money will play an essential role in all of the events of the future including the end times there's a couple of chapters in the book of revelation where the economic center of the world at that time babylon is destroyed and it occupies dozens of verses talking about the destruction of babylon the center of monetary world so money's always been important in the past everything connected with economics is increasingly important today but it's driving our world i think we can assume money will remain important in the future and that it will dominate our world even more
in days to come get ready are we living in the end times there may have never been another time in history when end times prophecy has been more aligned with the culture and circumstances of the world than it is today [Music] i believe there are ten phenomena we are witnessing today that were recorded centuries ago in bible prophecy seeing our circumstances in light of these prophecies should give us resolve purpose and hope and help us answer the questions what are we to do with the world around us what hope do we have in times like
these and ultimately where do we go from here a cashless society cryptocurrency microchipping technology what does all this mean for our future are these signs of the last days money has always been important in the past and economics will continue to play an essential role in future events including the end times join dr david jeremiah for this special prophecy edition of turning point as he presents a sign of the end times economic chaos a financial prophecy stylishly bearded and wearing a baseball cap juan osterlund pulls on a pair of surgical gloves and uses a wipe
to sterilize the top of his client's hand then with a quick jab osterlund inserts a pre-loaded syringe into the man's skin and the man gasps as a tiny microchip about the size of a grain of rice and encased in a silicate glass enters his body it invisibly embeds itself in his hand as the man exclaims i'm a cyborg so what do you think is that clip from a horror movie or a dystopian television show or could it be from the nightly news well this procedure didn't take place in a dark movie or in the middle
of a criminal layer it happened in the clean and bright offices of a company in sweden specializing in biochips the company is called biohacks international it's where osterlund is the ceo and he estimates that he has chipped more than six thousand swedes during the six years his company has been in business the microchip that he injects into clients uses radio frequency technology and you might have a similar chip in your dog or your cat chipping pets is a popular way of tracking them if they ever get lost some of you probably know about that but
human microchipping is more sophisticated and it offers a broader range of applications the chip can be used to open secure doors or log into computers all you have to do is just wave your hand it can be used for contactless payments when the chip is linked with bank or credit accounts users can access funds by swiping their hand over the payment terminals actual credit cards are no longer needed the technology has literally gotten under your skin and it's coming soon to a hand near you of course they could potentially be used to track your movements
to reveal your secrets inform a totalitarian government what you're feeling and saying this is both exciting and frightening at the same time well maybe you're thinking doesn't the bible say something about this sort of thing haven't i heard about something being stamped on our hands or on our foreheads yeah you have you're right the evolving biometric chip technology reminds us of a prophecy that's found in revelation chapter 13 verses 16 to 17. it's a passage predicting something that will happen at the end of history during the great tribulation now having heard the story i've told
you about what's happening in sweden listen carefully to these words from the scripture he causes all both small and great rich and poor free and slave to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name could the technology being produced by osterlund and many others be our foreshadowing of this mark of the beast we read about in the book of revelation just think about this technology in the wrong
hands could it lead us toward the day when a centralized government will control attack punish and monitor all of us so yes without being dogmatic or alarmist it feels like biometric chips could be a precursor of revelation 13. i see multitudes of people entire nations choosing to hardwire their lives to devices and move the physical world toward digital without even looking back and this includes digitizing our relationships our news our entertainment our politics our health and yes even our money today like it or not we're all relying on the security and trustworthiness of electronic systems
and massive banks to manage our savings and handle our finances more and more people in the western world are buying selling and giving not with physical money coins and bills but through a series of touches on a small screen we love the convenience of managing our accounts from our palms for the most of us this technology is still on the outside of our hand in our smartphones but it's only two millimeters from where osterlund would like it to be under our skin what does all this mean for us for the future and is it a
sign of the end times that's the question how does this affect the followers of the lamb right now today let's turn to scripture for some answers what does this mean well as we've seen throughout this message it's difficult to make definitive statements about future events there are so many variables at play even when we have general principles and prophecies from god's word to guide us we have to be careful about turning those principles and those prophecies into specific predictions about people places and events so i don't want to leave the impression today that a swedish
