The End Times Sign of Technology

Part 1

Dr. Reagan: Greetings in the name of Jesus, our Blessed Hope, and welcome to Christ in Prophecy! I’m delighted to have in the studio with me today my designated successor, Colonel Tim Moore. Glad to have you, Tim.

Tim Moore: Thank you, Dave, glad to be here.

Dr. Reagan: And of course, also I have my colleague, Nathan Jones here who is our Internet Evangelist and he’s the co-host of this program. We are going to focus on Nathan today about a new video that he and his assistant, Steven Stufflebean, have produced. And I tell you, folks, it is something else.

Tim Moore: It sure is, as matter of fact, Nathan, I would like to know what signs of the times you have focused on in the particular video, and why?

Nathan Jones: Okay, well, we’ll really get into once you roll the video, but let’s go back to Daniel 12:4, this is the foundational verse. “But you, Daniel,” this is the angel talking to Daniel, “shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” In other words, the angel was saying that when we got to the end times Bible prophecy would finally be understood. And two great things would happen when that happens, one knowledge would just instantly take off, people would learn so much, and they would travel so much, too. So, based on those two you can continue to build the other signs that you read about in the Bible. For instance, the technology behind the Mark of the Beast, or the image of the Antichrist. A great population explosion. You’ve got a great growth in evangelism, as evangelism spread all over the world. You have nuclear weapons. You have space science. And there’s also limitations to technology as well. So, I cover nine of them throughout the video. And hopefully it will get people excited about the Lord’s return because I believe technology is one of the number one signs that Jesus is coming back.

Dr. Reagan: I agree, there are so many prophecies that cannot be understood apart from historical developments, like the reestablishment of Israel, and technology.

Nathan Jones: Absolutely.

Dr. Reagan: You have to know about modern technology to understand. For example, how can two bodies lie in the streets of Jerusalem and the whole world look upon them? Nobody understood that until the mid-1960’s when we put up TV satellites.

Nathan Jones: Oh, satellites, computers, you name it.

Dr. Reagan: Well, folks, I would like to show you a clip from this incredible new video. And, as you will see, Nathan and Steven have put together a dazzling presentation.

Part 2

Portion of End Times Sign of Technology DVD

Nathan Jones: Let’s at last take a look at where the technological exponential curve is leading us. Let’s look at the signs of technology revealed in the Bible that point to the fact that we are now living in the end times and which indicate that Jesus will soon return. The following are, I believe, nine of the most prominent signs of technology.

The first sign is the sign of knowledge. Not only does this sign stand out particularly as the most revealing out of all the technological signs, but it also provides the foundation that the others in this list build upon. We find the source text for this prophecy in the book of Daniel.

AI: “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase”

Sign 1: Increase of Knowledge

Nathan Jones: Daniel had been listening across many chapters to an angel pronouncing a mind-blowing message from God. Through the angel, God revealed the rise and the fall of great empires, leading eventually to a global empire led by a world ruler whom the Apostle John would later call the Antichrist.

Of course, all these great empires were still future from Daniel’s perspective, so he was quite perplexed over all he was hearing. Rubbing his forehead in confusion, he asked the angel for an explanation. To his dismay, no luck! The angel basically told Daniel that he could never understand these prophecies because too much needed to happen first. This would include a great increase in mankind’s knowledge which would mark the time of the end, or end times. Only those living in the end times and who were wise would at last understand these prophecies and recognize that the exponential increase in knowledge heralded the soon return of the Messiah.

Have you ever considered that just a hundred years ago all that most people learned throughout their entire lifetime equaled to one Sunday edition of the New York Times? Our ability today to practically consume that same amount of data on a daily basis shows just how far mankind’s knowledge has increased in so short an amount of time.

What technologies have helped us facilitate the advent of this massive explosion in the growth of knowledge? You probably answered “computers,” and you’d be absolutely correct. Not only has the exponential curve in all areas of computer technology increased our knowledge to stupendous levels, but computers have aided in all the major scientific discoveries of our day. We don’t need to cram all of those facts into our brains anymore either, for the ability to easily store and access data means we can continue to learn like we’ve never learned before in all of human history.

