Human implants of RFID devices are the forerunners of the 'mark' of Bible prophecy
"And he causes all ... to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead ... and no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark. " ( Rev 13.16,17 )
"... God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie ... (because) they did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thes 2.11,12)
"If anyone ... receives a mark ... he will also drink of the wine of the wrath of God ..." ( Rev 14.9,10 )
Magnetic Cards and Smart Cards
During much of the 20th century man still traded using coins, just like the Romans! But the 1980's saw the early forms of cashless or electronic trading with the introduction of magnetic-stripe cards. This period saw the development of debit-based transactions using Electronic Funds Transfer (at) Point of Sale (EFTPOS). Even then it was foreseen that smartcards (cards with an embedded chip) would replace the simple magnetic-stripe card, and today 'chip and PIN' cards are widespread. Today, EFTPOS has taken over from cheque and cash payments.
Biometrics
Cards can be lost or stolen and a way of avoiding this is to link a person's identity to their physical characteristics (Biometrics). This is a very significant step towards the biblical 'mark of the beast', whereby the identity of an individual is associated with the individual themselves. Favoured biometric techniques use fingerprint recognition, facial recognition, voice recognition and iris recognition.
Iris scans analyse the features in the coloured tissue surrounding the pupil. It is claimed that because the iris is a protected internal organ whose random texture is complex, unique, and very stable throughout life, it can serve as a kind of living passport. Similarly, in the UK, facial recognition technology has been developed with the new generation of chip-enabled biometric passports. India's unique identification (UID) project - known as Aadhaar - aims to gather biometric information of the country's 1.2 billion residents. The 12-digit UID number is stored in a centralised database and linked to the basic demographics and biometric information - photograph, ten fingerprints and iris - of each individual.
But whilst the International Biometrics Group envisaged biometric revenue to be $5.7 billion by 2010, biometric techniques are not 100% accurate. For example, iris recognition for passport control has been shown to be unreliable at UK Border Control. Clearly, a method of identifying each person by number, possibly backed up by biometrics, seems less prone to error.
Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID)
RFID is all around us: it is found in supermarkets, general retailers, electronic road tolls, company badges, farming, and in your pet dog.
How it Works
A scanner emits a short-range radio-frequency signal which is picked up by a small local RFID device or 'transponder tag' (in one form it can be about 8mm or the size of a grain of rice). When this tag is 'passive' (no batteries), it is energised by the scanning radiation, thereby enabling it to communicate ID information back to the scanner/transceiver. Passive tags can have very long lifetimes. Since it is a radio device it can only operate on specified frequencies e.g. 13.56 MHz.
Applications - Human Implants
In supermarkets, item-level deployment of RFID technology allows for quick checkout aisles that scan all products at once and thus eliminate queues. But the more sinister application is in the realm of human implants.
In 2004 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave its approval to Applied Digital Solutions to sell their VeriChip RFID tags for implantation into patients in hospitals. The intent was to provide immediate positive identification of patients both in hospitals and in emergencies. Tags would not contain medical data, but instead store (and transmit when energised) a unique 16-bit ID number that would be used to access records on a remote database. The tag was to be implanted in the fatty tissue of the upper arm.
Similar technology can be in the form of a GPS trackable implant - an idea attractive to Japanese authorities for tagging and protecting school children. Others find the idea of an implant useful as an access mechanism instead of swipe cards.
Clearly, an extremely attractive trading (buying-selling) system would be to number and tag each individual and then detect their number remotely over a short distance for access to their bank account. It is claimed that such an implant would also reduce financial fraud since ATM transactions would only be possible if a person was physically present.
Technology Status
Current technology uses RFID chips. These low-cost chips (the size of a grain of rice) are used to tag animals. For humans a good place to implant the device is in the hand. An example of this technology was 'VeriChip' from Applied Digital Solutions. Its manufacture and marketing was discontinued in 2010, possibly for technological reasons (the ability to remotely scan personal data could be a security risk) and for civil liberty reasons. There are also possible health risks. But human implantable devices are still in development, particularly for medical applications. For example, the 'GlucoChip' from Positive ID Corporation is an implantable, bio-sensing RFID microchip that measures glucose levels in the body in real time (see also Implantable Glucose Sensor).
The Biblical Mark & YOU
Clearly, there is only a short technological step to the 'mark' of Revelation, (seeImplanted Humans). The Bible predicts electronic trading, although in some translations the ID appears to be on the individual rather than in the individual:
"And he causes all ... to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead ... and no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark. " ( Rev 13.16,17 )
There are many claimed advantages of such a personal ID: safer financial transactions, more convenient 'buying and selling', automated access to buildings and medical records etc. Most people will accept the 'mark' and the associated New World Order, but the Bible says they will believe a lie:
"... God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie ... (because) they did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thes 2.11,12)
More significantly, Bible prophecy warns against accepting the 'mark':
"If anyone ... receives a mark ... he will also drink of the wine of the wrath of God ..." ( Rev 14.9,10 )
When is it implemented?
The point in time at which the personal mark will be introduced is not clear from prophecy, but it is quite possible that believers in Jesus Christ will not have to take the mark. See for example the Second Coming, the pre-tribulation rapture andrapture theology. Either way, the rapid technological advance and the imminence of the mark also points to the immanent end of the age and the return of Jesus Christ.
Put your trust in Jesus and not in the mark!
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