biochip is necessarily and definitively the biblical mark of the beast i don't really believe that but it's hard not to see some obvious trend lines and there's one thing i can say with confidence money will play an essential role in all of the events of the future including the end times there's a couple of chapters in the book of revelation where the economic center of the world at that time babylon is destroyed and it occupies dozens of verses talking about the destruction of babylon the center of monetary world so money's always been important in the
past everything connected with economics is increasingly important today but it's driving our world i think we can assume money will remain important in the future and that it will dominate our world even more in days to come get ready so the bible is rich with information on this topic specifically scripture reveals that money will have an impact on the end times both leading up to and during the period known as the tribulation let's talk about three of the most important financial signs of the end time number one the addiction to money can you be addicted
to money do you know anybody that's addicted to money second timothy 3 1-2 says but know this that in the last days perilous times will come for men will be lovers of money it's easy to think of wall street when we read these verses but we also must grapple with this personally paul said that the end times will be a period defined by rejecting what is good and running to embrace what is evil and much of that will be centered on an ever-increasing appetite for money that matches what paul had previously written to timothy a
verse that's often misunderstood but listen to it carefully for the love of money is the root of all evil for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows i always like to tell people that paul did not say that money was the root of all evil how many of you know money is neutral it's what we do with money that creates the issue and paul said in timothy it's not money that's evil it's the love of money i want you to listen to something that john piper
wrote about this he said god deals in the currency of grace not in the currency of money money is the currency of human resources so the heart that loves money is a heart that pins its hopes and pursues its pleasures and puts its trust on what human resources can offer so the love of money is virtually the same as faith in money belief and trust and confidence and assurance that money will meet your needs and make you happy and there are many many people that you and i know that's what drives their life they believe
that if they get enough of it if they can just get a little bit more of it and if they can store it away they're going to be okay and they'll be ready and they can relax and not worry and it seems like it takes them all their life to do it and just when they get what they think is enough they die and they give that money to somebody else who hasn't worked for it and usually doesn't know what to do with it and you know the story there are so many people that you
and i know who try to insulate themselves behind a fortress of materialism they put their hope and money as a means for buying protection and purpose power and pleasure they wear money on their sleeves like cufflinks so others will think more highly of them or at least be envious of them they invest everything in what is temporary and completely ignore what is eternal our addiction to wealth will only grow stronger as we approach the end of history so let me just say to you today don't let it happen to you this is our culture but
it cannot be our character later in this message i'll give you some safeguards that have helped me you don't want to let money get control of your life if you become addicted to money it will ruin you and everyone around you i've seen it over and over and over then here's another thing that seems quite interesting because there's a lot of discussion about this right now and that's the acceleration of inequality the last days say that there will be an increasing amount of inequality as far as wealth is concerned at the beginning of this section
in revelation 6 we read about things that will occur near the beginning of the tribulation and i want you to listen to this passage carefully and then i'll explain to you what it means when he opened the third seal i heard the third living creature say come and see so i looked and behold a black horse and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand and i heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying a quart a week for denarius and three quarts of barley for denarius
and do not harm the oil and the wine now that's kind of a wordy statement but what's going on here the passage describes the seal of judgment during the tribulation and it paints a picture of worldwide famine the black horse is a symbol of famine and it is a time of judgment when resources will be sparse many will be thrown into abject poverty and hunger and despair and the prophecy says that in those days a denarius that's what you had paid for a day's work it says in those days a denarius would buy a quart
of wheat a quart of wheat will sell for denarius during the tribulation period a quart of wheat won very much in fact it was not enough to sustain a family and then it goes on to say that three quarts of barley could also be bought for daenerys imagine a day of back-breaking labor getting up early in the morning going out and working your tail off if i can use that expression and come back and realize all you got that day was a quart of grain and it isn't even enough to feed your family for one
day now it says something here about oil and wine it says touch not the oil and wine oil and wine were the commodities of luxury of well-heeled people they didn't deal in barley and wheat they dealt in oil and wine and the scripture says don't touch that so what happens is the poor people get poorer and the people who control the wealth get richer and the disparity in the economy is gross an old saying goes like this the rich get richer and the poor get poorer the issue of income equality will be a big driver
