As COVID-19 continues to circulate around the world, it becomes increasingly clear it poses a threat to more than just global health. Governments all over the world have used the crisis to expand their power and trample individual liberty. As 2021 nears its end, governments are increasingly dividing the world into two camps – the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.

For example, on September 9th, President Biden held a press conference in which he announced a series of new vaccine mandates potentially impacting more than 100 million Americans. Biden is authoring rules to require all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforces are fully vaccinated or show a negative test at least once a week. The ink hasn’t even dried yet on those executive orders, and already The Hill reports he’s mulling the idea of implementing vaccine requirements for all air travel.

Unfortunately, such COVID tyranny isn’t limited to the United States. In South Australia, the government is rolling out a new app that requires citizens to take a photo of themselves and report their location on demand within 15 minutes of authorities requesting it. The non-compliant will face a police investigation.

Recently, Australian MP Daniel Andrews vowed to “lock out” the unvaccinated when it comes to medical care and conducting commerce. “There is going to be a vaccinated economy, and you get to participate in that if you are vaccinated,” Andrews stated. “We’re going to move to a situation where, to protect the health system, we are going to lock out people who are not vaccinated and can be.”

In Italy, flying drones monitor the temperatures of beachgoers “to track COVID-19 and prevent health emergencies.” Israel, France, and countless other nations have set up “vaccine passport” systems. Under these systems, the unvaccinated are denied access to gyms, concerts, restaurants, and sporting events. In the United States, similar measures have been put in place in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Universities make the vaccine a requirement for enrollment, and in some cases, the unvaccinated are denied medical care. For example, one Florida doctor sent a letter to her patients telling them she will no longer treat the unvaccinated.

Throughout the world, society is singling out the unvaccinated for punishment. Those who refuse the COVID vaccines face potential loss of jobs, healthcare, freedom of movement, and liberty in general. Those who support vaccine mandates and vaccine passports want to ostracize the unvaccinated from society. They seek to apply maximum pressure to force the unvaccinated into compliance.

Does any of this sound eerily familiar? It should. The Book of Revelation describes a similar system whereby the people of the world are forced to receive a mark on their right hand or forehead. Those who refuse to comply will be unable to buy or sell. They’ll effectively be cut off from society.

Are COVID vaccines the mark of the beast written about in the Book of Revelation? No. The mark of the beast will involve a conscious decision to give one’s allegiance to the Antichrist. No one will accept it by mistake. Nevertheless, vaccine mandates and passports create a social system enabling the mark of the beast. If they are allowed to stand, they will create a mark of the beast system indistinguishable in impact from the true mark of the beast. In doing so, they’ll pave the way for the rise of the Antichrist and the mark of the beast as outlined in the Book of Revelation. To understand why, let’s take a closer look at the biblical description of the mark.

What is the Mark?

What does the Bible actually say about the mark of the beast? It says the mark will be an outward expression of a person’s allegiance to the Antichrist. As global dictator, he’ll require it, and the mark will appear on a person’s right hand or forehead (Revelation 13:16). What will it look like? We don’t know for sure.

It could be a tattoo, a microchip, or something else (maybe even a vaccine). But whatever it looks like, it won’t be concealed. It will be visible to everyone. We don’t know the exact form it will take, but it will be a number representing the Antichrist’s name. His number is 666 (Revelation 13:18).

Those who refuse the mark of the beast will be shut out of the global economy. They’ll be unable to buy or sell anything without it (Revelation 13:17). Some will even face beheading for their refusal to accept it (Revelation 20:4).

What Happens to Those Who Refuse the Mark?

After the Antichrist enters the Temple and declares himself God (2 Thessalonians 2:4), he’ll require everyone on earth to accept the mark (Revelation 13:16). Accepting the mark will be a pledge of allegiance to the Antichrist. Again, this will either be the number 666 or a name that adds up to 666 (Revelation 13:18). All who accept the mark will display it on their right hand or their forehead (Revelation 13:16). This will make it easy for society to identify them. Society will blacklist anyone who refuses the mark. Every buy/sell transaction will be linked to it. As a result, those without it will be unable to buy or sell anything (Revelation 13:17). This will put enormous social pressure on people to accept the mark.

Think about it. Imagine if you couldn’t buy or sell anything. How would you get food to survive? How would you get shelter, clothes, and the basic necessities of life? The pressure for most people will be too much to bear. They’ll give in and accept the mark. It’s likely only committed Christians or devoted members of a religion condemning such a practice will refuse the mark. In some cases, the consequences will be worse than economic. Some people will be martyred for their refusal to accept the mark (Revelation 20:4).

Enabling the Mark of the Beast System

While I don’t believe the current COVID vaccines are the actual mark of the beast, vaccine mandates and vaccine passports impose a social system identical to the one imposed by the mark of the beast. How? By blacklisting from society anyone who refuses to accept the vaccine. How many people have already lost their jobs? How many people are now under threat of losing their jobs? In some places, the unvaccinated aren’t allowed to enter concerts, sporting events, restaurants, or gyms. In some countries, they aren’t even allowed to enter grocery stores.

