Need some scholarly help here.
Reading a book about Revelation, which claims that the Greek translated "miracles" in the KJV should actually be translated "ceremonies".
Can anyone confirm the original Greek, and whether "ceremonies" is one of the acceptable definitions?

Swalchy gives this at thewaytoYahuweh.com :




*Could* it be ceremonies?

"signs and marks, tokens and phenomenon’s, miracles and wonders"

So no - I would stick my neck out, knowing Swalchys translation and say it does not mean ceremonies.

I think its...

4592 σημεῖον [semeion /say·mi·on/] n n. From a presumed derivative of the base of 4591; TDNT 7:200; TDNTA 1015; GK 4956; 77 occurrences; AV translates as “sign” 50 times, “miracle” 23 times, “wonder” three times, and “token” once. 1 a sign, mark, token. 1a that by which a person or a thing is distinguished from others and is known. 1b a sign, prodigy, portent, i.e. an unusual occurrence, transcending the common course of nature. 1b1 of signs portending remarkable events soon to happen. 1b2 of miracles and wonders by which God authenticates the men sent by him, or by which men prove that the cause they are pleading is God’s.

Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible

Good work guys!

Swlachy seems to have a lot of time on his hands, at least he's putting it to excellent and brilliant, fantastic and marvellous, wonderful and spectacular work ;)

So what "signs" do you think will be performed to convince the sovereigns of the world to follow the dragon, beast and false prophet?

To my knowledge, the only specific sign identified in Revelation to be performed by the "beast out of the earth" (a.k.a. the "false prophet") is described in Revelation 13:13... "He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men." Whether this is the specific sign that persuades everybody to show up at Armageddon is anybody's guess.

kp

Although I think she's misinterpreting several minor points, I'm just about sold on this author's central hypothesis.
The clincher for me would be if you language scholars could clarify the relationship between the Hebrew word translated "sign" in Ezekiel 20:12 and the Greek word translated "mark" in Revelation 13:16,17.



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Most of us have read that the Harlot is the Roman Catholic Church (RCC).
Her argument is that the "mark of the beast" is adoption of the RCC liturgical calendar.
She even quotes Vatican II documents stating that the liturgy is the "mark of the authority" of the RCC;
in essence, if you observe (actively or passively) the RCC "holidays", you assent to the authority of the RCC and the pope.
So we're faced with a choice -- take Yahweh's mark, worshiping His way on His days;
or the Pope's mark, worshiping the Catholic way on the Catholic days.

Go get your Bible. Read Revelation 13:1-4, then Daniel 7. Clearly the topics are the same, and Daniel provides an explanation. Daniel 7:24, "he will subdue three kings", as Rome destroyed the Heruli, Vandals, and Ostrogoths.

25:
I don't have to say much about how the RCC fits the first part of v. 25. The second part got me -- time, times, and half a time. We usually think of that as 3 1/2 prophetic years, or 1260 days. But get this -- Justinian's Decree establishing the papal monarchy became effective in 538AD; and a "deadly wound" was dealt 1260 years later when General Berthier captured Pope Pius VI in 1798.

Rev 13:11

So the second beast was rising, around the same time as the "deadly" wound. The US Constitution was ratified in 1789.
Pope Gregory invented the Gregorian Calendar in 1582 to keep the Babylonian Feasts occurring in their seasons;
but it was the US adoption of this in 1800 that set the stage for it to be adopted worldwide; causing the world's economy to literally revolve around Roman Catholic Liturgy (the Babylonian feasts). So the second beast is the USA -- the two horns are two seats of government, our Federal government, and the sovereign Vatican HQ in Baltimore. (According to Rome, American catholics are "dual citizens" of the USA and the Vatican; and your local priests and bishops are Vatican government officials. Think of the opportunities for gathering intelligence, as our public servants go to confession...)

We've already mentioned the images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, broadcast on televisions worldwide. (TV invented here in the USA, so that we could "give life to the image" as in v15.)

This is symbolic -- you either adopt the liturgy in your heart (mind), or by your actions (hand).

You can't deny the impact of the Catholic calendar on the world's economy. Any who do you see buying and selling on the weekly Sabbath and Yahweh's feast days? Those with the "mark" of the RCC's authority.

Many have demonstrated numerological associations with Rome in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek -- the same languages used to identify Yahshua, and his "crime", when he was crucified.

What do you think?

Edited by user Saturday, February 13, 2010 3:12:58 AM(UTC)  | Reason: fix typo

I think that the Sabbath is a "sign", but not the same as THE MARK. It seems that the more literal interpretation usually fits best. I think the "mark of the beast" is literally a "mark", a "tatoo", or an imbedded "chip" in the hand or the forehead, something like a bar code or the name of the Beast. (Also, does it not say "they will give themselves the mark"?) Yahweh will seal His 144,000 with His "mark" upon their foreheads. The "fire from heaven" will be just that: a miraculous fire from heaven; if it were weapons of war, the people of that time would not think the Antichrist was doing anything miraculous or awesome.

Didn't even know that verse existed, or at least just forgot about it!



Isaiah 44:5 "One says, ‘I belong to יהוה; another calls himself by the name of Yaʽaqoḇ; another writes with his hand, ‘Unto יהוה,’ and names himself by the name of Yisra’ĕl."

I hope KP doesn't mind but I'm gonna copy and paste an email he responsed to of mine asking about this verse:



KP then also says later:



Here's Swalchy's take on Revelation 13:16:



After seeing "idolatrous image" I can't help but refer you guys to THIS post by Yada!

So this passage of Isaiah 44 is concerning the End Times and it could be some sort of declaration in defiance of the Antichrist, as if instead of saying I belong to the Antichrist these believers returning to Yahweh say they belong to Yahweh.



I've seen some say the letters/image of 666 as originally written actually resemble Islamic signs and writings, saying those belonging to the Beast could in fact be belonging to Allah and surrendering to Islam. Google it! But this doesn't make sense in regards to the timing of the Gog and Magog war happening prior to the Antichrist issuing the mark of the beast. Why would the mark of the beast be Islam if Islam had just literally been wiped off the map?

I'm also not really buying the Catholic argument since they really don't have so much power, they've become a laughing stock to the world. But maybe with Islam out of the way after the G&M war then maybe they gain a stronger foothold and can play one last major role in the world.

But I see the Antichrist being "unreligious," a secular humanist, serving his own agenda as opposed to a religious agenda, I think Obama makes a nice prototype, but the AC will be much, much worse.