The Bible is about 30% prophecy. About 500 of those prophecies are yet-to-be fulfilled.
We focus on prophecy each week for about five-minutes. It’s more than a curiosity; it’s extremely practical. The apostle Paul said: “[know] the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11).
Looking at today’s headlines, it seems the “time” in which we live is one in which several prophecies could easily go from unfulfilled to fulfilled.
For example: A passage in the Revelation makes an incredible claim:
Rev 13:11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.
Rev 13:12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Rev 13:13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.
Rev 13:14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth – by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.
Rev 13:15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
These verses describe events in the future Great Tribulation. The two “beasts” are the antichrist and his assistant, called the false prophet.
I want to focus on the phrase, “He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.”
A few years ago I would have been at a loss to explain how someone could give “life” to an image. Today I’d immediately call it Artificial Intelligence (AI).
I just read an article titled, AI Teaching Assistant Uses Facial Recognition To Take Class Attendance.
Excerpts:
A China-based company called NetDragon has launched what is says is the world’s first AI teaching assistant. Called 101 Education PPT AI Teaching Assistant, the AI system was launched at the Digital China Summit as part of the Digital Maritime Silk Road AI Educational Achievements program.
At its core, it’s essentially a teacher-focused AI assistant responding to end users through speech recognition. But it can also generate virtual avatars to interact with students, and it features facial recognition to detect which students are in attendance for a given session. On top of that, NetDragon says its system can mark grades and arrange custom exercises for individual students.
I’m going to give you the title of an article I didn’t read: Looking for robot love? Here are 5 sexbots you can buy right now.
Dr. Stephen Hawking, the brilliant physicist who recently died, warned about AI. He said, “AI could be the worst event in the history of our civilization. It brings dangers, like powerful autonomous weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many. It could bring great disruption to our economy…”
In an interview he said it could one day reach a level where it outperforms humans and becomes a “new form of life.”
I’m not saying that the image of the beast will be a form of AI. I am saying that AI is exactly in line with the kind of technological developments you’d expect from reading the future unfulfilled prophecies.
We are not looking for any particular sign, or prophecy to be fulfilled. Jesus promised He’d return to rapture His church – which entails the resurrection of the dead in Christ of the Church Age, then the translation from earth to Heaven of all living believers.
It is presented in the Bible as an imminent event.
Are you ready for the rapture? If not, get ready, stay ready, and keep looking up. Ready or not, Jesus is coming!