2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know what withholds that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now let’s will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
In part one of this study of the spirit of iniquity that is running rampant, especially in the west, I wanted to just do an overview of the seriousness of the satanic activity that is either directly or indirectly impacting virtually every aspect of society. I pointed out that this satanic, spirit of antichrist worldview has infiltrated and influencing every institution of influence in the culture including, the public education system, academia, the media, Hollywood, pop culture, professional sports, the government, the courts, the armed forces, big tech, big corporations, and most regrettably it has infiltrated many churches. As a result, America is currently battling a culture war that has Americas divided on just about every imaginable cultural, sociological, religious, political, and economic issue including race, the role of religion, the role of the Federal Government, the Constitution, sexual orientation, the use of the military, taxation, education, immigration, energy, and so one.
And what is staggering to even comprehend, this cultural worldview divide has become so wide, that many are goinr as having heated debates and confrontations over something as fundamental as what constitutes a family and debating on what is a man and what is a woman. People are getting banned on social media for example for such appalling hate speech as that "God made them male and female," and that marriage is between one man and one woman.
And with all of these challenges and more, it has left many people discouraged, depressed and disillusioned. And as I mention in the previous article, with all of these gathering social, political, spiritual, cultural and economic storm clouds gathering, more and more people, believers and nonbelievers alike, are beginning to ask themselves, "what in the world is going on," and "does the bible have anything to say about the current state of affairs?"
Many social activists, media personalities and most of the cultural institutions of influence attempt to address the issues by promoting the idea that the root of all of the world's problems centers around such existential issues as racism, homophobia, the police, income inequality, religious bigotry, and so on. However, for those of us with a genuine biblical worldview, we recognize that all of the causes and answers to the ills of society can be found in the word of God. In truth, God's word actually does have a great deal to say about not only the hotly debated and divisive issues of our day, but the bible has a great deal to teach us about the times that we are living in, and all of the disturbing developments that are plaguing our world today.
In fact, according to the scriptures, the reality is that much of the societal dysfunction that we are experiencing in our day is not rooted in any specific person, group, organization, or in any of the divisive political issues that has us so polarized in this natural world. Instead, according to scripture, we are literally engaged in a spiritual battle that is being waged in the unseen realm, where events are being planned and orchestrated and then manifested here in the natural world. And it is all being done for the purpose of preparing and conditioning the world for the arrival of the antichrist.
One great example of this idea can be seen in the Apostle Paul's second letter to those new believers in the city of Thessalonica. In this letter Paul makes a very powerful statement that on the surface may seem somewhat benign to the casual reader, but is jammed packed with revelations that speaks directly to the times that we are now in. At the time, it was Paul's intent to correct false teachings that were being propagated regarding the Day of the Lord (the end times’ judgment).
There were those who were falsely teaching that Christ was literally returning any day, which was causing many Thessalonians to quit working and huddle together while they await the rapture. While others were promoting the idea that Christ had already come, and the believers in Thessalonica had been left behind. Paul realized that he needed to set the record straight about Christ’s return and our gathering together in Him at the Rapture. Paul begins to clear up the confusion by summarizing the fact that in essence, there would be two primary events that would have to occur prior to the Day of the Lord. And those two events are:
A great apostasy (or rebellion) and
The revelation of the man of lawlessness (aka, the Antichrist).
In this article, I would like to expand upon this topic by specifically going into a little more detail about the great apostasy that is running rampant in today's society. Particularly, the widespread promotion of the normalization of the LGBTQ lifestyle into society. First of all, as I pointed out in the previous article, Paul's first observation centered around a warning and emphasis that before Christ returns, there would be coming great falling away or apostacy.
So, what exactly is this great apostasy that Paul warned about? The Greek word apostasia in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 means “departure, falling away, defection, revolt, a defiance of an established system or authority; a rebellion; an abandonment or breach of faith; and an abandonment of the truth of God's word.” Generally speaking, this end times apostasy, which I absolutely believe that we are experiencing right now, is the mass “falling away” of people from God, and the satanic antagonism towards the truth of God's word that has escalated exponentially in these days to the point that it has infiltrated every institution of influence in the culture as the world prepares to receive the lawless one (aka the antichrist) who will claim to be God (verse 4). In short, it is an unprecedented, worldwide revolt against all things godly, to that point that even many who claim to be Christians will be deceived by.