Today’s exponential increase in knowledge points to the fact that Jesus Christ is returning soon.

Sign 2: Increase of Travel

Nathan Jones: Notice in that same prophecy the angel told Daniel that, besides a great increase in knowledge, “many shall run to and fro.” This tremendous increase in travel would also occur in the same context, that being the end times. God was revealing that once people began to run to and fro, both farther and faster, that those final years before Christ returned to set up His Millennial Kingdom were finally upon us.

Stop and think how people traveled a single century ago. Most roads weren’t even paved yet and were traveled along by horse-drawn wagons.

Look at this video of San Francisco taken way back in 1906. You see far more horses than horseless carriages!

People rarely, if ever, left their hometowns. Animal domestication and the early beginnings of decent roads, then bicycles, balloons, boats, and simple automobiles were developing technologies, but not widely received.

Since the early part of the twentieth century, mankind went on to invent airplanes and jets, and we’ve even left the Earth’s atmosphere in rockets and space shuttles. It used to take months for people to travel by boat overseas, but now we travel that same distance abroad in mere hours. In today’s world, people are always on the move, just as the angel prophesied to Daniel.

Today’s exponential increase in travel points to the fact that Jesus Christ is returning soon.

Sign 3: Global Ecommerce Network

Nathan Jones: The third sign involves those technologies which will make the Mark of the Beast the terror of the world. The book of Revelation forewarns:

AI: “He also forced everyone to receive a mark on his right hand or his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell except he had the mark.”

Nathan Jones: Let me provide you with a little context here concerning the Mark of the Beast. A seven-year Tribulation time period is coming when God will be pouring out His wrath upon the world, just as He did during the days of the Flood. Revelation reveals that at the mid-point of the Tribulation, the Antichrist and his False Prophet will set up a system of commerce whereby a person cannot buy or sell unless they have sworn allegiance to the Antichrist. They do so by writing his name or the number 666 on their right hand or forehead.

What kinds of technologies would be required to control the world’s commerce?

The Apostle John could visibly read the name and the number etched on the people who had sworn their allegiance to the Antichrist, so some kind of tattooing is certainly involved. Magnetic inks can store a person’s personal, financial, and health information; and then digital readers would scan the ink in order to authorize whether that person is allowed to buy or sell. Maybe a RFID microchip is also involved, embedded in a rice-sized glass case underneath the readable mark.

Global commerce also needs a way to collect all that countless terabytes of information, and so would require the constructing of giant data centers in order to store a planetary population full of data. That data would need to move lightning-fast using high speed Internet connectivity, complex ecommerce systems, wireless networks, billion-dollar satellites, and so on.

The closest system we have today to the Mark of the Beast is China’s social credit score, which has already been instituted in their more populated cities. The Chinese government has positioned millions of cameras everywhere in order to spy on their citizens. Computer algorithms then rate the citizen’s allegiance to the government, granting benefits to those who are more loyal and restrictions on those the computer deems as not being patriotic enough.

Just imagine that horribly restrictive system instituted on a global scale! All of these ecommerce technologies, which make today’s buying and selling so much easier, are actually all coming together so that the Antichrist can control all of the world’s commerce, and thereby control all of the people under his rule.

A lot of fear surrounds taking the Mark of the Beast, and rightly so, for those who take it God says will have lost their hope of becoming saved. But, we today should have no fear of accidently taking the Mark, for it will not be instituted until half-way through the Tribulation, well after the Church has been raptured up to Heaven. Therefore, don’t sweat chips and barcodes and credit cards. They have nothing to do with the Mark of the Beast…yet.

Today’s global ecommerce network points to the fact that Jesus Christ is returning soon.

Sign 4: Communication Technology

Nathan Jones: Sign number four is actually a wonderful sign, for it’s a positive one. This sign prophesies that the entire world will be evangelized in the end times.

AI: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Nathan Jones: God wants the Church to preach the Good News of His salvation to the entire world, and so He’s provided us with powerful communication tools for sharing the Gospel. Today’s exponential curve in communications technology has played a vital role in reaching more of the world for Christ than has ever been reached in the previous nineteen centuries. Technologies such as cameras and microphones, televisions and tablets, smart phones and cell towers, communications networks and satellites, the Internet and the airwaves, big media, and social media they all work together to form the largest pulpit the world has ever known.

