“King Catom”? On the “Leader” of the 4th Empire Before the Messiah’s Return

Phyllis Beveridge Nissila

Disclaimer: Take what follows with a grain of salt. I’m not a physicist or a “tekkie,” rather, a metaphorist. And I possess enough tinfoil for several hats. That said, I offer this technology/prophecy thought-provoker.

CATOM? 

“Catom” is a shortened version of the latest in computer technology called “claytronics“: “an abstract future concept that combines nanoscale robotics and computer science to create individual nanometer-scale computers called claytronic atoms, or catoms, which can interact with each other to form tangible 3D objects that a user can interact with. This idea is more broadly referred to as programmable matter. Claytronics has the potential to greatly affect many areas of daily life, such as telecommunication, human-computer interfaces, and entertainment.”

“Programmable matter?” Think robot technology so advanced, so realistic to the point of  looking, feeling, and sounding just like, well, maybe somebody sitting right next to you in a teleconference meeting, or even a (claytronic) robot giving you a hug that you can feel!  

Yah, I know.

Mind. Blown.

But don’t take my word for it. Do an Internet search for videos using key words such as, “create anything you want with programmable matter,” or “Next World–Intel claytronics (programmable matter).” Of course, videos that pop up using these kinds of key words tend to be advertisements... They’re fun, but the more serious researcher might want to check out information here, here, and here, for starters, from educational institutions and technology labs.

Oh, and by the way, researchers cite “Moore’s Law,” a concept that, at the time it entered the tech  lexicon, projected that technology advancement would double every 24 (later reduced to 18)  months. But the original prediction was made way back in 1965. There’s a new theory out there bandied about by those who comprehend such math that suggests technology, particularly at the quantum level, that is, the atom(ic) level, could be doubling now every three months!   And these nanobots whiz and buzz in very small places…

Of course, this technology could serve many purposes from printing 3 D toys and small gadgets to “teleconferencing” medical “staff” to treat wounds or diseases in high-risk environments such as war zones.

(Hmmmm, maybe even, if claytronics has evolved to this level, it might be very useful in “helping out” a, say, politician having a bad medical day…needing a re-boot…But that’s a topic above my pay grade, security clearance [none], and tinfoil supply.)

What has captured my interest and my imagination today as a student of prophecy, is the idea of the 4th Kingdom, one of “iron mixed with clay,” as prophesied in Daniel, Chapter 2, where Daniel interprets the, then, Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream–a dream, many believe, of and for the very days in which we live.

Maybe the “leader” of the fourth kingdom, one, Anti-Christ, prophesied to take complete control of the world, will actually be some kind of “iron and clay mix,” programmable from afar, himself a pawn in a real matrix…an Internet of both inanimate and animate things, spiritual and physical…

See what you think.

THE FOURTH EMPIRE?

Let’s pick it up at Daniel 2:40-43 (NASB):

⁴⁰ Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. ⁴¹ In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with ^[as]common clay. ⁴² As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. ⁴³ And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another ^[au]in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.

So perhaps you can see why my imagination–and tendency to metaphorize, if that’s a form of the word–have picked up on claytronics (aka catoms) vis a vis several elements of this prophecy, for example,

• the “clay mixed with iron” elements of the 4th empire (clay, as in “programmable matter” and ‘tronics such as electronics, such as computers, which contain many metals alloyed with iron, which is the most abundant of all metals and among the strongest when “mixed” with certain others);
• “some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle,”  (the strength of iron and the brittleness of clay? Nano computers inside human flesh?);
• The two elements (iron and clay), then, would exist in this way with “the seed of men,” aka, human beings that have been “infiltrated,” as it were, by, I don’t know, some kind of computer chip? A third strand of digitized DNA?; BUT…
• “they will not adhere to one another.” Here, prophecy studies lead one to the figurative definition of iron and clay as an amalgamation of kingdoms, some strong others weak, but united as one federation (maybe even the EU when it reorganizes into its final iteration?). Other studies lead to an entirely different kind of combination of strong and weak, as in the return of the “Nephilim,” or “fallen angels” who had sex with human women, thus “corrupting the seed,” but producing the giants of old, “men of renown“. So the iron/clay mix becomes a metaphor for non-cohesive kingdoms and/or creatures, either of whom when literally combined (if you can imagine)–for a time–are stronger than each separately.
• BUT……what if this Brave New (nano) World of which I speak is, in fact, the clay of human flesh, as it were, mingled (as in embedded, “programmed”) with the “iron” of computers, and the production goal does not include serious consideration about what might happen if we fool with Mother Nature like this? I mean, what if what I am imagining is close to the truth and there is a literal comparison? WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

As prophecy scholars (and most of the Book of Revelation) indicate, it will not turn out well for inhabitants of the third rock from the Sun once the fourth kingdom forms where, as the narrative goes, those who do not comply (as in take some kind of “mark” of some kind of “beast”) will not survive. So, if this high tech hope has anything to do with end times prophecies, the end result will not be some kind of “cybertopia” but a catastrophe of, in this case literal, biblical proportions…

See what I mean?

Well, it wouldn’t be the first time, that’s for sure, even the most meticulous Bible prophecy scholars overlooked something because they just could not or can not imagine it being real, thus it was/is rendered figurative. And when it comes to religious texts, it’s easier to metaphorize such hard-to-decipher descriptions of, say, the kingdoms represented in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream or the ordnance of Armageddon as described in the Book of Revelation.

But I ask you to ponder this because, as a real physicist/mathematician I heard once, put it, “We now ‘get’ the technology referenced in Bible prophecy.”

Maybe the estimated 25-30% of the ancient text devoted to prophecy isn’t all myth and metaphor. Maybe some of the metaphysical hum and buzz between the ancient lines refers to actual humming and buzzing from transmission lines and cell towers and other power hubs networking all things (and people) together for the purpose of eventual (central) control. Have you heard, for example, of the possibilities of all the high tech machination in descriptions of the Internet of Things?  The “Sentient World Simluation” (SWS)?  that might well be the physical manifestation of the One World Government, Leader, and Religion?

Of course if I’m wrong, I’m only out the tinfoil.

But, if I’m right, or even close to it, what’s a mortal to do, especially if such a world leader is NOT benign? If he IS, or will soon be, some kind of King Catom, part iron part clay, but no heart? And out to control–and destroy? (At least that’s what prophecy indicates.)

Whatever the ultimate manifestations of the prophecies of the Bible left to become reality are [1], it is clear the time is nigh to nestle closer under “the shadow of God’s wing,” as it were, to seek the protection of:

• He, Who is outside of time, space–and the reach of any man-made (world wide) web;
• He, Who first electrified the universe by the singular power of His Word; and
• He, Who, despite the high-tech ordnance that might be “going live” sooner than we can even imagine, has the greater power to keep us from evil. Here are just a few timely reminders.

If you do not yet have a relationship with Him, now would be a very good time to start*.

~~~~~

*UPDATE: regarding why and how to begin a relationship with God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, here is a good source of information.

[1] Here is a sampling of commentaries on the hundreds of Bible prophecies that have already been fulfilled:

http://www.fillthevoid.org/Prophecy/HutchingsPropheciesyettobefulfilled.html

http://www.reasons.org/articles/articles/fulfilled-prophecy-evidence-for-the-reliability-of-the-bible

http://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/the-old-testament-is-filled-with-fulfilled-prophecy-11652232.html

http://www.matthewmcgee.org/prophesy.html