Monday, October 27,
2014, 6:00 a.m. – the Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “For Our Nation.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read 2 Thessalonians 2 (ESV).
The Rebellion
Now
concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together
to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed,
either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the
effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way.
For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of
lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself
against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in
the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
Upfront, just let me say that I am no expert on End Times
prophecies. I cannot say with any certainty the precise time in which we now
live in relation to these events, other than I believe we are in the season in
which these things are beginning to take place. In other words, I believe there
are many signs indicating that this Day of the Lord is very near, so I believe
we should take notice of these signs, not so we can win arguments, but so it
will transport us out of any complacency or apathy we may presently be
experiencing, and so we face the reality of these events taking place in our
day and time, so we know how to pray, and also so we know how we should be
living, realizing that the time is near.
Ok, it says here that this day will not come until the
rebellion occurs. This word translated as rebellion comes from the Greek word “apostasia”
which means: “defection; revolt.” It also means to “leave, depart (away from);
departure (implying desertion); a leaving from a previous standing” (Source:
biblehub.com). Another word for “revolt” is rebellion. A rebellion can either
be “an organized attempt to overthrow a government or other authority by the
use of violence,” or it can mean: “opposition to or defiance of authority,
accepted moral codes, or social conventions” (Source: Encarta). I believe it is
both, and that we are seeing the signs of this taking place in our present time
in history BIG TIME!
First of all, I believe the USA, underneath the authority of
the New World Order (alias, the Beast) is leading the charge in overthrowing
the various governments of independent nations throughout the world, including inside
these United States of America. The Bible told us this time would come, so this
should not catch us by surprise. Yet, this is also a great time of deception,
too, and many throughout the world, and/or particularly within the USA, are
being deceived by their own government leaders, by the news media, and even
within the church by their church leadership. The people are being lied to, and
many are believing the lies here that our government are the “good guys” who
are going throughout the world “rescuing” people from the “bad guys.” The
truth, however, is that we are the “bad guys” going throughout the world
terrorizing, consuming, and conquering other nations.
Secondly, within the church here in the USA, in particular,
there has been a definite and serious departure (desertion) from a previous
standing. I have become aware of this defection just since 1999. And, since
then I have watched as the church has taken a serious nose dive spiritually and
doctrinally. Jesus Christ is no longer the accepted “head” of the church, but
humans are in charge. Marketing 101 has replaced the Word of God and the
leading and power of the Holy Spirit within the church, as the church has moved
away from being the body of Christ to being a business of humans, run like any
other business. And, entertainment has replaced true worship, humanistic
philosophy has replaced the truth of scripture, and human marketing schemes
have replaced divine intervention and leading.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is being diluted to where it
barely resembles the true gospel any more. Not long ago the Lord Jesus gave me
a picture of this when he helped me to see that what they have done is to
divide the gospel in half, and to only teach the first half, but to hide the
truth concerning the second half. In other words, most churches still teach
that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth, took on human form, died on a
cross for our sins, rose again, ascended to heaven, and sent his Holy Spirit to
indwell the lives of his followers. They teach that we are saved by grace,
through faith, and not of works, yet what they don’t teach, in most cases, is
what that faith looks like. Many leave out the fact that coming to Christ by
faith means we die with Christ to our old lives of living for sin and self, we are
transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God, and that we are given new
lives in Christ, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
[See: Ac. 26:16-18; Ro. 6-8; 2 Co. 5:15; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 4:17-24; Tit. 2:11-14;
& 1 Jn. 1-5]
Added to this, at least here in the USA, is that the church
has incorporated underneath the US government, which makes the government the “head”
of the church in place of Christ, and it means that the church has partnered
with the ungodly of this world, too. So, in a sense, our government, which is
evil, has taken its seat of authority in the temple of God, the church,
proclaiming itself to be God in the sense that the government has assumed
Christ’s rightful position as head of his church. And, the government has no
problem at all exercising that authority, either. I believe it is going to get
worse very soon. As well, I believe that because the church partnered with the
ungodly, that it opened itself up to bringing the ways, means and methodology of
this sinful world into the church so that the church could be more appealing
and acceptable to the world. This is a HUGE departure from God’s design for his
church, over which he is the ONLY TRUE HEAD.
