Hello,
This is my first post on this site, and I am unsure of all your etiquette here, so please pardon me if I do anything incorrect. I have posted this under the Christian Currant Affairs section as it seems to be the most logical place for it, but feel free to move it as required. This issue has caused myself and my family a lot of strife over the last three years, and I really need some guidance, support, or to have any problems with my logic and understanding pointed out to me.
First off, I am a Lutheran, and the Lutheran Church is not very vocal on their stances regarding the End times. I used to follow Futurism, not knowing any better, but it never really jived with Luther's remarks regarding the antichrist. So I dug, and finally learned about Historicism.
I assume that some here will know what I mean by Futurism and Historicism, and some may not, so to just quickly sum it up:
Futurism: Teaches that there will be a 7 year future tribulation period, during which an antichrist man will come to power, make a middle east peace treaty, and install the mark. Futurism was written by Jesuit Theologian Francisco Ribera as part of the Protestant Counter-reformation coming from the Council of Trent. This is the most common school of belief in modern day Christianity.
Preterism: Teaches that most of Daniel and Revelation have been fulfilled in Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus and Antiochus IV Epiphanes. This is the version of eschatology presently held by the Roman Catholic Church, and also results from Protestant Counter-reformation and the Council of Trent. This doctrine was written by Jesuit Theologian Luis del Alcázar.
Historicism: Teaches that the End Times encompasses the entire Age of the Church beginning with the end of the Age of the Jews in 70AD, and continuing on until the return of Christ. It does not teach that there is a single person antichrist, but there is a single position of a man that is referred to as being the Little Horn or Man of Sin. There is no known writer of Historicism, Luther only stated parts of it, but from all the reference material I can find, all the original protestant founders believed in this version of interpretation. Sir Issac Newton was also a Historicist.
With that in mind, as I stated above, I used to be a Futurist, I am VERY familiar with Futurism, I believe it is exactly what it was written to be (counter-reformation propaganda), and giving me dogma based on the school of Futurism is not going to be very helpful.
I was raised to be a Christian here in America, I was also raised to be patriotic, and supportive of the military. I worked in the Aviation Industry and was required to give my fingerprints for US Customs. I also worked in the IT industry as a software/database developer. Yet now I find this HUGE conflict that is driving me crazy, has caused me to voluntarily surrender my Drivers License, is causing a tremendous amount of strife in my life and that of my family, and which I am finding is being supported by the very people who should be fighting this problem, conservative Christians.
Here is the problem:
According to Historicism, Beasts are ALWAYS Kingdoms, and this makes sense if you read Daniel. The Angel himself states that not only the levels of the statue in King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, but also the later beasts of Daniel 7 are all world dominating superpowers of their day. John used this exact same prophetic language in the writing of revelation, so it makes zero sense to switch the last two Beasts from countries to men (antichrist and false prophet). Now, the Little Horn is a man, more correctly its a station of men, and matches verbatim with the position of the Pontifex Maximus , later called the Holy Pontiff(sets the calendar, speaks as Gods voice on Earth, sets Jus divinum, etc). The last Beast of Revelation seems to also match verbatim with the United States...
John Wesley (father of the modern Methodist Church) working on his Explanatory Notes in 1760, wrote:
So he understood that the final beast (superpower) was going to start off as a meek country sometime around 1760. Obviously the US became in independent nation in 1776, started off as a meek christian based country, had no royalty (horns with no crowns), came out of the empty land as opposed to the sea of people and nations, is very much based on the Roman system of politics and laws, and was even the first to call fire from the heavens by being the first superpower to use atomic weapons. Now I fear we are implementing the Mark.
So here we come to the Current events part...
The Real ID Act an International Biometric ID System:
Most don't seem to understand exactly what is going on with this act, or what it's actual purpose is. Some believe that is has been a failure, and its even stated as such in Wikipedia. Some believe that their state has passed legislation against the Real ID, and its not being implemented...
All these things are incorrect.
So what exactly is the Real ID and Facial Biometrics, and why do I believe it is the Mark?