in the tribulation chaos then thirdly not only the addiction to money and the acceleration of inequality the adoration of the antichrist just as financial addiction and rising inequality conjure up scenes of the future the bible tells us that a cult leader will be revealed who will deceive the whole world and ultimately declare himself to be god the antichrist will be the personification of charisma and people will do anything for a glimpse of him the bible shows us who he really is revelation 13 calls him a beast rising up out of the sea this ultimate dictator
will rule the world during the last days and he won't be alone a few verses later john saw a second beast this one coming up out of the earth this beast is called the false prophet and he will have one supreme duty to point humanity toward the antichrist it will be a twisted inversion of how the holy spirit points people to jesus christ today he has two things that he does he controls the spiritual temperature of the world and the economic temperature of the world i want you to hear what the false prophet says at
this particular time through the prophecy of john in the book of revelation revelation 13 16-18 he causes all both small and great rich and poor free and slave to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name here is wisdom let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast for it is the number of a man his number is 666. i always think about this passage i remember
a time in a grocery store and there was a person in front of me that had a cart that was loaded to the hilt they got all up there they checked all that out on the belt got all done and got the number and they didn't have any money and the checkout lady she was very gracious but she had to take all that away and they had to leave because they didn't have any way to pay for it now here's the point one day in the future people are gonna go to the store they're gonna
fill their carts with food and they're gonna come to the cashier to check out and the cashier's going to say please let me see your hand and they're going to hold their hand out and if they don't have the mark or the chip or whatever it happens to be they will not be allowed to buy any food most people that i know who've studied this period of time believe that most of the death during the tribulation will be because of starvation if you do not have the mark you will not be able to transact any
business millionaire and popper free man and slave everyone will be compelled to receive this mark of the beast and no one will be exempt without this mark people will be unable to buy or sell anything and economic access and opportunity will vanish for anyone resisting the antichrist and the false prophet what will this mark be could it be a microchip in your hand or some other emerging technology as we discussed at the beginning it's possible we don't know for sure because scripture does not provide details but one thing i can tell you ten years ago
when i started preaching on this i could never have dreamed how believable it would be at this particular time in my career as a pastor it's way more believable now than it was and i believe that then because it was in the bible i believe it now because it's in the bible and it's starting to happen what we know is this the mark of the beast will indicate that the one wearing it is a worshiper of the beast someone who submits to his rule and those who refuse that mark will be traitors and they will
likely starve while on the run or be killed on the spot when they're captured now i know that's a dire story it's coming i'm not making this up it's in the bible i've just told you the bare minimum of the story and i don't want you to be all freaked out over it today i just want you to know this is what the bible says is coming why do we need to know this because what we're seeing today in our culture is kind of like the hinting at the beginning of it it's the front edge
of it here's something that i wrote in one of the chapters of this book and i hope you'll hear me carefully the bible says that the rapture is going to happen it's going to happen at any time it could happen right now during this time there's nothing that has to take place for the rapture to occur it's signless and so what happens after the rapture immediately after the rapture the tribulation begins when the saints all go up all hell breaks loose on earth and all these tribulation things will happen if we believe that the rapture
could happen at any time and we say we do and we clap when we say it if we believe it could happen today what that means is all of these things i'm talking about couldn't be any further into the future than a seven year period and most of them will happen in the middle of the tribulation as we move toward the end so this is not just oh out in the future someplace oh it's so far away pastor i don't want to no no no if the rapture is signless if it's imminent and it could
happen today all of these things could happen in the tomorrows after that today thank god we won't be here we'll be in heaven but those things will be happening on this earth there's a there's a little law of prophecy that i'll just give you you can write it down because it's really important here it is future events cast their shadows before them in other words things that are going to happen in the future cast a shadow backwards this way you can see the beginning of the reality through the shadow of what has happened so keep
your eyes open listen carefully to what people say especially in this area where human identification is being discussed more and more every day so let me give you some things that you should be thinking about i hope you will do this first of all determine to count the cost determine to count the cost in luke 14 we read for which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first and count the cost whether he has enough to finish it lest after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish all
who see it begin to mock him saying this man began to build and was not able to finish so likewise whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple here's what i want to say to you and maybe this comes as a strange message at a time like this but i want you to hear it because it's true following jesus carries a cost throughout history many christians have paid that cost with their lives others have paid it with their reputations others have paid it with their convenience their relationships their freedom
