I’ve already introduced the river rider in my previous posts, particularly in my post about angel wings and light. In this post, I will take a deeper look at this particular figure and argue this is the manifestation of a demon that reveals itself as effeminate and seduces and deceives people and the nations into spiritual adultery, ultimately to their destruction. It is possibly even likened to the demonic force that is prophesied about in the books of Daniel and Revelation. This demonic force wants to have dominion over the world, but the Bible shows us that God overcomes this power with His kingdom through Jesus Christ.

Let’s begin with explicating the show just before the silver rider appears. What is the setting that is established for her introduction to the show? In my previous post, An Interpretation of the Oarsman/Torchbearer of the 2024 Paris Olympic Ceremonies, I explained how the runway orgy on the bridge and the hooded oarsman/torchbearer dancing on the table/runway is a mockery of Jesus’ body and blood. This happens right after all that, after the word “darkness” appears on the screen, after the dancers act like they are possessed and fall motionless and dark on a floor of an LED-produced lava flow. All goes dark, and then a little floating rock appears with a piano, pianist, and singer.

The singer sings John Lennon’s “Imagine”:

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace, you

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world, you

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Key words to pay attention to in this song are “peace” and “the world will be as one” and “brotherhood,” because this ties well with the theme of the show elsewhere, such as with the superimposed words “unity” and “unity in diversity” and “fraternity” and “we stand and call for peace.” What kind of peace? Well, the song tells you that it’s one with “no heaven…no hell…living for today…no religion.” If there is no heaven or hell or religion, then there is no God. Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.” And if people are only living for today, they are not living for eternity. Therefore, they are not living for God. This is exactly the lie that Satan wants people to believe. Just as Satan deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden, so Satan deceives the world. The song says “I hope some day you’ll join us/ And the world will be as one.” This song calls for a universal apostacy, a universal rejection of God or eternity. Just as Satan lies, this song presents the lie that humans can live in a utopia apart from God. Since the Olympics committee chose this song, I assume the other appearances in the show of the words “unity” and “peace” and “brotherhood” should be interpreted in the same light. Contextually, that is the logical conclusion.

During the song, the piano goes up in flames. Even the pianist has red hair. After this performance, they feature the words “We stand and call for peace” in English and in a different font, both noteworthy variations from the pattern of previous font and words being in French instead. The piano appears again in the closing ceremonies, emerging sideways out of the stage floor, as if it is rising out of hell, burnt by flames, and being played by a pianist with a trail of black. It kind of looks like the rising specters my neighbors put in their yard for Halloween. He is playing the hymn to Apollo, which was rediscovered at Delphi in 1893, just three years before the resurrection of the Olympic Games and one year before an international sports committee decided in Paris to revive the games. An opera singer sings the lyrics. Is this coincidence? Is this synchronicity? Revelation 9:11 says, “And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.”

The opening ceremonies highlighted different words before certain scenes throughout. The word displayed before the silver rider appeared was “solidarity,” which means “union or fellowship arising from common responsibilities and interests, as between members of a group or between classes, peoples, etc.” This echoes the song’s wish for the lister to “join us” where there is “no heaven….no hell…no religion.”

Finally, we then see the river rider, sitting on the edge of a locker room bench, the Olympic flag draped over the bench behind her. She is turned away from the camera and facing off to the right. Strapping her belt and donning the flag as a cape, she appears riding a metallic horse on the Seine at night charging against the current, or upstream. The entire procession up to this point has been flowing with the current downstream. I have previously established my argument in my post An Interpretation of the Use of Rivers in the 2024 Paris Olympic Ceremonies for the river symbolizing death and hell, and that the nations are symbolically being led to hell. Even though people may not have intended this connection, I believe the spiritual forces guiding the orchestration of the show have such symbolic intentions. If people are paraded to hell downstream, then demons emerge from hell against the stream.

The silver rider is identified by the Olympic commentators as inspired by Sequana, the goddess of the river Seine, goddess of healing and granting wishes. She is the daughter of Bacchus, the god of wine. According to Oxford, “Her devotees are depicted in heavy, hooded woolen cloaks, the kind worn by ordinary Celtic peasants. They bear her gifts of fruit, money, or pet animals. A large pot inscribed with Sequana’s name is filled with silver and bronze body parts to be cured by her.” So, in the opening ceremonies, they depict Sequana in a hooded cloak like the dress of her devotees, as well as silver like the body parts offered to her for healing.

The commentators of the Olympics explain that she was married to the god of the underworld, and she escaped by becoming a river. So if going downstream is symbolic of going into the underworld, her riding against the stream is symbolic of her riding out of the underworld. Just as the hooded oarsman appeared on the river and emerged on the earth, so now the silver rider does the same. I believe this is representative of a dark spiritual force being unleashed on the earth or emerging in increased power.

To be honest, the first thought that struck me when I saw the silver rider was that she looks more like a ring wraith out of The Lord of the Rings than someone a human would want to approach for healing and for having their wishes granted. Even the music that introduces this character is ominous and dark.

