QAnon: The Great Awakening & The Great Deception :: By JD Farag

As I mentioned in the last couple of weeks, today, I am going to address the “QAnon movement,” specifically as it relates to what’s known as “The Great Awakening.”

Now, please know that I’m keenly aware of the many Christians that are involved in this, followers of this, or even just get information from this. As such, it is not my intention to pass judgment on those who do, but rather it is my intention to explain why it is that I believe said “Great Awakening” may, in fact, be a great deception.

For those who are unfamiliar with QAnon, it stands for Q, the letter Q Anonymous. QAnon is purported to be a military intelligence operation that provides hints to open-source information pointing ANON or anonymous researchers to what are known as “Q drops.” Q began posting back on October 28, 2017, and since then has garnered many followers who decipher the coded information in these Q drops.

As for “The Great Awakening,” it’s a term coined by QAnon to suggest that the general human population is waking up during this time period to the fact that the power structures have been intentionally keeping them domesticated and controlled like sheep.

To those who are wondering why it is that this rises to the level of devoting an entire update to QAnon, I have three reasons for doing so at this time:

#1. I’m doing this out of obedience to what I believe the Lord would have me to do.

#2. The QAnon movement has become a source of division and confusion within the body of Christ, and sadly it’s even dividing families and splitting marriages. Since I first mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been on the receiving end of several emails from online members who are just pleading for prayer concerning their wife, their husband, or their son who is all caught up in this, and it is just tearing their family apart. It is tearing their marriage apart as well. Very divisive and confusing.

#3. The third reason and perhaps, more importantly, a sense of conviction from the Holy Spirit concerning my integrity before the Lord, such that I could no longer avoid the proverbial “elephant in the room” as it were. By that, I mean for me to not speak up at this time would be disingenuous at best and dishonest at worst. Furthermore, the swiftness with which everything is happening today, in the world, is most unforgiving of remaining silent any longer concerning the much-needed warning about what is coming.

In Ezekiel 33, God commands the watchman on the wall to warn God’s people of what’s coming lest he have their blood on his hands. If he warns them about what’s coming and they don’t take heed, then it’s on them and not the watchman. I suppose I could be rightly accused of having a sanctified selfishness in this regard (notice I sanctified the selfishness), knowing that I won’t have anyone’s blood on my hands when I give an account to God because I sounded the alarm, I blew the trumpet, and I warned God’s people. Now it’s not on me. I did that which God has called me and even commanded me to do, and that is to warn you concerning this.

By way of a preface, I’m going to approach this the way I approached the unveiling of the long-anticipated Deal of the Century. The reason is I knew, after reading the 181-page plan, that I was going against many Christians who believed that the peace plan was good. In so doing, I found myself in the very uncomfortable position of the student in an experiment to get him to agree that 2 + 2 = 5. Let me explain this one.

Many years ago, I heard about this experiment. They conducted experiments like this. This particular one had a classroom of young students, and everybody was in on the experiment except for one student. The teacher would write on the board something like 2 + 2 = 5, and then all of the students who were in on it would raise their hand in agreement. Except for that one student who wasn’t in on it, the one student who the experiment was on to see the power of peer pressure.

Can you imagine? I mean, that’s so cruel first of all, but can you imagine? You’re sitting there in the classroom, and the experiment is on you. The joke is on you as they say. You’re going, “2 + 2 doesn’t equal 5?” You’re looking around at all your classmates, and they’re all raising their hand, and then they’re looking at you, and you think, “I’m the only one not raising my hand.”

They’re all looking at him like, “hello?! You’re the only one not raising your hand!” Yeah, but 2 + 2 doesn’t equal 5; it equals 4. So, he (for lack of a better word) sheepishly raises his hand because the pressure was too great. Because he wants to go along with the crowd and doesn’t want to be the only one to say, “Hey, this doesn’t add up.”

That’s how I felt with the Deal of the Century. I read the entire plan. I even had some help with some of the technical stuff that was in the plan. The Lord knows my heart; I wanted it to be good. I tried inside and out, every which way I could to find that this plan was good. When I got to a certain section and realized that it was the section on “End of Claims; End of Conflict,” which basically says both the Jews and the Palestinians have to end their claims on Jerusalem in order to end the conflict, that’s a problem, and it divides the land.

So instead of raising my hand, I put my foot down. Back on February 2, in that prophecy update, I stated that the Deal of the Century was, in fact, a plan to divide Jerusalem; and the problem is, of course, according to the prophecy in Zechariah 12:1-3, anyone trying to divide Jerusalem will themselves be divided.

So as a watchman on the wall, that was the warning concerning what I saw coming, which is why I sounded the alarm. Knowing that I was going to get a lot of push-back from those who did not see the plan as dividing Jerusalem, I made the following statement. This is back on the February 12 update, I said, “Time will tell, and if this is indeed the intent of the plan, then we will likely witness the dividing of America very soon.”

I mean, wow, as I had suspected, it happened and is happening fast, which to me is a confirmation that the plan does, in fact, divide the land. The reason I’m approaching QAnon in this way is that once again, time will tell. If this movement is indeed good, and of God, and I’ve got it wrong, then I will publicly humble myself and ask for forgiveness from the pulpit as I have several times over the years.

