Franco Frattini, the Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner for the European Union, has revealed a new raft of anti-terrorism measures that he hopes will help prevent another major terrorist attack from happening on European soil. The controversial plans are to be submitted for review at an upcoming EU summit, which include the biometric registration of all foreign nationals entering the European Union. A biometric identity card for EU immigrants was first proposed by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair last year. Passenger lists of all flights entering or leaving the EU would also be passed on to the intelligence agencies of member states, and would later be expanded to include flights within the European Union itself...   

Quote: "Non-EU nationals would be electronically registered with biometric identifiers under the plan, Frattini said at a meeting in Portugal of EU ministers in charge of policing. The register is "extremely necessary" in order to crack down on people who are granted permission to stay for a restricted time but melt away when the period expires, he said.

Controversial security measures such as the government's DNA database have already been slammed as discriminatory by British judges. The judge in question stated that he would rather the government obtained a record of everyone's DNA, rather than just a select few. And so it is for biometric ID cards for foreign nationals. As the article states, having a biometric record of people living outside the EU will not prevent terrorism committed by British citizens, as we saw in the Glasgow airport attack earlier in the year. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and the governments would soon find themselves having to roll out the biometric registration to all their citizens. And that is the plan. The UK government already has plans for the compulsory fingerprinting of 500,000 children per year starting in 2010. The book of Revelation states that during the tribulation period, four world conditions would prevail... war, terrorism, famine and death. I find the second horseman of the apocalypse particularly intriguing considering the modern day scourge of Islamic terrorism...

Revelation 6:3-4 
And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

Peace taken from the earth... that they should kill "one another"... a "great sword"... Although this horseman won't ride until the tribulation period begins, I think these verses sum up pretty well the world we are now living in. There have always been wars, but global terrorism seems to be a relatively recent phenomenon. In the midst of all this chaos, the claim will be made that mankind must receive an identifying mark in their right hand or forehead, and pledge allegiance to the world peacemaker - the Antichrist. World governments are already making the claim that all people should receive identity cards to protect us from the threat of global terrorism. Many non-believers associate the Mark of the Beast with a world dictator and even Satan himself, and think they would never accept such a thing were it to come to pass. Sadly I believe this world dictator will be world peacemaker, and the case will easily be made for accepting his mark.

Revelation 13:8
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him (Antichrist), whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Source International Herald Tribune, Expatica, Guardian

Here in America, we don't get a chance to really see that which is happening in our world. Our media has made it a point to keep any world events, especially those in the Middle East, watered down at best. And totally false at worse. However the signs of the times are becoming more and more apparent. For instance, over this past month Visa Corp. has launched a new commercial campaign promoting a cashless society. In the commercial, hundreds of people are lined up at various fast food kiosks in a mall type setting. Everyone is swiping their Visa card to pay for their purchases and everything is moving in rythme... until one person pulls out cash, at which point all movement is stalled and everyone lined up behind the cash user decides to leave and go to another fast food line where cash is not being used. It's obvious that the idea is, "if you use cash you're not only uncool, but you're behind the times and most importantly, becoming a hinderence to others". Even though this is just a commercial, it does a good job at showing what life is like here in America. Everything has to be done here and now at a moment's notice, and any kind of waiting is totally unacceptable. We are being primed to move to a cashless society, and though the mark may not be a card, it is certainly a precursor meant to condition the mind into naturally accepting it... Take the frog for example. Did you know that if you place a frog in a boiling pot of water it will jump out... and that should be a given... But if you take that same frog and place it in a pot that has luke warm water and then begin to heat it slowly.. the frog will not jump out and will boil to death. The times are at hand. Are you prepared for the coming of the King?

Quote: "A 1998 study in Ridgefield, Conn., of 177 mice reported cancer incidence to be slightly higher than 10 percent - a result the researchers described as "surprising." A 2006 study in France detected tumours in 4.1 percent of 1,260 microchipped mice. This was one of six studies in which the scientists did not set out to find microchip-induced cancer but noticed the growths incidentally. They were testing compounds on behalf of chemical and pharmaceutical companies; but they ruled out the compounds as the tumours' cause. Because researchers only noted the most obvious tumours, the French study said, "These incidences may therefore slightly underestimate the true occurrence" of cancer. In 1997, a study in Germany found cancers in 1 percent of 4,279 chipped mice. The tumours "are clearly due to the implanted microchips," the authors wrote.

The Bible states that during the tribulation period, a "noisome and grievous sore" will inflict those who accept the Mark of the Beast, Revelation 16:2. While the Scriptures are not specific as to the cause of this sore, today's news that RFID implants carry certain biological risks for their recipients confirms the Biblical account of a medical condition affecting those who take the Mark. Around 2000 people have been implanted with RFID microchips so far, and most of these are "passive" radio tags. Passive tags do not contain a power source as such, but convert radio waves from a handheld scanner into electrical current. This electrical energy is transferred to a capacitor and used to transmit a radio response to the scanner. Xmark have also been working on "active" chips which do contain a power source, enabling them to broadcast a signal without having to rely on energy from a handheld scanner. This active chip can contain a GPS unit, allowing easy tracking of an individual by satellite technology. The active chips contain a Lithium Ion battery that can be recharged by temperature flows in the body. Lithium is also an extremely poisonous metal and produces a noisome and grievous sore when it comes into contact with skin.

