SOAPBOX: Does Apple Pay mark beginning of end times?

WE are drawing closer to the day when a microchip embedded in our skin for ease of transactions will be considered normal.

WE are drawing closer to the day when a microchip embedded in our skin for ease of transactions will be considered normal.

Already this technology is out there and in use in certain parts of the world.

Business Insider reported that in March 2009, British researcher Mark Gasson had a chip injected under the skin of his hand.

This chip, similar to the kind used to track pets, turned Gasson into a walking swipe-card.

Yesterday ANZ introduced its next step in technology with Apple Pay, where your phone is used for a variety of transactions.

There is no doubt this kind of technology is very handy.

But, for many, it is also very scary and some might consider it a "sign of the end times".

Doomsday website such as "nowtheendbegins" estimates 10,000 people already have the RFID technology planted in their skins.

I'm not one of the fans of Apocalyptic prophesies, but its hard not to be fascinated how something predicted in the Bible 2000 years ago is become a reality today.

I remember learning as a child the verses in Revelations 13 which refer to the "Mark of the Beast".

"Both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads," the King James version reads

"And that no man might buy or sell, save he that he had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."

Is ANZ paywave the next step towards this and should we be afraid?