I've sometimes wondered if biometrics fulfills this prophecy - fingerprints and retinal scans.
Thanks for the history of the Rapture belief. I had read somewhere that the idea began in the 19th century, but never bothered to research it.
Anyway, speaking of the mark, I heard the other day that the plan is to have everyone micro chipped by 2017. They are already putting these things in animals, and one of the pretenses that will be used to make people accept this is to keep track of terrorists.