When the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001 occurred, I was a pastor of a small church in Montana. My theology was somewhat different then than it is now, and so shortly after these attacks, I preached a sermon about prophecy and the End Times in which I said that the governments of the world would eventually use the threat of terrorism to force everybody to accept the “Mark of the Beast.”
I said at the time that the Mark of the Beast would probably consist of some sort of microchip implanted into a person’s forehead or hand which would not only allow people to be tracked, but would also allow people to buy and sell.
While such microchip implants would initially be optional, I said that as the threat of terrorism rose, and as governments wanted to track what people bought and sold, these implanted microchips would become mandatory. They would completely replace credit cards and cash.
So anyway, I was interested to read last Saturday about plans to create and market implantable microchips. Here is a quote from the article at Fox News:
You can inject one under your skin and no one will ever notice. Using short-range radio frequency identification (RFID) signals, it can transmit your identity as you pass through a security checkpoint or walk into a football stadium. It can help you buy groceries at Wal-Mart. In a worst-case scenario – if you are kidnapped in a foreign country, for example – it could save your life.
Microchip implants like the ones pet owners use to track their dogs and cats could become commonplace in humans in the next decade. Experts are divided on whether they’re appropriate for people, but the implants could offer several advantages. For soldiers and journalists in war zones, an implant could be the difference between life and death. A tracker could also help law enforcement quickly locate a kidnapped child.
Interestingly, NFL players will all have RFID chips in their shoulder pads this year to help people track their movement, speed, and location on the field. I have often thought they should put one in the footballs so that they no longer have to bring out the chains to see if the teams got the first down or not. They could just track the ball’s precise location.
Some have even pointed out that an early version of the Affordable Care Act included a provision for RFID chips. This section was not included in the final draft of the law which Obama signed, but it does show that some people are thinking about it. Here is the NBC Report:
And while I cannot predict what will be in this new Apple iWatch which is rumored to be unveiled on September 9, I would not at all be surprised to learn that it has RFID (radio frequency identification) and/or NFC (near field communication) capability. Such RFID and NFC enabled devices can open locked doors as you approach them, start your car, communicate with your phone, instantly provided healthcare professionals with your health history, help you buy your groceries, or even accept payment from your customers.
The primary drawback to this, of course, is if someone steals your watch.
So what is the solution to this? Easy! Make it “unstealable” by implanting the microchip under your skin. It will not to be too much longer before Apple comes out with the iChip (or something similar). A company called VeriChip is already manufacturing and implanting similar chips.
The United Nations has a stated plan to issue Biometric IDs to everyone in the world by 2030 … This plan is backed by 193 world leaders and the World Bank. Hmm…
Anyway, all of this leads me up to my question… Please feel free to answer them in the comments below!
If a company produces an implantable microchip such as the one described in that Fox News article above, would you get one? Why or why not? If, in response to the threat of terrorism and the need for tax income, the government required all citizens to get an implanted chip, would you do it?
people seem to get hung up on the “mark of the beast” and “micro chip” stuff, which I find to be hilarious. it plainly states that you must “deny Christ” in order to receive the “mark”. so if I took the chip so what, as long as I didn’t have to renounce my faith in Christ it’s my choice and as far as the government requiring me too, well that’s a different battle. so would I take it, probably not but not because of the end of the world, devils gonna get ya, you’ve been left behind mind set. 😀
Don’t be surprised if a denial of Christ is part of the fine print in the paperwork that is signed, when the implant is made. It won’t be phrased quite like that, but the wording will mean that, in both a practical, and legal sense.
If you take the chip, you go to Hell, no if ands or buts, so i want to make it VERY CLEAR that you cant go to Heaven with it! And also, God doesn’t want us to defile our body anyway. I dont know if you already knew about this, but just for your own good, remember it.
Mark of the beast or not, no and no.
Yeah, I’m not sure I want the govt tracking my every move and every purchase. I have nothing to hide, but still…
If you have a cell phone or computer they already do that.
How?
The threat of terrorism and the need for tax income are both exaggerated by governments in order to maintain and increase control over our lives.
We are already being monitored to a far greater extent than most people realize through credit and debit card transactions, cellphone GPS, automated monitoring of e-mail for certain key words, and even browser history stored on our computers but accessible to moderately-skilled hackers.
Fingerprint and retina scanners can easily be overcome by anyone unprincipled enough to hack off someone’s finger or gouge out someone’s eye. Implants could probably be removed even less messily.
The key to security is not in increasing defenses, but in strengthening community through communication, compassion and love on every level from local to global.
To answer the question, I would not voluntarily get a microchip implant.
Good points, Lutek. Yes, both are exaggerated for the purpose of control. And you are right, the key is not more government control, but community. We look out for each other way better than government looks out for us.
I do not like having objects inside my body.
Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, David. 😉
All poor-taste jokes aside, I’m vehemently against anything that allows the government to track you in any way or form. And if we’ve learned anything from the whole BitCoin fiasco, the world isn’t ready for digital currency or digital anything else. Anything with a signal can be intercepted and stolen.
No, thank you, uh-uh, not going to happen.
It will be interesting to see what happens with this.
I just read a few days ago that Ecuador is experimenting with a digital currency… http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-28992589 We’ll see if they can avoid the bitcoin fiasco.
There are a number of people that have this “installed” and it opens their doors at home, for some it starts their car,etc…I know that the credit card industry is looking to get involved and by expanding the memory of the chip to include your credit info. Banks are interested for daily expense purposes (debit card transactions). There are rumors that your health information is a possibility and one article suggests Google wants in on the action. Supposedly the recent cancelled television show on CBS was based on a similar idea.
Prediction, this will be mandatory at some point in our life times. Perhaps near the end of my life but definitely in the lives of my sons. And no, no one in this house will take one.
MK
Yeah, I think that it will probably become mandatory. There is too much money getting passed around the table that the government is missing out on for them not to jump at the chance to make this mandatory.
Imagine if you will, somebody like Google getting involved…only you don’t get a choice in what you are looking for….I was on the record as stating that there is no way the government can force anyone to buy anything (healthcare) I was wrong. I am not a prophecy guy but somethings cannot be ignored.
MK
The only mark that any of us should be concerned with is whether or not it is the mark of Christ. Which is our seal of redemption. No matter what we may perceive from these vague and ambiguous verses in revelation, I should think we have received much more from Jesus Himself in the gospels. That goes without adding the over ample security mentioned in Paul’s letters or the rest of the apostles! Have we overcome the world or have we not? My bank card already has one, that’s a modern day chip! As some would have it, Jesus is going to cast us out of the family for trying to feed our family. The perks listed in the article actually outweigh the paranoia. Heck the bankers already own the day! As long as you got Babylon, and Babylon don’t have you, you’ll be ok! Just sayin!
>Jesus is going to cast us out of the family for trying to feed our family.
“I find your lack of faith, disturbing.”
Daarth Vader
As a book I’m in the middle of reading proclaims, most people who claim to be Christians lack the faith to be a Christian. This is probably more true of seminary graduates, than non-seminary trained clergy, and more true of clergy, than laity. But in the end, they all lack faith in Christ as their Redeemer and Saviour.
Jonathan, one line of what we wrote and you misinterpreted it. Read the whole thing over again if you would. Then maybe we could dialogue. Your highfalutin speech does nothing to encourage me if I was having issues in my faith. Maybe you should try and ask more questions before you speak! Thanks, your brother and sister in Christ!
The people with no issues about their faith, are the people that have no faith in Christ.
Right. That’s what makes me wonder what I (and others) would do. Certainly, God wants us to take care of our families, but at the same time, I wonder how far is too far with following the world in its worship of mammon.
Not really sure what you guys got from what we wrote, but from the replies is appears not what was intended. My comment speaks of our eternal security in Christ. We either have that or we don’t. The book of James is very clear in regards to not boasting about tomorrow, so with a word, when that fateful day comes; if it even does before we die and go see Him personally, I will continue to trust that which is bigger than me, or what I presuppose I might do; which is Christ in me. Once again, my only hope of glory! Does anyone understand eternal security? Because that’s what my prior statement was all about! Just sayin!
Not going to do it. I am already tracked enough as it is, drivers license has a chip in it and I have a credit card with a chip as well. I surely don’t need a chip to be tracked, my smart phone is always calling out my location (until I power it off).
I am not a big end time worry monger, I know that Christ has me covered, I just don’t like the whole concept of anything implanted in my body, especially if it has no medical need.
Right. I used to be an end-time worry monger, and don’t want to be any more, but every time I see these news reports, that old part of me rises back and says, “Uh oh… what if???”
Well, if it’s a mark (looks like a duck), on your right hand or forehead (walks like a duck) and requires you to worship something other than the living God (quacks like a duck), then it’s not worth the risk to your eternal salvation (probably is a duck). Or maybe I’m just naturally risk averse!
Yeah, I just have big trouble believing that God would really send someone to hell for getting deceived about the mark, or (as another commenter said above), for doing what was necessary to feed one’s family.
I guess if you’re going to take the concept of the mark literally, then you also need to take literally the concept of God providing your needs (Jesus telling us not to worry about what we’ll eat etc), or the words in Daniel (and elsewhere) about life being in God’s hands, but death not being indicative of God’s favour or otherwise. And then you could look at Jesus’ words about someone who hangs onto their life will lose it, and vice versa.
People all over the world are choosing to die rather than deny Christ. A small mark that affects salvation, because of the implications for idolatry, isn’t outside the realm of current events.
In reality, we in the West are unlikely to see this mark, whatever it is, until the generation with widespread knowledge of God dies out. The Bible hasn’t been quite discredited enough in the secular domain just yet.
I don’t believe that the Bible teaches that God is a great big “doctrinal demon,” trying to catch us in a semantic “error.” God loves us so much that He sacrificed His Son to be sin for us—if we trust Him, we will be okay. And we can trust Him.
Probably because of the type of work I did when I was younger, I have acquaintances who continue to work in the security industry. They tell me that “tracking” the average citizen is an epidemic that has much greater downside for most people than upside. It is usually done for the benefit of the tracker, not for the benefit of those being tracked, and is rarely a benign activity, although it is usually presented as such accompanied by touting the supposed “benefits” for those being tracked.
“The mark of the beast”? Is it possible that this term merely describes one characteristic of the end of this realm?
I really like that idea…. the mark is not a “chip” necessarily, but a mind set or a characteristic of the age … and taking the mark is not taking a chip, but buying in to the whole mentality of this world…. hmmmm…..
In the 1980s, the mark was going to be bar codes tattooed onto our hands or foreheads. Now it’s microchips. Anticipating technology is always best left to science fiction authors, and prophets!
It can’t just be a mindset and be metaphorical if it’s going to be the only way a person can buy or sell. I don’t know what’s going on exactly but I am very curious about the meaning of all of this. I don’t want a microchip in me.
Jonathon wrote, “Don’t be surprised if a denial of Christ is part of the fine print.”
A denial of Christ doesn’t need to be in the fine print. The Christ has been denied for the past two thousand years. That’s why we continue on with the predatory, materialistic, self-centered socio-economic mess we now have. On the whole, our economic attitudes have never been even remotely Christ-like in nature. Too many people, including many professed “Christians”, become indignant at the suggestion that society should feed its hungry, clothes its naked and care for its sick, disabled and elderly as if they somehow deserved it. How many of us pretend we didn’t see that beggar in the doorway we just passed? How many of us would actually give the shirts off our backs to a cold, homeless stranger?
We already carry the mark of the beast in our wallets and purses, quite willingly. Most people already worship the beast. With the implementation of electronic commerce, wallets and purses may soon be replaced by an implanted chip. The point is to make sure you get every penny you’re entitled to. Never mind the living God and brotherhood in Christ – where’s my money?
Excellent points. It goes along with what Sam wrote above. We need to be careful about accepting the mentality of this age…
Perhaps crazy swivel-eyed American fundamentalism is right after all!!
In some respects, anyway.
Here in the Netherlands in my City Rotterdam there was a club called Baja Beach Club (no we don’t have a beach, lol) This clubbed had for their members the option to get a chip implanted in your hand or arm, you could pay everything with this chip and probably get vip treatment. In the end the club got closed because of money problems.
I would not take a chip because of tracking me all over the place, nothing to hide but still.
On the other hand does not everybody have a mark on their head? It’s God’s or the mark of the ruler of this world? I don’t know if the writer of the last book was writing only for his time or if he wrote for all the times? But I think at the end of our lives we will have a mark, withes one will it be?
No chip. Whether or not it had anything to do with end times. The tacit and frequently outright denial of Christ by our government makes them no ally to our faith-based life, but rather they are frequently the enemy. I view prophecies of the end times a little differently than some because I see no “gap” in Daniel’s 70th week, but the Lord told us to only render to Caesar what he already owns.
The mark of the beast had a specific context (I don’t want to get into -ism arguments): I have no doubt that the statement is a symbolical one expressing allegiance to the ‘beast’ as opposed to God and his word. It is similar to what one finds in Ex. 13:9, for example and was a well-known concept of the era. These two concepts have all but disappeared from popular writings and sermons to take on other characteristics. For years we were taught it was the credit card beyond any doubt. More recently it has become a microchip.
An anxious aquaintance once phoned us. Her bank card had been damaged and she had that day collected her new card from the bank, where she was told it contained the newest chip technology. Her well-known senior pastor had shortly before completed his annual end-times preaching series. The lady was in fear that she now carried the mark of the beast. This is what the popular and philosophized end-times doctrine is doing. The Good News of the Kingdom of God has become the Bad News of the reign of a so-called world ruler Antichrist, something that is not found in the Bible.
Just to add to my comment – I can remember an era when an evangelist from “down under” was traveling all over the place teaching that the bar code was the mark seeing that it had a longer stripe on each side and in the middle with the no 6.
The KJV is not clear, but I have no doubt that the symbolic mark mark mentioned was either the name of the beast or the number of his name (see Holman’s Christian Standard Bible for example).
