View Full Version : Does The Technology Exist To Control the Buying & Selling of The World ??
Nonbelieverforums
05-21-2009, 06:29 PM
http://www.positiveidcorp.com/
http://www.rfidnews.org/2009/09/08/verichip-steel-vault-merge-to-form-positiveid
http://www.tldm.org/news4/markofthebeast.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7M1z-Gfnyk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYgSsywjch0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2KMEo-49Bc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H70tqaXhx6g&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eob532iEpqk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxDSACF2eAA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz1I0UBRUK0&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNtAuCsIIxU
European Union Issues Impact Statement, Recommendations on RFID
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atj85nrrn0w&feature=player_embedded#!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr0ozY2HWdM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuBo4E77ZXo
Wednesday, 13 May 2009 08:48
Written by Dann Anthony Maurno, Editor-in-Chief
Welcome to Industry Wizards Expert Community in RFID, RTLS, & Lean Wireless (http://rfidwizards.com)
“Many Europeans are concerned their privacy could be breached by the growing use of radio frequency identification (RFID) chips,” declared the European Union in a document called “Citizens Summary: Radio frequency ID chips – EU privacy and data protection.” The European Commission and European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) issued three documents, including recommendations; an impact summary; and citizens’ impact summary.
The short of it:
The EU 1) recognizes the value of RFID, 2) believes privacy concerns are justified, and 3) wishes to address those concerns without disabling the growth of RFID;
EU does not recommend new legislation, believing that RFID falls under its existing privacy laws (EU charter of fundamental rights and EU data protection directive);
EU tasks retailers and RFID vendors to assess the possible impact on privacy and data protection, and minimise any risk of infringing people's rights;
EU recommends a logo that will inform anyone who may be affected that the systems are in use (rather like the labels in US convenience stores warning “microwave in use” for pacemaker wearers);
Citizens must be informed who is operating the RFID system, its purpose, and
where they can get additional information;
Recommendations by this commission are not legally binding, rather, serve as a framework for legislation by individual European Union states.
Read the official EU issued RFID Privacy Policy documents:
» EU Recommendation on RFID Applications
» The Citizen's Summary
» The Expected Impact Assessment
Related articles on RFID Privacy & Legislation:
» California Bans Forcing RFID Implants
» Getting Personal to Prevent Banning RFID
The commission is not anti-RFID, writing in its recommendations that the technology “has the potential to become a new motor for growth and jobs and…holds great promise in economic terms, where it can bring about new business opportunities, cost reduction and increased efficiency, in particular in tackling counterfeiting and in managing ewaste, hazardous materials, and the recycling of products at their end of life.” It also credits RFID use with improving product safety, enabling faster product recalls, and enabling more efficient work, road toll management, luggage management, and travel documents, among other applications.
Still it observes that RFID is progressively becoming more common, and hence a part of individuals’ lives, in logistics, healthcare, public transport and retail, “such that this interaction can happen without the individual concerned being aware of it…” such that hackers “can process personal data stored on the tag such as a person's name, birth date or address or biometric data or data connecting a specific RFID item number to personal data stored elsewhere in the system.”
EU member countries vary in the strength of their privacy legislation, such that “Member States are likely to diverge in time and scope” in creating legislation, with negative consequences for the deployment of RFID in Europe.
The recommendations of the Commission and EDPS serve as a blanket recommendation for EU states.
Members of the IndustryWizards.com community that are implementing, or considering implementing, RFID technology in EU member nations should become familiar with these documents which we have posted for reference
More on this as the story develops.
72
admin
09-28-2011, 02:15 PM
The VeriChip can be hacked
Security researcher Jonathan Westhues has shown how easy it is to clone a VeriChip
VeriChip cloning demo online at http://cq.cx/verichip.pl
Eighteen employees in the Mexican Attorney General's office who use an implanted chip to enter a sensitive records room
Company's own literature indicates that chipped patients cannot undergo an MRI if they're unconscious.
Digital Angel Corporation (formerly Destron Fearing) has been involved in the development and manufacture of livestock identification products since 1948.
The company admits that critical medical information linked to the chip could be unavailable in a real emergency.
Chipped patients might also have to wear a Medic Alert bracelet as a back-up in case the VeriChip database containing their critical medical information is unavailable
Physicians are told the product might not function in places where there are ambient radio transmissions--like ambulances
Verichip Waiver "Patient...is fully aware of any risks, complications, risks of loss, damage of any nature, and injury that may be associated with this registration. Patient waives all claims and releases any liability arising from this registration and acknowledges that no warranties of any kind have been made or will be made with respect to this registration. ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, HOWEVER ARISING, WHETHER BY OPERATION OF LAW OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MECHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXCLUDED AND WAIVED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COMPANY BE LIABLE TO PATIENT FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST INCOME OR SAVINGS) ARISING FROM ANY CAUSE WHATSOEVER, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THEIR POSSIBILITY, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH DAMAGES ARE SOUGHT BASED ON BREACH OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY."
VeriChip corporation tries to ease consumer fears by referring to the chip as being "about the size of a grain of rice."
Scott Silverman, Chairman of the Board of VeriChip Corporation, promoting the the Verichiop human tracking device as a way to identify immigrants and guest workers
Silvermann has stated the Verichip "be used for enforcement purposes at the employer level." He added, "We have talked to many people in Washington about using it...."
Columbian President Alvaro Uribe. He reportedly told Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) that he would consider having microchips implanted into Colombian workers before they are permitted to enter the United States to work on a seasonal basis.
Tommy Thompson, former Secretary of Health and Human Services joined the board of VeriChip Corporation after leaving his Bush administration cabinet post.
Tommy Thompson, former Secretary of Health and Human Services went on national television recommending that all Americans get chipped as a way to link to their medical records.
Tommy Thompson, former Secretary of Health and Human Services stated VeriChip could replace military dog tags, and a spokesman boasted that the company had been in talks with the Pentagon.
