11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. 15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
In the circles I used to travel, this type of story was a sure sign the Antichrist was just around the corner. CNET: Chip implant gets cash under your skin.
I remember all the breathless discussion about how price scanners were coming, and how some day soon the Antichrist would use that technology to scan the mark he would force you to put on your hand or forehead. Now, it is more sophisticated: RFID chips.
I always thought those discussions were pretty silly. I didn’t learn until much later that the theology behind those discussions was also silly. But aside from the theological issues (or lack thereof) I also think it is silly to implant an RFID chip in your arm.
On the same site with the article about implanting RFID chips into your arm, they have another article about the dangers of not encrypting your wireless computer network: Commentary: A fate worse than lack of access. CNET clearly makes the point that it is a bad idea to let other people have access to your wireless computer network. An RFID chip responds to any query with your personal access information that gets you into an ATM. Maybe you shouldn’t be "broadcasting" that to the world either. And if your access information is compromised, don’t worry. It is only minor surgery to replace the chip with another. I don’t even like to think of what a robber would do to get your chip so they can empty your bank account.
Needless to say, I won’t be "chipped" any time soon, even for the $50 discount mentioned in the article.
