This post is the second in a series I am doing as an explication of the 2024 Olympic ceremonies. In my first post, I explicated the setting for the opening ceremony, the Riven Seine, and in this post, I will explicate the images of wings and their light in the opening ceremony as well as similar lights in the closing ceremonies. Tony Estanguet, president of the organizing committee of the Olympic and paralympic games, said, “Together we have shown the world the most beautiful face of France.” If that’s true, then France has a very ugly face. Jesus said,

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, ²³ but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23).

There was a very dark spiritual presence behind the 2024 Paris Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, and most people did not see the entire show. Most stations did not broadcast the entire show because it was so bad. But if you watch it from beginning to end, it tells you of a very dark narrative. And if you already think France is pretty bad now, don’t be surprised to see this junk spread. Demons will never be content in just one country. Today’s post is about analyzing the symbolic meaning behind the usage of wings and the laser sharp lines of light in the show. I argue that the wings and the beams of light tie back to fallen angels.

First, I want to say that there are three pairs of wings in the show, and there are three main demonic characters in the opening and closing ceremonies, and I argue that these are their wings, the wings of fallen angels, and their lighting is symbolic of their regaining power. Lit wings first appear when the rider on the river goes under two bridges to which they are attached. The rider looks like a ring wraith straight out of The Lord of the Rings.

Even the music associated with the rider and the wings is dark and ominous. The video commentators say she represents peace. What kind of peace is that? She is supposed to be the Greco-Roman goddess of the Seine, Sequana, the goddess of healing and granting wishes. Actually, the rider looks like anything but. She rides a metallic mechanized horse down the Seine, the Olympic flag the cape on her back. After the rider lights up the first two pairs of wings on the bridges, a third pair of wings lights up on the Eiffel Tower as the rider comes from the tower on a white horse. (There is so much I want to say about this rider and what she symbolically means, but I will have to save that for a later post exclusively about the rider.) Right now, I want to argue that this number three is important, and that it can be tied to three fallen angelic identities.

Three pairs of wings light up with the passing of the river rider, whom the countries follow behind on a white horse.

I would argue that the first identity is the oarsman and torchbearer that I discussed in last week’s post, the second identity is the rider, and the third identity is the golden voyager who we don’t see until the closing ceremonies. There are allusions to him in the opening ceremonies, but again, I will have to save most of that content for a post exclusively about him.

How are a pair of wings connected to angelic beings? We can see connections looking at the Biblical descriptions of angels and fallen angels. First let’s talk about Biblical descriptions of heavenly beings with wings. God commanded Moses to make the Ark of the Covenant with two cherubs (a type of angel), and they have wings (Exodus 25:20). Isaiah describes seraphim (another type of angelic being) with three sets of wings (Isaiah 6:2). Ezekiel 1 describes “living creatures” in a heavenly vision with multiple sets of wings. So we have at least three very specific Biblical descriptions of angelic beings with wings. Second, let’s talk about Biblical descriptions of heavenly beings that fell from heaven and presumably lost their wings (in the very least symbolically). Isaiah 14 tells us about the fall of Lucifer (Satan) as it compares the king of Babylon to that ancient story. Jesus himself saw Satan fall from heaven like lighting (Luke 10:18). Revelation 9 tells us about a star that fell from heaven with access to the bottomless pit, and Revelation 12 tells us angels fell with Satan when he fell:

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him (Revelation 12:9).

Since wings are a symbol of angelic identity, I argue the illumination of the three pairs of wings in the Olympic ceremony represents the fallen angels trying to revive their power, and we see three specific angelic entities in the oarsman/torchbearer, the river rider, and the golden voyager (in fact they all come together in the closing ceremony and literally unveil their flag).

The oarsman/torchbearer demonstrates supernatural abilities all throughout the opening ceremonies, like those of a spiritual being, and thus I argue he is the owner of one of those pairs of wings that light up. He is “flying” through the sky from rooftop to rooftop mysteriously through the show, he can do maneuvers, flips, and jumps that are quite incredible (almost superhuman), he can navigate time (something creatures bound to time cannot do), and he can go place to place throughout crowds without being noticed (like a spirit). In my first post of this series, I argued for a connection between this character and the Greek god Charon. I will explicate more of this character in a later post. But for now, suffice it to say, because of these superhuman and supernatural characteristics, his behavior, and his appearance, I argue the oarsman/torchbearer is a fallen angel.

The river rider, I argue, is the owner of a second pair of these wings. She is the Greco-Roman goddess Sequana (and the Bible teaches false gods are actually demons or fallen angels–see Leviticus 17:7, Deuteronomy 32:17, Psalm 106:37, and 1 Corinthians 10:20) and she can ride a horse over water (quite a supernatural feat I’d say). The nations fall in line behind her when she rides out of the Eiffel Tower (lit with the last pair of wings) on a white horse. The Bible clearly tells us that Satan is “the deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). I’ll get more into explicating this river rider in a later post, but for now, suffice it to say that these summaries of the river rider tie her to “divine,” supernatural, and angelic identity and power.

The golden voyager, I argue, is the owner of a third pair of these angel wings illuminated in the opening ceremony. In the closing ceremonies, he comes down from the heavens, and a minion of helpers who assist his reconstruction of the Olympic rings descend from heaven as well (Maybe like the angels that fell with Satan in Revelation 12). The stage is the world, and the world is covered with smoke (Maybe like the smoke released from the bottomless pit opened by the fallen star in Revelation 9:2). They lift him up at the end as he sparkles with physical beams radiating from him. The lines of the gold coming off of him look like they make the same arch of the lines in the angel wings of the opening ceremonies. Similarly, the lines are sharp like rays, and they are pretty much the same color. His head looks like a skull with a crown and antenna. He kind of looks like a glorified skeleton to me. I argue that a third pair of wings can be connected with this golden voyager figure.

