Several years ago, some friends and I visited a recreation area in a State Park. After paying the required entrance fee, they put an ink stamp on our hand that would allow us to exit and return as often as we wished that day. It was my first experience with such a thing, and I remarked, “They’re getting us ready to accept the Mark of the Beast.” My friends laughed, but I was sincere in what I said. I told them, “I didn’t say it is the Mark of the Beast, I said they are getting us ready to accept the Mark of the Beast.

Since then, accepting a stamp on the back of your hand has become widespread. Most amusement parks stamp your hand for the reason I just mentioned. It allows you to come and go as often as you please on the date of purchase. Some restaurants catering to children will stamp their hands as a way to protect them from being taken by someone who is not their parent. Sporting events, and even some church events, use this to show you have paid and are entitled to leave and then return.

Technology has taken this concept an additional step in recent years. They now put a microchip in your pet so it can be located if it wandered off or if someone stole your pet. Some have proposed doing the same with children in case they are kidnapped. In a day when children are being exploited in the sex trade industry, this seems like a good idea. In fact, everything I’ve just mentioned seems like a good idea. We’re given the flexibility to come and go as we please. If someone should kidnap a child, we have a way to find it. The same goes for a pet.

There has been a lot of talk about putting a chip in people that would do away with the need for cash or checks. Just scan the hand and the money will be deducted from your bank account. Some see this as a way to stop people from being robbed. Stamps on the back of the hand or a microchip are not necessarily wrong, but they have become so common in our culture that I wonder how people will respond when the real thing happens.

Let’s look at this from another angle. The virus of 2020 forever changed our world. As often happens, we will never return to how things were before the world shut down. Every aspect of life was affected. Churches looked for new ways to conduct services. Businesses closed. People began working from home, and even our schools found ways to teach without children having to physically attend class. Places we once just hopped on a plane and went to were now off limits. I was scheduled to preach a crusade in Zimbabwe, but had to cancel because I couldn’t get there. Flights were canceled, and borders were closed. And it was not just a few random countries; it was the whole world. Stories of the pandemic of 1918 that killed millions of people created a climate of fear unlike anything I had ever seen. The world was looking for answers.