I’ve had people email me with questions concerning the topic of the coming Beast power and this “mark of the beast”. One lady ask me “can you unwittingly take the mark, and not know that you just did?”
As the coronavirus swept across China in early 2020, several news outlets posted stories about the Chinese government laundering money – not in a traditional sense, but in a literal sense. With so many people touching paper currency, China cleaned and disinfected vast amounts. In other parts of the world, where governments haven’t taken similar measures, many are making a personal choice to avoid paper currency because they’re afraid of contracting the coronavirus. This fear of virus-tainted paper money is only the latest event driving the world toward an all-digital financial system.
Some prophecy teachers believe that God has allowed the current Coronavirus Crisis to reveal that the Tribulation Period and New World Order (World Government, World Religion, Mark of the Beast, Rev. 13:7-8, etc.) are close (and by implication the Rapture is closer) and the need to draw near to God is urgent.
The current coronavirus outbreak is not an event prophesied in the Bible for the seven-year Tribulation. The world simply hasn’t entered that time period yet. However, it is significant to Bible prophecy, because it sets the stage for the near-term fulfillment of many end-times Bible prophecies. This isn’t surprising. Politicians take advantage of times of turmoil, disaster, and fear to implement changes people otherwise wouldn’t accept. Here are just a few things to expect in the days ahead:
Hurricane season brings the phenomenon known as a “steering mechanism.” I’m no meteorologist, of course, but know enough to understand that, in the United States, winds aloft blowing from west to east have an effect on hurricanes approaching our mainland from the Atlantic.
There are several aspects of the China coronavirus pandemic that have prophetic underpinnings. It certainly is a type and shadow of an end time pestilence, which could result in a great famine, as prophesied by Christ in Matthew 24:7, “…and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places.” Since this coronavirus has been on the radar, there have been some 33 earthquakes in California, Oklahoma, Tennessee, the Carolinas, New York and Maine. But when we are talking about the specifics of prophecy, it is not about America. It is about Israel. We need to remember that. Yes, prophecy affects America and vice versa, and you and I, but it is centered on Israel and the return of Christ.
China’s coronavirus is a revealer of prophetic events, perhaps a type and shadow of what is to come. We have seen just how small the world is. Humanity is globally connected in this 21st Century. What happens in China can determine what happens in Ohio, or even in a small rural community in Africa. We can see how quickly devastation, panic, economic disaster, sickness and death can occur. If it gets worse and worse, we could see how nations can rise up against nations and how famines and wars could quickly develop. The tighter food and medical supplies become, the more likely the love of many shall wax cold. Neighbor could turn against neighbor, family member against family member. This is prophetic.
In all of human history, infectious diseases have been a constant threat. The small mutation in the genome of a virus or bacterium could trigger a pandemic that could sweep over the world and kill millions of people. The last major pandemic with high levels of mortality was the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak; this pandemic was estimated to be responsible for the deaths of approximately 50-100 million people.