No More Cash Transactions Allowed
September 7, 2023 2:15 PM
Anno.Domini.144K
September 7, 2023
In a dream vision, the Holy Spirit took me to a small old-fashioned retail store that sold a variety of knick-knacks and eclectic items, some of them used and in good condition. The store was located in the lower level and corner of a little mall where tourists filed through at certain times of the day. The place was somewhat cluttered and outdated, and the items were priced the old way with the tiny white stickers punched out by a sticker gun. The store owner had only just recently purchased and taken over the store, which badly needed organization, and she felt a bit overwhelmed.
Suddenly, the store’s phone rang, and the owner took the call. She heard a man’s voice on the other end, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying properly. For some reason, the only word that she could figure out was “cash”. She kept asking the caller to repeat what he was saying, but again, the only word she could comprehend was “cash”. She explained to the man that she couldn’t understand him, and that she would have to hang up because customers were coming into the shop.
Shortly after, in only a few minutes really, a man with an air of authority strode into the shop. He announced to the store owner, “You can no longer do any cash transactions here!”
The store owner recognized the man’s voice from the phone call. “So, you’re the man who tried to call me earlier,” she commented.
Then the man with authority demanded to see the equipment she used for the store’s financial transactions. He took one look at the antiquated equipment and shook his head. It would not do. He gave her the number of a man, Freddie, that she needed to call right away. For a price (or a loan), Freddie would be all ready to install a new system, a proper one up to the new cashless code. The woman wondered if these two men—Freddie and the man standing before her—acted together as partners, one as the supplier and the other as the enforcer.
So shocked and surprised, the store owner could barely stand, and she steadied herself by leaning on a countertop. She wondered if she would have to turn her customers away that day. Would she have to temporarily close her store? Would her business survive until the new financial transaction equipment was installed?
Revelation 3:14-18 NIV
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Revelation 13:11-18 NIV
11 Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 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.
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