Prophecy Update #709 – Biometric News Roundup


We reserve a few minutes Sunday morning to suggest news, or trends, that seem to be predicted by a literal, futurist reading of the Bible.

We are careful to use recognized, reliable sources for news. There is a lot of sensationalism surrounding unfulfilled Bible prophecy, and we don’t want to add to it.

We’re not saying the things we report are the definite fulfillment of prophecy – only that they are the things you’d expect by holding a Bible in one hand, and a newspaper in the other.

Bible futurists have long understood that, in the Last Days and going into the Great Tribulation, there would be a global system of personal identification. It involves what the apostle John described as a “mark” on the hand, or on the forehead.

It sounds a lot like biometrics, which is defined as, “physical or behavioral human characteristics that can be used to digitally identify a person to grant access to systems, devices, or data.”

Three-and-one-half years into the Tribulation, the man Revelation calls the Beast will demand everyone swear allegiance to him. Since everyone is identified and linked to the system, refusal will mean being cut-off from participating in society. A person won’t be able to buy or sell anything.

We therefore expect a global push towards greater-and-greater biometric commerce. We see it everywhere. I’ll summarize a few of the articles I consulted.

#1 France has a health card called Carte Vitale, which allows those registered in the country’s health system to get reimbursements for medical costs. New legislation will add biometrics to it. The card will have a chip that contains physical characteristics of the insured, such as their fingerprints, to enable identity verification.

#2 School board officials in Marion County, West Virginia, have approved piloting a facial recognition security system. The live facial recognition technology is supposedly to help with “threat detection” and “visitor management” in schools.

#3 Microsoft has announced a five-year partnership with the National Australia Bank (NAB) to develop and invest in NAB’s and Bank of New Zealand’s multi-cloud technology. The two organizations are looking into ways of identifying customers using facial recognition.

#4 The UK is working on facial recognition technology for border screening, under a broader effort dubbed “Permission to Travel.” The idea is to have contactless border screening. Once the technology is implemented, people traveling to the UK, including those from EU countries, will be required to upload a selfie on the Home Office’s website. On arrival at a border checkpoint, their face will be scanned for identity verification. The technology eliminates the need to interact with a border officer.

It is no longer far-fetched to envision a global, digital system by which everyone in the world transacts all of their business. It is only a matter of when it will be implemented.

It will effect everything you purchase. If governments are successful in their efforts to eliminate cash, its citizens will be subject to their complete control. What you eat, where you live, where you can or cannot go, will all be controlled by the government.

One reporter envisioned the following scenario. “It’s 2027. The Health Ministry locks your phone because you criticized a state policy in a private call. Your thermostat is also locked at 78 degrees. An email arrives indicating Travel Permission is denied to visit your dying mom.”

Biometric technologies are not the Mark of the Beast. But they are, quite obviously, setting the stage.

We believe the resurrection and rapture of the church is imminent. It could happen any moment; nothing needs to happen before it. It will happen before the Tribulation.

Jesus will come, in the clouds, and raise the dead believers of the Church Age. He will transform the bodies of living believers to glorified, resurrection bodies. We will join Him in Heaven while the earth endures one final seven-year campaign of severe evangelism.

Are you ready for the rapture? If not, Get ready; Stay ready; Keep looking up.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming!