End Times Signs of Technology

Part 1

Tim Moore:We’ve asked our good friend David Bowen to join us on this episode. David has served as a pastor in Pheonix for many years. He is a gifted teacher of Bible prophecy and a close friend to Lamb & Lion Ministries. David, welcome to Christ in Prophecy.

David Bowen:It’s a joy to be here. Thank you.

Nathan Jones:Well, folks, you can follow along on these shows about the signs of the times and go deeper into our Lamplighter magazine. Every two months we release a new Lamplighter magazine that focuses on the sign of the times. And as of this airing, it’s the science of technology. You can download them from our website and get the e-version, or if you don’t want to get entangled in all that newfound technology, you can subscribe to the print version of our magazine. Several thousand people receive the printed version of the Lamplighter in the mail for a low cost of $25 a year. Just visit our website or online store or call the number you see on the screen if you’d like a subscription.

Tim Moore:Nathan is right, The Lamplighter offers in-depth articles focusing on topics and current trends that are illuminated by God’s prophetic Word. It is a tremendous resource for anyone who wants to understand the signs of the times. And so on that note, David, let’s jump into today’s topic. Give us some examples of the kind of technology that really gets you excited from a biblical perspective.

David Bowen:Oh, my goodness, it is so hard to imagine the depth of this topic. What used to be science fiction is now just everyday use. I mean, you have a pet, you put a microchip in the pet so you don’t lose your dog or your cat. And that technology wasn’t there before. You look at traveling, how quickly we can go from one place to another. Things just, biblically we’re going to see at the end times, we’re experiencing now like it is everyday use. It’s imaginable.

Nathan Jones:I love going to the Bible because the Bible prophesies certain technologies that will come about in the end times. Particularly, I think this is the foundational verse for the subject of the signs of technology in the Bible is Daniel 12:4. And so Daniel just got this prophecy from this angel, and he’s scratching his head. He doesn’t understand it. And so he asks the angel to kind of explain, and the angel says, “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.” So he’s telling Daniel he says, “Hey, Daniel, these things won’t be understood. Bible prophecies won’t be understood until we get closer to the times in which they’re fulfilled.” But in that prophecy, there’s also the two things of technology, we have the increase in knowledge which we’ve seen explode over the last few decades due to computers, and an increase in travel. Now if anybody knows travel it’s Tim, traveling all over the world. I mean, you think about just 100 years ago we were barely in a horse and buggy. Right?

Tim Moore:We talk about how Mark Twain wanted to go to the Holy Land, it took many weeks to get there by steamship. And now when we take pilgrims, they complain, as you’ve seen probably David, when it takes a handful of hours to get all the way to Israel, we take for granted how fast we can travel. But you mentioned computers, Nathan. I always think of something called Moore’s Law. No relation to me, but a man named Gordon Moore in 1965 came up with a theory he posited that has proven true. He said, “That every 18 months computing power would double and our ability to store information would continue to reduce in size and complexity.” And that is proven true. I mean, today most people carry a phone, Nathan’s got one right here on the desk, that has more computing power than all of NASA’s computers did when we sent men to the moon. That’s just unfathomable.

David Bowen:But how far does it go and where do we say enough is enough?

Tim Moore:That’s a good question.

David Bowen:You know A.I. technology, which some people know as artificial intelligence, we’re to the point now where they say we want to make a computer that can think, that can reason, that can learn like a human being. And what we want to do on the manmade side is we want to make something that’s almost like humans. And that’s not going to fly with God.

Tim Moore:No, it’s not.

David Bowen:Whatever man puts together, we cannot create anything more than God’s creation.

Tim Moore:You’re exactly right. And yet He has given us the ability to utilize technology, whether it’s medical advancements, travel. Of course, let’s focus for just a minute on some of the positive attributes of technology. So, Nathan, you’re a perfect example of how we here at Lamb and Lion Ministries have leveraged the Internet, a new tool that’s so recent on the human scale that it’s just a blink of an eye, and yet you use it for ministry around the world.