In pushing vaccine mandates and passports, the world is paving the way for the rise of the Antichrist and the implementation of the mark of the beast. Whether or not you accept a COVID vaccine is a personal choice. Feel free to take it or not take it. That’s up to you. I support your choice either way. But if you support coercive vaccine mandates and vaccine passports, you’re complicit in establishing the infrastructure and the precedent for the mark of the beast system.

To be clear – the current COVID vaccines are NOT the mark of the beast. If you’re vaccinated, there’s nothing wrong with that. If you’re unvaccinated, there’s nothing wrong with that either. Whether or not you’re vaccinated or unvaccinated does nothing to establish the mark of the beast system. However, vaccine mandates and vaccine passports do. They create the very foundation for the mark of the beast system.

Every Christian should oppose vaccine mandates and vaccine passports because supporting them is the same as supporting the mark of the beast system. In practice, they’re one and the same. If you accept the idea the government has the rightful power to inject a substance into someone against their will (or pressure them to submit), then government power has no limit. Unfortunately, far too many people believe the government does hold this power. And their belief enables the mark of the beast system, creating a world ripe for the rise of the Antichrist.

This is yet another sign of the times in which we live. Israel is back in the land (Jeremiah 23:7-8). The Jewish people are back in Jerusalem (Luke 21:24-28). The Gospel is being preached throughout the world (Matthew 24:14). And now we see the mark of the beast system embraced by much of the world. Jesus said when you see all these events take place, look up because He’s coming soon (Luke 21:28). So use what little time we have left to spread the Gospel because Jesus is coming!

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Britt Gillette is author of the free ebook Coming to Jesus as well as the books Signs of the Second Coming, Racing Toward Armageddon, and The End Times. Receive his book 7 Signs of the End Times for free when you sign up for his monthly newsletter.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most significant events in world history. On August 15, 1971, Richard Nixon announced he was “closing the gold window,” thus ending the U.S. dollar’s convertibility to gold. This ended the post-World War II Bretton Woods monetary system where the world operated on a gold-backed U.S. dollar with other world currencies pegged to the dollar. It also began the new era of fiat currency and sowed the seeds of the next great financial crisis. Fiat currency is not backed by commodities such as gold or silver. Its only value comes from the public’s willingness to accept it as a means of payment. Since Nixon’s announcement, all the major governments of the world have used nothing but fiat currencies. Prior to 1971, this had never occurred in human history.

The Danger of Fiat Currency

Why was Nixon’s announcement such a significant event? Fiat currencies are dangerous. They eliminate government financial discipline and accountability. When nothing backs a currency, the government can print unlimited currency units. The more currency units that exist, the less valuable they all become. If you earn and save in fiat currency, you lose purchasing power over time. The government is essentially stealing from you via inflation. This means government spending is no longer restrained by collected tax revenue or fiscal responsibility.

For example, during World War II, the United States launched a massive war bond campaign to raise the money necessary for funding the war. They did so because U.S. currency was backed by gold and silver. They couldn’t simply “print” the dollars needed to fund the war. But that’s no longer true. Since 1971, the U.S. has funded the world’s largest standing military, fought two wars in Iraq, a war in Afghanistan, and countless other conflicts. In doing so, they never once launched a war bond campaign. They simply printed the dollars they needed.

Since 1971, the U.S. government has been on a spending binge. In 1971, the U.S. national debt was $398 billion. Today, it’s $27.8 trillion. That’s an almost 70-fold increase in debt in the past 50 years. To fund this massive rise in debt, they’ve run the printing press. This means the value of a dollar has decreased significantly in the past 50 years. In 1971, an ounce of gold was $35. Today, an ounce of gold is $1,781. That’s a 98% decline in the dollar’s purchasing power.

And before you attribute the rise in national debt to the declining purchasing power of the dollar, take a look at the debt relative to national income. In 1971, the U.S. debt to GDP ratio was 34%. Today, it’s 127%. That’s an almost four-fold increase in real terms, and it’s a debt level many economists believe is unsustainable. As bad as this is, the United States isn’t alone. In a world awash in fiat currency, debt to GDP ratios are terrible all over the globe. Japan’s debt to GDP ratio is 256%. Canada’s is 116%, and the United Kingdom’s is 107%.

The Eurozone alone is home to a number of troubled nations – Greece (181%), Portugal (132%), Italy (155%), France (115%), etc. Compounding the problem for these nations is they owe their debt in a fiat currency they can’t print. The European Central Bank controls the euro, and that puts all these nations at potential risk of default if they can’t make their debt payments. A default by any of those nations will ripple throughout the European banking system, which holds billions of euros worth of government bonds. If European banks become insolvent, financial contagion will spread throughout the world and plunge the world into a financial crisis far worse than the Great Recession, one with the potential to be worse than the Great Depression itself.

