Stay Alert! Consequences of Accepting the Beast System! PART TWO

In Part One of our conversation on the incremental introduction of the Beast System in the End Times, I pointed out that the wheels have already been set in motion for our easy acceptance of a Beast System that is, at its core, deceptive and serves the Enemy's agenda. I believe it could be hidden in the convenience and ease with which Technology has invaded our lives. It's becoming increasingly difficult to avoid technology. For instance, in some of the major cities, restaurants and retailers no longer accept cash for purchases; they demand credit or debit cards. And try to get access to your doctors or customer service by phone -- how many of you get frustrated and just hang up?

Then there is the gap that technology is creating between parents and grandparents [who didn't grow up in the "technology age"] and their children who don't know how to dial a rotary phone, change a tire, operate an answering machine, maintain a physical checkbook, or write a letter [and definitely not in cursive]! The increased presence of technology in our lives is influencing our ability to communicate with our fellow man. The most recent generation(s) don't even like to answer a phone call and speak to someone, let alone have a conversation in person -- they'd rather text. This corruption of our communication skills can be seen as corrupting the image of God in which we are created because God is all about personal relationship and communication! 

I think we Christians have pretty much accepted the easy explanation that the Mark of the Beast's most obvious characteristic is that no one will be able to buy or sell without it. That's part of it, but the most dangerous effect [to me] is that it changes who we are! I believe that those who are of my generation are able to recognize the warning signs of technology and reject it [where we still can], but the younger generations see it as the next step in human evolution. That is where they are being deceived! They have bought the lie that technology can make us better than how God created us.

In fact, I recently ran across an article on IdentityProject.tv that suggested "The Five Lies Technology Tells Us". They are: 1.  "I am the center of my own universe; 2. I deserve to be happy all the time; 3. I must have unlimited choice; 4. I am my own authority; and 5. Information is all I need. And I love the arguments that this article uses to counter this destructive identity .... We are not made to orbit around ourselves. Our identity is rooted in God and we are made to live for something greater than ourselves. Jesus never promised us constant happiness; He promised us abundant life. Choice is a privilege, not a right. Learning to appreciate what we have -- instead of demanding unlimited access to things -- will lead us to true joy and peace. We are not our own authority -- God is. And the final counter-argument is that we are created for deep wisdom, not shallow data. 

Can you see that adoption of these Technology Promises challenges our relationship with God? It dulls our spiritual sensitivity and elevates the selfishness of the soul, which is our mind, emotions, and free will. In other words, when the soul takes priority, we live our lives focusing on the information that our minds/brains have accumulated [all that shallow data], and we just seek what makes us feel good and soothes our emotions, which results in our rejection of anything that is hard, or we have to work for. When that happens, prayer seems more distant and less important or productive. That "dullness" in our spirit will also weaken any conviction we might have about our sin. This is an important warning sign for discerning the path that will lead to the Mark of the Beast System.

You might think that Christians couldn't possible fall for this tech deception, but think about this ... if you find yourself, as a Christian, constantly "plugged in" to technology or unable to manage your life without it, you need to do a check of your spiritual condition. Even ardent and dedicated believers can gradually become spiritually desensitized. Oh, they may still sound religious but their hearts can become hardened when constantly bombarded with worldly distractions like porn [both men and women], YouTube videos, or online gambling. Christians might still quote Scripture and talk about God, but their faith may soon lose its power in their life when they can no longer hear His voice. And its the children that I worry about most. They are being targeted the hardest, and parents who are caught up in their own obsessions with technology are unaware that their kids are being drawn away from the Divine into a false world where they are easily influenced by Satan's proxies. 

I will admit, I don't see the advance and persistence of Technology in our lives slowing down in any sense of the word. I believe we still have time before there's no turning back from this evil System that will institute its Mark to control the world. For those of us who can clearly discern where we're headed and how AI could be used to speed up the implementation of Satan's agenda, there are things we must do before the final Deception is fully launched ... we must strengthen our relationship with God NOW so that we recognize His voice and can tell when the seductive invitation to receive the Mark is not from Him. We must diligently study His Word, and build strong spiritual relationships with other believers, teaching and encouraging others to stay strong in their faith.

