“Their morals, their code; it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. You'll see—I'll show you. When the chips are down these, uh, civilized people? They'll eat each other. See I'm not a monster, I'm just ahead of the curve.” - the Joker (Heath Ledger)
One of the great acting performances in recent times was that of the late Australian actor Heath Ledger and his interpretation of the Joker, in the second installment of the Batman series, The Dark Knight. In my estimation, of the all the superhero movies that have been made in the last ten years, this was probably the best one. Ledger took the Joker to a place that redefined the Batman’s arch-nemesis as not just another rendition of the “clown prince of crime”, but rather a diabolical genius capable of destroying not only civilized people of Gotham City, but to absolutely terrify and dominate the criminal underworld as well. Ledger’s performance garnered such reviews that he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2008. Unfortunately for Ledger, he was not there to receive the award. The actor died of an accidental drug overdose of several medications that were prescribed to him by his doctor for alleged problems with insomnia, and perhaps other issues. He was only 28 years old.
Ledger’s Joker was terrifying as well as striking. He seemed to be several steps ahead of everyone, including the Batman, but he was utterly depraved. He referred to himself as an “agent of chaos” and yet at the same time, he was anything but chaotic in regards to his methods and devices. He was instead deeply researched and entirely calculating and very much able to formulate a strategy that was miles ahead of everyone else. Ultimately, Joker was defeated not so much by Batman’s ingenuity as much as the choice of certain people to choose life rather than insanity. Batman on the other hand becomes the “Dark Knight” because he comes to the realization that if he is going to defeat an evil villain like Joker, he would have to “cross the line” and do things and engage in tactics the “ordinary good guy” would find offensive—exactly the point that Joker was making throughout his fight with the caped crusader!
Ledger’s Joker managed to so grip the psyche of Gotham City that the whole place is absolutely terrified and chaotic; and yet he managed to turn every situation to his advantage—not by default, but rather by design. As many times as I have watched the Dark Knight, I have always come to think about the person of the Antichrist in the Bible.
The Antichrist is someone whose story and plans happen by Divine Design as the final, most substantial, most turbulent seven years of the Earth. What we see in the Bible is the abstract plan without going into the concrete details; these would be revealed in due time. The book of Daniel does talk a little bit of the Antichrist’s devious nature and destructive plans for the world of the future (Daniel 7, 9, 11). What kind of man does it take to subvert the governments, financial institutions, and intelligence agencies of the world and take complete control without causing any kind of a major revolt from most of the world?
Before I answer that question, I must point out that we live in the only time where the Biblical eschatological prophecies could plausibly happen. The nations of the world have never been more interconnected, unprecedented speed of information and the exponential growth of technology, and not least, that the world has a political forum where all the nations of the world have a membership—the United Nations. Economies are more interconnected than ever before. China, for example, has used its economy as strategic initiative to “invade” (for lack of a better term) several countries in Asia (which is not surprising) as well as countries in Africa and South America (which in-fact is astounding).
After the year 2020, where unchecked political intrigue and censorship, unchecked information lies and bias in academia, unchecked mob violence, and of course coronavirus all ran amok within a western democracy known as the United States, I am sure now more than ever that the world is ready for the person and the government of the Antichrist.
Satan’s clown will be a master of evil and evil devices. Anyone that gets in his way will be destroyed. Anyone who gets into any kind of relationship for convenience or advantage will ultimately feel the pain of loss and betrayal. This is nothing new; rather, it is the story of every evil regime in the history of mankind up to the present day. Those who were part of the governments of Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, the Ayatollah Khomeini, Idi Amin (just to name a few) can testify to the paranoia and tension of being so close to the “center of power”. No one was safe. If for one moment such leaders felt the slightest suspicion (and it did not take much for that suspicion to rise), or the slightest disagreement, or even acclamation from the masses, it was enough to end one’s life and maybe his or her family’s as well. Those who survived or escaped from such a situation testify to the depravity of the leader or leaders they followed. To this day, academics in many a forum are trying to understand, and in some cases, justify the insanity of those dictators and regimes or try to hide it completely by focusing on the “better aspects” (particularly of the communists in these days). It goes without saying, that no matter how horrible, there will always be such regimes and dictators (clowns) just around the corner and almost always, the world is ready to be fooled. There is a couple or reasons for this. Whether it is the political left or right, the reasons are the same.
