There are two massive worldwide deceptions described in Revelation. But many people think they are the same deception.

1. Revelation 18:23 – The great merchants, the rulers of the earth, deceived the world with a pharmaceutical¹ deception.

2. Revelation 19:20 – The false prophet deceived those who received the Mark of the Beast.

These two deceptions are global scale, and the effects are global.

Revelation 18:23 blames the Whore of Babylon’s economic collapse on a pharmaceutical deception. The economic collapse leaves merchants all over the world mourning.

The Mark of the Beast deception leads to “sores”², and “blood clotting”³, etc. (Revelation 16). In Revelation 18:23 it is the False Prophet who deceives the world with the Mark, but in Revelation 13:15-16, the Image Beast imposes the Mark. This is presumably at the request or demand of the Earth Beast. According to Revelation 13:14, we make the Image Beast. In my view, this is the Media.

So dear reader, is the deception of the great merchants the same as the deception of the Mark of the Beast?

FOOTNOTES:

1. pharmakeia. Most translations render this as “sorceries” for unknown reasons. To
   distinguish magic and sorcery as we understand it, Acts 13:8 uses the term magos – magic/magician which is the same as sorcerer. Thus, the Greek text of Revelation 18:23, shows that it is a
   pharmaceutical deception, rather than a magician or sorcerer’s deception.
2. sores – a generic term for illness – https://endtim.es/1st-bowl-of-wrath-adverse-reactions-to-the-mark-of-the-beast/
3. blood clots – https://endtim.es/2nd-3rd-bowls-of-wrath/