The Book of Revelations makes it clear that no one who is “marked with the Sign of the Beast” is allowed into Heaven. The “mark” either appears on the forehead or on the hand. The difficulty is that no recent governments seem to have actually branded, tattooed, or put RFID chips in or on their subjects’ hands and foreheads.
That Book was written for believers of every generation. So, we may assume that the Mark of the Beast is not necessarily something that is put upon people’s hands or foreheads, but is something that occurs when they make the “deal with the Beast” that allows them to trade within its empire. That way, we can see that the Mark applies to everyone who’s willing to get it in every time and place.
There are obvious markings on foreheads and hands that occur with wrinkle patterns. We all know of “palm readers” who profess to tell a person’s future by the various “life lines” and “love lines” that are on every human palm. It is not unreasonable to conjecture that a hateful, slothful, grasping person may have different lines on, or in, their palms than a kind, loving, open-handed person.
Similarly, it is not irrational to wonder if forehead lines and wrinkles indicate where thoughts are taking place in the mind. Frequently repeated thoughts may have themselves written on the forehead, where an astute observer may see and analyze them.
If we, for instance, right here and now, try to make our face appear to be deep in thought or analysis, we may feel, or see in a mirror, one or more vertical furrows above the sides of our noses reaching upward into our forehead. On the other hand, if we make ourselves look surprised, we probably are aware that horizontal lines appear above our eyebrows.
Speaking of eyebrows, when we look superior, we often arch one eyebrow, raising it upward. That practice, to those who make a practice of looking superior, may result in an arc-shaped wrinkle above one eye. When the best actors feel an emotion, they are smart enough to remember what their forehead looks like when they feel it, and apply that to whatever scene they’re in.The best actors practice making wrinkles appear on their foreheads to let their audiences know what they are thinking. Bad actors, on the other hand, aren’t aware of that, and tend to lose their audience.
One may consider the possibility that there are other, smaller wrinkles on our hands and foreheads that indicate where our thoughts have been spending time. At final Judgment, it may only take a glance from our Judge to see just what kind of person we are.
II
One group of people, faithful Moslems, do have marks, called zabibas, on their foreheads. They are caused by frequent contact with their foreheads with their prayer rugs. Many commentators have said the Second Beast, which has two horns, represents the Moslem religion/Mohammed and the divisions of the that religion into Sunni and Shiite.
