I thought that if you TOOK the mark you are lost at that point, that taking it out you in the Pharisee zone of irretrievable. Is this just semantics within the concept of you could be saved if you desired/cried out for salvation but under the circumstances you won’t, or is it that you are just permanently cut off from denial of the Holy Spirit?
The Eschaton is extremely difficult and I struggle with it.
Scripture provides the answer: There is ONE unforgiveable sin blaspheming (rejecting) the Holy Spirit.
So, what of this “Mark”, we must assess the CONTEXT in Revelation.
We are seeing Heaven as it existed at the beginning yet now and in the future.
Heaven [the presence of God] resides OUTSIDE of time.
The Revelation of St. John gives us a view of what Heaven was/is/will be...it never changes.
So what was the message concerning the Mark?
There are those who take the Mark (reject the HS) and were/are/will be in eternal torment, described by the messenger.
This is not a “warning” about taking the Mark...it is an explanation of the punishment before/now/coming for taking the Mark.
That Mark is a rejection of the HS.
The message is that those who took/take/will take are in eternal torment.
What does that mean for us?
Persevere in the Faith once given.
Look to the Word (John 1:1), not antho-centric knowledge.
Anthro = Man = 6
The Mark is the number of man “6” and all forms thereof.
(Note, interpretation here ranges from “6” to “666” to “18”.)
[I] will say that there are, currently in our (season) time, organizations that have risen that ARE takers of the Mark.
Several man-made religions in our land.
They are, in general polytheistic (many gods) or demonic (calling a demon “god”).
These are so-called religions devised by man.
Some were developed according to psychotic delusions, others from human despair and some were just pulled out of a hat.
These certainly can be called “Cults of the Mark”.