Nathan Jones:Yeah, for over 20 years, I’ve been using the Internet to reach people for Jesus Christ. I remember first getting in chat rooms, atheist chat rooms, just sharing the Gospel, and they’re usually open to conversation. It’s expanded over the years, especially when cell phones and internet became Internet mobile basically, opened it up to now over 4.5 billion people online. Well, the Bible prophesied in Matthew 24:14, Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the ends will come.” So we’re in this time period where the Gospel spreading more than it ever before. I think Billy Graham’s last crusade, he said that that crusade, because it was online, reached more people than all the Crusades, added up before that time period.

Tim Moore:You know, one of the things people don’t recognize is technology is much more than just even a computer. It is estimated by historians that the greatest technological achievement of the first 2,000 years after Christ until the 20th century with computers and jet travel and things of that nature, was the printing press. Printing technology that allowed the Word of God, that was the first thing printed to be distributed. And so this technology has been used, whether it’s printing presses by Gutenberg or the Internet today to get the Gospel out. And we must praise the Lord for giving us those tools to proclaim His glorious return.

David Bowen:Well it gets really exciting, though, you mentioned Matthew 24. Now that’s the birth pangs.

Tim Moore:Yeah.

David Bowen:And any woman who is going to give birth, she knows the birth pains increase, they get more severe and they come more rapidly towards the time of giving birth. Technology, the last birth pain is the Gospel being presented around the world. So when you look at all the birth pains and the pain, we’re going to go through it, we know that it ends with the good news. And without technology, how do we get the birth pains? How do we get that Gospel around the entire world?

Tim Moore:That’s a good question.

Nathan Jones:Well, I love the fact that you being Dr. Dave, that your dissertation was actually how you use technology to reach people for Christ. In your research to write your dissertation, can you share some of these great technologies that you use to reach people for Jesus?

David Bowen:Well, the churches are used to doing church one way, which is fine, but the world lives in social media. You know, I don’t really care for social media, but I can’t avoid it because that’s where the audience is. That’s where the people are. So you can say, I don’t want to do anything with that kind of stuff. But if you’re going to be evangelizing, if you’re going to reach them, especially those who don’t know Jesus yet, you’ve got to be somehow on social media, and technology gives us that advancement. Technology gives us that opportunity to reach into lives that we wouldn’t be able to reach into because of social media.

Nathan Jones:And what’s great, too, is like, take our YouTube channel for instance, we have a Christ in Prophecy YouTube channel. Maybe folks are watching us through that. Every one of those videos are ministering 24/7. So the three of us don’t have to go and find a pulpit and have people physically there all the time, although we do, you can be ministering to people 24/7 through video and social media that we couldn’t do it before. And to me, that’s God saying, hey, the time is short. I’ve got to get the Gospel out as fast as possible. And He’s given us those tools. Because most people don’t realize is that God is the provider of technology. He’s the provider of knowledge. He releases technologies at key points in human history. When we built like I think the Gutenberg press, when He’s ready to get the Gospel and the word out. And we live in a time here where there’s so many that God desperately wants to get the Gospel out.

Tim Moore:Our friend Doug Cobb has emphasized just what you said that the propagation of the Gospel around the world will happen and then the end will come. That’s the title of his book. He was actually our guest at a regional conference this year, talking about we are on the cusp of reaching every people group. And today you can even pull up your phone and there are applications that you can speak into and it does instantaneous translation. Obviously, as you said, David, God will not allow mankind to become godlike even through technological means, but He is giving us tools to be able to serve Him and to share the Gospel.

David Bowen:And technology maybe better than man in some technology areas. You know, they say that technology will replace workers, and banks are going to be all technology, and they put all these projections out there. But what technology cannot do is give compassion, give empathy, give love, give mercy. That has to come from a human heart. So no matter where technology goes, God is still going to use you and I to help use technology as a tool to share His love for people.