And while all these breathtaking technologies are leading people to Christ by the thousands each day, the entire world, as Jesus referred to it, will not all hear the Gospel before the Rapture happens. That blessing awaits the Second Coming at the end of the Tribulation.

Communications technologies will continue to spread the Gospel to the post-Rapture world. In addition, God will send forth 144,000 Jewish evangelists, the Two Witnesses, and even the Gospel Angel to preach throughout the whole world. Every person on the planet will be evangelized by the end of the Tribulation. God will leave no person without a chance to choose His Son and so be saved.

Today’s communications technologies point to the fact that Jesus is returning soon.

Sign 5: Weapons and Robotic Technology

Nathan Jones: The fifth sign involves the living image of the Antichrist.

AI: “And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down. He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak.”

Nathan Jones: Revelation reveals that during the Tribulation the Antichrist will order his False Prophet to set up an image of himself in the newly built Jewish Temple and order the world to worship him as if he were God. This is the same scenario all over again when the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar set up a statue of himself and ordered everybody to worship it. Daniel tells of how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused and so were thrown into a fiery furnace. This is all going to happen again during the Tribulation, but instead of chucking people into ovens, the False Prophet will rain down fire and incinerate those people who refuse to worship the Antichrist.

How will the False Prophet make fire fall down from the sky and consume people?

Assuming there’s nothing supernatural going on, let’s look at the technologies involved in producing pyrotechnics. Maybe John was referring to jets or drones dropping bombs and other incendiary weapons. And, satellite-based weapon systems, such as missile or laser systems, could simply zap people from high up in orbit.

Remember that the Antichrist must use technology because he is a counterfeit. His False Prophet will not be a real miracle maker, and so will use today’s military technology to destroy people with just the touch of a button.

What’s so peculiar about the story of this image is that John reveals that it was given life. Nebuchadnezzar’s statue didn’t get up and walk around and sing and dance and all that; it didn’t even move. But, the image of the Antichrist will appear to be alive! Assuming there’s nothing supernatural involved in making the illusion of a living statue, such as the demonic possession of an object, statues after all still cannot move. They lack the proper joints and musculature.

What kinds of technology could the False Prophet use then to make an image move?

John may have been the very first person to watch television. The Antichrist’s image may appear at regular intervals on a person’s TV set or mobile device, and once broadcast, everyone is expected to fall down and worship his image.

Or, the image may involve robotic and artificial intelligence, AI technologies. How about a fully functional hologram? Japan especially has been hard at work developing both robotics and holographic technologies. Why, for years now, one of Japan’s biggest pop stars has been Hatsune Miku who is a fully interactive hologram that sings in live concerts. With the proper Alexa-like technology, the Antichrist’s living image, be it robot or hologram, could fully interact with his adoring acolytes.

Today’s weapons and robotic technologies point to the fact that Jesus Christ is returning soon.

Sign 6: Medical Technologies

Nathan Jones: The sixth sign of technology that points to the fact that we are living in the end times involves a great population explosion. Revelation reveals:

AI: “Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.”

Nathan Jones: Prepare the way for what?

AI: “The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number.”

Nathan Jones: And, what happens to this army?

AI: “And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses’ bridles.”

Nathan Jones: In context, as the Tribulation winds mercifully to a close, the Antichrist’s empire begins to crumble due to a number of rebellions led by various sub-rulers. Just as the Antichrist squashes a rebellion in Africa, he must turn his loyal forces north to deal with a rebellion coming from the East. Both armies meet in the Valley of Armageddon located in northern Israel. While these armies are busy slaughtering each other, they will see Jesus and his armies returning out of the heavens and unite against Him. The King of Kings will easily defeat the world’s armies just by speaking. The blood from the vanquished armies will flow as high as a horse’s head for a staggering 180 miles!

By the end of the Tribulation, most of the world’s population will have been wiped out, and still these prophesied Kings of the East can amass a 200-million-man army. This prophecy must have just blown John’s mind, for in his first century day, there were only 200-million people living on the whole earth.

