Mark of the Beast: employers now asking workers to get chipped to cut costs

Is the Mark of the Beast finally here?

Has another Biblical prophecy come true? Microchip implants are going mainstream as more companies find they provide an easy and convenient way to cut costs and increase efficiency. But are these chips the Mark of the Beast foretold in Revelation?

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) -- The RFID microchip implant is the size of a grain of rice, and it goes in your right hand, between your thumb and forefinger. The needle is large and hurts a bit, so a technician numbs the spot first. In exchange for the few hours of soreness, you will never have to worry about losing your keys or wallet again.

The RFID chip has been used for more than two decades in pets and livestock, to reunite people with lost animals. Hotels and many employers have used the same technology in key cards, which users simply tap against a pad or a lock. Over the past few years, businesses, mostly tech firms, have used RFID implants to grant access to the most sensitive areas of their campuses to select employees. Now the technology is going mainstream.

More businesses are inviting employees to have these implants inserted for free. The implants eliminate the need to carry keys which can be lost, or remember passwords which can be forgotten. Employees are also able to make purchases by linking the implants to their bank account or an expense account at work. If an employee wants a snack, they merely have to wave their hand above a sensor in the break room and the item is purchased.

LA Times report
Chicago Tribune
The Independent

Businesses like the RFID chips because they are cheaper than keys, are impossible to steal, and never get lost. More sophisticated chips may allow managers to track what their employees are doing and where they are going in the office.

However, Christians have reservations about these implants because they bear an uncanny resemblance to a Biblical prophecy.

15) The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16) It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17) so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

18) This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666. (Revelation 13:15-18)

The chips are implanted in the right hand, which is consistent with the verse. They are also used for buying things, and can be used for many other applications. Then there's the fear these implants will become mandatory in the future. Presently, they are optional but as they become more mainstream social pressure alone will compel people to accept them. Should they become a matter of law, would it then it then be reasonable to assume the prophecy has been fulfilled?