by Michael G. Mickey
(2-13-10)

A bill in the Virginia House of Delegates designed to "protect Virginians from attempts by employers or insurance companies to implant microchips in their bodies against their will" came to a vote earlier this week but not without controversy.

The Washington Post, prior to the vote, acknowledged that the sponsor of the bill, Del. Mark L. Cole (R-Fredericksburg), said his chief concern was to protect the privacy of Virginians, but devoted a good portion of its story to the issue of Cole mentioning bible prophecy when speaking of the bill, which the headline of the story implies was what the bill was really all about. What else is one to think of a headline that reads "Human microchips seen by some in Virginia House as device of antichrist"?

Cole was quoted as saying of the bill presently being mocked by the press, "My understanding -- I'm not a theologian -- but there's a prophecy in the Bible that says you'll have to receive a mark, or you can neither buy nor sell things in end times. Some people think these computer chips might be that mark."

Cole's bill passed but not without his political opponents saying the only beneficiaries of the bill would be "late-night television comedians who could lampoon Virginia for loopy lawmaking", according to Associated Press writer Bob Lewis.

Is the above a snapshot of the world we're living in today or what? God's prophetic word, when taken under even moderate consideration by an elected official, particularly if they happen to be a Republican, a bible-believing Christian or both, is considered a joke by many - a duplicate photo of the days of Noah as described by Christ if you will.

Luke 17:27: They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

What was Christ telling us the last days would be like? Business as usual, of course. Christ foretold a world filled with people not unlike a deer standing in the headlights of an oncoming car traveling at a high rate of speed, completely oblivious to God's righteous judgment en route to a world they're smack in the middle of, at least until it's too late for them to avoid facing it head-on.

Eat, drink and be merry, heathens! We have nothing to fear! God will never hold us accountable for our behavior let alone permit us to be tagged like cattle by a so-called Antichrist!

Yes, I think it's gotten that bad. People are so ignorant of bible prophecy, some of them willfully, I'm near certain a company could develop a product meeting the criteria to become the prophesied mark of the beast and call it the mark of the beast without getting a great deal of serious attention from the majority of our world today. And why is that? The answer isn't one a lot of Christians want to hear.

The Church, as a whole, has shoved bible prophecy aside, many having labeled it too controversial to be discussed from the pulpits, the consequences of which time is going to reveal has been nothing short of devastating to humanity. Think about it for a moment. If the Church, the very body of believers in Jesus Christ, doesn't take end times bible prophecy seriously - and it doesn't by and large - how is the non-believing world going to view it? Far less seriously by its very nature which should concern every Christian. Brothers and sisters, to our collective shame, we haven't acted responsibly in sharing the totality of God's Word in these last days and it shows.

While I have no idea if the implantable RFID microchip is the prophesied mark of the beast the Antichrist will someday use as a symbol of allegiance to him with economic consequences being imposed upon those who don't support him, the tiny device has the potential to fulfill Revelation 13:16-17 as Delegate Cole alluded to. Shouldn't we be waving more than a few cautionary red flags in relation to that?

16. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

That the mark of the beast is going to come upon a world that has forgotten its God and turned His Word into the stuff of late night show monologues is a certainty. What yet hangs in the balance with many lost souls in dire need of hearing the truth is whether the Church will return the teaching of bible prophecy to its list of priorities to the extent it will no longer be a laughing matter for anyone to be mindful of it, from a man or woman elected to public office to a journalist to a late night comedian. Every Christian who reads these words has a stake in this important issue. We have a responsibility here! Yes, I said a responsibility.

Church, we can do better than we have in recent decades and we badly need to as the hour is late, every bit as late in this age of grace as the late night television shows opponents of Cole's bill referred to, most of those shows hitting the airwaves shortly before midnight if you catch my drift.