I do not accept Satan's fear tactics that those of us who refuse the Mark have no hope. Instead, I believe that those who reject it will be divinely protected and Jehovah Jireh will provide for our needs. We will have inner peace and not be shaken. Our faith will become deep and unwavering; strengthened by the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. I'm not saying it will be easy, and many of us will suffer. But we will not be separated from the Light of the Lord, even in the midst of our darkest hour. When you abide in the Lord, there is no system -- man-made or demonic -- that can turn you from your God-ordained path in this world. 

My final word is this ... Technology still offers advantages in our lives; just stay alert to any temptation or seduction that replaces your live-giving and personal relationship with God, who created you. Technology promises rewards and success in this world if you engage with it. No Mark of the Beast System can deliver you what God promises ... His rewards and victories in the next life that will be eternal as you walk in His spiritual Truth. And know this: There is an eternal fate waiting for those who willingly accept the Mark ... and it will seal them to a covenant of eternal agony as they experience everlasting separation from God, the Father; the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ, the Messiah and King of the Universe. May we all have divine discernment and always encourage each other to stay strong in our faith journey and trust God's promises in all our ways. Amen!

Hebrews 10:39    But our way is not that of those who shrink back to destruction, but [we are] of those who believe [relying on God through faith in Jesus Christ, the Messiah] and by this confident faith preserve the soul.       

Stay Alert! The Beast System Will Be Incremental & Innocuous! PART ONE

There are a proliferation of videos on YouTube that are titled something along the lines of "I Died and What Jesus Revealed About [fill in the blank] Will Stun You". I'm sure you'll not be surprised to know that these Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) ran the gamut of topics ... Fasting, Tithing, Christmas, Speaking in Tongues, Prayer, Christmas, Nuclear War, Masturbation, Israel & Trump, Elon Musk, and anything else you can imagine. There seemed to be a higher number of NDEs centered around the topic of the Mark of the Beast, though. That, too, should not be surprising, considering the direction the world seems to be headed.

We all have our own ideas of what the implementation of the Mark will look like, myself included. I scanned a few to get an idea of what others might be thinking. Technology was a common theme, and several of the videos were obviously created by AI, with voices being dubbed over a person supposedly sharing what Jesus revealed to them while they were clinically dead. It didn't take me long to discern that while most of these videos had no spiritual value for me, they helped me to evaluate and validate what I believe the Holy Spirit is showing me.

Mind you, I'm not here to proclaim that I've heard a distinctive and precise word from Heaven about exactly what this symbol will look like or how its administered. We know from the Bible [and Revelation 13] that it is associated with the End Times. And we know that the Mark will be necessary in order to Buy and Sell (and subsequently have the means to eat and survive in the world's economic system). But for those who cannot resist the temptation of accepting [or taking] the Mark, the consequences of their choice will sever their relationship with God, resulting in eternal torment and suffering for those who are deceived. 

So, I have decided to share where my discernment is leading me, as of this date in time. I fully understand [and expect] my opinions to change as the Holy Spirit and Jesus choose to reveal more of the Enemy's plan to implement what the Bible insinuates will become "the Beast System". To begin with, I believe that the rapid advancement of Technology in our society -- and our reliance upon it -- makes us vulnerable to the temptation of accepting some kind of "mark" (symbol, sign, impression, characteristic feature, implant, etc.) that Satan designs to make us dependent on his world system and agenda, rather than remaining faithful to God's kingdom on earth. 

When I think about the technology industry [from my decidedly non-technological brain], I can see that in just a little over 60 years, the electronics industry has moved from the first electronic circuits on a little computer chip, to billions of transistors squeezed on a chip the size of a fingernail. This economic factor and improvement to the chip has [in the words of the New York Times], "helped Silicon Valley bring startling advances to the world, from the personal computer to the smartphone to the vast network of interconnected computers that power the Internet". And that rapid acceleration has given Satan a great advantage in his plan to deceive mankind and bring in his Beast System to try to achieve his age-old dream of dominion of the earth.

