Finding Agreement

By Michael G. Mickey

Yesterday I had the opportunity to read an article featured on the Athens Banner Herald's website entitled "Pastor says cashless society would fulfill Biblical prophecy."

The article opens as follows:

The concept of a cashless society where all financial transactions and purchases are strictly controlled and every nuance of a person's life is noted and recorded, in many cases by implanted chips, sounds like the perfect ingredients for a science-fiction thriller.

Yet the Rev. Glenn Guest envisions this apocalyptic scenario following the Bible's Book of Revelation that begins with the gradual disappearance of cash and checks and the increased reliance on debit and credit cards. And he sees it coming closer every day.

"Technology has progressed to the point where (becoming paperless) it can be implemented," said Guest, who has been pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Danielsville for 25 years. "And I believe it is being implemented."

While I have no idea what Reverend Guest's overall opinion of how the last days are going to play themselves out consists of to endorse or reject it in totality, I am in perfect agreement with him on this one point: The infrastructure necessary for the mark of the beast to be implemented in the prophetic future is advancing before our very eyes - and dramatically so.

One point Guest refers to in the article is how government, once a system like the mark of the beast is implemented, will have total control over all humanity and will be capable of making anyone an "economic non-entity." It will be as simple as flipping a switch and this is precisely why we see in Bible prophecy that the new world order, under the leadership of the Antichrist, is going to require all mankind to receive a mark in their right hand or forehead without which they will be unable to buy or sell. (Revelation 13:16-17)

An angle I believe the powers of darkness, both in the spiritual realm and physical realm, are manipulating our minds to believe is that we need to surrender more of our freedoms in order to be safe, one strong aspect of which involves keeping us afraid a terrorist attack on the scale of September 11th or far worse is going to occur in the future if we don't.

Guest brings up a point in the aforementioned article that I have touched on in the past as well. He believes that the creation of a mark of the beast-like form of cashless currency could largely eliminate terrorism because, once such a system is implemented and everything we buy is capable of being monitored by Big Brother due to everything - and I do mean everything - having an RFID chip or similar technology associated with it, it would be the end of the black market - a necessary element needed by those with wicked intentions to run a large-scale terrorist organization like Al Qaeda, for example.


PAUSE

Let's pause a moment. What did you think about as you read the preceding paragraph? I'd be the first to admit that, even as I wrote it, because I don't buy anything I think would be even remotely interesting to my government to know about, I could easily say to myself, "I'm a law-abiding citizen and a patriot - a veteran of the armed forces even! I don't care if my government knows what kind of shirts I like to wear, how many shotgun shells I buy per year, where I buy gasoline or how many cups of Starbucks coffee I drink. I'm a true blue American and I would never betray my country."

I'd be willing to bet that a large portion of my readers, even knowing where a system even remotely like the mark of the beast is ultimately going to take us, was at least tempted to think, "You know what? If we could end the threat posed by radical Islamic terrorism, I could learn to be okay with us going to a cashless monetary system." And why is that true? Because most of us, in spite of our disappointment in government on any number of fronts, believe that our government would never seek to enslave us to its will. But trust me when I say that is exactly the slippery slope we're headed down as it becomes increasingly clear that we are moving quickly toward an era that will see all our monetary assets digitalized in essence, accessible to us by credit or check card only with those, initially at least, embedded with an RFID microchip as everything else will be - all of this micro chipping being done in our best interest.

Am I suggesting that our government and companies developing RFID technologies and the like may be seeking to create - literally - the mark of the beast? Absolutely not.

Just as many Christians today, many of whom I have no doubt are on their way to heaven, know next to nothing about Bible prophecy's teachings, see no threat in these emerging technologies, it is far more likely than not that those who are presently working on potential mark of the beast technologies have no idea where their work is subtly leading us. I highly doubt those working on the technologies necessary to implement a cashless society are sitting in their computer labs with their desktops adorned with pentagrams. More likely than not, those working on these emerging technologies probably genuinely see themselves as working toward the betterment of mankind, not setting up a platform for the Antichrist to someday seize control of the world's finances and wield power over all kindreds, tongues and nations as we see he will in Revelation 13. I could, of course, be wrong. In the days we're living in, who knows what to expect, right?

Regardless of what level of mischief, if any, those working to lead us into a cashless society are involved in, many Christians from many walks of life are finding agreement between what has been prophesied to occur in the last days and the news of our world today.

Rev. Glenn Guest believes a cashless society is on its way to becoming a reality that will ultimately lead to the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. I'm sure that more than a few readers of RaptureAlert.com are in agreement with our brother in his suspicions.

Keep looking up! Jesus Christ is coming soon!