According to Representative Sam E. Rohrer :
This is coming from a US representative, not some crazy guy on the street corner holding a "the end is neigh" poster. This should send chills up the spine of every christian on the planet.
What a biometrics facial recognition scan is, is simply a high resolution picture (yes even the passport photo you get at your local drugstore is high enough resolution), that is then run through a piece of software, which breaks it down into a set of unique measurements (the unique number of a man). Those measurements become a key in a database that can then be used to quickly query millions of records a second. This means that it is used for real time tracking.
States such as Florida, specifically Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties have already installed facial recognition tracking cameras in intersections that are capable of reading your facial biometrics through the windshield of your moving car, then querying them against the DMV database and tracking your position. The FBI just received a $3billion dollar grant to install these cameras around the nation. This is why there is no real push to enact RFID chips, as it would cost billions to install the short range reader stations, as opposed to using already existing networked cameras that can read your biometrics without your knowledge in a crowd from hundreds of feet away. They can even read FR biometrics with airborne drones.
The presently debated immigration bill sponsored by McCain and friends, which I find disturbingly supported by conservative Christians, is aiming to make biometrics a requirement to be employed in the United States. While its not directly stated in the bill itself, other than the use of the term 'photo tool' (a code word for facial recognition), it does state that you will have to use E-Verify to apply for a job and prove citizenship. E-verify only accepts Class B documents that have been issued by the government, and contain a photo. As of now the only accepted government produced photo ID's are all using Facial Biometrics. This is the real reason for the push to get your photo on your voters registration card, which is the only Class B document without a biometric photo on it at this time. This is also why its the only Class B document not accepted by E-Verify.
I cannot even begin to tell you the number of federal and state laws this system is breaking. Your Constitutional Right to freedom of Religion, your Constitutional Right to be secure in your documents (including biometric) without a warrant issued on probable cause, religious freedom restoration act, many state constitutions, etc... Yet, no one has been able so far to win against this new system in court. Even the Mennonites and Amish, have for the first time in history, been denied their beliefs that photos constitute graven images, and had their photo exemptions removed...
Oddly enough, the DHS refers to the gold star they place on the new license or ID card as a DHS Mark in their benchmark checklist. I find that frightening considering that every other government agency refers to their logo as a seal.
Some other random issues:
Thoughts?
This is my first post on this site, and I am unsure of all your etiquette here, so please pardon me if I do anything incorrect. I have posted this under the Christian Currant Affairs section as it seems to be the most logical place for it, but feel free to move it as required. This issue has caused myself and my family a lot of strife over the last three years, and I really need some guidance, support, or to have any problems with my logic and understanding pointed out to me.
First off, I am a Lutheran, and the Lutheran Church is not very vocal on their stances regarding the End times. I used to follow Futurism, not knowing any better, but it never really jived with Luther's remarks regarding the antichrist. So I dug, and finally learned about Historicism.
I assume that some here will know what I mean by Futurism and Historicism, and some may not, so to just quickly sum it up:
Futurism: Teaches that there will be a 7 year future tribulation period, during which an antichrist man will come to power, make a middle east peace treaty, and install the mark. Futurism was written by Jesuit Theologian Francisco Ribera as part of the Protestant Counter-reformation coming from the Council of Trent. This is the most common school of belief in modern day Christianity.
Preterism: Teaches that most of Daniel and Revelation have been fulfilled in Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus and Antiochus IV Epiphanes. This is the version of eschatology presently held by the Roman Catholic Church, and also results from Protestant Counter-reformation and the Council of Trent. This doctrine was written by Jesuit Theologian Luis del Alcázar.
Historicism: Teaches that the End Times encompasses the entire Age of the Church beginning with the end of the Age of the Jews in 70AD, and continuing on until the return of Christ. It does not teach that there is a single person antichrist, but there is a single position of a man that is referred to as being the Little Horn or Man of Sin. There is no known writer of Historicism, Luther only stated parts of it, but from all the reference material I can find, all the original protestant founders believed in this version of interpretation. Sir Issac Newton was also a Historicist.
With that in mind, as I stated above, I used to be a Futurist, I am VERY familiar with Futurism, I believe it is exactly what it was written to be (counter-reformation propaganda), and giving me dogma based on the school of Futurism is not going to be very helpful.
