"The Mark": A Review

by Travis L. Quertermous

INTRODUCTION

This is the eighth installment of our series of reviews of the wildly-popular "Left Behind" series of religious novels. This series has sold more than 18,000,000 copies and every novel in it has been a number one bestseller. Why be worried about this? Because this series of novels is doing more to promote the false doctrine known as dispensational premillennialism than anything else in our generation. The authors are two prolific evangelical authors, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

Book eight in the "Left Behind" series is entitled The Mark. The last three and a half years of the Tribulation, called the Great Tribulation, begins following the resurrection of the Antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia. This miracle was performed by Satan who now indwells Carpathia. His right-hand man, Leon Fortunato (the false prophet of Revelation 13:11-17) enforces the rule and worship of Carpathia by requiring all men to take the mark of the beast on their right hand or forehead. Fortunato is given the title Most High Reverend Father of Carpathianism. Those who refuse to take this mark are beheaded and no-one can legally buy and sell without it. Included in this number are, of course, the Tribulation Force. Two more of their members are martyred, including one of the five "moles" they had inside the Antichrist's government. The remaining four members are forced to flee. They fake their deaths in a plane crash, but leave behind one of their members to keep spying on Carpathia. This young man (a computer genius named Chang Wong) was forced to take the mark of the beast against his will, but his true allegiance to Christ was not discovered. Chang is in the unique position of sporting both the mark of the beast and the mark of God on his forehead! This latter mark, remember, is visible only to other believers.

But the Trib Force have prepared for this day. They have set up a new safe house in Chicago and a worldwide underground co-op system so that believers can have the necessities of life. Carpathia announces his plans for a triumphant return to the city of his assassination, Jerusalem. Once there, he plans to desecrate the rebuilt Jewish temple by declaring himself to be God and demanding that the Jews worship him alone. The Trib Force secretly reassembles in Jerusalem to oppose the Antichrist's evil plans and meet up with their supposedly "deceased" members as The Mark ends.

A RESPONSE

The Mark focuses on the infamous mark of the beast and number of the beast mentioned in Revelation 13:16-17 and Revelation 13:18, respectively. Contrary to popular opinion, these are not the same things. The former is a mark of loyalty to the beast and the latter is a way given by the apostle John to identify the beast. This review will therefore also focus on these two things. We will number our responses for clarity.

(1) The dispensational perversion of the mark of the beast forces a self-contradiction with the evangelical

doctrine on the impossibility of apostasy. Like most evangelicals, Jenkins and LaHaye subscribe to the

"once saved, always saved" doctrine. But notice what they had Rabbi Tsion Ben-Judah, the "pastor"

of the Trib Force, teach his flock back in book six, Assassins: "And above all, do not make the fatal

mistake of thinking that you can take that mark for the sake of expediency while privately believing in

Christ. He has made plain that those who deny him before men, he will deny before God. And in later

teachings I will elucidate on why the mark of the evil one is irrevocable. If you have already trusted

Christ for your salvation, you already have the mark of the seal of God on your forehead, visible only

to other believers. Fortunately, this decision, mark, and seal is also irrevocable" (pg. 327). So which

is it? Can a believer receive the mark of the beast and still go to heaven or is that a fatal decision

which will cause them to be forever lost?

Jenkins and LaHaye are going to have to try to reconcile this matter because they have poor Chang

Wong in the unfortunate position of sporting both marks! Oddly, they have Tsion teach this in The

Mark, "I have good news for you that I have already admitted is difficult to understand, even for me,

who has been called to shepherd you and exposit the Word of God for you. The Bible tells us that

once one is either sealed by God as a believer or accepts the mark of loyalty to Antichrist, this is a

once-for-all choice. In other words, if you have decided for Christ and the seal of God is evident on

your forehead, you cannot change your mind! That tells me somehow, when we face the ultimate test,

God miraculously overcomes our evil, sinful flesh and gives us the grace and courage in spite of

ourselves. My interpretation of this is that we will be unable to deny Jesus, unable to even choose the

mark that would temporarily save our lives" (pg. 339). Apparently, the only way for God to reconcile

this self-contradiction is for Him to remove man's power of choice! If so, one wonders why the

Almighty, who is no respecter of persons, did not provide such supernatural grace for other saints like

Judas Iscariot, Peter, and Simon the sorcerer, who all denied the Lord? Why didn't He protect Chang

Wong? Why did the Holy Spirit waste so much space in Revelation exhorting the brethren to

"overcome" persecution and remain faithful if the Lord was going to supernaturally protect them (Rev.

