| XXXIII. | Concluding Perspective |
| Posted: March 5, 2004 |
| For the first time in history, the capability is on the horizon to electronically tag every object and every person on earth. |
| Readers for implanted electronic human numbers are spreading at an accelerating rate. |
| The Biblical book of Revelation spoke some two millennia ago about the need to have a mark in/on the hand or forehead in order to buy or sell. Humanity is moving toward that point. |
| At the time of Jesus, the people of God were understandably looking for a messianic conquering king along the lines of their ancestor King David. A number of Jews claimed that the one who came unexpectedly as a suffering servant and conquered death was the long awaited Messiah. |
| If their assessment of this unanticipated turn of events be true, as the church confesses and proclaims, then the church would do well to approach the mysteries of Revelation with humility. If anything, Revelation is certainly a part of God's future that we see through a glass darkly. |
| Some claim that Revelation's mark of the beast referred to events in the days of the Roman Empire. Such a fulfillment, to the extent true, does not preclude an additional future fulfillment on a larger scale. By any standard, Revelation presents a universal picture. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to make a cogent case that the writer of Revelation was generally writing about these universal events that the writer thought had already fully occurred. |
| From the perspective of Revelation, the mark of the beast—without which one cannot buy or sell—cannot be stopped. |
| Even so, some church members and institutions may align themselves with those secularists who elect to address privacy concerns that stem from the global tagging of all objects including—through smart cards and microchip implants—human beings. |
| Yet, while the privacy debate proceeds, a steady blanketing of the globe with electronic readers of microchip implants is proceeding apace. |
| What is to be the church's response? |
| After all, the beast's mark may easily be construed as the work of an "angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14) that would deceive all but the elect (Matthew 24:24). The situation that involves commercial coercion may well seem to constitute a tragic moral choice that confronts loving family members and friends, and that presents the caring minister with a pastoral dilemma. For example, how does the church address the following hypothetical situation? |
| A church member requires chemotherapy treatment for cancer or antibiotic treatment for a serious infection. This medically recommended treatment requires continual monitoring of the church member's temperature. Due to limits in staffing, in order to maximize economic efficiencies, the hospital informs the church member and his or her loved ones, including the pastor, that standard medical practice as of 30 days ago now requires the implantation, in the right hand or forehead, of a human microchip implant via a vaccination. The microchip implant, which contains a temperature sensor, continually transmits the patient's temperature over the hospital's wireless network and alerts staff of any noteworthy variation that requires further treatment. Further, the patient and his/her loved ones are informed that the same microchip is now tied into the hospital's billing system and is necessary for processing any insurance claims. The decision as to whether to sign medical authorizations and releases in order to accept the chip and thus the recommended medical treatment must be made prior to admittance to the medical treatment facility. Any delay, one is advised, may affect the treatment outcome and, of course, the longer term prognosis, and possibly have life and death consequences. |
| What do you do? Jesus said, "Don't be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28, New Living Translation). But how awful to be called upon to give advice or make a snap decision on the spot that affects one's child, wife, husband, sister, brother, father, mother, parishioner—or self. |
| To attempt to stop the spread of electronic readers of microchip implants would not only be futile from within the prophetic logic of Revelation, but would also not go to the heart of Jesus' directives to his disciples. |
| Christ asks for obedience. The law of love written in the church's heart calls for living for others rather than self. This living for others is an integral part of proclaiming God's offer of Jesus' salvific sacrifice on our behalf. |
| Obedience to Christ cannot be limited to current time and talent, but must also encompass sacrificial living for others with stored time and talent—that is, money—in this Age of Affluence. |
| Thus, the approach of ubiquitous electronic RFID readers and human RFID microchip implants, hurtling toward us from over the horizon, stresses the urgency of Jesus' age-old call to live for others in word and deed, on a daily basis, with our money as well as our skills. |
| One who is not obedient to Jesus Christ out of love for others with money today, will not likely resist the lure of a chip implant that allows you to buy and sell tomorrow. |
| July 22, 2003 |
| Copyright © empty tomb, inc. 2003: Original materials and presentation |