Is a “Cashless Society” a Sign of the End?

American Vision ^ | July 20, 2009 | Gary DeMar

[topcat54]

I’m beginning to see that prophetic speculation is taking place on the fringes of the Christian publishing industry. Of course, you will still find the occasional prophetic pot-boiler. Mark Hitchcock writes a couple of prophecy books a year. They are mostly exercises in “newspaper exegesis,” driven more by current events than the Bible. Consider these three, all to be published in 2009: The Late Great United States (Multnomah), 2012, the Bible, and the End of the World (Harvest House), and Cashless: Bible Prophecy, Economic Chaos, and the Future Financial Order (Harvest House). How do you go from The Late Great Planet Earth, Hal Lindsey’s mega-best seller from the 1970s, to the end of America? It seems to me that The Late Great Planet Earth would have included the United States. Anyone familiar with Lindsey’s timetable will remember that it was all to happen before 1988. Of course, these publishers are counting on people not remembering or not even knowing of past failed predictions. As P.T. Barnum is reportedly to have said (it was actually David Hannum), “There’s a sucker born every minute,” and these suckers make money for companies that continue to publish out-of-date prophecy books that end up being an embarrassment to the Christian faith.

The cashless society argument has been done before. Hitchcock’s former co-author, Thomas Ice, wrote The Coming Cashless Society in 1996 with Timothy Demy. Where does the Bible mention a “cashless society”? Revelation 13:17 is used as the operating prophetic text on this issue: “And [the Beast] causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.” How does this translate into a cashless society? The “mark” is the key to the transaction. Nothing is said about what the people are using to buy or sell. It just says that they can’t buy or sell without the “mark,” and the mark has to be 666 on the forehead and right hand, not an imbedded microchip. If it’s a microchip in Revelation 13, then it’s a microchip in Revelation 14:1.

What if the world decides to make gold the coin of the realm? Wouldn’t this be a good thing? How could we oppose a world currency based on gold since it’s written into our constitution? “No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility” (Art. 1, sec. 10). Even the Bible considers gold to be a normative currency for everyone.

The meaning of Revelation 13:17 has to be found contextually. Like much of Revelation, its familiar symbols are meant to represent familiar concepts to its first readers. This is why Revelation must be read against the backdrop of the Old Testament and the contemporary historical context. As Ferrel Jenkins writes: “The book of Revelation is the most thoroughly Jewish in its language and imagery of any New Testament book. This book speaks not the language of Paul, but of the Old Testament prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.”[1] The beasts, both sea (Rome) and land (Israel), the mark on the hand or head (Deut. 6:8), and the number 666 should be interpreted in light of the Old Testament (1 Kings 10:14), similar to the way Sodom (Rev. 11:8), Egypt (11:8), Jezebel (2:20), Balaam (2:14), and Babylon (14:8; 16:19; 17:5; 18:2, 10, 21) are interpreted in Revelation. By understanding the way the Old Testament uses and applies marks and the significance of 666 (spiritual adultery with the nations: 1 Kings 11), it is not that difficult to determine what John is describing in Revelation 13.

There is an article on the Always Ready Apologetics Ministry Blog (ARAMB) website with the title “A One World Monetary System” (July 14, 2009). The “evidence” that Revelation 13:17 could be in the process of being fulfilled is that Russia, China, and other nations want to switch from the Dollar to a “united future world currency.” This must mean that at the present, the Dollar is the united world currency; it’s been so since after World War II. So why wasn’t the Dollar the fulfillment of Revelation 13:17? Charlie Campbell, the Director of ARAMB, doesn’t offer a sound biblical argument for his claim that “the Book of Revelation speaks of a time when there will be a one world monetary system in place (see Revelation 13:16–18).” His interpretation is based on an already adopted dispensational system. But there is no real exegesis to back it up. Campbell should take notice of his May 13, 2009 article “Hermeneutics 101: Interpret Scripture with Scripture.” He offers some very good advice:

A correct interpretation of the Bible will always be consistent with the rest of the Scriptures. Therefore, it is essential for us as students of the Bible to interpret a passage in light of what the rest of the Scriptures say on the topic.

Whoever carried the mark of the beast would be identified as someone who aligned himself with the beast, and whoever carried the mark of the Lamb would be identified with the blood and seal of the Lamb (Rev. 14:1). Those who identified with Rome against Jesus Christ died in the destruction of Jerusalem when Titus and his army swept in to destroy the temple and the city. These are the ones who drank “of the wine of the wrath of God” (14:10). Those who carried the name of Jesus’ Father “written on their foreheads . . . follow the lamb wherever He goes” (14:1, 4). The two marks identified two groups of people: one for Christ and one against Christ. As far back as Genesis, we find the division: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heal” (Gen. 3:15). Cain and Abel fit the pattern throughout biblical history that will one day culminate in the final judgment. Revelation 13:17–18 is not about economics.

