Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: Jan. 19, 2024
Update	: Feb. 8, 2026
Parts	: 01

Synopsis:



As I explain in my disclaimer on the Bill's Bible Basics website, everything that you read in the articles and series which are available on my website -- aside from the central message of Salvation through faith in the atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ -- is subject to change. The reason why I intentionally make this disclaimer is really simple. Just like the rest of you, I am an imperfect human being. When it comes to the Holy Scriptures, despite the fact that I have invested huge amounts of time in studying the Bible over the past fifty-four years, I do not possess perfect knowledge. I do not understand -- and have never claimed to understand -- everything that is contained in God's Word. It is just too deep for our limited minds to fully grasp. I am reminded of verses such as the following where the authors came to a similar realization:

"Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it."


"Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable."


"As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all."


"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding."


"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."


"Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number."


"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!"


"Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law."


So because of this fact, because God's Word is so profound, similar to other honest Christians, I am forced to recognize my own limitations, and I am forced to stay on guard, and to maintain an attitude of humility, lest I foolishly begin to boast beyond my measure, or worse yet, become deceived as so many Christians have become today due to their lack of due diligence in more carefully and prayerfully studying God's holy Word. As the Apostles Peter and Paul so wisely wrote:

"And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know."


"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;"


"If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself."


"From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm."


"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."


"Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."


"But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of."


"And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction."


In short, similar to many of my Christian brethren, when it comes to understanding God's Word, I am in a constant state of spiritual growth. As such, I embrace what I like to refer to as an "evolving theology". What this means is that as my understanding of God's Word continues to expand, through diligent study of the Scriptures, the doctrines and beliefs which I embrace must adapt to any new truths which the Lord may choose to reveal to me. Thus, as I explain in the series entitled "Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?", this may in fact mean discarding ideas which are no longer valid, and which are not supported by the Scriptures; even if I have embraced said beliefs for many years.

My friends, this is a very important point which I hope you will take to heart. Are you willing to do the same? Are you willing to discard beliefs which are not validated by the Scriptures? It is imperative that we all remain flexible in our understanding. We cannot afford to become overly rigid, or else we will be just like the Scribes and the Pharisees of old, who placed tradition above the truth of God's Word. I discuss this topic in a number of articles, such as in "Are You Flexible", "My Evolving Theology", "Are You Just a Baby Huey?", "Tradition or Truth? Old Wine or New Wine?" and a number of other articles which you will find listed at the end of this same article. Consider the following verses:

"Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees."


"Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition."


"He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye."


Clearly then, we must all be very careful that we are not overcome or deceived by the traditions and philosophies of men which negate God's Word. We must ask God for His wisdom, and we must diligently study and know His Word, so that we are not "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine". We must not be deceived by "seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." We must reject any and all "damnable heresies". Consider the following group of sample verses which further emphasize these points:

"And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."


"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."


"That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:"


"Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein."


"As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do."


As you can see, there has to be a balance. We have to hold on to the tried, proven and Biblically-sound doctrines of our faith -- such as Salvation through repentance and faith in the atoning Sacrifice of Christ -- while at the same time, we reject those doctrines which are contrary to the Scriptures. As if that is not already difficult enough in this day and age, we have to also remain open and flexible to anything new which the Lord may want to reveal to us.

As many of you will know, this is easier said that done. In today's climate, there are so many wild and crazy doctrines and beliefs out there, and having access to the Internet only makes it a lot worse. It can be downright confusing, and very difficult to wade through it all. No doubt one of the most difficult and confusing areas is Bible prophecy. What are we to believe? Who are we to believe? What is right and what is wrong? Ask one hundred different "experts", and you may get one hundred different answers.

