As if we needed it, the Department of Homeland Security posted this reminder on April 12th:

“Starting May 7, you will need a Real ID to fly. Real IDs make identification harder to forge, thwarting criminals and terrorists. If you plan to fly, make sure you get a Real ID so you won’t be denied from your flight or face travel delays! pic.twitter.com/r2ZGPsNR5u

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) April 12, 2025“

This should come as no surprise to any reasonably thinking U.S. citizen. We’ve been advised on this for several years with the federal government repeatedly extending the deadline for completion. I’ve had my new Real ID drivers license for over a year. I mean, why wait?

Alas, people do. I’m sure there are a number of excuses—I mean “reasons”—why folks have put this off. Perhaps the most concerning involves suspicions about the motives behind the Real ID. Could it be Uncle Sam is cooperating with the “one world government” crowd? Is this a precursor to the dreaded “mark of the beast?”

It would now be good to remind everyone when this whole thing got started. And why. It all had to do with the war on terrorism.

The federal government passed the legislation titled The Real ID Act in 2005. Look up the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense or the Global War on Terror and Tsunami Relief. This was a post-9/11 national security package aimed at preventing terrorists from boarding planes with fake IDs. The objective was for all state-issued identification to meet federal verification and security standards.

For those of us alive with memories of the attacks of 9/11, you’d think we’d be RUSHING to get everyone on board with this—so to speak. But it’s government. Originally set to begin in 2008, there were delays. Reasons included budget issues, technical infrastructure, and, of course, privacy concerns.

Five years later, a phased enforcement plan emerged. It took until 2020 for all 50 states (and D.C.) to be certified as “compliant.” The Real ID-compliant credentials began to be issued. Our nation is now “fully Real ID-compliant.”

Christians fascinated by prophecy are always concerned that any government enforced technology might be a way to move us toward receiving “the mark of the beast” as described in Revelation 13. The thinking being that if one receives this “mark”—necessary to participate “in the economic life of the world”—we’d be rejecting God and accepting the beast.

In the 1970s, I first became interested in how the scriptural reference to the “mark of the beast” might play out. Also around this time several end times books caught the attention of the Christian community. Titles like The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey and David Wilkerson’s The Vision hit the market.

One particular woman who wrote two books laying out her concerns on the “mark of the beast” was prophecy student Mary Stewart Relfe.  Her first work, published in 1981, is titled, When Your Money Fails: The “666″ System is Here. Her thesis argues that “the barcode system is part of a global conspiracy to impose a cashless society and a one-world government under the Antichrist.”

Relfe followed up with The New Money System: 666 a year later.

I am not an avid student of prophecy. Too many variations of thought at play. I’ve known author Jerry Jenkins for years. The series of books based on Revelation that he co-wrote with Dr. Tim LaHaye known as “The Left Behind Series” (from Tyndale House Publishers) sold in the millions and fascinated Christians with each new release.

The books also had plenty of critics. No surprise there.

Let’s face it. Even the disciples wanted to know “when will these things be?” Their end times questions to Jesus are recorded in Matthew 24. The Lord offered numerous signs and then said,

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (vs 36, NIV)

He followed that up by saying,

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” (vs 42, NIV)

You’d do well to read and heed Matthew 24—especially for the times in which we are living.

But be advised…Jesus says nothing about avoiding the Real ID. So don’t leave home without it…or your passport.