As we continue on looking at
world events and how they relate to Biblical prophecy, we are
going to finish up looking at THE MARK OF THE BEAST, and ISRAEL.
So make yourselves comfortable as we see Biblical prophecy unfold
before our eyes.
4. THE MARK
OF THE BEAST
Think about this for a minute. Just some 100 years ago
the thought of a cashless society was unthinkable, it was impossible! And yet, the apostle John said some 1900 years
ago, “He causes all, both small and great, rich and
poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or
on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one
who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his
name.” Revelation
13:16-17. And now
today we are seeing science and technology catching up to what
John spoke about, we are quickly moving toward a cashless society
and ultimately the mark of the beast that will be needed during
the tribulation if you want to buy or sell anything!
One of the problems today is
counterfeit money, stolen identification, stolen credit cards,
and it costs consumers and businesses billions of dollars a year!
The solution, at least partly, is given in U. S. News &
World Report, October 8, 2001 where we read in the article entitled
Counterfeit Freedom, “...Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle,
has helped us with a proposal that we adopt a national identification
card, with digitized photograph and thumbprint, and tied to a
central database, for which Oracle would provide the software
for free...First, we must insist on biometric authentication,
using unique physical characteristics like a fingerprint. This would eliminate identity theft, which
increased 16-fold in the mid-1990's, expanding to an estimated
700,000 instances to date...Second, we must maintain a single
database of identities.”
But it does not end there, remember,
we are moving towards a global community.
From Reuters News Agency, Thursday, November 9, 2001, we
are told, “A Nobel-prize winning economist [Robert Mundell,
a Columbia University economics professor], on Wednesday sketched
out a rough blueprint for an effective single world currency encompassing
the U.S. dollar, Europe’s single currency and Japan’s
Yen, saying there was no major obstacle to its management...‘Throughout
monetary history the superpower always rejects international monetary
reform,’ Mr. Mundell said in his colorful presentation.
‘The United States is the country that has been opposed
to a world currency in the 20th century.
“The euro area has created for the first time a change
in the power configuration and it is now time to, and useful,
and in the United States’ interests, to move toward (global
monetary reform) and provide some leadership,’ he said.”
Ontario Primer Mike Harris announced
in May that he would like every citizen in the Canadian province
electronically fingerprinted to consolidate health cards, drivers
licenses, and other government identification.
Remember the old TV show from the 1970's, The Prisoner.
It was a British show that featured secret agent Patrick McGoohan,
who was called “Number 6." His famous line, the only
one I can remember, was “I am not a number.
I am a man!”
Well, we are moving towards that reality, where we are
just a number, look at how your social security number identifies
who you are right now. The problem is that your SSN can be bought
on the Internet for $39.95 and used within minutes to get credit
cards in your name. What
can we do?
Robert Bamone, President of
Diebolt Inc., an automate teller machine manufacturer said that
you will be able to do anything that you do today without cash
or credit that can be stolen, simply through skin implants or
invisible tattoos. And
these things are happening right now, people working on chip implants,
not just to prevent lost kids, but to make shopping more convenient,
and-so-on. Peter Cochrane, the head
of research and development at British Telecom said, “In
actual fact, I’d vote for a chip under the skin. I could
actually have a passive transponder put under my skin right now,
it would cost less than a dollar. It would be there for life,
and I could have absolute freedom of action.
And he is not alone in such
thinking. Ronald Kane, vice president of Cubic Corp., the leading
manufacturer of smart card systems, is quite blunt about his goals
for the future: “If we had our way, we’d implant a chip
behind everyone’s ear in the maternity ward.”
How close are we to actually
implementing this technology in humans?
Listen to this report from WorldNetDaily from Thursday,
June 14, 2001. This is from the article ‘Digital Angel’
set to fly tomorrow, implant technology to be beta tested on humans.
We talked about this before, but Digital Angel is a tracking
device that is implanted under the skin, and listen how far they
have come:
“Applied Digital Solutions will begin beta
testing on humans an implant technology capable of allowing users
to emit a homing beacon, have vital bodily functions monitored
and confirm identity when making e-commerce transactions...While
the manufacturers of the technology bill it is a potential lifesaver,
others fear the advent of the device threatens personal privacy
- and even raise the ugly specter of the Bible’s ‘mark
of the beast.’...the miniature digital transceiver it has
named ‘Digital Angel.’ The company plans to market
the device for a number of uses, including as a ‘tamper-proof
means of identification for enhanced e-business security.’...Digital
Angel sends and receives data and can be continuously tracked
by global positioning satellite technology. When implanted within
a body, the device is powered electro mechanically through the
movement of muscles and can be activated either by the ‘wearer’
or by a monitoring facility...The device’s patent describes
it as a rescue beacon for kidnapped children and missing persons.