The control of economic transactions drives modern claims of a one-world government controlled by the antichrist during the great tribulation. This sensationalistic but popular view is outlined by Thomas Ice and Timothy Demy in their book The Coming Cashless Society:

Using every means at his disposal, including the technology of a cashless society, the Antichrist and his demands will bring the world into its greatest-ever moral and economic turmoil. Such chaos will make the stock market crash of 1929 look like a minor economic adjustment.

Revelation 13:16, 17 is the biblical point of entry for discussion of the cashless society, a one-world government, global economics, and biblical prophecy.[2]

Revelation 13:16–17 says nothing about a “cashless society.” Having gone out on a limb with their prediction, the authors come back to biblical reality and write, “The Bible does not specifically predict computers, the Internet, credit cards, or any of the other trimmings that facilitate the modern electronic banking system.”[3] In fact, Revelation 13:16–17 does not describe the control of financial transactions but rather access to the temple controlled by the Jewish anti-Christian religious establishment. The key to interpreting the passage is the prohibition “to buy or to sell” (13:17) if a worshipper does not have the mark of the beast.

Buying and selling, properly understood, are worship-related rituals (Isa. 55:1–2). “This is established in [Revelation] 3:18 (and compare 21:6). When those who refuse the mark of the Beast are not allowed to buy and sell, it means that they are expelled from the synagogue and Temple. The merchants of the land in Revelation 18 are those who worshipped at the Temple and synagogue.”[4] “Babylon the Great,” described as “the great city” (18:2, 10, 21) is Jerusalem (11:8; 16:19). Jesus foretold that this would happen: “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue; but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God” (John 16:2). Keep in mind that it is the “beast coming up out of the land” that is involved in these events. The land beast is most certainly associated with first-century Israel, especially the priests who control the temple.

Early in the church’s history the disciples went to the temple to preach the gospel (Acts 5:20–21, 24, 42; 24:12). At first, they were welcomed (Acts 2:46). Peter and John frequented the temple during “the hour of prayer” (Acts 3:1). Jewish Christians continued to use the temple, even participating in some of its rituals (Acts 21:26). After the temple officials learned that these Jews were preaching that Jesus was the Messiah—the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world—Paul was “dragged . . . out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut” (21:26–30).

Jesus tells the church of Laodicea, “‘I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich. . .’” (Rev. 3:18). How were the people to buy gold from God? Buying gold refined by fire is symbolic and relates to spiritual worship. It is reasonable, therefore, to assume that the reference to “buying and selling” in Revelation 13:17 is also symbolic and related to worship.

The interpretive background for understanding Revelation 13:17 can be found in the gospels. During Jesus’ ministry, the temple officials were “selling,” and worshippers were “buying,” access to the temple (Matt. 21:12). Their “buying and selling” turned “God’s house” into a “robbers’ den” (21:12–13), a “synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2:9; 3:9). Only those Jews who aligned themselves with the priests, the sacrificial system, and the temple buildings were allowed to enter the temple for worship. If anyone approaching the temple did not have the mark of the beast, that is, if they did not align themselves with what the temple now represented apart from Christ, they could not “buy or sell” in order to offer the appropriate sacrifices.

To take the “mark of the beast” meant a person denied that Jesus was the Messiah, the true temple of God, the only sufficient sacrifice. Of course, Christian Jews avoided the “mark of the beast” and showed their true allegiance to Jesus, “having His name and the name of his father written on their foreheads” (Rev. 14:1). They did this through public professions of faith and allegiance to Jesus over against the corrupt priesthood that had chosen Caesar over Christ (John 19:15).

When commanded not to “speak to any man in this name,” Peter and John responded, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:18–20). When the disciples heard Peter and John’s account of their encounter with the priests Annas and Caiaphas, they turned to Psalm 110 for understanding: “‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples devise futile things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ’” (Acts 4:25-26). This “rage” only intensified as Jews made their decisions regarding Jesus more resolute.

