Congress is debating whether to give President Obama (and any future presidents) the right to use a “kill switch” to shut down the internet so no one can use it. The two links below [1, 2] discuss the provisions of this proposed bill, and many other perspectives on this proposed power are available via a websearch.
Given the major cyberspying and cyberattack capabilities possessed by Russia and China, there is an obvious logic to giving the president the right to have a “kill switch” to shut down all internet functions in order to prevent a cyberattack from spreading throughout the internet and disabling it permanently or for a very long time. However, human rights advocates worry that such a kill switch in the hands of a single president could lead to selective controls over the internet. President Nixon, for example, had an “enemies list.” If a president with a new “enemies list” had a kill switch over the internet, he/she could use that power to selectively attack, monitor or shut down internet usage for those on an “enemies list.”
Christians can see a biblically-appropriate warning in this proposal. Matthew 24:9-10 warns about persecution of Christians in the latter days, as does Revelation 12:15-17. When a new beast power sets up a global governmental/financial system, the beast will certainly have full authority over the internet. Revelation 13:6-7 prophesies the beast will be very hostile toward Christians. I think it is all but certain that when the beast system comes into power, it will prevent Christians from having any access to whatever internet or communication systems exist at that time. Amos 8:9-12, a latter day prophecy, warns that “a famine…of hearing the words of the Lord” will come upon the land. There will be no “free speech” for Christians when this occurs.
For that reason, none of us should assume that the internet will always be free for us to access or use. When the beast comes into power, only the beast’s allies and subjects will be able to use it. For that reason, if readers of this website want to preserve articles, blogs, etc. from this website for future reference when the internet is shut down to Christians, I urge you to print “hard copies” of whatever you want to keep while you have the chance to do so. The same goes for other Christian websites. If there are items at other websites that you want to be sure to preserve in the future, print out hard copies now while you can. This “famine of hearing the word” may not come for years, but it could also come sooner than any of us expect. We don’t know when it will come, but it will come.
When the beast system shuts down Christian communications and access on the internet, the beast will learn that he cannot silence the Word of the Creator of mankind. Revelation 11 prophesies that when the beast’s reign of darkness comes, God will empower two individuals with unprecedented power to proclaim his Word to the world whether the beast likes it or not. The Two Witnesses will preach for three and 1/2 years, but then they will be martyred by the angry beast system who does not want God or his Word made known to the world. For an in-depth study of the subject of the Two Witnesses, I refer you to my article of that name at this website. The Two Witnesses will make it clear to the beast that no human power can silence God as they will be given, for a time, power to “smite the world with all plagues as often as they will.” The beast and its minions will doubtless be prime targets of those plagues, and Revelation 16:10 prophesies the very “seat of the beast” will be targeted by plagues in the latter days. It is my opinion that when you see the beast system shut down internet and media access for Christians, the arrival of the Two Witnesses on the scene will not be far off.
http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20101026/IT01/10260306/?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4cc75bcc318c90da,0
