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{{Navigate|Book=The Rise and Fall of the Anti-Christ|Curr=The Mark of the Beast|Prev=The Abomination of Desolation|Next=The Great Tribulation}}
The False Prophet goes on to cause "all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the Beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the Beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666."<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|13:16-18|NKJV}}</ref>

For millennia, what John described as this new way of buying and selling, essentially conducting commerce, seemed too fanciful to be put into practice. John himself must have wondered about it, as the technology for such control was unheard of. It is the amazing technological advances of the last few years that have made the implementation of what John cryptically called the Mark of the Beast possible.

From reading this, it is clear that the Antichrist government is going to establish a new economic system through this mark that enigmatically links to the number 666. That "no man may buy or sell" also signifies a total control situation that is impossible under the current predominant free-market capitalistic system. Something has to change before this kind of economic uniformity can be imposed. What's amazing is that the technical infrastructure for just such a system is even now being developed and pilot programs are being tested. If universally adopted, these programs could develop in the not too distant future into the very economic system foretold in this chilling passage of John's.

But why get rid of the current financial and economic system based on cash? The fact is that it has been done away with to a large degree already. The vast bulk of the money that changes hands in the millions of transactions made each day never takes the form of hard currency. Most is just numbers in electronic ledgers. The lowly bills and coins that are still in common use are a mere tip of the iceberg when it comes to the amount of money in circulation. Although still widely used because of its functionality, cash is slowly being replaced. Paying with plastic—credit, debit, and other cards—is becoming the norm.

One segment of the population, however, is greatly attached to cash: the criminal underworld. Drug smuggling and money laundering are billion-dollar industries in which most of those billions change hands inside suitcases, the US$100 bill being the medium of choice. Experts say that these bills are used so often in drug transactions that it is almost impossible to find one that does not have some traces of cocaine or heroin or other illegal drugs on it.

Doing away with cash (and hence, anonymous transactions) is a dream of law enforcement and tax agencies throughout the world, and would deal a crippling—and in some cases, fatal—blow to the many mafias that run illicit drug and other criminal rackets. One could hardly make a more compelling argument for the removal of cash from the economy.

Much is being made of e-commerce, and futurists are bold in their predictions that all financial transactions will eventually be made electronically. Already just about anything can be bought and paid for electronically. Even taxes in certain countries can be paid by credit card via the Internet. The convenience of all our business being transacted from the comfort of our living rooms is enticing, and many of the more technologically savvy already do this.

However, there are some very serious drawbacks, and the most difficult to overcome has been the problem of identity theft. Credit card numbers stored on easily hacked computer servers have been stolen by the thousands and then used to make purchases amounting to millions. This might be minuscule when compared to the trillions of dollars of financial transactions that are conducted on a daily basis, but until the serious problems of foolproof identity verification and identity theft are totally overcome, the full implementation of a cashless society is still only a pipe dream. But it won't be a pipe dream for long, because as you read this, thousands of the brightest minds in the world are tackling these problems and others from a multitude of angles; it won't be long until digital commerce is fully reliable.

One of the most promising technologies has been in existence for some time. It is known as the smart card, and you possibly even have one or more of them in your wallet at this very moment. They are the size of the ubiquitous credit card, but within their plastic exterior beats a heart of silicon. At the core of each card is a computer chip that can store just about all the personal information that you or anyone else would want to know about you. On top of that, it contains digital money for you to spend. Initially, smart cards needed to be swiped, just like your credit cards, but now there are contactless smart cards that only need to come near a terminal to be read and transactions completed in a fraction of a second. As you pass within a certain proximity to the terminal, it powers up the microcomputer in the card via a small antenna embedded in the card, and then via that same antenna transacts whatever business is needed. Already some countries have installed smart card readers in their public transportation system, and the passengers need not even take the card out of their pockets to pay their fare.

In addition, some countries are now offering smart cards to people frequently traversing their borders in order to speed immigration procedures. Without needing to present a passport, a cardholder simply inserts his card into a machine that then compares his fingerprints on a scanner with those on his card. If they match and there are no other problems on the person's record, the person passes the immigration check in a matter of seconds.

Another use that the smart card has been put to is with communications. Many companies and governments are seeing the need to keep internal e-mail communications confidential. Smart cards are being used to firstly identify that the recipient of a message is bona fide, and secondly to contain the necessary encryption keys to decrypt messages. They also are being used as keys to open electronic locks on doors in restricted areas.

Many of these cards can hold a variety of data, such as biographic, biometric, medical, and financial, and perform several functions such as electronic identification, encryption, and access keys.

There is, however, one major flaw with smart cards: They are not theft or loss proof. The only way to prevent this is to match the card with the person through some sort of biometric identification method such as that described above, where the user's fingerprint (or eye) is scanned and matched against the print embedded on the card. Accurate biometric scanners are costly, and would be nearly impossible to install in every point of sale worldwide. So a better solution must be found. And it has been.