How then does the human population get so large that, despite the massive death toll of the Tribulation, the East can assemble such a staggeringly large army? How do we have the billions that we now have today?

The answer: medicine. As each successive generation produces more and more people, aided by medicines that greatly reduce infant mortality and keep people healthier and allow us to live longer, we’ve reached a massive global population numbering nearly eight billion people. China and India have been able to mount a 200 million soldier army ever since the 1960s, and so could easily do so during the Tribulation. The exponential curve strikes again!

Today’s medical technologies point to the fact that Jesus Christ is returning soon.

Sign 7: Nuclear Technologies

Nathan Jones: The seventh sign of technology involves the inevitable release of the world’s nuclear arsenal. Both the Old and New Testaments describe the destruction of much of the world by a series of nuclear cataclysms.

AI: “Then behold, at eventide, trouble! And before the morning, he is no more.”

Nathan Jones: In context, Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied the destruction of the oldest city on the planet, Damascus, by Israel suddenly and in just one night. How do you destroy an entire city in just one night? Israel will have to use a nuclear bomb.

AI: “Men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

Nathan Jones: In this verse Jesus prophesied that the horrors unleashed during the Tribulation will actually cause heart attacks.

AI: “The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.”

Nathan Jones: Revelation adds that:

AI: “the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?'”

Nathan Jones: The Sixth Seal Judgment uncannily describes what a nuclear blast looks like, and how the people will hide in caves to escape all the destruction and radiation these bombs will rain down upon them.

AI: “The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.”

Nathan Jones: The First Trumpet Judgment describes yet another cataclysm that sounds very much nuclear in nature.

AI: “By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths.”

Nathan Jones: During the Sixth Trumpet Judgment, demonic creatures will be let loose to incinerate millions with their nuclear fire-like breath.

AI: “And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, and their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.”

Nathan Jones: Zechariah describes what will happen to the Antichrist’s armies upon the Messiah’s return. No nukes may be involved, but the weapon of the Messiah’s own words will produce the same effect as the setting off of a nuclear bomb.

Many of God’s judgments during the Tribulation sound like a first century man’s attempt to explain a nuclear holocaust. Many believe that the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II have been the only atomic weapons released, but no, in the last 70-plus years over 2,500 nuclear warheads have been set off in testing. Nine countries have stockpiled an estimated 15,000 nuclear weapons, with 1,800 always standing at alert and prepped for immediate launch.

The fact that the world hasn’t already annihilated itself in a nuclear holocaust proves that God’s restraining hand is holding mankind’s worst destructive proclivities at bay. But, that time will end when God’s restraining influence will be taken away, along with the Church, at the Rapture. During the first year or so after the Tribulation begins, half of the world’s population will perish. A nuclear holocaust is indeed about to be unleashed upon this world, and one day soon.

The technologies involved in the making of nuclear weapons are among the most complex technologies ever developed. Heavy metal mining and refinement, nuclear containment, nuclear plants, submarines and silos for delivery, missiles for deployment, all these super-duper advanced technologies have been in development for decades. The world sleeps blissfully unaware of the constant threat of nuclear self-annihilation.

Today’s nuclear technologies point to the fact that Jesus Christ is returning soon.

Sign 8: Space Science Technologies

Nathan Jones: The eighth sign of technology involves our cutting-edge space science technologies, particularly the International Space Station or the ISS, that we utilize in our attempt to explore outer space. The source verse reads:

AI: “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!”

Nathan Jones: Other translations of this Isaiah passage render Lucifer’s name as the Morning Star.

During the Tribulation, Satan, the Morning Star, will possess and be worshiped through the Antichrist. Because the earth will face utter annihilation due to God’s 21 judgments as described in Revelation, I’ve often wondered where Satan and the Antichrist would feel safe and able to rule unimpeded, insulated from all the disasters ravaging the planet. As the International Space Station orbits over the earth, it can best be viewed from the ground during the mornings and looks like a bright star sailing slowly across the heavens. That’s lead the ISS to be nicknamed, the Morning Star.

