Do Not Fear the End Times Part 2: The Sordid Story of Two People who Fear the End Times

(23) “Then if somebody says to you, ‘Look, here’s the Christ,’ or ‘He’s over here,’ don’t believe it. (24) False Christs and false prophets will appear, and they will offer great signs and wonders in order to deceive, if possible, even those whom God has chosen.

Matthew 24:23-24 (CEB)

In my first post about the End Times, which you can read here, I expressed the message that there’s no reason to fear the End Times. What’s going to happen will happen, God’s plan cannot be stopped, delayed, altered, and so on by anything that we humans can or cannot do. Therefore, I said, it’s time to relax first and foremost, because everything is out of our hands and entirely in God’s hands (as always).

I also emphasized that what we need to do right now is REPENT, to turn to Jesus in humility and confess our sins (the first step of true repentance), ask for forgiveness, putting our faith in Him that He is just and faithful to forgive and cleanse us of our sins (1 John 1:9). Also, since Christ repeatedly admonishes us in the beginning chapters of Revelation that we must “change (our) hearts and ways,” we should try to reform our lives as best we can, making every possible effort and using every method at our disposal to overcome our sins and be better. It’s easier said than done, I know, because we are so imperfect, and sins are so delicious and tempting. But if we’re going to reform your lives, if we’re going to change our hearts and ways, then the time to do it is NOW. It’s time to give it our all!

And I also mentioned that this work we need to do before the Second Coming of Christ is 100% free, 100% internal within us, and we also have no need to travel to anywhere in particular, because nowhere will be safe when He returns. And the reason I stressed this point was not only to (hopefully) instill hope, but also because the sad and sordid story I’ll be discussing today was on my mind.

The Story so Far

Well this story is actually rather convoluted, with a lot of different names to keep track of. I’ve been following this story to some extent since January; the article I’m getting my information from to write this post today is this one here: “2 Idaho kids still missing, mom said she was ‘a god’: What to know about her cult-like beliefs” dated 2/12 by USA Today.

A full summary of the events is unnecessary, and the story hasn’t resolved yet anyway. But basically:

• A woman from Idaho named Lori Vallow went missing along with her husband, an End Times prophecy author named Chad Daybell, and their two children: Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17, who have not been seen since Sept. 23 in Rexburg, Idaho.
• There are a number of suspicious/mysterious deaths surrounding Lori and Chad, including Chad’s former wife, Lori’s ex-husband, and Lori’s brother. All died under mysterious circumstances.
• Lori and Chad were tracked down in Hawaii, without the children.
• Lori got arrested in Hawaii after missing a court deadline to bring her children to authorities; the children’s whereabouts are still unknown.
• That’s basically where things stand right now.

That’s as far as I’m going to go into the details of the ongoing events, you can read the article I linked for more. But I am going to address Lori and Chad’s beliefs.

Demonic Deception

As per the article, divorce papers filed by Lori Vallow’s ex-husband allege that she “claimed she was a god assigned to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ’s second coming in July 2020.” There’s so much wrong here of course. Good Christians know that to think you’re God is blasphemous, for “There is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, the human Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).” Perhaps Vallow is actually into new age and has been deceived by the demonic false doctrine of “Christ consciousness,” thinking that she’s a Christ herself.

As for her specific date of July 2020 for the Second Coming, remember, everyone, that we don’t know the day nor the hour (Matthew 25:13)! That day will come like a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2)! That is so important! Don’t ever forget that divination (trying to foretell future events) is forbidden (Deuteronomy 18:10), and that divination is of Baal, the false pagan god worshiped by the Jezebel spirit. Going too far down the road of predictions such as “the Second Coming will happen at this time on this day” is going down the road of divination and Baal. We. Just. Don’t. Know.

I do know in faith that people receive messages from heaven and heavenly beings, certainly from the Holy Spirit (I have faith that I have at times), and perhaps even from Jesus Christ himself, for some of those who know how to hear Him. Saved Christians do have the gift of prophecy, as all of us have the Holy Spirit within us and It can choose to prophecy to us as God wills. But anyone who believes they’re receiving those types of messages needs to know that the kingdom of darkness sends you messages in the same way. That means dreams, signs, visions, and so on. So before taking any of those things at face value, and running off to go to some particular place or do some special thing, you need to test the spirit, as it says in 1 John 4:1. Let’s read from that chapter now:

(1) Dear friends, don’t believe every spirit. Test the spirits to see if they are from God because many false prophets have gone into the world. (2) This is how you know if a spirit comes from God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, (3) and every spirit that doesn’t confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and is now already in the world.

