Nothing more is necessary for the future dictator to take over. Science, technology, and
business have already prepared the way for him. Now the whole world can participate in the
Beast‘s economic experiment. Revelation 13:16-17 reminds us that the day will come when he
will be able to cut off the privilege of buying and selling for anyone who will not worship him
and receive the “mark of the beast.”
Control of Commerce
Most people have had the embarrassing experience of hearing a vendor say, “Your card is
not accepted, sir.” It could be a mistake by the card company, or a miscalculation on the user’s
part, but it can usually be corrected the next day or so. Once the economic dictator’s team is in
charge, anyone who refuses to accept the mark will be flagged by the system to automatically
deny the privilege of electronic commerce anywhere on the globe. And that prohibition will be
permanent!
Control of Travel
Toll booths register and deduct payment from vehicles passing through their scanners.
Smart highway projects are in the planning stages to literally guide vehicles from one point to
another on safer highways. Obviously, those in the future who have not paid, or who are not
allowed to buy and sell can be kept off these highways!
Most people are aware of the growing number of people who are on the airlines’ “no-fly
list.” This same electronic commerce system will undoubtedly keep the Beast’s enemies from
buying a ticket in the first place, but it will also put his name on the “no-fly list” and flag his
interactive passport so he can’t even drive across the border to another country.
Control of the Media
Another very significant development in the world of modern technology is the recent
merger of huge communications and media corporations. In August, 1995 Disney and ABC
agreed to the largest merger in history, and the next day a merger of Westinghouse with CBS
was announced.. These things lead us closer to a one-world economy. Smaller operations will
continue to be swallowed up by larger ones so they have more control.
It is normal in any dictatorship for the political powers to literally control what can be
said and done on radio, television, and the printed media. Current reminders of this fact can be
seen in Russia’s return to media control after a brief period of free speech after the collapse of the
Soviet Union, and China’s censoring of Internet traffic.
Programmable Tattoos
Since the “mark of the beast” will be placed on the right hand or forehead of those who
choose to follow the Beast, it has often been suggested that the name or number will be some
kind of tattoo.
There now exists a “Programmable Tattoo” that can be implanted under your skin. It is
actually an LCD display panel that can serve as a watch to tell the time, or give reports on your
vital functions like blood pressure or insulin count: anything you need to know about yourself.
The people who have the patents on this are from a company called Interval Research
Corporation. You may not have heard of them. They say they don’t even know what they want to
do with this invention yet. Interval was co-founded by Paul Allen, who was also co-founder of
Microsoft. Most of the things they are doing right now, they are keeping secret. There is an
“interval,” you see.116 They are thinking that five, ten, or twenty years in the future, all the things
they are developing will be put into service.
Maybe they will be put into service when the Mark of The Beast is ready.
The Actual Mark The Beast’s name or number (666)
Again, we read the prediction about the “mark of the beast”:
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.
18This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is
man’s number. His number is 666. – Revelation 13:16-18
At this future point in time these two powerful leaders–one religious, the other political
and military–will have arranged world-wide control over buying and selling. The fate of the
world will apparently rest solely with them.
Computers do all kind of wonderful things, but, because of the way they work,
everything they do must be converted to numbers. Every letter on this screen, every colored
pixel, every tone produced by the computer (including your favorite music CD) is saved and
processed as a number.
Our number(s)
Now that modern technology has reached the stage where it is truly feasible for a world
ruler to exert economic dictatorship it is increasingly important for everyone to have a distinctive
number. Most of us have several numbers already: our Social Security number, drivers’ license
number, phones, FAX and pager numbers, credit card numbers, and so on.
It was recently revealed that America‘s Social Security numbers are badly compromised.
Millions of Americans have more than one Social Security number, and millions of Social
Security numbers are shared by more than one person. Identity theft accounts for some of the
duplications. Other causes include bad memories, careless record-keeping and data input errors.
More than 40 million numbers are associated with more than one person.117 As the issue of
illegal immigration became a heated issue in 2010, a proposed immigration bill would require all
U.S. workers to use a biometric Social Security card in order to work within the United States.
John W. Whitehead, founder and president of the Rutherford Institute warns that this would
become a national ID card under a different name.118
Other countries are also moving in this
direction. The same year Germany unveiled a new generation of identity cards with RFID
chips.119 At a certain point in time, after such worldwide economic turmoil and identity theft,
people will welcome a fresh personal identification number.
