Electronic Skin -- Mark of the Beast?

Posted by on 21 August 2011 | 0 Comments

All of the technology advances in our lifetime border on mind boggling and I believe they are a sign that we are living in the End Times.  Our lives are being lived at a supersonic pace.  Jet travel delivers us from one continent to another in a matter of hours.  Social networks and cell phones have resulted in the overthrow of several Middle Eastern Countries.  Instant knowledge is a click away on the internet and electronic banking is becoming the norm.  This rapid increase in our level of knowledge was unimaginable to people who were living a mere 100 years ago.  Yet, in a vision to Daniel, Jesus Christ revealed to us that in the last generation travel and knowledge will increase.

Daniel 12:4 (NIV)
[4] 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."

Our generation has witnessed a dramatic increase in both travel and knowledge.

The Bible also prophecies (warns) that some kind of advanced technology would be used the Antichrist and the False Prophet to control people and their money.  It will involve some kind of mark on the person’s forehead or right hand.

Revelation 13:16-17 (NIV)
[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,
[17] so 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.

This week the Antichrist and the “Mark of the Beast” made headlines in several newspapers including the Drudge Report

MARK OF THE BEAST? Electronic tattoo has medical, gaming, spy uses...

This new technology is called “electronic skin” and is a temporary tattoo that attaches to the skin to monitor people.  Could this be the technology that the False Prophet will force on people, an actual “smart” mark or tattoo that gives people the ability to buy or sell?

The Bible specifically warns us not to take this mark because it pledges your allegiance to the Anti-Christ instead of Jesus Christ.  The penalty for taking the mark?

Revelation 14:9-12 (NIV)
[9] 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,
[10] he, 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.
[11] And the smoke of their torment rises forever 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."
[12] This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.

This increase in technology is not a bad thing and I embrace it wholeheartedly, from my iPhone and iPad to electronic banking and blogging.  But this story caught my eye as an example of how technology is fast providing the coming antichrist with the ability to control the finances of every person in the world.  If this is not scary, I don't know what is!.

But the prophesied ‘increase in knowledge’ alone isn’t what’s catching my eye these days.  It’s all the other signs occurring at the same time; wars in Africa and rumored war between Israel and Egypt, the dividing of Jerusalem and the potential UN recognized statehood of Palestine, the unfulfilled prophecy of the complete and utter destruction of Damascus in Syria, slumping markets around the world in Europe and the U.S. feeding economic fear, worldwide natural disasters of Biblical proportions, and even the approaching comet and asteroids.  All of this together is what's keeping me up at night!

Oh, and one more thing, the Jewish Fall Feasts are approaching;   Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets) is Thursday, September 29. Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) is Saturday, October 8.  And Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) is Thursday, October 13.  Could this be the start of the End Times calendar and will the birth pain ‘dominos’ begin to fall?  Only time will tell, for no man knows the day or the hour.

Mark 13:22-23 (MSG)
[22] Fake Messiahs and lying preachers are going to pop up everywhere. Their impressive credentials and dazzling performances will pull the wool over the eyes of even those who ought to know better. [23] So watch out. I've given you fair warning. -- Jesus

Blessings,

Donnie