The extreme, far-right conspiracy movement QAnon has made so many failed predictions and false claims that no honest, reasonable person can take them seriously. Only people filled with rage, bitterness and fear will believe their lies. A commitment to facts and truth, regardless of the cost, is missing for most. Critical thinking is not taught in schools, nor much anywhere else, so people are easily duped into believing even the most outrageous claims. A fair number of dedicated Christians have embarrassed the faith and desecrated Christ’s name on the earth by falling for and propagating outright demonic lies. The mysterious leaders of QAnon are worse than the sly, smooth-talking snake –oil salesmen who fabricate fake health “cures” and separate people from their money. The following are just a few of the primary deceptions spewed by QAnon.
Failed Predictions
-----QAnon's first prediction was that Hillary Clinton was
about to be arrested and would attempt to flee the country. This prediction
failed.
-----The "Storm" would take place on November 3,
2017. There were no notable events in US politics on that day.
-----The "Storm" would take place on January 20,
2021, the day of Biden's inauguration. No coup took place and Biden was
peacefully inaugurated.
-----A major event involving the Department of Defense would
take place on February 1, 2018. Nothing happened.
-----People targeted by the president would commit suicide en
masse on February 10, 2018. No prominent people committed suicide that day.
-----There would be a car bombing in London around February
16, 2018. There was no bombing.
-----The Trump military parade would "never be
forgotten". The parade was canceled.
-----Something major would happen in Chongqing on April 10,
2018. Nothing notable happened in Chongqing that day.
-----There would be a "bombshell" revelation about
North Korea in May 2018. There were no notable developments.
-----A "smoking gun" video of Hillary Clinton would
emerge in March 2018. No video appeared.
-----Multiple failed predictions that John McCain would
resign from the US Senate. McCain remained in the Senate until his death in
August 2018.
-----Multiple failed predictions that Mark Zuckerberg would
leave Facebook and flee the United States. Zuckerberg remains CEO of Facebook
as of March 2021.
-----Multiple failed predictions that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey
would be forced to resign. Dorsey remains CEO of Twitter as of May 2021.
-----Multiple failed predictions that Pope Francis would be
arrested on felony charges.
-----Multiple failed predictions that "something
big" would happen or the truth would emerge "next week".
------Multiple failed predictions that Donald Trump would be
re-inaugurated on January 20, 2021 despite losing the election. Joe Biden was
inaugurated as planned on January 20.
-----Donald Trump would be inaugurated on March 4, 2021.
-----Donald Trump would be inaugurated again on March 20,
2021. After the failed prediction that Trump would be inaugurated on March 4,
2021, QAnon "delayed" the inauguration date to March 20, 2021.
False Claims
As well as the failed predictions, Q has posted numerous
false, baseless, and unsubstantiated claims, such as:
-----That the CIA installed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un
as a puppet ruler.
-----A February 16, 2018, false claim that U.S. representative
and former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz
hired Salvadoran gang MS-13 to murder DNC staffer Seth Rich.
-----A March 1, 2018, apparent suggestion that German
chancellor Angela Merkel is Adolf Hitler's granddaughter.
-----A July 7, 2018, Daily Beast article noted that Q falsely
claimed that "each mass shooting is a false-flag attack organized by the
cabal."
-----That Obama, Hillary Clinton, George Soros, and others
are planning a coup against Trump and are involved in an international child
sex-trafficking ring.
-----That the Mueller investigation is actually a
counter-coup led by Trump, who pretended to conspire with Russia in order to
hire Mueller to secretly investigate the Democrats.
-----That the Rothschild family leads a satanic cult. Similar
political allegations and rumors have circulated since the 1970s. Typically the
allegations revolved around investigators using existing Satanic cults to lure
and blackmail left-wing activists, or in the case of the Franklin child
prostitution ring allegations, Satanic sexual abuse perpetrated by elite
Republicans. A significant difference between the older narratives and the
QAnon of today is that now elite Democrats are considered the villains instead
of Republicans.
Disillusionment
“People in the QAnon community often talk about alienation
from family and friends. ... Though they typically talk about how Q frayed
their relationships on private Facebook groups. But they think these issues are
temporary and primarily the fault of others. They often comfort themselves by
imagining that there will be a moment of vindication sometime in the near
future which will prove their beliefs right. They imagine that after this
happens, not only will their relationships be restored, but people will turn to
them as leaders who understand what's going on better than the rest of us.”
Source
QAnon Failed Predictions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon
Further
Reading
The Splintering of the Evangelical Soul
“The media crisis reaches across the whole of society, but the evangelical movement also faces an authority crisis of its own making. A generation of evangelical leaders who commanded immense respect, at least across the broad middle of American evangelicalism, have passed away. The current generation of evangelical institutional leaders, though markedly more diverse than their forebears, struggle to rise above the rampant ideological othering of our time. Moreover, the movement has seen countless leaders fall from grace in spectacularly destructive ways. At the same time, we have seen the rise of the celebrity pastor. It was once the case that a long obedience in the same direction, a life of humble study and service, earned a person a modicum of spiritual authority and a modest living. Today, a dashing profile and a talent for self-promotion can earn wealth and stardom in the Christian celebrity marketplace.”
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/april-web-only/splintering-of-evangelical-soul.html
Online Conspiracy Groups Are a Lot Like Cults https://www.wired.com/story/online-conspiracy-groups-qanon-cults/
Life amid the ruins of QAnon: ‘I wanted my family back’ An epidemic of
conspiracy theories, fanned by social media and self-serving politicians, is
tearing families apart https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2021/conspiracy-theories-qanon-family-members/
‘How can I talk to my parent who has been consumed by
Trumpism and QAnon?’ “Just because someone in a cultic movement can quote the
Bible doesn’t mean they believe the Bible is saying the same thing you do.” https://baptistnews.com/article/how-can-i-talk-to-my-parent-who-has-been-consumed-by-trumpism-and-qanon/#.YLLI9LdKjIV
Why are Christians so susceptible to conspiracy? “The human mind has the capacity to create
intoxicating and soaring stories that emerge from our experience, but we have
to remember to ground ourselves in reality.”
https://baptistnews.com/article/why-are-christians-so-susceptible-to-conspiracy/#.YLLJh7dKjIW
Is QAnon a prophet or provocateur? And how should Christians
respond? “Like all good
lies, Q’s narrative contains a healthy dose of truth.” https://baptistnews.com/article/is-qanon-a-prophet-or-provocateur-and-how-should-christians-respond/#.YDMJVdhKjIV
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Jerry De Luca is a Christian freelance writer who loves perusing dozens of interesting and informative publications. When he finds any useful info he summarizes it, taking the main points, and creates a (hopefully) helpful blog post.
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