Just to make sure of the correctness of my understanding, I read up on a few word studies (Zodhiates, Robertson, Thayer) and from these it is clear that the KJV’s usage of ..or the name, or the number … is incorrect. When this Greek word is repeated (ē . . . ē), it means either . . . or. A very small word, but it certainly makes a big difference to the rendering and meaning of this portion.
No foreign object gets put in my body.
Yep… Unless it’s donuts. 🙂
Donuts are natural. Donuts grow on trees….computer chip don’t… 😉
And in an Australian daily paper:
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/technology/sci-tech/microchip-implant-ahead-of-iphone-6-release-20140906-10cx9c.html
I don’t believe that God is trying to trick non-believers, or believers into eternal damnation. Whether the “mark” is a spiritual acceptance of satan’s global system, or an actual physical “mark”, Christian’s will know. That said, there are millions of self proclaimed Christians who will accept the “mark” who don’t really know the Lord.
Concerning the “feeding” of ones family…if it is clear than you are rejecting Christ, and accepting the world’s system, and you reject Christ in favor of food…how strong is your faith? What would you do if you were facing decapitation? Or to killing of your family? Or the raping of your wife or children? There are Christians today, and for the last two thousand years who have faced these choices. I for one will not accept the “mark” for anything this world has to offer.
trying to force me to take a mark that will damn me to eternal punishment….by raping me. WOOOOOOOOWWW!!!!! That’s like making me play the video games I want non-stop! You better have something better than that! Seriously? I don’t want to have sex, but quite frankly, if I had to choose between three months of forced sex, or getting stung in the butt by giant locusts for three months, or burning for all eternity, I would pick the first.
No donuts or chips for me…
Only the stupid will have the chip implanted into their Body. I will never allow this on me!!!!
The actual interpretation of the word translated “mark” is “stigmata,” which, as I feel sure Jeremy knows, means “piercing.” However, I see a far greater outcry for irrefutable identification and security from the political right than I hear fro!m the political left. It’s conservative Christians who want everyone neatly packaged, labeled, tracked and controlled.
I DO believe the end time prophesies will play out in ways similar to what evangelicals have taught for the last 60 or so years. Ialso believe the great deception is that people will not recognize the evil because it will come from among us at our demand, not from elsewhere, to conquer us from the outside. The spirit of Antichrist is active in every unChristlike attitude and action we take, especially when done in the Name of Jesus.
I don’t think we really know what the ultimate form of the mark of the beast it will be. I think it might be an oath to reject the worship of god and worship the beast, THEN be branded with literally 666. But I can’t say. Now I don’t know if supercomputers have anything to do with it, but I could say that perhaps satan could use it to control currency so that “no man might buy or sell, save that he has the mark of the beast.” Luckily, the bible says the beast will appear, THEN the mark will be applied, and anyone who does not take it will be killed, so we will know what the mark is.
Then there is the possibility that the Book of Revelation is really a screw you to the roman empire and has nothing to do with the end of the world. Concerning the subject of free will, contradicting the ideals of the bible, I can’t really say which viewpoint would be correct.
God didn’t approve of putting a tattoo on your body, leave alone taking the chip.
By chipping we will be selling our soul to Satan. Letting government first, then the person to control us completely.
Once the system is in place he’s expected to appear.
www is the system is in his name already 666, the Hebrew letters.
It’s a plan to kill all the Christians. Otherwise why is he called antichrist?
Any one who loves Jesus should not take it!
I hope god will strengthen me too by His Holy Spirit when the time comes.
Why no Scriptural analysis? Line upon line, precept upon precept.
The concept of a mark on the forehead and hand is found in the Old Testament, for instance Deut. 6. Also, the seal of God is placed in the forehead, just like in Ezekiel Ch. 9. Clearly the language is symbolic. Forehead = thoughts/beliefs and hand = actions. Whatever you HAND findeth to do…
It makes sense then that only the seal of God is placed in the forehead since God only accepts worship through our willing choice.
However, the devil doesn’t care. He’s willing to pressure and force obedience to receive worship. Note the similarity to Daniel’s friends in Dan. 3. The question that should be asked about the mark of the beast is not what kind of chip or barcode is it going to be, but what is the particular issue of worship (worship the beast and its image) that will attempt to be forced and legislated? That can be understood from Scripture as well.
It is here, #billgates
👍🏾👍🏻👍🏽👍🏿👍🏼
I am a Christian I don’t claim to know everything but what I do know is that God will take care of His people.I refuse to deny Lord for anything .
Amen
In my opinion, it is still the mark of the beast. You will not be able to buy or sell without the mark, (chip). Receiving the chip is a certain eternity in hell. My hearts desire is to be dead before this could happen. I’m 71 so my wish is possible
yeah I would get one.
My mother told me about this back in 2014 when I was around the age of 10 or 11. Its now 2023. Closest RFID has gotten to is debit/credit cards, smart watches, and phones. No chips in sight.