Privacy advocates warn that once people are numbered with a remotely readable RFID tag like the VeriChip, they can be tracked. Once they can be tracked, they can be monitored and controlled
Electrical hazards, MRI incompatibility, adverse tissue reaction, and migration of the implanted transponder are just a few of the potential risks associated with the Verichip ID implant device, according to an October 12, 2004 letter issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Albrecht cites MRI incompatibility is perhaps the most serious issue. An MRI machine uses powerful magnetic fields coupled with pulsed radio frequency (RF) fields. According to the FDA's Primer on Medical Device Interactions with Magnetic Resonance Imaging Systems, "electrical currents may be induced in conductive metal implants" that can cause "potentially severe patient burns."
FDA letter also cites the risk of "compromised information security" among its concerns. The VeriChip ID implant, about the size of a grain of rice, uses radio waves to transmit medical and financial account information to reader devices. There is a risk that these transmissions could be intercepted and duplicated by others or that the devices could be used to track an individual's movements and location.
"Once you're chipped, you can be identified by doorway portal readers without your knowledge,"
News reports earlier this year indicated 160 employees in the Mexican Attorney General's Office had been implanted with Verichip RFID devices. New information indicates that only 18 individuals received the device
Among the potential problems the FDA identifies are: "adverse tissue reaction," "migration of the implanted transponder," "failure of implanted transponder," "electrical hazards" and "magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] incompatibilty." Not to mention the nasty needle stick from the "inserter" used to inject it.
VeriChip-MRI incompatibility means that doctors will be unable to order this potentially life-saving diagnostic procedure for patients with VeriChip implants, unless the patient undergoes a surgical procedure to remove the VeriChip first.
VeriChip implant can be read whenever you pass through a doorway equipped with a special VeriChip "portal scanner"?
Under the FDA guidelines , the human implantable RFID Verichip was approved by default without testing at any level, as the Verichip was not considered a ‘regulated medical device’ .
The patent, No. # 7,116,230, combines RFID tagging technology with a portable receiver to track the location of assets within a fixed setting, such as a building or warehouse
VeriChip'sinfant protection systems, with one-out-of-three Hospitals and Birthing Centers in the United States
VeriChip Corporation Signs 3-year, $750,000 Distribution Contract with iChip Corporation of South Africa
Derek Brandon Jacobs, one of the first people in the world to bear an identification microchip, died at 18 in a Florida motorcycle accident.
Verichip is lobbying the Pentagon to choose its RFID tags as a replacement for the famous metal dog tags for ALL USA military!
The company has gone on record to say that the implantable GPS-tracked chip could be worth a whopping $100 billion comprising 26 potential vertical markets. That sort of revenue by any company’s standards is stupendous and would require a great part of the world’s population to be ‘chipped’ .
Two hackers (Annalee Newitz and Jonathan Westhues ) demonstrated that the chip named RFid (Radio Frequency Identification) could be easily scanned and cloned during their intervention in the 6th Hope Conference .
Newark’s Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, the state’s largest health insurer, is launching a two-year pilot program with Hackensack University Medical Center that will implant microchips in 280 Horizon members.
Four hospitals in the US Caribbean territory plan to begin using the Verichi patients who have significant health problems or illnesses that cause memory loss. Free will?
Verichip IPO will offer 4.3 million shares between $6.50 and $8.50 per share from underwriters Merriman Curhan Ford, C.E. Unterberg Towbin, and Kaufman Bros.
The company's chief scientist, Dr. Peter Zhou, who has gone onto record to say "Before there may have been resistance, but not anymore. People are getting used to implants. New century, new trend."
American Medical Association’s (AMA) Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs has adopted a policy stating that implantable radio frequency identification (RFID) devices may help to identify patients, thereby improving the safety and efficiency of patient care, and may be used to enable secure access to patient clinical information BUT "These devices may present physical risks to the patient," the report said. "Though they are removable, their small size allows them to migrate under the skin, making them potentially difficult to extract." [Verichip cherry picked the press release maintaining it's leadership in deceiving the public. ]
New Jersey has actually passed legislation that will require "smart gun" technology on all handguns sold, which would be three years after the state attorney general certifies that "smart guns" are available on the market.
"In principle, a device of this type should never be forced on anybody," Scott Silverman has gone on record to say. Please view the Operation Lie and Deceive Verichip Style video before you accept shape shifting Scott's word as gospel.
Lawmakers in Indonesia's remote province of Papua have thrown their support behind a controversial bill requiring some HIV/AIDS patients to be implanted with microchips
Upon successful completion of the in vivo glucose-sensing RFID development program, this self-contained, implantable bio-sensing device will, for the first time, have the ability to measure glucose levels in the human body through an external scanner, thereby eliminating the need for diabetics to prick their fingers multiple times per day.
The glucose sensor is a promising example, combining a unique application of the technology and an extremely valuable market. While there is much more to do, development of the binding environment was a big step towards reaching that future."
VeriChip Corporation announced that its personal health record used in conjunction with its VeriMed Health Link system will be accessible through Microsoft(R) HealthVault(TM), an online platform designed to put consumers in control of their health information.
VeriChip Corp has been notified by NASDAQ that it is not in compliance with the listing requirements . NASDAQ said that for the past 30 consecutive business days prior to Oct. 16, its stock bid price closed below the minimum $1-a-share price requirement for continued listing.
In addition, the stock has not maintained a minimum market value of $5 million as required.
September — shortly after the first 90 or so Alzheimer's patients received its chips in Florida , Verichip came under fire when cancer was linked to embedded RFID chips
A Dutch prototype for an RFID embedded in a passport was hacked in two hours by a local TV station. Hackers could access fingerprint, photograph, and other data on the RFID tag, perfect for creating a cloned passport.
Successful hacks of the Exxon Mobile key fob, the VeriChip human RFID implant, the California State Capitol building access system, and the new RFID passports show how easy it is to skim and clone poorly protected RFID devices and compromise RFID-dependent security systems.
India, with the Health Hiway initiative of Apollo Hospitals and IBM, which connects 250 users across 75 providers. The goal is a centralised database of patient records across the country.
