When the Holy Spirit inspired John to write in Revelation about the mark of the Beast (Antichrist), that he will force all who live on the earth to take this mark otherwise they cannot buy or sell, John must have wondered how this would be done. Almost two thousand years later the technology is in use today with microchips being inserted into peoples hands so they can buy and sell just by waving their hand over a digital reader.

“Also it (Antichrist) causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.” Revelation 13:16-17

Technology is changing fast, Amazon recently announced it’s rolling out its “Just Walk Out” cashier-less technology across its Whole Foods Stores.

This innovation is being driven by Amazon’s palm-scanning technology, which allows users to scan their palm and register it with their Amazon account. The technology analyzes the shape and size of the hand, and it can “see” the veins inside. This creates a biometric identifier exclusive to each member.

The rollout will enable consumers to walk into Whole Foods, scan their palms or a bar code on their phones, load up their carts with groceries, and then leave the store. When they walk out, their Amazon account will automatically be charged for the products they took with them.

Here is what the completely contactless palm scanner looks like:

Whole Foods Palm Scanner

To have a completely cashier-less space, cameras throughout the store powered by artificial intelligence and computer vision (CV) track every product consumers take from the shelves.

There will be up-front costs for installing this technology. However, in the long run this will drastically reduce labor expenses for Whole Foods stores.

After perfecting this technology, it makes sense for Amazon to begin licensing this technology for other stores to use. Checkout lines are nearly a thing of the past.

And for Amazon, all three of these items will not only make shopping quicker, they will allow the company to collect more data on all users. And that will enable Amazon to more effectively target ads to users… and make more sales.

For me apostasy in the church, which is compromising with the world, discarding God’s Word and His values, is the “end times” sign that is both stark and sad. They should take to heart the warning given in Hebrews>

“For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.” Hebrews 6:4-6