Left-behind pets and the Antichrist

I'm glad that there are always people out there who keep us entertained. Not just that, they are also making sure that the left-behind pets after the Rapture, will end up in good hands:

If you believe in the Rapture and you're a pet owner, Bart Centre may have the answer to your prayers.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports that the retired real estate executive in New Hampshire has started the "Eternal Earth-Bound Pets" business that will pair left-behind pooches and felines with atheists who don't think the Rapture will ever happen.

"If you love your pets, I can't understand how you could not consider this,'' he said.

Wait. But not everyone buys into this idea - not because of its inherent craziness, but because of its trust in atheists.

But the magazine notes that everyone isn't crazy about the idea.

Said Todd Strandberg, founder of the Web site raptureready.com: "A lot of persons are concerned about their pets, but I don't know if they should necessarily trust atheists to take care of them."

Hmm...Todd has a point. After all, the real fun will only begin when all the party-poopers are gone. But then we also have to be worried about the Antichrist also (by the way, is the arrival of the Antichrist before or after the Rapture?). It seems that some people are cleverly "marking the beast" by using microchips - and the Virginia House of Delegates will have none of it:

The Virgina House of Delegates on Wednesday approved a measure that could protect Virginia residents from overbearing employers, and possibly the apocalypse.

The law would make it illegal to implant an identification or tracking device into a person's body without their written consent. As the use of implanted microchips becomes more common -- people use them to track pets and could possibly use them for purposes such as securing one's medical history -- lawmakers are starting to address concerns. Some are concerned their use among humans would lead to a lack of privacy or abuse from employers. Others, the Washington Post reports, are also concerned the use of microchips could be the "mark of the beast" -- or the coming of the antichrist.

"My understanding -- I'm not a theologian -- but there's a prophecy in the Bible that says you'll have to receive a mark, or you can neither buy nor sell things in end times," Del. Mark L. Cole, the bill's sponsor, told the Post. "Some people think these computer chips might be that mark."

Cole reportedly said that he primarily sponsored the bill because of the privacy issues.

"I just think you should have the right to control your own body," he said.

Yet some fundamentalist Christians see more serious concerns in the Book of Revelation in the Bible, which reads, "He causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."

There you have it folks. Some of your elected representatives are hard at work keeping the apocalypse at bay. Read the full story here (tip from Laura Sizer).