As I point out in the aforementioned series "Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?", a number of years ago I was forced to re-evaluate some of my own beliefs, when certain Bible verses challenged my long-held understanding regarding the Lord's Return, and what we Christians refer to as Endtime Prophecy. As many of my longtime readers will already know from reading my writings, for forty years of my life -- 1971 to 2011 -- I was a very dedicated, confirmed Futurist-leaning Christian insofar as Biblical eschatology is concerned. For those of you who are not familiar with Futurism, as I explain in articles such as "Fight Against Futurism!", one of the key aspects of Futurist doctrine is that it takes certain ancient prophecies which were fulfilled in the past, and erroneously applies them to our current time, as if they haven't occurred or been fulfilled yet.

As I said a minute ago, I was totally sold-out to Futurism. I believed in it and preached it quite fervently to others. That is, until around 2011-2012 when I began to make a steep change in my personal beliefs, to the point where I am now about 90% Preterist, if not more. In fact, to be honest, I had already begun to doubt Futurism before 2011, but it was in that year that I really began to make a serious effort to reconcile my Futurist-leaning beliefs with what the Bible actually says regarding certain Bible prophecies.

And so, as I point out in that series, as well as in some of the other articles which are listed at the end of this current article, over a period of years, through a more diligent study of the Scriptures, I came to the conclusion that contrary to what many Futurist-leaning Christians now believe, a number of the prophetic things which both Jesus and the Apostles said and taught were not far future events. In other words, they were not for our present day. Rather, they were fulfilled during the latter portion of the First Century.

As I mentioned earlier, if there are two things that we all need when it comes to our understanding of the Bible, it is humility, as well as flexibility. It is for this reason that even though I make some rather profound and very challenging statements in that series, which I am convinced are strongly supported by the Scriptures, at the same time, I humbly note that my ideas are not bullet-proof. I cannot conclusively prove some of them beyond a shadow of a doubt.

There are two main reasons why this is so. The first of the two is simply that there's no clear, indisputable historical evidence to prove that said events occurred back then; at least none that I am currently aware of. I have my own ideas regarding this issue. Is there really no evidence because the events did not happen back then, and are yet to occur in our future? Or is it possible that the events I describe in that series did in fact happen back then, as I propose, but the evidence for them has been purposely covered up -- even to this very day -- by certain ecclesiastical powers who have their own agenda?

Personally, I lean towards the latter. While I cannot prove it, I suspect that a certain very powerful church possesses particular historical documents which it has purposely withheld from public view for centuries, because bringing those documents to light would destroy its power over the masses. I suspect that those documents may reveal in more detail exactly what happened during the First Jewish-Roman War; particularly during Roman general Titus' siege and conquest of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Please note that while I do include a lot of details in my 25-part series entitled "Vespasian, Titus and the Fall of Jerusalem", there are a few important details which even writers such as Flavius Josephus do not seem to mention.

I have often wondered what happened to some of the missing earlier works by noted Roman senator and historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus. I am of course referring to the missing volumes from his "Annals" and "Histories". Were those books truly lost, or is it possible that they are purposely hidden in some dark vault somewhere, never to see the light of day? I realize that I am being a bit cryptic here, but I know that the wise will understand what I'm saying; particularly if you have read some of my other articles.

Now, the second thing which throws a monkey wrench into some of my personal thoughts regarding certain aspects of Bible prophecy, concerns some technological developments which are occurring in our very day. As many of you will know, I have written a substantial amount of material regarding the 666. That is to say, the infamous Mark of the Beast, which we find mentioned in the following well-known Bible verses which the Apostle John wrote in the Book of Revelation:

"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:‭ And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.‭ Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number ‭is‭ Six hundred threescore ‭and‭ six.‭"


For those of my newer readers who may not be aware of it, as of this current date -- February 8, 2026 -- I have authored a total of eight articles -- including this one -- concerning this important topic of the Mark of the Beast. These articles include the following"

