General Articles

Big Brother’s All-Seeing Eye :: By Jack Kinsella

Published on: by RR7

 

[Editor’s Note: Jack Kinsella wrote this article in 2003, but it is more relevant today than ever.]

The Pentagon is developing an urban surveillance system that would use computers and thousands of cameras to track, record, and analyze the movement of every vehicle in a foreign city. The project nickname is unusually lame, even by Pentagon standards.

Dubbed “Combat Zones That See,” the project is designed to help the U.S. military protect troops and fight in cities overseas.

The project’s centerpiece is groundbreaking computer software that is capable of automatically identifying vehicles by size, color, shape and license tag, or drivers and passengers by face.

According to interviews and contracting documents, the software may also provide instant alerts after detecting a vehicle with a license plate on a watch list or search months of records to locate and compare vehicles spotted near terrorist activities.

Its other projects include developing software that scans databases of everyday transactions and personal records worldwide to predict terrorist attacks and creating a computerized diary that would record and analyze everything a person says, sees, hears, reads or touches.

U.S. police use cameras to monitor bridges, tunnels, airports and border crossings and regularly access security cameras in banks, stores and garages for investigative leads. In the District of Columbia, police have 16 closed-circuit television cameras watching major roads and gathering places.

Great Britain has an estimated 2.5 million closed-circuit television cameras, more than half operated by government agencies, and the average Londoner is thought to be photographed 300 times a day.

Assessment

At this point, you are probably expecting me to begin spinning like a dervish and shouting “Mark of the Beast!” but, to quote the first President Bush, ‘Nope. Not gonna do that.’

Let me make two contradictory statements, and then I will attempt to sort them out.

First off, let me say that I agree with the use of the technology.

Secondly, I have no more desire to be photographed 300 times a day than anybody else. I agree that it is a bit spooky to know you live under surveillance. I agree with the privacy experts that the potential for abuse of the technology is high.

As one privacy expert lamented, the system could be ‘abused’ to identify and arrest domestic criminals as easily as it could be used to identify potential terrorists.

But there is a short-term solution for those of us who don’t want the government to use cameras to catch us breaking the law. Don’t break the law.

The only ones who are truly concerned about development and use of this technology are: 1) terrorists, 2) liberals, 3) criminals, 4) those who won’t know what they think about it until the mantras start, 5) hysterical Christians suffering both a lack of faith and a lack of understanding of Scripture for the last days.

Categories 1 through 4 are self-explanatory. It is Category 5 that needs addressing here; hysterical Christians who are suffering from both the lack of faith and the lack of understanding.

This story is stunning in its import; it is almost a letter-perfect fit to the surveillance system foretold by the Apostle Paul from the Island of Patmos almost two thousand years ago. In John’s vision, the antichrist will set up a three-tiered system of government, through which he will be able to control the tiniest details of day-to-day life.

His system will be political and global. John sees the political ‘beast’ “rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns (Rev 13:1), said system being empowered by “the dragon [that] gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.” (2)

The political beast’s authority is absolute: “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” (4)

The political beast is capable of global communications: “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies;” (5) which then sets the stage for the pogroms against the Tribulation saints as well as the Jews. “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” (6)

Enter the religious beast in verse 11, who then wields “all the power of the first [political] beast before him” (12) but adds the dimension of religion, using counterfeit miracles to set up a form of counterfeit Christianity (“he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon”), (11) through which he deceives “them that dwell upon the earth” (14) before merging both into a kind of all-encompassing socio-economic system that controls everything from where people go, to where they worship, to whether or not they can buy food.

Revelation 13:16-17 explains how the three come together and why the Pentagon’s new system is germane to Bible prophecy. “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.”

To accomplish all this, the antichrist would have to be able to reward his followers, identify his enemies, and be able to keep them separate.

For centuries, people debated about the Mark of the Beast. Is it a literal mark? Is it a tattoo? Is it an embedded chip?

Or is it something that can only be seen by surveillance cameras that photograph every citizen three hundred times a day?

I don’t know. What I do know is that this new system fits into John’s scenario with less difficulty than any of the previous ones.

I always wondered how the antichrist was going to convince everybody to take a visible mark. Some cultures would jump right on it. Ours, for example. All you’d have to do is make it a fashion statement.

