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 fulfillment of prophecy – only that they are the things you’d expect in light of the Bible’s unfulfilled prophecies.

Does COVID19 have anything to do with Bible prophecy? Not directly; and by that I mean, it isn’t a pestilence from the Book of the Revelation. The things you read about in chapters 6-19, the Great Tribulation, are after the rapture of the church.

Indirectly, the global response to the pandemic does potentially have a prophetic impact.

We’ve been pointing out for decades that, in the last days and then in the Great Tribulation, the world will be united in commerce. There will be some sort of technology by which everyone can be identified, and can conduct all their business.

The technology has been around for some time. It didn’t really catch-on globally, however, until this pandemic. COVID19 has accelerated global acceptance of invasive technology.

According to senior colleagues at Barclays, the COVID19 crisis has changed our approach to digital technology for good.

“I would submit to you that people will act in the same way water flows, to the point of least resistance,” said Ashok Vaswani, Barclays’ CEO of Consumer Banking and Payments.

“People are going to continue with what makes their life easy, and once they learn how to do something digitally they aren’t going back. And then a new generation comes along and they don’t know anything other than digital.”

Joseph Jessup, who heads up the Barclays team in Digital Payments, predicted a permanent acceleration towards digital banking: “I don’t think there’s anybody in the organization who is not convinced that digital is the way to go.”

Here are excerpts from an article titled, Accelerated Trends Due to COVID19.

Over the past six months, a host of temperature detection, access control, and related biometric systems to tackle Covid19 have been developed. Besides fingerprint recognition systems, other biometric technologies like voice, facial, and even vein pattern recognition have entered the market. Contactless biometric technologies have gained momentum as they help verify personal identities without any physical contact with the security infrastructure. By 2026, ResearchAndMarkets.com expects the global contactless biometrics technology market size will reach $18.6 billion, rising at a compound annual growth rate of 19.1%.

Looking ahead… further development in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will overcome identification problems and push biometrics to the next level.
The need for early detection of anomalies in public areas as well as contactless identification will notably accelerate the growth.

“Biometrics technologies considerably help during pandemics, and we believe that further progress in ML and AI will help better contain future pandemics.”

https://www.eetimes.eu/6-accelerating-tech-trends-due-to-covid-19/

The following is from a web posting on citizen.org

COVID-19 dramatically has changed how we think about the workplace. As businesses reopen and workers return, the spread of the coronavirus is a serious concern. Amid the unrelenting first wave of infections and the prospect of recurring future waves, employers have been turning to new technologies to mitigate the risks – introducing a vast array of apps, wearables and other technologies. In a work setting, where activities are governed by a contractual or power relationship, many workers either must accept the new high-tech workplace surveillance or risk losing their jobs.

The speed at which these new technologies have been deployed is concerning.
Fifty new apps and technologies have been released since the pandemic began, not accounting for existing, unchanged technologies that now are being marketed as workplace surveillance tools to combat COVID-19. On June 16 alone, both Fitbit and Amazon released new workplace surveillance tools. From an employer’s perspective, this rapid deployment is driven mainly by the urge to bring workers back to the workplace. But the invasion of privacy that workers face is alarming, especially considering that the effectiveness of these technologies in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 has not yet been established.

https://www.citizen.org/article/workplace-privacy-after-covid-19/

Before COVID19, it seemed unlikely that you could get global agreement on invasive technology. Just a few months later, everyone wants to participate in it.

We believe the resurrection and rapture of the church is imminent. It could happen any moment; nothing needs to happen before it. It will definitely happen before the 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!