100 million e-prescribing initiative, supported by a consortium of IT biggies like Dell, Google and Microsoft
Xega is the name for Verichip in South America
State banning microchipping Wisconsin and North Dakota California Missouri
To date, about 100 patients and caregivers with Alzheimer's Community Care have undergone successful RFID implants with another 100 expected to be implanted by February 2009.
UK Ministry of Justice is exploring the possibility of injecting prisoners in the back of the arm with a radio frequency identification (RFID)
Every single Metropolitan police officer will be 'microchipped' so top brass can monitor their movements on a Big Brother style tracking scheme, it can be revealed today.
UK Chipping According to respected industry magazine Police Review, the plan - which affects all 31,000 serving officers in the Met, including Sir Ian Blair - is set to replace the unreliable Airwave radio system currently used to help monitor officer's movements.
The new electronic tracking device - called the Automated Personal Location System (APLS) - means that officers will never be out of range of supervising officers.
VeriChip US military. According to the DC Examiner, the company is lobbying the Pentagon to choose its RFID tags as a replacement for the famous metal dog tags, making information like a person's name and complete medical record instantly available with the swipe of an RFID reader
The process developed by Somark involves a geometric array of micro-needles and a reusable applicator with a one-time-use ink capsule. Pydynowski said it takes five to 10 seconds to "stamp or tattoo" an animal, and there is no need to remove the fur. The ink remains in the dermal layer, and a reader can detect it from 4 feet away.
Digital Angel, the manufacturer of animal microchips, exclusively makes the Home Again microchip and is the sister company of VeriChip.
http://www.wethepeoplewillnotbechipped.com/main/viewpage.php?page_id=21
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-2773687973897272463&hl=en-AU
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=3996868967010107110&hl=en
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=8664296745460584596&hl=en
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=2037571965744177385&hl=en
http://www.youtube.com/v/Keo2TR1Zouw
http://www.youtube.com/v/HiLixwNkur8
Israel Orders VeriChip for Israeli Defense Force (http://www.bibleprophecyblog.com/2011/10/israel-orders-verichip-for-israeli.html)
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_mmyoHPEE4Yc/TastIArkpvI/AAAAAAAAIMs/uPHr18L5A3M/s800/cp.jpgBy Chris Perver
Prophecy in the News (http://www.prophecynews.co.uk/)
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_mmyoHPEE4Yc/TY4t48cu8jI/AAAAAAAAH18/BGXPLhgAJgY/s800/twitter-16.png (https://twitter.com/chrisperver) https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_mmyoHPEE4Yc/TY4vMhtxEwI/AAAAAAAAH2E/fSvZBSJ6THE/s800/facebook-16.png (https://www.facebook.com/chris.perver) https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_mmyoHPEE4Yc/TY4v4EdKV3I/AAAAAAAAH2I/7DJeqtOC-4Q/s800/blog-16.png (http://www.prophecynews.co.uk/index2.php?option=com_rss&feed=RSS1.0&no_html=1) https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_mmyoHPEE4Yc/TY6I1Tugk6I/AAAAAAAAH2s/HgMDFZNJSM8/s800/email_feed-icon16x16_green.png (chris@prophecynews.co.uk)
PositiveID, the company that manufactures the VeriChip RFID tag, has announced a deal to provide the Israeli Defense Force with the chip. The VeriChip, which is primarily marketed as a device for retrieving medical records using the VeriMed package, also has a number of other useful applications. PositiveID's VeriPay system, where the chip is used like a credit card to authorize financial transactions, is already employed by the Baja Beach Club in Spain. A few years ago, VeriChip Corporation revealed they were in talks with the US Administration to implant the 1.4 million service personnel with a VeriChip, replacing the metal 'dog tags' currently worn by the troops. The secular news article reported at the time that the "device is usually implanted above the triceps area of an individual’s right arm, but can also by implanted in the hand if scanned at the proper frequency". Other articles have confirmed that the VeriChip is indeed often implanted in the hand rather than behind the shoulder blade. Now it seems the IDF is interested in acquiring the technology.
"The Company's integration partner intends to provide the microchips to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the State of Israel's military force. Marc Poulshock, PositiveID's Vice President of Business Development, said, "We believe there are many important applications for the VeriChip and our associated intellectual property including next-generation identification and bio-sensing capabilities. Our partner is looking to help healthcare organizations, militaries including the IDF, and governments with their disaster preparedness and emergency response needs."The IDF have not said what they will use the technology for, but with the recent release of Gilad Shalit, perhaps preventing further kidnappings of its soldiers by Palestinian terrorists might form part of their reasoning for that. While we are overjoyed that Gilad Shalit is returned safe and sound, there is no doubt the deal has strengthened the hand of Hamas considerably. One thousand and twenty seven Palestinian terrorists were freed in order to secure Gilad's release, many of them receiving multiple life-sentences for murder.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wncYZy1vmgM/Tp7vat6NXJI/AAAAAAAAJec/EzquJlN4wm8/s200/2508153874.jpg (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wncYZy1vmgM/Tp7vat6NXJI/AAAAAAAAJec/EzquJlN4wm8/s1600/2508153874.jpg)
Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh has stated he regards the release of these prisoners as justification for the capture of Gilad Shalit and the murder of his fellow soldiers, and has vowed to continue the struggle until all the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are freed. “This is a strategic turning point in our struggle against the Zionist enemy,” Haniyeh said at a celebration in Gaza on Tuesday evening, adding “it was thanks to our resistance that we were able to release the land and the people.”
As you can see, there is little sense of justice in the world today. Men who have committed crimes, many of them who have committed murder and are completely unrepentant, are allowed to walk free, and all for the sake of finding 'peace'. Man's peace only seems to come at the expense of truth. You give me what I want and I will give you what you want, and truth and justice are quickly brushed under the carpet. God's peace is not like this. God's peace is based on His absolute truth and perfect justice.
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven (Psalm 85:10-11 (http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Psalm%2085.10-11)).How are God's mercy and truth met together? How have His righteousness and peace kissed each other? It is made possible through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is able to show us mercy despite the truth about our sin, because of Christ's sacrifice upon the cross. It is through Christ's righteousness that we are able to obtain God's peace (Isaiah 53:11 (http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Isaiah%2053.11), Colossians 1:20 (http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Colossians%201.20)). God does not seek to bring the sinner in the back door of heaven. It is not like these prisoner releases, where men who were found guilty of their crimes and sentenced accordingly, retain their criminal records after they are released and are secreted away from the prying eyes of the world. No. Because the Messiah has borne the penalty for our sins, God can be both “just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus”, (Romans 3:26 (http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Romans%203.26)). And “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus”, (Romans 8:1 (http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Romans%208.1)). God is able to bring the sinner in the front door of heaven because of what Jesus Christ has done for us upon the cross. Is the life of one righteous man worth the same as one thousand and twenty seven guilty ones? In our estimation of things, it seems an unequal deal. But praise God there was a Man who gave His own life for many more than that. Have you trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation? Believe on Him for salvation today.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:7-8 (http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Romans%205.7-8)).
press release
Oct. 11, 2011, 8:30 a.m. EDT
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/positiveid-corporation-receives-verichip-order-for-use-with-israeli-military-2011-10-11
PositiveID Corporation Receives VeriChip Order for Use With Israeli Military
http://i4.marketwatch.com/MW5/content/story/images/PR-Logo-GlobeNewswire.gif
DELRAY BEACH, Fla., Oct 11, 2011 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- PositiveID Corporation ("PositiveID" or "Company") /quotes/zigman/6472889/quotes/nls/psid PSID -13.04% (http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/PSID?link=MW_story_quote) , a developer of medical technologies for diabetes management, clinical diagnostics and bio-threat detection, announced today that it has received an order for its VeriChip(TM) microchip to be used for disaster preparedness and emergency management in Israel by an integration partner.
The VeriChip radio frequency identification (RFID) microchip was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2004 for patient identification. The VeriChip can also be used to assist in the management of emergency situations and disaster recovery in conjunction with a customized camera capable of receiving both RFID scanned data and GPS data wirelessly, and a Web-enabled database for gathering and storing information and images captured during emergency response operations.
The Company's integration partner intends to provide the microchips to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the State of Israel's military force.
Marc Poulshock, PositiveID's Vice President of Business Development, said, "We believe there are many important applications for the VeriChip and our associated intellectual property including next-generation identification and bio-sensing capabilities. Our partner is looking to help healthcare organizations, militaries including the IDF, and governments with their disaster preparedness and emergency response needs."
About PositiveID Corporation
PositiveID Corporation develops unique medical devices and molecular diagnostic systems, focused primarily on diabetes management, rapid medical testing and airborne bio-threat detection. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, MicroFluidic Systems, is focused on the development of microfluidic systems for automated preparation of and performance of biological assays. For more information on PositiveID, please visit www.PositiveIDCorp.com (http://www.PositiveIDCorp.com) .
The PositiveID Corporation logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=7717
Statements about PositiveID's future expectations, including the likelihood that the VeriChip will be used for disaster preparedness and emergency management in Israel by an integration partner; the likelihood that the VeriChip can also be used to assist in the management of emergency situations and disaster recovery in conjunction with a customized camera capable of receiving both RFID scanned data and GPS data wirelessly, and a Web-enabled database for gathering and storing information and images captured during emergency response operations; the likelihood that the Company's integration partner intends to provide the microchips to the IDF; the likelihood that the Company's partner is looking to help healthcare organizations, militaries including the IDF, and governments with their disaster preparedness and emergency response needs; and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, and PositiveID's actual results could differ materially from expected results. These risks and uncertainties include the Company's ability to successfully deliver the VeriChip to its integration partner and the ability of the integration partner to provide the VeriChip to the IDF; as well as certain other risks. Additional information about these and other factors that could affect the Company's business is set forth in the Company's various filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those set forth in the Company's 10-K filed on March 25, 2011, and 10-Qs filed on May 13, 2011, and August 15, 2011, under the caption "Risk Factors." The Company undertakes no obligation to update or release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this statement or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.
This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com (http://www.globenewswire.com)
SOURCE: PositiveID Corporation
http://www.wethepeoplewillnotbechipped.com/john/images/noverichip1ja.gif (http://www.wethepeoplewillnotbechipped.com/john/)
admin
11-04-2011, 02:12 PM
Where’s Jimmy? Just Google His Bar Code
By Gene J. Koprowski (http://www.foxnews.com/author/gene-j-koprowski/index.html)
Published May 14, 2010
| FOXNews.com
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Amal Graafstra (http://www.amal.net/)
Tech enthusiasts and futurists think implantable radio chips, such as those embedded in Amal Graafstra's hands, could mean safety, security and convenience. But civil libertarians are concerned about privacy.
Scientists tag animals to monitor their behavior and keep track of endangered species. Now some futurists are asking whether all of mankind should be tagged too. Looking for a loved one? Just Google his microchip.
The chips, called radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, emit a simple radio signal akin to a bar code, anywhere, anytime. Futurists say they can be easily implanted under the skin on a person’s arm.
Already, the government of Mexico has surgically implanted the chips, the size of a grain of rice, in the upper arms of staff at the attorney general’s office in Mexico City. The chips contain codes that, when read by scanners, allow access to a secure building, and prevent trespassing by drug lords.
In research published in the International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, Taiwanese researchers postulate that the tags could help save lives (http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/05/14/radio-frequency-rfid-implant/?test=faces#) in the aftermath of a major earthquake. "Office workers would have their identity badges embedded in their RFID tags, while visitors would be given temporary RFID tags when they enter the lobby," they suggest. Similarly, identity tags for hospital staff and patients could embed RFID technology.
“Our world is becoming instrumented,” IBM’s chairman and CEO, Samuel J. Palmisano said at an industry conference last week. “Today, there are nearly a billion transistors per human, each one costing one ten-millionth of a cent. There are 30 billion radio RFID tags produced globally.”