1 John 4:1-3 (CEB)

So always test the spirit, because there are many false prophets out there, and not every prophecy is real. Think long and hard about your dreams (etc.) that you had and be aware of confirmation bias—seeing what you want to see, which reinforces what you want to hear. Pray on your dreams (etc.) for some time. Talk to your pastor about it. And so on. Test every spirit, don’t take these things at face value.

One way we can tell if a prophecy is from God or from the enemy is whether it happens or not. If it doesn’t happen, then the prophecy was not from God. So if Jesus does not return in July 2020, then we know that Vallow’s prophecy was not from God. And if a prophecy isn’t from God? It came from a demonic spirit.

In fact, although we don’t know all the details of the sordid story involving these two, it seems on the surface like a demonic spirit is at work. Look at how far these two have allegedly fallen. Ex-spouses on both sides dead under mysterious circumstances and suspicious timing. A suspiciously-timed marriage—was sexually immoral adultery occurring beforehand? Because that would for sure strongly implicate the Jezebel spirit (click here to read my latest post on the Jezebel spirit for more info). Now they’ve ran all the way from Idaho to Hawaii, and the two children still have not turned up yet. This is all the more concerning because the sister of another of Vallow’s ex-husbands who also died (hmm…) says of Vallow: “It’s like she wanted me to be afraid of the end times […] “There was one time where she was talking about it and she says, ‘Sometimes, I think it would be better just to put my kids in a car and go off the side of a cliff.'”

What’s going on there? Is this how Christians should act? No, because as 2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT) says “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” God expects us to fear Him, yes, but nothing else in this world. We should not fear the Second Coming nor the End Times that precede it, as I explained in my previous End Times post. If we have faith in Jesus, we’re doing our absolute best to reform our lives, and we’re confessing and repenting of our sins, then we as Christians have nothing to fear at all, and certainly not physical death. That second death has no power over us. Everyone will physically die, yes, all of us know that. But a Christian with strong faith who lives righteously has nothing to fear.

So where does all this fear of Vallow’s come from? It doesn’t come from God; it comes from the devil. The devil tries to make all of us afraid; don’t let it. Look at the outrageous things that fear can lead a person to do. Vallow’s family members repeatedly describe her as ‘obsessed’ with the End Times. Obsession is a sign of being afraid of that thing or having some overly strong emotion about it. Lori Vallow was not walking in the spirit, she was listening to demons and succumbing to their efforts to make her afraid. Never forget the words of 2 Timothy 1:7, and keep them in your heart.

Now let’s move on to Lori’s latest husband, Chad Daybell.

Test Every Spirit

Chad Daybell is a Mormon. There’s no way around this, so I’ve got to say it: Mormonism is a cult founded on demonic inspiration, and Mormons unwittingly follow the doctrines of demons. They walk in demonic error.

I could get drawn into an overly lengthy tangent here, so I’ll try to quickly sum up a few reasons for saying this.

This excellent article on Probe.org by Dr. Patrick Zukeran uses the Mormons’ own scriptures to show their heretical doctrine on Jesus:

However, Mormonism teaches that Jesus is a procreated being, the literal offspring of God the Father and one of His heavenly wives. According to Mormon theology, God the Father, Elohim, dwells on a planet with His many spirit wives producing numerous spirit children who await to inhabit physical bodies so that they too may one day ascend to godhood as their parents did. Jesus is believed to be the firstborn spirit child of Elohim. The Doctrine and Covenants, one of the four sacred books of Mormonism states, “Christ, the Firstborn, was the mightiest of all the spirit children of the Father.”{1} The Gospel Principles, which is the manual of the Mormon Church, states, “The first spirit born to our heavenly parents was Jesus Christ.”{2} James Talmage, one of the early apostles of the church wrote, “[A]mong the spirit-children of Elohim, the firstborn was and is Jehovah or Jesus Christ to whom all others are juniors.”{3} […] According to the Mormon view, Jesus is not unique from the rest of mankind. He is simply the firstborn spirit child. The Doctrine and Covenants states, “The difference between Jesus and other offspring of Elohim is one of degree not of kind.”{4} That is why Mormons refer to Jesus as elder brother.

Dr. Patrick Zukeran, “Jesus a Procreated Being?” (https://probe.org/mormon-doctrine-of-jesus/)
1. Doctrine and Covenants 93:21-23.
2. Gospel Principles, 11.
3. James Talmage, Articles of Faith, 425.
4. Doctrine and Covenants 93:21

That heresy came from a demon deceiving Joseph Smith. Ever read Pigs in the Parlor by Frank Hammond? It’s considered a classic book on spiritual warfare against demons. In a section in Chapter 6 called “Detection” (of evil spirits), Item 7 is “Religious Error,” and it reads:

“Involvement to any degree in religious error can open the door for demons. Objects and literature from sources of religious error have been known to attract demons into houses.