In other words, the day of the Lord, or the final judgement will be preceded by a wholesale rejection of God’s revelation, which represents a further “falling away” of an already fallen world. In fact, regarding the final days, Jesus also warned His disciples about this coming apostacy in Matthew 24:10-12: “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.”
After the Ball, the Rise of the Modern Apostasy
One of the most existential questions that Christians, especially Christian leaders need to address and discern is, how did the infusion of the normalization of the LGBT and the sex and gender identity apostacy become so mainstream in modern culture? How has this apostacy reached such "pandemic levels?" How has this movement infiltrated every institution of influence in the culture, including a large faction of government, the public education system, academia, pop culture, Hollywood, the courts, major corporations, big tech, and sadly even many churches? How did we get to a place in which just twenty years ago, even the most liberal Americans would not have even been able to fathom?
For example, it would have been unfathomable just twenty years ago that our public schools and universities would sanction the idea that biological males could be permitted to compete in athletic competitions with biological females, and to speak out against that would be considered bigotry and hate speech. In addition, it would have been incomprehensible that biological males would be permitted to use the same locker rooms and showers with biological females, and the person who complained would be the person who would be banned, shunned and possibly even have civil rights charges brought against them.
Or that major corporations would have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on retraining their employees on the use of "proper pronouns." Which leads me to arguably and even more important question which is, how has all of the cultural, political, social, and religious and polarization become so societally divisive over some of the most fundamental truths of human existence as what constitutes a family, and what is a male and what is a female?
Not only that, but it is also now being promoted this demonic idea that gender is fluid, because gender is something to be declared or identified as, rather than what it is, which is innate. And because gender is something that can be declared, society should then be retrained too not assume a person's gender, but instead use "gender neutral pronouns" when addressing people for fear of inadvertently offending someone. These include for example, "Them, They, Their, Everyone, and "That Person," as opposed to the more traditional "he, she, him or her."
But what is even more alarming, and what should be sending shockwaves across every pulpit in America, is the fact that this demonic worldview is being strongly advocated from the highest levels of Government. In a statement released by the members of the 117th Congress, the House passed a new code of conduct that includes what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office calls “sweeping” ethical reforms, some of which are designed to promote diversity and inclusion."
Previously, the House operated under a binary rule that “words importing one gender include the other as well,” according to The Hill. But the change to language regarding gender-neutral pronouns and familial relationships will, as the release from Pelosi's office notes, “honor all gender identities.” Under the changes, words like “father, mother, son, daughter, brother and sister will be replaced in official documents by the gender-neutral terms parent, child, or sibling,” respectively.
This demonic worldview is also be promoted to public school children as early as kindergarten. So how did we get here? The answers to how we got to this level of apostasy in such a relatively short period of time is simple, it was strategically planned and clandestinely, methodically, covertly, subtly, systematically, and most importantly, satanically orchestrated with a clear plan and purpose. In other words, this modern great apostasy can literally be traced back to a specific, well laid out plan designed to desensitize the culture to the normalization of this great apostasy.
This clear plan and purpose was systematically laid out in a 1990 landmark book titled, After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90’s. The authors, gay strategists Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen laid out a brilliant plan for changing American attitudes towards homosexuality. They stated that, “to desensitize straights to gays and gayness, inundate them with a flood of gay-related advertising, presented in the least offensive fashion possible. If straights can’t shut off the shower, they just may at least eventually get used to being wet.”
Such a strategy they asserted, could lead to something like a “conversion” of the public mind on the question of homosexuality. "The purpose of victim imagery is to make straights feel very uncomfortable; that is, to jam with shame the self-righteous pride that would ordinarily accompany and reward their antigay belligerence, and to lay groundwork for the process of conversion by helping straights identify with gays and sympathize with their underdog status.”