Nathan Jones:Yeah, it’s an extension of ourselves. It is not something to be feared. When you hear people scared of technology, well isn’t technology just the application of knowledge to fix our problems and make stuff? In that respect it can be pretty good.

Tim Moore:It can be pretty good. And yet let’s also acknowledge that Satan is also using technology to his advantage. And so we talk about the Internet. The Internet has been a great boom for reaching people with the Gospel, but it’s also become a playground for fanaticism and for very, very dark things, whether it’s pornography, etc.. What are some of the other ways that, let’s just be upfront that Satan has leveraged technology for his nefarious purposes?

David Bowen:The loss of privacy I think. There was a story last Thanksgiving where a woman tried to take her nine year old daughter to see a play in New York City. And because of technology, they had facial recognition and they kicked her out of the play. They didn’t want that, she worked for an attorney or something and there’s a lawsuit going on. So they banned them from that. And just privacy being taken away. Your license plate being, you know, being marked. People tracking you, and just things that you don’t really want. But you’re not saying I’m okay with this happening, but it just happens. So, there are dark sides of that that you got to be aware of.

Nathan Jones:The police have been using Ring doorbell cameras as surveillance. So your house, you have your security system, but the security system actually makes you a prisoner in your own house because it can track your comings and goings inside a house. And that’s I think what we’re really losing, our privacy to the point where, and this is the big talk that’s been going on as well, where is it leading? Where is it all going? And I think we can go to Revelation chapter 13 to see where the loss of privacy is going, because this is the famous Mark of the Beast passage. Right? He says, “He also forced everyone, small and great rich and poor, free and slave to receive a mark on his right hand or 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 the name. So I know, Dave, you’ve done a lot of research into the technologies behind the Mark of the Beast. What are some of those that you think will make the Mark of the Beast happen?

David Bowen:Well, we have it. Like I said, we get so used to doing it for our good. Our pets, okay, we’re going to put a microchip in our pet. How far will it go from putting a microchip in our dogs or cats to putting one in our hand or on ourselves?

Nathan Jones:Well, they are already doing it in Sweden. And some companies are doing it.

David Bowen:Yeah, digital ID.

Tim Moore:They have digital tattoos now where you can just get a tattoo. And yet just with that ink on and through the surface of your skin, it becomes a chip of a of a sort. Kind of like the radio chips that you see on a lot of products that tell if you’re trying to steal it when you walk out the store, they can have that on the human skin. The technology really is pushing the envelope in so many ways.

David Bowen:Yeah, Amazon has palm technology. You can wave your palm and pay for your items, you know.

Nathan Jones:Which is kind of neat and convenient when you think. But then to think that central bank digital currencies, which are going to be coming very soon. And soon they’ll be able to track, the governments will track every purchase you make. Let’s say it’s like say what Justin Trudeau did with the truckers in Canada. They shut off everything that they had financially so they couldn’t operate.

Tim Moore:Which is why you can understand the Antichrist taking that technology to his purposes at the very end of human history.

David Bowen:But this is where faith comes in. Because what happens is the opposite of faith is fear. And what is the enemy use? Fear. We’re going to change this technology and you’re going to put these things on you for safety. So your ID is going to be if you only get a marriage license or a driver’s license, you want to get your medical records, it’s for your safety that you do this. You know climate control, whatever it is. COVID, we saw that with COVID. So we will give up personal information. We’ll give up our privacy to be safe. And the enemy takes that, makes it out of fear, and that’s why they put faith over fear.

Tim Moore:Well, let’s put it this way. Sometimes we give up all those things just for convenience. Many of the applications on most of our phones have little fine print that says if you actually download and utilize this application, we have the right to utilize your information to collect data on you, even to use your image. And people just sign away unknowingly. And really that’s foolhardy.

I would also say this when it comes to some of the nefarious uses of technology. From a military perspective, for thousands of years, mankind warred against each other. But wars were somewhat limited in their scale, their scope, their ability to destroy. So, you know, with bows and arrows, with slings and rocks, you could only kill so many people at a time. You can only wreak so much devastation on a society. Now with modern weapons, with nuclear weapons and other forms of weapons, we can destroy entire cities in a moment. We can destroy entire nations in a matter of days. And so there’s a scale of cataclysm that was unfathomable in previous generations.

