Intriguing it is that St John, at the very end of his Spirit-inspired masterpiece known as his First Epistle (of assembled simple-but-powerful piece-by-piece verse-by-verse dissertation having the eerie-and-not-of-this-world supernatural effect of completely destroying and eradicating atheistic and agnostic doubt) states this seemingly out-of-place and weird phrase:

First John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

To us nowadays in modern America, the pagan wooden and maybe metal worshipped figurines of certain remote uncivilized tribes throughout the world of both present and past and related to hocus-pocus superstitions and silly (if not absurd) myths and legends, seem obviously and pathetically ridiculous - a quaint conglomeration of stupidity by wayward savage morons having drifted away from the rich and complete Whatever they started with at Eden or Babel, and clearly without current scientific knowledge.

Isaiah describes them:

Isaiah 44:6 Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and His Redeemer [sounds like a Trinity?], the LORD of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.
7 Who is like me? Let him proclaim it, let him declare and set it forth before me. Who has announced from of old the things to come? Let them tell us what is yet to be.
8 Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any."
9 All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit; their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame.
10 Who fashions a god or casts an image, that is profitable for nothing?

[ Acts 19:23 About that time there arose no little stir concerning The Way.
24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen.
25 These he gathered together, with the workmen of like occupation, and said, "Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.
26 And you see and hear that not only at Ephesus but almost throughout all Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable company of people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods.
27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may count for nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship."

As the expressions goes: "The natives were not happy" and the Truth-witnessing lives of the missionaries were in danger]

First Kings 18:27 And at noon Elijah mocked [the agitated petitioning to Baal of the desperate prophets of Baal], saying, "Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is musing, or he has gone aside, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened."

Isaiah 44:11 Hey, all his fellows shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are but men; let them all assemble, let them stand forth, they shall be terrified, they shall be put to shame together.
12 The ironsmith fashions it and works it over the coals; he [scientifically] shapes it with hammers, and [scientifically] forges it with his strong arm; he becomes hungry and his strength fails, he drinks no water and is faint.
13 The carpenter stretches a line, he [scientifically] marks it out with a [scientific] pencil; he fashions it with [scientific] planes, and marks it with a [scientific] compass; he shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.
14 He cuts down cedars; or he chooses a holm tree or an oak [both scientific descriptions of tree types] and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest; he plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it.
15 Then it becomes fuel for a man; he takes a part of it and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread; also he makes a god and worships it, he makes it a graven image and falls down before it.
16 Half of it he burns in the fire; over the half he eats flesh, he [scientifically] roasts meat and is satisfied; also he warms himself and says, "Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!"
17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol; and falls down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for thou art my god!"
18 They know not, nor do they discern; for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their minds, so that they cannot understand.
19 No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, "Half of it I burned in the fire, I also baked bread on its coals, I roasted flesh and have eaten; and shall I make the residue of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?"
20 He feeds on ashes; a deluded mind has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?"
21 Remember these things, Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you, you are my servant; Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
22 I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you."
23 Sing, heavens, for the LORD has done it; shout, depths of the earth; break out into singing, mountains, forest, and every tree in it! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel.
24 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD, who made all things, who stretched out the heavens alone, who spread out the earth -- Who was with me? --
25 who frustrates the omens of liars, and makes fools of diviners; who turns "wise" men back, and makes their "knowledge" foolish;

Jeremiah adds:

Jeremiah 10:5 Their idols are like scarecrows in a [scientifically-described] cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good."

[Such will not be the case concerning (not "regarding") the future moving/breathing/talking, soul-less SuperRobot Image of The Beast which (not "who") God thru St John warned us about in Revelation chapter 13]

Admittedly, witch doctors have their [radioactive, or mysteriously-poisonous] voodoo dolls, headhunters their neuroparalyzer-tipped spears and arrows, asians have their decoratively-ornate sometimes-lit-with-candles miniature buddha/shinto-ancestry temple shrines, and indians have their ancestry-adoring caste-class totem poles . . . but they (like all others of much more knowledgeable overload with their anti-Genesis heretical theories of "evolution" mouthing childish Big-Bang Baloney and/or presumptions of non-existent extraterrestrial alien beings) . . . blatantly and deliberately do not go far enough to credit the Creator Source of what or who they errantly presume exists and/or has existed and is in control of humankind (whether for salvation if humans cooperate with whatever or whoever, or instead for annihilation if humans defiantly try to fight back without conformity).

