Technology and the Coming Mark of the Beast

Prophecy Central Commentary
Ron Graff - Feb. 23, 2009

It seems that everyone knows that the Bible says there will be an Antichrist in the last days, and that he will require people to have the “Mark of the Beast.” Of course, most people don’t take it seriously, but at least they know that the prophecy exists.
Revelation 13:16 and 17 says:

He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, 17so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
A few decades ago it was a great mystery how it would be physically possible for an economic dictator to have such control.

Then, with the advent of the Computer, and especially of personal computer and super computers, our world has experienced an “Information Explosion.” And this information has been made available to everyone via the Internet! This phenomenon was prophesied by Daniel in the Old Testament. He didn’t understand it, but by the Spirit of God he wrote:

But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge." - Daniel 12:4

There are two mysteries here: the mystery of increased knowledge and the mystery of many people “going here and there.” The computers took care of the increase of knowledge. And the most likely fulfillment of “going here and there” is the use of the Internet, don’t you think?

We have special sections on our website, Prophecy Central, for articles about “Modern Technology,” and about “The Mark of the Beast.” Let me share a few thoughts from those sections with you. Let’s start with the “Mark of the Beast.” Many people miss an important aspect of this prophecy. Of course, the mark is to allow people to buy or sell. It is like a universal ATM code. Without it – or without permission – people will not be allowed to even buy groceries or gasoline.

But the mark itself is not your identification number. It is either the NAME or the NUMBER of Antichrist himself. It is a visible symbol of the fact that the person who has the mark has agreed to WORSHIP Antichrist!! Revelation 13 doesn’t actually say that, but Revelation 14:9 to 11 does:

A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, 10he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name."
Revelation 20:4 has a very similar message. Worship of the beast, or Antichrist is shown by accepting his mark.

And as you know, the number of his name is 666. There are many possibilities for converting a name to a number. We will look at that another time. (Biblcial Christianity: Read Herb Peter's book "Recommendation 666", and/or the posting on "The Anti-christ, The False Prophet, and the Mark of the Beast" found in the links to the left)

There are three things that will be necessary for this registration to take place. First, each person will need to have his own identification code.

Second, this code must be with him at all times – not visible on his forehead or right hand – but permanently imprinted or implanted so that a data processing device can read it each time he tries to buy or sell something.

And third, there must be a world-wide computer system capable of handling such a mind-boggling amount of information.

It is not wise to be dogmatic about what the exact technologies that will be used when this time comes. By the way, you can tell by the details in the Book of Revelation that this Mark of the Beast registration takes place in the middle of the seven-year Tribulation period. The Tribulation has not yet begun, so, there are at least another three and one half years before it would begin..

Let’s look briefly at these three things. First an identification code or number for each person. Will that be the Social Security Number? Or the Driver’s license? Maybe it will be the health plan number proposed by the Stimulus Bill which was just signed into law yesterday! Listen to this headline and description:

Stimulus Bill will Track Individual Health Records Electronically
Feb. 10, 2009 - An alarming provision of the Stimulus Bill is the creation of a National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, that will assign an electronic ID to every person and maintain their health records. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor.

Ok. Next, what about imprinting or implanting this number? Last November, Chuck Missler reminded his readers that the VeriChip implantable device for humans, similar to the one injected into dogs and cats, has not been very popular yet, but this may change now because the company plans to team up with Microsoft to make patient medical information readily available online. Microsoft offers an Internet program called HealthVault, where users can view their health data and can input helpful information.

You mean it may save my life in an emergency? Well, OK then, I’ll take the chip.

The third issue is a computer system capable of handling so much data. What do you think about this news that just came out on February 3rd?

Fastest Supercomputer Ever
IBM is working on its new Sequoia computer, to be delivered in 2011 to the Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It will operate at 20 petaflops (20 quadrillion floating point operations per second!). The previous fastest computer was an IBM unit delivered last June to the Energy Department. That computer broke the 1 petaflop barrier.
Another headline said:

IBM Sequoia: Faster Than the Fastest 500 Supercomputers, Combined

The Sequoia will be powered by 1.6 million cores

If each of the 6.7 billion people on earth had a hand calculator and worked together on a calculation 24 hours per day, 365 days a year, it would take 320 years to do what Sequoia will do in one hour.

Here’s a calculation that I made about the Mark of the Beast scenario: 20 quadrillion floating point operations divided by 6.7 billion people on earth gives almost 3 million(2,985,075) operations per person. Or, in other words, that computer could check on your bank account, your credit, your legal status, your health information, your GPS position, and any recent activity related to your ID number.

Then, believe it or not, this one computer could move on the next person, and the next, checking up on every single person on Earth.

After all of this, one second would have passed, and the computer could start all over again.

I (writer of this article-NOT Biblical Christianity) truly believe we are living in the last days. There is nothing else that needs to happen before Jesus comes back to rapture true believers into heaven to be with Him. We don’t believe in setting dates, but we are surely closer to the coming of The Lord than we have ever been before.

Biblical Christianity believes that the temple must be rebuilt before the coming of the Lord, and that the anitchrist will be identified before we are called away.
2 Thess.2:1-4