The farther we are from the time of Mr. Armstrong’s death, the greater the confusion in the “greater church of God” over prophecy.  One of the specifics Mr. Armstrong taught was the definition of the Mark of the Beast.  Yet, there is now much confusion as to what that mark really is.  The following excerpt from his 1952 article titled “The Mark of the Beast” will clearly answer the question:  What is the  “Mark of the Beast?”

What Is a Mark, Anyway?

Now what is a "mark"? In Bible usage it is virtually synonymous  with a "sign," and in one or two places used interchangeably.  There is merely this difference: A "mark" is a brand of identification, forced on one. Cattle raisers put by force their  mark on their cattle -- their brand. A "sign" is also a badge of  IDENTITY, but one voluntarily accepted and used. A druggist hangs a sign in front of his store. It may say, "JONES & CO., DRUGS." It identifies. It tells what kind of store, and who owns it.

Now the "beast," in association with the Church, used FORCE to brand the western world with their MARK. Those who obeyed God and kept His Sabbath were martyred. They were unable to "buy or sell." But God does not force anyone. God lets us make our own decision about obeying Him, accepting Christ, and becoming His obedient children.

But is the Sabbath God's SIGN that we are Christians, belonging to HIM?

God's SIGN

Yes, indeed!

It was after God had made, and ratified, the Covenant with Israel. That Old Covenant, of course, was for limited duration and is now replaced with the New. But any covenant made after it had been made and ratified by blood was no part of that Old Covenant.

It was forty days after that ratification, that God made a new, separate, different Covenant between Himself and all who should be His people, to last forever. This was no temporary covenant, but for all generations, FOREVER.

It is found in Exodus 31:12-17:

"And the Eternal spake unto Moses, saying, Verily MY SABBATHS ye shall keep; for it is a SIGN between me and you throughout your generations." These generations of Israel (see our free booklet, "United States and Britain in Prophecy,") are still going on! Now WHY is it a sign? Does it IDENTIFY God to us? Does it identify us as HIS? "... that ye may know that I am the Eternal that doth sanctify you."

Get the powerful meaning of those words!

It is a SIGN, that we may KNOW that the Eternal is the true God. It identifies who God is. How? Notice verse 17: "It is a SIGN ... for in six days the Eternal made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." It is the memorial of God's rest from CREATION. Always, in all parts of the Bible, God identifies Himself as CREATOR. How can we distinguish who is the TRUE God, from all the false gods?

The true God created all the false gods, and that from which they are made, and everything that is. Some worshipped the sun. But the Eternal, the true God, created the sun, and rules it. Some worship idols carved out of stone, or wood, or marble. But the true God created that from which they were made, and even the human beings who made them. The Sabbath is GOD'S Sabbath, not the Jewish Sabbath. Never does the Bible call it the "Jewish Sabbath." It identifies GOD as the CREATOR.

The Sabbath was made FOR MAN. So said Jesus (Mark 2:27). It was made WHEN man was made (Genesis 2:1-3). It was MADE -- and it was Christ, the Eternal, who made it! Therefore HE is Lord of the Sabbath! It was made to keep man in the true knowledge of the IDENTITY of the true God, to keep him from idolatry! And history proves that every nation that did NOT keep God's Sabbath worshipped false gods, and did not know who the true God was! When Israel quit keeping God's Sabbath, they went into idolatry (Ezek. 20:5, 11-13, 17-21).

It was for SABBATH-BREAKING GOD SENT BOTH ISRAEL AND JUDAH INTO SLAVERY!

But back to Exodus 31:17-18. It also is the SIGN by which we are identified as belonging to GOD. We BELONG to whom we obey -- so we read in Romans! It is the sign by which we know He is the ETERNAL ... "that doth sanctify YOU." To sanctify is to set apart for spiritual use. The SABBATH sets one apart from the world, and always did -- as OBEYING and belonging to GOD. Can you think of ANY REASON why anyone would EVER keep the Sabbath, except to OBEY GOD? Would any man defy human custom and invite persecution, and be set apart as different, through human reason? Could any atheist be a Sabbath keeper? THE SABBATH IDENTIFIES GOD'S PEOPLE!

