Biblical prophecy finds way to legislators in battle over ID plan
Pastor Dale Morgan
Mar 11th, 2007 12:11 PM
*Biblical prophecy finds way to legislators in battle over ID plan*
By Jon Gambrell, Associated Press Writer | March 11, 2007
LITTLE ROCK --As state legislators line up against the U.S. government's
attempt to standardize driver's licenses nationwide, some believe it is
a beastly plot that will draw the world closer to the apocalypse.
Their inspiration: a magazine dedicated to biblical prophecy. Their
fear: national ID numbers given to residents are the mark of the beast,
the 666 from the Book of Revelation.
"The ramifications are horrendous," said Sen. Ruth Whitaker, whose
resolution opposing the Real ID Act of 2005 has passed the Arkansas
Senate. "If there is anything akin to Nazi Germany, it is this act."
Congress hopes to reduce identity theft and boost national security by
requiring people to use Real IDs to board airplanes, enter federal
buildings and open some bank accounts. Those who dabble in biblical
prophecy say the new government-issued numbers mark the beginning of the
end.
"People are very concerned if the federal government gives you a number,
it will be the mark of the beast," said Missouri Rep. Jim Guest, the
sponsor of a resolution similar to Whitaker's. "There are everyday
people who get the connection to 666."
Legislators in Georgia, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, Vermont, Washington
state and Wyoming have also balked at Real ID and a bill filed in
Congress by Rep. Thomas Allen, D-Maine, would repeal it. Many complain
that states will have to pay billions of dollars to put the system in
place by the end of 2009, as mandated by Congress.
Resolutions in Arkansas, Georgia, Maine and Missouri were offered after
legislators read materials, spoke to or had indirect contact with
Endtime Ministries of Dallas, whose magazine, radio show and outreach
examines current events through the prism of Christian apocalypse.
Recent popular topics in Endtime magazine have also included speculation
that Pope Benedict XVI is the false prophet from Revelation and that the
United Nations' agenda includes establishing a global army, parliament,
court and tax structure.
"If we reach a point where every person is given a number without which
they cannot buy or sell, and if your number is in a national database so
that the government can track everywhere you go and everything you do,
the word is control, and control and freedom are opposites," said Irwin
Baxter Jr., who runs Endtime.
Any effort to repeal the Real ID Act is not to stall the eventual end of
the world but to ensure the country stands against the Antichrist,
Baxter said.
"Daniel 11:40-45 reveals that there will be nations opposing the
Antichrist during the Great Tribulation," according to an Endtime
magazine article cited by Whitaker, who said she obtained it from Maine
Senate Democratic Majority Leader Elizabeth Mitchell.
"We want the United States, Australia, and as many other nations as
possible to be on the side that will fight Satan's plan to number the
human race," says the article. It calls the Real ID Act "the death of
freedom."
In an interview, Whitaker told The Associated Press the idea of being
assigned a number was frightening.
"Your name will not mean anything anymore," Whitaker said. "You'll just
be known as X203 or something."
Whitaker acknowledged that she has a Social Security number assigned to
her by the government, but said it wasn't as intrusive as the Real ID
Act. Also, Arkansas' child-support law requires people to provide a
Social Security number as a cross-reference with their driver's license
number.
Baxter said that, under Real ID, Americans must have a government number
to hold jobs and have bank accounts. While the same could be said for
Social Security numbers, Baxter said Real ID would force all of that
information into an easily accessed database for the first time.
Mitchell described her fear of Real ID in terms of losing a key ring. If
a thief finds a key ring, the most he'll know is that someone drives a
Chevrolet or has a bicycle or a certain type of deadbolt -- not where
those things are.
If a Real ID database can be hacked, a thief could hold the key to a
whole lot more -- such as banking information and travel habits,
Mitchell said.
But "nobody in Maine ever thought about" the biblical connection before
voting on her resolutions, Mitchell said, or if they did, "they didn't
share it with me.
"We're pretty pedestrian," she said.
With a number of state legislators contacting her office about their
Real ID resolution, Mitchell said a staffer may have taken all of the
articles she's received and sent them on without vetting their content
-- including one from Endtime.
Guest, a Missouri Republican who has spoken on Endtime's radio program
about Real ID, said legislators from 45 states had promised him they
would push some type of resolution denouncing Real ID. He said his
constituents share fears about the ID being the mark of the beast.
The 666 from Revelation, sometimes translated as 616, is generally
regarded as a coded reference to the Roman emperor Nero, who persecuted
early Christians. The book says those who receive his mark will be
thrown into the eternal abyss at the end of time.
Mitch Seabaugh, the Republican majority whip in the Georgia Legislature,
also has appeared on the Endtime radio show. His bill authorizing
Georgia's governor to delay implementing the act until privacy concerns
are met passed out of the state Senate in February.
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, also has appeared on the Endtime radio program.
Fears about the federal government and the mark of the beast stretch
back 100 years. Carl Raschke, chairman of religious studies department
at the University of Denver, said 666 worries came up when the U.S.
established Federal Reserve banks and the Social Security system. The
fears are anchored in St. John's warnings about the Roman government --
which conducted census surveys in Jesus' time -- that are recorded in
Revelation, he said.
"Whenever you have an active government that seems like it's trying to
gather data on its citizens or take away certain freedoms, pretty often
this particular prophesy is cited," he said.