“Big Brother,” born of George Orwell’s 1947 novel 1984, seems to have reached near-full maturity in 2005. Surveillance technologies have leapt to the forefront in a way that smacks of Revelation chapter 13, particularly verses 16-18. This all means that we are seeing on the landscape of our day yet another key prophetic indicator. We have yet one more good reason to conclude that the tribulation hour might well be very close, and that the rapture of the church, therefore, could be very near indeed.

In that eerie way in which life can imitate art, it is England where, like in Orwell’s novel, surveillance intrusion into the privacy of men, women, and children has first and most ominously manifested itself. Literally thousands of cameras now frame Britain’s citizens so that each person who regularly walks the streets of London and other cities of the UK is captured on surveillance monitors more than 200 times in the course of a single day and/or night.

The project to totally surveil England began in earnest shortly after the turn of the millennium. More than £500,000 were spent on a new anti-crime network of CCTV cameras, officially launched in East Northamptonshire in 2002. The program expanded from that early effort to include most all of the primary streets within Britain. The aim was, and continues to be, to stop trouble before it starts –to control behavior. This is admitted even by the leaders who continue to try to make the cameras as common, and accepted as street lamps.

Cameras from Oundle down to Rushden were intended to help stop vandalism and anti-social behaviour in some of the main streets of the town centers.

"This has been an important project for the council and shows our commitment to making our town centres safe places to visit and to invest in," Leader of East Northamptonshire Council, Andy Mercer said after the surveillance technology began to do its job (BBC News, UK, England, Northamptonshire, “CCTV camera network to cut crime” –2002).

The camera snooping system is now so expansive that one can scarcely step outside one’s home, apparently, without being caught within the control rooms housing the ubiquitous monitors. Images from the CCTV cameras are monitored 24 hours a day. According to the BBC, “The control room has the most modern high-quality digital equipment available to record images to help the police fight crime and anti-social behaviour” (BBC News, UK, England, Northamptonshire, “CCTV camera network to cut crime” –2002).

Another early BBC report informs us: “The UK has the largest percentage of the 25 million CCTV cameras worldwide, with 2.5 million cameras watching citizens in town centres, car parks and train stations” (BBC News, SCI/TECH, Surveillance cameras to predict behaviour CCTV, cameras that can predict behaviour could play a vital role in the fight against crime, June 2002).

It is safe to say that those statistics, given 3 years ago, are well outdated. Unfortunately there seems to be a lack of new statistics to document the tremendous growth of the system, either in Britain or worldwide. Suffice it to say, like all technology, growth in the snooping technologies now saturates much of the "civilized" world. It will certainly explode with growth following the latest terroristic bombings in London.

Again, proof of the growing, people-controlling electronic invasion is found in current news from London, the central focus of Orwell’s 1984.

It is the ultimate back seat driver. Motorists face having their cars fitted with a “spy” device that stops speeding.  

The satellite-based system will monitor the speed limit and apply the brakes or cut out the accelerator if the driver tries to exceed it. A government-funded trial has concluded that the scheme promotes safer driving.  

Drivers in London could be among the first to have the “speed spy” devices fitted. They would be offered a discount on the congestion charge if they use the system…

The trial Skodas were fitted with a black box containing a digital map identifying the speed limits of every stretch of road in Leeds. A satellite positioning system tracked the cars’ locations.  

The device compared the car’s speed with the local limit — displayed on the dashboard — and sent a signal to the accelerator or brake pedal to slow if it was too fast… (The Sunday Times – Britain, July 03, 2005, "Forget cameras - spy device will cut drivers’ speed by satellite," Dipesh Gadher, Transport Correspondent).

The UK is but the starting point for the proliferation of the Orwellian devices of control. The United States is well underway toward having a system at least as effective as that now enveloping the UK in a cocoon of surveillance.

A British source reported US efforts to quickly get under the “safety” of surveillance, after experiencing the terrorist worries, with which we are now so familiar. The American surveillors began in earnest to work on electronic eyes and ears in the Washington, D.C. area, following the effectiveness proven by surveillance cameras during protests against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund a couple of years ago. The report said in part:  

After the most recent security alert in the US, a $7 million surveillance centre in Washington swung into action bringing together local and federal authorities to watch public sites for suspicious activity.  

"We have not done this under the cover of darkness," [said] Washington Chief of Police Charles Ramsey. The centre brings in camera feeds from around Washington so that authorities can keep tabs on sites such as the Capitol, the White House and the Washington Monument.

Authorities say the new technology helps them better protect the city and its residents, allowing them to patrol more areas with fewer people.  

But civil libertarians say that it is an invasion of privacy and violates the US Constitution (BBC News, AMERICAS Washington is watching, By BBC News Online's Kevin Anderson in Washington, From Internet July 6, 2005).

Much like the “black projects” in which the US government engages –e.g., the development of the stealth aircraft—this nation is without a doubt advanced in technology in the area of snooping on its citizenry far beyond the level we hear about in reports such as those above.

To be fair, I have no doubt that leaders and scientists of both political parties and of no political persuasion whatever believe they are developing these technologies for the protection of America’s people, and for national security in general. The ongoing dedication of the murderous terrorists within fanatic Islam and other groups to try to kill us make essential efforts to secure the safety of the people of America and other nations.

But, the result of such measures is prophetically destined to grow beyond draconian. Antichrist’s system of control will, itself, be exponentially worse than any system of control that has ever existed. Jesus, himself, tells us: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24:21).

Big Brother will be the Antichrist, and his surveillance system for future, absolute control is growing bigger and bigger.