Transhumanism, Digital IDs, and the Coming Global Beast System

With a Subtitle: How technology, currency, and global bodies may prime the world for one final authority.

A brief Excerpt: From brain-computer interfaces to central bank digital currencies and the agendas of global organizations, this piece traces how the modern drive to exalt human power echoes the end-times system Scripture warned us about.

The Author is: Debra Hodges

Editor’s note – We run this piece because the technologies it surveys are no longer speculation, and thoughtful believers are right to ask what they mean. The author’s aim is not to stoke panic but to read the headlines through the lens of prophecy and to point us back to faithfulness. Whether or not every connection she draws proves out, the underlying question is worth sitting with: what does it mean to exalt human power, and where does that road end?

Introduction

Movies and TV shows like The Avengers, Batman, Superman, The Matrix, Ex Machina, Black Mirror, and Westworld illustrate humanity’s desire to become more than human. These science fiction shows vividly portray the idea that humanity can transcend its limitations by its own knowledge and power without any need for God. They foreshadow the kind of deception that will be rampant in the world during the end times. Bible prophecy has repeatedly warned us that a future global system is coming that will exalt human power and unite the world under a single ultimate authority (see 2 Thessalonians 2, 1 John 2:18-19).

Transhumanism

Transhumanism is a collection of technologies such as brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), advanced prosthetics, genetic medicine, and wearable or implantable health technologies aimed at enhancing human health, longevity, and physical capabilities. [1]

Current advances in transhumanism include the use of CRISPR-Cas9 tools, which allow scientists to modify human DNA [2], and research aimed at merging AI with human consciousness [3]. Companies such as Neuralink (founded by Elon Musk in 2016) [4], Synchron, and Blackrock Neurotech have developed BCI devices that can enable paralyzed people to control computers or operate robots with only their thoughts, and help blind people regain some of their sight, provided their visual cortex is still intact.

Transhumanism also includes research into the aging process. Organizations such as Altos Labs and the SENS Research Foundation are conducting research into its biological causes and seeking ways to increase human longevity. These developments include lab-grown tissues [5], artificial hearts [6], 3D-printed organs [7], bioengineered skin [8], and modified pig organs, which have already been transplanted into patients and could help alleviate organ shortages [9].

While technology can be used for good, and the desire to alleviate suffering isn’t wrong, it is wrong to assume that humanity can achieve perfection or immortality apart from God (Jeremiah 17:9). The use of transhuman technology must be tempered with an attitude of humility. Mankind’s inner nature tends to want to exalt itself and become godlike, in direct opposition to the spiritual nature of God, which seeks to exalt the Creator rather than the creature. What must not be denied in transhuman research is God’s sovereignty and the reality of sin and its consequences.

Editor’s note – Notice the author’s care here. She does not condemn the scalpel or the prosthetic; healing the body is good work. The line she draws is at the heart’s intent – whether we use these gifts in humility before the Creator, or reach for them as a way to make ourselves gods who no longer need Him.

Transhumanism may be the precursor to the “Beast” system prophesied in Revelation 13, where no one may buy or sell anything except those who have pledged allegiance to the Antichrist by having his mark implanted in their right hand or on their forehead. Although not feasible yet, extremists may seek to use transhumanism as a way to merge humanity with technology, with the promise of the human race achieving immortality through science. This idea is in utter opposition to Scripture, which states that only God gives eternal life (1 Timothy 6:15-16).

Digital IDs and CBDCs

Advances in surveillance, big data, and communication technologies foreshadow the kind of global control, power, and deception described in the book of Revelation. These systems could easily be used to merge identity, economy, and allegiance to dominate humanity. While not yet mandatory in most countries, Digital IDs (electronic representations of a person’s identity issued by a trusted authority) are mandatory in Estonia and required in India for people to receive welfare and tax services. The UK has also passed laws to establish a digital ID framework to identify its citizens and verify their residency. [10]

A CBDC (central bank digital currency) is an official currency (“digital dollars”) issued by a central bank rather than a private company. [11] It’s currently in use in China, Nigeria, Jamaica, and the Eastern Caribbean, with central banks around the world interested in making some form of it ubiquitous. Proponents of the system tout its benefits, including fast, cheap, safe, and efficient financial transactions. However, the system poses significant risks to people’s privacy and access to their money. Centralized databases will track every single transaction, and the government or central bank could freeze and/or directly control access to your money.

Editor’s note – The point that unsettles here is not that a digital currency is inherently evil, but that a single system able to track and switch off a person’s ability to buy or sell looks unnervingly like the mechanism Revelation 13 describes. The author is asking us to see the shape of a thing before it is finished being built.