Having one in every person could relieve anxiety for parents and help save lives, or work (http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/05/14/radio-frequency-rfid-implant/?test=faces#) on a more mundane level by unlocking doors with the wave of a hand or starting a parked car -- that's how tech enthusiast Amal Graafstra (http://www.amal.net/photos.asp) (his hands are pictured above) uses his. But this secure, “instrumented” future is frightening for many civil liberties advocates. Even adding an RFID chip to a driver’s license or state ID card raises objections from concerned voices.
Tracking boxes and containers on a ship en route from Hong Kong is OK, civil libertarians say. So is monitoring cats and dogs with a chip surgically inserted under their skin. But they say tracking people is over-the-top -- even though the FDA has approved the devices as safe in humans and animals.
“We are concerned about the implantation of identity chips,” said Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst for the speech, privacy and technology program at the American Civil Liberties Union. He puts the problem plainly: “Many people find the idea creepy.”
“RFID tags make the perfect tracking device,” Stanley said. “The prospect of RFID chips carried by all in identity papers means that any individual’s presence at a given location can be detected or recorded simply through the installation of an invisible RFID reader.”
There are a number of entrepreneurial companies marketing radio tracking technologies, including Positive ID (http://www.positiveidcorp.com/), Datakey (http://www.datakeyelectronics.com/) and MicroChips (http://www.mchips.com/). Companies started marketing the idea behind these innovative technologies a few years ago, as excellent devices for tracking everyone, all the time.
Following its first use in an emergency room in 2006, VeriChip touted the success of the subdermal chip. "We are very proud of how the VeriMed Patient Identification performed during this emergency situation. This event illustrates the important role that the VeriChip can play in medical care," Kevin McLaughlin, President and CEO of VeriChip, said at the time.
“Because of their increasing sophistication and low cost, these sensors and devices give us, for the first time ever, real-time instrumentation of a wide range of the world's systems -- natural and man-made,” said IBM's Palmisano.
But are human's "systems (http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/05/14/radio-frequency-rfid-implant/?test=faces#)" to be measured?
Grassroots groups are fretting loudly (http://www.wethepeoplewillnotbechipped.com/main/news.php?readmore=6266) over civil liberties implications of the devices, threatening to thwart their development for mass-market, human tracking applications.
“If such readers proliferate, and there would be many incentives to install them, we would find ourselves in a surveillance society of 24/7 mass tracking,” said the ACLU's Stanley.
The controversy extends overseas, too. David Cameron, Britain's new prime minister, has promised to scrap a proposed national ID card system and biometrics for passports and the socialized health service, options that were touted by the Labour Party.
"We share a common commitment to civil liberties, and to getting rid -- immediately -- of Labour's ID card scheme," said Cameron according to ZDNet UK (http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/regulation/2010/05/10/tories-promise-to-scrap-id-cards-in-lib-dem-offer-40088881/).
These controversies are impacting developers. One firm, Positive ID, has dropped the idea of tracking regular folks with its chip technology. On Wednesday, the company announced that it had filed a patent for a new medical device to monitor blood glucose levels (http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/05/14/radio-frequency-rfid-implant/?test=faces#) in diabetics. The technology it initially developed to track the masses is now just a “legacy” system for the Del Ray Beach, Fla., firm.
“We are developing an in-vivo, glucose sensing microchip,” Allison Tomek, senior vice president of investor relations and corporate communications, told FoxNews.com. “In theory it will be able to detect glucose levels. We are testing the glucose sensor portion of the product. It will contain a sensor with an implantable RFID chip. Today’s patent filing was really about our technology to create a transformational electronic interface to measure chemical change in blood.”
Gone are the company’s previous ambitions. “Our board of directors wants a new direction,” says Tomek. “Rather than focus on identification only, we think there is much more value in taking this to a diagnostic platform. That’s the future of the technology -- not the simple ID.”
The company even sold off some of its individual-style tracking technology to Stanley Black and Decker (http://www.stanleyblackanddecker.com/) for $48 million, she said.
These medical applications are not quite as controversial as the tracking technologies. The FDA in 2004 approved another chip developed by Positive ID’s predecessor company, VeriChip, which stores a code -- similar to the identifying UPC code on products sold in retail stores -- that releases patient-specific information when a scanner (http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/05/14/radio-frequency-rfid-implant/?test=faces#) passes over the chip. Those codes, placed on chips and scanned at the physician’s office or the hospital, would disclose a patient’s medical history.
But like smart cards, these medical chips can still be read from a distance by predators. A receiving device can "speak” to the chip remotely, without any need for physical contact, and get whatever information is on it. And that’s causing concern too.
The bottom line is simple, according to the ACLU: “Security questions have not been addressed,” said Stanley. And until those questions are resolved, this technology may remain in the labs.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/05/14/radio-frequency-rfid-implant/?test=faces#ixzz1ckIsF7k2
admin
11-07-2011, 04:54 PM
73
PCWorld reported on June 12, 2010:
You may reject the idea of a microchip implant, but your grandchildren could embrace them, according to an Australian professor.
Katrina Michael, associate professor of the University of Wollongong's school of information systems and technology, and author of scientific paper Towards a State of Uberveillance, said subdermal chip implants in humans could be commonplace within two to three generations.
But at present, she regards the device as a threat to life and liberty because technologists and politicians largely do not know if silicon chips could harm the human body and have not determined the terms in which the devices can be used.
"You will have a new breed of tech-savvy individuals that are more adaptable to technologies. But you could forget about getting Australians to have chip implants now," Michael said.
"For instance [microchips] are problematic for motoring patients with psychological conditions. You may need to balance the patient's well being, public safety and their ability to consent to the implant."
Michael said human microchips could rid chronic illness sufferers from the need to visit hospital by sending simple data on their health to a doctor.
However, she said chip implants presently cause damage to the human body because they fuse with tissue and cause damage when removed.
"At this moment, there will be no contingency plan; it will be a life sentence to upgrades, virus protection mechanisms, and inescapable intrusion," authors, Katina and M.G Michael wrote in their paper.