Quote: "GPS technology took a quantum leap with the development of bionics capable of being tracked by satellite once implanted in animals or humans. These tiny devices, powered by a lithium battery, could be geographically detected, using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), to within inches anywhere on the surface of the planet. Lithium is employed as a miniature power-plant for the chip since it self-energises through changes in the host's body temperature. Thus the site for the implant will usually be those body parts demonstrating the greatest variations in temperature - in the back of the hand or front of the head. Lithium does have one drawback, experts say. It produces an infection when brought into contact with exposed organic tissue.

Whether or not the sore is caused by a Lithium infection, a cancer or an irritation of the skin, we do not know. But the Bible states that these things will come upon men because of their disobedience to God and rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is righteous in His judgements, and will reward men according to their evil deeds. But God is also righteous in that He will not permit a soul to perish that has trusted in His Son for salvation. Jesus Christ bore God's punishment for our sins on the cross. Trust in Him for salvation today.

Source Associated Press, Campaign for Truth

Credit card company MasterCard launches its new contactless payment system in London today. The PayPass card is already used in 19 other countries, and will be rolled out across the UK next year. The card eliminates the need for consumers to carry coinage. Each card contains a miniature RFID microchip, which when waved in front of a reader, will deduct up to £10 in a single transaction from the holder's bank account. The HSBC bank and fast food chain McDonalds are already signed up to use the new system. The new system is being hailed in Britain as the first step to cashless society.

Quote: "It is estimated that five million of the cards will be issued by the end of next year and these will be accepted by 100,000 retailers. PayPass works in a similar way to the Oyster cards used on London Transport. But instead of needing to be topped up with credit at a terminal, the cards allow money to be deducted from the user's bank account or added to their credit card bill. The cards should cut queues in fast food outlets, coffee shops and newsagents, MasterCard says. Its own research found that 53 per cent of consumers were enthusiastic about the cards' convenience and speed.

Many contactless payment systems are already in use around the world. Banks in America are already issuing their customers with contactless payment devices, and schools are adopting RFID chips for identification purposes and for financial transactions. Mobile phone companies are manufacturing cell phones with contactless payment systems built in. All this is being done in the name of convenience and to save money, and it may do that. But it also acts as another layer of control, enabling companies and governments to keep track of the many financial transactions we make on a daily basis. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and I don't believe this is the Mark of the Beast, but I do believe that this is another step towards the fulfilment of prophecy, when no man shall buy or sell without the Mark. Cheques are already being refused by many major companies on the grounds of potential fraud. As a result more people are switching to store cards and credit cards. Perhaps it won't be that long before cash is also refused, becoming an inconvenience for companies to have to deal with.

Revelation 13:16-17
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: 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.

Source Daily Mail

This link from my friend Kevvie. Over 10 million Chinese citizens will be issued with biometric identity cards this month, in a new security scheme that has commenced in the city of Shenzhen. China already has a national identity card system, but the government is seeking to broaden its tracking abilities by issuing a new card that will be used to record specific details about a person, including their ethnicity, religion, medical history and financial details. The city of Shenzhen is also having 20,000 CCTV cameras installed which will be equipped with facial recognition software, enabling the government to keep a close eye on the city's 12 million inhabitants. Chinese police officers in the city are also receiving GPS units that will beam their precise location at any given time back to police headquarters, and officers that are indoors will be tracked through the triangulation of their mobile phone signal. What is most controversial about the new scheme is the company that is running it all, China Public Security, a firm based in Florida and funded by American corporations.   

Quote: "Both steps are officially aimed at fighting crime and developing better controls on an increasingly mobile population, including the nearly 10 million peasants who move to big cities each year. But they could also help the Communist Party retain power by maintaining tight controls on an increasingly prosperous population at a time when street protests are becoming more common. "If they do not get the permanent card, they cannot live here, they cannot get government benefits, and that is a way for the government to control the population in the future," said Michael Lin, the vice president for investor relations at China Public Security Technology, the company providing the technology.

President Bush is aiming to introduce a national identity card scheme by the end of 2008, and Britain's Labour government is pushing for a similar card to be introduced not long after that. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has virtually stated that the country has no other option, that this biometric identification scheme is the future and to oppose it is to oppose technological progress. But as we can see with the Chinese trials, this progress seems to be coming more and more at the expense of our personal freedoms. We've already seen what the Chinese government does when it obtains information on illegal Christian gatherings. How can we guarantee that the US and UK governments will act any different? Evangelical Christians in the UK are already being regarded as extremists by the government and other religious organizations. Of course this is all leading to one thing. The Bible stated around 2000 years ago that one day a man would require all people on earth to receive a "mark" in their right hand or forehead, and that without such a mark they would not be able to buy or sell (Revelation 13:16-18). How long will it take before the world governments decide that cards are too costly to produce, too easily replicated, too easily broken and lost. Perhaps not long. This link from my friend Chris reveals that the US government is already seeking to implant its soldiers with a biometric chip that will monitor their vital signs.

Quote: "A new Defense Department-funded study is aimed at developing a microchip the size of a grain of rice that would be implanted in soldiers wounded on the battlefield, but the idea raises privacy concerns for at least one major veterans group.

With companies like Xmark spearheading this technology, little remains to be done before the prophecy concerning the Mark of the Beast can be fulfilled. Of course I believe that the real Mark will be implemented by the False Prophet, and will be taken as a pledge of allegiance to the Antichrist and his system. But in the meantime, we can expect more news like this, conditioning people's minds into accepting the idea of a single, global, identification system. They will tell us it is for our safety, but in reality in will hand complete control of the world's population to one man, and ultimately Satan himself.

Revelation 15:2-4
And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

Source New York Times, Fox News