The Olympic committee said the golden voyager is inspired by the Spirit of the Bastille, the statue atop the monument that commemorates the event known as the beginning of the French Revolution. It is gold with wings, a torch in one hand and broken chains in the other, with a six-pointed star on its head. He is standing on the globe. He is shamelessly naked. Now I’m not saying the entire French Revolution is from the devil, but there sure was a lot of violence and death with it, and that is not the Biblical example of conduct, to say the least. What I will say is the symbolism in the Spirit of the Bastille does have some negative Biblical commentary.

The name of the statue itself denotes spiritual identity: The Spirit of the Bastille. In the Bible, certain angels are described in Revelation as being bound and then released to cause death on the earth: “¹³ Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, ¹⁴ saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’ ¹⁵ So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind” (Revelation 9:13-15). What is the French Revolution noted for? Bloodshed. The French even made the bloodshed of their revolution a centerpiece in their show multiple times. The Spirit of the Bastille is holding a torch in its hand, representing enlightenment. But true enlightenment is different from fake enlightenment. In the first book of the Bible, the serpent (Satan) offers Adam and Eve fake enlightenment. He says, “For God knows that when you eat of it [the forbidden fruit] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). Only after it’s doo late does Eve realize the serpent deceived her (Genesis 3:13). By the last book of the Bible, he has deceived the whole world (Revelation 12:9). I know the Bastille monument is older than the 2024 Paris Olympics, but the torch (in conjunction with the hooded oarsman) is pretty much the central theme of the opening show, and the Olympic torch itself goes back to the ancient Greek Olympics using the torch carrying a flame from the altar of a pagan deity. I have already explained how wings are angelic. The star on the statue’s head connects it with an angelic identity as well. Isaiah 14:12 says, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!” Revelation 9:1-2 says, “And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. ² He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.” It is worth noting here that smoke is all over the stage, which is shaped like the continents, during the closing ceremonies, as the golden voyager and his minions put the rings back together. In the center of one of the rings looks like a portal (or shaft) out of Stargate or something.

We actually see a mysterious figure in the opening ceremonies for just a moment, perched on the side of a golden weathervane in the same shape, holding a golden arrow in his left hand. Is this a premonition of the golden voyager to be revealed later? As “one of the greatest shows on earth,” every detail of this show was planned carefully. Why are the weathervane and the final Olympic ring so similar? Why is the figure holding a golden arrow and there are four arrows shooting out of the final Olympic ring? Why does this mysterious figure who we see nowhere else and here for only a moment wearing a golden plume like those that completely cover the golden voyager? What’s with the golden bird above the weathervane with prominent golden wings? The wings look like flames are in them. It reminds me of a phoenix. Look at the cross shape in the weathervane, and look at the shadow of a cross on the golden voyager when he is lifted up, and look at the cross shape in the middle of the last Olympic ring. Look at the small circle in the middle of the weathervane and the small circle in the middle of the last Olympic ring. Do you think the creators of this show left that to coincidence? The use of the cross shape in the golden voyager is an inversion of the cross Jesus died on for our sins, when He was lifted up (John 3:14, 8:28) to draw all people to Himself (John 12:32). It’s by definition an anti-Christ.

The wings in the opening ceremonies are symbolically connected to demonic beings. But the wings are light, right? Well, 2 Corinthians 11:14 says, “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”

During the closing ceremony’s show, the beheaded statue of Nike rises out of stage floor. Nike has divine wings. She is the goddess of victory, and the icon of the final conflict between Christianity and paganism during the Roman empire. In the closing show, she is “resurrected” as if reversing the Christianization of the Roman empire.

I’ve been talking a lot about the fallen angels, but it’s important to remember who wins the war:

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. ¹² Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” (Revelation 12:10-12).

If you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20), and you can rejoice that Satan (literally the accuser) was defeated by Jesus on the cross. Jesus paid for your sins so Satan can’t accuse you of guilt anymore. He has no power over you, only if you are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Romans 10:9-11 says,

if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”

But if you do not look to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, Revelation 12:12 says, “woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short.” You are protected from Satan’s deception and power only if you believe in Jesus Christ. Believe He is God’s Son, believe He lived and died for your sins, and believe God forgives you because of the punishment He took on your behalf for your sins. The demons flee at his name. Terrifying aliens flee at His name (There is going to be a whole separate post dedicated to this). Please take refuge in the One True God, because if you don’t, your sins are still on you and you don’t have God’s protection and you are subject to Satan’s wrath and the consequences of your own sins, and Satan’s time is indeed becoming very short. That’s why he is running amuck.

Next week I will get into the character of the hooded oarsman/torchbearer and explain in more detail why he is who I think he is and why it matters. Until then, God bless.

Sources

The Bible. English Standard Version, Crossway, 2001.

“Nike.” Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nike-Greek-goddess. Accessed 19 September 2024.

“Who is the ‘Golden Voyager’ at the Olympic Closing Ceremony?” NBC Chicago. https://www.nbcchicago.com/paris-2024-summer-olympics/who-is-the-golden-voyager-at-the-olympics-closing-ceremony/3519526/. Accessed 19 September 2024.