First, the idea that mankind is basically good. This is political correctness and this idea is prevalent everywhere in the world. It is this idea that propaganda is based on and portrayed (or like in a song by the rock band REM-“Shiny, happy, people holding hands!”). This idea however, is bad, because it is exactly what the prophet Jeremiah says is the reason for the curse of mankind: “Cursed is the man that trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord” (Jeremiah 17:5).
From here comes mankind’s’ second problem: namely, the focus will come to individuals of extraordinary talent and dynamism. This is true with regards to any form of government, whether a democracy, theocracy, fascistic, or communistic—there will almost always be a strong leader who will be identified as a “man of the people”. The difference at present is how a particular nation decides their perspective or position regarding the Almighty God of the Bible. To use the United States as an example: even a casual observer will admit that while the vast majority of this nation would readily admit to the idea of “one nation under God”, it is done so with more of a wink and smirk than with actual faith or respect. This is true with many politicians, judges, professors, and even preachers—people of influence and decisions. But now we deal with specter of Political Correctness coupled with public opinion and image: now a way of life for so many despite the terrible consequences. Into that mix will come Satan’s Clown. I have already talked about the man behind the mask in the previous chapter, but what does a man without a conscience—or more accurately, driven by Satan’s appetite for power and control—along with the nature for deception look like? What is he capable of doing?
The world will be enamored by him. I must make a point clear here. I call the Antichrist or Beast “Satan’s Clown”, but I do so for creative purposes. This does not mean that he will come into the world scene looking like a circus character with make-up, a red nose, and long shoes on which he stumbles and falls. He will come into the world scene like almost any other successful politician: with great charisma and personal magnetism. He will be a person who (in my opinion) will have the personal looks of the most handsome star in Hollywood or in the sports world. And yet, he will be cunning, calculating, and depraved; like Heath Ledger’s Joker.
What are we saying that the Antichrist will be capable of doing, and will certainly do? He will take control of all the levers of government and commerce all over the world, including (by definition) the nefarious world of intelligence agencies and the economic exchange commissions. He will also take control or influence of the now-infamous tech giants of Silicon Valley (eg. Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc.). What about the underworld of crime? As today, the Antichrist will have the upper hand, and why should he not? They are no threat to him, and in a world where money is the ultimate goal of everything and everyone, they would have nothing to lose if they aligned themselves with the Antichrist. It seems completely impossible, but not implausible (especially in the light of recent events) that even the criminal element of the world will come under the control of Satan’s clown!
In one sense, the Antichrist is going to be a specific judgment of God on those who are in the upper echelons of secular power. Using the last election as a point of context, I believe that even a casual observer can (if he or she chooses to) see the corruption that was pushed and tolerated in order to get rid of President Donald Trump. That corruption was involved in the Justice Department as well as such agencies as the FBI and CIA in the last four years. and most likely longer. In the course of the last four years, through various insiders, alleged information which was treated as bona fide fact was released to agents in the press as well as to congressmen and senators in the legislative branch who then generated investigation based on baseless information to get rid of President Trump. It did not work, but the $50 million investigation and a corresponding ridiculous impeachment trial was all to treat President Trump with maximum contempt. In the course of the last four years, Democrats treated the Presidency of Donald Trump with scorn, claiming on CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, ABC and much of the rest of the media and entertainment world that his 2016 election victory was achieved by the multi-billionaire with “Russian Interference”. And now, social media and the rest of the tech giants are willing to silence anyone who says that the election of 2020 was unfair. Why?
Four years ago, the Bernie Sanders wing of the democrats joined by the “Occupy Wall Street” thugs were screaming against Wall Street banks and businessmen. Four years later, those same banks funded Joe Biden’s campaign to the tune of billions. Why? What changed now? I have already mentioned the Black Lives Matter scam. Recently, it was reported that several black groups have become disillusioned after they found out that the BLM raised over $90 million on the dead body of George Floyd, for white political candidates and private schemes—not one of which will benefit black communities or businesses in the least. Why? And perhaps the most irritating headline in recent days: several evangelical pro-life groups and personalities who voted for Joe Biden now regret their votes after seeing the pro-abortion push in the Biden administration policies (“we feel like we’ve been tricked”). Either this group is utterly imbecilic, or trying to act surprised and betrayed. All of them are an embarrassment and should be utterly rejected.