Added to that, I believe that the US government, under the
authority of the New World Order, alias the Beast, is not only conquering the
nations and governments of this world, consuming the world’s resources, but
that they are directly or indirectly involved in the persecution and murdering
of Christians throughout the world. I cannot prove this, but there is much
evidence of this which can presently be found on the internet. For instance, I
believe ISIS is supported and financed by the US government, and I have read
articles on the internet which support this belief. Yet, my primary source of
information is the Holy Spirit, who dwells within me, and who has been revealing
these things to me.
Already at Work
Do
you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And
you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it
will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be
revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring
to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by
the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all
wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the
truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they
may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not
believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
The first part of this passage of scripture has varied
interpretations. I will not attempt here to give one only to say that our God
is completely sovereign over all things, including over powers and authorities,
dates and times, etc. The lawless one is restrained by God in one way or
another, and he will only be allowed to exercise his authority on this earth because
God allows it or causes it to happen, and only in God’s perfect timing.
Paul said here that the mystery of lawlessness is already at
work. A mystery is something which is hidden or secret, and thus deceptive,
which is why some things must be revealed to us only by the Spirit of God,
because they are hidden and are covered over with lies. If the Spirit within us
did not reveal these things to us, we might be easily deceived, and we might
follow after the lies, thinking that what we are following is truth. So, this
is why we should not be in the practice of just believing everything we read,
hear or see, especially with regard to anything we see, hear or read in the
news, because most of that is lies, and it is for the intended purpose to
deceive naïve and unsuspecting minds. So, check out everything you hear, read
and see against the Word of Truth, and with the Spirit who lives within you to
counsel, guide, reveal, teach, lead, convict, encourage, and empower you.
I do want to revisit this idea here of someone restraining
the man of lawlessness until the one restraining is out of the way, as I am
praying and am asking the Lord for understanding here. To me, only God has the
true power to restrain lawlessness, so it appears to me that somehow God –
Father, Son and Holy Spirit – will somehow have to be removed. So, how could
this happen? I looked up this passage in the Interlinear (biblehub.com) and the
way it is worded there is that there is one restraining, at present, “until out
of the midst he might be gone.” If the Holy Spirit is the one restraining, I
would suggest here, not that he will leave the individual lives of true followers
of Christ, but that he is being shoved (kicked) out of the corporate (rebellious)
church, and that when the church no longer yields control to the Holy Spirit in
its midst, but pushes him out the door (example: church of Laodicea), then he
is no longer present to restrain lawlessness, because the church will no longer
submit to the Lord’s authority, but has chosen human authority, instead.
Stand Firm
But
we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord,
because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by
the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel,
so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers,
stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our
spoken word or by our letter.
So, what should our response be to all this? I believe we
should each one spend some time on our knees before our Lord in prayer asking
the Spirit within us to reveal to our hearts any areas of our lives where we
are no longer in submission to the Holy Spirit, but where we have invited
(shoved; kicked) the Holy Spirit out of our lives (no longer in control), and
where we have chosen to walk again in the flesh and to follow after other gods,
humanistic philosophy and the lies of the evil one in place of the truth. Then,
we need to repent of any rebellion, submit to our Lord, and follow our Lord
Jesus in wholehearted devotion, in love, and in submission to him and in
obedience to his word. In this way we can, thus, stand firm in our Lord, in his
Word, and on the gospel of our salvation, daily putting on the armor of God
with which to fight off Satan’s evil schemes against us.
For Our Nation /
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting.
Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently
calling
You to follow Him in
all ways.
Trust Him with your
life today.
Make Him your Lord and
your Savior.
Turn from your sin.
Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of
your sin;
Cleanse your heart,
made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust
fraying.
On our knees to God
we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us
answers
That are only found in
Him.
God is sovereign over
all things.
Nothing from His mind
escaping.
He has all things
under His command,
And will work all for
good.
Jesus Christ is gently
calling
You to follow Him in
all ways.
Men deceiving: we’re
believing
In our Lord, and
interceding
For our nation and its
people
To obey their God
today.
He is our hope for our
future.
For our wounds He
offers suture.
He is all we need for
this life.
Trust Him with your
life today.
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