I was raised to be a Christian here in America, I was also raised to be patriotic, and supportive of the military. I worked in the Aviation Industry and was required to give my fingerprints for US Customs. I also worked in the IT industry as a software/database developer. Yet now I find this HUGE conflict that is driving me crazy, has caused me to voluntarily surrender my Drivers License, is causing a tremendous amount of strife in my life and that of my family, and which I am finding is being supported by the very people who should be fighting this problem, conservative Christians.
Here is the problem:
According to Historicism, Beasts are ALWAYS Kingdoms, and this makes sense if you read Daniel. The Angel himself states that not only the levels of the statue in King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, but also the later beasts of Daniel 7 are all world dominating superpowers of their day. John used this exact same prophetic language in the writing of revelation, so it makes zero sense to switch the last two Beasts from countries to men (antichrist and false prophet). Now, the Little Horn is a man, more correctly its a station of men, and matches verbatim with the position of the Pontifex Maximus , later called the Holy Pontiff(sets the calendar, speaks as Gods voice on Earth, sets Jus divinum, etc). The last Beast of Revelation seems to also match verbatim with the United States...
John Wesley (father of the modern Methodist Church) working on his Explanatory Notes in 1760, wrote:
Another . . . beast .... But he is not yet come, though he cannot be far off; for he is to appear at the end of the forty-two months of the first beast. And he had two horns like a lamba mild, innocent appearance.
So he understood that the final beast (superpower) was going to start off as a meek country sometime around 1760. Obviously the US became in independent nation in 1776, started off as a meek christian based country, had no royalty (horns with no crowns), came out of the empty land as opposed to the sea of people and nations, is very much based on the Roman system of politics and laws, and was even the first to call fire from the heavens by being the first superpower to use atomic weapons. Now I fear we are implementing the Mark.
So here we come to the Current events part...
The Real ID Act an International Biometric ID System:
Most don't seem to understand exactly what is going on with this act, or what it's actual purpose is. Some believe that is has been a failure, and its even stated as such in Wikipedia. Some believe that their state has passed legislation against the Real ID, and its not being implemented...
All these things are incorrect.
- The Real ID is the first International Biometric ID system to ever be produced in the history of the world. The United Nations set standards under their International Civil Aviation Organization for collection of biometrics used for the E-Passport system. The Real ID uses these same biometric standards (ICAO format).
- In the same manner that all but a handful of countries are engaged in the same central banking scheme as the US, despite issuing their own currency (this is why you can trade currencies, what is printed on the actual note is meaningless), they are also engaged in world wide push for intentional biometric tracking. As of writing this, there are only a handful of countries left who are not issuing mandatory biometric National ID Cards, Drivers Licenses, Passports, or Visa's. Some countries such as India are collecting facial recognition, fingerprints, and retina scans. This means that if your country is issuing biometrics, and you decide to go to another one that isn't, you still have to submit to a biometric scan before being issued a passport or visa to go there.
- All states in the US are presently complying with the Real ID Act for fear of losing federal funding, or the ability of their citizens to enter federal buildings and fly. States that passed Anti-Real ID legislation have still complied with the basic benchmarks either through issuing their own Enhanced ID's (Arizona, Michigan, etc), or have bypassed the laws by changing DMV internal procedures (OK, MO, etc). Missouri was caught by their public enacting the Real ID illegally, and capitulated to no longer require documents (birth certificate, etc), but still requires facial biometrics. This is telling in the fact that the real intent here is to collect the biometrics, not to procure other documents that they generated to begin with.
It is not widely known that all states in the United States are capturing a digital facial image/photograph that is facial recognition compatible. -Mark Lerner co founder of the Constitutional Alliance
So what exactly is the Real ID and Facial Biometrics, and why do I believe it is the Mark?
According to Representative Sam E. Rohrer :
Under REAL ID biometric facial recognition technology you become a number literally worn on your face - a number which is read by computer tracked by surveillance camera and distributed worldwide.