1. IBM's Cognitive Computers, DARPA and the Image of the Beast

2. Mondex and the Mark of the Beast!

3. 666: More Proof of the Coming System

4. Obamacare and the Mark of the Beast: Fact or Fiction?

5. Precursors to the 666 and the Mark of the Beast

6. 666: The Patience of the Saints

7. VeriChip, Somark and Microsoft Unmasked!

You will find the aforementioned articles listed at the end of this current article. All of those articles were written years before "Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?", which I completed in July of 2016. As such, they all have a Futurist bent to them; meaning that when I wrote them, I was of the opinion that the 666 was/is a near-future event, and not a past historical event. However, back in 2011 when I began making a serious U-turn regarding my understanding of ancient Bible prophecies -- meaning I no longer accepted the long-held views of Futurism which placed so many important events in our near future -- I also began to question the proper eschatological and historical placement of the Mark of the Beast as well.

In other words, I wondered if it is actually a near-future event as I had long believed? Or is it possible that the 666 actually occurred in the distant past, and I could find some way -- in other words, some historical evidence -- to tie it into historical events of the past, particularly during the latter half of the First Century AD?

Well, the problem is the following. While I am convinced and certain that the historical record clearly proves and in fact verifies and confirms that many prophetic events which are described in the Bible were fulfilled in the distant past -- please refer to "Vespasian, Titus and the Fall of Jerusalem" for a clear example of this -- when it comes to the infamous 666 -- or Mark of the Beast -- well, my friends, I have come up completely empty-handed. Honestly speaking, this discovery -- or lack thereof -- has forced me to take a step back, and to reconsider certain things; at least this particular point regarding Bible prophecy.

In other words, as of this date, I have been unable to find even the smallest piece of convincing evidence in any of the reliable, verifiable, historical sources -- such as Flavius Josephus, Tacitus, Suetonius, etc. -- which describes how any of the Roman emperors who ruled during the latter half of the First Century -- meaning Nero, Vespasian, Titus or Domitian -- enforced any kind of commercial system -- either on all citizens of the Roman Empire, or at least on the Jews who were trapped in Jerusalem -- whereby they could not buy or sell anything unless they had received some kind of mark, tattoo or brand, either on or in their right hand or else in or on their foreheads.

While it is a historical fact that the Romans practiced some forms of marking -- such as tattooing their slaves and their criminals, as well as Roman soldiers bearing military tattoos -- there simply does not appear to be any historical evidence whatsoever which supports any type of commercial restriction, based on a physical marking, being clearly implemented during the reigns of emperors Nero, Vespasian, Titus, or Domitian. At least there is none that I am aware of which matches the specific description we find in Revelation 13. Furthermore, the closest historical parallel might possibly be the Roman practice of requiring participation in emperor worship, and obtaining a libellus -- or certificate -- which proved that one had sacrificed to the Roman gods. However, this practice was not implemented until later during the reign of Emperor Decius -- 249 AD to 251 AD -- which was obviously well after the First Century when I would expect the Mark of the Beast to have occurred.

Thus, in the name of transparency and honesty, personally, I can only conclude that if there truly is any such convincing information -- such as clear historical quotations -- it has totally eluded me as of now. Perhaps I just haven't found it yet. Or maybe I did find such evidence, and did read it, but I simply did not properly understand it. On the other hand, perhaps such vital evidence simply does not exist. While I'm aware of the fact that some Preterists try to spiritualize the Mark of the Beast, and will attempt to assign to it some kind of symbolic meaning, personally, as of this current time, I simply cannot follow in their footsteps.

The reason for my embracing this particular position is very simple. In my mind and understanding, the Mark of the Beast appears to be a very real, a very literal and a very physical restrictive commercial system. Buying and selling is rather obviously something very physical which people all around the world have been doing for literally millennia, including at the time of the First Century AD. While a lot of the Book of Revelation is written in a very spiritual, symbolic and even allegorical nature, I remain convinced that the Apostle John is describing something very physical in the aforementioned verses which are found in the Book of Revelation. You can agree with me or not. According to your faith.

