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And the earth-beast performs fantastic miracles. Like Elijah on Mount Carmel, it even causes fire to blaze down from heaven to earth for all to see. Since it is allowed to perform these miracles in the presence of the first beast, the earth-beast deceives the inhabitants of the earth, commanding them to make an image of the first beast that had survived the mortal wound inflicted by the sword. And the earth-beast was granted permission to breathe into the image and to animate it so that it could even speak. It decreed that those who refuse to worship the image of the first beast must be killed, and the earth-beast mandates that all humans must carry a mark on their right hands or foreheads: both great and small, both rich and poor, both free and slave.

Those who do not carry this mark, that is those who do not have the name of the first beast or the number representing its name inscribed on them, are not allowed to sell their wares in the market.
Here is the divine wisdom: let anyone who understand these mysteries figure out the number of the beast because it is the number of a person. Its number is 666.

Chapter 14
The scene changed. I looked and saw the Lamb standing on top of Mount Zion, and with Him were the 144,000 who had His name and His Father's name inscribed on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven roaring like a waterfall and clapping like thunder.

a f f i r m
The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade at your right hand. Psalm 121:5

r e a d + r u m i n a t e
Mark 11:1-18 (NASB)
As they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples, and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. “If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here.”
They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they untied it. Some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it. And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting:
“Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!”
Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late. On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening. Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all
the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.” The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.

r e f l e c t
“But Jesus was decisive; He never dodged or compromised—He met the issues fairly and squarely: ‘He entered into the temple, and began to cast out.’ And yet there is a sentence which qualifies this precipitate action. Mark 11:11 says, ‘And he entered into Jerusalem, into the temple, and when he had looked around upon all things, it being now eventide, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.’ He looked around on all things—surveyed the situation at first hand, got the facts, and then—went out and
slept over them! A sound procedure for every reformer: Look around on all things, get the truth at first hand, and then go out and sleep over the matter. See how the thing looks in the morning when emotions have had time to cool off. If the issue is still clear at that time, then go ahead—straight to the temple.” E. Stanley Jones

d e c l a r e
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28

Practice the Story: Write a newspaper headline or two that captures this temple scene
(e.g.,“Jesus brings the Kingdom of God into the Temple” or “Kingdom trumps kingdom”).
Even better, try composing a Twitter post (for you who Twitter). In 140 characters, write the
“lead” on this story. Add the hashtag “#commontext” at the end.

#44 

Begin  creating a scholarship fund so that, for every one of your own children you send to college, you can give a scholarship to an at-risk youth. Get to know their family and learn from each other.