More to the point, each one of the above will have their perfect judgment with the Antichrist. There is a dreadful truth that most of the world will not accept: namely, that just when one thinks they have everything in control, something will “flip the script.” This is especially true in the world of politics. All the evils that I just mentioned above would give the mind of the practitioners and instigators a sense that they are in control and that they got away with gross immorality because of their craftiness (especially in that they got away with it), and into that mindset will be released the Antichrist just as Joker on Gotham City. He will use them. They will think that he needs them but when their eyes are finally open to his evil, it will be too late. By his guile he will destroy them.
For those of you who think that these are mere ravings of a mad man (no I am not, I’m just ahead of the curve-to quote the Joker!), consider the following: currently, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of the state of New York who was such a media darling in 2020 that he received a multi-million dollar book deal as well as an Emmy Award from the entertainment world for his “press conference performances” during the COVID outbreak last year. I asked along with millions of conservative, “Why on earth is he getting anything?”
New York had the highest number of COVID deaths in the entire United States. His policies, along with the incompetence of such mayors as Bill Deblasio of New York City, made the crisis much worse, along with destroying the economy of that state to the present day. It was all done to point to the world that this man was the “opposite of Donald Trump”, that “He is providing leadership and clarity.” The New York press, the Democrat party, the liberal establishment, and many entertainment personalities glorified his “leadership” as well as his “manhood”; why? How could anyone who was watching the spectacle from a distance and putting things together and not come to the conclusion that this was all one of the worst lies being perpetrated and foisted on the public? Why would these characters continue to glorify Cuomo despite the fact of the carnage being perpetrated? Because they wanted to believe the lie that was coming out of their mouths.
The most destructive fact to come out in the recent weeks is NOT Cuomo’s adulteries, womanizing, or sexual harassment (after all, garbage comedic personalities and actresses were glorifying his “manhood” just a few months ago). The most destructive fact is that the Democrats are trying their level best to push into obscurity that Cuomo and his administration intentionally sent senior citizens to their deaths in nursing homes, by forcing to take back COVID-infected patients instead of quarantining them in the Naval Hospital Ship that had been sent by President Trump into New York Harbor (at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, and was not used at all by state officials). Why would they do this? The most obvious reason is that they wanted to embarrass the Trump Administration with inflated COVID death numbers (lest anyone forget that 2020 was an election year).
Is it possible that gubernatorial administrations in New Jersey, California, Pennsylvania, and Michigan perpetrated similar carnage via legal policy, like what happened in Germany in the Nazi years? What is wrong with asking that question? Cuomo’s own staff admitted that they “froze” when President Trump ordered the Justice Department to investigate—which investigation is not being published, yet. Could one imagine what would happen if the Democrat party bigwigs and operatives were complicit in a genocide similar to what the Communist Party perpetrated in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and what they currently perpetrate in China, or the Nazi Party did in Germany in the 1930s?
Why is that far-fetched? In New York State, Governor Cuomo signed the absolute worst abortion law in the United States in January of 2019 before a state legislature that gave him a standing ovation. A law that basically took out every possible restriction regarding abortion to the point that right up to the last few days, that child is not considered a human being (according to the strictest definition of Roe vs Wade, which is the definition of adhered to by Planned Parenthood: namely that the child in the womb is not a person, and therefore not considered a life and therefore does not have a solid right to live, unless it comes out from the mother’s womb). There was a prediction that pro-life advocates and preachers have made for the last 100 years: that if life can be stripped from the most vulnerable (namely the child in the womb) what makes society think that life will not be stripped from those who are considered expendable (namely senior citizens in nursing homes, at this point)?
If elected leaders and political powerbrokers are able to make such decisions in secret as well as in the open without a second thought about the consequences, without a second thought about the morality of such decisions, or with the aim of destroying someone they hate (such as President Trump), and the vast majority of the media purposely looking the other way, what will the Antichrist be capable of doing on this earth through such people during the Tribulation?
In the Dark Knight, the criminal element who made a deal with the Joker to “kill the Batman and take back Gotham City” realized too late that they have instead opened themselves and the city for total destruction. And so it will be with Antichrist at the end. Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 24, “Unless those days are shortened, there would be no life saved.” Imagine what kind of man in takes to qualify for a statement like that?