Frank Hammond, Pigs in the Parlor, Page 39

Then Hammond goes on to list Mormonism specifically under the “Christian Cults” section of Religious Error. The final sub-item of Religious Error is “False doctrine,” which reads:

1 Tim. 4:1 warns of a great increase of doctrinal errors promoted by deceiving and seducing spirits in the last days. Such doctrines are designed to attack both the humanity and deity of Jesus Christ; […]

Frank Hammond, Pigs in the Parlor, Page 40

Well a cult that calls Jesus “elder brother” and claims that He is not unique from mankind certainly fits that description!!

A quote from Jennifer LeClaire’s book The Spiritual Warrior’s Guide to Defeating Jezebel explains how Mormonism started with demonic inspiration, which led to demonic infiltration: “Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, quoted a ‘divine revelation’ to incorporate polygamy into his Mormon religion. Historians debate how many wives Smith had. Sexual immorality.” (Jennifer LeClaire, The Spiritual Warrior’s Guide to Defeating Jezebel, Page 80) She was making the point that the Jezebel spirit always introduces the sin of sexual immorality if it can, and Jezebel has infiltrated many Christian cults in the past.

If you’re too fixated on contacting angels and other heavenly beings, like Joseph Smith was, then you’re going to be contacted by a demon, like Joseph Smith was. He was so fixated on contacting an angel, he contacted a demon who gave him the book of Mormon. Never forget that Satan himself can transform into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) or any of the saints.

Having said that, I’ll move on, because now is not the time to really delve into Mormonism. I’m sure there will be a time when I’ll write about false doctrines, and I can revisit the topic then. For now keep 2 Corinthians 11:14 in mind as we evaluate a few details of Chad Daybell’s life. Per the USA Today article I cited:

“Throughout the book [his autobiography], Daybell writes about being in the presence of spirits, both of his relatives and of others. He says he often felt these spiritual presences directly intervene in his life. […]

[…] he had his second near-death experience when a 15-foot wave barreled toward him as he was near a rock formation on the beach. Daybell wrote a voice told him to cling to a rock as the wave crashed down. […] He said he saw two relatives, including his late grandfather, who “explained the tasks I needed to accomplish” and “asked if I would be willing to fulfill the assignments he had outlined, and I agreed to do so.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/02/12/lori-vallow-chad-daybell-religion-missing-idaho-kids-mom-cult/4721695002/

If Satan can transform into an angel of light, it’s nothing for him and his demons to transform into images of the people you love. Since Daybell was raised in a demon-tainted Christian cult, Mormonism, it’s logical to assume he picked up plenty of demons in church. And since Satan and his demons know everyone intimately well, maybe his demons saw that Daybell would have a talent for writing books. Then they could use him to spread their demonic deceptions and misinformation, you know, ‘fulfill the assignments’ that they had for him.

As he grew to trust the demonic spirits more and more, maybe Daybell became more ‘hooked’ on their dreams and visions, following their guidance without question, thinking each one was a sign from God without testing the spirit properly or evaluating these visions. I will mention that it seems from the article that he did get legitimate foreknowledge of 9/11, and I have no problem believing that he did. But when I think about how devious and deceitful demons are, I also have no problem believing that they scatter some truth here and there among all their lies and false prophecies. The devil will tell you the truth sometimes, if it suits his purposes. Maybe Daybell’s foreknowledge of 9/11 is what made him trust his demon spirits implicitly, up to a point where he didn’t question what they showed him.

Somehow or other, they got him to trust them to the point where he would do whatever he did to get involved in this crazy story. To marry a woman who claimed she was a god mere weeks after his ex-wife died, and then run from Idaho to Hawaii along with Vallow’s children, offering no explanations for this. Was it his grandfather’s spirit that told him to do those things? Perhaps it took on that appearance when it spoke. But did that spirit lead him in the right direction? Clearly not! But let’s follow the story as it unfolds and see if any blatant red lines (such as murder, etc.) were ever crossed.

Test every spirit and don’t be so fixated on trying to contact saints/angels/etc., because demons can impersonate all of those. And since Daybell was brought up in a church already tainted by demons, surely many of the spirits he’s listened to all his life were actually demons in disguise. Again, look at how far he was led astray in this whole affair. If the world survives to see August 1, 2020, then even Daybell himself will be forced to recognize that he was misled by false, demonic prophecies.

But there’s one more element of possible religious error in this story. You all know, like it says in Proverbs, to be careful what kind of company you keep, right? Well it seems that both Lori and Chad kept company with a questionable group labeled a ‘cult’ by multiple people.