Acts 17:22 So Paul, standing in the middle of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.
23 For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and Earth, does not live in shrines made by humans, being that He gives to all humans life and breath and everything.
26 And He has made all nations of humans of one blood [one "blood?" No room for anti-negroid-or-asian-or-caucasian racism!] to reside on all the face of Earth, ordaining fore-appointed seasons and boundaries of their dwelling,
27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after Him and find Him. Yet He is not far from each one of us,
28 for 'In Him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring.'
29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, a representation of the art and imagination of humans.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all humans [ALL humans of whatever culture, language, locations on Earth or wherever, now and later] to repent,
31 because He has fixed a Day on which He will judge [humans within] the world in righteousness by a Man whom He has appointed, and of this He has given assurance to all humans by raising Him from the dead."
32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, "We will hear you again about this."
33 So Paul went out from among them.
34 But some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

Romans 1:24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
Romans 1:25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.

When pressed about The Source of the presumed "Big-Bang-Glob-of-Whatever" which exploded, astrophizzy imbeciles and evo-loonies (in clearly-illogical and ludicrous circular mis-misreasoning) presume that the Glob has always existed.

In other words, the Glob is their eternal god, and did not have to create itself, because it was forever existing in ages past [according to their craziness]. Did not know that The Glob had a thinking and/or conspiring Mind of Its Own.

Even worse, and more asinine, is the presumption of some that they themselves are the creator who cannot be permanently destroyed, always reappearing forever in sundry reincarnated forms of reinvented or revised identities.

It "almost goes without saying," but such tripe and poppycock is irrational, as anyone can plainly discern when viewing a stiff and lifeless human corpse in a casket (hence, the growing popularity of corpse-view-bypassing cremation) and (if viewing such corpse is sufficiently continued) observing the deterioration of such carcass into dust.

Dust, for everyone's information, does not have a mind of its own to decide to reincarnate into anything whatsoever. Neither does a presumed Big-Bang Glob have the sentient power and ability to decide if then when It should explode, expand with a force far greater than any gravitational attraction among blasted-out particles, and then in non-random magic condensing into orderly and intricate everything-needs-to-function-all-at-once-when-fully-formed-all-at-once intricate spirals of DNA or anything else clearly-intelligently-designed (and readily plus bravely acknowledged as such by the intelligent themselves) in the physical environment.

Yet, if someone tells me about a partially-formed spark plug, ignition coil, starter or battery or alternator or tire that decides to assemble itself to full working condition, then itself decides to attach itself by itself on a car . . . I'll give them a dollar.

Maybe.

Thus, those in their right minds (i.e. sane instead of insane) are inevitably consigned to have an open mind to accept the concept of some Creator superior to them in every way (in origin, time and space dimensions, knowledge, power, longevity and indestructibility, more). Alas, there exists THE Holy Bible, which admittedly is quite concordant with such a supposition, according to the not-to-be-prejudicially-ignored-nor-to-be-non-scientifically-overlooked details of the contents therein, and (not only that) but provides THE best (and most sensible according to environmental-phenomena comparisons and associations) information regarding and concerning said Creator.

It is uniquely Holy Scripture which ties in most closely (if not perfectly) with actual reality in every way - regarding [scientific] descriptions and analysis of inter-related and interdependent relationships of environmental phenomena, both living and inanimate.

Many examples could be cited, but for the sake of brevity - none will, except:

Ecclesiastes 10:10 If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must put forth more strength; but an electric saw or gasoline-powered chainsaw [i.e. wisdom] helps one to succeed [Sorry - I thought I'd be cute on that one].

Ecclesiastes 11:3 If the clouds are full of rain, they [usually or eventually] empty themselves on the Earth; and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie [unless moved by a bulldozer or dynamite, impinging meteor or eruptive underground volcano].

So why stop short and worship anything or especially anyone which or who has obviously been created by some Source or Creator (and not created itself)?

