Mark of the Beast
Authors: Adolphus A. Anekwe
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First of all, I give thanks to Mary, the blessed Virgin, our Mother, on whose inspiration, guidance, and under whose watchful eyes the completion of this project was made possible.
To my wife, Angela, who has endured countless hours of lost husband time without complaining; her encouraging words still echo in my ears.
To my children Ife, Emeka, Anthony, and Adora; the latter two would take turns sitting on my lap many a time while some of the typing was in progress.
To my brothers and sisters Godwin, Obi, Marci, Felicia, Mike, Theresa, Cecelia, and Ben; they lent their support and encouragement.
To my brilliant editor, Bob Gleason, for his superb editing.
Thanks to Pam Nelson, my vicarious agent, who agreed to read my book and believed in it from the start. Without her, none of this would have been possible. Keep up the good work, Pam.
Thanks to Sherra Stubbs for typing the original draft of the manuscript and the subsequent corrections that followed.
Thanks to my partner Dr. Mary Okam-Ubanwa and my staff at Broadway Medical Corporation, especially Carla Toney, Rose Graddick, Mary Hernandez, Gloria, Kim, Ebony, Dorothy, and Deloris, who have been with me all these years and have tolerated my constant nagging for perfection.
Also thanks to State Senator Ed Charbonneau, for his insightful foreword.
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CONTENTS
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I have known Dr. Anekwe both as a professional physician and as a distinguished member of our medical staff. Once in a while a book comes along that makes me stop and think. In
Mark of the Beast,
Dr. Anekwe took medical science to a whole new level, to an area beyond our ordinary imagination.
Imagine for a second the discovery of the real location in the body where the number 666 can be found among those chosen.
The prospects and questions raised by
Mark of the Beast
are exciting and provocative, to say the least. This discovery in the body of the actual location of 666 is not your everyday discussion.
I have read a lot of books in my life, but
Mark of the Beast
actually challenged me on a personal and professional level. I thought to myself, What would I do if
Mark of the Beast
was actually a true story? I really do not have any good answers.
Mark of the Beast
brings issues to the limelight in such a succinct way that it provokes as well as entertains.
It shows evil in its raw form, the type of evil we face here on earth on a day-to-day basis.
The other interesting aspect of this brilliantly written book is the dynamics at play throughout the chapters of the book: human emotions, Christianity, conscientious objectors, morality, and, most interestingly, the interplay between government and religion.
This book will keep you on a constant emotional high, and I highly recommend it.
âEd Charbonneau,
Indiana state senator
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SIGNUM MAGNUM
A great sign appeared in the skyâa woman, clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant with child, and she wailed in pain as she labored to give birth.
Then another sign appeared in the skyâa huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. On its heads were seven crowns. The dragon's tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to earth.
The dragonâalso known as the ancient serpentâstood before the woman, who was about to give birth, ready to devour the child. This child, a son, her first male child, was destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod.
The child, however, was rescued from the dragon, and taken up to the Almighty and His throne, the woman fleeing into the desert, where she would subsist for years to come.
A war broke out in the Kingdom. Michael, the valiant rescuer, and his soldiers battled the dragon. The serpent and his disciples fought back, but they were driven out of the Kingdom.
The dragon, also called the devil, which would deceive the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and all its disciples were thrown down with it. There was a big rejoicing in the Kingdom, and a voice could be heard proclaiming that the false accuser was gone, but woe to earth and the sea for the dragon had come down to them with great fury, and had but a limited time.
The dragon pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman, however, was in the desert, far from the dragon. But the dragon, still in pursuit, spewed a torrent of water out of its mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with the current. The earth, in an effort to help the woman, opened its mouth and swallowed the flood made by the dragon.
The dragon, who was furious, waged war against her and her offspring.
The dragon commanded a beast to come out of the sea. The beast had ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten crowns, and it looked like a leopard with a bear's feet and a lion's mouth.
The dragon gave the beast its power, along with great authority. A mortal wound on the beast's head was easily healed in the presence of earth's inhabitants. Fascinated by it, the inhabitants followed after the beast. They worshiped the dragon because it gave its authority to the beast.
The beast then blasphemed the AlmightyâHis name and His Kingdom and all those who dwelled in the Kingdom.
The beast was also allowed to wage war against the other inhabitants who were not followers, in order to conquer them. The beast was given authority over the conquered tribes, people, tongues, and nations. The conquered people, especially those who were destined to be conquered, worshiped the beast.
A second beast was commanded out of the earth. It had only two horns, like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon. It wielded all the authority of the first beast and made all the conquered inhabitants worship the first beast that came out of the sea.
It was then permitted to breathe life into the first beast's image so that the beast's image could speak and have everyone else who did not worship the beast and the dragon put to death. It forced all people, the famous and the unknown, the rich and the poor, the free and the imprisoned, to be given a stamped image of the beast in their body, so that no one could buy or sell except those who had the stamped image of the beast's name, or the number that stood for the beast.
Wisdom is necessary. One who understands can calculate the number of the beast, for it is a number that stands for a person. That number is 666.
âAdapted from Revelation
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D
R.
R
EGINA
D
ICKERSON WAS SITTING
on the aisle side at St. Stephen's Catholic Church on Mount Pleasant Street in La Jolla, California, listening to Father Yarderos delivering the sermon on a cloudy Sunday morning.
“In the letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians from today's second reading, St. Paul teaches us one thing”âFather Yarderos's piercing voice interrupted Dickerson's deep thoughtsâ“that there are people who rejoice at others' misfortunes. We see this every day in our daily life, especially in this competitive world. Mind you, there is nothing wrong with competitionâafter all, competition is the fabric of American society, but the Lord will not take kindly to those who feel glee when their neighbor is suffering. Whatever happened to Christ's teaching of loving thy neighbor as thyself?”
Immediately Dickerson thought about Dr. Peter Millons. That jerk.
She remembered the conversation they had had on Friday, when Millons appeared to be rejoicing at her misfortune.
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
“How is Manuel?” Dr. Millons asked in the crowded doctors' lounge at the university hospital.
“Peter, I've told you for the tenth time, we are no longer together,” Dickerson responded, while still flipping through the morning newspaper.
“I didn't know you're divorced.”
“We're not divorced yet, but we're planning on it.”
“I like that guy; I thought it was a marriage made in heaven.” Millons smiled sarcastically.
“Well, then, you should have married him.”
“Come on, Dickerson, I am strictly pusa-bagged,” Millons answered, using the new California subtle slang for a nonhomosexual male.
“Whatever that means ⦠and for your wife and children's sake I hope you remain that way.”
“I thought you were a Catholic?” Millons persisted.
“So ⦠andâ¦?”
“They don't believe in divorce, do they?”
To mask her obvious anger, Dickerson very noisily sipped the hot coffee she was holding, and then replied, “You know what, Peter, if they sell brains at Sears, yours must have been purchased from the Idiot Department.”