You Will Know Them by their Fruit—Another Christian Cult?

Finally, the least clear part of this story is whether another Christian cult is involved in these events—by which I mean another cult besides the Church of Latter-day Saints.

There isn’t enough info to go on to make an accurate judgment on “Preparing A People,” I’m going to call them PAP. Both Lori and Chad were involved in this organization. In the article, multiple family members of Lori describe PAP as a ‘cult,’ claiming PAP is radical with fringe beliefs, and that there was a drastic change in Lori after she began associating with them. Apparently, this is when she really became obsessed with the End Times.

There was also a mysterious shooting, an attempted murder of the ex-husband of Vallow’s niece, who was also involved with PAP. He also described a sudden, drastic change in his ex-wife after she started spending time with Lori and PAP and how she demanded a divorce out of the blue. That is a very concerning sign, and when you add in Lori it’s beginning to make a pattern (the shooting is much more concerning though).

But we don’t know enough to say anything definitively either way. A brief look at their website, where there is currently nothing but a statement about these events, doesn’t reveal much except these people are possibly LDS as well.

I suppose that time will tell, and I’ll just have to keep following this story. But one thing I will say in general about cults is … beware anyone who claims to have a secret revelation or secret knowledge that no one else does. Don’t judge anyone by what they say but by their actions towards you and others. In other words, “You will know them by their fruit” (Matthew 7:16). Use your head, pray, and evaluate using God’s word whatever you see and hear going on. Look beyond a person’s words, and look for the ‘fruit’ they produce.

So if some group you’re involved in told you to go carry out a shooting, for example (I am not at all claiming that that’s what happened here, merely making an example), then you should immediately know that it’s wrong and not in line with God’s word. Listen to God, listen to the Holy Spirit within yourself. Be smart about listening to others. Don’t do any un-biblical and sinful things that others tell you to do. You have to pray and think for yourself during these End Times. Pray to God for discernment, the discernment of the Holy Spirit, so that you can see situations and people for how they actually are, and not how they appear.

Because there’s a whole lot of deception going on during these End Times, and a whole lot of people tragically deceived. Satan can and does use the same methods of communicating with people as God does (dreams, visions, etc.), so remember to test every spirit! That means prayer, maybe talking to your pastor, etc. In these deceptive times you need to use your head and reflect on God’s Word every day!

And remember the words of Matthew 24:24 that I opened this article with: “False Christs and false prophets will appear, and they will offer great signs and wonders in order to deceive, if possible, even those whom God has chosen.” Beware false prophets! They may have even been given a true prophecy or two by the demon spirits they knowingly or unknowingly contact, to increase their credibility. But beware! More and more false prophets will appear as we get closer to the End. Remember that Christ will appear coming in the clouds on that day—wherever you are in the world at the time, you’ll see Him. So don’t get fooled into following a Christ here or a Christ there, NO! Those are false prophets. And they’re being guided by demons whether they know it or not.

You need to read God’s Word every day, so that you know it in and out—if you don’t read the Bible, it’s time for you to start. That is really important. The Bible is the guidance (and encouragement) you need during these times. But it will help you to build up your discernment, so you can see things for how they really are rather than how they appear.

And to help you get started building up practical discernment in general (as opposed to the discernment of the Holy Spirit), I would once again remind you to always judge other people not by what they say, but by their actions towards you and others; by the fruit they produce. Think about what’s biblical and what’s not, and if someone’s trying to encourage you to take some action that you know or even just feel isn’t biblical, you need to listen to your intuition there (which in a case like this would actually be the Holy Spirit telling you something) and put your foot down. Just say No. Of course, you have to read your Bible in order to know the Word and be able to make those calls.

Once again, I had this story on my mind as I wrote my previous post, when I stressed that no righteous Christian needs to fear the End Times. Our God did not give us a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7), and this is important because look at these two here, Lori and Chad. Do you see what fear drives people to do? Lori in particular had so much fear, she even made a comment about killing herself along with her kids. Her fear and her association with a demonically misled Mormon false prophet sucked her into the whirlpool of events that led her to the jail cell she now occupies.

No, this is all wrong, and this fear is demonic. Relax. Repent. Confess your sins to Christ, change your heart and ways, have faith, and live your life as you wait. Everything is in God’s hands, so what good does worrying about the End Times do you? Get ready for it in your heart, in your relationship with Christ. Then let all the rest go and be at peace.

I’ll continue to follow this story to some extent. I’ve stated the points I wanted to; I don’t plan to write about it again unless it comes to a resolution or there’s some major development that changes everything.

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Until next time. Be strong and do good. And stay safe out there!