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"But never fear that you will be deceived into receiving the mark of the beast because if you love and serve God, you will not and cannot reject him."

We are also commanded to never sin again. Technically, if we remain in fellowship with Him in all things, it isn't necessary for believers to sin again, yet we also know that if we calim we do not sin, we are liars. A parallel argument could be made that if we love and serve Him, we will not and cannot sin again.

On the other hand, there might have been a reason for our Lord and Savior to have made a statement about a series of events which wouldn't transpire for several millennium, but had such devastating consequences for the souls which He loved, that He believed it appropriate to foretell these events, even some 2 millennium in advance of their fruition.

These events might be so ever literal that they were well foretold millennium in advance of their actual occurrence.

There is a difference between sin committed by unbelievers and sin committed by believers. The former sin leads to death, the latter does not.

I John 5:16-18

If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.

I'm not sure I agree with the parallel argument you suggest. I'll have to think about that one and get back to you.

My point in the statement you quoted was really that loving and serving God is a choice and it is, by definition, the opposite choice of rejecting God. Those receive the mark will make a conscious choice to reject God. We have already made our choice and therefore need not fear changing our minds. The parallel you offer is that of choosing sin. Continuing to sin as a believer is the flesh struggling with the spirit. There is no parallel struggling that takes place in loving and serving God. You either love him or you don't. (Note that I'm not implying that there aren't times when we are closer to God in our walk with than at other times.)

I'm not following your last two paragraphs. To what are you referring?