Why not instead worship that Creator, and with the best literary tool (i.e. Holy Writ) we contemporaries have encountered and come upon, and with non-biased open-mindedness have acknowledged the existence of and hopefully even read all or parts thereof, or have been confronted with or without our asking?

So, "idolatry" can not only consist of adoring physical objects but also of ideologies substituted for Who should instead be worshipped, and the limited-but-complete doctrines associated with that Who.

The sacred-66-books Holy Bible is only so long, but is long enough. It always was, and always will be - whether the info was verbally conveyed or written. A 30 mph traffic sign does not have to also read either 20 or 40 mph, nor do red stoplights have to simultaneously (and confusingly) show green to a driver.

There is no excuse nor reasons for "I-do-not-want-to-know-this-anymore" omissions nor room for inclusion of off-on-a-tangent waste-of-time insertions of substitutional or additional cultic aberrations. Like a singular BIOS passcode for entrance on a laptop computer, there is absolutely no other singular alphanumeric combination which enables a potential user to access the internal software except the one and only workable one -- and to weary onesself and waste time trying a million or billion or trillion or zillion other combinations is deplorable foolhardiness.

Ecclesiastes 12:12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

And what about said Creator? Does the Bible state that "He" (if you will go along with me on the applied gender designation congruent with Scriptural semantics) has "foreknowledge" and can prophetically predict in what ways, and how not merely instinct-only-driven creatures [e.g. birds, insects, and lower-lifeform animals] will respond under a complex plethora of simultaneous stimulus/response reactions . . . but particularly even humans, of and to whom Scripture (and common-sense) declares have been given free-will choice related to God-given awareness of moral imperatives?

We humans have obvious limitation predicting what other humans will decide to do with their free wills - whether with lengthy premeditated planning or instead spur-of-the-moment sudden impulse. The infinitely-unlimited-and-imaginative Creator has no such limitation, and can easily focus on each of Earth's 6+ billion persons simultaneously plus understand all of them talking all at once.

Does God have a "right" to have such an advantage?

The phrase "have a right" does not apply to THE Creator, because the very word "right" implies permission or allowance granted to do something from some higher power or authority. And there is no one equal to nor higher than THE Eternal, Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Omnipotent Creator, so there is no "right" applied nor involved with nor for that particular Supernatural Entity.

But, in "spite" (pardon the negativism) of Creator God having prophetic foresight or predictive foreknowledge of how a mere "gleam in the eyes of His mind" will think about Him before he or she is even physically created and only then actually exists at conception in some inferior-gender womb, the actual manifestation of whether that human fulfills his or her preordained destiny (in relation to that predictive foreknowledge of their Creator) will not be done unless and until the human lifeform themself actually uses his or her freewill choice to either be for or against their Creator, and for or against His requirements for them pertaining to their (and NOT His) mandatory accommodation to His Divine intentions . . . or else.

Also, the Creator - simply on the grounds of His predictive foreknowledge of what each of His pre-imagined human beings will decide about Him - does not force any human or potential human to be conformed to God's pre-known destiny regarding (or instead concerning) each one. The God-given-but-then-free-willed decision pertaining to that is solely up to each and every human individually by themselves alone. The proverbial "ball is in their court" about what eternal-afterlife state of existence they themselves cause the Creator to destine them to exist in -- forever.

Such is true and valid, even in view of the "God made me good and I cannot do anything about it to change it" or "God made me evil and I cannot do anything about it to change it" presumptions of pro-homo-or-other humans wanting to irrationalize their immentalities:

Proverbs 16:4 The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.

Romans 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means!
15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
16 So it depends not upon human will or exertion, but upon God's mercy. [or lack of it, for those destined to be damned]
17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh, "I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth."
18 So then He has mercy upon whomever He wills, and He hardens the heart of whomever He wills [God Himself has free-willed choice also!].
19 You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who can resist His will [being that He wants to pre-ordain some for salvation and pre-ordain others for damnation]?"
20 But who are you, a human, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me thus?"
21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use?
22 What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for [made for?] destruction,
23 in order to make known the riches of His glory for the vessels of mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory,
24 even us whom He has called, not from the Jews only but also from the nations?

