The Apostasy

“Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit, or a message, or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. No one is to deceive you in any way! For it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things?” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-5 NASB)

The Apostasy

The day of the Lord will not come unless the apostasy comes first. So, what is “the apostasy”? What does it look like? Well, it means to depart from the faith of the gospel of our salvation and from obedience to our Lord. It is a defection, a falling away from true faith and true biblical worship of God to go after the gods of this world. It is a defection or a falling away from the truth of the gospel to go after the lies that this world and the enemy of our souls are offering. And has that already come? In the USA it certainly has!

For, in the USA, where I live, a cheapened and altered and diluted “gospel” message has largely taken the place of the gospel taught by Jesus and by his New Testament apostles, taught in the correct biblical context. In the USA the most popular “gospel” message is teaching that a mere verbal confession of Christ as Lord, and of his bodily resurrection, is enough to secure for the “believer” salvation and forgiveness of all sins, and eternal life with God, but regardless of how the person lives in lifestyle, by habit.

But…

Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Acts 26:18] 

The Man of Lawlessness

Now, I make no claims to being a prophet of God. I am a servant of the Lord, as all should be who profess faith in Jesus Christ. And my assignment from God is just to write down what I am learning from the Lord each day during my times with him in his word, and then to post these writings on the internet for the encouragement and strengthening of the body of Christ in their walks of faith, to inform of world events which are or may be impacting the church, and to share the biblical truth of the gospel of our salvation.

So, what I am sharing here are just my observations, and you can take it from there and pray about it to see what the Lord is revealing to your spirit. This “man of lawlessness” could, indeed, be just one man who raises himself up to god-like status to be worshipped by other humans, who makes golden statues of himself to put on display, who is loud mouthed, hateful, boasting of all his accomplishments, egotistical, arrogant, blasphemous, immoral, and who thinks he owns the world and that the world should bow to him.

Or the man of lawlessness could be more than one person…

Now, first of all, “the temple of God” is not a physical building, and it will never again be a physical building. For God does not live in buildings built by human hands (Acts 17:24). Ever since Jesus Christ died on that cross in taking upon himself the sins of the world, and he was resurrected from the dead, the temple of God has been the people of God who have, by faith in Jesus Christ, died with Christ to sin, and who are walking in obedience to him and to his commands, by God’s grace, in the power of God within them.

So, we need to translate this passage in 2 Thessalonians in that light. This is speaking about the “man of lawlessness” taking his seat in the hearts and minds of the people of God who by faith believe in Jesus Christ. Collectively we are the church, so the man of lawlessness is taking his seat in the gatherings of the church, the body of Christ, the temple of God, God’s only temple. And this man of lawlessness is displaying himself as being God, to be worshiped as though he is a god. And he is deceiving many people.

When I was a young child in the 1950s, those who professed faith in Jesus Christ (plus family) met together in a building which they called “the church.” There was a large room in this building which was then called “the sanctuary,” which is where the church services were held. And we were taught that coming into that building meant that we were now entering “the house of God.” And the room called “the sanctuary” was regarded as “holy ground.” So there were some definite carryovers from the Jewish temple.

So, here is where it gets interesting. In “the sanctuary,” at the very front of the room, largely displayed on one side of the platform (from where the preacher taught his sermon), was the flag of the United States of America. And in some of these gatherings we were taught to put hand over heart and to pledge (vow) our allegiance (loyalty, fidelity, faithfulness) to the US government, as though they were a god to be worshiped. And we were taught to sing patriotic songs of worship of the government and to honor our military as though they were our saviors who protected us from evil.

And as I was contemplating this, then in my mind I heard these words, “the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.” And then I remembered that, in such gatherings where we pledged our allegiance to the flag, that there was another flag on display, and it was called “the Christian flag.” But we always vowed our fidelity first and foremost to the government, and the Christian flag second. And all this took place in the gatherings of “the temple of God.”

Then, also in the 1950’s, the church at large (not every congregation) in the USA was talked into incorporating (merging, combining, uniting, partnering) with the state (with the government, with the world) via the 501c3 tax exempt nonprofit organization status, which puts them underneath the rule of the government and answerable to the US government for what they do or don’t do. So, overall, there has been no more separation of church and state, as a general rule. And the government was now put in a position of authority over the church (“he takes his seat in the temple of God”).

So, take this to the Lord in prayer, and ask the Lord to lead you to all truth. Study the Scriptures in their correct biblical context, and then obey them.

The Apostasy

An Original Work / February 9, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love