She noted that some 900 US hospitals have registered for a microchip-based patient identification system to more quickly identify patients admitted to emergency.
"There hasn't been 50 cases of people using microchips in Australia, which is a fundamental problem for politicians because they do not want to touch the issue if it isn't detailed in black and white," Michael said.
She described seeing "a lot of blank faces" when she spoke to politicians of the privacy implications of wearable and implantable Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID) chips, but noted "new breed politicians" such as Labor Senator Kate Lundy understood the technology and its dilemmas.
"It is a fallacy to speak of a balance between [freedom, security and justice] in the microchip scenario, so long as someone else has the potential to control the implant device," the authors wrote in their paper.
The microchip devices could see a new social segregation in the form of "electronic apartheid," computer virus infections that interfere with pacemakers, and a wealth of unknown health problems, the authors contend.
The advent of subdermal microchips is part of what the authors call 'uberveillance,' which connotes the ability to automatically locate and identify individuals, and can be used to as a predictive mechanism for behavior and traits.
Google Latitude typifies the term at present, Michael said, along with subdermal microchips and social networking tools.
She is currently testing the appeal of location-tracking through a pilot in which university students signed-up to the mobile location tool, Google Latitude, and recorded the amount of times they checked on the whereabouts of other participants.
Michael said students and respondents to earlier trials were surprised by how often they used the tool. Yet for all the data collected by 'uberveillance' technologies, Michael warns the actions or whereabouts of individuals cannot be guaranteed.
"There will be problems. We will have too much data and not enough knowledge," she said.
admin
11-14-2011, 02:33 PM
http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2011/11/11/t-ts-supercomputer.cnnmoney/?iid=GM
http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2011/11/11/t-ts-supercomputer.cnnmoney/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1711-Qzvxk4&feature=youtu.be
admin
03-26-2012, 01:01 PM
http://www.bibleprophecyblog.com/2012/03/sweden-moving-towards-cashless-economy.html
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Sweden Moving Towards Cashless Economy (http://www.bibleprophecyblog.com/2012/03/sweden-moving-towards-cashless-economy.html)
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zZwV4YAtQho/T2tz7ftKMOI/AAAAAAAAKpo/WGDFk0PGBuU/s800/d.jpgBy Duane Muir
Signposts of the Times (http://signpostsofthetimes.blogspot.com/)
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_mmyoHPEE4Yc/TY4v4EdKV3I/AAAAAAAAH2I/7DJeqtOC-4Q/s800/blog-16.png (http://signpostsofthetimes.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default) https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_mmyoHPEE4Yc/TY6I1Tugk6I/AAAAAAAAH2s/HgMDFZNJSM8/s800/email_feed-icon16x16_green.png (shelldu@shaw.ca)
While not noted specifically in bible prophecy, a cashless society may work hand-in-hand with a new system of commerce which only allows those with a new identity mark the ability to buy or sell.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ejm6aErDGuw/T2jhtFMyGfI/AAAAAAAAKns/_ylr2pG6Tvg/s200/e.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ejm6aErDGuw/T2jhtFMyGfI/AAAAAAAAKns/_ylr2pG6Tvg/s1600/e.jpg)In today’s high tech world, it is becoming so much easier to govern and monitor the ability of the populace to participate in day-to-day commerce. Cash is still used to some extent, but once that option disappears then the only way to make purchases or to receive payments will be the digital monetary system. A system which could easily require every person to be chipped (RFID chip) in order to buy or sell.
We don't know with certainty that this is what bible prophecy is referring to when it warns of the coming mark of the beast. The only thing we know for sure, is that without this mark, your ability to buy food or earn a living ends once this new system of the future Antichrist is implemented.
It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. (Revelation 13:16-17 NIV (http://biblia.com/bible/niv/Revelation%2013.16-17))From the article:
Sweden was the first European country to introduce bank notes in 1661. Now it's come farther than most on the path toward getting rid of them.
"I can't see why we should be printing bank notes at all anymore," says Bjoern Ulvaeus, former member of 1970's pop group ABBA, and a vocal proponent for a world without cash.
The contours of such a society are starting to take shape in this high-tech nation, frustrating those who prefer coins and bills over digital money.
In most Swedish cities, public buses don't accept cash; tickets are prepaid or purchased with a cell phone text message. A small but growing number of businesses only take cards, and some bank offices—which make money on electronic transactions—have stopped handling cash altogether.
Bills and coins represent only 3 percent of Sweden's economy, compared to an average of 9 percent in the eurozone and 7 percent in the U.S., according to the Bank for International Settlements, an umbrella organization for the world's central banks.
-CBS News (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57399610/sweden-moving-towards-cashless-economy/)
admin
04-05-2012, 01:10 PM
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Brother, Can You Spare an Electronic Monetary Unit? (http://www.bibleprophecyblog.com/2012/04/brother-can-you-spare-electronic.html)
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-IRApWxHnD2Q/T3ynH5AtWNI/AAAAAAAAKyo/-Z5dSJ3a4A8/s800/j.jpgBy Jack Kinsella
The Omega Letter (http://www.omegaletter.com/)
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For the third year in a row, President Barack Obama submitted his proposed fiscal budget to the Congress for approval. And for the third year in a row, Congress has rejected it. Indeed, the US government hasn't had an operating budget since Obama took office.
The White House blamed the Republicans, despite the fact that the Congress rejected Obama's proposed budget unanimously. The vote was 414-0. Not a single Democrat voted in favor of it.
Indeed, the much-larger budget proposal offered by the Congressional Black Caucus, which was almost $4 trillion more than Obama wanted, got more votes, dying after a vote of 314-107.
The House eventually got around to approving the GOP budget proposal, which recasts Medicare and imposes sweeping spending cuts to domestic programs. But although it passed the lower House 222-191, it is dead on arrival in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
The fiscal plan the House passed Thursday by a near party-line 228-191 vote would reshape and squeeze savings out of Medicare and Medicaid, the federal health insurance programs for the elderly and poor. It would force deep cuts in a wide range of spending, including rail projects, research and Pell Grants for low-income college students.