So, are homosexuals "born that way" so that God can and should be blamed for so predestinating them? Are we all hopelessly "born into sin and cannot free ourselves" resulting in resigning ourselves to pitiable futility and hopeless despair?

Well, homoqueers themselves choosing to give in to homofaggot disaffections . . . and God merely foreknowing that homodikes will someday choose by themselves to do such . . . are two vastly and completely different things.

Guess who is at fault and to blame when that does happen?

Duh.

Being "bad to the bone" from birth? is a choice. From whenever it starts.

So THE Holy Trinity, Lucifer/Satan, demons, angels, the 24 Elders in Heaven, the 4 Living Creatures in Heaven, the 7 Spirits of God in Heaven, and non-animal humans . . . are all pro-choice? I don't know about the "pro" part, but the "choice" is there as a "given" in all cases mentioned from the God who choice belongs to and has given it to.

Born in and into sin? Yes. Born sinful? Well . . .

Isaiah 7:15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.
Isaiah 7:16 For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.

Romans 9:10 And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,
11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of His call,
12 she was told, "The elder will serve the younger."
13 As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means!
15 For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
16 So it depends not upon human will or exertion, but upon God's mercy [or lack of it, against those who willfully do what it takes to eventually get damned].

Similarly, a saint does not actually become a saint until that human who becomes a saint chooses of their own freewill to become a saint, even though the Creator knows that that is the choice they will eventually make, persist in desiring, and continue ad infinitum to make:

Romans 8:29 For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the first-born among many brethren.

WHY do a precious minority make the correct choice to be for God, and the immoral majority make the incorrect choice to be against God?

I do not know. Ask them. Maybe it involves fear of Hell. Or disbelief in Hell.

Deuteronomy 30:11 "For this commandment which I command you this day is not too hard for you, neither is it far off.
Matthew 7:13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many."
Matthew 7:14 "For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few."
Luke 13:24 "Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able."

Blessed narrow-mindedness.

NO inclusive diversity. Select and discerning [legal] discrimination. EXCLUSION against the detrimental. Intolerance and zero-tolerance against suggestions for trying out not-simply-dangerous-but-lethal cultic fantasies of probable-cause fatality.

"Don't even go there."

Isaiah 10:22 For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness.
Romans 9:27 And Isaiah proclaims concerning Israel: "Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved.

Why not peaceful coexistence among all religions?

For the simple fact that "oil and water don't mix" per:

Deuteronomy 20:12 "But if they make no peace with you, but make war against you, then you shall besiege them."

Notice that the verse does not read:

"But if you make no peace with them . . ." Nor does it read that Republicans have to work with Obama and his subversive dems (instead of vice-versa).

In accord with:

Deuteronomy 28:12 The LORD will open to you his good treasury the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
Jeremiah 15:19 Therefore thus says the LORD: "If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them."

To reiterate:

Isaiah 48:22 "There is no peace [nor peaceful coexistence nor tolerance]," says the LORD, "for the wicked."
Isaiah 57:21 "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."

Anti-"women's-rights" Old-Testament prophet Ezekiel . . . roundly condemning the demonic who, in their satanic "war against women" peddle and proselytize for and promote godless anti-Scriptural heresies of advocating pro-abortion-homicide (not "reproductive"-choice murder against (and not "of") a womb babe -- which infanticide against a not-yet-born who rather than an it person is committed and not "performed")/pro-pregnancy-preventing-contraceptives (not "birth" "control")/rebellious-pro-feminist-sexist pseudo-"equality" apostasy . . . also "lays it on the line:"

