The manufacture and proliferation of tabletop supercomputers has brought to pass amazing new capabilities that could quickly make possible the visual indentification of anyone on earth by computer.

The Los Angeles Times reported in January: “Travelers at the airport here (in Fresno) on the way to Palm Springs or Las Vegas, are encountering something new just beyond the security checkpoint. It looks like a tube of King Kong’s lipstick: six feet of brushed aluminum.

“As the traveler approaches the device, a loudspeaker tells him to stop and ‘look forward.’ A camera snaps a series of photographs, which are instantly compared with pictures of known terrorists in a computer database. If there’s a match, a siren sounds.”

As an example of how it works, a representative of the company manufacturing the device held up a picture of Osama bin Laden before its mechanical eye, and alarms almost immediately began to sound. It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out how that could work in the dark, future days of the Tribulation, when the Antichrist seeks to rid the world of all those who will not worship him.

The Associated Press reports in an article entitled, “EU rips U.S. Mideast policy, offers proposal” that “European Union foreign ministers … criticized the United States’ Mideast policies and offered a blueprint for reviving peace talks that envisioned the creation of a Palestinian State that would be recognized by Israel and admitted to the United Nations.” However, the U.S. is balking at this suggestion believing that “the emphasis should be on moving toward a cease-fire and pressing the Palestinians to crack down further on anti-Israel militants” before any further attempt is made at reviving the peace talks.

Even Israel’s Prime Minister is insisting on a “period of calm … before any negotiations resume.” Although both Israel and the U.S. “have long resisted European attempts at mediation” in this conflict, we know from Bible prophecy that Europe will play an ever-increasing role in future negotiations.

The rise of occult practices is again to be noted in our time. Television is filled with invitations to call the “psychic television network.” One wonders how many young people will be attracted to such things. The resurgence of occult activity, with its mysticism and mayhem, is one of the very dangerous developments of these days. Remember, our destiny is not in the stars, the tea leaves or the incanting priests. Our destiny is in the hands of God. Young people by the millions must be reminded of this.

Speaking of young people… “Much of the debate concerning the Harry Potter books and movie has missed the point. The problem is not the presence of wizards; fantasy characters have often lived among sorcerers. The problem is that J.K. Rowling has created a character who truly goes where fairy tales have never gone before: Harry, the character every child reader identifies with … is a sorcerer. Ms. Rowling’s innovation becomes clear when we compare her work to J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, or even L. Frank Baum with his Oz books …

“… The line from seeing sorcery to seeing ourselves as sorcerers is not a line our children should cross.”

Roberta Green, WORLD magazine, January 26, 2002, p.33. Reprinted with permission, copyright 2002.

Why is Christianity true? is the pressing question of our time. We have one of our Publishers Together booklets on this subject available to you. Write to us at Christian Destiny and we will send Why Is Christianity True? free, with our compliments.

As the tide of our times continues to roll, we know that each day brings us one step closer to that great moment when we shall be caught up to be with Jesus Christ. Our confidence is not in the fond hope that the affairs of this world will ever be resolved and the world will become a heaven on earth. No indeed, this world will continue to be precarious and that makes it a great place in which to live and work for Christ. Hope for the world is an unrealized illusion. However, hope for the individual is eternal life which comes by faith in Jesus Christ.