How would one escape a world that is being annihilated, to sit safely from on high, in order to rule over the world? Most likely from high up in the orbit.

The eighth sign of technology I consider a tentative sign, though. I have no biblical proof that the Antichrist will rule from up in orbit. But, with the space station costing somewhere between 150 billion and half a trillion dollars, the ISS must have more of a long-term purpose than just seeing how earthworms float.

Today’s space science technologies point to the fact that Jesus Christ is returning soon.

Sign 9: Technology’s Limitations

Nathan Jones: The ninth and final sign of technology in this list actually has to do with technology’s limitations. Have you ever considered that our technology has limits? It does!

For one, supplies of rare earth metals are running dangerously low. Did you know that the computer, tablet, and smart phone, that are surely an arm’s length away from you, are made out of rare earth metals? The metals used to make these advanced technologies, those technologies that we’ve become so dependent on, can only be found in certain places, and the supplies are quickly dwindling. Nearly 95% of these metals can only be found in hostile countries such as China and Afghanistan. Unless alternatives can be synthesized, our ability to build laptops, cell phones, TV’s, you name it, is quickly going to disappear. Once the limited amounts of these rare earth metals run out, so will much of today’s technology.

Also, are there limits to how far our technology will take us into outer space? It appears, according to the Bible, not very far. The prophet Zechariah prophesied that all the nations of the earth will be gathered against Jerusalem in the last days.

AI: “All the nations of the earth are gathered against her.”

Nathan Jones: Once Jesus returns, He will defeat the armies of the Antichrist gathered around the city of Jerusalem. And once these armies are destroyed, Jesus will then send His angels to collect every single person and gather them together for what’s called the Sheep-Goat Judgment.

Since all the remnants of the nations will stand before Jesus Christ and be judged, that means there cannot be people living in space stations, and lunar colonies, and Martian colonies, and extra-earth settlements, or safely tucked away on spaceships traveling beyond our solar system. The gathering of every human being against Jesus at Armageddon, and then again at the Sheep-Goat Judgment, means that humanity will still be confined to the earth. Our optimistic hope of settling outer space will not be happening, at least in this age, according to these limits set in the Bible.

Technology during the Tribulation will have also reached its limit. If four prophesied catastrophic earthquakes shake the world apart, what will happen to all the mountains? They will be leveled.

What happens to cell towers during earthquakes? They fall over.

What happens when solar flares burn the sky? The radiation destroys the satellites and interferes with communications.

What happens when the oceans are filled with blood and dead sea creatures clog the waters? Ships can’t bring oil and goods to port, and so distribution channels are disrupted.

I could go on and on with disaster scenarios, but you know that even in the tamest of rain storms our power companies struggle to keep the lights on. Now, imagine the whole world ravaged by endless natural, manmade, and divine disasters. That’s why I believe that by the end of the Tribulation most of our technology, mankind’s last crutch and our own Tower of Babel, will be rendered useless.

The prophets indicated that by the end of the Tribulation, the survivors will be out fighting with bows and arrows and horses again. Certainly, there must still be tanks and other technological weapons of war that I’m sure the Antichrist will protect. But still, God appears to eliminate much of the world’s technology so that by the end of the Tribulation desperate people are left with nothing to kill each other with but primitive weaponry.

Knowledge, travel, the Mark of the Beast, evangelism, the image of the Antichrist, a great population explosion, nuclear weapons, space science, and now the limitations of our technology, they all today point to the fact that Jesus Christ is returning soon.

Closing:

Tim Moore: There you have it, folks, as Dave said, it is a dazzling presentation, and you have seen only a part of it. In a moment, our announcer will tell you how you can get a copy of the entire video. But, Nathan I’ve got to tell you, you and Steven did a wonderful job. Congratulations on a fantastic video.

Nathan Jones: Praise the Lord! I hope it blesses people.

Tim Moore: Yes, I do. Well folks, that’s our program for this week. I hope it has been a blessing to you. And I hope, the Lord willing, you will be back with us next week. Until then, this is Dave Reagan speaking for Lamb & Lion Ministries, saying, “Look up, be watchful, for our Redemption is drawing near!”

End of Program