Left Behind - Your Choices Matter

If you are left behind to remain on the earth after the rapture of God's people, you will be faced with a choice. It will be the most important choice you can make. The second beast, called the False Prophet, will give breath to the image of the first beast, the Antichrist. The image of the beast will be able to speak and kill anyone refusing to worship the image. It will also force people to receive a mark on their right hands or foreheads, which is the name of the beast or number of its name (666). Without the mark, you will not be able to buy or sell anything.

The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. (Revelation 13:15-17)

By receiving the mark and worshiping the beast, you are sealing your eternal doom.

A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 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.” (Revelation 14:9-11)

Not only will you spend eternity in the lake of fire if you choose to take the mark and worship the beast but God will rain down judgments while you are alive on earth. For example, "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." (Revelation 16:2)

God warns us ahead of time what will be the destiny of the two beasts.

"But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur."

But God has wonderful blessings planned for those who refuse to take the mark and worship the beast. Most likely, they will have to pay for their decision with their life. But because they loved God more than their lives, they will come back to life and reign.

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

The choice is up to you. Choose wisely!

Will you be raptured when the Lord comes to gather His people to himself? The two-day feast of Rosh Hashanah begins tomorrow evening. Are you ready for His return?