Mark of the Beast at Hand

Mark of the Beast at Hand

September 1, 2019

 

 

Tracking and Data Harvesting Technologies Finalize
Preparations for the Antichrist’s ‘Mark of the Beast’ System

Sucking Up Data Like Robot Vacuum Cleaners

Guarding our privacy is a challenge as vast caches of personal information are extracted daily by government authorities and data corporations. We are monitored and followed through our Social Security numbers, bank accounts, purchases, electronic transactions, emails, mobile phones, Internet traffic, fingerprints, facial recognition scans, palm vein scans and chips implanted in our cars, appliances, ID documents and clothing. The European Union Antitrust Chief, Margrethe Vestager, recently commented about how Google and Facebook are harvesting consumer information. “So, these companies are a bit like one of those robot vacuum cleaners,” she observed, “working their way into every corner of the digital world, and sucking up data.” Some people, on the other hand, have no objection to being tracked and monitored, including many travelers who are excited about the launch of facial recognition technology at airports.

Facial Scans Launched Despite Privacy Concerns

Airlines and TSA are rolling out facial-recognition scanning at check-in, baggage drop, security and boarding. Privacy rights organizations, such as Fight for the Future and AirlinePrivacy.com maintain the technology is “faulty, invasive and biased,” no matter how helpful and convenient the airlines profess it to be. The Customs and Border Protection website currently says, “At this time, CBP does not require U.S. Citizens or exempt aliens to have their pictures taken when entering or exiting the country.” It then describes the steps to opt out of the automatically intrusive procedure at the airport.

American Airlines started using facial recognition technology at boarding gates in the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport August 2019. Passengers can get their face scanned instead of using their boarding pass to board the plane. According to the Washington Post, 14 airports were using facial recognition as of August 2018. Homeowners are also adding data to the surveillance grid by voluntarily sharing security videos with authorities.

Police Departments and Pastors Partner With Ring Surveillance

According to the Washington Post, more than 400 police departments are sharing the recordings produced by video doorbell company Ring’s millions of Internet-connected cameras installed in private residences nationwide. Recently Amazon, the owner of Ring, helped a group of pastors in Baltimore acquire $15,000 worth of surveillance technology for this new kind of “neighborhood watch.” Residents who opt in to this program will get Ring cameras and floodlights for free, or at discounted rates and will reportedly be encouraged to give police access to the video camera footage. Matthew Guariglia, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, described Ring’s surveillance web as “a widespread CCTV network in which police and Amazon…have access to cameras across the city on everybody’s front doors.” The activities of everyone within range of Ring’s millions of cameras will be tracked. It is a massive private/government surveillance network.

Ring’s app, called “Law Enforcement Neighborhoods Portal,” has an interactive map which shows the approximate location of all Ring cameras in a certain area. Law enforcement then appeal to Ring camera owners for permission to view their video footage. Ring company employees, based mostly in Ukraine, can access live video feeds from Ring cameras at any moment. The new “neighborhood watch” technology of networked Ring cameras is minuscule when compared to the staggering expansion of data harvesting realized by the new 5G communications network.

5G Extends Internet of Things, Expands Surveillance

In addition to broadening global interconnectedness, 5G is the technology which will be most likely to dramatically assault privacy by expanding the surveillance grid. The Internet of Things is a world where all objects are electronically connected and constantly communicating data to one another through a 5G network. In such a system, privacy and security would be almost impossible. The first and second generation of mobile communications, 1G and 2G, brought mobile analog voice calling to a few and then, more reliably, to many. 3G brought in mobile Internet, mobile apps and computing. 4G facilitated broadband streaming video and the social media explosion. 5G will move from connecting people to other people and information towards connecting people to everything.

5G Assault on Privacy

One of the issues 5G is supposed to address is the increase in data traffic required for video streaming. Watching video streams on handheld devices will improve. But once 5G is globally established, it is also perfect for using smartphones to live-stream what is happening around the user in real-time. This raises privacy issues for the people who appear in those live uploads.