Other cultures, on the other hand, would take a lot of convincing, which appears to me to be a wasted and time-consuming effort given the antichrist’s entire reign is only seven years.

But, if the Mark could be made invisible to the naked eye…

Here is where I reconcile the contradictions.

In the natural, I have no major issue with the use of this technology because it is NECESSARY. There are people who want to kill other people for no other reason except to either make a political point or underline a political worldview in innocent blood.

That was clear even before the New York skyline was changed forever on September 11. In the New Normal, it is more than necessary; it is a matter of survival.

Common sense tells anybody to whom sense is common that there is no non-intrusive way to spy on potential threats, and that there is no way to identify potential threats without spying. By definition, sneak attacks are planned and developed in secret.

Now, to the ‘hysterical Christian with a lack of faith and understanding’ category.

Look at Revelation 13 again. Does it say this is an OPTIONAL scenario for the last days? Or is it a prophecy that will be fulfilled down to the last “jot and tittle”?

And if it is the scenario outlined by God as His Plan for the judgment of the nations and the redemption of Israel, then only a hysterical Christian with no understanding of Scripture would be in a panic about it.

If this is the technology that will be used to set up the system of the Mark of the Beast, I say, bring it on! Let’s get that baby tuned up so that it is working perfectly and ready to go.

It will afford some measure of safety against terrorist attacks abroad, and when we have been properly conditioned to accept it in places like the U.S., let’s use it to protect the homeland.

The Bible is true, and so the antichrist’s system will be introduced, implemented and made operational whether Christians rail against it or not.

Since I believe in a pretrib Rapture, all it means to me is that the Lord is coming soon for His Church. But to those who believe the Church will be here for some or all of the Tribulation, it means the same thing (albeit a bit later).

It is additional evidence that these are the last days foretold and anticipated by the prophets from Daniel to Revelation.

The fact that it will be the system of the antichrist during the Tribulation is no reason for Christians to get hysterical about it. What is their point? To change what God said would happen anyway? To stall it? To hold God off?

Revelation 13:18 contains that cryptic 666 prophecy that has had people spinning like tops trying to decipher for 19 centuries.

“Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”

Instead of focusing on the number, let’s stop in the first sentence. “Here is wisdom.”

The Book of Proverbs has much to say about ‘wisdom’ — something that is a step TOWARD ‘understanding’ rather than the other way around.

“Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?” (Prov 8:1). “O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart” (8:5). “Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength” (8:14). “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (9:16). “He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul: he that keepeth understanding shall find good” (19:8).

Wisdom brings understanding. Now we return to the 666 prophecy. Are you beginning to understand?

The Mark of the Beast isn’t FOR the Church. We play no role in the Tribulation.

No matter what your view of the timing of the Rapture, the Church is not mentioned as playing any role whatsoever. Whether your doctrinal view puts the Rapture before, during, or after the Tribulation, you will find no mention of the Church.

Just the saints, and then in only one of two contexts — they are either in heaven already, or they are the saints to whom it was “given unto to him to make war” with — and overcome, may I add. If not already in heaven, they are on their way at the hands of the antichrist.

Wisdom tells us that the Scriptures are true and that God’s Word will not return to Him void. “The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand” (Isaiah 14:24).

“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it” (Isaiah 46:9-11).

UNDERSTANDING tells us that this is playing out exactly as God said it would.

It is, therefore, spiritual foolishness to rail against it, since the Bible tells us that 1) it isn’t the antichrist’s system until the antichrist gets here to take it over, and 2) that is what God said was going to happen anyway.

This is an important story, but not because it means the antichrist is about to start rounding up Christians. It’s because John said this is what was GOING to happen. And then Jesus returns.

“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28).

The King IS coming!!

Tell your friends.

The late Jack Kinsella’s articles can be found in the Omega Letter archives at this link.

True Peace and Safety :: By Terry James

Published on: by RR7

 

Today, as the new year begins, the cry for peace and safety rings more loudly than ever. I’ve written about the fears and calls for remedy of those fears in numerous posts. The prophecy below is one of the clearest in indicating when judgment will fall.