Article:Sam E. Rohrer -- REAL ID: Connecting the dots to an International ID
This is coming from a US representative, not some crazy guy on the street corner holding a "the end is neigh" poster. This should send chills up the spine of every christian on the planet.
What a biometrics facial recognition scan is, is simply a high resolution picture (yes even the passport photo you get at your local drugstore is high enough resolution), that is then run through a piece of software, which breaks it down into a set of unique measurements (the unique number of a man). Those measurements become a key in a database that can then be used to quickly query millions of records a second. This means that it is used for real time tracking.
States such as Florida, specifically Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties have already installed facial recognition tracking cameras in intersections that are capable of reading your facial biometrics through the windshield of your moving car, then querying them against the DMV database and tracking your position. The FBI just received a $3billion dollar grant to install these cameras around the nation. This is why there is no real push to enact RFID chips, as it would cost billions to install the short range reader stations, as opposed to using already existing networked cameras that can read your biometrics without your knowledge in a crowd from hundreds of feet away. They can even read FR biometrics with airborne drones.
The presently debated immigration bill sponsored by McCain and friends, which I find disturbingly supported by conservative Christians, is aiming to make biometrics a requirement to be employed in the United States. While its not directly stated in the bill itself, other than the use of the term 'photo tool' (a code word for facial recognition), it does state that you will have to use E-Verify to apply for a job and prove citizenship. E-verify only accepts Class B documents that have been issued by the government, and contain a photo. As of now the only accepted government produced photo ID's are all using Facial Biometrics. This is the real reason for the push to get your photo on your voters registration card, which is the only Class B document without a biometric photo on it at this time. This is also why its the only Class B document not accepted by E-Verify.
I cannot even begin to tell you the number of federal and state laws this system is breaking. Your Constitutional Right to freedom of Religion, your Constitutional Right to be secure in your documents (including biometric) without a warrant issued on probable cause, religious freedom restoration act, many state constitutions, etc... Yet, no one has been able so far to win against this new system in court. Even the Mennonites and Amish, have for the first time in history, been denied their beliefs that photos constitute graven images, and had their photo exemptions removed...
Oddly enough, the DHS refers to the gold star they place on the new license or ID card as a DHS Mark in their benchmark checklist. I find that frightening considering that every other government agency refers to their logo as a seal.
Some other random issues:
- It can't be the mark because I can ditch the license.
While its true that you can ditch the license, you cannot remove your information from their database. You could just as easily remove a sub-dermal implanted RFID chip using an x-acto knife, and pitch it in the trashcan. You would simply be issued a new one, just like being issued a new license, because they have your information on file in their database system. - The Bible says it must be in your forehead or hand.
Not really, what the bible says is epi, which has multiple translations. Until the 2000's the idea of your hand or face being in a database would not have made much sense, so it was translated with the present day understanding of the translators, and what made the most sense to them. Another translation of epi is based on, meaning a mark based on your forehead or hand. Based on the biometric measurements of your body. - But what about terrorists?
If you are placing your faith in your government for your protection and survival, I suggest that you review whether your government is your god, or God is. Showing allegiance to a man made entity in trade for economic survival and/or physical protection really is what the mark is all about. You should be looking to God as Christians for protection, not to any man made organization. - What about illegal Aliens?
Persecuting downtrodden people who are here illegally because they were born on the wrong side of some geopolitical man made map, persecuting the homeless because they panhandle or are unsightly, charging people ungodly sums of usury in an attempt to gain worldly wealth, feeling that you are special and due a certain standard of life because of where you were born, these are doctrines straight from the mouth of the dragon... Your status as a member of a first world nation does not equate to your being privileged, special, or more loved/blessed by God.
We are all sinners equally, God loves us equally, and he sent his son to die for us all...
Rather then Conservative Christians being worried that God is going to punish us over issues such as homosexuality, which is nothing more then the same adultery or fornication that many Christians hypocritically engage in themselves, maybe he's more upset with our treatment of the poor or guests? Christ said very little regarding sexual immorality, but he had a LOT to say about the treatment of the poor, sick, strangers, the charging of usury, Christians acting as pharisees, and general unkindness of man to man.
Thoughts?