David Bowen:And drones.

Tim Moore:And drone technology, etc.. I think the Lord is going to look down just like He did in the Tower of Babel era and say, man is growing to the point that he thinks he has such audacity. Enough, I am tired of putting up with the wickedness and the rebellion on the earth. And just like happened more than once in the Old Testament, Sodom and Gomorrah, Tower of Babel, God’s going to say or Noah’s Ark, enough and that will usher in the very end.

Nathan Jones:And the Bible prophesies or at least describes what sounds like nuclear weapons. Obviously the Lord has been holding it back. The fact that only two atomic bombs have been dropped in the last seventy years is amazing considering there are tens of thousands of nuclear weapons. But then you get to say Isaiah 17:14, it’s the prophecy about the destruction of Damascus, “In the evening, sudden terror before the morning they are gone.” How do you destroy a whole city in just one evening? It has to be nuclear.

But Revelation 6:14-15 to me is the key, it says, “The sky receded like a scroll rolling up and every mountain and island was moved from its place. And every free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.” So it’s like John was witnessing what was going to happen during the tribulation time period. And he describes what very much sounds like a nuclear. Because if you’ve ever seen an atomic blast, it rolls like a scroll up in the sky. You get to Luke 21:26 “Men will faint from terror. Apprehensive of what is coming on the world for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” We read about how near the end of the Tribulation, a third of the sky is darkened so the light doesn’t come through. We can be talking about nuclear fallout, possibly. So the Bible definitely describes that when the Tribulation comes and God’s restraining influence is pulled back, nuclear war begins.

David Bowen:Well, Zechariah, the last chapter of Zechariah, Martin Luther wrote two commentaries on Zechariah, and he couldn’t finish it. He put one in German and one in Latin. But when 14 came up, he said, “This has never happened. I can’t, you know, the skin melting off, and your eyes rotting.” The destruction, the description that is in Zechariah we’ve never experienced before. But now you and I hear that and read that we go, well, that’s nuclear.

Tim Moore:It’s kind of like I liken it to the one of the characters in the movie The Princess Bride. Everything was inconceivable. And to some of our forebears, it was inconceivable how these very signs could come to pass. You’ve read some of the commentaries, even from 150 years ago. They couldn’t conceive Christians, couldn’t conceive of Israel coming back into existence. And so they tried to fit it into their understanding. I think John captures in words what he witnesses, and yet in his day and age, there had been no nuclear bombs, there had been none of these other things. So I’m not taking away from the Word of God. I’m actually ascribing absolute faith in what he wrote, being in the language that he could use to describe what he was witnessing. And yet we can see in the modern era how those things fit with the things that we see from technology, whether it’s weapons, whether it’s wars, whether it’s scale over and over again.

Nathan Jones:That brings up another technology which just blows my mind, that the Bible prophecies, maybe you guys can fill in what technologies do you think makes this happen? Go to Revelation chapter 13 again, verse 13, “And he the false prophecy form, great and miraculous signs even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. And 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 to honor 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 it could speak, and caused all who refused to worship the image to be killed.” We call it the living image. What technologies would be behind an image like that?

David Bowen:Well, we have that now. It’s called the Giant and it’s 90 feet tall. And basically you can go there and have a family time and you put your face on the giant and you put your voice on it. So if that becomes something, it’s a prototype. But if that becomes something that families can go and enjoy and see Dad’s face up there or the baby’s face up there. How much further are we from that to the Antichrist using it against the people?