According to Zhou, the implant will save money by reducing resources
used in rescue operations for athletes, including mountain climbers
and skiers. Law enforcement may employ
the implant to keep track of criminals under house arrest, as
well as reduce emergency response time by immediately locating
individuals in distress. The device also has the ability to monitor
the user’s heart rate, blood pressure and other vital functions...American
soldiers may be required to wear the implant so their whereabouts
and health conditions can be accessed at all times...
...In an increasingly cashless society where identity
verification is essential for financial transactions, some Christians
view Digital Angel’s ID and e-commerce applications as a
form of the biblical ‘mark of the beast.’...‘A
few years ago there may have been resistance, but not anymore...People
are getting used to having implants. New century, new trend.’...‘Fifty
years from now this will be very, very popular. Fifty years ago
the thought of a cell phone, where you could walk around talking
on the phone, was unimaginable. Now they are everywhere...’”
In the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
Friday, December 21, 2001, in the article “Surgeon implants
readable computer chips under skin” we are told:
“A New Jersey surgeon has
embedded under his skin tiny computer chips that can automatically
transmit personal information to a scanner, a technology that
his employer hopes will someday be widely used as a way to identify
people.
One bioethicist called the procedure
the stuff of science fiction.
The chip, developed by Applied Digital Solutions of Palm
Beach, Fla., is similar to that implanted in more than a million
dogs, cats and other pets in recent years to track and identify
them.
The new chip, slightly smaller
than a Tic Tac mint, has a miniature antenna that emits signals
containing about two paragraphs’ worth of data when scanned
by a hand-held reader...Applied Digital officials said they hope
to sell the device to patients with pacemakers, artificial hips
and other implanted devices. The idea is that the chip will provide
prompt and accurate medical information in an emergency, they
said.
The signal can contain a name,
telephone number and other information. Or it can send out a code
that, when linked to a database, can call up records.
The scanner can read it through clothes from up to four
feet away, company officials said.
Applied Digital executives said
its new product also could serve as a tamper-proof form of identification. Corrections authorities
have expressed interest in using the chips to better identify
prisoners and parolees, officials said.
Airlines, nuclear power plants
and other sensitive facilities may want to use the chips for employees,
they said. Some parents may consider
embedding chips in young children or elderly relatives who may
be unable to say their names, addresses or telephone numbers.
‘It depends on the spirit
of the marketplace and the demand,’ said Keith Bolton, the
company’s vice president and chief technology officer, adding
that use of the chip should be voluntary unless the law allows
otherwise. ‘We’re
ready to begin.’”
And our government is eagerly
trying to get Americans to buy into this technology.
For example, “Bill Clinton first proposed a national
medical identification card in 1993 as part of his ill-fated plan
to provide universal health insurance...Dr. Christopher Chute,
the head of medical information resource at the Mayo Foundation,
who participated on a panel advising The Department of Health
and Human Services said, ‘We have the technology to do such
a thing. What we don’t have is the social infrastructure
to support it.’ A.G.
Breitenstein, director of the Health Law Institute, an advocacy
group based in Boston, said: ‘That information will be irrevocably
integrated into a cradle-to-grave medical record to which insurers,
employers, government and law enforcement will have access is,
to me, exactly what privacy is not.
People are not going to feel comfortable going to the doctor,
because now you are going to have a permanent record that will
follow you around for the rest of your life that says you had
syphilis, or depression, or an abortion or whatever else.’”
Talk about Big Brother is watching!
And folks, this tracking system
is already being used. Listen
to this report from The Star-Ledger, a New Jersey newspaper from
08/11/01.
“Three Clinton Township
police officers have been suspended from the force and charged
with falsifying records about their whereabouts while on duty,
authorities said yesterday. Stephen Rubin, the Hunterdon
County prosecutor, would not say where Patrolmen Robert Kovacs,
Paul Brown and Sgt. Michael Exley were when they were supposed
to be on assignment, but he said data from Global Positioning
System equipment contradicted their reports...Investigators started
surveying all patrol officers by placing Global Positioning System
equipment in their vehicles.
Officials said data from the GPS survey contradicted what
officers wrote in their activity log...”
Lastly, in this section, listen
to this proposal by Dr. Henry Alderman of the European Common
Confederacy, not from last year, but some 26 years ago, back in
1975. Listen carefully to what he said back then and where we
are at today, especially with the threat of terrorism around every
corner, we need some kind of identification that can’t be
falsified. This is
from the San Jose Mercury, Friday, August 8, 1975, and the report
says:
“The massive plan involves
a digital number system for every human being on earth.
