According to a story published in the Wall Street Journal (“India’s Biometric Feat: Big Boon or Big Brother” by Newly Purnell, December 22, 2018), the nation of India has implemented an electronic data system which can control access to goods and services for India’s 1.3 billion people.
If this sounds like the basis of a system where “No one could buy or sell unless he had the mark” (Revelation 13:17), read on.
In 2010 India set out to develop a system which would provide national identification numbers to allow citizens to have access to government welfare. Many Indians are illiterate and are so poor that they have no electricity. So, to reach people living in primitive conditions, the Indian government turned to the rapidly developing science of biometrics. Using eye scanners for iris patterns and finger print readers, even the poorest and least educated can now be read into the most sophisticated data system in the world.
The system is named “Aadhaar”, a Hindu word meaning “Foundation”. True to its name, other uses beyond the intended welfare payment controls are being built on the “Foundation”. Aadhaar twelve digit personal ID numbers are now required to open a bank account or obtain medical treatment. In many cases the number is now required for school enrollment, train tickets, telephone purchases and even admission to sporting events. The “Foundation” has indeed been put in place for total government surveillance and economic control as described in Revelation 13:17.
Other governments have been watching the Indian program and are already using biometrics to control their populations. China uses finger print and facial recognition technology to suppress the Uighur people in Xinjiang province. They are planning a national system of ratings to limit or deny services and opportunities to those who are out of favor with the Government, including Christians who are coming under increased persecution. Authoritarian regimes around the world can be expected to follow.
So far the democracies of the U.S. and Europe have not joined in the rush to use biometric data for economic control purposes. However, pressure for a “cashless” society continues to build from tech companies and big government advocates, and some businesses are now refusing to take cash. We must pray that our leaders will continue to stand for individual rights and against biometric controls.
Let us not be fearful but instead remind ourselves that we live in the greatest revival in history, when millions and millions of people are being added to the Kingdom of God. Our prayers must also be focused on the Great Harvest.
But we must also be aware that before Christ returns the anti-Christ will come. His tool for economic control is in place in India, and we should watch the expansion of these biometric surveillance systems as another sign of Christ’s Second Coming
Even so, come Lord Jesus.