However, if I’m right, I don’t need to be right. In fact, the Lord knows my heart. So often, I wish I wasn’t right; I wish I was wrong. But if I’m right, then I would argue that it shouldn’t be too long before the “great awakening” is seen for what it, in fact, is — the great deception.

Kindly allow me to address a statement I made during the July 5 update concerning QAnon being a cult. Perhaps it would be helpful to define what a “cult” is according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Webster defines a cult as “a great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work.” I mention that because it seems that not only is there a great devotion to the Q movement, there is now more recently those receiving the QAnon oath.

In response to part of a QAnon-related meme called “Take the Oath,” which went viral after Q Drop Number 4510 on June 24, from the official qmap.pub site, which reads, “Take the oath. Mission forward,” under the heading of “Digital Soldiers Take the Oath and Serve Your Country.” Now, on the surface, this would seem to be a very good thing that we, as Christians, should want to be a part of and support, right?

However, when you look deeper into this, what you’ll find is that it is Antichrist in the sense that it’s in place of Christ. Antichrist does not just mean “against Christ.” It actually also means “in the place of Christ.” If you’ll kindly hear me out, I would like to explain how I get there.

What follows are what’s known as “Q Drops” from the official Q website at the aforementioned qmap.pub that, to me, are very telling. I want to draw your attention to the actual Q Drops, then I want to quote from Scripture in relation to that specific Q Drop. I hope to demonstrate and illustrate how these posts very subtly are designed to lead people away from Jesus instead of leading people to Jesus.

Let’s start with this 1st one. It’s Number 1797 (these drops are all numbered); it says, “Sheep No More.” Now, this is a very well-known one from Q and is usually couched in terms of people being “sheep people.” However, that’s what Jesus said we are. So, if I’m “sheep no more,” does that mean that the Lord is my Shepherd no more? We are likened unto sheep, and we are His sheep, and the Lord is our Shepherd.

In John 10:11, Jesus said, “I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” In John 10:7, “Then Jesus said to them again, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.'” And then in that same chapter, John 10:14-15, Jesus says again, “I am the good Shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. Just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.” Well, wait a minute; I want to be a sheep if the Lord is my Shepherd.

Here’s the next one, Number 3014, “Dark to Light.” Now, at first, this sounds biblical and right. However, this is referring to the angel of light. It’s kind of ironic that Q Drop Number 666 says to, quote, “Follow The Light.” Now, this begs the question of who or what is this light Q says to follow. The answer is in 2 Corinthians 11:14, where the Apostle Paul says, “For Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”

Could it be that this “light” is a Luciferian light vis a vis being enlightened, awakened, eyes opened? Moreover, this “Dark to Light” and “Follow the Light” presupposes that we, as Christians, are in darkness and need to be brought to light in order to follow the light. Sadly, this is in direct contradiction to what Jesus said in John 8:12. “When Jesus spoke again to the people. He said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me [listen very carefully] will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.'”

Listen, if I’m a follower of Jesus Christ, a believer in Jesus Christ, I’m not in darkness. I will never be in darkness; I’m walking in the light. The Apostle Peter, in 1 Peter 2:9-10, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light, who once were not a people, but are now the people of God who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”

Here’s the next one, Number 3843, “Trust and Believe in Yourself.” Really? I mean, wouldn’t you agree that one would think this contradicting Scripture would be a firm grasp of the obvious? I mean, Scripture is replete with passage after passage about trusting in the Lord and not man, and even dying to self, not trusting in self.

Another one that you’ll find often is “Trust the Plan.” Trust the plan? No, I trust no plan; I trust no man. I trust the Lord. Proverbs 3:5, a very well-known verse in Proverbs, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 28:26). We just finished our study through Proverbs; it was such a magnificent book. Proverbs 28:26 says, and I love this about the book of Proverbs that it pulls no punches. “Those who trust in themselves are fools.” Are you calling me a fool? No, I’m not. God’s Word says you’re a fool if you trust in yourself, “but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.”

Psalm 118:9, “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.” Psalm 20:7, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” Luke 9:23-25 says, “Then He [speaking of Jesus] said to them all, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily [daily] and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit their very self.'” Their very soul, as another translation renders it.

Do you know what Jesus is saying here when He says pick up your cross? What He’s saying is that, because the cross represents death, a crucifixion, you need to pick up your cross and die to yourself every single day. It’s not trusting self; it’s dying to self.

Number 2442, “You are the Saviors of Mankind.” Not only is this not biblical, but it’s also actually right out of the playbook of the New Age, which I want to talk about in a moment. Because the New Age is all about, I am God. Even as I say that many of you are replaying that video in your mind of Shirley MacLaine there on the beach, “I am God. I am God; I am my own God. I am my own savior.” That’s the New Age and nothing new under the sun.

Is this not what the serpent did in the garden (Genesis 3:1-6)? The whole thing was, “God is holding out on you! He knows that if you were to eat from this tree that He commanded you not to eat from, He knows that you’ll be just like Him, and He doesn’t want that. Because if you eat from this, then your eyes will be opened, enlightened, awakened, and you will be just like God. Just repackaged. You are god; You are your own savior.”