A computer would assign each citizen of the world a number
that would be invisibly laser tattooed on the forehead or the
back of the hand. It would provide a walking credit card system.
The number would show up on infra-red scanners and be placed at
all check-out counters and places of business. By using this three,
six digital unit the entire world can be assigned a working number.
An international mark that would do away with all currency
or coin instead of credit notes exchanged through a world fixing
system. Nobody could
buy or sell without this digital marking system on them. One man can have at his
finger tips the number of any man on earth.
When one of the market leaders was asked what would happen
if anyone objected to this system and refused to co-operate, he
replied rather pointedly, ‘We would have to use force to
make him conform to the requirements.’”
That was 26 years ago, and now
look at how far we have come in just that short period of time,
the technology that has been developed and the systems that are
in operation already. Listen to this report
on Universal Registration Proposal:
“After the Sept. 11 attacks,
several House and Senate lawmakers again began to consider instituting
a national identification card, or adding a biometric identifier
such as a fingerprint to all Social Security cards.
Larry Ellison, the found and CEO of Oracle Corporation
quickly proposed a national ID card to help fight terrorism. Ellison,
in a Wall Street journal op-ed piece, contended that ‘a national
database combined with biometrics, thumb prints, hand prints,
iris scans or other new technology could detect false identities.’
Ellison has also indicated that his company could develop
the software necessary to do this, but the Bush administration
has stated that it will not support a national ID system to combat
terrorism.”
“However, this last week
Pascal Smet, the head of Belgium’s independent asylum review
board, brought the discussion to a new level when he proposed
a universal identification system at a United Nations meeting
Thursday. Under the
terms of his proposal, every person in the world would be fingerprinted
and registered as a means of immigration control.
Smet said that the European Union had already been considering
a registration of all its citizens, using biometric identifiers
such as retinal scans or fingerprints.”
“‘It’s a basic
rule of management that if you want to manage something, you measure
it,’ he said. ‘It’s the same with human beings
and migration...But instead of measuring it, you have to register
them.’”
We are moving towards a cashless
society and a society, a world that will be able to track and
monitor every citizen. Beware, Big Brother is
watching! And please understand
that the technology is not evil, but it is the people that use
them that can turn it around and use it for evil purposes.
5. ISRAEL
If you want to know what time
it is on God’s prophetic time-clock, look at Israel!
You see, prior to 1948, the Jews were not in the land of
Israel as a nation. There have always been Jews in Israel, but
they were not a nation for some 2,000 years! But then, on may
14, 1948, that which seemed an impossibility, became a reality,
the nation of Israel was reborn! Ezekiel chapter 37 had
come to pass just as God had said!
And ever since the day they
became a nation, the Arab nations have been trying to destroy
them, wipe them out, remove them from the land.
Upon Israel’s declaration of statehood, they were
immediately attacked by seven Arab armies, out manned 30 to 1,
in its War of Independence. And over the last 50 plus years, this
nation has had to defend itself again and again against 100 million
enemies sworn to drive them into the sea! And it is not only the
Arabs that are against the Jews, but the world.
Listen carefully to what I have to say.
The United Nations has had hundreds
of violations against Israel for their actions against the Palestinians,
and how many violations do you think the Palestinians have had
against them, with all the suicide bombings, and-so-on?
Zero! That
is right, not one. And
listen carefully to how this ideology of hatred
towards Israel is growing.
During the third UN Conference
on Racism in Durban, South Africa this year, Israel came into
the cross hairs of a global gang up.
Listen to what took place:
“At one of the ‘prepcom’
planning sessions in Geneva, Switzerland, a month prior to the
September UN Conference, NGO [non-governmental organizations]
representatives approved a preliminary declaration for consideration
that Israel is ‘an apartheid, racist, and fascist state’;
an ironic concept considering that Israel is the only country
in the Middle East where its citizens - both Jewish and Arab -
can freely elect their leaders.”
“The fact that Israel was
singled out demonstrates how ideologically and politically motivated
hate wars are: consider the fact that dictatorial, genocidal,
slavery-tolerating countries such as the Sudan, China, and Zimbabwe
were also in attendance at the conference but caught no fire.”
“The proposed anti-Israel
document called for a plan of action to dismantle the ‘racist,
apartheid state’ of Israel, and implement the Fourth Geneva
Convention of 1949, including a ‘protection force’ for
Palestinians and the dismantling of “Jewish Israeli colonies’
(meaning the West Bank).