Looking back in retrospect from a 2022 vantage point, we can see that not only was their strategy successful, it far and away, exceeded what even the authors could have possibly envisioned. Not only have many Americans become completely desensitized to the idea of being wet from the constant shower, that constant shower has turned into a torrential monsoon that not only is getting Americans wet, but they are getting absolutely soaked by a continuous, hour by hour, unrelenting downpour with “transgender” and “LGBT” taking the place of gay. And what has made this torrential downpour and demonic desensitizing programing even more sustaining, is the fact that this heavy down pour has been endorsed from the highest level of our Federal Government, as demonstrated by the promotion of Richard Levine to a major position in the Biden Administration.
In addition, almost every form of entertainment media in Hollywood, which by the way, has expanded exponentially over the past twenty years with the explosion of streaming media, producers have literally been able to seamlessly incorporate homosexual content, images, characters, and storylines into their programing. And along with that, they have been able to reach a much greater audience and a much greater base of age groups than ever before. And what is even more telling, is the fact that these characters and storylines are presented remarkably matter-of-factly, or as if these characters or storylines are completely normal. In fact, this phenomenon has become so prevalent, that I recently had a relative tell me that if I wanted to avoid seeing these demonic images just constantly being thrown in my face, I may have to stop watching television altogether.
For example, happen to be a fan of several of the HGTV programs. Recently, I was watching an episode of one of my favorite HGTV home rehab programs, in which the main host's two clients were two homosexual males who had adopted FOUR children. And the program’s hosts and producers did the entire episode as if this “family” was completely normal. The hosts even went as far as using the same type of language that they normally use when they are rehabbing a home for a male and female couple. I only watched for about five minutes, but what stood out to me was the fact that the entire episode was being framed matter-of-factly, as though two homosexual males adopting four children was completely normal.
I've also been a big Star Trek fan ever since the very first series aired back in the 60's which going back to my childhood has been one of the most iconic television and movie franchises in the history of television. A franchise that in many ways represented the personification of manhood with its iconic alpha characters like Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. In fact, since that first wildly successful series, there have been several other Star Trek made for TV series and also several movies from the series have seen varying degrees of success. Sadly however, this constant and methodical desensitization of the culture by Hollywood has in fact, become so widespread, it has become almost impossible to avoid. In fact, this steady infusion of ungodly desensitizing imagery into the culture has become so prevalent, that it has even affected the iconic and masculine Star Trek franchise.
Case in point, in one of the more recent iterations of the Star Trek franchise, the producers, directors, and writers has felt it necessary to incorporate a male homosexual couple as key members of the ship's crew, thereby essentially doing away with the manly, alpha nature of the previous versions. And as per usual, the scripts of this recent series were written in a manner as to matter-of-factly make these two gay characters appear as a completely normal couple.
Regrettably, these are just a couple of examples out of many of just how the remarkable success of the LGBT strategists plan to gradually desensitize the American public over time has actually been. And it would appear that millions of people including many believers, have simply gotten desensitized to the point that they have literally gotten used to being wet. And what is staggering to even comprehend, is the fact that this cultural worldview divide has become so wide, that many are going as far as having heated debates and confrontations over something as fundamental as what constitutes a family and debating on what is a man and what is a woman. People are getting banned on social media for example for such appalling hate speech as quoting from Genesis that God "made them male and female."
Building on an Unintended Discovery
Astoundingly, this strategy to desensitize the culture of the LGBT community through the media and Hollywood has achieved such overwhelming success, that the purveyors of this strategy have stumbled upon something that has become extremely crucial that was not part of the original intent. What they discovered was that fact that if this strategy of desensitizing the culture to the normalization of the homosexual lifestyle by overwhelming the airways with their LBGT content could have such overwhelming success, why can’t the same strategy work for every one of their other worldview agenda items?
And with that, in addition to seeing an overwhelming outpouring of homosexual imagery, we have also been seeing a deluge of race related content, climate change content, anti-republican (especially Trump) content, “economic inequality” content, and of course, the Covid-19 content which dominated the airways for over two years. And now, the “vaccinated Vs unvaccinated” debate has been flooding the mainstream media outlets, with the vaccinated side of the argument dominating the narrative, with little to no coverage of all the counter narratives.
