The End Times and a Cashless Society

The world is moving towards a financial system that doesn’t use currency. More people are using debit and credit cards. The day will come when using cash is unusual to make purchases.

The practical threat to Christians is the invasion of their privacy. Every electronic transaction is recorded and can be traced. Technology isn’t evil, but evil people can use technology for evil purposes. It could be used to identify and persecute Christians.

The Bible tells us not to be fearful about the end times. We must trust in God; our faith is in Him. We don’t have control over changing technology. We need to be alert and aware of what’s going on.

Ethan uses modern technology to make online purchases and pay bills online. He uses a debit card and doesn’t see a problem with the technology. We just need to be aware that it could be misused in the future.

We can’t stop what’s going to take place. The U.S. and the world is becoming a cashless society. We need to adapt to it and be cautious. Scripture says no one knows when the end will come but we’re in the end times.

Be on guard, but don’t be alarmed until a mark is required on your forehead or your right hand to be able to buy and sell. Man’s economy will one day be controlled by the anti-Christ and Satan.

This is a sobering topic. Most of us are using less cash, more electronic transactions. What’s happening is bigger than us, and it can make you feel powerless. As Ethan said, we need to be aware of what’s going on but not alarmed about it. We need to be prepared, but not panic because God is sovereign. We can’t prevent the end times, we can only discern them.

Ok, so those of you not familiar with the Bible may be thinking, "What the Sam Perkins is he talking about?"

Let me attempt to translate.

In the book of Revelation (last book in the Bible), it discusses the "end times" -- the time when the world goes to the dogs and ultimately Christ returns to earth. Unfortunately, there's a lot of the former before the latter. And for Christians there's an especially horrible financially related event -- because they are Christians and refuse to accept the "mark of the beast", they will not be allowed to buy and sell anything.

Here are some of the verses that are related to this topic:

Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. Revelation 13:11-17

Granted, Revelation is filled with symbolism and is difficult to read and decipher (even tougher than most

books of the Bible), and many different denominations disagree on what the book says, means, etc. But it's pretty clear that this passage predicts that there will be some way to control the general population based on allowing or not allowing people to buy and sell.

How can this happen? In the past, it seemed like impossibility. But if everything is electronic and "the system" is subject to control by anyone (as with a cashless society), then how it could happen seems to be much more possible. And if it does and you're not one of those who can buy or sell, things get tough pretty quickly. Imagine not being able to buy food, clothing, shelter, and on and on.

I'm not saying this will happen soon, that anyone should be panicked, that a cashless society is necessarily bad, that an underground monetary system wouldn't pop up in this scenario, and so on. All I'm doing is drawing the line between what the Bible says and how it happening seems much more reasonable in light of the cashless society conversation. I figured that both Christians and non-Christians would be interested in the topic -- the former to weigh in on their beliefs and the latter at least curious enough to know something that others believe might happen.

And now I'll let all of you discuss the issue in the comments...