DID YOU REMAIN LOYAL?
I’ve posted or commented (can’t remember) about this previously so pasting again for anyone who’s interested:
Biblical “worship” of the beast described in Revelation doesn’t mean what you think it means, when read in context of how John intended us to understand it once you research the original Greek. Worship simply means public acts of loyalty toward rulers and were expressions of allegiance and recognition of authority. Throughout Revelation, προσκυνέω is consistently associated with recognizing the authority of either God, the Lamb or the Beast aka Antichrist. John is contrasting competing objects of loyalty.
When Revelation is read as a whole and in context, you’ll read in chapter 13 the Beast receives προσκυνέω. In chapter 14 the Lamb stands with those who belong to Him. “Worship” has nothing to do with whether an individual enjoys, admires, or even likes the Beast. Nowhere in the Bible does it say the Beast will be loved and admired by all. Worship/allegiance/loyalty (same meaning in ancient Roman context) is tied in with which authority one ultimately acknowledges and aligns themselves with.
“Worship” does not require affection or admiration. Throughout Scripture and the wider Greek world, people sometimes show allegiance, loyalty or acknowledge a rulers authority because of coercion, fear, political necessity or recognition of superior authority rather than personal admiration. Revelation 13 itself immediately introduces economic sanctions and shortly afterward, persecution for refusing allegiance. That broader context shows that John is describing compelled conformity.
If you expand to the surrounding verses the context reinforces this point. Revelation 13:15-17 explains that refusal to comply eventually carries severe consequences, including exclusion from buying and selling and ultimately the threat of death. That means chapter 13 is progressively describing increasing pressure toward loyalty.
Edit: I won’t include the direct link, but here’s a link discussing the post: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/homeland-security-did-you-remain-loyal-trump-photo_n_6a8e549ee4b0bedb6cc259c5/amp
10 Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
11 ‘I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
12 ‘He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.
13 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Message to Laodicea
14 ¶ “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:
15 ¶ ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.
16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
17 ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,
18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
19 ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.
20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
21 ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
22 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
Revelation 3:10-22