These examples of America’s rapid moral decline, are just more illustrations of the psychological power of this mind war component of the overall culture war that we are now in. It demonstrates the subtle and covert ability of the enemy to distract, distort, misrepresent, and outright deceive tens of millions of people without them even knowing that they are being deceived. And because of all the amazing advancements in technology, the enemy now has more means in which to access and influence the minds of men and women than ever before in human history. Which also makes it more important than ever before, that we as believers counter by safeguarding our minds from the enemy’s deluge of deceitfulness, by keeping our minds showered or “transformed” with the word of God.
Moreover, as believers in Jesus Christ, we need to be constantly aware of the fact that, with the advancement of the enemy’s tactics of sowing deceit and fraudulence, Satan has been employing any and every available agent that is susceptible to his deceit into being an accomplice or co-conspirator in his overall destructive plan. Simply put, the enemy will use unbelievers, the media, political activists, politicians, sports stars, and even many of those who are supposed to be representing God’s truth such as some Clergy and other “Christian leaders,” but instead has either been expositors of false teaching themselves or have been silent or disengaged when it comes to this onslaught of apostacy that has overtaken a generation.
In other words, regardless of if you have been espousing false doctrines, or simply have chosen to be silent and not sound the alarm on this great apostacy, you have nevertheless been either witting or unwitting accomplices to the enemy’s agenda. This silence from many pulpits sadly includes many naïve and often well intended Christian leaders, who have allowed themselves to be unwitting purveyors of the enemy’s program with their silence and disengagement.
Furthermore, it's important that we remember that this "Mystery of Iniquity" that Paul warned the believers in Thessalonica about, is aggressively at work in these last days. Also, it is important that we are able to discern the fact that all of the anti-biblical activity that has taken center stage in the culture, has all been originating in the unseen realm and then manifested in the natural world. We must also never lose sight of the fact that this spirit of iniquity is actively working in the world today to desensitize the hearts and minds of sin for the purpose of preparing the world for the coming man of sin, also known as the antichrist. And when the church is taken out of the way at the rapture, then the antichrist will be revealed, and the world will have been preconditioned to except him without question.
And we must recognize also that Satan will use anything and anyone in order to promote his attack on the truth of God’s Word, and to influence the minds of susceptible and vulnerable human beings to carry out his evil agenda. And with the advancements in technology, he now has more tools and avenues available in order to impact, influence and desensitize society with is evil agenda than ever before in history. Which means that as believers, and especially Christian leaders, must not be apathetic to what's happening by retreating to the comfortable confines of our local churches. Instead, now more than ever, we must be discerning of the signs of the times, while also being "salt and light," in a dark world that is getting increasingly darker by the day.
Finally, one of the most desperately needed spiritual attributes that is needed in today's church but is yet severely lacking, is the need for more discernment of the signs of the times, along with a prophetic and historical perspective of the times. In other words, those of us have been given opportunities to impact the culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ that would have been incomprehensible believers in the believers in the first century. In addition to all of the marvelous technology that we literally have at our fingertips, we also have the opportunity to impact the culture from the ballot box. But without having discernment, that opportunity can not only be wasted, but it can unwittingly be used to promote the enemy's agenda.
Think of it this way, could the first century believers have just simply voted out Nero, or Emperor Domitian who declared himself to be a god and that citizens of the empire had to pay yearly homage to him under the threat of imprisonment or death? The answer is obviously no. Yet today, far too many non-discerning believers with little to no perspective of history or any real understanding of bible prophecy unknowingly use the tool of the ballot box in order to vote in political candidates that openly advocate for this demonic, spirit of age apostacy. We tend to vote for political candidates or support our preferred political party by default, without ever practicing any discernment or giving any critical thought to the actual specific issues at hand.
In closing, the bible tells us that we all are descendants of Adam and thereby born into sin. This is why God needed to send His only begotten Son to become that lamb that would be a propitiation for our sins. In other words, regardless of if you are a democrat, or republican, black, white or Hispanic, male or female, whether you are an eloquent flamboyant speaker, or if your gruff and unpolished, we are all born into sin and are in need of salvation. That is why that as believers in Christ, as the "salt and light of the world," we need to see beyond our favorite personalities or our default political party leanings and train ourselves to view the voting process through the lens of discernment. Because the need for discernment is so vitally important, especially in these last and evil days.
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