planet) man prepares, by means of religious exercises, for the journey to the life beyond, and he attains rest under the influence of Saturn." (Basra Encyclopedia)- De Boer, Philosophy in Islam, p 88.

The water ocean on Enceladus, a moon that orbits the planet Saturn, is about 6 miles (10 kilometers) deep and lies beneath a shell of ice 19 to 25 miles (30 to 40 km) thick, researchers said. Further, it's in direct contact with a rocky seafloor, theoretically making possible all kinds of complex chemical reactions — such as, perhaps, the kind that led to the rise of life on Earth.

"The world being melted and re-entered into the bosom of Jupiter, this God continues for some time totally concentered in himself: . . . afterwards we see a new world spring from him, perfect in all its parts; animals are produced anew; an innocent race of man is formed under more favourable auspices, in order to people this earth." " Seneca, Epist, 9, and Qucest. Nat. L. 3, c, ult.

"Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, 'Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?' And Jesus answered and said to them: 'Take heed that no one deceives you.' " Matthew 24:3-4

I believe it. So much is happening and I too feel constantly the spiritual darkness upon us all.

I think it's talking about fake Christians or people who tend to virtue-signal to get praise from others? Fake Christians speak the language of Christians and on the surface, when you see them at church service, you'll think they're godly. But if you get to know them more away from church, their masks slips and then you see what they're really like the more you hang out with them. And then there's other people who aren't Christians, honest enough to say so, but they like doing virtuous things to look good in front of other people, but doesn't have the power of God in their actions at all.

Either way, Paul says to avoid both. I think so that they don't influence you to do what they do. Instead, just remain abiding in the Lord and let the Holy Spirit change us and not resist His work in us.

-=<*>=-

By the way, the news reports are saying that there is ANOTHER earthquake in Turkey! A magnitude of 6.3 on the Richter scale! I was watching news about the previous two earthquakes before and I was devastated that WHOLE FAMILIES got wiped out! This is honestly SO distressing!

I agree with your interpretation of 2 Timothy 3:5.

Given that Paul stated the verse below.

1 Corinthians 4:20
For the kingdom of God is not in words, but in power.

Mat 24:15 "Therefore when you see the 'ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand),
Mat 24:16 "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Mat 24:17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.
Mat 24:18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.
Mat 24:19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!
Mat 24:20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.
Mat 24:21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Dan 12:11 "And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.

The Abomination of Desolation triggers the Great Tribulation 1290 days before the return of Christ.

The fall of Babylon triggers the tribulation-Babylon the great is worldwide false religion-- 99% of all religion on earth. It says of this-the merchants stand at a distance and mourn this event because their shelves remain full( no more religious holidays) that means the factory shelves remain full= worldwide layoffs all at once. Many will probably not take the ending of the religions very lightly either. But the bible says--God puts it into their hearts to do away with her. It cannot be stopped.