Christians are to look for to “the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). We are encouraged to look forward to the future, living with a sense of Jesus’ any-moment return.

One of the ways we look forward is to consider the hundreds of unfulfilled prophecies in the Bible. We can expect the world to be moving in the direction predicted for the End Times.

We reserve a few minutes Sunday morning to suggest news, or trends, that seem to be predicted by our futurist reading of the Bible.

To avoid sensationalism, we are careful to use recognized, reliable sources for news.

We’re not saying the things we report are the fulfillment of prophecy. We’re saying that they are the things you’d expect to be happening in the build-up to the future seven year Great Tribulation.

Futurists like ourselves see the biblical prediction of a global government, sometimes called the “one world government.” It will necessitate a cashless socioeconomic system. The system will be accessed by some sort of personal identifier: An implanted chip, a palm scan, facial recognition, or the like.

In the exact middle of the Great Tribulation, the world leader we commonly refer to as the antichrist will demand people the world over swear allegiance to him and worship him. This decision is the acceptance of the “Mark of the Beast.” In the Revelation, we read, “No one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (13:7).

Citizens will be penalized when their beliefs and behaviors are in any way contrary to the mandates of those in power.

Do you use PayPal? Over 426m individual uses were recorded in 2021.

It is therefore quite concerning that a recent article had the tag-line, “In 1998, the payments app was created to empower individuals. Today, it’s a cornerstone of our emerging social-credit system.”

Here are a few excerpts from a very long posting:

One by one, they go to start their business day only to find a baffling message from their payments app informing them: “You can no longer do business with PayPal.”

There is little or no explanation. They have somehow offended the sensibilities of someone, somewhere deep inside the bureaucracy. 

They are simply told via an email from PayPal’s Risk and Compliance Department that, after an internal review, “We decided to permanently limit your account as there was a change in your business model or your business model was considered risky.”

In case there is any doubt, the email adds: “You’ll not be able to conduct any further business using PayPal.”

Then, toward the bottom: “If you have funds in your PayPal balance, we’ll hold it for up to 180 days. After that period, we’ll email you with information on how to access your funds.”

One of PayPal’s original founders, Peter Thiel, said, “If the online forms of your money are frozen, that’s like destroying people economically, limiting their ability to exercise their political voice. There’s something about destroying people economically that seems like a far more totalitarian thing.”^[1]

The article mentions “social-credit” several times:

“The authoritarian, social-credit system developed in China is now being implemented in the West, except instead of ideological compliance being enforced by the Chinese Communist Party, it was being policed by a woke capitalist corporation.”

“The social-credit system, which was not a formal system or network but a loosely fitted together constellation of influential brands and organizations and institutions, punishes those who do not hew to the unofficial party line and rewards those who clap the loudest.”

“The way these social-credit systems work, they don’t happen overnight – they happen drip by drip.”

A Newsweek article about PayPal said, “Do Americans wish to live in a world where dissenters from prevailing elite orthodoxy face discrimination in every public domain? The recent fracas over PayPal’s user policy raises the specter of such a dystopia: A de-banked future, driven by de facto social-credit scoring, that is quickly becoming our present. The payment processing company, [is] one of the largest nonbank lenders in the world with some $75b in assets, recently modified its user agreement, threatening to fine those who use PayPal ‘for activities that… involve the sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials that, in PayPal’s sole discretion… promote misinformation’ up to $2,500 per violation.”^[2]

Social-credit is an innocuous way of describing a change in the global commerce system that sounds like the one predicted in the future Great Tribulation.

We are witnessing the stage-setting for the seven year Great Tribulation that is described in the last book of the Bible.

We will not be on Earth during that terrible Time of Jacob’s Trouble. The resurrection and rapture of the church are imminent. It could happen any moment; nothing needs to happen before it.

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!