“For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

Following the Rapture of the Church, that cry will become much more urgent. As a matter of fact, the cry will be demanded from most everyone on earth at that time. The Antichrist will step forward and presumably have the answers to the deluded masses’ life-threatening dilemmas.

We can hear the cries even now beginning to build—not so much by the masses of peoples under the increasingly despotic governing authorities, but by the governing authorities themselves. Their fears, I think the evidence shows, are because they don’t wish their safe havens of ever-increasing wealth-building they’ve carved for themselves to be disrupted.

These fear-mounting threats to world peace

China wants to be number one in all matters of world domination. The CCP wants to retake Formosa (Taiwan). The Communist Party’s dictatorship has lost its fear of the US vanguard against their aggression with the current American presidential administration. The Chinese have, with patience and clever, even brilliant, strategies, tied up the US and much of the Western world with economic/monetary chains.

Vladimir Putin and the Russian military threaten the Ukraine and other neighbors. They have, by taking advantage of the Biden administration’s foolhardy green environmental/anti-petroleum policies, rearranged things in Europe and elsewhere in a way that places increasing hardships upon the average citizenries.

Israel, in the view of the globalist elite, presents a great threat to their drive toward one world by demanding that Iran get off its nuclear weapons ambition. Israel is seen as the hold-up to peace in the Middle East to a large extent, despite that it is the Jewish State’s surrounding enemies that declare almost daily that they will wipe Israel off the map.

The very wealthy and privileged among us are picking up the mantra of peace and safety in the entertainment world as well. The very purveyors of ideology that has been at the forefront of the “woke” cancel culture and the rest of that insanity now seek safety from their constituent masses. It would be humorous if it wasn’t a sin infection that will ultimately enlarge the chambers of Hell.

The following report tells more.

After years of rising crime in Los Angeles, elites in wealthy neighborhoods are finally panicking about the recent string of high-profile retail robberies and home burglaries. Experts say wealthy individuals are purchasing bulletproof cars, safe rooms, employing armed guards, and even constructing walls with barbed wire around their properties.

The issue of violent crime is nothing new to Los Angeles, but a spillover to upscale neighborhoods has put elites on edge. The Hollywood Reporter reports agencies that provide private security are seeing increasing demand for private patrols….

Estate manager Bryan Peele, president and founder of the L.A.-based Estate Managers Coalition, said his clients have “fully equipped safe rooms that they can live in for a few days, if necessary, that are completely hard-wired with phone cables, Internet, everything.”

One of Peele’s clients has three bulletproof cars and wears fake Rolexes. “This guy will take a $200,000 Rolex and copy it, using stainless steel and other metals, so it looks like the original but costs maybe $2,000-$3,000 per watch. So, in the event that it’s stolen, the client is out a lot less money,” he said.

Many upscale homes are installing more cameras, constructing fences with barbed wire, and employing 24-7 security details that will protect them once their private jet touches down to their mansions. (“Hollywood Elites Panic-Buy Armored-Cars and Safe-Rooms Amid Rising Violent Crime,” Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge, December 28, 2021)

Crime in the most elite sections of LA and the surrounding area has risen dramatically since so-called reforms to law and justice have taken place. The madness has caused cries for peace and safety from the most vocal “wokes” in the nation.

Criminals can steal as much as $950 worth of goods and receive only slaps on the wrist. What comes to mind is the scriptural reminder, “Be sure, your sins will find you out.”

Woke culture is reprobate thinking manifest for the entire world to see. Turning one’s back to God, as we are reminded in Romans chapter 1, brings about upside-down thinking.

Sadly, many–most—will never experience true peace and safety, either in this fallen world or, even more tragically, in the world to come—in eternity.

True peace and safety are found only in Jesus Christ. Only He can provide the shelter from the Tribulation storm to come and offer us safety throughout all of eternity during life after death.

Read again the words of the Lord of all lords—the Savior who came to take away the sins of the world. Hear through your spiritual senses the compassion and love in His prayer to the Heavenly Father.

When the Lord Jesus prays, the heavenly Father ALWAYS grants His Son’s prayer. Jesus prayed for the children of God—all children past, present, and future, saved through Christ’s precious shed blood:

“I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them….

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17: 9–10, 20–26).