Global Organizations Seeking to Transform Our World

The World Economic Forum (WEF), led by Klaus Schwab, is attended by over 1,800 world leaders. Discussions in recent meetings have included topics such as global cooperation in trade and economics, human enhancement technologies, the enormous power demands of AI, and how decision-making should be transformed to make fundamental changes in health care, financial systems, and energy. All of these are part of the WEF’s “Great Reset” initiative, which aims to “reset humanity” and “reimagine the future” [12].

These goals are part of a global agenda foretold by the prophet Daniel in chapter 7. These goals aim to bring about a future global system that exalts humanity and is united under a single authority. These global elites are paving the way for the Antichrist to step seamlessly into a system tailor-made for his rule, where he will promise the world a utopia with man at the center instead of God.

Another global organization pursuing these same goals is the United Nations, whose “Agenda 2030” outlines 17 “Sustainable Development Goals”. While these goals sound noble because they aim to end poverty and protect the environment, they do so by excluding God and moral absolutes. To achieve these goals, this agenda seeks to redefine Biblical Christianity (claiming that it’s intolerant, hateful, and extremist), implement global governance and centralized control, and uphold “universal ethics” that redefine gender, family, and morality [13]. The prophet Isaiah warned us that this would happen in the last days.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter (Isaiah 5:20, NIV)

Editor’s note – Whatever one concludes about any single organization, Isaiah’s warning cuts underneath the institutions to the deeper pattern: the steady inversion of good and evil dressed up as progress. That discernment, more than any prediction about a particular meeting or agenda, is what the author is really pressing us toward.

Conclusion

We’ve seen how proponents of transhumanism may seek to redefine humanity through technology, and how global organizations and institutions are attempting to restructure society and promote global governance. What should our Christian response be to all of this? Scripture has taught us that these times would come and teaches us not to live in fear. Instead, we are to continue to proclaim the Gospel faithfully (Matthew 28:19-20) and refuse to conform to the world’s mold and its redefinition of truth (Romans 12:2). Finally, we must continue in obedience to our Lord by repenting of our sin and staying watchful and faithful. In this way, we will be ready when our Lord returns.

References

1. GotQuestions.org. (2026, January 21). GotQuestions.org. https://www.gotquestions.org/transhumanism.html
2. Transhumanism – What is it? (n.d.). CompellingTruth.org. https://www.compellingtruth.org/transhumanism.html
3. Can you upload a human mind into a computer? a neuroscientist ponders What’s possible. (2025, May 23). Georgia Tech News Center. https://news.gatech.edu/news/2025/05/23/can-you-upload-human-mind-computer-neuroscientist-ponders-whats-possible
4. Wikipedia contributors. (2026, June 23). Neuralink. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuralink
5. Johns Hopkins team finds Lab-Grown brain organoids show building blocks for learning and memory. (2025, September 17). Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/johns-hopkins-team-finds-lab-grown-brain-organoids-show-building-blocks-for-learning-and-memory
6. The Cardiology Advisor. (2025, August 27). Total Artificial Heart: A Life-Saving Bridge to Transplant – The Cardiology Advisor. https://www.thecardiologyadvisor.com/features/total-artificial-heart/
7. Murphy, S. V., & Atala, A. (2014). 3D bioprinting of tissues and organs. Nature Biotechnology, 32(8), 773-785. https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.2958
8. Dean, J., Hoch, C., Wollenberg, B., Navidzadeh, J., Maheta, B., Mandava, A., Knoedler, S., Sherwani, K., Baecher, H., Schmitz, A., Alfertshofer, M., Heiland, M., Kreutzer, K., Koerdt, S., & Knoedler, L. (2025). Advancements in bioengineered and autologous skin grafting techniques for skin reconstruction: a comprehensive review. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 12, 1461328. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2024.1461328
9. 2023 Archive. (n.d.). https://www.medschool.umaryland.edu/news/2023/lessons-learned-from-worlds-first-successful-transplant-of-genetically-modified-pig-heart-into-human-patient-.html
10. Farrant, T. (2025, September 30). Which countries in Europe already have a digital ID cards? Euronews. https://www.euronews.com/next/2025/09/30/which-countries-in-europe-already-have-a-digital-id-cards
11. Wikipedia contributors. (2026, June 24). Central bank digital currency. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_bank_digital_currency
12. GotQuestions.org. (2022, March 22). GotQuestions.org. https://www.gotquestions.org/Great-Reset.html
13. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development | Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (n.d.). https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda

A Word from the Editor
It is easy to read a piece like this and feel the ground shift beneath us. But Scripture never hands us prophecy to make us anxious; it hands it to us so that we will not be caught off guard, and so that we will keep our lamps trimmed. “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Our task is not to decode every headline but to remain faithful, unafraid, and busy proclaiming the Gospel until the One who actually holds the future returns.