Just because the so called Mayan 2012 prophecy failed to send us to a fiery hell doesn’t mean people will give up on stupid religious predictions or soothsayer divinations. In fact with technology increasingly entering our lives one of the biggest Christian doomsday harbingers, The Mark Of The Beast, will be “seen” by more and more true believers.

The Mark of the Beast as told by the bible speaks of a day when the Second Beast, The False Prophet, will force everyone to wear something (a symbol, a number, a hat) to buy or sell anything. This symbol is known as The Mark of the Beast

Revelation 13:15-18

No one can really agree on how to interpret this text, whether to take it literally or figuratively but it seems just about everyone has their own idea of what it means. On January 9, 2013 a Texan student, Andrea Hernandez, famously lost her legal battle not to wear a RFID tag (#2 on this list) to her school, claiming she couldn’t wear the badge on religious grounds, saying it was the “mark of the beast”. RFID is only the tip of the iceberg though and so here are Top Ten Technologies that will soon be called the Mark of the Beast:

10. Money

In the year 66 while Emperor Nero ruled Rome the Jews revolted and as a symbol of their revolt issued their own coinage. The Greek word for Mark of the Beast is χάραγμα, which also can be translated as coinage or money. From there it’s not a great jump to interrupt some huge change in the money system as the coming of the Mark of the Beast.

9. The process to get photo ID

Now when you get photo ID the DMZ or government official that takes your picture aims the camera device at your forehead, sometimes even shinning a laser pointer on your forehead to make sure the camera is aimed right. In the future a photo ID or ID that you had to be “marked” by the camera could be an all in one ID/wallet/train pass something that you would need if you didn’t have any cash.

8. Retinal Scan

Iris Scan for Identity Confirmation
Of course in the future we might not even need photo ID, instead much like Tom Cruise’s character in the Minority Report everyone would just have their eyes scanned into a computer database just like how the American government did millions of Iris scans during the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Even in peaceful governments, like India, this process is coming to maturity. India hopes to eventually scan all 1.2 billion Indians and has already in their pilot program entered 30 million, just under the entire population of Canada. Soon Indians who have their eyes scanned could purchase items just by having their eyes scanned.

7. Universal Translator

In the Bible before the Tower of Babel everyone spoke the same language. Then God got angry at this abomination and spread man across the world and “confounded” our languages. Now technology is returning us to the time before Babel. Already Japanese mobile phone operators offer real time translation through their smart phones. A few years in the future we could have a sort of universal language if a device either attached to our head or arm provided seamless, instantaneous translation. This would allow someone to buy and sell through out the world, as language would be no barrier.

6. Medical Tattoos

What if in the future disease has swept through our cities? Medical technology might progress to a point where cures are developed automatically either at the local doctor bot or in the comfort of your own house. To provide this medicine to the population they would need a safe deployment method.

That future is already being developed. Scientists are developing a sensor that will be placed under the skin and would glow or change color if your body needed medication like a diabetic noticing that his sensor was glowing and as such needed an insulin shot. Once this system is set up cue the religious to scream about how something we would need to survive new diseases or bio-weapons is the Mark of the Beast.

5. Fingerprint Tech

Fingerprint technology is on the verge of becoming so cheap that it could replace keys, passwords and even our wallets. Already in Japan you can access your bank with your palm print, in Omaha students buy their lunch via thumb scans. A true believer might put themselves in the mind of our friendly 1st century prophet when he was having one of his visions. Through his eyes our future world he might notice that people are always touching devices when they buy something. He would assume that there is a device, a Mark of the Beast, when in actuality the Mark is just technology reading humanity’s fingerprint.

4. Dattoos

Dattoos are Tattoos powered by the body and act like a smart phone, security ID, and wallet all in one. It would be like a smart phone that is part of you, a smart phone organ, which allows you to connect and survive in the New Economic Order. To buy anything you would just scan or have your Dattoo scanned. Hartmut Esslinger, founder and co-CEO of Frog Design has already designed the device and is just waiting for the technology to catch up.

3. Microchip Implant

The hand of microchip implant hobbyist Amal Graafstra, just after an operation to insert a chip into his hand.

During the early days of Obama care there was an email campaign to suggest that the ominously sounding HR3200 clause would require citizens to get chips implanted into their bodies. It was all just an urban legend but as computers get smaller and smaller Microchips or minicomputers implanted into your skin are becoming real possibilities. Already Mexican officials are getting microchips that allow them to access restricted government facilities.

2 RFID chips

RFID chips are already everywhere in our society. Implanted into our clothes, pets, and food it is only a matter of time before we will be given either an RFID chip or some sort of RFID tattoo or mark. A Texas school in 2012 caused outrage when they threatened a student with suspension after she wouldn’t use a RFID pass carried like a pass card. The school in an effort to cut down on skipped classes was requiring all students to use a pass card when entering the classroom. This provided a real time account of where all the students were. One student, Andrea Hernandez, refused to use the system saying that “As an Evangelical Christian who believes that any sort of tracking technology is a ‘mark of the beast,’ she believes it violates her religious freedoms.”

1. Implanted Phones

15 years ago it would have seemed Orwellian if I had told you that in the future you would carry a device that would allow you access to the Internet but at the same time tracked and recorded your comings and going. Not only does the iPhone do this but people don’t care. Not only do they not care but a lot even volunteer their location via Twitter updates or Four Square Coordinates. So how does a cell phone become the Mark of the Beast? When it is implanted into you! In early 2012 Nokia created headlines when it was revealed that it was patenting a process of “stamping or spraying ferromagnetic material onto a user’s skin and then pairing it with a mobile device. “ The future is now.

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