Pharmakeia, Playing God, and Prophecy: How Drugs, DNA, and Israel Fit the Last Days

Is the Bible warning that people will try to “play God” in the last days?

That phrase is modern, but the idea is very old. Scripture talks about pride, self exaltation, and humans grabbing at control of life, death, and morality. When you put that next to the Book of Revelation, the last days, sexual sin, modern medicine, and the return of the Jewish people to Israel, a very clear picture starts to form.

This article looks at the original language behind pharmakeia, how Revelation uses it, how it may point to our drug soaked world, and how science, DNA, and even high tech systems still sit under God’s hand. The goal is not to stir fear, but to help us understand Scripture and walk in repentance and hope.

What the Bible Means When People Try to “Play God” in the Last Days

The Bible does not use the English phrase “play God,” but it describes the idea in detail. At its core, playing God means pride, self rule, and trying to control what belongs only to the Lord.

It shows up first in the garden.

In Genesis 3:5, the serpent tells Eve, “you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The temptation is not just about fruit. It is about independence. “You can define right and wrong for yourself. You can run your own life.” That is the seed of every attempt to play God.

Later, Scripture shows this same spirit rising again at the end of the age.

Key end times passages that picture humans acting like God

Several passages give a pattern of people or rulers stepping into God’s place or receiving worship.

1. “You will be like God” (Genesis 3:5)
The first sin of mankind is a promise of godlike status without submission. Humanity wants the benefits of being like God, but not the boundaries of being under God. Every later rebellion copies that script.

2. Arrogant kings in Daniel
In Daniel 7, 8, and 11, you meet rulers who speak “great boasts” and treat themselves like absolute authorities. One little horn in Daniel 7:25 “speaks pompous words against the Most High.” He does not just break laws. He sets himself above God’s law.

3. The man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2
Paul gives the clearest picture of someone who openly plays God. The “man of lawlessness” in 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 “opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God.” He does not only reject God. He replaces Him.

If you want a deeper study of this chapter and how it fits the Antichrist, see this helpful overview on what happens first to reveal the Antichrist.

4. The beast and its image in Revelation 13
In Revelation 13, the beast receives worship. People say, “Who is like the beast, who is able to make war with him?” The second beast sets up an image and forces people to worship it. Human power, human systems, and human rule take the place of God.

Put together, these texts show the same pattern. Playing God means rejecting God’s rule and setting up human will, politics, or power in His place.

How pride, technology, and control fit the pattern of playing God today

When you look at our age, you can feel the same spirit at work.

We live in a world that trusts systems, science, and technology more than Scripture. Many people:

• Redefine right and wrong by social opinion instead of God’s Word
• Try to control life and death through medical tech without any reference to God
• Look for ways to manage guilt, pain, and fear without repentance

That brings us right to pharmakeia. Modern drug use, from party drugs to high end medical regimens, often becomes a way to live without facing God. Not all medicine does this, and we will talk about that balance. But the pattern matters.

What “pharmakeia” Really Means in Revelation and Why It Matters Today

There is a Greek word in the New Testament that jumps off the page when you see our culture. That word is pharmakeia.

In many English Bibles it is translated “sorcery” or “witchcraft.” So people picture spells, cauldrons, and magic wands. But the original word is connected to our word “pharmacy,” and it carries the idea of drug use connected to spiritual deception.

Pharmakeia shows up right in the middle of the last days story. It helps explain why people refuse to repent, even as judgments fall.

To keep the balance clear, remember this: the Bible is not attacking all medicine. Luke was a physician. God cares when we are sick. The warning is about using drugs to control, seduce, and harden hearts against repentance.

The original Greek word “pharmakeia” in Revelation and the ancient world

In the ancient world, pharmakeia meant the use of drugs, potions, and mixtures tied to occult practice. It shows up in:

• Galatians 5:20, listed as a work of the flesh
• Revelation 9:21
• Revelation 18:23

People used pharmakeia to:

• Push others into altered states
• Try to contact spirits
• Manipulate love, hate, or harm through potions

So the word already carries this idea of chemical power joined to spiritual darkness. It is not just stage magic. It is a mix of drugs and supernatural deception.

When Revelation uses pharmakeia, it is not a stretch to see a link between chemicals, control, and lies.

