Posted on 03/27/2008 9:07:36 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
After losing the usual fights against gays and abortion during the legislative session so far, Christian conservatives suddenly have decided to start standing up for privacy rights in an urgent, new movement to ensure that you will never be forced to have a microchip implanted under your skin.
And you didn’t know anyone was trying to stick a microchip into you? Well, no one is really (except maybe in the vivid imaginations of certain conspiracy theorists), but that’s not stopping evangelicals from rallying behind the issue as if Pat Robertson’s TV ratings depend on it.
“We’re trying to get ahead of the curve on this one,” says Bobbie Patray, matriarch of this state’s Christian right. As president of the Tennessee Eagle Forum, she’s leading the charge to outlaw forced electronic tagging of humans.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, the data-storing microchips that we’re talking about here, could serve a lot of purposes in people—to store medical information, chiefly. But there have been no forcible implants, at least none that we know about.
So why are conservative Christians so riled up? There are the predictable paranoid anti-government types who figure anything’s possible once the black helicopters sweep in. But this fight’s really dedicated soldiers believe implanted microchips could become—cue the Twilight Zone music—Satan’s Mark of the Beast, which, as we all know from our readings of Revelation, is one way the devil will wield power over the Earth during the time of Tribulation.
At the website for the Texas-based Endtime Ministries, they even sell an “eye-opening video” all about RFID tags and “the need to be aware of how to combat the system that will soon become the Mark of the Beast.” We’re not making this up.
“In the Christian religion, and I’m a Christian, in the book of Revelation, there was a reference to, you know, the Mark of the Beast. Some people interpret that to be one of these microchips,” says Rep. Susan Lynn, the Lebanon Republican who’s sponsoring the Eagle Forum’s bill.
Lynn, who discusses the Mark of the Beast as nonchalantly as she would the state’s bond rating, concedes “it’s hard to say” whether microchips are actually Satan’s stamp. “Other people think it could be some type of tattoo,” she explains.
Regardless, Lynn says, “It’s an individual liberty. For whatever reason, no one should be forced to have a microchip, and no one should be discriminated against just because they don’t have an electronic chip under their skin.” You can’t argue with that.
Patray herself is sensitive to the possibility of mockery on this topic. “Are you going to write a smear piece on this?” she asks. “Are you going to make it sound idiotic?”
The legislation could certainly be viewed as idiotic, given that it aims to outlaw something that isn’t a threat in Tennessee. But its backers would call it visionary, as some companies around the country have considered asking employees to roll up their sleeves for microchip injections to gain access to high-security areas. Microchips also can be used to track movement, so they’ve been considered for use with Alzheimer’s patients. The Pentagon is studying whether to implant chips into the arms of soldiers.
Three states—California, North Dakota and Wisconsin—have taken preemptive action by prohibiting forced RFID tagging. Maybe they’re onto something. But don’t worry—until Tennessee outlaws it, we can all wrap our heads in tin foil.
Wow, is the writer/MSM biased against Christians much?
Exactly how does satan wield power over someone with the mark of the beast?
What a clown!
What an unbiased and objectively written article on this subject. The author clearly has no agenda or anti-religion bias.
(If I really need a /sarcasm tag, then you aren’t smart enough to be reading this forum.)
And with 87,435 laws and growing on the books, it won't be long until everyone but the overlords in blue are chipped. But then again I could just be paranoid.
By influencing them to vote for the weasel John McQueeq..
Rev 13:17; 14:9; 14:11; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4SEE:
b'SHEM Yah'shua
By excluding them from commerce unless they have the mark. If severe restrictions are placed on when you can buy/sell goods you are one step away from domination.
Nashville Scene is an alternative newsweekly in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1989, became a part of Village Voice Media in 1999, and later joined the ranks of sixteen other publications after a merger of Village Voice Media with New Times Media early in 2006. The publication mainly reports and opines on music, arts, entertainment, and local and state politics in Nashville. (Wikipedia)Obviously their "news" would be considered opinion pieces in most journals.
However, the "mark fo the beast" crowd is pretty scary at times.
Thanks, other than 13:17, they don’t make much sense in this context.
It would take a very long time, lots of work on the infrastructure, and more money than anyone would have or spend, to implement something like this just in our country, much less, globally. I’m in my late 50’s, and I seriously doubt I or the next generation or 2 will see this happening.
It very simple, the Bible itself gives you the answer. Without the 'mark of the beast' you will not be able to 'buy or sell'. And what would be one of the major purposes of a microchip implant in humans? The ability to buy, (food, pay bills, get cash, etc), and sell. It will replace credit cards, check books, cash, debit cards, etc. It could also have your credit history, etc.
It makes perfect sense to me that one day, and perhaps fairly soon, such a chip could be introduced to make life "easier" for people. You'll never forget your credit/debit/ATM cards, because it will be in the chip. It will be impossible to lose your credit cards. Once the government institutes some form of national health insurance, it will be far more convenient to visit your doctor or hospital, or be saved from death, if you have your 'smart chip' imbedded in you with your medical profile. And just think of how many children will be saved from abduction, and lost hikers saved from starvation with such a chip implant. Perhaps the most important, you will be able to pass through the airlines much faster if you have your government issued microchip available to be swiped by the security guy, and the chip could very easily replace the need for a passport too. It will also tell law enforcement if you're a terrorist or not, and it will be a great way to introduce a national ID as well.
Well, you get the idea. The technology is available right now, and the safety factors, health benefits and conveniences are endless with the 'chip'. So knowing all this, why is it such a stretch to believe that government, (either for tyranny or purposes benign), will one day find a way to get this microchip implanted into everyone?
See #13.
Wouldn’t this all be dependent upon an incredible wireless network? Who would fund such an international unfrastucture? How would all this work somewhere that didn’t have a reliable power or communications system? Please see my #12.
see 15
The gospel according to Tim LeHaye, Joel Rosenburg, Pat Roberston, Hal Lindsay, Dwight Pentacost, etc. etc. etc.
While America sleeps the infrastructure is being built. The simple answer is they evil powers would not care about a complete network. I would be a burden on the masses to perform commerce at designated areas and get your mark. You don’t have it or you are not at the designated place you are out of luck.
The soviets had no problem running their empire without a fancy network and oppressed millions via fear and segregation. The Bible says it will be done and I don’t doubt it.
The only thing that stands between us and this Orwellian world are hackers. They will never be able to make these chips secure enough that they won’t be able to be hacked. Imagine ID theft in this kind of world. For this simple fact, we may be spared this nightmare.
Global Positioning Systems. That Garmin / Tomtom you have on your dashboard may just be the next "Mark of the Beast".
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