The number of the Beast
What does the Beast’s personal number, 666 mean? Please notice that the Scripture says
plainly that it is “the number of his name.” This is significant because the issue in this future
story is that of worship. People will have to vow their devotion to this worst of all the false
christs by allowing either his name, or else the number of his name, to be placed on them in a
prominent place as a symbol of their allegiance.
We have been warned that we can not know who this evil dictator is until he is revealed,
and that will not happen until the Restrainer (The Holy Spirit) is no longer holding back sin (2
Thessalonians 2:1-11). But those who are alive during that time might recognize him partly by
this number. It will be wise and proper for those living during that time to “calculate” his number
(Revelation 13:18).
There are many possible ways of converting a name to a number. Here are some of them:
– Assignment
This is how you received your Social Security number, or credit card numbers. When it
was time to be “numbered” the next number in a sequence was assigned. Some systems pick
numbers randomly instead of sequentially, and check to make sure no one else has that number
before issuing it.
– Choice
This is the process if you, or someone else, should choose a number to represent you.
This is sometimes done for jerseys of famous athletes. Other examples of this are when you
order a personalized license plate for your car or pick your own phone number.
– Conversion
Returning to the fact that our lives are run, or at least monitored, by computers, there is
another way of deriving a number from a name. There are several different numbering systems
used by computers to convert any given letter to a number. One of these is the ASCII code
(A=65, B=66, etc.) Using this system, and adding up the total of the values of the letters, it is
interesting that some names do add up to 666. Some famous names produce this result.
Another type of conversion is based on the alphabet (A=1, B=2, etc.) Such a system
would not produce a number as big as 666, so some have suggested converting this way and then
multiplying by the “number of man”, which some believe is 6 – one short of the number of
perfection. Again, some notable people’s names produce 666 in this way.
There are also various techniques for coding this number. These include:
– Printing
Checks, Invoices, and many other documents that need to be recognized and handled by
people simply print the number. Data processing clerks or scanning devices convert these
numbers back into the numbers needed by the computers.
– Magnetic stripe
Credit cards and debit cards (and a host of other identifying devices) use these little strips
of magnetic tape to store your number and other information.
– Transponders
As explained earlier, a tiny electronic chip that may be injected into an animal or a
human will respond to the stimulus of a certain kind of scanner by transmitting your numerical
data.
These radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips can now even be printed on paper or
cardboard to allow better electronic inventory control.
– Bar Code
Laser scanners use the bar codes on products to print your sales receipt. The number on
the package is converted to a name, a price, and at the same time it is subtracted from inventory
and placed on the store’s next re-order form.
It has been noticed by some that the UPC bar codes are generally divided into two parts
by three bars, one at the beginning, one at the end, and one in the middle. These marks may be
longer than the numbers, but they may look the same as one of the codes for the number six.
Thus, some bar-codes do have the number 666 built into it. This may or may not have any
significance in future understanding of prophecy.
In 2009 the Media Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology introduced a new kind
of optical data storage tag. It has the capacity to store more than a million times more data than a
bar code in only 3mm of space, and it can be ―read‖ by a smart phone with the proper application
installed.120
Receiving the Mark
At the same time that the Beast‘s followers receive his mark (tattoo?), they will probably
also have a RFID chip with their own ID Number inserted under their skin.
It should also be noted that, even though it is logical for us to have our own numbers, and
that, for security reasons, these numbers might even be tattooed on or implanted in us, the
number that will be displayed on the hand or forehead will not be our number, but the Beast’s.
Those who are more bold in their devotion to him will not have his number, but his actual name!
Implanted chips will be considered acceptable because they will provide improved
security measures in an age of terrorism. They will have the added benefit of making one‘s
medical history and records quickly accessible in case of an emergency. As mentioned above,
these chips may provide the necessary link to one‘s own smart phone.
What we are assured of by the Bible is that these sophisticated tools will be usurped and
used against God-fearing people during the Tribulation period, because the world government of
that time period will be entirely under Satanic control and the restraining influence of the Church
will no longer restrain evil at all levels of society.
In the next chapter we will study the biblical teaching about a protected place for the
Chosen People during the Great Tribulation. When the Abomination of Desolation is set up in
the Temple, and believing Jews are outraged by the desecration, they will be driven out of Israel.
