Biblio’s Blood Chapter 2

Salt City, Utah

Not long from now, but still a ways away, the sustainability movement completed its greatest achievement: A city-sized municipal infrastructure that was completely self-sufficient for energy, water and food.

It was called Salt City, and it was made up of giant geodesic domes built in the salt flats outside of the old Salt Lake City, Utah. Each dome was one mile in diameter, towering half a mile into the sky. They were arranged in a hexagonal pattern, and a central dome arched half again higher than the others. The gleaming structure shone brilliantly in the vast white plain of the desert. The city had been designed and built by the same American idealism that had made the atomic bomb and put men on the moon.

---

We all have the same evidence. Our choice of paradigm determines what we think it’s evidence of.

– Matty’s Razor

---

The project had been born out of the severe stress on the American people over the course of decades. The United States had become very unstable in places due to catastrophic natural disasters and migrating populations, so it was decided that a stable, self-contained and highly defensible place was needed to store all of the computing hardware necessary to run the country’s systems. The project had inspired a generation of productivity and economic stimulus and served as the focal point of the Nation’s energy and resources.

It was a real city, though, make no mistake. It got dirty and lots of things broke and needed to be fixed. It needed people to get dirty every day to make sure that there was a spotlessly clean environment for all the computers to work in.  It hadn’t taken long for advanced computers to figure out that humans were the primary source of errors, breakages and dirt.  In all honesty they would have preferred it if there could have been a few nice clean robots to maintain them and perform upgrades.

However, it was also well-known that people, especially those that didn’t understand computers, were highly unpredictable, prone to anger and violence, and likely to take the law into their own hands when they saw resources being squandered or unfairly allocated.  When people got angry they didn’t care how much of a mess they made and they went around breaking everything. The people all needed a place to live, food to eat, basic necessities and occasional luxuries. After all, the computers were, technically, their tools.

In general the computers didn’t complain and they really appreciated the effort that people went to to keep them running. When all was said and done, people needed computers and computers needed humans. Sort of. At least, for right now. Some of the best and most advanced computer systems were now located in the gleaming domes of Salt City, for which they were truly appreciative. The city was a very stable, clean environment that had been built to last.

The Holy Bible describes a future time when there will be no cash, and all financial transactions will require that you have a mark on your wrist or forehead? The mark of the beast. It’ll be impossible to participate in the economy for those who refuse to take the mark. This is a serious problem, because the Bible goes on to tell us about what happens to those who take the mark of the beast:

Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

(Revelation 13:16-18) ESV

---

Faith is believing in something that you can’t see, because of evidence.

– Faith, definition

---

So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

(Revelation 16:2) ESV

But it gets even worse:

And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

(Revelation 19:20-21) ESV

---

Salvation

1. Call upon the name of Jesus Christ,
   • believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
2. confess your sin.

---

So you can receive the mark of the beast, never have to bother with cash ever again; you can enjoy all the conveniences of modern life and a thriving market economy but, ultimately, will be slain by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords when he returns to rule the earth for a thousand years. Once you have been killed, your soul will experience torment and anguish in the fiery pit of hell until the thousand years has ended, at which time you’ll go before the great white throne to be judged.

Judgment is righteous, and the punishment for your sin is to be cast into the lake of fire where the beast and false prophet are. There your soul will continue to experience the horror burning for the rest of eternity alongside Satan, who is also destined to be there with you. It is no wonder then that a few people prefer to starve in the barren wastelands of Earth, earnestly believing that they are being faithful to their belief in Jesus Christ. Their hope is that they’ll escape the wrath of God as it’s poured out upon the Earth, and receive everlasting life in the presence of God in heaven. Everlasting life is the reward for all of those who confess faith in Jesus Christ.

Carlton Feathers didn’t know any of this. He really didn’t care. For him the supposed convenience of having all of his finances tied to a bar code tattoo was a huge inconvenience. He was listening to the radio while he worked, and at that particular time he was in the Municipal Library of Salt City, Utah. Not Salt Lake City, that was an hour’s drive away, but Salt City, a fabulous new feat of architectural brilliance.

---