It would block President Barack Obama’s plans to raise taxes on couples earning above $250,000 a year. Instead, it would collapse the current six income tax rates into just two, with a top rate of 25 percent—well below the current 35 percent ceiling—while erasing tax deductions and other breaks that the GOP plan failed to specify.
Overall, the GOP budget would cut spending $5.3 trillion more deeply over the next decade than Obama would—out of more than $40 trillion that would be spent. It would cut taxes by $2 trillion more than the president’s plan. That leaves Republicans seeking a hefty $3.3 trillion in deeper deficit reduction than Obama.
Drawing the most political heat was Ryan's plan for Medicare, the $500 billion-a-year health insurance program for older Americans that all sides agree is growing so fast its future financing is shaky. Both parties know that seniors vote in high numbers and care passionately about the program.
—The Salt Lake Tribune (http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/world/53818137-68/story.csp)
Republicans leave the plan alone for retirees and those near retirement, letting the government continue paying much of their doctors' and hospital bills. But younger voters would be folded into a new, voucher-like system that would give seniors a menu of options.
The Democrats oppose the plan, primarily because the Republicans endorse it. The Ryan plan would not affect current retirees, or those close to retirement.
North of the border, the Canadians, watching their American cousins floundering, passed an austere budget that will, among other things, raise the retirement age to 67, cut some 19,000 government jobs, trim $1.1 billion from its defense budget and cut another $688 million from public safety.
Government employees will see their retirement age raised from 60 to 65, (which is still two years earlier than private sector employees).
Government employees will also see the elimination of severance benefits for government employees who quit voluntarily and raised their share of retirement contributions to 50%, with the government paying the rest.
This would be a good place to strike a comparison:
The US hasn't had a budget in three years, during which time, Obama has doubled the national debt. Canada's national debt stands at $581 billion.
Canada's population is approximately thirty-three million people. That breaks down to roughly $16,800.00 per citizen.
America's population is almost ten times that at just over 313 million. The US National debt $15.6 trillion. That breaks down to roughly $49,880.00 per citizen (not taxpayer). Per taxpayer, the US debt equals $137,724.00.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lmUW3DY_gMc/T3yT-4D9_MI/AAAAAAAAKyM/-06rRuVD2m4/s200/NY110_1349794l.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lmUW3DY_gMc/T3yT-4D9_MI/AAAAAAAAKyM/-06rRuVD2m4/s1600/NY110_1349794l.jpg)Despite the sweeping cuts, Canadians are not raising much of an outcry. Broke means broke. In the most sweeping move of all, the government of Canada has abolished the penny.
It costs the government one and one half cents to make a penny. Now, all prices will be rounded up to the nearest nickel. For Canada, abolishing the penny is the first step in moving completely away from cash in all its forms, like in Sweden (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57399610/sweden-moving-towards-cashless-economy/).
Sweden has become the first major Western country to go cashless. There are now whole towns in Sweden where cash is not accepted. Bank robberies in Sweden dropped to nothing. What's the point in robbing largely-empty banks to obtain banknotes that hardly anybody will accept?
A new book by "Wired" columnist David Wolman called, "The End of Money: Counterfeiters, Preachers, Techies, Dreamers—and the Coming Cashless Society" argues that a cashless society is the way of the future.
To research his topic, Wolman committed to an entire year without using paper bills.
"I imagine you're not paying your rent or your mortgage with piles of singles anymore, let alone your car payments or buying a sweater," he said in an interview with Salon. "Most of us are using cash for super small purchases like cigarettes or a Twix bar or coins into a Unicef box at Halloween. So that's where cash is at present."
He added that while plenty of people still depend on cash in their daily lives, such as service workers who receive tips, new advances will find ways around that...eventually. "These technologies are coming whether you like it or not."Wolman argues that, while Sweden is ahead of the game, the rest of the world is closer to going cashless than most of us realize. Here's a stat that ought to make you sit up straight in your chair.
Only nine percent of euro-zone economic transactions are handled in cash. In America, only seven percent of all transactions are conducted using cash money.
But change is coming. The trends suggest that we don't need to enact a monetary policy to get rid of cash; it's happening naturally, and the statistics tell the story. Last year, according to a study by the Federal Reserve, one fifth of American consumers engaged in mobile banking. That percentage is not huge, but the rate of growth is steep. "The survey's findings suggest that the use of mobile banking is poised to expand further over the next year, with usage possibly increasing to one out of three mobile phone users by 2013," reported the American Bankers Association.
New money-transferring software products add fuel to the fire. Examples include the new Person-to-Person QuickPay app from Chase, which lets people transfer money to friends instantly and electronically; or the Google Wallet, which allows customers to pay for products in-store with a tap of the smartphone.
—International Business Times (http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/316461/20120319/sweden-cashless-paper-money-pros-cons.htm)
There are real benefits to be had by going cashless, argue proponents of a cashless society. As the Canadians already discovered, it costs more to make pennies and nickels than their face value is worth.
Cash money is expensive to handle. It takes armored cars and armed guards to transport it. Cash is not very secure. An armored truck struck a rock outcropping yesterday near the northern Ontario city of Kirkland Lake.
The rock ripped a gash in the truck, which allowed some FIVE MILLION DOLLARS worth of Canadian $1 coins to spill out, ankle-deep onto the highway. Between the cost of transportation and the cost of the cleanup, not to mention the potential for theft, handling that money costs LOTS of money.
Even if the cash makes it all the way from the mint to the banks, it needs people on both ends to count, package and handle it all.
And cash isn't just expensive to handle, it is anonymous—and anonymity is to the government like wolfbane is to a vampire. Eliminate cash and one eliminates the underground economy.
That step alone could balance the budget, according to estimates that say some $3 trillion per year eludes the taxman via unreported and untaxed cash transactions.
