Paving the Way for the Beast

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a proposal on March 1 to establish minimum standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards in compliance with the REAL ID Act of 2005.

DHS-proposed regulations set standards for states to meet the requirements of the REAL ID Act, including security features that must be incorporated into each card, verification of information provided by applicants to establish their identity and lawful status in the United States, and physical security standards for all locations where licenses and identification cards are issued.

As proposed, a REAL ID driver’s license will be required to access a federal building; board federally regulated commercial aircraft, and enter nuclear power plants. Because states may have difficulty complying before the May 11, 2008, deadline, DHS will grant an extension of the compliance deadline until December 31, 2009.

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My goodness! We’re turning into the U.S.S.R.! They too required papers, or documents showing identity and permission to travel and work. Illegal aliens have no trouble now getting identification, so I highly doubt this will be any different. However, what is most alarming here is that a person will have to get the government’s permission to obtain work!

Then I [John] saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13:11-17)

Granted, what is being proposed is that our information will be stored on a card. However, the technology does exist to put such information in an implantable chip. This technology has been around for quite some time now. Ten to fifteen years ago I remember reading an article wherein they were describing a new technology that would allow digitized information to be passed between two people simply by shaking hands or touching. Think of the ramifications! Taken to its next logical step, cards will be eliminated in favor of implants. Implants are already used in animals for identification and in people for medication. Being that veterinary medicine is roughly 40 years ahead of people medicine; such “advances” are not long in coming. Why a chip would be implanted in the forehead is beyond me, but that is what the text says, so that is what I expect will come to pass.

God did not give us prophesy of impending woe just to scare us. He has given it to us in part as a warning, so that we may be prepared for the trouble to come. Matthew (24:15), Mark (13:14), and Luke (21:20) all speak of an impending “abomination of desolation.” Such warning was not to sap the early Christians of hope but to instill it.

But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled (Daniel 11:31, 12:11). (Luke 21:20-22)

The Christians from the church at Jerusalem escaped because they heeded the warning of the Christ. The same is true today. We have a warning from Jesus Christ, spoken by Him to His Church. I do not claim to know the day. Only our Heavenly Father knows the day of the pouring out of His wrath.

For those who know Christ, physical suffering is but a very temporal thing. Our eternal hope lies with Christ, and at the moment of our death there is the assurance that we will immediately be in paradise with Him. For those without Christ, they may enjoy the temporal fulfillment of their flesh, but at the moment of their death they will immediately be in hell, eternally separated from God, eternally suffering His wrath and judgment. If you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, that does not have to be your fate. Believe in Jesus as God’s one and only begotten Son. Believe that he was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and then died to pay the penalty for your sins, which your have rightly earned. Apart from God all of your good works are only as filthy rags before Him (Isaiah 64:6). It is impossible for you to do any good on your own (Romans 3:12). However, “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame [before God the Father] (Isaiah 28:16). For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved’ (Joel 2:32).” (Romans 10:9-13)

Original contribution by Jim Fell for Correctness Commentary.