It is important to review the tools that are currently available for the Antichrist to use once he emerges on the world scene. Several news updates will be included after the article.
I’m sure that by now you are aware that details of a major government surveillance operation called: PRISM, have been leaked to the public by a former NSA analyst. Unfortunately the media has already shifted its focus from this major breach of American’s civil liberties to the man who provided the information about the breach to the public.
PRISM is not just about telephone tapping and email snooping… that is definitely not something new. People who do not own a computer are still connected to the world- wide Web. They are still attached to the grid. The least expensive cell phones with the most basic service are connected to the digital network.
Clandestine terms and spy speak:
The migration to the digital network was completed for all cell phones in 2008. However, for several years prior to 2008 most cell phones were already operating on the digital network. Your phone has to stay connected to this network in order to ring when you receive a call. All of our phones have microphones and most have cameras, let alone the myriad of functions that smartphones are capable of.
Here is quote from a 2006 CNET.com article:
The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone’s microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations. The technique is called a ‘roving bug,’ and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials for use…
Have you ever heard of “voice recognition software”? It has been available on every Windows pc for years to allow those with certain disabilities to operate a computer. Here is a quote directly from microsoft.com: “You can use your voice to control your computer. You can say commands that the computer will respond to, and you can dictate text to the computer.”
The Analyst and the Selector:
The following is an invented scenario that is absolutely possible and has been for several years, at any given waking moment in your life…
A government “selector” activates the microphone on a device near you. The audio that you speak is now being transferred through the microphone on the tablet pc, laptop, cell phone, etc. to an undisclosed location somewhere on earth. At this top-secret location a listening program is recording your voice. If available, the camera on your device is also streaming a live video feed of the event. There are several dedicated database servers waiting to receive your dialogue. They will store the information received from the listening programs.
One server will receive the actual audio that you speak. Another server will receive a text transcription of your spoken word created by a voice recognition program that converts your audio file into a text format. Location/date/time stamps are attached to each of these files. This file and other similarly created files are grouped together and are now ready to be searched for any word or phrase spoken by you at any moment in your life.
Later:
Someone somewhere has decided to find out whether or not you have ever spoken a particular word or phrase. An analyst is ordered to submit a keyword search to the database that contains all of the text files created from your spoken words. When a match occurs and a text file containing the keyword is found, a program will then cross reference this text file(s) to the associated audio recording and any video files relevant to the event via the date/time stamp. If a camera on any nearby device happened to have caught you at a good angle then your face will be matched with the audio to actually show you saying what you said, or doing what you did.
“But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36).
Surreptitious – secret stealth clandestine:
In the scenario above mere humans now have the ability to force you to give an account of nearly every idle word you may have spoken. Just as we have always imagined our sins and “idle words” being played on a giant TV screen in the sky on judgment day, but man now has the same ability to take anything you have ever said and stream it to every smartphone so the world can see and hear you saying it.
Nearly all of your idle words can be viewed and judged against you. Think about it. Are you immune while walking in the park? Aren’t you carrying your cell phone or in your office, in your car, your bedroom? No, you are not immune. There is also the ability to surreptitiously listen in on conversations in your car, through the built-in emergency and tracking security system.
Now for another disturbing scenario:
Have you ever said something “under your breath” that you did not want anyone else to hear? In a similar way, have you ever typed something under your breath, so to speak?
As a software engineer, I’ve been capturing your keystrokes for over 15 years. If you have ever worked for any of the fortune 500 companies they have implemented the programs I’ve worked on. There are programs that can monitor and record every keystroke you’ve ever put forth. Even if something you quickly typed in a text-editing program like Notepad was promptly deleted it was still recorded. Nice, huh?
Turn Key tyranny:
Have you noticed there’s all this “Free Wi-Fi” everywhere?
Do you wonder why it’s so plentiful and free? “Oh my, what big teeth you have, grandmother! All the better to eat you with my dear!”
Here is a quote from an article published on usatoday.com in June of 2013:
Comcast said Monday that it will install more neighborhood Wi-Fi hotspots in its
service markets to encourage Internet customers to stay connected on their handheld devices even when they’re not at home. “Wi Fi is an important part of our strategy to be the place where customers connect all devices, anywhere and at any time,” said Tom Nagel, Comcast Cable’s senior vice president of business development.
