“I’m wondering who’s going to buy this magic, Charley,” Carl said. “If he sets up an idol, it seems to me that people like Orthodox Jews, dedicated Christians, and devout Muslims aren’t going to buy it. Most of these people don’t go in for idol worship.”

“Again, you’re exactly right, Carl, but they’ll have to pay a terrible price for remaining true to their convictions. If they’re caught, they will be executed. But this prime minister for the Antichrist has one more trick up his sleeve, and it will be worse than all the others. Look at verses sixteen and seventeen.”

Carl read, “‘He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.’”

“You know, folks,” Charley chimed in, “Dave and I tried to use a check to buy the tents and mess gear for this place. Guess what? My checks were no good. All the bank accounts and brokerage accounts I own are frozen. It’s so easy to take away most of a person’s money in a crisis like this.”

“I know how this system can work,” Carl interjected. “My agency did the original campaign to sell the idea of smart-cards. These cards, which look like any other credit card, contain a tiny chip that tracks your bank balance and is debited or credited with purchases and deposits. No checks, no cash, no hassle. But we found out that people were worried about having these pieces of plastic lost or stolen. Guess what the solution was? A tiny surgical implant—a paper-thin computer chip no more than a quarter-inch square. The thing can be inserted very easily under the flesh of your hand by any physician, and it can be read by a simple recognition device—a sort of hand ID-reader. Now, I’m told, they can do the same thing with a laser tattoo. So simple and convenient, we thought it was fabulous.”

“Everybody will think it’s fabulous, Carl,” John replied. “When everybody is out of money, the world government of the Antichrist will start the financial ball rolling by issuing each person credit on a chip. There will be no sale transactions for anything unless the purchaser has the laser chip tattooed on his hand. From then on, a giant network of super computers can monitor every movement, every purchase.

“Just think about it,” he added. “Every time you buy groceries, gasoline, a movie ticket, or a book, the system will keep a record. The government will know everywhere you go, everything you earn, and everything you spend. From there, it would be easy to have monitoring stations where you would have to check in regularly like a parolee or a felon on house arrest.