A recent report involving a mining company in Western Pennsylvania has caused a stir among the Evangelical Christians in the area. The company was requiring all of its employees to begin using a bio-metric scanning system that would track them on the job. One miner, Beverly Butcher Jr., refused the hand-scan because he believes it is part of the Mark of the Beast system, identified in Revelation 13:18. The prophecy speaks of men not being able to buy or sell, unless they have the mark, the name, or the number of the beast.
The Bio-metric scanners are a scanner where the right hand is used and the scanner reads the lines on the right hand, giving each line a number. When the hand is placed again on the scanner, the scanner is able to match the lines with the number and assures it is the person being scanned. These types of scanners are being used in Disney theme parks where the hand scan places matches the personal information on a plastic card used to access the parts and purchase food or novelty items. If the hand scan does not march the information on the card, then the card cannot be used, as it is assumed the card was stolen – or belongs to another person. The idea behind the process is to avoid fraud or stealing the cards from another person and running up a bill. These scanners are also used in many banks when entering the safety deposit box area. The person owning the box must have their social security number, and the scan must match the identified person, each time they access the box.
In the case of Butcher, he felt this system was too close to the system to emerge with the future Antichrist system. It was pointed out to the Consul Energy Company where Butcher had worked for 35 years, that two miners with missing fingers were given an alternative method to access the mining company.
Because of Butcher’s religious belief and his refusal to access the hand scanner, he was forced into early retirement. The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission filed a law suit against the energy company stating that Butcher’s religious rights had been violated.
This will be an interesting case, as in Canada and with certain business in the States, owners are moving toward these types of scanners and in a few instances, are demanding employees to have an implanted chip in their right hand, to track their whereabouts. Three Canadian Pentecostals filed a suit against their company as they refused to receive this chip implant for religious objections and won their suit in the Canadian Supreme Court, who allowed instead a chip to be placed in a plastic card, which served the same purpose as the implanted chip.
These cases should be observed as in some instances the person is threatened with being fired for resisting the company’s new policy. While the Bio-scanner may not be the Mark of the Beast, the Beast technology is certainly on the rise and this issue is important for those who know and understand Bible prophecy.
Perry Stone, Jr.
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