Daily Devotional for Monday June 4, 2012
The Mark of the Beast Exists Today
(Revelation 13:16)
"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." Revelation 13:16
Over the years, I have written many times on the fact that we are in the "last days" according to the Bible. All you have to do is read the words of Jesus in Matthew Chapter 24, the words of Paul in 2 Timothy Chapter 3, and the words of Peter in 2 Peter Chapter 3, to see that what they describe as the conditions in the "last days" clearly exist today. Of course no man knows the exact date or time Christ will return, only God knows that, but based on the signs the Bible says will mark the "last days," it is clear His return is imminent.
Let me explain to you how close we are. Ten ago, I was laughed at when I shared with you about a company called Mondex. Mondex (the word is a combination of the word MONETARY=money and DEXTER=belonging to the right hand) is a company that is providing a cashless system through microchip technology to over 20 major nations at this very moment. The system is based on SMART CARD technology which employs a microchip concealed in a plastic card that stores electronic cash, identification, and other information. 51% of MONDEX is owned by MasterCard.
The microchips for the SMART CARD are made by Motorola. They can produce 1 billion microchips per year and have been in production for over a year now. However, MONDEX has already determined that the SMART CARD has problems such as theft and fraud. The only solution is a biochip that can be implanted in humans. Motorola has developed several human implantable biochips. These biochips are the size of a grain of rice and measure 7 mm long and .075 mm wide. They contain a transponder (a system of storage for reading information in microchips) and a rechargeable lithium battery that is charged by a thermocouple circuit that produces voltage from the fluctuations in body temperature.
Motorola spent over 1.5 million to determine the best place to insert this chip in the human body and came up with only two suitable places...the forehead just under the hairline, and the back of the hand, specifically the RIGHT HAND! Why is this important? Revelation 13:16 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."
Just recently, a hair-thin electronic patch that adheres to the skin like a temporary tattoo has been developed, that could transform medical sensing, computer gaming, and even spy operations, according to a US study. The micro-electronics technology, called an epidermal electronic system (EES), was developed by an international team of researchers from the United States, China and Singapore, and is described in the Journal of Science.
With these recent developments it begs the question if it is really possible for there to be a one-world government, economy, and religion as the Bible speaks of? When I was going through my formal theological training 20 years ago, I have to admit that I really never saw the probability of some of the things spoken of in the Book of Revelation happening in my lifetime. I thought it was impossible in the world as we knew it in the 90s to ever see a one-world government, or economy, or religion. There were just too many factors that made that type of scenario impossible. Fast forward to the year 2012, and we now live in a world that is ripe for the emergence of a one-world government, economy, and religion.
We have already been living in a global economy for several decades now. China has recently been pushing for a new world currency to replace the dollar. With the weakness of the Euro, the declining value of the dollar, discussion of a new one-world currency takes on a new significance. There is no doubt that due to the economic crisis across the globe, the advent of a one-world currency and economic system could happen rather quickly. Economists will proffer the new one-world currency and economic system as the answer to the current economic crisis that is affecting all of the nations of the world.
A one-world government could easily fall into place as well. With the UN and other organizations involving numerous nations, with the European Union, the reality of a North American Union involving the United States, Canada, and Mexico, the ability to pull together the various governments around the world becomes a much easier task. Once again, the political philosophies of President Obama, make the United States a ripe candidate for these type of alliances that could easily evolve into a one-world government.
Also ripe like never before, is the reality of a one-world religion. With much of the world void of any faith, with the better percentage of two full generations in the United States having never even been to church, there is a great spiritual void in the world that could be easily filled by a one-world religion. Many of the New Age teachings have that type of universal appeal. People, still hunger to fill that spiritual void only being reconnected to God their Creator through faith in Jesus Christ can fill, so the emergence of a one-world religion is more likely today than ever before in human history.
I love you and care about you so much. My purpose today is not to get into a deep discussion of eschatology, or end time events. I am very aware of the many different teachings on end time events. I'll let others argue the details and intricacies of the last days. My personal thoughts on these end time events is that so much is subjective, so much is not crystal clear from Scripture, that while it is interesting and fun to study, I don't get too wrapped up or dogmatic about the order of the events, who will be who, and all of the details many get into.
The key is the Jesus is coming back as He promised, the world will ultimately be judged as God unleashes His wrath upon His fallen creation, those who know Jesus as their Savior by faith will be forever in Heaven, and that in the end, God wins!!! The key for you today is that the one-world government, economy, and religion spoken of in the Bible is more of a reality today than ever before. Time is very short and Jesus is coming at any moment.
This is why I am so passionate about the last work God has called me to perform here at Liveprayer, and that is to help lead this nation back to God and to Biblical Truth while we still have that chance. While we minister to the needs of people around the world each day, bring God's Truth into the marketplace, and lead lost souls to faith in Jesus Christ, leading the United States back to God and to His Truth is the only hope we have to redeem this rebellious nation.
We no longer have the luxury of sitting back in apathy and hoping things will change. Things will only change is we actively initiate the change. We have the power of God with us. We have the Truth of His Word to gudies us. We either sit back and watch our nation continue to sink into the spiritual abyss and lost forever, or we take our stand now and lead this spiritual revolution since the only answer and the only hope we have of escaping God's continued wrath and judgment is to turn back to our Creator and to Biblical Truth. There is no time left, we must act now!!!
In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller