Feb 19
The New and Improved Mark of the Beast
The advancement of microchip technology has truly been amazing. In 1976, there were 6,500 transistors on a CPU microchip. Today, there are 233 million transistors on the latest Intel dual processor.
The same technological explosion that has made the internet possible has cleared the way for the mark of the beast to be deployed. Someday, the Antichrist will be able to control all financial transactions, right down to the point of sale. Everyone on earth will be required to receive a mark that will allow him or her to conduct business in the beast's financial system.
In the late 1990s, a company call Applied Digital Solutions came along and generated a great deal of excitement in the prophetic community. The firm had developed VeriChip, a Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID,) designed to be injected into animals and humans. The rice-sized chip containes a 16-digit number that could be read with a hand-held scanning gun.
Despite all the fanfare, VeriChip never caught on with humans. Only about 200 people were ever implanted with the device. One of VeriChip's main selling points--tagging children for their safety--is not workable because only a few police districts have the chip reader.
I often wondered how many Christians bought stock in Applied Digital Solutions thinking it would be a guaranteed way to get rich. It's unlikely I'll ever find out. People generally don't like to talk about their investments that turned out to be big losers. If you take into consideration a 10-for-1 reserve split, the stock has gone from $100, to the current price of $1.75. Ouch!
I knew from the outset that VeriChip would never work in a voluntary environment. Most people are turned off by the idea of having an electronic device operating inside their body. Some folks probably fear it could read their thoughts or record their conversations.
The biggest problem was the needle that injected the chip under the skin. It was the size of a ten penny nail, which made insertion a lot more painful than the average flue shot. Revelation says that people will be required to have the mark in their right hand or forehead. I just can't envision people getting jabbed in the head with a giant needle.
"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name
" (Rev. 13:16-17).
A start-up company called Somark Innovations has announced that it has developed a method of tagging that does not involve a chip implant. The product is a RFID ink, which acts like a type of electronic tattoo.
The process involves a geometric array of micro-needles, and a reusable applicator, with a one-time-use ink capsule. It takes 5 to 10 seconds to ID an animal, and there is no need to remove the fur. The ink remains in the dermal layer, and a reader can detect it from four feet away.
Unless some unforeseen problem pops-up with the marking chemicals, from here on out, I think RFID ink will have to regarded as the front runner for the mark of the Beast. Most people will except the concept of a tattoo. Unlike the VeriChip, there is now a practical way to ID someone’s forehead, and the permanent nature of this technology matches the Bible's prediction that once a person receives the mark, there is no going back.
Before we get to the final form of the mark of the Beast, there might be a few more technology improvements. With computers doubling in speed every couple of years, we are already beyond the requirements needed to establish a global, cashless community. At this stage, the only thing really missing is the political will to set the mark into motion.
Tulsa Time is Coming Up
At the end of next month (March 28-30,) Thy Kingdom Come Ministries will be having a prophecy conference in Tulsa, OK. Because of its central location, Rapture Ready adopted the conference as an easy way for supporters of the site to gather. We also selected Tulsa because the affordable rates the local economy offers. The rooms go for $79 a night. When Terry and I were in Denver at the July CBA book convention, the cheapest rate we could find was $150.
If any of you folks live in the Tulsa area, I would like to invite you to join the RR gang. A look at the "Photorama" pictures from previous conferences will reveal that we generally have a grand old time.
Here is the location and contact information for the hotel:
Sheraton Tulsa Hotel
10918 E. 41st Street
Tulsa, OK 74146
Phone (918) 627-5000
The speakers are going to be:
Ed Hinson
Bill Koenig
Joseph Chambers
Don Perkins
Randall Price
Phillip Goodman
Ergun Caner
Walid Shoebat
-- Todd
Fueling Gog’s Ambitions
Ezekiel’s Gog-Magog prophecy continues to form before the eyes of a world of geopoliticians and media, who are, for the most part, oblivious to just how seriously should be taken matters concerning the oil riches of the Middle East. Central to present day excegencies, relative to those Ezekiel 38 and 39 prophecies, is the complete lack of belief or understanding that ALL of the region given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob remains now and forever the land of Israel. This refusal by the nations of the world to accept that this land belong to , in God’s Holy View, His people, the Jews, will be the catalyst that will ultimately bring about the Gog-Magog attack, and, as a matter-of-fact, the war called Armageddon.
The scriptures I would like to examine for the moment are the following:
“After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
"Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.” (Ezek. 38: 8-12)
God was foretelling, through his prophet, that this leader from the north of Jerusalem –Gog—would lead a coalition of tremendous numbers against God’s chosen people, the Jews of Israel. Now, the important thing to see, for our purposes in this brief essay, is the designation “the land”.
God has Ezekiel prophesy that the people of the land of Rosh (Russia) will be led by this end time general into “the land”. God also calls it “the mountains of Israel”.
You see, this is All --every bit-- the land of Israel, in the View of the Creator of all things. Likewise, the ”great spoil” this end time general called “Gog” will think an evil thought to “take,” belongs to Israel –every bit-- according to the land Grant God gave Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
This tells us that Gog is coming to take the riches of the Middle East, which we know to be, primarily, the vast oil reserves of the area.
I’m quite aware that Israel presently possesses very little of the oil reserves. How could it, as that land is presently configured, contain much of the oil of the region? Currently, it is but a few dozen miles long, and a few miles wide. But, this is not God’s view of Israel. Remember –Israel is ALL of that vast region outlined in His land grant. And, Gog, and his hordes will –I think it has become obvious-- want the oil that pools beneath the whole region.
Today there are indications that the leader of the land of Rosh –Vladimir Putin at present-- is eyeing the region God considers “the mountains of Israel. The Russian president is leading his nation to form relationships that might, in the not-too-distant future, become tempting beyond his, and the others of his kind’s capability to resist. Oil just might be the fuel that fires up the prophesied ambitions of the Gog-Magog juggernaut.
One news account presents a rather interesting look at things as they are in development, in this regard. Energy is the topic, and dynamic rearrangements are swiftly taking place. The Russian bear is taking a hard look at where to go next to satiate it’s voracious appetites. The report speaks of the rearrangements, and concentrates on one most important such rearrangement.
“Another is energy. India and China are desperate for Russian oil and gas, and Moscow is worried about its dependence on Western markets. But their most significant common ground is opposition to US military intervention in Iran. The joint statement did not mention Iran, but the three countries have taken a common stance in calling for a negotiated solution through the International Atomic Energy Agency. None of them wants a nuclear-armed Iran, but Russia sells Tehran nuclear technology and India and China need Iranian gas.”
Giants meet to counter US power, Jeremy Page in Delhi, power-News-World-US & Americas-Times Online, Feb. 15, 2007.
China will be a major force in the Mid-East invasion toward Armageddon, I’m convinced, according to the kings of the east prophecy found in Revelation, chapters 9 and 16. It is an oil-thirsty behemoth, with it’s burgeoning industrial base and ambitions. Russia wants to be at the center of controlling its own destiny, in regard to securing fuel for its own ambitions. Vladimir Putin has strongly hinted at his hopes that Russia’s laws about succession will be changed, since he is forbidden under current constitutional restrictions, to be re-elected to the Russian presidency.
One thing sure, a future leader from the land called in ancient times, “Rosh,” will look southward and think to garner for himself the grand prize of oil reserves. Whether it will be Putin, or a successor, who will get that “evil thought,” oil seems the ingredient for the latter times that will fuel Gog’s ambition.
