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The Cashless Society and Bible Prophecy

A Cashless Society gives Government Complete Control of your Finance

Such control is clearly described in Bible prophecy:

And he [ the Antichrist, the beast from the earth ] causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, and he decrees that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast [ the beast from the sea ] or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six. (Revelation 13:16-18, amplified )

This well-known prophecy foresees a global banking system that requires some personal ID incorporating allegiance to “the beast from the sea” (Revelation 13:1) in order to access a personal bank account. Clearly, such total control would only be possible in an all-digital cashless society.

But many see a danger when you pay digitally: you always leave a digital footprint, and this footprint is easily monitored by financial institutions. Many don’t like details of their every transaction (product purchased, payment amount, payment location, time of payment etc) being available to unknown businesses. Nevertheless – this banking system is coming soon. Welcome to the Surveillance Society!

“In a cashless society, every purchase a citizen makes is authorised and recorded by a privately run commercial bank, giving it a transaction-by-transaction history of your entire commercial life” [ The Guardian ] . . . “The inability to withdraw cash from the financial system would give governments and banks greater control of the economy” [ Future Branches ] . . . “In China the goal [of a cashless society] is for the government to have access to all information on individuals, pressure groups, businesses, and organisations” [ Storm2 ]

According to the Book of Revelation, it seems that, despite such harsh control and loss of financial privacy, many will accept the mark, with all its claimed conveniences. But a relatively few will refuse the mark and pay with their lives (Revelation 13:15). It appears that the Antichrist “holds all the cards” so to speak. But see later.

The Rapid Move Towards a Cashless Society

Smart Cards

The 1980’s saw the early forms of cashless trading with the introduction of magnetic-stripe cards. This period saw the development of debit-based transactions using Electronic Funds Transfer (at) Point of Sale (EFTPOS). Even then it was foreseen that smartcards (cards with an embedded chip) would replace the simple magnetic-stripe card, and today ‘Chip and PIN’ cards are widespread. The cashless society is born! Covid-19 has accelerated smart card payments since they can be contactless.

Smart card payments have now overtaken cheque and cash payments. In 2019 cash transactions accounted for just 1% of Sweden’s GDP [European Payments Council] and cash accounted for just 19% of all payments in the US during 2020, link. In 2022 some 93% of consumers in Asia were using cashless payments, link. It is predicted that only 10% of UK transactions will use cash by 2030, link. China, Sweden, Finland and Estonia already strongly encourage cashless trading.

Biometrics

Biometric payment is another point-of-sale (POS) technology, link. Smart cards can be lost or stolen and a way around this is to link a person’s identity to their physical characteristics (Biometrics).

Biometric authentication compares data for the person’s characteristics to that person’s biometric “template” or “reference model” to determine resemblance. Favoured biometric techniques use fingerprint recognition, facial recognition, voice recognition and iris recognition. Finger scanning is a popular biometric payment method, link, (a biometric payment card has a fingerprint sensor right on the card body, link). Alternatively people can link their bank accounts to their facial biometrics in order to “smile to pay”.

Example: India: As of 2023, India was not a totally cashless society. But India’s 12-digit UIDAI number it is a good example of the coming digital control. This number is stored in a centralised database and is based upon an individual’s demographic attributes (name, gender, age and address) and their biometric information – photograph, fingerprints and iris pattern. The Aadhaar online identity platform then enables an individual to claim government benefits and services, and access services like banking and mobile phone connections. Whilst the UIDAI is currently voluntary, link, clearly, life without it can be difficult!

Whilst the biometrics market is projected to be worth over USD 50 billion by 2025, link, biometrics is not without its problems. It is not 100% accurate. Take facial recognition technology. It uses a complex algorithm that recognises each person’s unique facial characteristics, but appearances can often change.

Clearly, a method of identifying a person solely by their unique number, or personal ID, will be less prone to error.

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)

Banks are now planning Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) with the objective of eliminating cash. Examples of central banks are the Bank of Japan, the People’s Bank of China, and the German Deutsche Bundesbank. The Bank of England is the UK’s central bank. The significant point is that CBDCs are not cryptocurrencies and can only be used for payment (investment is prohibited). Put another way: a central bank controls a CBDC, whereas cryptocurrencies are decentralized i.e. they can’t be regulated by a single authority, such as a bank.

CBDCs will have to be linked with digital identity to manage risk and secure payments i.e. identification is based on a unique digital ID. The digital ID could include a person’s vaccine status, and would be required for access to bank accounts, social media and internet use. It could also monitor a person’s ‘ESG score’ (environmental, social and governance factors). This would monitor a person’s use of energy, with the power to cut off those who use too much.

The Ultimate Danger: CBDCs will enable Central Banks to take complete control of all personal spending – leading to an end to freedom of buying and selling.

The Cashless Technology

RFID (radio frequency identification) is all around us: it is found in supermarkets, general retailers, electronic road tolls, company badges, farming, and in your pet dog. You use it when you use your smart card for contactless “tap and go” payment in a supermarket, link.