Ezekiel 13:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, prophesy and say to those who prophesy out of their own minds: 'Hear the word of the LORD!'
3 Thus says the Lord GOD, "Woe to the foolish [PRE-Trib Rapture, and "Seven"-year Tribulation Period instead of Antichrist" Period] prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!"
5 You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in battle in the day of the LORD."
6 They have spoken ["No need to fear incarcerating captivity as spoken of in Revelation chapter 13 nor beheading spoken of in Revelation chapter 20 because you in your wimpish cross-of-Christ-despising persecution-disdaining wimpy-coward hope-to-avoid-death wanna-be-escapism presume and not assume that you will be whisked up before trouble starts with and in some never-never-land pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by PRE-Trib Rapture with your lame excuse of "no one knows the day nor the hour"] falsehood and divined a lie; they say, 'Says the LORD,' when the LORD has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their [PRE-Trib] word.
7 Have you not seen a delusive vision, and uttered a lying divination, whenever you have said, 'Says the LORD,' although I have not spoken?"
8 Therefore thus says the Lord God: "Because you have uttered delusions and seen lies, therefore, hey, I am against you," says the Lord GOD.
9 "My hand will be against the prophets who see delusive visions and who give lying [PRE-Trib] divinations; they shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
10 Because, yes, because they have misled my people, saying, ["No need to fear incarcerating captivity as spoken of in Revelation chapter 13 nor beheading spoken of in Revelation chapter 20 because you in your wimpish cross-of-Christ-despising persecution-disdaining wimpy-coward hope-to-avoid-death wanna-be-escapism presume and not assume that you will be whisked up before trouble starts with and in some never-never-land pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by PRE-Trib Rapture with your lame excuse of "no one knows the day nor the hour"] 'Peace,' when there is no peace; and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets daub it with whitewash;
11 say to those who [scientifically] daub it with [scientific] whitewash that it shall fall! There will be a deluge of rain, great hailstones will fall, and a stormy wind break out;
12 and when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, 'Where is the daubing with which you daubed it?'"
13 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath; and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to destroy it.
14 And I will break down the wall that you have daubed with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare; when it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it; and you shall know that I am the LORD.
15 Thus will I spend my wrath upon the wall, and upon those who have daubed it with whitewash; and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who daubed it,
16 the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her, when there was no peace," says the Lord GOD.
17 "And you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own minds; prophesy against them"
18 and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: "Woe to the women who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people, and keep other souls alive for your profit?
19 You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death persons who should not die and keeping alive persons who should not live, by your lies to my people, who listen to lies."
20 Wherefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Hey, I am against your magic bands with which you hunt the souls, and I will tear them from your arms; and I will let the souls that you hunt go free like birds.
21 Your veils also I will tear off, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand as prey; and you shall know that I am the LORD."
22 Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not disheartened him, and you have encouraged the wicked, that he should not turn from his wicked way to save his life;
23 therefore you shall no more see delusive visions nor practice divination; I will deliver my people out of your hand. Then you will know that I am the LORD."

Second Corinthians 6:14 Do not be mismated with disbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Therefore:

Joel 3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, "I am a warrior."

Let's consider one of God's immutable prophesies, written down for everyone by constrained-master-Jew John under Divinely-required Inspiration:

Revelation 13:11 Then I saw another Beast who rose out of the earth; he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke like a dragon.
12 He imposes all the authority of The first Beast in his presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first Beast, whose mortal wound was healed.
13 He works great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of humans;
14 and by the signs which he is allowed to work in the presence of The Beast, he deceives those who reside on Earth, requesting them to make an Image for The Beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived;
15 and he was allowed to give breath to The Image of The Beast so that The Image of The Beast should even speak, and to cause those who would not worship The Image of The Beast to be slain.
16 Also he causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked [or tattooed or branded] on the right hand or the forehead,
17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has The Mark, that is, the name of The Beast or the number of his name.
18 This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding count the number of The Beast, for it is a human number, his number is 666.

Pretty detailed stuff to predict about the future, especially for some former fisherman with dubious educational or scholastic credentials. Heady and heavy, multi-faceted prophecy with all its peculiar parts! "How" did John the author know all that stuff and all those particulars?

And 666, huh?

You might think that all cogent wicked on the planet would cooperatively conspire to come up with any number except 666 (e.g. 483, 825, etc.) to make a liar out of St John, the Spirit who inspired him, guys who put the books of the Bible together and call it "holy," plus of course Christians who adamantly (with inflexible unyieldingness) proclaim that Bible and all contents therein to be "infallible" and completely without any possible error or mistake.

Yet, ironically, it will be the wicked themselves who will be in agreement to use that Biblically-selected exact number (suggested by the Bible, the Divine Author of such, the human writer John, and Christians of both past and present who embrace such as impeccably authoritative) to not only "take God up on that 666 thing" but arrogantly and flagrantly dare God to "do anything about it" if, then as, they really do employ that precise 666 number for and to and on themselves.