In contrast, while I personally am not currently aware of any historical information which can be used to confirm that the Mark of the Beast actually occurred during the latter half of the First Century, as I explain in the aforementioned list of articles, there is obviously plenty of evidence to suggest that the devilish Mark of the Beast may almost be upon us in our present day. Clearly, the signs are all around us. If I recall correctly, the very first article I wrote concerning the Mark of the Beast was "Mondex and the Mark of the Beast", which I authored in early 1998. At that time, I considered the possibility that the Mondex card might be the infamous 666, or at the very least, a precursor to it.

Of course, over the past twenty-eight years since I authored that article, modern technology has continued to progress at a rather rapid pace. As I amply point out in those articles, we have gone from straight cash, to paper checks, to plastic credit cards, to online banking and debit cards, to RFID chips such as the Verichip, to national ID cards and digital IDs such as QR codes and global passkeys, to invisible RFID ink and quantum dot tattoos. Unlike Somark's invisible RFID ink, quantum dot tattoos rely on copper-based quantum dots embedded in biocompatible, micron-scale capsules which are embedded in a person's skin. While they are currently being used for mainly medical purposes -- such as for storing a person's vaccination records -- they could easily be used for storing financial information as well, and that should raise anyone's alarm.

In short, my friends, as is already obvious to many people at this current time -- even to non-Christians -- there is thus overwhelming evidence that the technology for implementing a restrictive Mark of the Beast financial system -- which would only be provided to people who knowingly and foolishly choose to pledge their loyalty to the Beast system -- is already in existence. Given the level of commercial globalization in our present world -- which makes the entire world susceptible to global domination by a group of elite power-mongers -- all it would take would be a serious, worldwide financial crash, in order for such an oppressive system to be forced upon all the peoples of the world.

So as you can see, this issue of determining exactly where to place the Mark of the Beast in the prophetic timeline -- that is to say, in the ancient past, or in the near future -- has been quite the dilemma for me personally. It is NOT just the issue of HOW to properly interpret the Apostle John's words, but likewise WHERE and WHEN to place them as well. Personally, when all is said and done, the only safe conclusion at which I can arrive is this: Time will reveal the truth. It will divide truth from error, and God will most certainly do all His pleasure, because He is not a man that He should lie. Regardless of whether or not we each fully and perfectly understand His Word, all of it will come to pass in His perfect time, and in His way, because forever His Word is settled in Heaven. Consider the following group of Bible verses:

". . . For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven."


"We have also a MORE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:"


"God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"


"Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever."


"The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations."


"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:"


"I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past."


"For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."


"He is‭ the Rock, his work ‭is‭ perfect: for all his ways ‭are‭ judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right ‭is‭ he.‭"


"God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged."


"In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;"


With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you've found it informative and enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

Cognitive Computers, DARPA, OpenAI, AGI, Superintelligence and Elon Musk

666: Mondex and the Mark of the Beast!

666: More Proof of the Coming System

666: Obamacare and the Mark of the Beast: Fact or Fiction?

666: Precursors to the 666 and the Mark of the Beast

666: The Patience of the Saints

666: VeriChip, Somark and Microsoft Unmasked!

Abomination of Desolation: Explained!

Are You Deceived and Don't Even Know It?

Are You Flexible?

Are You Just a Baby Huey?

Do You Seek the Truth or Short-Change Yourself?

Doctrinal Correction: The Proper Way to Do It

Fight Against Futurism!

Humility in Our Understanding of God's Word

In the Ages to Come

Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?

My Evolving Theology

Preterist or Futurist? It's All by Faith

Should Christians Engage in Doctrinal Debates?

So, You Have Got It All Figured Out, Do You?

Study, Work and Don't Be Ashamed

Tradition or Truth? Old Wine or New Wine?

Understanding the Bible in Context

Vespasian, Titus and the Fall of Jerusalem

When Was Satan Cast Out of Heaven?

Who Hindered the Antichrist?

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