Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday (Update XLII)—Another Way, Part 5

I often think back to the day Jesus saved my soul.  Like many believers, I have a fixed date—a “birth” date—mine was November 8, 1970, a Sunday evening around 9 p.m.  That evening, my wife Connie and I surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ.  Five days later, we were both baptized in the Holy Ghost, just as they were on the day of Pentecost. These two magnificent events changed everything, and I mean everything. 

From the beginning, I was taught by God’s servants to embrace the beautiful Book and no other, and that lesson was the greatest lesson of my life.  I understood that God’s Holy Bible was His inerrant truth and that understanding has only expanded over all these glorious years, challenge after carnal challenge. 

However, just an hour before I became born again, I was a mess.  Oh, I looked good on the outside, and even had what appeared to be accomplishments.  The reality was quite different: I was lost and undone, shackled by Satan’s bondages, even devils.  But, on November 8, a colossal renewal began.  The devils were cast out, my heart of stone was replaced with a heart of flesh, and I became a brand-new creature with a new Father, a new purpose, a new eternal promise, and a new name.  My soul was saved.  I had become a direct descendent of the God of the Bible.  The Word of God is the anchor of my soul, as it is the anchor of all those who embrace the glorious Cross of Christ.  That day in November was the best day of my life—even the first day of my true life—and every day since has gotten better, contradictions and all. 

Do you have a “birth” date—a date when you were born again, born a literal second time, this time of the Spirit of God?  Jesus said in John 3:3:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 

Will today be your birthday?  It surely can be.  Click onto “Further with Jesus” right now for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Revelation 13:1-4, 11-18:

1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

GOD SAID, II Thessalonians 2:3-4:

3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

GOD SAID, Daniel 12:4:

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

MAN SAID: The great halls of education and science, that’s where I’ll find my god!  If I don’t know the answer, I’ll just ask my phone.

Now THE RECORD: At the return of Jesus Christ, at the battle of Armageddon which is the end of the world as we know it, wickedness will have come to a full.  “Wickedness to the full” is God’s ultimate indicator of impending judgment.  In regard to judgment, this is the law of engagement.

Jesus says that when He returns, it will be as it was in the days of Noah (Matthew 17:26).  Key indicators of judgment in Noah’s day are found in Genesis 6:5:

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Genesis 6:11-13:

11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

The prophet Daniel writes of the end and makes this telling statement in Chapter 8, verses 23-25:

23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.

24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.

25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

We saw wickedness to the full at Sodom and Gomorrah, at Babylon, at Israel and Jerusalem, and now encompassing the globe.  Global judgment is soon to be engaged.  The warning signs are flashing red.  Doomsday approaches. 

This is the fifth feature titled “Another Way,” which is also an expansion of the GodSaidManSaid “Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday” Series.  In these features, we highlighted man’s frantic quest to find another way—any way, as long as it is not God’s way.  We addressed a wide range of deadly issues from man’s mad search to find immortality outside the cross, to the fallen sons of God and giants and men of renown, to transhumanism and modern-day chimeras.

The King of Glory frames it well in John 10:1:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.      

Carnal men try to climb up some other way.  The pathetic challenge to God’s way was first mounted by Satan in Eden where he offered mother Eve another way.  The empirical data is in: The “other way” turned out to be a dead-end, pun intended. 

Satan’s desire is to be like God.  Isaiah 14:13-14:

13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

It’s his desire to be like God, but not in truth and righteousness, and so it is with his carnal champions. 

Several paragraphs follow from the GodSaidManSaid feature “Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday (Update XXXI—The Image of the Beast):”

How close is it?  How close is the great tribulation period and the doomsday battle of Armageddon where the world as we know it will be destroyed?  Believers are cautioned not to set dates, but we are also cautioned to watch for Biblical signs that tell of Christ’s returning. The extensive Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday Series highlights a host of these signs.  Central to end-days prophecy is the restoration of Israel as a nation.  For over 2,000 years, they had been absent from the world’s geography, but in 1948, they were miraculously restored to the world’s list of nations.  Jesus said in Matthew 24:32-34:

32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Much of Christianity believes Jesus is referring to Israel’s restoration as a nation in the parable of the fig tree because of references in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 24 and other Biblical passages.  If that assessment is correct, the generation that sees the events Jesus listed in the book of Matthew, chapter 24 and the budding of Israel as a nation shall not pass ‘til all is fulfilled.  The generation that saw the fig tree bud—the restoration of Israel as a nation in 1948—is alive today.  Keep in mind that when we discuss future events, some of our discussion will be, by necessity, speculation. Today’s subject will address the Beast and the image of the Beast. 

Things that seemed so bizarre when originally prophesied in the Word of God thousands of years ago are ever so close and even plausible.  Richard Wurmbrand, in his book Proofs of God’s Existence, writes:

The fact is that as science advances, it discovers what was said thousands of years ago in the Bible.  To give just one example:  It was predicted by the Evangelist John in Revelation 21 that a city, called the New Jerusalem, about 2,500 km high and wide and deep, would come to Earth out of heaven.  For 2 millennia, science has denied such a possibility.  Now we launch skylabs from our tiny planet and seriously talk about space-“cities.”  [End of quote]

When Jesus Christ returns to this earth at the great battle of Armageddon, Revelation 6 records that the heavens will part and roll back like a scroll.  Such a statement sounds bizarre, but scientists now theorize that it is possible to tear space.

