Joel’s Army is “The Coming Storm”?

Secretive QAnon Prophecy

I once attended a seemingly good evangelical church in the 80’s. However, I had cause to sit down and go silent when they began introducing songs about the Church’s victory over the world and specifically the rise of “Joel’s Army“.

They rush on the city, they run on the wall
Great is the army that carries out His word
Blow the trumpet in Zion, Zion
Sound the alarm in My Holy mountain!

As a Christian who had actually read the book of Joel, I knew that Joel Chapter Two referred to a great demonic attack (also referred to in Revelation 9) that would come upon the wicked of Israel – and who knows, also the rest of the world in the endtimes. Joel refers to them as “the northern army” (2:20)

Certainly Joel was not talking about the Church rising up to defeat all its enemies and bringing in the reign of King Jesus!

The locust army [that was indeed a physical reality to the prophet Joel], sparked off his prophecy about demonic “locusts” that would be released from their Pit as God’s judgement in the endtimes. “And out of the smoke, locusts descended on the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth.” (Rev 9:3)

Where Did This Teaching Come From?

Joel’s Army teaching is in fact part of the triumphalism created by the ‘Latter Rain‘ Movement. This thinking then developed and grew alongside the Dominion and New Apostolic Reformation movements from the 80’s onwards.

• Excellent article about the Latter Rain Movement HERE
• Explanation of Joel’s Army HERE

The Latter Rain, also known as the ‘New Order of the Latter Rain’, was a post–World War II movement within Pentecostal Christianity including:

• The Latter Rain Revival (1948–1952)
• The Latter Rain Movement (1952–1960s)
• Kansas City Prophets, then IHOP (1980’s onwards)

  PLEASE SEE: My collection of articles on the Latter Rain and Restoration Movements

Latter Rain Movement

The Latter Rain Movement had its beginnings in the years following World War II and was contemporary with the evangelical awakening led by Billy Graham, as well as the Healing Crusades of Oral Roberts, Jack Coe, and William Branham.

Several leaders of the small Pentecostal, ‘Sharon Orphanage’ in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, were inspired to look for a deeper dimension of Christianity after visiting Branham’s meeting.

The Latter Rain movement taught that as the end of the age approached, the “overcomers” would arise within the Church. They used a verse from the second chapter of the book of Joel (which is an interesting fact in light of the Joel’s army references in the same chapter) which says:

Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the LORD your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you — the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.  Joel 2;23

This, they took to mean that the former revival – the former rain – (of Azuza Street presumably) would pale in comparison to the eventual great revival – the latter rain – at the end of the age.

A major feature of the expected ‘latter rain’ would be the “manifestation of the Sons of God” or “Joel’s Army”.

These Manifested Sons of God, ones who have come into the full stature of Jesus Christ, would receive the Spirit without measure. They would be as Jesus was when he was on earth (a Corporate Christ) and would complete the work of God, restoring man’s rightful position as was originally mandated in Genesis.

By coming into the full stature of Christ, they would usher in his millennial reign. Extreme versions of this interpretation referred to Jesus as a “pattern” Son and applied “ye are gods” (Psalms 82:6) to this coming company of believers. (Compare the “little gods” teaching of the Word of Faith preachers.)

Joel’s Army is connected to Dominion Theology and the Seven Mountains Strategy.

Latter Rain has been described in the 21st century as a “rapidly growing apocalyptic movement,” prophesied to become an “Armageddon-ready military force of young people who will love not their life unto death, who will stand face to face with the incarnation of satan as the antichrist and his army in the end of the age.[Casey Sanchez: “‘Arming’ for Armageddon: Militant Joel’s Army Followers Seek Theocracy”. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2008-09-02.] [Source]

More Recent Developments

A combination of Latter Rain and Dominionism began to take form in recent years, especially within non-denominational megachurches, and at revival meetings where engaging in “spiritual warfare” and performing miracles has often taken place side by side with sermons encouraging Christians to be active in the political realm “taking back” civil government.

Believers see themselves as part of an End times army of overcomers, supernaturally empowered, with a mission to take control of the earth for God in preparation for the second coming of Christ.

Closely related movements exist not using the Joel’s Army name, but with identical beliefs in an end-time army engaged in spiritual warfare to take dominion over the earth. One such movement calls itself the New Apostolic Reformation. (NAR).

They linked to Rick Perry’s 2012 U.S. presidential campaign and are now very heavily invested in Trump’s presidency and reelection, as well as contributing to ultra-conspiracy sub-groups such as the secretive QAnon on 4Chan. [Source]

Mark Taylor

Mark Taylor, author of “The Trump Prophecies” is heavily involved in this movement, believing that a secret demon-inspired cabal is controlling the Government and must be overthrown by spiritual warfare and overt action in the political realm. He is also up to his neck in the QAnon conspiracy.