It also called on the UN to reiterate Resolution 3379,
equating Zionism with racism and invoked a policy of ‘complete
and total isolation of Israel as an apartheid state, as was done
in the case of South Africa...sanctions, embargoes, the full cessation
of all diplomatic, economic, social, and military ties between
all states and Israel.’”
“During the conference
itself, anti-Semitic booklets appeared everywhere - including
the classic ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion,’ which
is even banned in South Africa. One leaflet featured a picture
of Hitler with the caption, ‘If I had won, there would be
no Israel, and no Palestinian bloodshed.’”
In the book of Zechariah we
are told, “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness
to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah
and Jerusalem. And
it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very
heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will
surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered
against it.” Zechariah 12:2-3. When this was written the Jews had returned
home from their captivity in Babylon, they were not a powerful
nation, they were a threat to no one. And yet today, look at how
this nation is a heavy stone, trouble, for the nations of the
world that want to destroy her and her people. You see, as Ezekiel chapter
37 speaks of the re-birth of the nation of Israel, which occurred
in 1948, chapters 38 and 39 speak of a war against this nation,
with Russia and the Muslim nations sweeping down upon her, and
yet, God destroys this army, and Israel is victorious.
As we see Yasser Arafat calling
for the stopping of suicide bombings by his people, along with
the terrorist group, Hamas, understand this is not a real promise.
Listen to this report from the December 17, 2001 issue of U.S.
News & World Report:
“In response, Arafat seems
once again to be faking it.
Right after the Jerusalem and Haifa bombings, Palestinian
Authority security forces arrested 110 Hamas and Islamic Jihad
members, with much fanfare.
Israelis, however, said these were just the usual small
fry, and a PA security official, speaking anonymously, confirmed
the view. None of them are ‘real
terrorists,’ he said, ‘but we need to round up a lot
of bearded men as part of the show.’” In speaking of
Yasser Arafat, the report says, “He winks at terror, and
on the occasions he doesn’t, no one takes him seriously. ‘We have a gentlemen’s agreement
that allows us to operate freely,’ says a Hamas official
who met recently with Arafat. But the man from Hamas
complains, ‘One day Arafat lets us know it’s OK to attack
Israeli targets; the next day he tells us it’s embarrassing
him with the United States and Europe. We wish he would make up
his mind.’” Do you really think they want peace, or
the destruction of Israel? I think it is very obvious!
From the Middle East Newsline
of December 9, 2001, listen to what Egypt is saying about a coming
war with Israel. “Egypt has warned
the United States that the Israeli military offensive against
the Palestinian Authority could spread into a confrontation with
the Arab world...Egyptian diplomats and government-aligned analysts
said President Hosni Mubarak has told Washington it will not tolerate
the Israeli destruction of the regime of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat...At
the same time, Egypt’s defense chief said the nation is prepared
for war. ‘The recent developments
require the Egyptian armed forces to preserve a high level of
preparedness and readiness to confront any challenge and threat,’
Egyptian Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi said...”
From Iran, a report out of Reuters
states, “Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini said
on Friday the only way to resolve the Middle East crisis is by
eradicating Israel, and called on the participants in the upcoming
Arab summit to help Palestinians create their own state.
‘The only way to end the crisis in the Middle East
is to dry up its roots. What is at the roots of this crisis?
It is the Zionist regime that has been imposed on the region.’”
WorldTribune.com says from it’s
August 13, 2001 issue: “Russian defense officials and strategists
project that an Arab-Israeli war could erupt in the Middle East
over the next three to six months. The widely-held scenario described
a war that would engulf Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, according
to Middle East Newsline. The officials and strategists said Egypt
could be swept into such a conflict...”
Listen to this report form the
Sunday Telegraph (UK) from January 28, 2001: “Saddam Hussein
has two fully operational nuclear bombs and is working to construct
others, an Iraqi defector has told The Telegraph.
‘There are at least two nuclear bombs which are ready
for use. Before the UN inspectors came, there were 47 factories
involved in the project. Now there are 64.’” Things
are being set up for a war in the Middle East, it is only a matter
of time!
Listen how close we have come.
According to the DEBKAfile, back in January and February of this
year, “...six divisions of Iraqi troops were massed near
the Syrian border and U.S. intelligence officials had ‘additionally
picked up Iraqi preparations for launching long-range surface-to-surface
missiles,’ the intelligence news agency reported...DEBKAfile
said Israeli officials were planning a pre-emptive strike against
the amassed Iraqi troops and missile launch sites, using conventional
munitions ‘and with the help of small neutron bombs.’”
