Days of Noah

“Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.”

[Revelation 13:16-17]

I have a love-hate relationship with technology. Some days I am grateful to be able to FaceTime my family, respond to an important email, update my blog, access driving directions, research a topic, listen to my favorite music etc… all at the convenience of my iPhone.

Other days I feel the unsettling urge to throw my phone into the bottom of the Mississippi River and get off the grid forever.

Like any neutral tool or device, our smart phones and computers can be used for significant good and at the same time can become a stumbling block in our lives. The Lord knows that most of us have become more tethered to our wireless devices than ever before.

But we haven’t seen anything yet. The next phase in technological evolution is the revealing of 5G wireless networking and the Internet of Things (IoT).

WHAT is 5G?

The term 5G simply refers to the 5th generation wireless network being installed and implemented as we speak. Like all technological upgrades, 5G will be bigger, better, badder than ever. It will access and download data at least 20x faster than the present 4G capacities and will merge with all LTE (long-term evolution) technologies. All the major telecommunication networks have made significant investments in upgrading and have already begun building the hardware infrastructure, so in short, 5G is the future of global communication.

WHAT ARE the RISKS with 5G?

For every person that is stoked about the super fast applications of 5G, there is another that is concerned about the excessive amounts of radiation that will be emitted worldwide through the 5G network. Because 5G will require higher frequency radio waves at nearly every interval of life, most forecasters expect radiation exposure levels to increase exponentially. Many scientists believe that the health risks of 5G technology could be catastrophic to all organic life on the planet — potentially giving rise to cancer, sterilization, and many other chronic health problems.

Just last year, a group of 26,000 scientists, engineers and environmentalists signed an appeal to the international community to prevent the implementation of 5G, claiming that the potential health and environmental risks have not been responsibly addressed. Since then, another 55,000 people have signed the petition to stop 5G. You can read the appeal here.

The appeal states that “in addition to millions of new 5G base stations on Earth and 20,000 new satellites in space, 200 billion transmitting objects, according to estimates, will be part of the Internet of Things by 2020, and one trillion objects a few years later.” Although some claim that this appeal is an irrational overreaction to the new technology, one must admit that it will be impossible to determine the long-term effects of 5G radiation until it is too late.

“Despite widespread denial, the evidence that radio frequency (RF) radiation is harmful to life is already overwhelming. The accumulated clinical evidence of sick and injured human beings, experimental evidence of damage to DNA, cells and organ systems in a wide variety of plants and animals, and epidemiological evidence that the major diseases of modern civilization—cancer, heart disease and diabetes—are in large part caused by electromagnetic pollution, forms a literature base of well over 10,000 peer-reviewed studies.
If the telecommunications industry’s plans for 5G come to fruition, no person, no animal, no bird, no insect and no plant on Earth will be able to avoid exposure, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to levels of RF radiation that are tens to hundreds of times greater than what exists today, without any possibility of escape anywhere on the planet. These 5G plans threaten to provoke serious, irreversible effects on humans and permanent damage to all of the Earth’s ecosystems.

[International Appeal to Stop 5G on Earth and in Space]

WHAT is the INTERNET of THINGS (IoT)?

The Internet of Things, or IoT, is directly connected to 5G wireless technology. The IoT is the technological integration of everything on the planet. Imagine your next pair of shoes having the wireless capability to track how many steps you take in a day and provide your with instant updates. Imagine your milk carton containing a microchip that communicates with your grocery checklist to let you know when your milk is out of date. In other words, everything on the planet will be chipped and linked for the global interconnectivity of information 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

“Simply put, this is the concept of basically connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet (and/or to each other). This includes everything from cellphones, coffee makers, washing machines, headphones, lamps, wearable devices and almost anything else you can think of.  This also applies to components of machines, for example a jet engine of an airplane or the drill of an oil rig. The IoT is a giant network of connected “things” (which also includes people).  The relationship will be between people-people, people-things, and things-things.

[https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2014/05/13/simple-explanation-internet-things-that-anyone-can-understand/#5273b4031d09]

WHAT ARE the BIBLICAL APPLICATIONS?

While I don’t recommend demonizing the latest technology and immediately associating it with the impending mark of the beast, spoken of in the book of Revelation, I can see how many potential applications of 5G technology and the IoT could pose serious threats not only to our health, but also to our freedom.

Students of Bible prophecy have speculated for years about the true nature of this “mark,” described in Revelation 13. We are told to calculate the number of the mark of the beast, which is the number of a man — 666. Granted, the internet provides endless conspiracy theories and sensational claims concerning the mark of the beast, most of which are ludicrous and should be ignored.

Revelation 13:18, however, says that “this calls for wisdom.” In other words, it is imperative that God’s people are filled with the Holy Spirit and dependent upon HIs divine wisdom and understanding in these last days. The coming mark of the beast will be a severe threat that will require a level of discernment that the natural man does not possess [1 Corinthians 2:9-16].

The more I study this enigmatic passage in Revelation 13 and the potential introduction for the mark of the beast, I am more convinced than ever that it involves some type of technological application — much like what we are seeing with 5G and the IoT. Here is why.

1. The ubiquitous, global reach — the all-pervasive, potential reach of 5G and even more advanced technologies will create a global network of surveillance that will be inescapable. Think “eye-in-the-sky” multiplied by the billions. If 5G and the IoT reach their potential, there will not be anything on the planet that is not connected to this global network — including you and me.
2. The potential for complete commercial control — Revelation 13:17 says that no one will be able to buy or sell unless he has the mark of the beast. By creating the Internet of Things, it would become feasible to restrict commerce and trade on a global scale. Everyone who wants to participate in the global economy would be forced to receive this mark.
3. The potential for mind control — If the mark of the Beast is some type of technological application that is implanted or embedded in the human brain, then it is not a very big jump for a satanic, antichrist system to use neurotechnology for mind control or to suppress brain activity. If you think this is too far fetched, just read the headlines like Elon Musk wants to connect computers to your brain so we can keep up with robots
4. The irrational obsession of the spirit of the age — Revelation 13:8 says that everyone whose name is not written in the Lamb’s book of life will worship the Beast, or Antichrist, because they will be drunk on the intoxicating spirit of the age, which is using technological advancement to offer mankind another way to transcend to a higher phase of enlightenment and evolution. The world is hooked on technology, and the more addicted we become, the more willing we will be to take the next logical step … connecting our minds to the global network of information. The only problem is that the prince of the power of the air is in full command of this information and will use it for his demonic purposes.

Those of us who are in Christ Jesus have received the mind of Christ. All believers must get serious about seeking the LORD in these last days and asking the Holy Spirit to provide divine wisdom and understanding so that we can navigate within a corrupt and perverse generation without going astray. All of us must ask the LORD what He is calling us to do, and then we must be willing to do it.