How will the mark of the beast be used in everyday commerce?
The mark will be required for buying or selling. According to the teaching, it is an 18-digit computer number placed on the right hand or forehead, perhaps visible only under ultraviolet light. At checkout lines or when receiving salaries, people will show their number, and transactions will be electronically computed and transferred.
Les teaches that the false religious leader will cause all people—small and great, rich and poor, free and bond—to receive a mark in their right hand or forehead so that no one may buy or sell except those who have the mark, the name of the beast, or the number of his name. He explains that this mark is an 18-digit computer number, possibly placed on the hand or forehead in a way that only ultraviolet light makes it appear. In everyday commerce, a person would simply show that number at a checkout line or when receiving a salary, and the transaction would be electronically computed and transferred. Les emphasizes that everything will be transferred through electronics, and the mark will not come until the Antichrist appears and the tribulation begins. Believers will not be here, so Christians need not worry about being forced to take it.