Even the time of day the rider appears is significant. It’s night. Night is a Biblical symbol of spiritual darkness. When Jesus healed a blind man, he said, “⁴ I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:4-5). Could this night in which the rider is introduced symbolically be the night Jesus was talking about, the night that inhibits the work of God and seeks to quench His power on earth? Sequana is the goddess of healing and granting wishes. It’s a pretty clear opposite juxtaposition between these two figures: the rider and Jesus. Both promise healing, but only one actually is the Healer. the other is the imposter, the inverter. One brings light, the other appears in darkness.

In my post An Interpretation of the Symbolic Meaning of Angel Wings and Light in the 2024 Paris Olympics, I have already argued how the ride of the the river goddess lights up three pairs of wings, symbolizing the rise of power of various demonic beings that appear all together in the Olympic closing ceremony. The rider appears for a moment to don a pair on the Eiffel Tower. I also explained in that post that her appearance out of the Eiffel Tower on a white horse is symbolic of her leading the nations into deception, and that this can be tied to the rider of the white horse of Revelation who came conquering and to conquer. All the nations fall in line behind her as she proceeds to the place she hands over the Olympic flag to be hoisted beside an image of a golden bull. In the closing ceremony, she bears the Greek flag before it is unfolded and raised and handed over to the golden voyager. I will talk about the golden bull and voyager in my next post and how they are the symbols of another demonic figure. If she (the rider) is leading the nations into deception, then what kind of deception? Well, the one mentioned in John Lennon’s “Imagine” of course: no heaven, no hell, no religion, no God. How is that conquering? People can be conquered by ideology and cunning, not just by force. It can happen through deceit and cunning. Wasn’t Samson conquered by the Philistines through the seduction of Delilah? Wasn’t Babylon taken in a single night without a fight? The Persians snuck in under the city wall through the dry river channel.  Deception and cunning is the only way Satan can win because God is stronger. Sampson was stronger, but he was conquered by Delilah’s seduction. The walls of Babylon were stronger than the Persian army, but they were conquered by cunningly diverting the river and drying up the conduit into the city. So Satan can conquer the world by cunning and deceit, and so far he is doing a very good job of it.

If the rider, when she is on the white horse, can symbolize the rider on the white horse of Revelation, then what about the metallic horse she is riding at the beginning? The Bible, amazingly, has a creature that matches that description in the book of Daniel, also tied to the antichrist and the dark spiritual powers that will rise in the last days. The creature in Revelation is different than three previous creatures, which represent previous earthly kingdoms. The fourth is different because it is unnatural. It is metallic. It is artificial, and it tries to change the world.

⁷ “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. ⁸ I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking ^[c]pompous words…

¹⁹ “Then I wished to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured, broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet; ²⁰ and the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke ^[i]pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows.

²¹ “I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, ²² until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.

²³ “Thus he said:

‘The fourth beast shall be
A fourth kingdom on earth,
Which shall be different from all other kingdoms,
And shall devour the whole earth,
Trample it and break it in pieces.
²⁴ The ten horns are ten kings
Who shall arise from this kingdom.
And another shall rise after them;
He shall be different from the first ones,
And shall subdue three kings.
²⁵ He shall speak pompous words against the Most High,
Shall persecute the saints of the Most High,
And shall intend to change times and law.
Then the saints shall be given into his hand
For a time and times and half a time. (Daniel 7:7-8, 19-25).

There is a lot of symbolism in here about the horns and eyes that can be confusing. I don’t think its talking about literal horns, but they are symbols of power. But we won’t get into all that symbolism here. I want to focus on some of the beast’s other features. The river horse is definitely different from a natural horse. It is metallic, like the beast of Daniel is metallic. The beast of Daniel appears in a vision of the night, and the river horse appears at night. This beast that comes to “devour” and “trample” the earth will be hostile to God’s faithful. Naturally, any ideology that talks about no heaven, no hell, and no religion, is going to be hostile to faith that believes in a sovereign God who judges the earth by a true standard of justice, and that there is a judgement for the wicked, that there is a day on which all people will be accountable to God for their thoughts, words, and deeds. The beast of Daniel intends to change times and law. Well, what was the hooded oarsman doing in the clock tower? He was changing time. What was repeatedly promoted during the Olympic ceremony? Sexual immorality, and definitely homosexuality and the blurring of male and female. Homosexuality is not natural. it defies natural law. So, the beast of Daniel intends to change law. Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” In Romans chapter 1, Apostle Paul tells us:

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,^[g] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

²⁶ For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷ and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

²⁸ And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³² Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (bolded font added for emphasis)

Paul clearly states that homosexuality is not natural. It is different. Along with this same rebellion against God comes a full list of sins in verse 29, and several of these are specified with the unnatural “different” beast of Daniel. The beast speaks pompous words, and unrighteous people in Romans 1 are gossips, slanderers, insolent, haughty, and boastful. The Daniel beast “devoured, broke in pieces, and trampled” and unrighteous people are inventors of evil, heartless, ruthless, and full of murder. The same spirit that inhabits Daniel’s fourth beast can be compared with a lot of similarities to the spirit of the unrighteous people of Romans 1.