The Central Bank Conundrum

The U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and central bankers throughout the world are well aware of this potential scenario. It’s their worst nightmare. More than anything else, they fear an out-of-control deflationary spiral akin to the Great Depression. This is why central banks engaged in unprecedented measures in 2020 to prop up financial markets as the COVID-19 crisis unfolded. But now they face a conundrum. If they keep these policies in place, we’ll have runaway inflation. But if they reverse their “easy money” policies, they risk triggering the very financial crisis they’re so eager to prevent.

For example, in the United States, interest on the national debt is $378 billion. This is the fourth largest expense in the annual budget. A good portion of the national debt is financed using treasury notes with a maturity of less than ten years. If the Federal Reserve raises interest rates, the interest on the national debt will grow and eat up a larger and ever-growing portion of the annual budget. The same is true for other countries.

In addition, hundreds of U.S. companies are now “zombie” companies. These are heavily indebted, poorly managed companies that depend on low interest rates to meet their loan interest payments. If interest rates rise, those companies will go bankrupt. The same is true for many individuals. A large number of consumers carry variable interest debt. If interest rates rise, they’ll no longer be able to meet their debt obligations. In short, raising interest rates will plunge the U.S. economy into a depression. And the same is true for all the other major world economies.

According to Bloomberg, world debt now stands at $281 trillion. This is the total amount owed by governments, companies, and households. It represents 355% of global output. That’s nearly four times what the world produces in a year. This level of debt can never be paid back. Either it will end in default, or it will be paid back with devalued currency.

The first option will lead to immediate pain and suffering, with bankruptcies, defaults, massive unemployment, and widespread social unrest. The second option offers an alluring promise of a way to avoid such pain. Which option do you think politicians and central bankers will choose?

The Next Economic Downturn

When the next economic downturn arrives, it will be in the form of a severe global depression. Unable to service their massive debts, many individuals and companies will default. Those defaults will leave the banking system on the verge of bankruptcy and politicians scrambling to put together another series of bailout packages. The government and central bank response to this crisis will be bigger than their response to the COVID-19 crisis.

What will they do? They’ll run the printing press. They’ll bail out companies on the verge of bankruptcy. They’ll buy stocks and corporate bonds. They’ll backstop people’s mortgage and student loan payments. They’ll do anything and everything they can in an effort to avoid the inevitable economic pain. And then they’ll institute something they’ve wanted for a long time – universal basic income. Every man, woman, and child will receive a monthly stipend equivalent to an average worker’s salary. A desperate population will welcome it. But it won’t be enough.

When the prices for rent, food, and energy double as a result of all this printed currency, the government solution will be to double the amount of the monthly payments to combat the rising prices of the “greedy” corporations. But the problem won’t be rising prices. The problem will be a failing currency. This process will play itself out over and over until all the world’s currencies are driven into hyperinflation and the entire system comes crashing down.

A Dangerous Time

Hyperinflation has ravaged individual nations in the past – Weimar Germany, the post-war Austro-Hungarian Empire, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and others. But hyperinflation has never hit all the world’s nations simultaneously. Maybe it won’t this time either. But keep this in mind: never before have all the world’s major economies simultaneously been run on fiat currencies. This experiment is only 50 years old, and it’s quickly coming to an end.

What happens when it inevitably falls apart? What happens when lives are ruined, life savings are lost, and the streets are filled with hungry people? We don’t know. But history provides us with clues. In times of chaos and economic instability, dangerous political leaders and demagogues often rise to power. They capture the public imagination with promises to end the chaos and restore stability. Past economic crises led to events such as the rise of Napoleon, the launch of the Bolshevik Revolution, and the consolidation of German state power in the hands of Adolph Hitler. All these events had grave consequences for the entire world, not just the individual nations involved. Why should this time be any different?

What the Bible Says

The Bible describes just such a scenario in the end times. Revelation 6 says an entire day’s wages will barely buy enough food to survive (Revelation 6:5-6). This describes a world ravaged by hyperinflation, and it’s the backdrop against which the Antichrist makes his drive for global conquest (Revelation 6:3-4).

Ultimately, the Antichrist will implement a global economic system which requires the people of the world to worship him. The Bible says he will require everyone on earth to receive a mark, and no one will be able to buy or sell without the mark (Revelation 13:17). We see the beginnings of this system today as paper currencies give way to digital currencies. Once this transition is complete, government will be able to control all buy/sell transactions, just as the Bible foretold.

This is one of the many Tribulation events casting its shadow on our day and time. Along with the restoration of Israel (Jeremiah 23:7-8) and the many signs Jesus and prophets said to look for, all these events are converging for the first time in history. Jesus said when you see this happen, you can know His return is soon (Luke 21:28). So rather than hang your head at the trials and sorrows set to come upon the world, lift your eyes to heaven. He’s coming soon!

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Britt Gillette is author of the free ebook Coming to Jesus as well as the books Signs of the Second Coming, Racing Toward Armageddon, and The End Times. Receive his book 7 Signs of the End Times for free when you sign up for his monthly newsletter.