Real Concerns about REAL ID

by Michael G. Mickey

(1-12-08)

Fox News is reporting that Americans born after Dec. 1, 1964, will have to get more secure driver's licenses in the next six years under ambitious post-9/11 security rules brought about as a result of the 2005 passing of the REAL ID Act by Congress.

Civil Liberties groups are in an uproar about REAL ID because it is ultimately going to require people entering federal buildings, boarding airplanes or opening bank accounts to present identification that has met certain security and authentification standards. Think about how handicapped any U.S. citizen would be without having access to banking, air travel or government assistance and you quickly can see why there are concerns.

Because of the concerns of civil liberties groups and citizens alike, the Fox News report indicates "the government now plans to phase in a secure ID initiative that Congress passed into law in 2005. Now, DHS [Department of Homeland Security] plans a key deadline in 2011, and then further measures to be enacted three years later, according to congressional staffers who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because an announcement had not yet been made."

I don't know about any of you but I'm wondering what those "further measures" are going to be that can't be openly discussed because an "announcement" has not yet been made. Truly, George Orwell's "Big Brother" is on its way to becoming a reality and, officially at the very least, started taking shape in the aftermath of that fateful day in 2001 - September 11th.

The Fox News story clearly makes the connection:

The Sept. 11 attacks were the main motivation for the changes.

The hijacker-pilot who flew into the Pentagon, Hani Hanjour, had a total of four driver's licenses and ID cards from three states. The DHS, which was created in response to the attacks, has created a slogan for REAL ID: "One driver, one license."

September 11 and Bible Prophecy

A long time ago, near the very creation of RaptureAlert.com in 2003, I prepared a page dedicated to answering the following question: Did September 11th, 2001 have any prophetic significance?

In that commentary I wrote the following, in part:

Although I can find no reference to the tragedy of September 11th in the Bible, I am of the belief time will reveal it has played a significant role in the fulfillment of end time prophecies contained in the Bible.

I say that because September 11th, 2001 transformed a generation of people, not only in the United States, but all over the world.

Who can forget the images of that horrible day? No one I dare say! Ask most anyone where they were when the reality of what was happening struck them and most can tell you where they were, who they were with, and how they felt.

Around the world, the evil of terrorism became more real in the aftermath of the twin towers' collapse. No one felt truly safe in the months after the attacks.

The world became almost instantly aware that radical elements of the Islamic faith were not only willing to conduct small, harassing attacks, but were completely willing to murder thousands of innocent people.

That realization gave rise to some frightening questions: What if Islamic radicals obtained a nuclear weapon? Or two? Would they be any less willing to kill a million people in the name of their faith?

It is within the fear that gripped the planet in the months after September 11th that Satan began working his evil spell on the world.

Here we are today, many years later, seeing what the fear created by 9-11 has brought us to. In the same commentary I discussed how 9-11 was influencing global politics, particularly the way the world views Israel. What I wrote in 2003 applies just as well today as it did then, perhaps even more!

As the Arab/Palestinian/Israeli conflict is at the core of most radical Islamic hatred of the western world, the world's governments, desperate to prevent another September 11th from happening, are applying pressure on Israel to surrender part of her land to the Palestinians in the name of peace, in spite of God's covenant with the Jews. What a huge mistake!

What a huge mistake indeed! Since 2003 the international community has pressured Israel into surrendering the Gaza Strip to its enemies in the interest of peace. That move helped bring the Middle East how much closer to peace? Not a solitary inch. Thus, the international community is continuing its onslaught against God's chosen people and their covenant lands, demanding that further concessions be made in the interest of "peace and security" which is, as I have demonstrated countless times, synonymous with the "peace and safety" of 1st Thessalonians 5:3.

1st Thessalonians 5:3 is a verse of Scripture that foresees the day when there will be great rejoicing around the globe because a leader of Roman descent, in fulfillment of Daniel 9:26-27, will have confirmed a seven-year covenant of peace between Israel and her enemies. In God's Word, we get the impression that the cries of "peace and safety" will barely have been breathed when sudden destruction will visit itself upon a world that has forgotten its God. It will come as the pains of labor upon a woman with child and will proceed exactly in the manner that process does.

In Revelation 6:2 we see the Antichrist, symbolically the rider of the white horse, ride onto the world stage as a great peacemaker. He is swiftly followed by the red horse of war in verse 4. This prophetic rider will take peace from the earth which takes us back to 1st Thessalonians 5:3's promise of sudden destruction coming.

Back to REAL ID

As we look at the big picture of what is going on in the world around us, everything is proceeding in lockstep with the picture painted by Bible prophecy and, in an odd sort of way, in the precise manner I suspected was going to be the case, September 11th acting as a catalyst, leading us down the path to Bible prophecy's ultimate fulfillment.

REAL ID is going to bring us closer to becoming a surveillance society than ever before, setting the stage for the mark of the beast to come in the prophetic future! Even now we can see, as I highlighted earlier, some foreshadowing of the mark of the beast in REAL ID.

If you don't have a REAL ID in the not-too-distant future, you're not going to be able to do something as common as open a bank account. That means no credit cards, check cards, ATM cards! In today's society that creates a serious inconvenience, doesn't it? We are becoming more and more reliant on these devices to the extent that most of us don't even carry cash anymore. I know I don't. Bearing that in mind, it isn't a gigantic leap for us to see how REAL ID is essentially a gateway to the prophesied mark of the beast, is it? In the Tribulation Period to come, those who refuse the Antichrist's mark of the beast will be unable to buy or sell as we see in Revelation 13:17 and, not surprisingly, the same will essentially be true where REAL ID is concerned in spite of the fact it is clearly not the prophesied mark of the beast.

Conclusion

In closing I want to share with you my final thoughts written in 2003 concerning September 11th. Speaking of how it could play a role in leading to the advent of Antichrist and, ultimately, the Battle of Armageddon, I wrote the following:

That day is closer than it's ever been before and it seems accurate to say the world started heading down the path toward the fulfillment of these prophecies on September 11th, 2001 when the twin towers fell!

REAL ID? I am really concerned about where it is leading us in terms of our civil liberties but, in the far bigger picture, what the follow-up to REAL ID is going to be. Step-by-step mankind is inching toward the Tribulation Period. The movements are so subtle that most are totally oblivious to them, even our leaders in government, the vast majority of whom I believe are sincerely trying to do what they believe is best for us.

The end of the world as it is presently known is so close you can almost hear the hoof beats of the four horsemen of Revelation 6.

Keep looking up!

SEE ALSO: New ID rules may complicate air travel