Over 1900 years ago when the book of Revelation was penned, things were different.  Electricity had yet to be discovered.  There were no steamships, locomotives, automobiles, airplanes, spaceships, telephones, radios, or TVs.  There was no internet.  Personal computers, GPS tracking devices, scanning systems, or sophisticated data managing systems did not exist, yet Revelation 13 prophesies of the ominous mark of the beast by which all global commerce is controlled.  The following paragraphs are from the GodSaidManSaid feature Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday -- Part Three:

Revelation 13:16-18:

16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

When this passage was penned, there were no checking accounts, direct-deposit transactions, electronic transfers, charge cards, debit cards, computerized banking, scanning systems, and more.  In the above passage, the Word of God prophesies of a new system of commerce to which the whole world will be forced to comply.  This new system of commerce appears to be the perfect moneyless society where consumers no longer deal in hard cash.  All financial transactions are conducted electronically under a consumer account number.  This would be a marvelous idea if it wasn’t for those who would take control of it.  Such an electronic banking system would greatly reduce the cost of banking, personal theft, bad checks, bad credit, and more—even bankruptcy.  This would, in turn, reduce the cost of goods, improve the world’s standard of living, and enhance personal safety—a great idea.  With today’s technology, this cardless system could easily be accomplished.  It could eliminate the carrying of personal identification cards by simply imbedding a code or identification chip of some kind—which is presently being done—in the right hand or under the skin in the forehead of an individual.  This identifying chip located in your person could also give the government the ability, with global positioning systems, to locate you anywhere on this globe.  Criminals could run but couldn’t hide—a good idea—except:

The world’s societies will all be controlled economically by the antichrist.  Unless you receive the mark, the name, or the number of the beast—which is 666—you will not be able to buy or sell.  [End of quote]

Grant Jeffrey, in his book Countdown to the Apocalypse, weighs in on 666:

Already, North Americans live in a 97% cashless society.  Less than 3% of the money in our economy exists as either paper currency or coins.  John, in the book of Revelation, prophesies that the number 666 will be placed in (beneath the skin?) the right hands or in the foreheads as a way to enforce people’s allegiance to the Antichrist as their god and to control people throughout the Antichrist’s world empire.  [End of quotes]

The world is addicted to the internet and this addiction is growing.  If you are in the business world, what would you do without the internet?  Many businesses would simply fold up and the rest would be set back about 20 years, when the work place was slower and more costly.  And it’s more than just the business community.  People are chained to their digital devices, and smartphones are leading the charge. Smartphone owners robotically respond to their every prompt.  Consider the addictive hold that social media like Facebook has on the population at large. 

An individual’s connectedness to the internet has opened up a vast data industry all about you—everything about you.  If knowledge is power—and it is, then all knowledge is all power, and carnaldom hopes—even eternal life. 

Jennifer Golbeck, Ph.D., published a feature in the September/October 2014 issue of Psychology Today.  Several excerpts follow:

On my local Washington, D.C. streets, I am constantly watched.  The city government alone has hundreds of traffic and surveillance cameras.  And then there are the cameras in parks, office buildings, ATM lobbies, and, of course, around every federal building and landmark.  On an average day, my image is captured by well over 100 cameras. 

When I’m online and using social media, a wealth of information about my interests and routines is collected behind the scenes.  I employ an add-on on my browser that blocks companies from tracking my searches and visits.  In just one recent month, it reported blocking nearly 16,000 separate attempts to access my data online. 

I’m monitored offline, too.  Anytime I use a reward card at a supermarket, department store, or other retail outlet, my purchase is recorded, and the data either sold to other marketers or used to predict my future purchases and guide me to make them in that store.  Department store tracking based on purchase records can even conclude that a woman is pregnant and roughly when she is due. 

My own devices report on me.  I carry an iPhone, which tracks and records my every movement.  This will help me find my phone if I ever lose it (I haven’t yet), but it also provides Apple with a treasure trove of data about my daily habits. 

Data on any call I place or email I send may be collected by the National Security Agency.  Recent reports have revealed that the federal intelligence arm may be collecting metadata on phone and Internet traffic—when Americans communicate and with whom, if not the actual content of those communications.  As Barton Gellman, Pulitzer Prize-winning intelligence reporter for the Washington Post, said during a recent panel discussion, it’s not that the NSA knows everything about everyone, but that “it wants to be able to know anything about anybody.” 

There’s no question our privacy has been eroded with the help of technology.  There’s also little question that those most responsible aren’t much inclined to retreat.  As Scott McNealy, cofounder of Sun Microsystems, famously said: “You have zero privacy anyway.  Get over it.”

Modern surveillance  does have some clear benefits.  Cameras in public spaces help the authorities detect crime and catch perpetrators, though they catch us in the dragnet as well.  Cell phone tracking and networked late-model cars allows us to be found if we become lost or injured, and mapping apps are incredibly useful for directing us to where we want to go.  These features save lives—but all of them constantly transmit our location and generate a precisely detailed record of our movements.  [End of quotes]

J. Lanier, in the November 2013 issue of Scientific American, had this to say in the feature titled, “How Should We Think about Privacy:”

The point of this thought experiment, which has a long pedigree in science fiction, is that computing and statistics could effectively simulate mind control.  It is arguable that a regime of cloud-driven recommendation engines in ever-more intimate portable devices could get us part of the way in the next few years to the mind-control scenario just described. 

With enough data and computation, it is possible to extrapolate the future of a security, the behavior of a person, or really any smoothly varying phenomenon in the world—for a time. 

Similarly, when selling a system that gathers information about citizens, a government agency—or more likely, a private contractor serving an agency—might make colorful claims about catching criminals or terrorists before they strike by observing and analyzing the entire world.  The terminology of such programs (“Total Information Awareness,” for instance) reveals a desire for a God-like, all-seeing perch. [End of quote]

What is now emerging as a new digital god is turning into a global stranglehold. 

When Apostle John describes the prophetic vision in the book of Revelation, chapter 13, it’s critical to remind you that, when attempting to understand the prophecy, at that time, there were no such things as electricity, audio recordings, television, digital imaging, the computer, the internet, and all of the modern technologies we know today.  In Revelation 13:1, John speaks of a beast with seven heads and ten horns.  In verse three, one of the heads is wounded unto death, but was healed.  This is speculation, but the supposition of this feature is that the beast wounded unto death and given life is an all-seeing, all-knowing, digital internet product that is fully forming now.  The wound unto death that was healed could have been something like the Snowden-NSA scandal that reverberated around the earth, causing major concerns from the general population to the earth’s heads of governments. The world was appalled!  The U.S. has the ability to listen to virtually every phone conversation and read every email on this earth.  Knowledge is power.  Or the wound could be inflicted by terrorists successfully striking major world electrical power grids that would bring the world to a halt. Or, it could be the collapse of Facebook as the result of the mining and selling of personal data, as in the recent 87-million user issue.  The cost, the fine, for instance, for breaching the telephone Do Not Call List is $10,000 per infraction.  Let’s do the math: $10,000 x 87 million users = $870 billion.

Revelation 13:14-15:

14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

The Apostle sees the other beast who arises giving power, giving an image and giving a voice to the beast that was wounded and survived, and all were made to worship and obey the image of the beast.  When John describes what he saw, there are no voice recorders, cameras, TVs, computers, holograms—nothing. 

The digital god is arising with destruction in its wings.  This all-seeing, all-knowing beast also has a mark—an identifier—a logo—by which all commerce on the earth will be transacted.  Without the mark, you will not be able to buy or sell.  Surely Bible prophecies are being fulfilled in the now.  Bible believers are lining up at the departure gate.  If you’ve ever run the race, it’s time to run it now. [End of quotes]

Satan is perfecting a digital bondage—a WWW, world-wide digital dependency.  If knowledge is power (and it is), and if all knowledge is eternal life and power (and it is), then is it a surprise that this is carnal man’s latest quest to erect another, Godless way to a source of all knowledge and power?  Satan hides in plain view.  He is constructing a “tree to make one wise” and he is doing it digitally.  Today, the knowledge of the world is theoretically in the hands of a vast percentage of the world’s population—it’s Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri.  Just ask your phone and it will search the world-wide-web and give you the world’s knowledge.  Unfortunately for the sons of Adam, regarding the information of eternal consequences, their 2 + 2 equals 5.  Satan’s desire is to be like God and all knowledge is required.  Digital addiction is the future. 

The following is from the March 2, 2018, issue of The Week under the heading “Smart Phones: Dealing with Our Digital Addiction:”

Tech addiction, once a “staple of tabloidy panics,” has recently assumed “a new and more righteous flavor.”  Some of the very people who built our “systems of digital addiction and manipulation,” including Facebook’s first president, Sean Parker, have begun to publicly express regret about designing social media platforms and apps that exploit our vulnerabilities and get us hopelessly hooked.  “God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains,” Parker said recently.  As we stare incessantly at our phones despite the warnings, it’s becoming harder to deny these devices’ “otherworldly, possibly unhealthy bondage over our brains.” [End of quote]

Could the root of the beast already be in the house?  Wickedness is coming to the full.  The time for the return of Jesus Christ to receive His church in the clouds is close—very close.  Only those who have been born again will meet Him in the air and the rest of the world will drink from the cup of God’s wrath.  If you have yet to make your decision for Jesus Christ, click onto Further With Jesus—and do it now while the door is still open.

GOD SAID, Revelation 13:1-4, 11-18:

1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

GOD SAID, II Thessalonians 2:3-4:

3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

GOD SAID, Daniel 12:4:

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

MAN SAID: The great halls of education and science, that’s where I’ll find my god!  If I don’t know the answer, I’ll just ask my phone.

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

“Smartphones: Dealing with Our Digital Addiction,” The Week, March 2, 2018

GodSaidManSaid, “Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday (Update XXXI—The Image of the Beast)”

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