For the tiny computer at the heart of the smart card to become permanently associated with its owner without risk of loss or theft, it needs to be physically attached to the body or even become part of the body—and even be powered by the body. The stuff of science fiction only a few short years ago, such technology exists today not just in the laboratory, but also in real life.

Much has been published in the media about Professor Kevin Warwick, the British university professor who had a chip implanted under his skin that performed all sorts of nifty tasks for him, such as opening electronically locked doors, turning on lights as he walked into a room, and starting his computer. Oh, and yes, having the building's central address system cordially greet him as he arrived in the morning.

Then there are the Jacobs. The "chipping" (insertion of a computer chip under the skin) of people quietly began rolling out in the U.S. in 2002, via Applied Digital Solutions' VeriChip. In May 2002 the "historic chipping of the Jacobs family" took place. This family and several other volunteers had unique identifier chips injected under their skin. The chip, about the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen, can be read by a handheld VeriChip scanner. The Jacobs family suffers from various ailments and the storage of their medical history provided the logic behind their volunteering to be the test cases. Already, though, Applied Digital Solutions is advertising this service for anyone for an initial payment of $200, along with a $10 monthly fee. A similar system to keep track of house pets has been in existence for years, and millions of pets in the U.S. and other countries have a tiny chip implanted under their skin. How long will it be till this chipping of people becomes the norm and we turn to it to facilitate all those daily functions such as shopping?

Let's once again look at the passage from Revelation:

<div style="padding: 1em; border: 1px solid #aaa; background-color: #f9f9f9;">
He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the Beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the Beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|13:16-18|NKJV}}</ref></div>

Could today's smart card and "chipping" technology be a forerunner of this Mark? It certainly seems possible. Already we have a computer small enough to be embedded in a thin piece of plastic carrying out the functions of buying and selling. Taking it a step further, we have the Jacobs and others already proving the functionality and feasibility of having a computer chip inserted under the skin, solving the issue of positive identification, as well as enabling financial transactions, personal data storage, etc. It doesn't seem that there is much of a credibility gap to hurdle to imagine a system similar to this being universally adopted. Is this then the Mark of the Beast? If it isn't, it is so strikingly close that whatever it is, it must be related in some way.

So what of the number 666? For now, speculating on what that could be is still in the realm of guesswork, but it is likely to have something to do with people being assigned a unique number, much like many countries have today, such as Social Security or Personal Identification Numbers. The Bible cryptically tells us that it is apparently going to take "wisdom and understanding" to decipher how this number plays into this scheme, but when it does become apparent, it will confirm the dire predictions associated with it.

Right now, it seems that the switch from cash to electronic currency and the technology associated with it would be very beneficial. It would make our lives a lot more convenient by speeding up many time-consuming tasks, such as waiting in line to pay bills or at checkout counters, providing quick and easy boarding of airplanes and other transportation, hassle-free border crossings, instant identification when you need it, not to mention delivering the world from much of the crime that depends on cash. Surely such an improvement in the quality of life would not be sinister. Or would it?

The sinister underside to this new economic system is that while it will make life more convenient, it will also make our lives more controlled. It would be comparable to the ankle transmitters that some prisoners under house arrest or on parole must wear. Privacy would be virtually nonexistent. Every purchase you make would be known, every place you frequent could be determined, even every show you watch on TV could be monitored. The all-seeing Big Brother of Orwellian fame would become a reality.

There is one more catch to this. The Bible clearly points out that the driving force behind this Mark is not benign but rather the most malign and terrible entity the world has ever known. Satan is not only moving behind the scenes of this world-dominating dictatorship of the Beast, but he is actually in full possession of the Beast. The Beast is the Devil incarnate. The Devil's goal since creation has been to have people worship him instead of God, and in this final horrific period of Great Tribulation, he will pull out all the stops in order to achieve it.

So there's clearly a link between accepting the Mark and accepting the Antichrist's regime. Accepting the Mark could not just be a financial decision, but also a decision—perhaps unwittingly—to embrace the Beast and all he stands for. We don't know for sure, but if the Mark is some sort of computer implant, it could well achieve a dominance over the bearer's mind and actions. John, later on in his Revelation, foretells a horrifying doom for those who bear this mark and worship the Antichrist.

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If anyone worships the Beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone. … And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the Beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|14:9-11|NKJV}}</ref></div>

But the comforting thought is that although the Beast will rant and rave against those who refuse to accept him and his system, his time is short and his doom is sealed. He is the ultimate loser. Jesus Christ and those who love and follow Him will emerge from the Great Tribulation as the glorious and eternal winners, as can be seen in the following chapter.

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