The elimination of cash would also eliminate the motivation for most crime—without cash, how would criminals fence stolen goods? It would end the war on drugs overnight. If there is no cash, how would a drug addict pay for his stash? No drug dealer is going to whip out a credit card reader.
One 2003 study says that eliminating cash would be worth the equivalent to 1 percent America's annual GDP. Sweden eliminated cash altogether. Canada started with the penny, but it is only a matter of time before it also eliminates cash.
A cashless society would go a long way towards solving America's money troubles. Wouldn't it?
"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: 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." (Revelation 13:16-17 (http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Revelation%2013.16-17))The prophecy of the Mark of the Beast is one of the most universally recognized predictions contained in the New Testament. It doesn't matter whether one is a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist or Taoist, mention the Mark of the Beast or the number '666' and nobody is going to say to you, "Never heard of it!".
We're already much closer to going cashless than one might think. How many times have you purchased a big ticket item, like a fridge, or a car, and paid for it in hard cash? Today, if you tried to buy a $300 plane ticket for cash, if you got on the plane at all, you'd probably be sitting beside an undercover DHS agent.
Two decades ago, scoffers would say, 'if somebody ever eliminates cash and demands a commercial mark containing '666'—then I will believe.' The Universal Pricing Code (UPC) has been on all products for two decades or more. 'Universal' means just what it says. No products can be sold in the US or EU commercially without it.
In fact, in the EU, it is nicknamed the "EU Mark".
Take any product you have in your cupboard out and look at the UPC barcode. It is a series of parallel lines readable by a computer. Notice that it begins with a little longer series of parallel lines, then there is an identical long one in the middle and another at the end. Each of those longer lines are read by computers as a '6'. (How many long lines are in YOUR barcode?)
In the early years of computers, it was determined that the perfect 'divider' (like punctuation in conventional writing) would be in multiples of threes. For years, it wasn't standardized. Some manufacturers would use threes, some would use sixes and some used nines to separate the information represented by the bar code sequences.
To standardize it, the EU insisted that all manufacturers hoping to sell their products in the EU split the difference and use the three sixes on what they called the 'EU Mark.' Today, three sixes is the global standard.
Added to this is the new National Security database center built in Utah under a funding bill that was signed by President Obama in 2009. This massive spy center is designed to house a network of computers, satellites and phone lines that stretches around the world.
Once completed (in late 2013) the Utah Data Center will be the last link in the electronic concentration camp called America.
At five times the size of the U.S. Capitol, the UDC will be a clearinghouse and a depository for every imaginable kind of information—whether innocent or not, private or public—including communications, transactions and the like.
Anything and everything you’ve ever said or done, from the trivial to the damning—phone calls, Facebook posts, Twitter tweets, Google searches, emails, bookstore and grocery purchases, bank statements, commuter toll records, etc.—will be tracked, collected, catalogued and analyzed by the UDC’s supercomputers and teams of government agents.
—The Rutherford Institute (https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/everybodys_a_target_in_the_american_surveillance_s tate)
Now we return to the Mark of the Beast prophecy for a moment. Think about what the fulfillment of such a prophecy entails! In order for John's vision to come to pass, three things must exist that did not exist in John's day—or at any time in the last two thousand years—until now.
The first, and most obvious, would be a scheme that would positively identify those who are part of his system from those who are not.
Secondly, to accomplish this positive identification system, his agents would require access to a list—or database—against which to check credentials.
Until the present age of computers, an enforcement agent would have had to carry around a list so vast it would be essentially useless, since checking it against a single name could take days, weeks, or even years. Today, it takes seconds.
Thirdly, in order for that list to be useful in excluding outsiders from engaging in ordinary, day to day financial transactions, there would have to be a way of restricting the use of currency to those who are in good standing.
The Utah Data Center isn't the Mark of the Beast.
For there to be a “Mark of the Beast” two things must exist—and in the correct order. First, there must be a Beast to exploit it. Secondarily, there must be a mark.
But for the moment, there is no "mark". And there is no "beast." There is only a technological and economic trend that moves in that direction.
It is the Beast that imposes his mark, and his mark is more than simply an economic choice—the Beast demands worship as part of the deal. And so at the moment, since there is no Beast, there is no Mark.
There are all kinds of sensationalist claims being made by prophecy students and even some teachers that should know better, as they clamor for attention, but they needn't bother.
There are claims that FEMA is building detention camps; there are even rumors that the US government is setting up kill centers inside them. I don't believe it.
If I don't believe it, why bring it up? Because it highlights the very thing that marginalizes Bible prophecy as a witnessing tool—sensationalism.
The simple truth is sensational enough. As it relates to Bible prophecy, during the Tribulation Period, there will undoubtedly be detention camps set up to house those who refuse to accept the Mark. But since this isn't the Tribulation, there is no Mark to refuse.
So claiming the penalty phase is under construction before the crime exists tends to marginalize all the other stuff that IS true.
The prophecies of the Bible for the last days have not all been fulfilled—in fact, very few have been fulfilled in their entirety. But at the same time, ALL the prophecies of the Bible for the last days are trending towards eventual fulfillment.
There is no Mark of the Beast, but there is a trend to eliminate cash and create an electronic system that will fulfill the prophecy that no man could buy or sell outside the system.
And that's the point.
Everything predicted by Scripture for the last days—from the restoration of Israel to the development of the antichrist's political and economic system and everything in between—ALL these things are trending in the same direction.
It isn't that one can point to an overt fulfillment—but all the trends point in that direction, which is sensational enough, all by itself.
The Omega Letter’s mission is to equip the Church with factual information, unspun and devoid of any agenda apart from obeying the Great Commission.
Each of us is an evangelist in our own right, and nobody is more effective than you are, since each of you is gifted by God to the degree He requires for His plan for your life.
The Omega Letter exists to help you in the exercise of your gifting, which is, in turn, OUR calling. To put the sensational into context when necessary.
The sensational part isn't that the plan is coming together. The sensational part is that there really was a Plan in the first place. The Bible really IS true. The Lord really IS coming back.
"And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28 (http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Luke%2021.28))And time really IS running out. Maranatha!