How does it work? A scanner e.g. a card reader emits a short-range radio-frequency signal which is picked up by a small local RFID device. This could be your RFID smart card, or an implantable RFID tag about the size of a grain of rice. The passive receiving device is energised by the scanning radiation, thereby enabling two-way data communication (usually encrypted) between the scanner and the local device. Since it is a radio system it operates on specified frequencies e.g. 13.56 MHz, linklink.

Application of RFID to Humans

In supermarkets, item-level deployment of RFID technology allows for quick checkout aisles that scan all products at once and thus eliminate queues. But the sinister application of RFID lies in its application to humans.

Clearly, an extremely attractive buying and selling system would be to number and tag each individual, and then detect their number (ID) remotely over a short distance for access to their bank account. It is claimed that such an implant would also reduce financial fraud since ATM transactions would only be possible if a person was physically present.

Technology Status

cashless society RFID tag
RFID ‘tag’, size of a grain of rice.
Human implantable

Current technology uses implantable RFID chips (see Implanted Humans). These low-cost chips (the size of a grain of rice or smaller) are used to tag animals, and now humans. For humans a good place to implant the device is in the hand – see right hand implant.

The following video reveals the truth about the RFID chip. It (or more probably its technological successor for marking the skin – see later), is the ultimate people control mechanism needed by the emerging World Government:

As mentioned, an early example of this technology was ‘VeriChip’ from Applied Digital Solutions. Its manufacture and marketing was discontinued in 2010, possibly for technological reasons (the ability to remotely scan personal data could be a security risk) and for civil liberty reasons. There are also possible health risks e.g. cancer. Does this align with prophecy?

And a severe and malignant sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast (Revelation 16:2)

But human implantable devices are still in development, particularly for medical applications. For example, the ‘GlucoChip’ from Positive ID Corporation is an implantable, bio-sensing RFID microchip that measures glucose levels in the body in real time (see Implantable Glucose Sensor).

Surface RFID: The ultimate technology for the cashless society?

It is interesting that RFID technology is now being developed for application to human skin. Antennas for RFID tags can be tattooed directly onto the skin’s surface, linklinklink (pdf download). This form of (removeable) surface technology appears to align better with Bible prophecy than an implantable device.

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

AI is much in the news today. Some call for a restriction in AI development due to the potential risk to humanity. In particular, should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outsmart us, link, link?  In fact, is such a scenario described in Revelation?

And he deceives those who live on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause all who do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. (Revelation 13:14-15, amplified)

The text suggests that some future AI system (resembling the “beast from the sea”) will speak and dictate who lives and who dies!

666 is here!

Clearly, given the well-tried RFID system, advanced personal ID’s based on many factors (including biometrics), and a universal banking system based on CBDCs, it is only a short technological step to the full 666 system of Revelation 13. To close on a point of detail, recall:

And he causes all … to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead … and no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark (Revelation 13:16-17, NASB, NKJV, emphasis added)

Some question whether the mark of Revelation 13 verse 16 is “in” or “on” the hand or forehead. Clearly, this could have a bearing upon the final technology employed. The Greek word in question is “epi” and is normally translated “on”, linklink. An exception is the KJV. Note that the English word “epidermis” means upon the skin. So the mark of Revelation might include a form of tattoo on the skin. As just discussed, this technology using a (removable) skin tattoo for an antenna) is already here!

God’s Warning to Deluded People

There are many claimed advantages of such a personal ID: safer financial transactions, more convenient ‘buying and selling’, automated access to buildings and medical records etc. Most people will accept the ‘mark’ and the associated New World Order, but the Bible says they will believe a lie:

God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie … (because) they did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thessalonians 2:11)

More significantly, Bible prophecy warns against accepting the mark:

If anyone worships the beast and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand he will also drink of the wine of the wrath of God … (Revelation 14:9-10)

Hope for the Believer in Christ

Despite the acceleration to the cashless society, the point in time at which the personal mark will be introduced is not clear from prophecy. Some see it being imposed by the beast from the earth (Revelation 13:11-18) during the seven year Tribulation period.

In other words, it is quite possible that true believers in Jesus Christ will not have to take the mark. Prophecy suggests that the true church will be “taken” (raptured) to meet Christ in the clouds before the mark is forced upon people. Jesus said it will be like the removal of Noah from the sinful world before the Flood, or the taking out of Lot before the judgement of sinful Sodom and Gomorrah (Luke 17:26-36).

More on this at the Rapture,  the pre-tribulation rapture and rapture theology

Looked at from a Jewish perspective, some align the rapture with the Feast of Trumpets celebrated by devote Jews. Either way, the rapid technological advance and the imminence of the mark also points to the imminent end of the age and the return of Jesus Christ.

Put your trust in Jesus and not in the mark! See Steps You Must Take

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