and even their health and wealth when christ is everything everything else is nothing in comparison as the world veers further away from god's values and as time moves closer toward armageddon will arrive at a moment when proclaiming the name of jesus requires a sacrifice even a significant sacrifice maybe everything but wouldn't you rather have jesus than anything the world affords think about it be determined that whatever happens when the time comes and it may not come in your lifetime but when the moment comes when you have to decide for jesus or for the world which
is where you live now count the cost the bible says we need to count the cost as if we were building a tower and lest we fall short in the midst of the process number two determined to count the cost and determine to be confident the wonderful news about living for jesus is that not only can we experience the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of god we can also feel confident in the reality of god's presence right now no matter what cost we may pay to follow christ we will never sacrifice our connection with
him the author of hebrews put it this way for he himself has said i will never leave you nor forsake you so we may boldly say the lord is my helper i will not fear what can man do to me when we stand in such awe of the living lord the lying world loses its power on us do what you want to do the lord is my confidence i stand in him he's promised never to leave me nor forsake me [Applause] number three so determine to count the cost number two determine to be confident and
number three determine to be content oh how we need to learn this i'll finish this message with this thought because god will never leave us or forsake us we can be content with what we have as the globe spins around us and the worship of wealth will accelerate the bible can keep us from yielding to these pressures there's one incredible secret i want to give you on the authority of scripture i can tell you how to distance yourself from a materialistic lifestyle it's by developing one simple biblical attitude contentment two passages instantly come to mind
that you should write down in your notebook if you struggle with being content here they are the first one comes to us from the book of hebrews it says let your conduct be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have and the second is in ecclesiastes 5 10 he who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver nor he who loves abundance with increase this also is vanity covetousness is very subtle folks because it's a condition that exists in our minds it's the invisible violation that no one else ever sees you can
have your act together on the outside but inside you can be agonizing lusting and being consumed by the desire to have what someone else has coveting is a closeted spiritual crime that if not checked will eventually manifest itself externally the writer of hebrews tells us how to replace coveting with contentment the word for contentment means satisfied adequate competent sufficient the same term is used in second corinthians 12 9 where god told paul my grace is sufficient for you someone has said christian contentment is the god-given ability to be satisfied with the loving provision of god
in any situation in other words wherever we are whatever we're experiencing if we know god we don't have to be worried about what we don't have or what we might have or what we wish we have we have god and i'll tell you what i know people have got everything the world has to offer and they don't have god and they're empty and they don't know what life is all about and they wish they could find the secret that some of their friends who have very little have found the simplicity of contentment in the lord
jesus paul wrote in philippians chapter 4 listen carefully not that i speak in regard to need for i have learned in whatever state i am to be content let's just stop right there how did paul get to be content he learned contentment is a learned attitude is that something you grow up with i don't know any kid who's content do you they always want something they don't have something somebody else has the first time they see something they don't have they want it you know what some people's problem is here it is wherever you go
you take yourself with you you get that one contentment isn't outside of yourself contentment is in yourself and it's an attitude that you learn and when you learn contentment the pull of riches and all the extra things money then becomes just a tool use it for the kingdom of god use it for the basics and enjoy what god has given you the bible wants us to enjoy our life but if you hoard resources if your goal is to be the richest person on your street or in your company or in your family that attitude will
destroy you learn to be content with what you have and what you have is the eternal god and his son jesus christ our world's approach to money is troubling it's alarming it's the prelude to the tribulation but we as christians don't have to follow that path i'm going to leave you with a statement it was made famous by ann graham lots because she wrote a book by this title but here it is i hope it's your thought you can take the world but give me jesus amen [Applause] thank you for joining me today on turning
point the more we study scripture the more we understand that our loving god desires to have a personal relationship with each one of us if you would like to begin that relationship and ensure that you will spend eternity with christ you must simply repent of your sin and ask jesus christ to become your lord and savior if you've taken this step of faith today i encourage you to share your decision with other christians at a trustworthy ministry or a local church and to continue growing in your faith may god bless you and i look forward
to seeing you next time right here on turning point [Music]
