Last year, Nick Szkiler took over from Clifford Hill as chair of Issachar Ministries, which is closely linked to Prophecy Today. In 'A New Era', Nick, along with Issachar Ministries advisor Sarah Winbow and the IM team begin to set out their vision both for IM, and for the Church as a whole in this nation, as we face new and unchartered waters. This is the third of five articles, all taken from Crossing Over, a booklet published by IM this summer (the other parts are available here).
The Banking System
The concept of programmable Central Bank Digital Currency introduces the practical means for a state not only to control access to the money we hold in banks and building societies, but also to control what type of purchases for which it may be used. In Britain this has taken a step closer to becoming a reality now that CBDC introduction is being examined by the Bank of England.1
It may not always be possible for us to use the existing banking systems that will at some point require us to be microchipped or take a mark of some sort in order to access our own money. To some, this still seems an unlikely development, yet the means to use biometric technology to verify financial transactions via Wi-Fi or 4/5G already exists. Unnoticed by many, the Microsoft Corporation filed patent number WO2020060606 on March 26th, 2020. The patent was headed CRYPTOCURRENCY SYSTEM USING BODY ACTIVITY DATA. An abstract quoted directly from the patent reads:
“Human body activity associated with a task provided to a user may be used in a mining process of a cryptocurrency system. A server may provide a task to a device of a user which is communicatively coupled to the server. A sensor communicatively coupled to or comprised in the device of the user may sense body activity of the user. Body activity data may be generated based on the sensed body activity of the user. The cryptocurrency system communicatively coupled to the device of the user may verify if the body activity data satisfies one or more conditions set by the cryptocurrency system, and award cryptocurrency to the user whose body activity data is verified.”2
The potential implementation of the mark of the beast is now a real and present danger.
The potential implementation of the mark of the beast is now a real and present danger.
Gift-Aid
Christian charities are accustomed to having unrestricted access to money donated to them and the benefit of Gift Aid in order to fund their work. As the spirit of Babylon begins to be judged by God, there might well come a point where those who have unwittingly partnered with it through the Gift Aid scheme suddenly find themselves being required to pay back some of what it has been given. Refusal of such a demand could immediately see a charity forfeit its monetary resources and a form of persecution ensue.
Freedom of Speech
Issachar Ministries has always sought to be a standard for truth in the nation. Cliff and Monica have written many books and papers and have published many articles in Prophecy Today that have blown a trumpet of warning. They have never held back from stating the truth, but Prophecy Today, as an online Christian magazine, could at some point in the future be sued for speaking out in truth. This could potentially lead to Issachar Ministries having its financial assets confiscated or lost completely. We need to be prepared for such control by finding other means of communicating with those who look to the ministry for guidance and support.
Food Supply – A New Type of Trading System?
The opening of the 3rd seal in Revelation 6 and the riding out of the black horse shows us that one of the consequences of God’s weighing the nations on the scales of justice and finding us wanting will be great hunger and famine. If God’s people cannot trade in the normal manner because we refuse to take the mark of the beast, then how can we possibly feed ourselves? Verse 6 implies that the cost of barley (a 2nd class grain) could be as much as a whole day’s wages. The concept of storing wealth and developing a means of trade and exchange using verified stocks of grain is a concept under examination.
Certainly, moves to link our money to some form of passport or digital identity provide the worrying prospect of governments and banks arbitrarily disconnecting us from access to money.
The present FIAT3 currency system is no longer underwritten by gold in the way it was until 1971 when U.S. President Nixon ordered an end to the convertibility of the United States Dollar into gold. Real currency value today is based on little more than confidence. Perhaps grain will be the new gold standard and an alternate trading system based on an essential verifiable commodity will be established by believers who have an understanding of the times. Certainly, moves to link our money to some form of passport or digital identity provide the worrying prospect of governments and banks arbitrarily disconnecting us from access to money. This is exactly what happened, as already noted, during the Canadian Trucker protest in February 2022. Bank accounts were frozen, truck insurance was cancelled and their means of earning were removed.
The Lord’s Assets, Not Ours
In Jesus’ end-time discourse, Matthew 25:14-30, it shows clearly that a talent was a monetary unit of gold, not a natural or spiritual gift. Luke 19:11-26 tells a very similar story, this time with monetary units of silver. In Haggai 2:6-9 the Lord clearly speaks of a final great shaking across the whole earth that will precede the return of Messiah Jesus. Verses 8-9 read “‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty.’” Is it possible that God is pointing us to consider very carefully in this season of shaking who the true owner (master) of our bank accounts and pension pots might be?
Is it possible that God is pointing us to consider very carefully in this season of shaking who the true owner (master) of our bank accounts and pension pots might be?
The Early Church radically disposed of their worldly assets and laid them at the apostles’ feet. Is it possible that we too are being challenged to surrender the hold we have on our personal resources and place them completely at God’s disposal whilst we still have control of them? An end-time trading system and other initiatives will still need financing, but it may not be possible for them to be paid for out of a ministry bank account as before. We have to face the possibility that if we do not wrestle with these concepts now, then as sweeping judgement decimates the world’s economies and stock markets, we may end up like those who did nothing with the master’s money and wake up one morning to find we have lost everything.
Notes
1https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/research/digital-currencies
2https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2020060606
3https://cryptodefinitions.com/dictionary/fiat/ The word ‘fiat’ is derived from Latin and can be translated as “it shall be done” or “let it be done.” Fiat is defined as currency that is declared by a country’s government to be legal tender. Unlike other historical currencies, which were backed by the value of a physical commodity, such as gold, or silver, the value of fiat is derived from its demand and supply as well the stability of the issuing government. The majority of paper currencies, such as the ones used to purchase everyday goods and services, are fiat currencies.