• You can see his prophecies and video HERE
• Exposing Mark Taylor and his so-called Prophesies

What Is QANON?

QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory detailing a supposed secret plot by an alleged “deep state” against President Trump and his supporters.

• Explanation and guide to various QAnon conspiracies HERE

The QAnon conspiracy began with an October 2017 post on the anonymous imageboard 4chan by someone using the name Q, presumably an American individual, claiming to have access to classified information involving the Trump administration and its opponents in the United States.

Q has falsely accused numerous Hollywood actors, politicians, and high-ranking officials of engaging in an international child sex trafficking ring, and has claimed to be exposing a coup d’état by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and George Soros.

“Q” is a reference to the top-secret Q clearance. QAnon believers commonly tag their social media posts with the hashtag #WWG1WGA, signifying the motto “where we go one, we go all.”

The conspiracy theory, circulated using the names ‘The Storm‘ and ‘The Great Awakening‘ – QAnon’s precepts and vocabulary are closely related to the religious concepts of millenarianism and apocalypticism – has been characterized as “baseless”, “unhinged”, and “evidence-free” and Its proponents have been called “a deranged conspiracy cult”.

QAnon’s posting campaign has a history of false, baseless, and unsubstantiated claims, beginning with the first posts incorrectly predicting Hillary Clinton’s imminent arrest, and followed by more false allegations, such as claiming that North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un is a puppet ruler installed by the CIA. [Source]

What is “The Storm”?

Shortly after his election, President Trump met with his senior military staff and later at a group photo with his staff and their spouses, he twice called it `the calm before the storm‘ without an explanation. When asked “what is the Storm?” he replied “You’ll find out!”

A known reader and quoter of Qanon, Trump was obliquely referring to the core belief of QAnon, which is “The Great Awakening” or “The Storm”. [Source: The Calm Before the Storm]

Attending Rallies

In August 2019 the FBI determined QAnon to be a potential source of domestic terrorism – the first time a fringe conspiracy theory had been so rated by the agency – after a man warming up the crowd before Trump spoke at a rally used the QAnon motto, “where we go one, we go all”.

• The Storm Explained

In the Qanon fantasy world, Q promises that Clinton, Obama, Podesta, Abedin, and even McCain are either already arrested and wearing secret police-issued ankle monitors, or just about to be indicted; that the Steele dossier is a total fabrication personally paid for by Clinton and Obama; and that all of this will be coming to a head any day now, and “The Storm” — of arrests, political turmoil, and their own vindication — is coming.

But there have been some, let’s call them miscalculations, as to exactly when. For example, in a statement (below) by the mysterious Q, this “Storm” was to be begun by Donald Trump in November 2017.

My fellow Americans, over the course of the next several days you will undoubtedly realize that we are taking back our great country (the land of the free) from the evil tyrants that wish to do us harm and destroy the last remaining refuge of shining light. On POTUS’ order, we have initiated certain fail-safes that shall safeguard the public from the primary fallout which is slated to occur 11.3 upon the arrest announcement of Mr. Podesta (actionable 11.4).

Confirmation (to the public) of what is occurring will then be revealed and will not be openly accepted. Public riots are being organized in serious numbers in an effort to prevent the arrest and capture of more senior public officials.

On POTUS’ order, a state of temporary military control will be actioned and special ops carried out. (…and so forth for several paragraphs) It is time to take back our country and make America great again. Let us salute and pray for the brave men and women in uniform who will undertake this assignment to bring forth peace, unity, and return power to the people. Stay alert, be vigilant, and above all, please pray.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Love is patient, love is kind.” God bless my fellow Americans.

Well November 2017 came and went and there was no sign of a Q-style military-backed Armageddon. Yet, this pretty glaring mistake doesn’t seem to have weakened anyone’s faith in Q. If anything, it’s brought more followers into the fold. {Source]

False prophet Mark Taylor also predicted massive military trials in 2016, after Trump was elected:

“The day they arrest Hillary Clinton, do you think she is going to go down by herself? No way. She is going to sing like a bird. What you are seeing right now with Donna Brazile and Hillary Clinton, you are seeing the enemy turn on one another and devour one another which is Second Chronicles 20:21 and 20:22. That’s where it talks about in the Bible where the enemy turns and devours one another. Notice those numbers 2021 and 2022, which was the New World Order timeline to have America captured. God is saying right now, ‘No, that’s not going to happen.’”

None of this happened, but that didn’t stop his followers continuing to believe in him, nor did it stop Taylor’s bizarre prophecies about the coming storm.

• You can review all Mark Taylor’s ‘prophecies’ on this page.
• This includes an “Army of God” speech  [download the PDF] together with a declaration form for people joining God’s Army (Joel’s Army) to overthrow all their enemies.

The soldiers mentioned above dedicate themselves to destroying the satanic war machine, eliminating demonic tyranny and liberating the world, “marching together for a full and complete victory“.

• Download this PDF explaining Joel’s Army and related subjects

The Storm Spreads

Over the last month and a half, the Storm has spread from the depths of 4chan and 8chan to Reddit, YouTube, and Twitter, where it’s found hundreds of thousands of devout followers.

Some of the most popular videos boast nearly 200,000 views, and the QAnon hashtag has become so popular, it’s honestly difficult to track. (I signed up for one of those freebie “Track Your Hashtag Now!” services and #QAnon hit the 2,000-post limit within four hours.)

Some poor soul even took the time to write a 117-page book charting Q’s rise to power, which I’m guessing has been seen at least as many times as this very aggressive Imgur guide, which was at 137,000 views as of Sunday night. {Source]

Trumpy Bear Advert

In a rather treacly advert for “Trumpy Bear“, the makers chose to begin with a sequence from QAnon video featuring The Storm. View it HERE.

When you go to their website, the page opens with the advert proclaiming “I Am The Storm” – referring to the President whom the bear represents.

The Storm “Will Be Biblical”

Now, the coming storm of military might overturning a mythical “deep state” is taking on biblical overtones, repeated and amplified by false prophets like Jim Bakker, Rick Wiles – senior pastor at Flowing Streams Church in Vero Beach, Florida, and founder of TruNews – First Baptist Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress, Mark Taylor, White House Religious Adviser Paula White and Lance Wallnau, a fierce proponent of the Seven Mountains heresy. [Source]

“The Perfect Storm”

QAnon and Dominionists

I suppose it was inevitable, given the desperation of the dominion/revival leaders and their faithful cult, that they and QAnon became bedfellows. Indeed, the anonymous leader Q may well be both an Evangelical Leader and a White House staffer, if the clues are anything to go by.

Joel’s Latter Day Warriors

This brings us right back to Joel’s Army, since the prevailing belief of false prophets like Mark Taylor, the NAR, and QAnon is that they are called to spiritual warfare to overthrow their enemies, but alarmingly, this warfare is now beginning to take a serious earth-bound form.

Posts by Taylor followers, also supporting QAnon and the Revival are talking gleefully of their “Great Awakening” in terms of rising up to defeat all their (supposed) enemies on this earth.

They speak of a military uprising, and post pictures of Roman armies complete with spears and swords. (<<< See one alongside)

The Great Awakening – World Revival

The historical Great Awakening was an evangelistic outreach that began in the 1730s and lasted to about 1740, and a second phase in America was a revival beginning in the late eighteenth century and lasting until the middle of the nineteenth century.

However, overlooking that, the new believers look to the Pentecostal Great Awakening, the Latter Rain revival. Now it is expected that the promised world-shaking revival is about to come, in the 21st Century:

Our time of divine destiny has come. We are about to experience what Brother Seymour and Sister Woodworth-Etter foresaw. God is about to rend the heavens and come down! The greatest revival in the history of the church is at hand! [Source]

However, this astounding revival – a major part of the dominion agenda – is now being prophesied by the Joel’s Army and QAnon freaks as their way of overthrowing all heavenly and earthly enemies and establishing their prized rule of God here and now (with themselves in charge, of course.)

Paula White, who serves as spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump and chairs the President’s evangelical advisory board, said the following during an appearance on “The Jim Bakker Show” where she was promoting her latest book, ‘Something Greater’: “I believe we’re ushering in a Great Awakening and we’ll see the greatest harvest ever.” [Source]

She is also a dominionist who cheerfully reinterprets the scriptural account of the end of days (as they all do).

They conveniently cut out the parts where many in the Church and Israel fall away from God; they fail to mention that a FALSE messiah will be the world leader, a devil-inspired man who will ultimately bring about suffering and disaster on a massive scale before the Second Coming.

Paula White and others skip right to the end, having reinstated Israel without any trouble to a peaceful victorious condition (something only the Antichrist does for his own purposes, and temporarily, according to Revelation) and then – after they have restored the world to God’s laws – they welcome Jesus Christ personally as he returns to claim the throne and crown which they have graciously provided for him!