That is how close we are to a World War in the Middle East
with nuclear weapons, just as the Scriptures tell us.
You doubt that the Scriptures
speak of nuclear weapons, listen carefully to what Zechariah tells
us, “And this shall be the plague with which the LORD
will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: their
flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, their eyes
shall dissolve in their sockets, and their tongues shall dissolve
in their mouths.”
Zechariah 14:12. That sounds like a neutron bomb, low intensity
and high radiation yields, destroying life but leaving the buildings
standing!
Way back in the mid-nineteenth
century, Rabbi Chaim Valoshinerere said this, which we are seeing
come to pass before us today.
He said, “When you see the Russian army begin to move
southward and enter Turkey, put on your Sabbath garments and get
ready to welcome the Messiah.” There is an excitement in Israel today about
the coming of their Messiah, at least with the Orthodox Jews.
There is even a sign by the Western Wall or the Wailing
Wall that says in Hebrew, “Get ready, Messiah is coming!”
Tragically, they are looking for the Antichrist and not
Jesus Christ. Jesus even warned them of this mistake when He said
in John 5:43, “I have come in My Father's name, and
you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you
will receive.”
It is this war in the Middle East that I believe will usher
in the Antichrist to his reign of power, for he will come on the
scene as a man of peace, solving the worlds problems, but it is
a false peace!
We are seeing plans for the
rebuilding of the temple, as Revelation chapter 11 tells us,
“Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod.
And the angel stood, saying, ‘Rise and measure the temple
of God, the altar, and those who worship there.
But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and
do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And
they will tread the holy city underfoot for fortytwo months.’”
Revelation 11:1-2. You
can also read of Jesus speaking of this rebuilt temple in Matthew
chapter 24 and Daniel speaks of it in Daniel chapter 9. So it will be rebuilt,
the problem now is the Arabs won’t allow them, or should
I say the Muslims, who believe the Temple is their holy site,
in fact, they deny the temple ever existed! The Jews have all of the
temple implements they need to start the temple sacrifices, they
are sending the priests to school to learn the tasks of the priests,
they even have the drawings for this third temple, it is just
a matter of timing before it is built, God’s timing!
I have given you a lot of information,
a lot of things to think about, but what are you going to do with
it? So what if all these things
are true? I like the way that Chuck
Missler puts it. He
said: “We are, indeed, being plunged into a period of time
about which the bible says more than any other period in human
history - including the time that Jesus walked the shores of Galilee
and climbed the mountains of Judea!
What an exciting time to be declaring the fabulous discoveries
in God’s Word!”
May we not lose sight of those
truths. As bad as things may get,
as dark as they may seem, we know the end of the story, God has
told us, and He wins! That is the message we
can give to people, the hope in Jesus that is there for them to
receive, the forgiveness of sin, for He paid for our sins on the
cross of Calvary and for all those who receive it, they are as
white as snow, they have received the righteousness of Christ
into their lives. For all that don’t their righteousness
is as filthy rags and they will not be accepted by God in that
condition. But don’t pass up the opportunity you have before
you of sharing your faith. It would have been great to be around
when the church began, but you know what, we are living in the
last days, we are possibly the generation to close out church
history, and I can’t think of another time I would like to
be living in. The opportunities are there for our taking, if we
would only step out in faith.
Remember what Paul said in Romans
chapter 13, “And do this, knowing the time, that now
it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is
nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent,
the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness,
and let us put on the armor of light.
Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and
drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision
for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” Romans 13:11-14.
As we prepare for 2002, may
we awaken from our spiritual sleep and walk as God desires us
to walk. I look forward to the
coming year and seeing what the Lord is going to do, not only
in me, but through me, how He will use me, and I hope you are
excited to see what He is going to do in you and through you this
coming year. I want to leave you with this story as we close this
evening. Think about how this relates to what we have talked about
this evening.
“During the 1960 presidential
campaign, John F. Kennedy often closed his speeches with the story
of Colonel Davenport, the Speaker of the Connecticut House of
Representatives: On May 19th, 1780 the sky of Hartford
darkened ominously, and some of the representatives, glancing
out the windows, feared the end was at hand. Quelling a clamor for immediate adjournment,
Davenport rose and said, ‘The Day of Judgment is either approaching
or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment.
If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty.
Therefore, I wish no candles be brought.’ Rather than fearing what is to come, we are
to be faithful till Christ returns. Instead of fearing the dark,
we’re to be lights as we watch and wait.”
- Harry Heintz