In Sept. 20, 1973, Senior Scholastics magazine had an article titled: Public Needs and Private Rights - Who is Watching You?: It stated: All buying and selling in the program will be done by the computer. No currency, no change, no checks. In the program, people would receive a number that had been assigned them. Tattooed in their wrist or forehead.. The number is put on by laser beam and cannot be felt. The number in the body is not seen with the naked eye and is as permanent as your fingerprints. All items of consumer will be marked with a computer mark (UPC). The computer outlet in the store which picks up the number from the item at the check-stand will pick up the number in the persons body and automatically total the price and deduct the amount from the person's 'special drawing rights' account... The use of laser branding is already a reality. Dr. Keith Farall of Washington State University, has developed laser branding and a universal mark (unalterable) for the use of branding livestock and pets. It is quick and painless, says Dr. Farall, in a fraction of a second a technician can stitch a brand or initial into the skin. And it is theoretically possible to include man as another one of these animals. Says the doctor, who admits he has branded himself in the fashion by way of experiment.

In the Nov. 1985 Prophecy in the News, an article by J. R. Church entitled Mark of the beast tested in Sweden stated: Believe it or not, some 6000 people in Sweden have agreed to accept a mark on their right hand in order to test a new method of money exchange-in Australian Banks Employee Union.

In 1798, a Methodist minister, Adam Clarke wrote: The mark of the beast will be an 18 digit number, 6+6+6 18. (Adam Clarke Unabridged Bible Commentary). In 1977, Dr. Hanrick Eldeman, chief analyst for the European Common Market, announced that he was ready to begin assigning a number to every person in the world; and he plans to use a three-six-digital unit, 18 numbers.