All of these passages fit together nicely since true redemption comes from Mt. Zion where “the Lamb was standing.” And where is this “Mount Zion”?: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriad of angels” (Heb. 12:22). Revelation 13 and 14 contrast two ways of salvation: access to the stone temple through the mark of the beast (Rev. 11:1–2) or through Jesus the true temple (John 2:13–25) and the mark of the Lamb (rev. 14:1)

Endnotes:
[1] Ferrel Jenkins, The Old Testament in the Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1976), 22.
[2] Thomas Ice and Timothy Demy, The Coming Cashless Society (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1996), 69–70.
[3] Ice and Demy, The Coming Cashless Society, 85.
[4] James B. Jordan, A Brief Reader’s Guide to Revelation (Niceville, FL: Transfiguration Press, 1999), 19.

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Permission to reprint granted by American Vision, P.O. Box 220, Powder Springs, GA 30127, 800-628-9460.

[just me]

End Times? We should be taking our Country back out of the hands of the heathen.... We are being judged. This Nation has fallen from grace because of “false religion”. I walk with Christ I don’t need to wait for His return.. All scripture concerning these matters has been filled. I think we are about to find out God won’t be mocked....

[Dr. Eckleburg]

We are in the endtimes.

Indeed. We have been for 2000 years.

Amen. As bad as it gets, it's still post-resurrection. Therefore, as sing "Joy to the world; the Lord is come."

[Uri’el-2012]

Daniel 12:4 But you, Daniel, close up
and seal the words of the scroll until
the time of the end.
Many will go here and there
to increase knowledge."

There are a few things which tell us that we are in the "end times"

1) the re-gathering of Israel by YHvH in the land given to them by Him after two millennia in 1948
2) the recapture of G-d's holy city, Jerusalem by His people.
3) The increase of knowledge ( the internet)

In 1948 the transistor was invented since then we have followed Moore's Law; doubling the transistor density every 18 months.
In 1948 information took hours to days and sometimes weeks : today video is only delayed by propagation delay of the speed of light.
The internet which provides all of the world's knowledge at our fingertips came out of space travel and the transistor.

4) World travel has exploded since 1948

5) the fastest humans traveled since early times was by horse;
in the twentieth century speeds increased to from 10mph to 400mph by 1948 to 25,000 mph in 1962.

6) Today we see the Prince of Persia with nuclear weapons planning war against Israel,
he is being helped by Gog and Magog in Moscow.

7) We also see the Revived Roman Empire ( EU ) distancing themselves from Israel.
The US is no longer the lone supporter of Israel.
The 0bama administration is now coming against Israel.

8) The Bushes were raised in the traditions of Replacement
Theology and forced Israel to give up land mandated by YHvH.

9) The 0bama administration currently in power is turning Israel over to Satan.

Every important event G-d has acted on a Torah defined Feast.
Y'shua offered himself as our Pesach Lamb on Passover,
Y'shua died for all sin on the day the leaven is removed on hagMatzoh,
Y'shua rose from the dead on the feast of First Fruits and
sent the Ruach Ha Kodesh to breath on His apostles on the Feast of Weeks.

The fall feasts begin with a forty day period of 'Teshuvah ', which means "to repent or return"
It begins in the sixth month of the Religious Calendar, and concludes on
the tenth day of the seventh month, which is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
Each morning for thirty days in the synagogue following the morning prayers, a trumpet (shofar) is blown

This leaves Yom Teruah ("the day of the awakening blast") the feast of Trumpets with it's final trump
Ten days later Yom Kippur the day the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies, Cleansing of the people's sins,
Succoth, the day when we enter our temporary dwellings
and the final gathering after the seven days of the feast of Booths.

It is curious that of all these feasts the only one for which
the hour and day are not known is YomTeruah when the final trump is blown

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Great homepage excerpt...

A favorite book passage: "...secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy... censorship. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, "This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know," the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything -- you can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him" John Lyle in Revolt in 2100 by Robert A. Heinlein

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Einstein said that the only reason for time was so that everything doesn?t happen at once.

Everything already has happened at once in the mind of God.

[BuckeyeTexan]

The forehead symbolizes the mind (i.e. what one believes) and the hand symbolizes our actions (i.e. what one does). God said that his laws will be written on our hearts and minds. He didn’t mean literally. Our heart symbolizes what we love and treasure. Our mind symbolizes what we believe.

Jesus used many parts of the body to represent concepts, such as the eyes being the lamp of God. Jesus spoke of what comes out of our mouths from our hearts making us unclean, meaning what we speak comes from our hearts or what we love and treasure. He never meant any of those things literally. They were all symbolic.

It is consistent with Christ’s teachings to suggest that the mark of the beast on our foreheads and/or our hands is symbolic of what we believe and what we do. The same verse in Revelation 14 that references the mark of the beast also says that those who receive it will drink of the wine of God’s fury that has been poured full strength into the cup
of his wrath. Those who don’t love and serve Christ will experience God’s fury and wrath but not by drinking a literal glass of wine. Nearly all of Revelation is symbolic.

