In a Primary School classroom in Devon, Southwest England, two five-year-olds share their religious beliefs. One little girl, Jasmine Cain tells her classmate, I believe in God and Jesus and I'm going to heaven'. Overhearing them, a seven-year-old, asks, How do you go to hell then?'
By not believing in God', Jasmine responds.
Innocent childhood chit-chat? Not according to the national press in today's diversity-oriented Britain, where Jasmine's Christian beliefs are deemed unacceptable by the politically correct school authorities.
Pulling her aside, Jasmine's teacher humiliatingly admonished her not to talk about Jesus in school. No wonder the distressed five-year-old ran to her mother after school to tell her through tears what her teacher had said.
If you imagine that the school offered a fulsome apology, or the teacher concerned was disciplined for her abusive manner, think again. Jasmine's mother Jennie, herself a receptionist at the school, was instead hauled before headmaster Gary Read and warned regarding Jasmine's unacceptable behaviour.
A shaken and intimidated, Jennie privately emailed friends in her church, asking them to pray for her family, the school and the church. Unfortunately, one of those trusted friends was married to a school governor who forwarded a copy to the school whereupon Mr Read, holding a highlighted copy of her private email, confronted Jennie again, this time warning her that she faced disciplinary action and possible sacking for her conduct.
An isolated incident? Not at all.
Around the same time, community nurse Caroline Petrie was suspended and threatened with dismissal for asking an elderly lady in her own home if she would like her to pray. Quite unoffended, the lady politely declined, and that you might think would have been the end of it. Instead, on hearing of the incident, another nurse raised an official complaint against Nurse Petrie leading to her suspension and threatened dismissal.
Similarly, the foster mother of a 16-year-old Muslim girl who was summarily dismissed and blacklisted by her local social work department from ever fostering children again after her charge converted to Christianity. Although the foster mother had in no way persuaded the youngster to convert, officialdom that took the view that the girl's decision to convert rendered her devoutly Christian foster mother an unacceptable carer.
Such stories abound nowadays, and the Inquisitional nature of what the formidable Christian MP and former government minister Anne Widdicombe describes as Christianophobia has become an increasingly frequent feature of the retreat of religious freedom from Britain for some time.
This should come as no surprise, however, as it is prophesied in the Christian Bible as a hallmark of the last days, where it is call the Mark of the Beast'. Not yet the full-blown manifestation of the phenomenon mentioned in the Apocalypse, but evidence that the modern day scourge of Political Correctness certainly bears sufficient similarity to be recognised as a significant precursor.
But just what are those characteristics? And what is the Mark of the Beast anyway? Many people, a sizeable number of Christians among them, confuse the Mark of the Beast with the number 666', but this is mistaken. Although closely linked, they are in fact quite distinct entities in heir own right as we read in Revelation 13, which makes clear that the Beast in question is an emissary of Satan.
And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, except he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that has understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred three score and six. (Verses 16-18)
Note reference to the mark, OR the name of the beast, OR the number of his name. These are distinct alternatives. The number 666' is not the Beast's Mark but the number associated with his name, although yet again, not his actual name.
The number six is the number of Man and, long before the Apocalypse was written, closely associated with Babylon whose ancient mathematicians gave the world the hexagessimal system we use today to measure time in sixty seconds per minute, and sixty minutes per hour, and the 360-degree arc segments of every circle, each with its own minutes and seconds. Babylon too is a cipher for false religion and confusion.
Moreover, Hebraic emphasis employs word repetition; hence Jesus' frequent use of Truly, truly' (literally, Amen, amen') meaning 'Assuredly'. Double repetition compounds the emphasis to indicate an absolute, as in Holy, holy, holy' in Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8, when ascribing the attribute to God.
Thus, 666 speaks of a quintessential exponent of humanistic religious confusion. Elsewhere, he is simply called the Antichrist (there are actually more than one Beast and several Antichrists). Notice, he is not the Antigod. People believing in a god is not a problem for Satan; only our true understanding of who Jesus is, and the nature of his atoning work on the Cross for the salvation of mankind. So, don't be surprised when other religions seem to go relatively unscathed while Christianity seems the principle or even only target of the barbs of Secularism.
So, if his name is Antichrist and his number is 666, what is his Mark'?
The answer is found in Revelation, but to understand how to find it we need to turn first to Deuteronomy 6:4-8, The Shema'.
"Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God is one Yahweh: And you shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
"And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart:
"And you shall teach them diligently unto your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
"And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes."
It is verse eight's admonition to bind God's laws "for a sign upon your hand, andas frontlets between your eyes" that informs John's expression in Revelation 13:17.
"And that no man might buy or sell, except he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."
So what's the connection?
For Millennia, devout Jewish males have interpreted the Shema literally by attaching leather boxes to their forehead and arm when they pray. Called Tephillin in Hebrew or Phylacteries in Greek, they contain four Torah fragments which the adherent wears to show his obedience. Jesus spoke of them and, as an observant Jew, undoubtedly wore them.
The reason they are so worn is because in Hebrew thought the head is the seat of authority while the hand represents what we do. Therefore, to place God's law between their eyes represents always keeping God's Law to the forefront in their lives and recognising God's authority over them. Tying it to their hand speaks of obedience to God in all that they do.
Of course, this is merely an outward depiction of an inner truth, which God calls a sign' identifying his people rather like the Christian rites of Baptism and Communion. Although we are neither cleansed spiritually by the one nor saved by the other, they serve as physical testimonies to a spiritual realty.
Thus the Mark of the Beast refers to a sign that characterises those who are obedient to the Antichrist. They are under his authority and do what he says.
But where does that leave those who do not?
We see it today in the toxic contagion of political correctness with its blatant persecution of Christians who dare to stand up and be counted, who stand against the tide of anti-Christian legislation and God-hating secular authority; Christians threatened with dismissal and the deprivation of employment, which would inevitably lead to a consequent inability to buy and sell.
One of the problems in identifying the Beast's connection to the spirit of political correctness is the prevalent teaching in much if the Evangelical and Charismatic Church that Christians are going to be whisked away at the Rapture before the Tribulation.
Although I do believe in the 'parousia' (rapture), this is not a correct interpretation of the timetable which, according to the Bible, says that the Church is preserved by God against Satan's wrath during the Tribulation, not removed from it. Christians will see Tribulation, and if the more complacent elements of the British and American churches would wake and smell the coffee they would notice that the early stages are already with us, with hundreds of thousands of Christians being martyred annually, worldwide. One Saudi Arabian convert to Christianity had her tongue cut out before being murdered. Meanwhile the execution of Christians for the very fact of who they are is a common event in many places.
What we are seeing now is the manifestation of that persecution in hitherto Christian countries.
What we are seeing today is the Mark of the Beast beginning to emerge across the whole world.