The Adventist Church in Germany Supports the Government Use of Smartphone Tracing Apps and Encourages Everyone to Use Them

Johannes Naether, President of the North German Union Conference, issued a statement on April 15, 2020 indicating that the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Germany supports the government's use of tracing apps to track the movement of its citizens on their smartphones. Germany is implementing a monitoring program to ensure that its citizens comply with the COVID-19 social distancing restrictions and to warn people if they come into contact with an infected person.

President Johannes Naether went as far as to ask all church institutions, departments and employees to download the tracing app and to comply with Germany's COVID-19 monitoring/surveillance program. President Naether said the following during an official statement on the coronavirus crisis:

"Contact Tracing App - The Free Church leadership supports the efforts of the federal government to create a tracing app for smartphones and recommends all employees to use this app if it is available and after a final one to install data protection testing and approval on the service devices."

Apple and Google have been working to develop a system to track the spread of the coronavirus. They are working with governments to provide the necessary technology for health authorities. The plan is to help governments "track and trace" the spread of COVID-19. Germany is not the first nation to attempt this. China, India, England, Australia and other countries are turning to technology to help defeat the pandemic.

Some believe that extensive and mandatory surveillance is justified during the COVID-19 crisis. But this should raise serious privacy concerns. How will the data be used? Will these systems record people's movements, monitor phone calls, track internet use, examine credit card transactions or infringe on other privacies? Are these tracking apps just another attack on our civil rights by powerful governments?

One thing is certain, the tech companies are giving our already powerful governments even tighter control over the population. And we also know that this kind of technology will be used to help implement the buying and selling provisions during the mark of the beast (Revelation 13:17).

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