We reserve a few minutes Sunday morning to suggest news, or trends, that seem to be predicted by a literal, futurist reading of the Bible.
We are careful to use recognized, reliable sources for news. There is a lot of sensationalism surrounding unfulfilled Bible prophecy, and we don’t want to add to it.
We’re not saying the things we report are the definite fulfillment of prophecy – only that they are the things you’d expect by holding a Bible in one hand, and a newspaper in the other.
Bible futurists have long understood that, in the Last Days and going into the Great Tribulation, there would be a global, cashless economic system by which everyone will conduct all their business.
Three-and-one-half years into the Tribulation, the man Revelation calls the Beast will demand everyone swear allegiance to him.
Those who won’t worship him will be easily blocked from buying or selling anything.
COVID19 is pushing the world population towards a global, cashless economic system.
It is the kind of system futurists have been predicting since the apostle John wrote the Revelation.
A writer for The NY Times said, “The pandemic is propelling a shift toward a cashless society in ways that no other single event has.”
In his article he said, “Governments from India to Kenya to Sweden, as well as the United Nations, are promoting cashless payments in the name of public health.”
“Time to swap your coins for payment cards – safer for containing coronavirus,” Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission vice-president for financial services, wrote on Twitter as Europe imposed quarantines.
For a growing number of people sensitized by Covid-19 quarantines, cash is a fading routine.
“We’re living through an amazing global social experiment that is forcing governments, businesses and consumers to rethink their operating models and norms for social interactions,” said Morten Jorgensen, director of RBR, based in London, a consulting firm specializing in banking technology, cards and payments.
Visa reported a surge in contactless payments for basic items in Britain after limits there were lifted, and a 100% increase from a year ago in the United States. Visa said it had also worked with governments in Greece, Ireland, Malta, Poland and Turkey to raise contactless payment limits in those countries.
Another quote from the Times article: “The pandemic has kind of ripped the Band-Aid off of going cashless.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/business/cashless-transactions.html
axios.com said in an article, “The next big thing [is] contactless cards. They’re pervasive in Europe and elsewhere, and are just starting to hit the U.S. in a big way – and, for the first time, consumers are demanding them.”
People who use Apple Pay and Samsung Pay on their phones have gotten accustomed to paying with a wave.
The credit card networks have always promoted electronic payments as faster and more efficient – and now, with COVID19, they’re promoting them as cleaner and healthier.
Burger King ran a recent commercial in which it touted its contactless payment option.
https://www.axios.com/cashless-society-coronavirus-455e0045-1160-4240-8fe1-c888a40630cb.html
fortune.com reported, “A growing number of businesses, including Kroger, Walmart, and CVS, have had to stop giving change in coins. Many are asking customers to use cards or exact change whenever possible, while some smaller businesses and franchises have stopped accepting cash all together.”
One more. Earlier this year, Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium touted $350,000 in savings after becoming the first professional sports venue to go completely cash-free in March 2019. When it held a virtual seminar this May to teach others about the transition process, more than 200 local hospitality and entertainment companies tuned in. “The pandemic just takes what was a slam dunk and makes it a necessity,” Steve Cannon, CEO of the stadium’s parent company, told the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
We could return to normal, as if COVID19 never happened. OR, the so-called ‘new normal’ may be the precursor to the dreaded Mark of the Beast mid-way through the seven year Great Tribulation.
Going cashless is not the Mark of the Beast. But it is perhaps the underlying mechanism that will be in place when the Beast demands to be worshipped.
We believe the resurrection and rapture of the church is imminent. It could happen any moment; nothing needs to happen before it. It will happen before the Tribulation.
Jesus will come, in the clouds, and raise the dead believers of the Church Age. He will transform the bodies of living believers to glorified, resurrection bodies. We will 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!