And, being that the Lord and His saints clearly identify those marked with 666 as irrevocably cursed for irreversible confinement in Hell, satanic Devil-worshippers will gladly and aggressively label themselves as the ultimate enemy against God and His true Christians, as they increasingly polarize themselves with ever-intensifying livid hatred against God, His moral authority, and vitriolic abhorrence against God's elect -- despising everything about God and Christians (and the most convincing way to do that will be to proudly go ahead and mark themselves with That Dastardly and Despicable 666 Number of Irrevocable Damnation).

They will consider themselves [and certainly not deem authentic genuine Christians who are buy-and-sell-commerce-restricted "outlaws" and Political-Messiah/Beast/Fuehrer-dishonoring "non-cooperative" anti-New-World-Order "dissidents"] the bonafide believers who:

Revelation 17:14 . . . are called and chosen and faithful."

Some (in their twisted presumption of thinking themselves actually obeying God by getting the Mark) will even consider getting 666 (and NO other random number] imbedded on themselves as their really-special Brownie Point to use to justify themselves as having been obedient to what God told them to do and wanted them to commit when finally resurrected (if they believe that such will actually and eventually happen) and talk back to God on Judgment Day (if they believe that that also will actually and eventually happen).

Matthew 7:22 On that Day (study that near-The-Great-White-Throne Gathering of "Sheep" and "Goats" in Matthew chapter 25) many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name, and particularly get That 666 Mark like you predicted all us diabolically wicked would implant on us in accord with your prophetic Word?'

Sort of reminds us of the motivation behind:

John 16:2 "They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills [i.e. murders] you [and obediently gets The 666 Mark of Damnation per God Prophetic Prediction and thus His desire to delude them per their own impious craving] will "think" [i.e. presume] that he/she is offering service to God [by tattooing himself or herself with the 666 Mark]."

. . . but of whom Jesus expounds further:

John 16:3 "And they will do this because they have not known the Father, nor me.
John 16:4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you of them. I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you."

. . . along the lines of:

Second Thessalonians 2:9 The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders,
10 and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
11 Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false [i.e. it is righteous and holy and legal to comply with Commerce-Dept/Commission and IRS government regulations to get the 666 Mark of God-hating defiance],
12 so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in [666-tattooed] non-righteousness.

. . . as the to-be-forever-damned consider it hopeless anyway to profess allegiance to Jesus as Atoning Redeemer, Savior, and Lord, in view of:

Joshua 24:19 But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the LORD; for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins [whether unconditionally or conditionally].

Job 35:12 There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evil humans.
Job 35:13 Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it.

Proverbs 21:27 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more when he/she brings it with evil intent.
Proverbs 28:9 If one turns away his/her ear from hearing the law, even his or her prayer is an abomination.

Isaiah 1:13 Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and the calling of assemblies . . . I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.

Jeremiah 7:16 "As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I do not hear you."
11:14 "Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble."
14:11 The LORD said to me: "Do not pray for the welfare of this people."
14:12 "Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and cereal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence."

Ezekiel 8:18 Therefore I will deal in wrath; my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them."

Amos 5:23 "Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen."

Luke 16:15 But he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves to humans, but God knows your hearts; for what is exalted among humans [666, even for license-plate numbers] is an abomination in the sight of God.

Most of the entire population on planet Earth have never been tattooed with 666 in association with international commerce I.D. clearance. It has never happened . . . yet. Never once in all human history.

That does not mean that 666 branding cannot happen worldwide with frequent-flyer jets along with global internet Skype and communication satellites. But it sure gives the relentlessly-and-incessantly wicked a Plan and Idea of how to convincingly make themselves completely obnoxious in the sight of the Creator God they hate and His Christians they utterly despise.

Curiously, genuine Christians themselves will not object to the prophesied 666 thing being put into practice . . . being near-rabidly curious and borderline-eager to discover who the getting-marked-with-666 bad guys and gals really are -- so that such can then and thereafter be comfortably-and-not-apprehensively targeted as assuredly-accursed evil people to disassociate away from and thereafter completely avoid.