After re-reading these passages, it would be consistent with the facts if this worship of the beast was in the form of worship of men and manmade institutions, including organized religion or those claiming to have special knowledge from God, etc.
The beast operates for "42 months" in a specific way but the death stroke is received during World War II when Nazi Germany is defeated. Therefore, these "42 months" or 1260 days relates to the same 1260 days applied to the operation of the fourth beast mentioned in Daniel, only they are 1260 years. This would clearly relate to the Catholic Church, who definitely is a primary believer in the trinity doctrine, and the influence of Catholicism by Jewish mysticism and the pagan practices of the mysteries.
The critical issue which more or less begins the 1260 years is the corruption of the Passover celebration as an annual celebration on Nisan 14th. This practice finally was demolished by the Catholic church around 736 AD, instituting the pagan practice of Easter Sunday, that is, celebrating the resurrection of Christ, allegedly, on the first Sunday following the first full moon after spring instead of celebrating it on Nisan 14th on an annual basis. This would relate to the "removal of the constant" feature for the 2300 evenings and mornings until a new organization, one designated as the "temple" organization would reappear. Significant for this temple being "in its right condition" would be the reestablishment and understanding of the annual Passover held on Nisan 14th in remembrance of their Lord.
So the International Bible Students did indeed have this practice down earlier than the end of those 2300 evenings and mornings way back in 1874.
The 2300 evenings and mornings are calculated by making each evening and morning a single day, thus cut 2300 in half to get 1150. Thus the period is 1150 years out of 1260 years. Subtract 1150 from 1260 and you get 110 years. Thus the "temple" organization would be recognized and operate for a special purpose for the last 110 years of this 1260-year period.
Usually something significant happens to mark these years. Since the series of 70 weeks, or 490 years each added up until our day starting with 36CE end up in 1996, we consider the end of that covenant period to end in 1996. Thus we subtract the 110 years from 1996 to get 1886 and compare that to what was going on with the Bible Students and that was the year the first "Studies in the Scriptures" came out, which volumes became the foundation of a new faith and religion which eventually became Jehovah's Witnesses, the recognized temple organization.
So there is kind of an overlapping mesh between Babylon the Great mysticism and Christendom which has adopted a lot of mysteries practices and become corrupted by it. So it would seem the practice of worship of man, and in particular the accomplishments of educated men, and the accomplishments of European men or the religions they set up is a partof the mark of the beast.
Certainly, within the witness organization, they are worshipping the Governing Body which has made itself a God. So culture worship, or charismatic leader worship, the worship of men and their knowledge instead of the Bible would cover having the mark of the beast for both those in Christendom and within the organization if worshipping the beast and receiving the mark is something inspired by the witness apostate leadership. The sin of JWs is worship of the Governing Body who are men claiming to special.
This is consistent with the "666" being a man's number, that is, worship of mankind and their accomplishments, with a focus on religious leaders and European men who have amazed the world with advancements in technology and knowledge, etc.
Just my 2 cents. Thanks for the comments.
LG