As someone who speaks and teaches Bible prophecy, I find questions about Revelation 13 and the Mark of the Beast somewhat common. I explain that the Mark of the Beast will not happen until the Tribulation time, and believers today will not be here to experience that system of control. However, the Antichrist will not create or establish the systems used to control humanity in the last days. Everything he will need to rule the world with technology will be in place before he arrives on the world stage. With that said, believers today, although they won’t be faced with taking the Mark of the Beast, may experience some of the pains involved in setting up that Antichrist system. For example, the world is moving quickly into the mandatory Biometric National ID stage.
Mandatory Nationwide Identification Systems
Mandatory nationwide identification systems have been implemented in several countries, including Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Germany, Italy, Peru, and Spain. In these countries, individuals are assigned an ID number. Large amounts of personal data such as birth name, maiden name, place and date of birth, parents and sibling names, gender, eye color, height, current and past address, and employment and educational history, as well as your banking information and your complete medical history, can all be linked to this ID number and stored in a centralized database.
Government Surveillance Systems
National ID cards and the databases behind them are designed to be the cornerstone of government surveillance systems that threaten personal privacy and freedom. The requirement to produce identity cards on demand forces citizens to participate in their own surveillance and ultimate social control. Many countries are now “modernizing” their ID databases to include biometric identifiers that authenticate or verify identity based on physical characteristics such as fingerprints, iris scans, face and palm prints, voice recognition, and, of course, DNA.
For employees, companies have developed biometric systems to control access to places of employment. Employees can be asked for a thumbprint to gain entrance to a room in their corporate headquarters. Corporations have developed these systems so that consumers can purchase the company’s products and services. For example, Amazon’s One Pay requires you to scan and actually wave your palm over a scanner to make a purchase. Consumers see this as convenient. Corporations see this as data control. It seems the general public has reached a stage where geolocation tracking, video surveillance, and facial recognition software are now mainstream and accepted as part of everyday life.
National IDs
After 9/11, many governments began collecting, storing, and using biometric identifiers in national IDs. The public has reached a point of acceptance of this technological advancement, all in the name of safety. However, some have rebelled against this intrusion of privacy. For now, citizens in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States have successfully opposed full biometric national ID systems.
Other citizens have agreed to this biometric invasion of privacy. For example, effective March 1, 2024, Kuwaiti citizens and residents aged 18 and above must undergo mandatory biometric fingerprinting for the country’s central biometric database. The Ministry of Interior extended the deadline to complete the mandatory biometric fingerprinting process to September 30, 2024, for Kuwaiti citizens and to December 30, 2024, for all citizens of other countries. Individuals can continue to leave Kuwait but must undergo fingerprinting upon their return. Foreign nationals who do not comply with this new rule will have all transactions suspended with the Ministry of Interior.
Violating Civil Liberties
Mandatory national ID cards violate civil liberties. They grant governments, corporations, and academia increased power over employees, consumers, and students. Biometric IDs are designed to reduce personal freedoms. Already, in some countries, people without ID cards can be denied the right to purchase property, open a bank account, or receive government benefits. National identity systems present opportunities for corruption as the ability to access personal information becomes common practice in businesses, academia, and governments.
Mandatory IDs significantly expand government powers. Many countries lack legal resources or do not have the desire to prevent the abuse of this power. Biometric ID cards allow different types of personal information to be stored in multiple databases, which can then be linked to other databases for purposes unknown to the individual.
Identity Fraud
Those who support biometrics argue that these digital IDs prevent identity fraud. Supporters of this system claim it is safe because you cannot change your fingerprints or irises. However, they do not point out that the stored information can be compromised in many other ways. In some countries, biometric data that has already been collected can be obtained without a warrant and without notice to the individual. Laws are changing. If you apply for a job requiring fingerprinting or a background check, your employer could require you to submit a photo, a fingerprint, or a facial ID to a biometric database. At that point, the individual loses control over who has access to this personal information.
As facial recognition databases become more common and accepted, the likelihood of an innocent individual being misidentified as a criminal or fired for unjust causes increases. Add to the possible use of AI, there are numerous ways an individual can lose personal freedom, rights, and even their livelihood.
The bottom line is governments and corporations are not using biometrics to increase security, but they’re using it to increase their oversight and control. With biometric ID’s government and corporations will be able to stop whistleblowers, investigations, or any rebellious fraction.
The Council of Europe
This form of government control has been slowly moving into the mainstream. In 2011, the Council of Europe was asked to investigate whether national ID biometric laws in Europe comply with the Council of Europe Privacy Treaty and the European Convention on Human Rights. In May of 2013, in the United States the FTC warned about misuses of biometric information and harm to consumers.
Warning from the Federal Trade Commission
The FTC issued a statement that said, “The Federal Trade Commission today issued a warning that the increasing use of consumers’ biometric information and related technologies, including those powered by machine learning, raises significant consumer privacy and data security concerns.”
The FTC summed this up by publishing the following warning.
“Consumers face new and increasing risks associated with collecting and using biometric information. For example, using biometric information technologies to identify consumers in certain locations could reveal sensitive personal information about them, such as whether they accessed particular types of healthcare, attended religious services, or attended political or union meetings. Large databases of biometric information could also be attractive targets for malicious actors who could misuse such information. Additionally, some technologies using biometric information, such as facial recognition technology, may have higher rates of error for certain populations than for others.”
This is not the Mark of the Beast system, but this seems to be the foundation of the future implementation of that evil system. Time is short; we need to have a sense of urgency in sharing the Gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