I’m not going to quote a lot of Scripture; if I did, we’d be here all day. But I do want to quote Isaiah 43:11, “I, even I, I am the Lord, and apart from me, there is no Savior.” In the Old Testament, there are so many times when God would command Moses to have Aaron speak to the people and say, “I am the Lord your God who delivered you out of Egypt.”

What’s interesting is it’s repeatedly replete throughout the Old Testament that you hear again and again, “Command Aaron to speak to the people, ‘I am the Lord your God who delivered you out of Egypt.'” Why? Why do you have to keep telling them that? Because they think that the golden calf that Aaron made when Moses didn’t come down from the mountain was the god that had delivered them out of Egypt. And God has to remind them that, no, that’s not your god, that’s not your savior. “I am the Lord your God.”

When I read Scripture — I don’t know if you do this — I would recommend that you do this because I think it helps. By the help of the Holy Spirit, to grasp an understanding of where the Scripture is saying the emphasis is. For example, I don’t think the emphasis is on, “I am the LORD your God.” I don’t think the emphasis is on, “I am the Lord your GOD. ” I think the emphasis is on, “I am the Lord your God.” That’s not your god. They are not your god. “I am the Lord your God, and there is no other apart from me that is your Savior.”

Number 2788, “Where we go one, we go all!” This is usually the #WG1WWA. This particular one is gaining quite a bit of traction. But the problem is that it smacks of this “One World” where all go and are united like they were at the Tower of Babel. One world; One language. It’s almost a reversal of what happened at the Tower of Babel.

So, not only is it in direct opposition to God and His Word, but the other problem with this is, “where all go,” may seem and sound right, but in fact, in the end, leads to death and destruction. Back to Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

Then in Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus is speaking; listen very carefully. He says, “Enter by the narrow gate.” Why? “Because wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

This next one, Number 4249, is actually a quote from Scripture, and this is a common argument from those who follow Q. They will argue that Q quotes Scripture. You’ll forgive me… But well, let me just say it this way: Make no mistake about it, Satan knows Scripture better than you and I ever will. Isn’t it true that Satan quoted the words from God to Adam and Eve in the garden? Misquoted really. And so too did he also misquote out of Deuteronomy when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness.

Don’t ever think for a second that Satan doesn’t know Scripture. By the way, you’ll forgive me again for this, but Satan really knows Bible prophecy. I mean, think about it.

You know the book of Revelation? It’s the only book of all 66 books of the Bible that promises a blessing to those who read it, hear it, and take it to heart. Yet here’s the thing; many Christians are so afraid of that book. It’s so apocalyptic. Do you know what the word “apokalypsis” in the original language of the Greek means? Revealing. I know this is going to be deeply profound — revelation, reveal-ation. It’s a revealing, an unveiling of what’s going to come.

No wonder Christians don’t read the book. Satan doesn’t want Christians reading that book and being blessed by that book. The only book in the Bible that promises a blessing. I mean, think about it. Would you want someone to read a book that is about you and your demise, and ultimate destruction, and being cast into the lake of fire? I kind of don’t want people reading that book about me and what’s going to happen to me. That’s what the book of Revelation is.

Well, here’s the drop, quoting, “Peace for the Storm: Have Faith in God, Mark 11:22.” Wow! Okay, conspicuously absent from these Q Drops is any mention of the name above all names, the only name given among men whereby we must be saved, the name of Jesus. Do you know what Mark 11:22 actually says? Well, I’m going to read it to you. This is Mark 11:22: “Have faith in God, Jesus answered.” Jesus said, “Have faith in God.” That was Jesus.

I know I’ve mentioned this before, and just indulge me for a moment… I’ll try not to digress too much on this, but I think it’s important. “god” is very generic. I know in my culture as an Arab in the Middle East, it’s actually “allah,” which any Arab in the Middle East, and Jews for that matter, will say is synonymous with the title of “god.” Even if you had an Arabic Bible, every time you read the word “God,” it would say “allah.”

There’s a problem; “allah” is not the title of God; it is the name of a god. It is the “moon god.” Allah is not God; allah is a false god. Islam is a false religion, and Mohammed a false prophet. So, allah is the moon god that they worshipped and worship. Allah is not Jehovah God. You know that on the back of your money, it says, “In God we trust.” I have a question. Which god? What’s the name of the god? Did you know in Egypt they had over 3,000 “gods”? Did you know that? Man, that’s confusing.

Well, again, I don’t want to digress too much. I guess my point is simply this: it’s at the name of Jesus that demons tremble. There’s coming a day when every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus, Jesus Christ, is Lord and there is no other (Phil. 2:10-11, Romans 14:11). You know, when I pray sometimes, actually more often now, especially when the spiritual warfare is intense, which is like all the time now. I always pray out loud in the name of Jesus because I know that the spiritual forces, the wickedness in high places, they can’t stand it. If I just say, God, they’re like, hey cool, that’s not very specific; but when I say, Jesus, they hate it! They hate it. Jesus said, do you know why they hate you? Don’t take it personally. They hate you because they hated me first. It’s the name of Jesus.

Number 2450, this is interesting. “A Beautiful Brave New World Lies Ahead.” Oh, it does? Wow, cool. The problem with this is that it’s not a brave new world that lies ahead; rather, it’s the new heaven and the new earth that lies ahead instead. The reason being is that this so-called “beautiful brave world” is passing away and coming to an end.

The Apostle John in 1 John 2:15-17 said, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” Understand that as we say in our day when somebody is dying, they’re passing away or they passed away. That’s what John is saying; the world’s dying. It’s passing away.

When our daughter Noel was born and we took her home, we knew, in just a matter of time, she was passing away. She was going to die; we just didn’t know when. We had her for four months and six days. But we knew she was going to pass away. Would to God that we as Christians would come to terms with the reality that this world is dying.

In Revelation 21:1, John is writing; he says, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.” It had already died. Wait a minute, a new heaven too? Yeah. Why? Oh, because that’s when the first sin had entered. It was not in the garden; it was in heaven by Lucifer. So, God creates a new heaven and a new earth.

Well, Number 3858 is “The Great Awakening.” It’s this last one that I would like to focus on for the remainder of our time together. As I mentioned in the beginning, it is my belief that this great awakening is actually a great deception. This for a number of reasons, chief of which is that the Bible does not speak of a coming great awakening; rather, it speaks of a coming powerful deception.

The Apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:11 (we just studied verse by verse through this epistle) talks about this very powerful delusion and strong deception. That’s what’s coming. Now, please know that I spent the better part of last week, really the last couple of weeks, researching, praying, preparing, and certainly seeking the Lord concerning this. I only mention that because everything in my research and preparation pointed to not only the “Great Awakening,” but to what’s known as “the Great Awakening Map.”

The Great Awakening Map, which as I understand, was created in response to the leading QAnon followers who believe that this great awakening to the Illuminati agenda and its imminent overthrow will coincide with this massive cosmic event, including the release of energy from the sun that will awaken dormant divine DNA in the human body, accelerating our evolution, and triggering the ascension of humanity.

All of this is thoroughly detailed in this Great Awakening map, which illustrates QAnon’s pivotal role in the larger New Age agenda. As a spiritual counterpart to the teachings of the New Age, QAnon is engineering a political awakening that will soon be joined by a spiritual awakening to “godhood.” That’s what this great awakening is.

The creator of the Great Awakening map, Parinya Champ, if I’m pronouncing his name right, talked about this map in an interview with ConspiracyFact.Press on June 29, 2018.

I want you to listen very carefully as I quote verbatim what the creator of this map said about it:

“I put Q as the biggest on the map because Q is in a secret alliance with many world countries. Everyone is awakening and realizing that there is an Illuminati and that there are extraterrestrials everywhere. And that it’s all caused by this solar flash that’s about to occur, and it’s creating a leap of evolution of consciousness for everybody.

“The great solar flash is talked about in almost every ancient religion on earth, and it talks about an end-times that are about to occur right now, and the sun will release several series of flashes. It’s supposed to happen any time, and the series of flashes basically evolves our DNA. When the solar flash comes, we need to be in a state of mind that is peaceful and loving, or it will make you go crazy because you cannot adapt. That’s why [listen] in the Bible, you say you see prophecies of people disappearing off the earth, but the good people get to stay.”

I mean, here again, I’m like that kid in the class going, is it just me? That’s the Rapture!! Isn’t that interesting? … I’m sorry, people say your humor is inappropriate, to which I say, God has a sense of humor, and humor is medicinal. Besides, if I don’t laugh, I’ll cry. You don’t want to see a grown man cry, again, right?

Give me just a moment here, but isn’t this interesting? That’s how they are going to explain it away. Oh, by the way, seems that Satan, again, he knows Bible prophecy. He’s got to have a plan in place when Christians disappear off the earth. So they’re going to say, “Cool! They’re out of the way. We can get on with this plan because they were taken out of the way, and the good people get to stay. ”

Quoting again, we’re almost done. Hang in there.

“It’s basically that same concept, and everybody that has a group mind has to keep peace in their minds and their hearts at all times. Because this is what’s going to push our timeline into the most positive optimal timeline reality, and that’s something I wrote really big on the map. It’s happening right now, and if you look real close, you’ll notice that everything is turning to light. The World War 3 scenario is not going to happen anymore. [That’s not what my Bible says] Our thoughts create our reality, and we can use our thoughts and basically take back control of our planet.”

Okay, I’ll bring it to an end the way we began and reiterate that if I’m getting this wrong, I will humble myself, and I will publicly ask for forgiveness. The bottom line for me is, at best, this is the false teaching of NAR, the New Apostolic Reformation, and Dominion theology, which basically says that we have to take control, take back control, of the world. We have to take our country back. We have to take our planet back. From who?

That’s at best. At worst, this may very well lead to what Jesus said in Matthew 24:24 about false Christ’s deceiving [if possible] even the elect. If it’s the latter, then we need to look no further to realize just how close we are to the end and the soon return of the true Christ at the Rapture of the church. One last thing here real quick. Please don’t keep track of how many times I say, “one last thing.”

Don’t you find it interesting that in the Gospels and in the epistles, there’s this common denominator, this common theme of, “do not be deceived”? In Matthew 24 in particular, as we just referenced, the disciples asked Jesus what are going to be the signs of your return and the end of the age? And before he lists or says anything, he says this; “Let no man deceive you.” Do not be deceived (Matthew 24:4); there are going to be many that are going to come in my name, but they are going to be false. They are going to be false!

For those of you that have been with us for any length of time, you know we’re going verse by verse through the Bible in the New Testament. We’ve studied the epistles written by the Apostle Paul, by the Holy Spirit of God, and replete in those epistles are the words, “Do not be deceived.” When he writes to the Corinthians, he says, “don’t be ignorant.”

Don’t be ignorant? Man, if somebody said that today, that’s not politically correct, is it? You’d be hard-pressed in any church to hear an exhortation like that. Don’t be ignorant. Don’t be deceived. Don’t be ignorant of Satan’s devices. This is where I love the King James Version, “the wiles of the devil.” Don’t be ignorant.

The strategies, the devices, the techniques, the wiles — I mean, you can add to that list of synonyms all you want. The implication is that he is more subtle and crafty, super-intelligent, supernatural intelligence, by the way. He’s very patient, too, by the way. Why do I say that?

Because the picture that is painted for us on the canvas of Scripture is that of a lion. He’s like this lion, and lions patiently stalk their prey. Just waiting for the optimum time to attack, devour, and destroy. Sometimes we’re unaware and vulnerable, and it’s when we least expect it, from a place that we least expect it as well. That’s how subtle and insidious Satan is. Never underestimate the enemy, the true enemy. “We wrestle not against flesh…”

What’s really interesting to me is that QAnon has piled the Right against the Left, the Conservative against the Liberal. So now they’re the enemy, the Deep State, this false New World Order. What do you mean by that? Well, let me share with you a true story. This is many, many years ago; many of you know that I spent years in the car business.

This friend of mine had a Jaguar that he wanted to sell for a very, very high price, and he knew it wasn’t going to be an easy sale. So, here’s what he did (this is very shrewd, very clever): he puts a fake ad in the paper. This is before the internet. I know this is going to date me, but this is back when we had newspaper ads. He puts a fake ad in the paper with a description of his car, but it’s not his car. It’s the same year, make, model, approximately the same miles, and this really high price. Then when somebody called, he said, “Oh, it sold right away! I think I sold it too cheap.” He waited a little bit, put in the real ad, and that’s how he sold that which would not have been easily sold for the price that he sold it at.

Do you see where I’m going with this? You create the false — we talked about it before — the Hegelian dialectic. It’s thesis > antithesis > synthesis; problem > reaction > solution. “So, the Deep State is the problem?! Those liberal Demon-rats, they’re the problem?!” No, they are not the problem, and they are not the enemy. They are the mission field.

We wrestle not against flesh and blood, Republican and Democrat, Left and Right, Conservative and Liberal. We wrestle against principalities, and powers of darkness, wickedness in high places. One of the most successful strategies, or wiles of the devil, is to get us to believe that he’s not behind it so that we fight with each other and do his dirty work for him.

If you were to ask me what my greatest concern was as a pastor, it would be the infighting amongst Christians on social media. The world is watching.

This article has been published on the website (HarbingersDaily.com):

https://harbingersdaily.com/jd-farag-qanon-the-great-awakening-the-great-deception/

 

A Combined Interpretive Scenario of Revelation 17 & 18 :: by Mark A. Becker

[Note: This author is a pre-Tribulation rapture believer, and this article reflects that view.]

Introduction

This article lays out a possible combined interpretive scenario on Revelation chapters 17 & 18, with other notations and commentary. As the conclusion to this article will attest, end-time eschatology is not an exact science. Prophecy was written mainly for those who will be participating in it – to prepare, to guide, to warn, and to save – bringing in those who would enter the Kingdom in the last of the last days, and for Christ to judge the nations who oppose and reject Him.

As a disclosure, I was born, christened, and nominally raised in the Catholic church. I haven’t been a member of the Catholic church since I was a youth, and am now a Bible-believing Christian who lives by grace through faith, and not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9). I have many wonderful Catholic family members and friends, and love them dearly. This article’s emphasis is primarily on the leadership, history, and the prophetic role of the Roman Catholic church and is in no way an indictment of the Catholic laity.

The focus of this article is on Revelation chapter 18 in relation to chapter 17. Most end-times Bible teachers believe chapter 18 is describing the Mark of the Beast economic system, run by Antichrist out of Rome. I do not believe this for many reasons that I address below.

One of my many mottos is: “If I’m in the minority, I feel pretty good where I’m at. If I’m in the majority, I get concerned.” From what I understand in relationship to this article, I’m not only in the minority, I may be the minority.

Agreement on the Identity of the Entity in Revelation Chapter 17

Throughout this article, many points will be made confirming the identity of “Mystery, Babylon the Great,” aka “The Whore of Babylon,” and there is virtually no disagreement among Bible teachers of who “she” is in Revelation chapter 17.

Here’s a brief summary of who this entity is in chapter 17:

In Revelation 17:9, we read, “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.” Rome is well known as the “city of seven hills.” So the “woman” is located in, or around, Rome. Vatican City is only 4km from Rome and is, in essence, a suburb of Rome.

For a brief time, the Roman empire under the emperors persecuted the true church of Christ. But the Roman empire, as is documented at the end of this article, quickly morphed into the Roman Catholic church and has essentially been the power behind the city of Rome and, in many regards, the world ever since.

The “woman” has been ruler over kings (Rev. 17:2 & Rev. 18:3, Rev. 18:9); she has persecuted and killed the saints (Rev. 17:6 & Rev. 18:24); and she sits on many waters with peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues (Rev. 17:15 & Rev. 18:3, Rev. 18:23), showing that her empire stretches into every nation on earth. A perfect description of the Roman Catholic church, which has reigned for approximately 1,700 years.

On to Revelation chapter 18…

Is the Mark of the Beast System a Prosperous System?

Most agree that there will be a gap of time between the rapture of the church and the start of the seven-year Tribulation (the beginning of which will be commenced by the signing of the covenant between Antichrist and Israel (Daniel 9:27). Personally, I don’t think this gap will be over five years. So, taking my maximum estimated gap of five years and the three and a half years – from the signing of the covenant until the Abomination of Desolation (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15) – gives us a total of eight and a half years before the Antichrist sets up his Mark of the Beast economic system. During this time, the Scriptures are clear – there will be worldwide war, famine, and death when the Lord Jesus Christ is judging the earth with the seal judgments (Revelation 6:1-17). And it doesn’t get any better after this.

How is it possible that the Antichrist’s Mark of the Beast system can produce the robust, viable, productive, opulent, long-sustaining – working fluidly and flawlessly, worldwide-benefiting, economic system during the last three and a half years of the Tribulation described in chapter 18? After the world has undergone such mind-numbing catastrophe, how could this be possible?

Actually, in my humble opinion, it is impossible. The Mark of the Beast system isn’t meant to be a vehicle to prosperity in a shattered and God-judged world, as much as a path to worship of Antichrist and ultimate control. What’s being described in Revelation chapter 18 must be something else.

Now, the Roman Catholic church’s prosperity is well documented and visibly seen. The wealth of the RCC surpasses anything any entity on earth has ever known. Everything in the list of decadence, material excess, and opulence recorded in this chapter fits the RCC to a tee. In 1,700 years of existence, they have acquired wealth and material luxuries that are unimaginable and incomparable.

Don’t just think of Vatican City when it comes to their imports and material wealth. Think of churches, rectories, monasteries, property, etc., in every city, in every country of the world where they operate. It is truly mind-blowing what the RCC imports as a whole. The material wealth of this entity supersedes anything the world has ever known.

What are their exports? Everything from the selling of mass and indulgences, to ordering and administering torture and murder (God’s people, both Jews and Christians, being major targets), to ruling over the kings of the earth and everything else in between. Many well-researched and detailed books have documented the above information.

Did God Personally Send Fire from Heaven to Destroy Babylon the Great?

Revelation 18:8 says, “…for strong is the LORD God who judgeth her.” And Revelation 18:20 says, “…for God hath avenged you on her.” Revelation 18:21 says that an angel threw a great stone into the sea, saying, “Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.” These verses don’t say that God sent fire down from heaven to personally destroy Babylon – as is always the case when God personally destroys anyone or any entity.

Examples of this are numerous. In Genesis 19:24, when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, it reads: “Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven.” In Revelation 20:9, when God judges the world for coming up to Jerusalem to attack the Lord after the Millennial Kingdom, it says, “and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” Whenever God personally destroys anyone or anything, the text will make it abundantly clear.

The verses mentioned above in Revelation chapter 18, when compared to Revelation 17:16-17, which reads, “And the 10 horns [kings] which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall leave her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled,” agree perfectly.

When all the verses are taken together, and in order (Rev. 17:16; 18:8; 18:20-21), they read:

“And the ten horns [kings] which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.”

How Is the Whore of Babylon and the City Where She Sits Destroyed?

“And the ten horns [kings] which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire” (Revelation 17:16a).

I can hardly expect this attack described by John to be anything other than a pin-point nuclear attack on the Whore of Babylon and the city where she sits (RCC/Vatican City/Rome). To “eat her flesh, and burn her with fire” couldn’t describe a nuclear attack more clearly than these words John uses to describe this destruction.

In Revelation 18:1-24, we see similar descriptions of an aftermath of a nuclear strike. “… her plagues come in one day… and shall be utterly burnt with fire” (verse 8). “And the kings of the earth… shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment,” describing a fear that can only be that of radiation fallout (verses 9-10). The merchants of the earth do the same, as they “… shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment” (verse 15). And, if that wasn’t enough, so do the shipmasters and sailors as they “… stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning” (verses 17-18). “… for in one hour, she is made desolate” (verse 19).

Other Confirmations of the Entity of Revelation 17 & 18 Are One and the Same

  1. Both are called Babylon the Great. Revelation 17:5 & Revelation 18:2
  2. Both are clothed in purple and scarlet. (A city isn’t clothed in apparel; people in a city are). In Roman Catholicism, Bishops wear purple and Cardinals wear red! Revelation 17:4 & Revelation 18:16
  3. Both persecuted the saints (and apostles and prophets in chapter 18). Revelation 17:6 & Revelation 18:24
  4. Both are women (The city and the system – Vatican City/Rome/RCC). Revelation 17:1-7 & Revelation 18:3-9
  5. Both state that the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. Revelation 17:2 & Revelation 18:3
  6. Revelation 18:4 reads: “And I heard another voice from heaven say, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” What is God calling His people out of?

Point #1: God wouldn’t be calling out His people if they were in the Mark of the Beast economic system, as all who are in this system are damned and have no chance of redemption (Revelation 14:9-11).

Point #2: Some would say that God is calling out His people from the city of Rome before it’s destroyed. Really? The truth is, Christians are going to be on the run for the entire duration of the seven-year Tribulation period – they won’t be hanging out in Rome, or in any other city for that matter.

Point #3: God is calling out His people from the false religious system, and has been for the past 1,700 years. There will be those who are left behind after the rapture of the church of Christ who are Catholics; those who never put their faith and trust in Christ Jesus and instead trusted in the “mother church” for their salvation. Once they understand their error of following a false religious system, they will repent and give their lives fully to Christ. These are the one’s God is calling out of the Roman Catholic church – the “Whore of Babylon.” (Without getting into too much detail, many in the RCC can easily fall into idol, Marian, and “saint” worship, not to mention all the other sins and heresies the RCC teaches. God’s people, once truly saved, need to repent and leave this false religious system.)

There can be no doubt that the same entity is being spoken of in both Revelation chapters 17 & 18. This entity is the Roman Catholic church.

Revived Roman Empire

I believe the revived Roman empire, under the leadership of the Whore of Babylon (RCC) and the Antichrist, will last from the rapture of the church of Christ until the destruction of Rome/Vatican City by the 10 kings in the middle of the Tribulation. The last three and a half years of the Tribulation will be entirely Antichrist’s Kingdom, devoid of the revived Roman empire’s influence that he used to rise to power.

Who Are the Ten Kings?

There are two major interpretations on who the 10 kings are. The first is a 10-nation confederacy in the European Union. The second is that the world will be separated into 10 kingdoms as the Club of Rome and others have proposed. I believe it to be the latter.

These 10 kings hand over their kingdom (which is the world) to Antichrist, resulting in total control of the entire earth needed for the Antichrist to implement his Mark of the Beast system. These 10 kings and their kingdoms probably come into being after the rapture of the church, replacing all the nations of the world with 10 regional divisions.

In Revelation chapter 17, it speaks of these 10 kings as hating the Whore. But there are other kings mentioned in Revelation chapter 18. These kings have committed fornication with the Whore. The text in Revelation 18:8-9 reads:

“And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.”

Who Are These Other Kings That Have Been in Bed with the Whore?

The answer is that these are the leaders of the nations of the world before and after the world was split into 10 kingdoms. All the nations under the leadership of the 10 regional kings will still need their presidents, prime ministers, and local leaders that had been in cahoots with the Whore of Babylon before and after their nations’ autonomy was taken away from them when the division of the world into 10 regional kingdoms came into being. These “kings” will be leaders within the 10 regions, as there has to be national and local leadership under the authority of the 10 kings in their respective regions.

Why Is Heaven Rejoicing in Revelation 19:1-4?

Because, for the last two chapters, John has been seeing a vision of the great Whore, Babylon the great; so it makes perfect sense that he would now see the rejoicing of heaven over her destruction, as she has had 1,700 years of persecuting and killing the prophets, apostles, and saints.

There were no chapters and verses when the Scriptures were completed in either the Old or New Testaments (with the exception of Psalms). Revelation chapters 17 & 18 are what scholars call “parenthetical” portions of Scripture. That is, they are not in chronological order as are the seals, trumpets, and bowl judgments. Therefore, I suggest this parenthetical section should actually be one large chapter starting with Revelation 17:1 going on thru Revelation 19:4.

A Note on Revelation 14 and A Key to the Order of Events

Revelation 14:1-20 is an exciting chronological panorama of what will take place during the 7-year Tribulation.

Verses 1-5 are the 144,000 Israeli evangelists who witness in the first three and a half years of the Tribulation. Note that they are “redeemed from the earth” and “from among men, being the first fruits unto God and the lamb” (v. 3-4) as Jesus is preparing to usher them into heaven before the second half of the Tribulation period begins. In verses 6-7, the angel is declaring the everlasting gospel. Verse 8 is the destruction of the Whore of Babylon (Revelation chapters 17 & 18). Verses 9-11 are the last three and a half years of the Tribulation, the Mark of the Beast, and the judgment on all who take the Antichrist’s Mark. Verses 12-13 are a call to those who accept Jesus Christ to endure to the end. In verses 14-20, we see the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

A perfect outline of the Tribulation itself!

The Second Coming of Christ and the Final Bowl Judgment

Revelation 19:5-10 is the marriage supper of the Lamb (seemingly taking place sometime in the last three and a half years of the Tribulation). Revelation 19:11-21 is the second coming of Christ and would, therefore, be in line chronologically with the latter parts of chapter 16 (three and a half years after the destruction of the Whore of Babylon). In Revelation 16:18-21 (the seventh bowl judgment), we read:

“And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.”

Notice that this Babylon – and the rest of the world – is destroyed by thunder, lightning, and a great earthquake followed by a plague of hail; not by fire with no smoke as is described in Revelation 18:9. This judgment is not on Babylon alone, as is the Babylon of Revelation chapters 17 & 18. This judgment is on the whole earth as Christ destroys Antichrist and the armies of the world at His second coming.

If the Mark of the Beast system is destroyed at this time, how could the kings and merchants of the earth be bewailing her fall when there will be few people left alive that will enter the millennial Kingdom? It makes much more sense, to me, that the kings and merchants of the earth would be bewailing the destruction of Babylon the Great (Vatican City/Rome/RCC) during the middle of the Tribulation than the Mark of the Beast system at the end of the Tribulation.

Two Babylons

I believe the Babylon in Revelation 16:18-21 refers to the rebuilt ancient city of Babylon in Iraq where the Antichrist will have his headquarters during the last three and a half years of the Tribulation. The Whore of Babylon, under the leadership of the Roman Catholic church, has been destroyed three and a half years earlier in the middle of the Tribulation (Revelation 17 & 18).

[I also believe Antichrist will have a base in Jerusalem after the Abomination of Desolation. The reason Antichrist wants these two bases would be to thumb his nose at God. In Babylon, because that’s where all false religions started (and where human worship began with Nimrod), and Jerusalem, because he wants to be the king of God’s “city of the Great King.” What God has, Satan always wants, and he’s possessing Antichrist in an attempt to acquire those things.]

This is when our Lord and King comes down to earth – with us, His saints – to put an end to the Antichrist, the False Prophet, their armies, the Mark of the Beast system, and to judge the world and the nations in order to set up His glorious millennial Kingdom.

Why Are There Two Babylons?

In Genesis 11:1-9, we obtain a quick look into the birth of Babylon. These Scriptures reveal that not too long after the flood, all the people of the earth gathered to the plain of Shinar – in direct disobedience to God’s command to fill the earth – under the leadership of Nimrod. They built the famous “Tower of Babel” and seemed to have incorporated the first anti-God religious system – probably the worship of Nimrod himself with a priesthood (so says tradition and extra-Biblical history).

Once God confused the languages by tribes and people groups, God drove them from Babel into different areas of the earth as he originally commanded them to do. And they took the original false, God-rejecting, religious system with them. Through centuries and centuries of time, this original religious system morphed into the different religious systems we see today.

In the early 300’s AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine claimed to have converted to “Christ” and started his own brand of “Christianity”; a melding of church and state, if you will. Taking an already established pagan priesthood and changing their customs, icons, and traditions into a “Christian” veneer, Constantine birthed the Roman Catholic Church.

This is the entity of Revelation chapters 17 & 18.

The word “Catholic” means “universal.” The Roman Catholic church has been pushing the diverse world religions back together – united under one umbrella – in an ecumenical movement started in earnest by Pope John Paul II and accelerated with Pope Francis. This move is essentially resurrecting the ancient anti-God, Babel religion. But this religious system will no longer be needed by Satan and the Antichrist. The system they want to bring in is human worship, and will ultimately be Satan worship when Satan indwells the “man of sin.”

Antichrist’s Headquarters and Base of Operations

After the Whore of Babylon is destroyed, I believe the Antichrist will move his headquarters from somewhere in Europe (where he ascended in power alongside the Whore of Babylon – using her for his own purposes only to have her destroyed) to a rebuilt Babylon in Iraq that he has, more than likely, been building since the rapture of the real church of Christ. This is where he will run his Mark of the Beast economic system, intrinsically linked to the worship of himself.

After the Abomination of Desolation of the temple in Jerusalem, I suggest he will also provide himself a base to keep watch of his image he has erected in the temple and to oversee his persecution and murder of the Jews.

A Simple Outline for My “Combined Scenario of Revelation 17 & 18”

  1. Revelation 17 & 18 are one combined prophecy. That is, the religious Whore of Babylon and economic Babylon is the same entity in the same place – The Roman Catholic church in Rome/Vatican City.
  2. The destruction of Babylon in both chapters are the same – they are not separate attacks.
  3. This attack comes from the 10 kings in, or around, the middle of the Tribulation period just before Antichrist sets up his Mark of the Beast economic and worship system.
  4. The Antichrist will “take his spoil” from the fallen Whore of Babylon; but his base, or “throne,” will be moved to ancient Babylon in Iraq and Jerusalem after the Abomination of Desolation.
  5. At the end of the Tribulation (three and a half years after the destruction of the Whore of Babylon), Christ comes back at the Second Coming to save Israel, destroy the Antichrist, False Prophet, their armies, and the Mark of the Beast system.
  6. Christ sets up His Millennial Kingdom.

Conclusion

Donald Rumsfeld, past Defense Secretary for the United States, once famously quipped, “…because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.”

This is a pretty good way of looking at end-time prophecy.

Both Daniel and John, when receiving their visions and prophecies, were extremely perplexed and confused. In Daniel 12:8-9, Daniel exclaimed: “And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.”

What I’ve laid out here seems very plausible to me, but – in terms of end-time prophecy – time will tell. The fact is, in regard to this interpreted scenario, I may be right, but I could also be wrong. And that’s the case, and the unvarnished truth, for every prophecy student, teacher, and scholar this side of the rapture.

We won’t know for sure how these events will play out exactly. It is ultimately written for those who go through it. As Donald Rumsfeld said, “…that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.”

In any case, “Come out of her, my people!” (Revelation 18:4).

Email: mab10666@yahoo.com