Credit card company MasterCard launches its new contactless payment system in London today. The PayPass card is already used in 19 other countries, and will be rolled out across the UK next year. The card eliminates the need for consumers to carry coinage. Each card contains a miniature RFID microchip, which when waved in front of a reader, will deduct up to £10 in a single transaction from the holder's bank account. The HSBC bank and fast food chain McDonalds are already signed up to use the new system. The new system is being hailed in Britain as the first step to cashless society.

Quote: "It is estimated that five million of the cards will be issued by the end of next year and these will be accepted by 100,000 retailers. PayPass works in a similar way to the Oyster cards used on London Transport. But instead of needing to be topped up with credit at a terminal, the cards allow money to be deducted from the user's bank account or added to their credit card bill. The cards should cut queues in fast food outlets, coffee shops and newsagents, MasterCard says. Its own research found that 53 per cent of consumers were enthusiastic about the cards' convenience and speed.

Many contactless payment systems are already in use around the world. Banks in America are already issuing their customers with contactless payment devices, and schools are adopting RFID chips for identification purposes and for financial transactions. Mobile phone companies are manufacturing cell phones with contactless payment systems built in. All this is being done in the name of convenience and to save money, and it may do that. But it also acts as another layer of control, enabling companies and governments to keep track of the many financial transactions we make on a daily basis. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and I don't believe this is the Mark of the Beast, but I do believe that this is another step towards the fulfilment of prophecy, when no man shall buy or sell without the Mark. Cheques are already being refused by many major companies on the grounds of potential fraud. As a result more people are switching to store cards and credit cards. Perhaps it won't be that long before cash is also refused, becoming an inconvenience for companies to have to deal with.

Revelation 13:16-17
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Source Daily Mail