This Internet access will be free for customers and non-customers as well.
Any customer of the five companies can access the coalition’s network for free giving them another option for staying connected beyond the wireless networks operated by cell phone service carriers.
Non-customers will receive free access for a limited period every month.
Hollywood has been prepping the masses to turn a blind-eye to programs like PRISM for years. All in the name of “counter-terrorism.” All in the name of peace and safety.
“For when they shall say, ‘Peace and safety!’; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (Thessalonians 5:3).
Meanwhile government officials are laughing all the way to the next election while the public thinks they’ve been told the whole truth when in fact they remain unaware as to what’s really going on. The devil has a far more sinister goal than turning a member of one political party over to another. It’s not about Tea Party Patriots vs. liberals or hoping communists outnumber capitalists or vice-versa. It’s about all of humankind swearing allegiance to Satan as their god. That’s it. That is Satan’s end-goal. Nothing else matters to Satan. It is all just a means to get to his end.
The goal of this essay is not to create fearful people looking over their shoulders at every turn. It is to guide you back to the fork in the road that exists for all humankind. To encourage you to choose which direction of the fork you will travel.
Will you stay blind to what Satan is creating around you or will you open your eyes to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
No more secret sins:
God and the devil have always known your secret sins. God does not hide the fact that He watches what you do in secret:
”And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” – Matthew 6:18b
However, the devil does not always want you to be aware that he is watching what you do in secret. That way, he can ambush you later after you thought you got away with something and accuse you before your Father in heaven. He will try to wrap you up in guilt and bind you like a mummy.
God, on the other hand, is a God of mercy and forgiveness. He only wants to reward you for the good things you do in secret. He finds no joy in punishing you for the bad things.
“‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live’” (Ezekiel 33:11).
The devil however does take pleasure in the death of the wicked. There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that there exist well-meaning government agents, who truly believe that the only goal of the surveillance programs that they are working on is for counter-terrorism. They are completely unaware of what Satan plans to do with these programs in the not so distant future.
“For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” ( Jude 1:4).
If God’s own people─believers, who are led by the Holy Spirit can be deceived and allow evil men to creep unnoticed into their midst, just think of what Satan can accomplish through the hands of those who are not walking in the Spirit.
End of original article.
Update:
The following is a quote from a zdnet.com article published in February of 2014:
Between 2008 and 2010, Britain’s GCHQ, in cooperation with the U.S. National Security Agency, ran the “Optic Nerve” program which covertly intercepted and collected webcam imagery from more than 1.8 million Yahoo user accounts globally.
Recording citizens via the cameras on their computer and mobile devices certainly isn’t limited to the program, “Optic Nerve,” referenced above. (I want to call it: “Detached Retina.”
One can only imagine just how far-reaching the program really is. If you doubt that the capacity exists to store that much data, think about this: The NSA’s Utah data center requires approximately 1.7 million gallons of water daily to run its 100,000 square feet of computer servers and support equipment. That’s 100,000 square feet of computer servers, not the building’s square footage. That’s one and a half million square feet!
The equipment housed within the Utah data center is used to store tremendous amounts of, you guessed it, data. The amount of data stored is estimated to be in the range of exabytes or even zettabytes. One exabyte equals one quintillion bytes, or one billion gigabytes. One zettabyte equals one thousand exabytes.
The ZFS file system, designed by Sun Microsystems, allows for a maximum storage capacity of 256 quadrillion zettabytes. Honestly, these figures are enough to blow your mind. I think they got that storage capacity thing all worked out, don’t you?
Confidence for the Believer:
As mentioned above, the point of this article is not to scare you; it is to inform you as to the accuracy and truth of the prophecies contained within the Holy Bible. It is to give you confidence in the truth of the message that God has given to all mankind. Current modern technology, combined with the intent to use it, is the explanation of how Revelation 13:17 will be administered.
“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” (Revelation 13:16-17).
It is absolutely stunning how fast the stage is being set for the prophecies of the last days to be fulfilled. We, as believers filled with the Holy Spirit, can have confidence that the God of the Bible is the one and only Almighty God, and that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Joshua 1:5).
“For whatsoever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4).
“Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward” (Hebrews 10:35).