2:7, 10, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21; 21:7)? The Bible, though, makes it very clear that a child of God can

fall from grace (1 Chr. 28:9; Ezek. 18:24; Matt. 24:45-51; Acts 8:18-24; Gal. 5:4; 2 Pet. 2:20-22;

Heb. 12-19; Heb. 6:3-4; Heb. 10:26-31).

(2) What is the mark of the beast? Revelation does not specifically say, but it was a brand of loyalty to the

beast (Rev. 13:16-17), whom we have already seen in earlier articles represents the Roman Emperors.

Now it is simply a fact of history that during the Domitian persecution that forms the historical

backdrop to Revelation, citizens were required to have a certificate to buy and sell. Those who

worshiped the emperor were given this certificate. W. B. West, Jr., quoting from Barclay's

commentary on Revelation, gives an example of one of these: "We, the representatives of the

Emperor, Serenos and Hermas have seen you sacrificing" (W. B. West, Jr., Revelation Through First-

Century Glasses, Nashville, TN: Gospel Advocate, 1997, pg. 95). Undoubedtly, this was the infamous

mark of the beast John referred to. It is certainly not a literal brand or computer chip as

dispensationalists like Jenkins and LaHaye think.

(3) What is the number of the beast? Revelation 13:18 says it is 666. Now, this is not the same thing as

the mark of the beast. The latter is a brand of loyalty to the beast and the former is a way to identify

the beast. The authors of The Mark fail to make this important distinction. In the novels, Carpathia is

obsessed with the number 216. They have yet to explain why this is, but it is evidently supposed to

correlate in some way with 666 without being too obvious. Speculation among fans is widespread, but

the best suggestion on the official "Left Behind" web-site (www.leftbehind.com) is that 2 + 1 = 3

which would in turn suggest three sixes or 666. In the novel, the loyalty mark is a biochip with 216 or

a number related to it or the name of Carpathia tatooed on one's hand or brow. Equating the mark and

the number of the beast is an exegetical blunder.

(4) Exactly who 666 refers to is a matter of widespread debate and it may never be possible to know for

sure. Space forbids a complete examination of even some of the leading theories among brethren. We

will summarize these and refer the interested reader to other sources for further study. In the ancient

world, numbers stood for letters. How one "spells" 666 gives different answers. One ancient view

contends that 666 "spells" LATEINOS meaning "the Latin man." Some commentators believe this

points to the Roman emperors (your author's view) and others think this prophecies the rise of the

Roman Catholic Church and her popes (cf. Wayne Jackson, Select Studies From The Book Of

Revelation, Stockton, CA: Courier Publications, pp. 48-71). Another ancient view says that 666

"spells" Nero Caesar (cf. West, op. cit., 96-97). Yet another interpretation points out that six

represents evil (being one short of the perfect number 7) and thus 666 simply identifies the beast as

the embodiment of sin and evil (cf. Rod Rutherford, The Millennial Mania, Olive Branch, MS:

privately published, pgs. 57-58).

CONCLUSION

Brethren and friends, one of the real dangers of premillennialism is that people can become so obsessed with these speculative and unfounded theories that they neglect their really important spiritual needs. I once studied with such a man. While I tried to study with him on the plan of salvation, all he wanted to talk about was the mark of the beast. He was convinced the government was going to begin implanting microchips into people so as to control their minds and that thought really concerned him. He just refused to see that such language was figurative. Finally, I said to him, "Even if you are right about the mark of the beast, if you don't obey the gospel and loose your soul, what difference does it make?" Sad to say, but he never has become a Christian. Book nine in the "Left Behind" series is entitled Desecration and is due to be released October 30, 2001. Look for our review of it in a future issue of POWER.