And he does it all innocuously ... through ways that seem innocent enough; harmless, mild, unobjectionable, nonthreatening. Through technology, Satan offers us greater convenience, while we trade our human independence and autonomy for increasing dependence on chip-implanted devices. We punch a button on our car keys and it locks/unlocks the doors. We punch a button in the car, and it starts, without inserting a key and turning it on. A chip on our credit card gives the merchant all the information they need to charge us for anything we want to buy. Doctors and healthcare systems don't have to amass huge paper files for their medical records; our entire medical history is stored by microprocessors on a laptop computer. We are told these are all "helpful tools for modern living". And no one questions it as we march onward towards increasing dependency on technology while [simultaneously] sacrificing our self-determination and authority over our lives.

As a Christian, you might declare that you will never take your eyes off any seductive introduction to Satan's systems of deception. But how many of us have willingly adopted the technology "services" that allow us to sign into digital Bibles; transfer our tithes to the church coffers; or register for church events? Millions of people, in congregations across the world, have embraced technology unwittingly and accepted the "updates" and "upgrades" that have further integrated this "applied science" into our daily lives. It's monitoring our health through the watches we wear on our wrists. It has convinced us that we need it to help entertain our children so that we can continue to work the long hours to accumulate the "things" we want and need. 

So we place an iPad in front of our kids to occupy them from the moment they are just a few months old, affecting their brain patterns, and regulating their emotions, almost like a sedative does! Can't we see that technology is affecting their development? They aren't developing critical [or independent] thinking. They don't know how to express genuine emotion; they are learning how to mimic what's on the screen. And perhaps saddest of all, their spiritual sensitivity is stunted and replaced with mind hive thinking and the inability to connect with the unique essence of who they are, as created by God. I'm afraid a whole generation is being prepared for Satan's world system. Their whole identity is being determined by who technology tells them they are. They are guided to trust their devices above their own God-given instincts and their parents' wisdom. And ultimately, as this system begins to tighten its noose, they will trust it above God's Word.   

These are just a few of the ways that we have been anesthetized to the effects of Technology on our society and in our lives -- and yes, especially in our spiritual lives. As the influence of technology continues to integrate into our lives, like a serpent slowly coiling around its prey, it finds a way to control financial, political, and social systems in our lives. Banks will fail, power grids will crash, supply chains will break down, and society will erupt into lawlessness. The Bible calls that CHAOS, and defines it as representing disorder, confusion, and the absence of Divine Order. 

That's when men will cry out for solutions, and they will be deceived into thinking that changes to the existing systems will be the answer. But all the subtle methods by which technology has stealthily invaded our lives has set the stage for Satan to reveal his Beast System. It won't be introduced by violence [at first!], but will sound practical and based on common sense. Politicians will approve the new system, and religious leaders will say it's good because it doesn't demand the worship of another god, so it can't be the Mark of the Beast! 

But the wheels will be set in motion. Our current systems (health care, banking, education, etc) will offer incentives. There will be social pressure, backed by a fear of not wanting to be left behind. You will hear the same message everywhere -- This is progress ... this is necessary ... this is good! Can you see how the deception was incremental, like the proverbial frog in the pot of water who never noticed the increasing heat that caused the water to boil? Can you see how gradual and measured [yet consistent] the change might happen? That's how the Mark will come to pass. 

In Part Two of my thoughts on the Mark of the Beast, I will address what the Bible describes as physical evidence of the Mark (and I have some new thoughts on that that I've been discussing with the Holy Spirit). I will also deliver my thoughts and forewarnings on the spiritual consequences of not being alert to the subtle maneuvering of Satan to implement his system of world dominance. We must be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Those who can't see it creeping in innocuously will be susceptible to willingly accepting it, and their eternal fate will be sealed. It goes without saying that the deception is real and it is not to be taken lightly!  

Ephesians 5:15-17    Be very careful, then, how you live -- not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.