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BETTY - Will the mark of the beast come before or after the two prophets appear whose bodies lay in the streets for three days after they are killed? And who are these two prophets?
JOEL - The only LDS authority who has attempted to identify the two witnesses(Rev. 11) was Elder Bruce R. McConkie who wrote,
"Who will these witnesses be? We do not know, except that they will be followers of Joseph Smith; they will hold the holy Melchizedek Priesthood; they will be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is reasonable to suppose, knowing how the Lord has always dealt with his people in all ages, that they will be two members of the Council of the Twelve or of the First Presidency of the Church." (Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, vol. 3).
Other than this, no other LDS authority has suggested who the two prophets will be.
The scriptures tell us that the two prophets will prophesy: after the Jews "are gathered and have built the city of Jerusalem" (D&C 77:15), "at the time of the restoration" (D&C 77:15), and after the opening of the seventh seal but before the Second Coming (D&C 77:12-13) in the timetable of John the Revelator, the two prophets will prophesy during the events of the second "woe"(Rev. 11:14).
"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth." (Rev. 11:3)
The first mention of the "mark of the beast" comes later in Chapter 13:
"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." (Rev. 13: 16-17)
Those with this mark are they who worship the beast spoken of in the same chapter. The exact nature of or time of the manifestation of this "mark" is not given in the scriptures. It may not even be a defined event that can be given a starting time. References to the mark being in the forehead or hand may be figurative. The "mark" could simply be a general condition that gradually evolves over time as people become more and more wicked. Considering the condition the world is in today it may have already started.
One might think that since it is mentioned in a later chapter; that it is something that happens after the experience of the two witnesses. However, it is very difficult to tell the sequence of some of the events propheseid in the Book of Revelation. One cannot assume that the occurence of each event follows the same order as presented in the scriptures.
So in regards to your question, "will the mark of the beast come before or after the two witnesses?" The best answer I can give for this is, Yes.
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