Now it's actually been said

by Michael G. Mickey

(7-3-06)

Isaiah 17:1: The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

As the situation in the Middle East grows increasingly tense, Israel, as seen in a Zaman Online article, has threatened to strike Damascus in its efforts to take out Hamas leadership being given safe haven there. According to the article, Israeli Public Security Minister Avi Dichter has made claims the Israelis know the locations of HAMAS and Islamic Jihad leaders in Syria and will not hesitate to kill them.

Syria's response to Israel's statement is found in a Middle East Online article, which opens as follows:

Syria vowed Thursday to defend itself after Israel threatened to kill Hamas militants based in Damascus and flew warplanes over a Syrian presidential palace.

Since the two articles referred to above have been published, the rhetoric has continued to the extent anything could happen at any moment!

For a long, long time I've hypothesized that Isaiah's prophecy of Damascus' utter destruction may ultimately be fulfilled by the nation of Israel striking Damascus due to its support and ongoing comforting of known terrorist organizations. Now it's actually been said by Israel. They may strike Damascus. If so, what will happen when they do? I don't know, but it could be that God's patience with Syria's Assad-led government is waning. The Father doesn't care much for hands that shed innocent blood, as seen in Proverbs 6:17. Government powers that protect hands that shed innocent blood can taint a city and all the inhabitants thereof, as seen in Jeremiah 26:15. Syria's antics are placing Damascus and all its inhabitants in great danger.

Judgment may be waiting in the wings.

And then there's the mark of the beast to consider...

In an unrelated end times matter, Citibank has now, in a preview of things to come, released an RFID credit card, according to a Gozmodo.com article, which describes them as follows:

The MasterCard PayPass looks like a ordinary keychain, but the embedded RFID chip replaces the traditional magnetic strip found on regular credit cards. Once waved in front of a PayPass reader, the user’s credit card is automatically charged.

You can place these "credit cards" on your key ring, as seen in a photo in the article, and swipe and pay, just like people are going to be doing in the Tribulation Period to come when these chips (or a very similar technology) are placed inside human bodies, tagging them like cattle. Far-fetched? Not at all.

Demonstrating how those of us who believe in a literal interpretation of the Word of God are mocked in a world that has forgotten its God, the following is found in the article:

Many have gone to great lengths to protect themselves from the tentacle-like reach of RFID technology because they’re crazy concerned about the risks that the technology brings.

Note that the word crazy is striked through and replaced with concerned in the excerpt above , a not-so-subtle jab at those of us who know where this technology is carrying us. If you think I'm being presumptive at all in stating that was the author's intended meaning, look no firther than his opening paragraph, which I've saved for last (emphasis added mine):

People who claim RFID marks the end of the world should probably step aside for a moment now that Citibank is starting to release credit cards that use the radio technology.

For some time now, I, along with many others, have been preaching that RFID technology, particularly the kind we see being used in this instance, is prepping us for the coming mark of the beast which the future government of Antichrist will require everyone to obtain in order to buy or sell.

Yes, I've been called crazy a time or two, but I'm okay with it. The joke, ironically, is on those who laugh at me. Why? Because I've been stating all along that we're being prepped for the mark of the beast - a technology that will someday prevent those who do not have it from buying or selling. Not surprisingly in the least, the RFID chip just became a financial instrument! We just moved one step closer to the mark of the beast described in Revelation 13:16-17!

Not only have I oft said that the RFID chip may well play a role in the prophesied mark of the beast to come, I've indicated, in accordance with Scripture, that those who oppose the mark of the beast's implementation will be persecuted horribly. Now that's beginning to unfold as well, even on this side of the Rapture!

The undeniable intentions of darkness have been revealed along with the birth of the RFID credit card. I pray no one who reads this commentary misses it because it's right there in the article.

"People who claim RFID marks the end of the world should probably step aside for a moment..."

Now it's actually been said.

If the Father will allow, I, for one, am perfectly willing to "step aside for a moment." All I'm waiting on is for Christ's spoken invitation to come. Until that takes place, however, those who deny the Word of God are going to keep hearing from me and squirming in frustration at how right I am time and time again, not because I'm a really smart guy but rather because I believe every word in the Word of God, which continues to prove itself perfectly accurate in charting the future of mankind, much to the chagrin of the wicked.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus!