
Many of the events surrounding the Covid pandemic cause me great pause. I have noticed the way the world has operated lately that these are conditions ripe for the end times. I don’t believe we are there yet, but we are awfully close.
I don’t think the Covid virus is the mark of the beast, as some have suggested. But I see the governments of the world taking advantage of the fear of many and the situation the Covid pandemic presented to see how much power they can seize.
I want to flesh out some ideas and thoughts from recent events to see how the world reacts so easily to usurping of power. Even in free countries like America, people have been willing to give up those freedoms so easily.
Covid and the Mark of the Beast
I don’t presume to be a prophet, but I also know that the Bible prepares us for the end times. We look at the signs of the times and the seasons in which we live. Jesus told us to watch and be ready for His return.
I don’t believe we are living in the end times yet. But I believe we are closer than we’ve ever been. I know we say that a lot. But I see things coming together faster than ever before in human history.
We know that in the times of the Antichrist, the world will see a false religion, a false world leader, and a counterfeit trinity. I see events in the world leading to this more and more with each passing day.
In March 2020, I preached a sermon to kids that had nothing to do with current world events. But that was the last time I was in a church for quite a while. The Tuesday after I preached, everyone from the president to governors of states around the nation closed much of public life to stop the spread of the Covid virus.
Encouraging churches not to meet around the country made me wary. The Scriptures command Christians to gather together regularly. I saw this as a power grab. Nowhere in the Constitution do leaders have the power to stop religious events. In fact, the separation of Church and State was placed in the Constitution to prevent the State from interfering with the Church.
Then came the mandates to wear masks in public areas to protect one another. I had no problem with this originally, although as an American I am opposed to mandates. I saw the political establishment taking more and more power from people with mandates.
Very quickly, vaccine after vaccine was released. These can be a blessing, but they should never be forced on the public. Personal health is just that, personal. The government politicized the virus and the vaccines. Boosters came next. And then more mandates.
So why am I saying the Mark of the Beast is related to the Covid virus? I think the way the government has used mandates to take people’s jobs away from them resembles the way the Mark of the Beast works in Scripture.
The prophecy of Revelation tells us much about the Mark of the Beast. Here is how I see these recent events as preliminary for the coming of the Antichrist and his Mark of the Beast.
“Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.” (Revelation 13:16–17, ESV)
I don’t presume to understand what the Mark of the Beast will be or how it will be implemented by the Antichrist and his regime. But I find it curious people were so willing to give up so much freedom because of a virus.
This scripture tells us people will not be able to buy or sell without this Mark of the Beast. When the government takes away a person’s job, it not only takes away a career, but it takes away a person’s ability to provide for himself/herself and their family. Without an income, you cannot buy the food, gas, supplies, and everything else you need to survive.
Businesses in extremely liberal states and cities became the gatekeepers to buying and selling. They were required by law in these areas to make sure people were wearing their masks or vaccinated in order to enter their establishments.
The Covid pandemic gave governments the opportunity to find out just how much freedom people would allow them to take. And they took, and took, and took. I am glad people have finally reached their limit. But it is much harder to gain back freedoms than to give them away.
If it was this easy to use it pandemic to grab power from even the freest of nations, how much easier will it be for the Antichrist to seize power from the nations in the world when the time comes? Christian, you must watch the times and seasons for signs that the end times are near.
WOKE and False Religion
The first time I heard of this WOKE movement, I couldn’t understand it. I didn’t know who came up with it, but it didn’t make any sense to me. Just the name made no sense. WOKE is the wrong tense of the verb. And as someone who enjoys linguistics, I was confused.
But I think that’s part of it. They want you to be confused. It was another way to mark people as either with it or not with it. Just like the Mark of the Beast that separates worshipers of the Antichrist from those who don’t, this WOKE movement seemed to be doing the same.
The WOKE movement is not something of recent history. For many years, these people have wanted to take over all the institutions of our American society from education to politics. They have education in the bag. And they’ve been working on our court system for quite some time.
But I still didn’t understand a lot of the different aspects of WOKEism. That’s when I realized is not a movement. It is a religion. People have a belief that they can destroy American culture and society one institution at a time.
Even when these things don’t make any sense, they still believe. That’s why it’s a religious movement, not a cultural one. Just look at the current administration. I am not talking politics. I’m talking about religion. This is the belief that goes beyond reality.
No matter how much it doesn’t make sense and destroys the American economy, the current administration refuses to acknowledge that their climate change beliefs are bad for the American industry and economy. American citizens suffer at the gas pump, heating their homes, and paying for food supplied by diesel trucks.
American colleges and universities have become so liberal-leaning, embracing communism and socialism, socialist economics, and secularism that they refused to even listen to an opposing view. They riot if they don’t like a speaker, run to their safe spaces if they hear an opposing thought, and have no idea how to defend their views. If there professor said it, they take it as gospel.
This has furthered the division in America. The last time I checked, the nation is called the United States of America, not the Divided States of America. I am trying to approach this from the view of the Christian who still cares about this nation. We began as a godly nation.
But recent events and movements are trying to drag us away from that godly beginning. This WOKE movement wants to tear down the institutions that bring justice to our streets. They defuned the police, persecute them in the streets, and say that all the police are evil racists. But nothing could be further from the truth. There are a few bad apples, but most police take pride in their jobs and do their work well.
The WOKE crowd champions groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter, which take part in destroying our cities, businesses, and neighborhoods. They call violent riots peaceful protests as they rip our cities apart. But this anarchy is not from the Lord. Black Lives Matter also fuels racism, not from the Lord either.
This WOKE religious movement wants to use racism to divide us. They even teach it to our children in schools through Critical Race Theory. I am concerned about the unity of people in this nation. Even in the Church, division is affecting believers. Christian churches cannot even find common ground amongst one another. We allow minor doctrinal differences to separate us. A house divided against itself still cannot stand.
This division goes far beyond politics. People will not even befriend people with different views than them. Division is evil and from the devil. And he laughs and scoffs at us when we divide. It is so easy for him to conquer us in this state.
All these approaches by the religious WOKE movement are from the devil. I did not say people who believe in the WOKE religion are evil. I am saying the devil uses our division and differences against us. We need to find common ground once again or we will not last as a nation and people much longer.
Precursors to the Antichrist
These problems in our culture and society are just the beginning. The Antichrist will use these tactics and more to subjugate the human race. I am glad I will not be here for that. The Antichrist will have a religious movement behind him when he declares himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:4).
He will be the political leader of the world, subjugating the nations of the world under his one rule. You see how easily people have given authority to the governments of this world. The only step missing is to create the one world order, where these governments that have been given all this power transfer it to one head.
With the religious and political movements under his wing, the Antichrist will have it so easy. Do I believe the Antichrist is present among us? I believe in every generation since the coming of Jesus over 2000 years ago and Antichrist has been among us.
The devil is not all-knowing like our Lord Jesus. If he will take control of the world with his Antichrist, he must have a person ready to take that role on in every generation. So I believe the Antichrist has been prepared, and even tried, to take this role.
The counterfeit trinity of the Dragon (Satan), the first beast (Antichrist), and the second beast (False Prophet) resembles the true Trinity of God the Father, Jesus His Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Dragon controls the other two, as God the Father is head of the Trinity. The Antichrist is the opposite of Jesus Christ, the Son. And the False Prophet has the nations worshiping the Antichrist as the Holy Spirit points to Christ.
This counterfeit trinity will trick the nations into worshiping them, allowing them to rule with an iron fist, and making them think they can take on God and win. They are sorely mistaken. But we live in the end of the last days. And those end times are surely coming soon.
Prepared to Go Home
But I don’t want this to be a completely negative article. We can hold back these times from coming. As long as the Church of Christ is in the world, and the Holy Spirit is with us, we can restrain this evil leader from taking his place on the world stage.
We don’t have to give in to these political and religious movements. But this must not be about either politics or religion. It must be about godly men and women standing up for Jesus Christ in a wicked world. We are the light of the world until Jesus returns.
Rest assured, dear Christian, that Jesus is returning soon. And we look forward to his return! He will come in the clouds and take His children home to be with Him forevermore (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). I look forward to going home at the right time.
But I am not willing to give up the fight for Christ on earth until He comes for me. I’m not concerned about politics. I’m concerned for the nation in which I dwell because I believe it has been a powerful engine for the gospel to go around the world. The freedoms afforded to American citizens give us the freedom to worship Jesus, the freedom to share the gospel, and the freedom to speak for Jesus, as I am doing in this article right now.
The United States of America cannot be found in the pages of biblical prophecy. I don’t know if that means that we won’t be here when these things take place, or if we will not be such a large player on the world stage at that time. But as long as we are here, we must use our influence for God’s kingdom.
I don’t believe we need to spread democracy around the world. There are places and cultures in which democracy does not work. But there is no place on this earth where God’s Kingdom does not work. And we are here to spread the gospel of Christ, not democracy. We can use democratic principles to spread the gospel more easily. But the church tends to spread better under persecution than under peace. However Jesus wants to use me, in whatever environment, I will serve Him until He returns. Will you join me in worshiping Jesus and spreading His gospel until He returns?
And I thought I was the only one who noticed that WOKE isn’t correctly tensed! Thanks for your honesty and Biblical outlook on these sensitive topics!
It honestly annoys me when people either purposefully or even don’t realize that they name their movements strange things that don’t make sense. I just can’t stand when people can’t make any sense of the English language. It’s a pet peeve of mine. 🙂