Revelation 9 and 18: why people will not repent of their pharmakeia

Revelation 9:20–21 shows people under heavy judgment. Yet it says they “did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”

Right in the list sits pharmakeia. People cling to it. They love it. It is part of their refusal to bow to God.

Later, in Revelation 18:23, speaking of end time Babylon, John writes, “For by your sorcery all the nations were deceived.” Again, the word is pharmakeia.

So in the end times, pharmakeia is global. It deceives nations. It props up murder, sexual sin, and theft. It gives people a false sense of safety and power, so they will not repent.

You can already see how this connects to a worldwide web of drugs and chemical dependence.

From ancient sorcery to modern street drugs and prescriptions

Now think about our world.

We have illegal drugs, party drugs, and cartels. We have legal prescriptions that help millions but are also abused by millions. We have painkillers, tranquilizers, stimulants, and mind altering substances at a scale no ancient empire could even imagine.

When people use these drugs to escape reality, silence conviction, or destroy their bodies, the pattern of pharmakeia is at work.

Here are a few ways this looks:

• Street drugs and party drugs dull the mind and open doors to dark spiritual influence
• Prescription abuse can keep people in a fog, unable or unwilling to face the truth about their lives
• Some substances are used almost like sacraments in occult practice, to “open” the spirit

The enemy uses pharmakeia to bind minds, break families, and block repentance. If Revelation speaks of a time when the nations are deceived by pharmakeia, a worldwide drug epidemic fits that warning in a striking way.

There was nothing like our global narcotics network when John wrote Revelation. Yet the Holy Spirit led him to use a word that fits our moment perfectly.

Drugs that help people sin: HIV drugs, sexual sin, and the hard truth of Scripture

Now we have to touch a very sensitive point.

Modern medicine has developed strong treatments for HIV. Those treatments are often life extending and can greatly reduce the chance of passing on the virus. On one level, that is mercy. Keeping people alive is not evil. Medicine, by itself, is not sin.

But pharmakeia is about how drugs are used. When people use any drug so they can keep living in sin without facing God, the heart problem remains.

The Bible is clear about sexual sin. In simple terms:

• Sex is a covenant gift for marriage between one man and one woman (Hebrews 13:4)
• All sex outside that covenant is sin, whether heterosexual or homosexual (1 Corinthians 6:9–20, Romans 1:24–27)

God is not cruel when He says this. He designed sex as a picture of covenant love and faithfulness. When we break that, we damage our souls and often our bodies.

Now add modern pharmakeia to the picture.

• Drugs can lower the fear of disease or pregnancy
• Treatments can soften or delay the natural results of long term sin
• People may feel free to continue in fornication, adultery, or homosexual practice because “the risk is managed”

Again, the issue is not that a pill or treatment exists. The issue is the human heart that says, “As long as science covers the fallout, I do not need to repent.” That is the voice of playing God.

HIV drugs are one example, but they are not the end of the story. Think of:

• New tech that can erase or edit sexual consequences
• Future drugs to remove guilt or wipe memories
• Hormone and surgery combinations used to rebel against God’s created sex distinctions

All of this sits near the world of pharmakeia when it is used to protect rebellion instead of support healing.

God calls us out of sexual sin, not to ruin our joy, but to save our lives. Human schemes that mute the warning lights only make it harder to hear His voice.

If you want more on how end times pride and deception grow inside religious circles too, this article on the “synagogue of Satan” in Revelation 3:9 is worth reading. this article on the basics of the Synagogue of Satan is also worth checking out.

Scientific Breakthroughs, DNA, and How God Uses Human Knowledge to Fulfill Prophecy

Now shift the lens.

Science and technology look powerful. People talk as if humans have finally taken charge of our own destiny. That is another form of playing God. Yet Scripture shows that even proud human plans still end up serving God’s bigger story.

A clear place to see this is in the prophecies about Israel and the Jewish people.

Prophecies about the Jews returning to Israel in the last days

Long before Jesus, the prophets said God would scatter Israel, then bring them back.