Tim Moore:I think that David Reagan used an example from years ago, and many of our viewers will have experienced this. If you go to the Hall of Presidents at Walt Disney World, they have robots that several of them stand up, all of them move. And so they look lifelike. But Abraham Lincoln stands and gives a speech and it looks just like him. It moves, it has gestures. And of course, we’re not close up. Now the technology has allowed them to create avatars that look lifelike. And so I agree that will be a means of fulfilling that. There’s another example, even from Revelation chapter 11, though, that we recognize as being fulfillable here in this modern era, and that is the fact that two witnesses who have testified to the Lord have shared the gospel for three and a half years will be killed by the Antichrist when the Lord removes His protection from them. And they will lie in the streets of Jerusalem for three days while the entire world looks on and celebrates. For years, people had to assume, well, that was some kind of supernatural vision. Maybe God gave them the ability to see. We take for granted that we can watch things happening right now live through modern technology.

David Bowen:We can go on a website right now and see the Western Wall Plaza.

Tim Moore:Yes, we can.

David Bowen:So the whole world can see something happen in real time, which is there. It just again, technology, baseball games, Harry Caray used to sing “Take Me out to the Ball Game” at the Cub games for years. Well, last year in Iowa when they had the ball game, guess who did the singing? They had a hologram there and Harry Caray led the crowd in “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” in the seventh inning stretch. He’s been dead for years. But it was his voice. It was his image. It was him, you know, it was on TV. I had my family look at it and they go, “Who’s that?” And I go, “This guy died years ago.” Well, how is he doing this? Holograms and technology.

Nathan Jones:There’s so many. I had seen Hatsune Miku is a Japanese pop star that’s totally a hologram. People go to concerts.

David Bowen:Yes.

Tim Moore:Yes, they do.

Nathan Jones:It could even be that you pick up your cell phone, okay like you know how the Muslims prays few times a day. Maybe it’s okay this is the time where you worship the Antichrist. The image might simply just be an image on your screen, like a television. There he is and you sit down and you bow to it and all.

Tim Moore:There was a video that came out over the last couple of years of kids gathered in a high school gymnasium and they had a hologram, which was laser generated, of a whale coming up out of the floor and splashing. And the kids all dove for cover because it looked like water was going to be washing over them. It was all fake. Over and over again we see how technology is allowing Bible prophecy to be fulfillable. Again we know it will be fulfilled in God’s timing. Some of these things may happen through supernatural means, but God is giving technology in such a way that not only is it a great blessing to those of us who want to serve Him, but as Satan does with everything he twists every good gift to his own means or in a negative and dark way. And he’s going to do that as well with all these technologies which will be utilized by the Antichrist.

David Bowen:He perverts what’s good into evil. But it’s exciting because to see how quickly technology is changing and that it’s here, it just says the Lord is not far behind.

Tim Moore:There you go.

Nathan Jones:Well, here’s a question though because as you being an engineer in background and you know, you did all that research is what about the limitations? Because you hear more and more that our computational power, that Moore’s Law might hit a roadblock unless we can get into quantum computing. Or the fact that the rare earth metals we use are being controlled by China and Afghanistan, so that we won’t be able to build a lot of the technology. And basically that we’re getting to the end of our technological road. Is that a sign of the end times?

Tim Moore:Wow, that’s a good question, Nathan. I think we are hitting the limits in many, many ways. As much as I am excited about space exploration there’s a limit to how easy it will be for mankind to go beyond the immediate region of the earth because of radiation. We may be hitting a limit. I think that every time we have in the past, there’s a new breakthrough. So if the Lord stays His coming, there will probably be other breakthroughs. But any other thoughts?

David Bowen:Well, I’m excited. I was excited to say we have the convenience, we have the technology. But again, as I was saying, with all of the direction we’re going, the Lord is not far behind. And that’s the most exciting part about it. We used to make sure people understand what technology ultimately leads to, and that’s the coming of Christ.

Tim Moore:Exactly so and that’s really been our focus throughout this episode. We want to focus your attention on the signs of technology, not just for the interesting aspect of that sign in particular, but because it points to something else. It points to the coming of the Lord. If you see a road sign, you don’t stop and hang out at the road sign, you look for the destination.

Part 2

Tim Moore:In the mid 1990s, I had a top secret clearance and was briefed into a high tech program that was out of this world, although not of alien origin. When I began counseling young men and women who aspire to join the Air Force ten years later, I’d tell them when that program is declassified, 20 years from now, people will say, “Wow, we can do that.” And we’ll answer, “No, we could do that 30 years ago.” The point is that technology is constantly pushing the envelope of what is possible, even as it becomes intertwined with our daily lives. The smartphones used by 92% of Americans utilize technology that the military and intelligence services could only dream of 20 years ago. And they paid untold billions for technology that now retails for mere hundreds and is far more capable.

Many of us remember the paranoia that existed as the year 2000 approached. We were told that all the computers might go haywire as Y2K began rendering traffic lights, air traffic control and even our home appliances useless. That fear turned out to be overwrought. Society today is far more entangled with high technology than it was then. We’ve documented some of the advances that have improved our lives, but this has come at great cost. Devices now compete with people for time and attention. How many of us have watched a whole family sucked into their phones while sitting together at a restaurant? And what kind of insidious corruption is seeping into the young minds that are plugged in most of the time?

Every week we hear of some new breakthrough in technology, some new high speed computers, some advanced medical device or procedure, some gizmo or gadget that allows humanity to reach new heights or plunges it to new depths. All of these are mere tools. And as our friend Mondo Gonzales has demonstrated with his own telescope project technology can give us more reason to glorify God who reveals knowledge to us, or it can consume us and lead us away from worshiping Him.

What is technology to you? A blessing, a curse, or an idol? It has been documented that the average person in America spends 3 hours and 15 minutes on their smartphone each day with 20% spending more than four and a half hours. How much time is spent in Bible study or prayer? I can assure you that it is a tiny fraction of that amount.

At Lamb & Lion Ministries we intend to leverage technology as a tool to proclaim Jesus soon return. What David Reagan called God’s eternal plan for the ages, while warning about the rising threat of the inevitable capability technology will offer the Antichrist.

Don’t build your life on the shifting sand of technology or put your hope in mere men. The solution to mankind’s problem, the key that unlocks immortality, is not based on technology. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is our Blessed Hope.

Closing

Tim Moore:I found that there is a sharp correlation between our age and our tendency to embrace technology. For example, my father has no interest in even owning a cell phone, but my youngest grandchildren are attracted to every screen and often more adept at using them than me.

David Bowen:I kind of come down in the middle. I appreciate technology and I’m kind of competent at it. But I also understand that it can be very destructive, too.

Nathan Jones:Well, let’s just say that I am very comfortable with most technology it allows me to serve as an evangelist to an audience that stretches around the world. But I also recognize the insidious and nefarious impact too much technology is having on our young people and how it’s ushering in the end times as described in Scripture.

Tim Moore:We all believe that we live in what Charles Dickens called the best of times and the worst of times. None of us would want to do without most of our modern conveniences. From greater life expectancy, to more plentiful food, to medical technology, we’re living at the pinnacle of human history in many ways. But darkness is rising every day. Technology is being used to control societies and robs humanity of its dignity; its God given dignity. And that dangerous trend is accelerating.

David Bowen:And there is one guarantee there it’s going to get worse before it gets better. The Antichrist will have tremendous technology at his fingertips, but yet he’s going to be constrained by God and what he can do.

Nathan Jones:And that same principle applies even now. God is not surprised by the so-called advancements of mankind. Even when they’re twisted and lead to even greater wickedness and rebellion.

Tim Moore:Folks, that really is our bottom line, God’s will cannot be thwarted. Although fallen man will reject Him and use every means possible to turn against Him. God’s plan for the ages will come to pass. He will not lose one person who has put their trust in Him. Jesus will come again and all the weapons formed against Him will fail. By the power of His Word He will defeat all His enemies and reign upon the earth. Whether you stay on the cutting edge of technology or comfortably non-technical, all that matters is that you claim Jesus Christ as your blessed hope. Until He comes, we hope to see you each week for another episode of Christ in Prophecy. Godspeed!