God's people, we have seen above, are identified as they who KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS. The world acknowledges all the other nine Commandments. The only one the world rejects is the fourth. The only one that sets one apart from the world -- that IDENTIFIES one as belonging to GOD -- that is a SIGN of God -- is the SABBATH.

Notice, verse 16, it is a "PERPETUAL COVENANT." It is a covenant! It is no part of the Old Covenant -- no part of the law of Moses! It was made with Israel after all these, and is a separate, and perpetual COVENANT.

Notice verse 17: "It is a SIGN between me and the children of Israel FOREVER. There it is! It is a COVENANT. It is FOREVER!

When given to physical, flesh-born Israel, this covenant punished by death any breaking of the SIGN. Today, since the administration of the death penalty by the Levites and judges is not being done (II Cor. 3:7-8), and since all believers, in all nations, whether Israelite or Gentile are grafted into spiritual Israel (Romans 11:24), the willful refusal to keep this sign is punishable by death -- the second death.

"He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God ...?" (Heb. 10:28-29).

On Right Hand and in Forehead

God says the penalty for SIN is DEATH! Sin is the transgression of the Law. If we break only this one Commandment, we are guilty. The penalty is DEATH!

The Roman Church caused people to receive the MARK of pagan ROME -- the Sunday observed by the pagan Roman Empire -- and the penalty for disobedience was DEATH! Fifty million or more were put to death -- so says history.

It is the ONLY Commandment the world will not accept in its MIND (forehead) and OBEY (by work, or rest, with the HAND). It is the ONLY commandment that can distinguish between those who have the MARK of the BEAST, or the SIGN OF GOD.

Now the book of Revelation is written mostly in symbols. The right hand symbolizes work, or labor -- the forehead, the intellect, or mind. It has to do with what we BELIEVE, in the mind, and whether we OBEY, with the hand.

How ABOUT GOD'S SIGN? It also was received in the forehead, and the hand!

Regarding one of God's annual Sabbaths, we read: "... it shall be for a SIGN unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes [forehead], that the Eternal's LAW may be in thy mouth" (Ex. 13:9).

Deuteronomy 6:1, 6-8: "Now these are the COMMANDMENTS ... and these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart ... and thou shalt bind them for a SIGN upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes."

Deuteronomy 11:18: "Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a SIGN upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes."

Also see Proverbs 7:2-3, and Revelation 7:3-4; 14:1.

There is absolute proof. Yes, the truth is very plain!

The Sabbath is God's SIGN, standing, more than any commandment, for OBEDIENCE. It was symbolically in the HAND and in the FOREHEAD, just as the MARK of the BEAST -- the pagan SUNDAY- -was in the right HAND and in the FOREHEAD!

SUNDAY observance -- Christmas, New Year's, Easter, etc. -- this is the MARK of the BEAST!

The Church did cause all under the "Holy Roman Empire" to receive this "mark," during the middle ages. Has she stopped?

Just at present she has not the POWER to enforce this mark on everyone. But there will be a United States of EUROPE -- a union of ten nations. It will be a UNION of Church and State -- and the Church once again will sit astride "The BEAST."

Now notice Daniel 7:21, 22: "I beheld, and the same horn [papacy] made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came [Second Coming of Christ] and judgment was given to the saints of the most High."

Yes, the MARK OF THE BEAST once again will be enforced! No one will be able to hold a job or engage in business without it. Those refusing will once again be tortured and martyred -- probably by the secret police of the political state -- but at the behest of the Church!

Today, ALL NATIONS are deceived by this paganism masquerading under the name "Christianity."

Today, America, Canada, Britain -- Israelitish nations -- are actually in the ways of this "BABYLON."

God's last warning is this: "COME OUT of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of HER PLAGUES!"

IF you are branded by this MARK, rejecting the SIGN of God in your forehead and hand, you shall be tortured by God's plagues without mercy! Yes, You!

But if you OBEY God, -- if you are watching, praying without ceasing, you shall be accounted worthy to ESCAPE -- and come under GOD'S PROTECTION (Luke 21:36).

Herbert W. Armstrong