The Tenpenny Files with J.B Hixson

A national argument is erupting over AI-powered surveillance cameras capable of tracking vehicles across America, while communities are fighting the enormous data centers required to power the next generation of artificial intelligence. Flock Safety alone now has roughly 120,000 cameras operating across 49 states, and the backlash has crossed political lines. At the same time, AI data centers have become an issue in the 2026 midterm elections as communities question how quickly this infrastructure is expanding and what it will mean for their land, water, electricity and local control.

We already have technology capable of tracking enormous amounts of human activity, and the network supporting it continues to expand.

That makes my conversation with Dr. J.B. Hixson remarkably timely.

For years, J.B. described the movement toward centralized control as a “totalitarian tiptoe.” After researching what has happened since 2023 for his new book, Fade to Black: The Rise of Global Tyranny, he changed the phrase.

Now he calls it a “dictatorial dash.”

And when you look at what is happening around us right now, you begin to understand why he chose those words.

J.B. has spent years studying biblical prophecy and what he believes Scripture tells us about the system that will exist when the Antichrist eventually comes to power. His concern is that Christians may be waiting for some unmistakable future moment while failing to recognize how much of the necessary infrastructure could be developing beforehand.

What makes J.B.’s discussion of artificial intelligence more interesting is that he uses it himself and readily acknowledges how useful it can be. He tells me how his ministry uses AI to summarize his sermons and save valuable time. His concern centers on what becomes possible when increasingly powerful artificial intelligence is connected to enormous stores of personal data, surveillance networks and systems capable of analyzing human activity in real time.

His concerns extend well beyond artificial intelligence.

J.B. organizes Fade to Black around what he calls the seven spirits of the Antichrist: pretense, power, phenomena, pride, persecution, perversion and pluralism. He has written about this framework before, but this time he concentrated on what has happened during the last few years and how those developments fit into the biblical pattern he has studied for decades.

J.B. explains why he believes UFO and UAP disclosure belongs in a serious discussion about biblical prophecy and why he questions the popular assumption that these phenomena necessarily originate from another planet. We talk about growing religious pluralism and his concerns over efforts to place fundamentally different religions beneath the same spiritual umbrella. We also get into narcissism, cultural pride, surveillance and the extraordinary concentration of technological power.

One of the most important parts of our conversation concerns the rapture and what Christians should realistically expect before it occurs.

J.B. is a committed pre-tribulation pastor, yet he does not believe a pre-trib rapture means Christians have been promised an easy exit before conditions become dangerous. His interpretation of Scripture places the rapture before God’s wrath and the Antichrist’s regime, but he believes the infrastructure capable of supporting that regime could become highly developed beforehand. As he explains it, the Antichrist does not suddenly appear and create a worldwide system from nothing. He steps into something already mature enough to use.

His argument raises a much more immediate concern for Christians: how difficult could conditions become before the rapture ever occurs?

Fade to Black goes considerably deeper into the evidence J.B. believes connects these developments. The book contains more than 30 pages of bibliographic citations, and he encourages readers to follow those sources, investigate the material and reach their own conclusions.

I had far more questions marked in this book than we could possibly get through in one interview. We discuss what J.B. sees when he looks at the world today, why the speed of recent developments changed his assessment, how AI could fit into a future control system, what he believes Christians are overlooking about UFO disclosure and why he considers religious pluralism so significant.

There is also much more in Fade to Black that deserves careful reading, including J.B.’s research into what he calls Luciferianism, Hollywood, powerful institutions, cultural perversion and the historical forces he believes have contributed to the conditions we see today.

J.B. repeatedly returns to preparation rather than fear. One line from Fade to Black captures that responsibility better than anything else:

We must never be scared, but we must be prepared.

His biggest takeaway from writing this book was how much had changed in such a short period of time. After hearing him explain why, his shift from “totalitarian tiptoe” to “dictatorial dash” makes for a conversation worth having.

Meet our Guest

Dr. J.B. Hixson has spent decades studying Scripture, biblical prophecy and the spiritual forces he believes are shaping modern culture.

He is a pastor, professor, national conference speaker, prolific author, and founder and president of Not By Works Ministries. J.B. earned his B.A. from Houston Baptist University, a master’s degree in theology from Dallas Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from Baptist Bible Seminary. He has served as faculty or adjunct faculty at nine colleges and seminaries, authored 15 books, and contributed to theological journals and Christian publications.

J.B. is also a returning guest. He previously joined me for an extensive four-part teaching series on the spirit of the Antichrist, which laid much of the biblical groundwork behind the conversation we’re having today.

His newest book, Fade to Black: The Rise of Global Tyranny, brings that earlier work directly into the present. J.B. has been writing and teaching about these subjects for years, but Fade to Black focuses heavily on the changes he has documented since 2023 and why their pace has changed his assessment of where we are.

Website

Book: Fade to Black: The Rise of Global Tyranny
Learn more: Fade2BlackBook.com