A world where everything you touch and everything that touches you is connected to a global computer and communication network like the Internet means that “total transparency” has finally been achieved. What was at one time considered totally impossible — the tracking of every human being on earth all at the same time — is now fast becoming the new norm.

Rev. 13:15, on the subject of the antichrist, his false prophet, and the “image of the beast,” notes: “The second beast (the false prophet) was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast (the antichrist), so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.” (NIV)

In reading this, we would simply ask: In a world of 7.5 billion+ individuals, how will they know whose worshiping and whose not? In today’s world of advancing pervasive technology, the only answer would be to have everyone on “The Grid.”

What is “the Grid”? Imagine, if you can, millions of “desktops, laptops, supercomputers, data vaults,” and perhaps billions of “instruments like mobile phones, meteorological sensors and telescopes…” all connected to “form a single, huge and super-powerful computer … [a] huge, sprawling, global computer.” That’s how the GridCafe.org defines the Grid … what we would call the “Ultimate Evolution” of the Internet.

“The Internet is positioned for the future, where connected devices are not just computers, but also machines (sensors, actuators, controllers) interacting directly with other machines, without human intervention, on a broad scale over the Internet—the Internet of Things (IoT). The immense number of IP addresses lays the foundation to realize billions of connected devices.” – ApplianceDesign.com (May2014)