Worship of the Dragon and Beast During the Great Apostasy
The 42-Month Worship of the Dragon
John Cassinat
January 22, 2026
Worship of the Dragon and Beast During the Great Apostasy
What Is the Worship in Revelation 13:4?
Revelation 13:4 states that “they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast.”
But what does this symbolism mean?
Bruce R. McConkie explained:
“To the extent that false worship turns away from God, it turns to the devil, so that men actually (though often unknowingly, for they are in apostate darkness) worship the dragon.”
(Mormon Doctrine, 849)
Albert Barnes, a Presbyterian minister, similarly wrote:
“The word worship … may be used here to mean that homage or reverence, as to a higher power, was rendered to the ‘dragon’; not strictly that he was openly worshipped in a religious sense as God. Can anyone doubt that this was the case under Papal Rome.”
(Barnes Notes, Vol. 14, 322–323)
Elder B. H. Roberts added:
“Thus in prophecy was the history of the church written, its establishment; the war made upon its priesthood by Lucifer; the taking away of the priesthood and the church from within the circle of his power; Lucifer's league first with pagan and afterwards with papal Rome.”
(New Witnesses for God, Vol. 1, 165)
The 42-Month Worship of the Dragon
The worship in Revelation 13:4 follows Revelation 13:3, where one of the seven heads on the First Beast—representing the Roman Empire—received a mortal wound during the fall of Rome in 476 AD, which was later healed by the rise of papal power in 607 AD.
During this period of healing, Revelation 13:5 states:
“There was given unto [the dragon] a mouth speaking … blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.”
This verse defines the scope and timing of the Great Apostasy, when Satan was given unfettered power throughout the world “to make war with the saints, and to overcome them.” (Rev 13:7)
The 1260-Year Great Apostasy
The Great Apostasy is described as lasting 42 months, which appears to equal 3½ years.
However, the 42 months symbolically represent 1,260 prophetic days, meaning 1,260 years.
Because John’s account is chronological, these 1,260 years began after the events of Revelation 13:3–4, sometime between 476 AD and 607 AD.
The precise starting point can be identified because John measured the apostasy by the absence of earthly priesthood authority.
Thus, from John’s perspective, the 1,260 years of apostasy officially began when the priesthood was no longer administered by mortals anywhere on the earth—including:
the church of Jesus Christ in the Eastern Hemisphere,
the church among the Nephites in the Western Hemisphere, and
the church among the Lost Ten Tribes.
Joseph Fielding McConkie stated:
“We cannot argue that the apostasy was universal on the one hand and that it did not include the ten tribes on the other.”
(Answers: Straightforward Answers to Tough Gospel Questions, 128–129)
The Priesthood Removed from the Earth
Since the legal administration of priesthood authority was restored in 1830, we can mathematically work backward to identify 570 AD as the year when the priesthood was removed from the earth.
Elder John Widtsoe explained:
“About six hundred years after Christ … it was as if the Church had departed from the earth. The authority of the Priesthood no longer remained with the Church. This was the great apostasy.”
(Priesthood and Church Government in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 25)
So what happened in 570 AD?
There is only one possible answer.
That was the year when the Lost Ten Tribes—the last earthly administrators of priesthood authority—were translated.
Learn More
For more on the worship of the dragon during the Great Apostasy and the translation of the Lost Ten Tribes, check out my podcasts from:
🎧 January 18, 2026 – Listen here
🎧 January 20, 2026 – Listen here
(Also available wherever you get your podcasts)
🎥 From Last Week’s Vlog
John Cassinat
Unveiling Jesus Christ
Share this article
Help others discover John Cassinat's insights
Continue Your Journey
Discover more insights into Christ's premortal, mortal, and postmortal mission through our newsletter.
Subscribe to Unveiling Jesus Christ