Also, 5G will be able to handle the billions of connections required for the Internet of Things. As IoT devices proliferate we are likely to see video cameras with microphones everywhere, in our homes, pubic buildings, offices, cars and in public transportation. 5G technologies can be left on continuously, making it possible for IoT surveillance devices to be placed in many new remote locations, without needing wired connections. One fear is if Chinese companies install key elements of the 5G systems, they will be able to spy on all the traffic passing through them. The South China Morning Post reports to address that fear, Huawei has committed to sign “no-spy agreements with governments.” Surveillance is extensive in China and companies operating there will not hesitate to exploit the potential for 5G to make surveillance even more unavoidable and intrusive. Shenzhen, one of China’s 500 smart cities projects, dramatically illustrates China’s commitment to surveillance and her disdain for privacy.

Shenzhen, Smart City, High-Tech Oppression

Shenzhen, a smart city, is cashless. You can’t use cash or credit cards, only your smartphone. In Shenzhen, artificial intelligence facial-recognition software instantly spots and tickets jaywalkers. One factory there barely needs people, as all the workers have been replaced by robots, except for one lonely final inspector. The Chinese government can peer into either of the dominant payment systems, Alipay and WeChat, as it pleases, to track behavior as part of a plan to rank citizens and measure how good and obedient they are. Shenzhen is high-tech and prosperous but it has also insidiously intruded into citizens’ lives. On a larger scale, China’s “Social Credit” system gives us a preview of how it might be to live under the tyranny of the coming Antichrist and the “Mark of the Beast” economy.

The Curse of China’s “Social Credit” Blacklist

Governments all over the world are increasing their control over the daily lives of their citizens. Last year, vast numbers of individuals and businesses were banned from engaging in normal economic activities because they did something that displeased the Chinese government. About 17.46 million “discredited” people were restricted from buying plane tickets, 5.47 million were restricted from purchasing high-speed train tickets and over 3.59 million Chinese enterprises were added to the official creditworthiness blacklist. These alarming economic restrictions sound very similar to what the Bible describes as the coming “beast” system, marked by perpetual surveillance and the total loss of privacy.

China tried to make it fun to obey the state in 2015, with the launch of a social media game called Sesame Credit. It gives people a score for how good a citizen they are. The system grades citizens’ obedience to the official party line by harvesting data from social networks and purchase histories. Extra credit explained how the game works in a video posted to YouTube, saying, “If you post pictures of Tiananmen Square or share a link about the recent stock market collapse, your Sesame Credit goes down…share a link from the state-sponsored news agency about how good the economy is doing and your score goes up.” High scores earn rewards, such as making it less complex to get travel papers or easier to get a loan. Penalties for lower scores could mean slower Internet speeds or restricting jobs which a low scoring person can hold. Users can lose points for having friends with low trustworthy scores.

The social credit system, which is due to be fully implemented by the end of 2020, will use technology to monitor and assess the behavior of both businesses and individuals, using a system of rewards and punishments as incentives. Although the catalog of offenses punishable by public shaming or economic sanctions might vary from province to province today, the goal is a coherent nationwide behavior control program, when every Chinese citizen and business will be tracked, scored and receive appropriate perks and restrictions.

To read more about China’s social credit score: https://endtime.com/prophecy-news/social-credit-score-china-set-to-roll-out-orwellian-mass-surveillance-tool/

Kenyan National Biometric ID Labeled ‘Mark of the Beast’

Clerics in Kenya are claiming that Kenya’s new personal identification number is preparing the way to brand their flocks with the biblical “Mark of the Beast.” A Pentecostal church pastor, Benjamin Mutungi, told Religion News Service, “We are in the end times. They will keep upgrading this number until it becomes a micro-chip that will be implanted on people’s hands or forehead.” President Uhuru Kenyatta responded with disbelief as he launched the ID system known as “Huduma (Service) Number.” “Goodness!” he said, “How does the Devil come in, in a process of identification?”

