Apocalypse Now: On vaccination, Revelation, and the mark of the beast

[Nevilledog]

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Talia Bracha Lavin
@chick_in_kiev
For a year or more, I've been fascinated by that subset of American Christians who consider the covid vaccine the fabled Biblical "mark of the beast." On Substack, I just published a deep dive into the theology - and century of history - behind that idea:

Apocalypse Now
On vaccination, Revelation, and the mark of the beast
theswordandthesandwich.substack.com
8:30 AM · Oct 5, 2021

https://theswordandthesandwich.substack.com/p/Apocalypse Now


Back in November 2020, when Donald Trump was still president and covid-19 vaccines were months from reaching American arms, one TikTok user went viral for her belief that the shots would signal the end of the world. Taylor Rousseau, a platinum-blonde, blue-eyed devout Christian TikToker, turned up the moody, throbbing strains of James Arthur’s Christian anthem “Train Wreck,” and carried out a one-woman, forty-second theological melodrama. In a red hat and impeccable makeup, she plays a martyr who refuses a vaccine — complete with microchip — mandated by murderous state authority. She’s beaten to death (the blood is ketchup, the mascara smeared) for that refusal, teleporting to the Pearly Gates, where God (in a very large font) declares “Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant” (sic). The tag on the video? “#pov you're required to take the mark of the beast (vaccine) or you die, but you know what Gods word says so you deny it ❤️"



The video, a hot and ferocious mess, spread wildly, spawning legions of imitators and parodies. The vaccine wasn’t an operative reality, yet — we were still hovering in the cureless-plague era, a miasma of fear and restriction and death, offscreen, in overcrowded ICUs — but already someone had slotted it into eschatology, predicting the end of the world in a time of literal cataclysm. There was already a plague, and locusts were despoiling whole countries. Time felt warped and strange and heavy. Maybe it really was the end of the world.

The concept of the “mark of the beast” is derived from a gnomic passage in the Book of Revelation, the final book of the New Testament:

[16] And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

[17] And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

*snip*

[Girard442]

1. If you insist on taking this kind of thing seriously...

...there's only one reasonable contemporary interpretation of the quoted scripture. Read the words. The Mark of the Beast is, wait for it.

Your phone.

[Xolodno]

2. Pretty much.

You can even say your debit card is the mark.

But look at the 16th verse, it says "all". In other words, everyone is going to get it. And they so intensely focus on those two verses, they ignore the next chapter where it says:

[9]
And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If any one worships the beast and its image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,


Its conditional. You also have to worship the beast. But they are way too much into an obsession and judging everyone else. And when finally proven wrong, conveniently forget and move on to the next theory. Trying to predict the end times when Christ himself said he didn't even fully know.

The whole love thy neighbor thing just gets tossed out, guess fire and brimstone thinking is more fun.

[roamer65]

9. If there is an Antichrist, these fundies will swallow its garbage hook, line and sinker.

It will come portraying itself as Jesus incarnate.

Only VERY discerning eyes will be able to tell the difference.

[gratuitous]

3. A mark on their foreheads, you say?

Like, say, a billed cap with the legend "Make America Great Again"? And here's a shocker for all the End Timers: The United States of America is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible!

[FakeNoose]

4. Remember that book by Hal Lindsey, "The Late Great Planet Earth"?

It actually came out in 1970 so it has been many years since I read this. But Hal Lindsey made a lot biblical connections to modern times, as I recall. He explained several prophecies in such a way that gullible people might believe it's happening now. It would be interesting to see if he was right about any of it.

Of course Lindsey had no idea about things like Covid, or Chump, or crypto-currency. I'll bet if that guy were alive today, he'd probably be a ChumpHumper.

The essay by Talia Bracha Levin (from the OP) is interesting and I do see a few parallels. Recommended!
https://theswordandthesandwich.substack.com/p/apocalypse-now

[Girard442]

5. Haven't read it, but I'm guessing he cribbed heavily from Herbert W. Armstrong.

[FakeNoose]

6. Well that sent me scrambling to Wikipedia

... because I've never heard of Herbert W. Armstrong.

No I don't believe Hal Lindsey was influenced by Armstrong, according to what I just saw in the Wiki. Lindsey was more influenced (as I recall) by ancient Hebrew writings and prophecies in the Talmud and other rabbinical works. Also comparing them with what we consider to be Old Testament and New Testament prophecies.

It's been so many years since I read "The Late Great Planet Earth" but I do remember that he made predictions about the so-called Great Apostacy, the Armageddon, the Rapture, etc. would all be happening soon. Like in the 2020's or 2030's. He stirred up the pot and got a lot of TV time for a while. But Lindsey never started a religion like Armstrong did. I don't even know if he's still around.

[Celerity]

7. The video is fucking bonkers!!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. These idiots are crazy