A Chip in Hand

Is the VeriChip the "Mark of the Beast?"

Within a few years a service will be available that will allow consumers to

pay for merchandise using a microchip embedded beneath their skin. The

VeriChip, which is about the size of a grain of rice, is Applied Digital's

new subdermal chip that could someday replace the use of all credit and

debit cards. Instead of standing in long checkout lines customers could make purchases by scanning themselves with special readers.

Although the VeriChip holds the possibility of added convenience, there are

already problems on the horizon. The most obvious one is the squeamishness of potential users, as customers will have the VeriChip embedded in their skin, which means elective surgery. Also, Applied Digital is attracting attention from some fundamentalist Christians who believe the Verichip relates to the biblical "mark of the beast." It is said that Satan will someday force people to "receive a mark" on their foreheads or hands in order to purchase or sell goods. Applied Digital officials say such concern is unfounded because people have a say in whether they want to have the chip surgically implanted (http://www.mercola.com/2003/dec/6/verichip.htm#).

TBC: Applied Digital officials say concerns about surgical implantation of microchips is unfounded because "people have a say in whether they want to have the chip surgically implanted." It is instructive to ask how much say an individual has over the chip once it is implanted.