These are exciting times for believers in Christ who are interested in Bible prophecy. Many things that are suggested by unfulfilled, future prophecies seem to be trending like never before.
We reserve a few minutes Sunday morning to discuss some of those things.
✎ We are careful to use recognized, reliable sources for news and information.
✎ We’re not saying the things we report are the fulfillment of prophecy – only that they are the things you’d expect from reading the Bible literally.
The much-dreaded Mark of the Beast is described in the thirteenth chapter of the Revelation:
Rev 13:16 … all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave… receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads,
Rev 13:17 and… no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark…
Could the “Mark” involve biometrics – using our own body to identify us, and to transact all our business?
It seems possible, if not likely. We are definitely trending towards secure biometrics. Palm vein scans, retinal scans, implanted chips, could qualify as hand & forehead marks.
The latest articles I read along these lines involve Passports. One was titled, At Dubai airport, travelers’ eyes become their passports.
Excerpts:
The Dubai airport – the world’s busiest for international travel – is rolling out another addition from the realm of science fiction – an iris-scanner that verifies one’s identity and eliminates the need for any human interaction when entering or leaving the country.
It’s the latest Artificial Intelligence program the United Arab Emirates has launched amid the surging coronavirus pandemic, contact-less technology the government promotes as helping to stem the spread of the virus.
In recent years, airports across the world have accelerated their use of time-saving facial recognition technology to move passengers to their flights. But Dubai’s iris scan improves on the more commonplace automated gates seen elsewhere, authorities said, connecting the iris data to the country’s facial recognition databases so the passenger needs no identifying documents or boarding pass.
“The future is coming,” said Major Gen. Obaid Mehayer Bin Suroor, deputy director of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreign Affairs. “Now, all the procedures have become ‘smart,’ around five to six seconds.”
https://techxplore.com/news/2021-03-dubai-airport-eyes-passports.html
Another article was titled, China issues ‘world first’ Covid vaccine passport and plans to accept other countries’ passes in boost for travel.
Excerpts:
The Chinese health certificates show a user’s vaccination status and recent coronavirus test results.
They’re being hailed as the world’s first virus passport, with similar schemes planed in Britain, the US, and the EU.
The QR code-based digital certificate will “promote world economic recovery and facilitate cross-border travel,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said: “The pandemic is still with us, but the world economy needs to be restarted and people-to-people exchanges resumed with no more delays.”
It comes as the International Air Travel Association, which represents 290 airlines, is set to launch an app that allows immigration authorities to share travelers’ Covid vaccination data. Singapore Airlines will test run the app on its Singapore to London flights from March 15. Up to 30 more airlines will roll out the app over the next two months.
Denmark and Sweden are among other countries developing their own health passports.
That is interesting, but here is something else the article mentioned:
In the UK, the government is considering the vaccine passports for pubs and restaurants. They could even be needed to go to the cinema and theatre under plans being pushed by some ministers to help get “dying” businesses open again faster.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14285224/china-issues-world-first-covid-vaccine-passport-and-plans-to-accept-other-countries-passes-soon-in-boost-for-travel/
Here is a similar quote from yet another article:
Last month, Israel rolled out a long-awaited “Green Pass” which allows people who have been vaccinated or recovered from the virus to take part in various activities, including cultural and sports events.
French President Emmanuel Macron recently suggested yet another, more localized form of COVID-free permission slip: the so-called “health pass.” This certification would only be valid within France’s borders but would allow a fully vaccinated person to, for example, eat in restaurants and attend certain events.
Travel, dining, and entertainment might all be controlled by some sort of digital pass. It’s obvious such a system would be much simpler, and more secure if biometrics was involved. Your movements and purchases will be surveilled and then controlled according to some mandate.
Right now, it’s COVID19. People are being forced to surrender rights & privacy to “slow the spread.”
Will it all go away after the pandemic? Our own governor, in his state of the state message delivered from an empty Dodger Stadium, said, “When this pandemic ends – and it will end soon – we’re not going back to normal. Normal was never good enough. Normal accepts inequity.”
Biometrics could expand into a full-blown, global social credit system. You might be restricted in buying and selling based on anything a government deems inappropriate. You could, for example, lose social credit points for things like your political affiliations, gun ownership, or religious beliefs. Right now people are being censored by social media.
This is exactly what we have been expecting from our literal, futurist reading of the Bible’s unfulfilled prophecies regarding the End Times.
We believe the resurrection and rapture of the church are imminent. It could happen any moment; nothing needs to happen before it. It will definitely happen before the Great Tribulation.
Jesus will return in the clouds. He will raise the dead in Christ. He will transform the bodies of living believers to glorified, resurrection bodies.
We will all join Him in Heaven while the earth endures one final seven-year campaign of severe evangelism.
Are you ready for the rapture? If not, Get ready; Stay ready; Keep looking up.
Ready or not, Jesus is coming!