15 Minute Cities and the Digital Mark

At this year’s Lamb & Lion Ministries annual Bible conference, I had the privilege of being on stage for the questions and answers portion. I don’t remember if it was a direct question or if it was from a remark made while answering a question, but one of the other speakers, David Barton, commented about what’s happening with the concept of the 15-minute Cities. The dialogue did not last long, but it made me dig deeper.

As I continue to study Scripture, especially Biblical prophecy, and I look around at our world, I see the words of the Bible jumping off the page right before our eyes.

Proverbs and Psalms

Let’s look at some Scripture before I get too deep into this. Proverbs 16:9 says, “The mind of a person plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

This proverb confirms that no man can devise a way to escape from God. One should never think that our ability to plan makes us lord over our lives. As this verse says, the Lord directs our steps, meaning someone with wisdom will be willing to surrender oneself to God and the ways of the Lord.

Psalm 37:23 notes, “The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way.”

Psalm 37 is written by King David, who living in the later part of his life, was sharing some of his wisdom. A benefit for the righteous man or woman is the knowledge that God does delight in him or her. This knowledge should lead us to seek decisions and life choices that honor the Lord.

With those two passages in mind, let’s examine what our world aims for. Remember, man may make his plans, but nothing will happen unless God allows man’s plan to go forth.

C40 Cities

C40 Cities is a global network of the mayors of the world’s leading cities united in confronting climate change. There are 96 member cities, including 14 in the United States. These 96 cities account for more than 20% of the global economy. The mayors of these cities plan to pass laws and offer incentives to have their plans accepted and implemented.

One can look at Oxfordshire, England, as an example. Oxford is a city in England in the county of Oxfordshire and is one of the 96 members of the C40 Cities. I chose Oxfordshire as an example because they have a detailed website available to anyone who wants to understand this concept better.

The structure of C40 Cities is also called 15-minute Cities. The concept here is that filters would be placed around the city to keep people within a 15-minute radius of their residences.

In their FAQ section on the council’s website, it is explained how traffic filters work. These filters will not be physical road closures. Rather, they will be enforced by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras. Unauthorized vehicles going through traffic filters can therefore be identified. Any car that goes through the traffic filter that is not exempt will be issued a fine.

It was proposed that residents of Oxfordshire County will be issued 25 day passes per vehicle per year with a maximum of one car per person and two vehicles per household. Residents in the Oxford city permit area, who are most affected by the plan, would receive a maximum of 100 day passes per vehicle per year.

Oxfordshire County did open up the plan for public comments. The council received over 5,700 comments, of which 93% opposed traffic filters and only 7% supported them. Yet in November 2022, Oxfordshire County Council approved £6.5m for six traffic filters. (At the time, 6.5m pounds was equal it $8,306,350 dollars.) Leaders say traffic filters are intended to reduce traffic levels in Oxford by targeting unnecessary journeys by cars and will encourage walking, cycling, and using shared public transportation.

ESG – Who Cares Wins

You may have heard of the planned United Nations proposal Agenda 2030. Now it’s best known as ESG. ESG stands for “Environmental, Social, and Government.” The term was first used in a 2004 United Nations report entitled “Who Cares Wins; Connecting Financial Markets to a changing world.”

ESG is “a comprehensive framework which includes key elements around environmental and social impact.” It is said that in order to succeed governments must amend their current structures.

• Connecting financial markets to a changing world.
• A comprehensive framework of critical environmental and social elements.
• Amending governmental structure.

What do all those objectives mean, and more importantly, what do they lead to? To answer that question, we do not need to guess. The World Economic Forum (WEF) and the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) have boldly and publicly stated their plans. In 2016, the World Economic Forum public relations released a video entitled: “8 Predictions for the World in 2030.” According to the WEF, this is how the world will be transformed as part of Agenda 2030 and the New World Order. The eight predictions are:

1. You’ll own nothing, and you’ll be happy about it. Instead, you’ll rent everything you need, and it’ll be delivered by drone right to your door.
2. The U.S. won’t be the world’s leading superpower. Instead, a handful of countries will dominate together.
3. You won’t die waiting for an organ donor. Custom organs will be 3D printed on demand. But only if your social credit score is high enough.
4. You’ll eat much less meat. Meat will be “an occasional treat, not a staple; this is for the good of the environment and our health.” In other words, meat will become so rare and expensive that only the rich will afford it.
5. A billion people will be displaced by climate change. As a result, countries must prepare to welcome more refugees. By “welcoming more refugees” they mean eliminating borders.
6. Polluters will have to pay to emit carbon dioxide. To eliminate fossil fuels, there will be a global price on carbon.
7. You could be preparing to go to Mars.
8. Western values will have been tested to the breaking point. This means Western culture and values will slowly become extinct.

The Digital Mark

That’s quite a list! Is there a connecting link to all these initiatives? Yes. It’s the Digital ID. The Digital ID will be the key to making all of these points co-exist.

The World Economic Forum may have its eight predictions for the world. Mayors worldwide may be trying to change the structure of their cities. But Scripture also tells us what lies ahead in the future in Revelation 13:16-17, “…he causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, and he decrees that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.”

The Digital ID is not the Mark of the Beast, but the concept of a Digital ID begins to set the stage for the future Mark to be something people have already grown accustomed to and accepted.

Maranatha, Lord Jesus!