“That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid” (Isaiah 44:28).

“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up” (2 Chronicles 36:22-23).

“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” (Revelation 13:16-17).

I believe this to be a very different Trump presidency from his previous one. I was not skeptical that Trump won, but that he was allowed back after the great lengths the tech oligarchs went to shut him out and virtually destroy him in 2020. If they silenced the voice of the people in 2020, why would they give us a voice now? Why give him a voice? Two other factors stood out to me. First, the oligarchs’ groveling when Trump won, and second, Trump’s fellowship with Elon Musk.

Throughout the first few months, I saw only economic decline. This helped solidify my sense that this was, indeed, a very different administration. I have a medical condition that occasionally prevents me from driving, so I spent part of winter and most of this past spring homebound, only getting out on weekends when my husband could take me out. He makes a solid income, yet we were struggling just before paydays. Since I wasn’t driving, there were no gas or maintenance expenses. I wasn’t doing online shopping. We don’t eat out. Where was all the money going? we wondered.

Our retirement accounts had shot up when Trump was inaugurated in 2017. However, at the beginning of his second term, our accounts were bleeding. Certainly, this was not the MAGA president I had voted and cheered for in 2017. Yet, now in 2025, many were thrilled, both in America and abroad, likening Trump to Cyrus, the Persian king.

Even after the economy improved, other factors were amiss, such as Trump boasting of buying Gaza and turning it into a paradise. Such a boast (if only that) should cause every Christian to pause, as God is clear that the land belongs to Israel, and those who will divide it (which is prophesied in Joel 3:2-8) will be judged. I also wondered about our sudden military involvement in Iran: What happened to America first? And as of late, we are also funding Ukraine again. What happened to abstaining from foreign wars?

All of this came together for me recently as I listened to an interview with Catherine Austin Fitts of The Solari Report. (Fitts was the Assistant Secretary of Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner during the first Bush administration.) In this interview, she compared Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to a Judas Goat. (Before taking office under Trump, Kennedy was a health freedom advocate who litigated against Big Pharma and spoke against the COVID tyranny, but now wants every person using a wearable device within four years.) Fitts explained that a Judas Goat leads the goats to slaughter while sparing itself. She also spoke of the dangers of DOGE and Musk. Fitts argued that, taken together, both Kennedy and Musk will lead people into the planned control grid by disguising themselves as just another “goat” on our side.

The theatre of today’s politics and clickbait headlines distract and disguise what many conservatives may find easy to disbelieve: that a surveillance system is being built, even under this Trump administration. The irony is that all three men—Trump, Kennedy, and Musk—appear to be firebrands, independent of a Deep State or of their respective parties. Many people have pointed out that only Trump could have persuaded so many conservatives to take the Covid injection. If not for him, how many would have lined up for their shot under Biden or Harris, or any other Democrat-run administration?

Not having paid much attention to DOGE, I began researching what had happened back on Sunday, February 2, 2025, with the data breach in which Musk and his team accessed six trillion dollars in Treasury data. As Dr. Naomi Wolf pointed out in her essay “The Sack of Rome: Elon Musk’s Digital Coup,” despite reassurances that the files were “Read only,” Musk and his team (or a member) could easily have copied or “machine” read the data since there was no overarching security. In other words, the accessed data could have been taken or altered. Dr. Wolf explained that Musk’s team had “write privileges,” which would have enabled any one of them to upload the data to the Cloud or feed it to AI.

Though a federal judge ordered Musk to destroy any copied records, Dr. Wolf stated that such a judgment substitutes “20th century logic for a 21st century problem.” In essence, it’s possible that a campaign promise to eliminate government bureaucracy could have been transformed into a system that ensnares ordinary citizens before ultimately being transformed into a system that controls who and what a person can do in a society: the control grid.

A surveillance state/control grid is prophesied in the Bible. (See Revelation 13:16-17.) What is not prophesied is where, when (other than in the last 3.5 years of the Tribulation), and how it will come together.

There are several more aspects recently implemented by this administration that seem to advance a surveillance society. I will highlight a few, but I strongly encourage you to read this comprehensive and wonderfully informative list from Fitts, entitled “The Fast-Approaching Digital Control Grid: A Checklist of Trump Administration Actions to Date.”

• The Genius Act was passed and signed into law on July 18, 2025, which allows federal regulation for stablecoins and requires them to be guaranteed by US dollars or another liquid Treasury asset. This could pave the way for digital money to replace cash and create a central bank digital currency (CBDC), thus enabling the government to control people’s money, if it so chooses.
• Vast power has been given to ICE, enabling Immigration and Customs to extend their reach into not only other federal agencies (significantly the IRS and the Social Security Administration), but agencies that are state, local, and even private. Local law enforcement can also cooperate with ICE. This generally occurs in localities with more conservative-leaning politics. Cooperation can also be encouraged with financial and need-based incentives. Regarding this increased power, Anthony Kimery said, “The question is no longer whether ICE is building a surveillance state, but whether it has already built one without anyone noticing.”

Because of the Big Beautiful Bill, ICE is now the most well-funded law enforcement agency, and is quickly moving to increase detention facilities, with a goal of getting 100,000 more beds before the end of 2025. Many conservatives desire action against illegal immigration, yet at some point, what is intended for the undocumented could also be turned on legal citizens, and eventually, Christians during the Tribulation. This is not conjecture: again, it’s Bible prophecy that there will be a surveillance state (Revelation 13:16-17).

• On March 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order mandating data sharing with the federal government and within and between agencies. (This is in addition to the data sharing that was given DOGE, in which Musk and his team had access to data at USAID, Education, Treasury, SSA, Labor, Veterans Affairs, Commerce, Health and Human Services, among others.)

The Trump administration has turned to Palantir, a data analysis and technology firm, to organize all of the data from across various state and federal agencies.

• Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Health and Human Services Secretary, recently promoted wearable health devices that record medical data. He hopes every American will be wearing one within four years. Wearables can measure heart rate, heart rhythm, blood sugar levels, sleep quality, body temperature, a woman’s monthly cycle, among many other bodily functions. Also of note, the Surgeon General nominee, Dr. Casey Means, is a strong advocate for wearables. She is the co-founder of Levels, a health app that also offers continuous glucose monitoring through a sensor worn on your upper arm, lab work, dietician support, and AI-powered interpretation of your results.

Again, the list on Solari is very comprehensive and includes links to references with more information. I encourage you to read and see for yourself, to be a discerner of the times. Each day, our redemption draweth nigh (Luke 21:25-28). Each day, it seems, another piece of this fearful and elaborate system is being locked into place.

Finally, I write this as one who has come to believe that there exists both Trump Derangement Syndrome and Trump Savior Syndrome. There is, however, only one true Savior, and that is Jesus Christ. Many of the Pharisees, Zealots, and, perhaps Essenes of Jesus’s day looked for their own agenda in Christ, but Christ came only to do God’s agenda: “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30). It is more important than ever that we look to Christ,

• trusting in His atoning work on the cross (Ephesians 2:8-9),
• loving God with all of our heart, mind, and soul (Deuteronomy 6:5),
• walking in the power of the Holy Spirit and not after the flesh (Galatians 5:16-17),
• and having our oil lamps filled (Matthew 25:1-13) as we eagerly anticipate our blessed hope! (Titus 2:13)

Come, Lord Jesus, come!