A key belief of the evangelical Christian extremists is the establishment of a ‘greater Israel’ before the end of days,” according to the British website Church and State.

Paula White: Trump will ride alongside the returning Jesus!

According to Paula White, Trump will have a role in the final battle:

“God came to me last night and showed me a vision of Trump riding alongside Jesus on a horse made of gold and jewels,” said White in the Christian magazine ‘Charisma’. “This means he will play a critical role in Armageddon as the United States stands alongside Israel in the battle against Islam.” [Source]

This linking the President with Jesus is not at all limited to Paula White. Whether intentionally or because of a misguided theology, some are beginning to see Donald Trump as more than a man and a President, and akin to a saviour figure, a messianic chosen one, at least in America.

A Facebook page titled Make The Gospel Great Again, which appeared to take credit for the billboard in a since-deleted post, also features an “About” section that read, “We believe God has given American Christians His earthly messenger — Donald J. Trump. We follow his words in faith each day!”

The mission statement goes on to read, “MGGA exists to help spread the truth of God’s great champion on earth — President Donald Trump. The Lord anointed Mr. Trump to bless America, and we live out our faith by following him.”   As Proverbs 3:5 reminds us, ‘Trust him with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.’”

Clearly, admiration for the President, for some, has broken the boundaries of reason and become akin to worship.

Not the Gospel But Political Supremacy

The importance here, for biblical Christians – especially we who have been tracing the growing intrusion of false teaching into the churches for the past few decades – is that the seed of heresy, once planted, has now grown into an enormous world-encompassing tree bearing evil fruit for everyone, and has reached the upper strata of American political influence in its bid to awaken the world.

This supposed revival – the “greatest this world has ever seen” – is not about salvation but saturation, filling the world (whether by choice or not) with loyal citizens who are obedient to a ruling body that believes itself to be Christ Incarnate.

Endtimes Revival?

While I don’t completely rule out a true gospel evangelistic revival that God graciously allows to reap the final harvest before Jesus returns, I do not see anywhere in scripture the kind of world-changing political/social latter-rain style revival preached by the false prophets.

In numerous places, the bible speaks plainly about the conditions just before the return of Jesus. There will be a great falling-away from the faith, many will be deceived by false prophets and false christs, only a remnant of believers in the Church and Israel will be saved (not the entire world!) and there will be at least three and a half years of destruction and earth-shattering problems for mankind before the final battle.

The only restoration of Israel – a partial temporary one – will be accomplished by the Antichrist, who allows the temple to be rebuilt, and a peace treaty to be set up. But after three years or more he becomes Israel’s enemy and wars against them. (Rev 12) He uses the newly-established temple in Israel as his own personal throne, declaring himself to be the only god.

“But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.” [Dan 9:27]

Daniel 9, along with Revelation 13, reveals that in the middle of the Tribulation the Antichrist declares himself to be God. His False Prophet sets up a “living” image of the Antichrist that must be worshiped. At this point, the Jewish people totally reject their would-be savior. In response to their rejections, the Antichrist becomes obsessed with annihilating all the Jewish people during the second and last half of the Tribulation. Jesus referred to the last half of the Tribulation as the Great Tribulation, and He referred to it that way because he was speaking specifically to the Jewish people. The Gentile world may have been suffering under 3.5 years of God’s judgment, but the broken treaty of the second half will be when the Jews face their worst tribulation. [Source]

Given these facts, it is HERETICAL to preach that a great latter-rain awakening will somehow turn mankind to God in the last days.

Conclusion

The false triumphalism being pushed by certain deluded TV Evangelists, along with thousands of heedless followers of QAnon and similar ‘prophetic’ internet sites, is actually part of the demonic endtimes delusion spoken of in Thessalonians chapter two.

The only remedy given there for avoiding a very strong delusion, one which Jesus suggested was capable of deceiving even the very elect (Matthew 24:24) is TRUTH.

We need to seek out the truth in every area of our lives. Starting with the truth about ourselves (being ruthlessly honest before God, uncovering and repenting for every wrong attitude and behaviour) then we go on to hold to the truth of the Word of God alone, and not to everything offered by this or that popular website or ministry, or our favourite preacher.

We also seek out the truth in everyday life, not slavishly believing whatever the media churns out or the opinion of TV reporters – all have some kind of bias. (Many are totally biased or even grounded in antisemitism and baseless conspiracies, such as the Qanon-promoting TruNews website) [Source]

The only way of standing on truth is to examine the facts, the evidence, the motives, the consequences and to find out as much as possible what is really going on.

Let us recall that God IS Truth, and that is the ONLY ROCK on which we can safely stand in these perilous times.