• Ezekiel 36–37 shows dry bones coming to life and being brought into their land
• Isaiah 11:11–12 says the Lord will “assemble the outcasts of Israel” from the four corners of the earth
• Jeremiah 31 promises a future restoration of Israel as a people and as a nation

For centuries, believers read those promises and had no idea how they would happen. The Jews were scattered into hundreds of communities. Family lines seemed lost. Transportation was slow. Communication was local.

Many could not picture a modern state of Israel, yet God had already declared it.

Today, there is a living discussion among Christians about how the second coming fits with all this. If you want more background on that, this summary on Understanding the Parousia: Jesus’ Second Coming Explained gives a detailed look at those prophecies.

How DNA and modern records make the return of Israel possible

Enter modern science.

DNA testing and genetic studies can now:

• Show Jewish roots in families that thought they were something else
• Trace priestly lines like the Kohanim with shared markers
• Link scattered communities back to the same ancient people

Digital records and global databases also track migrations, names, and ties across continents.

None of this shocked God. He knew every gene and every family tree before the first lab opened. He allowed humans to unlock DNA at a time when He was also regathering His people to their land.

So even where some scientists shout that they do not believe in God, their work with DNA still lines up with His promises. Human knowledge does not cancel prophecy. God folds it into His plan.

More examples of science serving Bible prophecy, even when people resist God

You can see the same pattern in other areas.

• Global travel and instant communication make it possible for a one world style system and worldwide control, like what Revelation hints at with the beast’s power
• Digital money and banking tech set the stage for a mark of the beast type buying and selling control
• Mass media and the internet allow images and messages to reach the whole earth, something that matches global scenes in Revelation

Again, these tools are not evil in themselves. They can be used to preach the Gospel or to spread lies. But God already spoke of a world that looks very much like ours.

For more on how the future Kingdom of Christ intersects with these trends, see this article on who will reign with Christ during the millennium.

People keep trying to play God with their inventions, but God quietly uses their inventions to fulfill His Word.

How to Respond: Repentance, Trusting God, and Walking Pure in a Pharmakeia World

All of this can feel heavy. Drugs, sexual sin, and high tech control are not abstract topics. They touch real lives.

The question is, how should we live in a world soaked in pharmakeia and proud of its own wisdom?

Turning from pharmakeia and false security to real repentance

Real repentance means turning from sin and turning to God by trusting Jesus. It is not just feeling sorry. It is change of mind and direction.

Pharmakeia, in all its forms, can offer a fake comfort. It can:

• Numb your pain instead of healing your heart
• Quiet your conscience instead of cleansing your sin
• Offer safety while your soul is still far from God

Jesus offers something better. His blood forgives. His Spirit breaks chains. He can free you from addiction, from sexual bondage, from fear of the future.

If pharmakeia has a grip on you, whether street drugs, pills, or secret habits, do not hide. Reach out to a solid believer, a Bible teaching church, or a Christian counselor. Ask for prayer. Confess your sin to God and to a trusted brother or sister.

God is not waiting to crush you. He is ready to restore you.

Using science and medicine without playing God

So what about medicine?

The right response is not to throw away every pill or avoid all doctors. God often heals through normal means. Babies are born in hospitals. Broken bones are set by surgeons. That is grace too.

The key questions are:

• Am I using this treatment in faith, asking God for wisdom?
• Or am I using this to keep sinning without facing God?

The same HIV drug could be used by someone who has repented of past sin and is now walking in purity, grateful for extended years to serve Christ. It could also be used by someone who refuses God’s design for sex and wants to keep going without fear. The drug is the same. The heart is not.

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your motives. Are you trusting Jesus first, or pharmakeia first? Are you living within God’s boundaries, or using tech to push past them?

Use science as a tool, but never as a god.

Conclusion

The Bible paints a sober picture of the last days. People will exalt themselves, worship human power, and refuse to repent, even as judgments fall. Pharmakeia will help deceive nations, support sexual sin, and give a dangerous sense of safety that keeps hearts hard.

At the same time, God is using scientific breakthroughs, from DNA testing to global communication, to move His prophecies forward, including the return of the Jewish people to Israel and the setup for Jesus’ second coming. Human pride cannot stop His plan.

You do not have to be swept along in a world that tries to play God. Jesus is Lord over history and Lord over your story. He calls you to repent, believe the Gospel, and walk clean in a culture addicted to pharmakeia and rebellion.

Today is a good day to answer Him.