Revelation says that only those who keep God’s commandments will enter Heaven. Christ said that the 1st & greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. He said the 2nd commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. We keep those commandments through what we believe, what we love and what we do. If we focus our lives on keeping those 2 commandments, then we needn’t worry about receiving the mark of the beast because our minds, hearts and hands will be focused on worshiping and serving Christ.

I realize that many Christians worry about if and how technology will be used in end times. God would never allow his children, whom he loves and gave his son for and who love him in return, to be duped into receiving the mark of the beast. God gives us free will so we can choose him. Receiving the mark of the beast will be a choice to reject God and serve and worship Satan. Yes, Satan will deceive people causing them to reject God by denying him, not loving him, and not serving him. But never fear that you will be deceived into receiving the mark of the beast because if you love and serve God, you will not and cannot reject him.

This is a sensitive subject and I know many truly believe that the mark of the beast will be a physical mark on or implanted in the body. I ask you to simply consider what I’ve written, read the scriptures, and pray for guidance from the Lord. Just because we’ve been taught something all our lives doesn’t mean it’s true or that we have to believe it. Seek out your faith through God’s perfect word not through man’s errant predictions.

Blessings.

[Quix]

All scripture concerning these matters has been filled.

= = =

That’s one of the most outrageously uninformed, unaware, silly, untrue statements I’ve ever read on FR, or the net, for that matter.

[Quix]

Thanks.

Well put.

Far better than I.

How do you explain such blindness as we see on such threads as these in such matters?

Incredible. Boggles my mind.

This statement:

“All scripture concerning these matters has been filled.”

is TOTALLY off the wall. How does one even think such a thing if they have truly read The Bible and considered daily news items the last several decades?

I don’t know what the ratio currently is of unfulfilled END TIMES PROPHECIES TO FULFILLED ONES. Have you seen anything on that?

[Quix]

I disagree with much in that post yet think you make some very good points.

I don’t believe Revelation is mostly symbolic, per se though I haven’t counted the symbolic verses vs the literal ones vs the both ones.

[BuckeyeTexan]

See my post at #26. I wrote something similar.

In my opinion, it doesn’t matter if the end comes tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, or next decade. If I love the Lord and am serving him faithfully, then my name is in the Book of Life - literally or figuratively.

[Marysecretary]

Sigh, indeed. I wonder how these folk will feel when Christ returns and they are looking up and saying, “What happened?”

[tbw2]

What is replacementarian? Obamacare jokes Obama jokes

[just me]

You listen to Hal and do your silly bible codes and news paper head lines, I’ll stick with scripture.....

[Marysecretary]

I heartily agree with you regarding the Feast of the Trumpets and the importance of the Jewish feasts in the life of Jesus.

[Quix]

Sticking with Scripture leaves that statement

utterly preposterously ridiculous and most UNBIBLICAL.

[Quix]

INDEED.

[Quix]

Those who believe that The Christian Church

utterly and totally replaced the children of

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Scripture including all prophecy Scriptures

I call REPLACEMENTARIANS

because they are utterly contrary to God’s clear statements in Scripture about HIS EVERYLASTING PROMISES TO HIS BUDDY ABRAHAM AND ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB’S SEED.

Contrarian,
bull-headed,
smug,
arrogant,
self-righteous,

. . . all seem to collect together around some ideas well above average.

[topcat54]

Contrarian, bull-headed, smug, arrogant, self-righteous,

Not to mention the writers who spout endlessly without saying anything yet cannot see the log in their own eye. Empty vessels from start to finish. Line upon line of vapor. With all the substance of a

[Quix]

So, please tell us . . .

when did the

TWO END TIMES WITNESSES . . . . AFTER A GOOD PERIOD OF MIRACULOUS EVANGELIZING INCLUDING CALLING FIRE DOWN OUT OF HEAVEN ON THEIR ENEMIES . . .

WHEN DID THEIR DEAD BODIES LIE IN A STREET IN JERUSALEM AFTER THE GLOBAL SATAN WORLD LEADER'S RISE TO POWER

IN FULL VIEW OF THE WHOLE WORLD FOR THE 3 DAYS?

PLEASE, PLEASE TELL US ???WHEN??? those three days were ALREADY FULFILLED, that you insist were already fulfilled.

Of course it would be better for you to give the time in terms of our conventional calendar. Star-dates a la Start Trek will not be accepted. Nor will Mayan calendar stated dates.

Of course, humbled retractions are acceptable, too.

[Quix]

Your characteristic paradoxical confirmation of the truth is persistently welcome.