So far, I have analyzed the hooded oarsman and the river rider. In the next post I will analyze the golden voyager. It is significant that these are the three prominent characters of the Olympics ceremony, and there are three pairs of wings lit up.

The rest of this post will focus on the river rider, but it will be in light of all three characters and how they parallel to ancient deities in the Bible and Greco-Roman mythology. The next prominent characteristic about the river rider is that she is feminine.

Jonathan Cahn, in his book The Return of the Gods, explains something called the dark trinity. The head of this dark trinity is the Possessor or Baal (aka Zeus), the chief god of the pantheon. The second member of this dark trinity is the Enchantress, or Ashtoreth in the Bible, or Aphrodite in Greek, or Venus in Rome. The goddess of love and pleasure, she is a seductress. Her male priests are turned into women, just like the drag queens in the Olympic opening ceremony.

Adultery is a Biblical trope for infidelity toward God. It can be a complete abandonment of God to worship idols, but more times than not, it is in reference to religious syncretism, the combined worship of God and other gods. In ancient Israel, this was the worship of the Lord and other gods like Baal and Ashtoreth and Molech. In fact, the Israelites became so confused about it that they got to the point they thought the Lord and Baal were the same god. Ezekiel records how worshipers entered the Lord’s temple right after sacrificing their children to Molech earlier that day (Ezekiel 23:39). This was their spiritual adultery. Revelation 14:8 says, “Another angel, a second, followed, saying, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.’” Did I mention Sequana is the daughter of Bacchus, the god of wine?

The religious syncretism of our modern day disguises murder of innocents as women’s health and any sexual identity besides the God-established male-female monogamy in marriage as inclusion. Daniel 11:32 says “He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.” The Olympic opening ceremonies were just too much to remain silent over. This is one way I am taking action, because most people probably don’t stop to think critically enough about what that show exhibited.  James 4:4 says, “⁴ You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” This verse directly correlates friendship with the world as adultery. Saying abortion is okay is spiritual adultery. Accepting LGBTQ+ ideology is spiritual adultery. And both were glorified in the opening ceremony and are unnatural. Killing your baby isn’t natural. Having sex with a member of your sex isn’t natural.

Let’s go back to Cahn’s dark trinity and knowing that the three main characters of the Olympic ceremonies are demonic in nature. In my next post, I will explain how gold is associated with the chief of the triad. Silver, as a secondary metal, correlates to the secondary head of this dark trinity, or the Enchantress (the seductress, the adulteress). The river rider is silver, and the Eifel tower that the rider comes out of is covered with silver lighting.

In conclusion, the silver rider represents the demonic seduction, the conquering of the nations by this effeminate figure sent to promise peace, healing, and grant wishes, but ultimately deceives.

Though this rider/beast may conquer by deception and cunning, it will not prevail. Daniel and Revelation tell us the end of the story.

⁹ “As I looked,

thrones were placed,
    and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow,
    and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames;
    its wheels were burning fire.
¹⁰ A stream of fire issued
    and came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him,
    and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment,
    and the books were opened.

¹¹ “I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire…

¹³ “I saw in the night visions,

and behold, with the clouds of heaven
    there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
    and was presented before him.
¹⁴ And to him was given dominion
    and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
    should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
    which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
    that shall not be destroyed.

He [the different beast] shall speak words against the Most High,
    and shall wear out the saints of the Most High,
    and shall think to change the times and the law;
and they shall be given into his hand
    for a time, times, and half a time.
²⁶ But the court shall sit in judgment,
    and his dominion shall be taken away,
    to be consumed and destroyed to the end.
²⁷ And the kingdom and the dominion
    and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven
    shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High;
his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom,
    and all dominions shall serve and obey him.’

Those who trust in God in the end will conquer this unnatural beast. God is on the throne. He is keeping record of everything. He will set everything straight. The song of man of Daniel 7 is Jesus. Jesus calls himself time and time again the Son of Man, which is actually a divine title. God is our Healer (Exodus 15:26), not Sequana or anything else that people think will grant their wishes. Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Put your trust in God, in Jesus Christ, and you will overcome, and He will heal you and give you all your heart’s desires. Do not be seduced by the conquering adulterous spirit of this age, but fix your mind on God, who will give you perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3), not the false peace that the world promises or that the 2024 Paris Olympics promises.

Until next time, God bless.

Sources

The Bible. English Standard Version, Crossway, 2001.

“First modern Olympic Games.” History.com. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-modern-olympic-games. Accessed 10 November 2024.

“Hymn to Apollo performed by Benjamin Bernheim at the Closing Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic.” Opera Online. https://www.opera-online.com/en/articles/hymn-to-apollo-performed-by-benjamin-bernheim-at-the-closing-ceremony-of-the-paris-2024-olympic-games–2. Accessed 10 November 2024.

“Sequana.” Oxford Reference. https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100455380. Accessed 10 November 2024.

“Solidarity.” Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/solidarity. Accessed 10 November 2024.