OK....we know this....that before the Lord returns....there will be a falling away....(1 Thess 2:3)....that is the church folks.....us....there will be a falling away....in the church! Matthew tells us the same thing....in the words of Jesus....in the Olivet Discourse....24:10...."at that time many will fall away."
I submit to you that what we see in the church right now.....with Christian nationalism reigning over the gospel of salvation....is part of the falling away. When is the last time that you heard that a friend or a neighbor or a relative was....born again? Depending on your age you may have never heard it! You may have heard that so-and-so is now a Christian....and surely there are instances of this....but not born again....for salvation today is of a different substance.....as it is more political....works related....and conservative on social issues....and now patriotic. We are in that falling away!
So immediately after that verse in 2 Thessalonians we are told that a man of sin....the son of perdition.....will be revealed. That doesn't necessarily mean that he will be identified....but only that he will come onto the world's stage. What are we told about him? Well we are told that he...."exalts himself." Eventually....in this megalomania....he will put himself above God.
All of this is in the second chapter of second Thessalonians....which also mentions a...."mystery of lawlessness." If we knew exactly what it was it would not be a mystery. Whatever it is....it is chaos over order.
There is someone who...."restrains"....at the present time....so that this man of sin does not move on to a full-orbed domination of the entire world. Most think that he who restrains....is He who restrains....the difference of a lower case 'h' and a capital "H".....in other words.....it would be the Holy Spirit....which would be in the very end....of the end times....or the last of the last days....in the opinion of many....and I include myself....well into the tribulation.
We are told that...."The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders"....but that it is those who are perishing that who will fall for these deceptions....and as Paul wrote...."And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie."
Folks....are you hearing any of this in your church? No you are not....because that also is part of the falling away! Few are being warned. A short decade ago we had a number of men in the church and on the world scene....men who warned us....so that the Christian could hardly help but hear it....but in God's perfect providence....they are all gone....or just about all gone. Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul and John MacArthur and Tim Keller and even Pat Robertson and David Wilkerson....are all gone! It's like we had our chance.
O that you younger people could know what it was like in the church forty years ago! O that I knew what it was like in the faith hundreds of years ago! O that we all believed like the early Christians who were truly set apart from this world....and looked....(you can see it all through the New Testament if you but look for it)....and looked for the glorious returning of our Lord and Savior and King!