As of February 2019, the rebranded National Integrated Identity Management System, NIIMS, now requires all Kenyan residents to turn over their DNA, GPS coordinates of their residential address, retina scans, iris pattern, voice waves and earlobe geometry before being issued identification documents. Kenya’s national biometric ID program has been marked by criticism about its inefficiency and allegations of misconduct. Misconduct charges also surround the installation of India’s Aadhaar biometric ID system.

India’s “Aadhaargate” Scandal

In 2009, India introduced Aadhaar – a biometric 12-digit unique identity number (UID), in order to streamline “targeted delivery of financial and other subsidies, benefits and services” to India’s residents and to prevent leakages in service delivery. As of June 24, 2019, 1.23 billion residents have been enrolled under Aadhaar. However, since its introduction, the system has experienced significant “mission creep”, as the Indian government has been encouraging citizens to link their Aadhaar numbers to a variety of commercial services, from mobile SIM cards to bank accounts. This raises concerns about whether the state has the right to deny people services provided by private companies and entities. Also, beginning around 2016 even those among India’s elite, who helped build consensus for the Aadhaar project, began to detect its dangers. Today, India is embroiled in “Aadhaargate”, and according to Reetika Khera of the Washington Post, it has become clear Aadhaar “constitutes one of the most brazen breaches of the right to privacy and the right to live initiated by the government of a democratic country.”

Mastercard Nigerian eID Card, High-Tech World Beyond Cash

When the Nigerian National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and MasterCard rolled out the MasterCard-branded National Identity Smart Cards with payment capability in 2010, Michael Miebach, President, Middle East and Africa, MasterCard said, “MasterCard has been a firm supporter of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Cashless Policy as we share a vision of a world beyond cash.” The new Nigerian national ID card​ was launched in August 2014 by President Jonathan Goodluck for its almost 170 million inhabitants. This program is the largest roll-out of a formal electronic payment solution in the country and the broadest financial inclusion initiative of its kind on the African continent. However, as of September 2019, its adoption rates are low (below 10%). The multi-purpose card serves as a national identity card, travel document, an electronic ID, a biometric eID and a payment card. Nigeria’s eID card is equipped with a microprocessor for the storage of personal and biometric data (fingerprints) of the card holder as well as keys, certificates and other data for the various eServices and applications. Cutting edge technologies are applied to many of these national ID systems for authentication, to verify the holder is who he or she claims to be. The most recently innovative technology with the most potential for authentication applications seems to be biometrics.

 Biometric Innovations and the UN Agenda

The time has arrived when the future of ID technology relies no longer on what we know, such as passwords or PINs, to identify the user. Instead, it will be defined by who we are, that is, by pairing physiological features of any individual with information from databases which describe the individual’s identity. Fingerprints, iris and retina scans, facial recognition, gait, voice, DNA and brain waves can all be used to effectively identify and authenticate humans. In addition, employees’ heartbeats are used to secure mobile payments and hospitals identify patients by the unique vein patterns in the palms of their hands. This series of biometric advancements fits right in with the objectives of the UN 2030 Agenda. One of the United Nations sustainable development goals, Goal 16.9, is to “provide legal identity for all, including birth registration.” This is a precursor to the Mark of the Beast. By the year 2030, the United Nation intends to have every man, woman and child on earth identified, for achieving safety, security and world peace. There are however severe risks in the implementation of an ID scheme, not only that it fails to meet the promise of SDG 16.9 but that it also builds a system for surveillance and exclusion.

 When should Christians Opt Out?

We are rapidly approaching the time when a world government will be established upon the earth. When this comes to fruition, individuals who find themselves living under this government will be required to worship (pledge allegiance to) the world government and its leader, the Antichrist. All who refuse will be banished from the economic system. The Bible says they will not be able to buy or sell.

Scripture describes what awaits anyone who submits to the Mark of the Beast and worships the Antichrist.

“And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”
Revelation 14:11

As you can see, the world is far advanced in its preparation for the cashless society and the Mark of the Beast. Obviously, no one can take the mark today since the beast (the Antichrist) has not yet appeared. However, we need to know what is coming so that we will not be taken unawares when that time does arrive.

Mark of the Beast at Hand
Mark of the Beast at Hand
Mark of the Beast at Hand
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