2Th 2:3 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;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 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:
2Th 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
They received NOT the LOVE of the TRUTH that they might be SAVED.
LOVE of the TRUTH.
Damned who believed NOT the TRUTH.
Truth. In a world filled with lie upon lie the truth still exists and will always exist even if it's only in a few people who believe in that truth.
You can call lies- truth and believe them as your truth, but that will not make them truth, but deception. People will be allowed to believe their lies as if they are truths because this is what their heart truly desires.
Are your truths really lies? How do you know? Deception is called deception because you are fooled into believing something that isn't true. Sometimes it's because people perfect the art of deception and use their skilled art of deceiving to truly make you believe something that isn't real. Other times there is a choice you make to ALLOW yourself to be deceived. You overlook inconsistencies in a story told. You look the other way when you realize something isn't quite right because you'd rather not face what that could mean. It might only be a flicker of knowledge, a tiny suspicion that is easily squashed, but it's enough for you to be a willing participant in the deception.
God will present the truth to all. That's right, to EVERYONE who lives the truth will be presented. Along with that truth a lot of lies will be offered by another source. Even though the lies will be swimming around us by the millions and the truth will be there alone by itself, it is unique enough to stand out to everyone if only for a moment- long enough to prick the conscience giving people time to either embrace or reject the truth.
You wouldn't think if fair would you? You'd call it a sham, the game is rigged so to speak. You're immersed in a tank of fake 100 dollar bills and only one real 100 dollar bill is among the many and it's your job to snatch the real 100 dollar bill. In truth the real hundred dollar bill is larger, it's real color is infinitely brighter than the false ones, it stands out brilliantly so that you do have a fighting chance to grab the real one. When the game is up and you are allowed to see the real placed next to the false you can't believe you didn't recognize the real one- it really is LARGER by two times- double the size. It really is the real color of a dollar while all the others are a much faded color barely recognizable as that green dollar bill hue. So how did you miss the mark? How did you not recognize the true dollar? Were you caught up in the belief that it was going to be extremely hard to pick out the single bill? Did you allow yourself to believe that it would be so incredibly difficult that you didn't really look?
The TRUTH will stand out for EVERYONE to either receive or reject. No one will be able to say they were NOT given a chance to know the truth. In fact there will come a moment in time when everyone will be able to witness their rejection of the truth, and a lot of people will be shown how they rejected it time and time again, not just once. They will not be able to accuse God of not giving them ample opportunity to know the truth.
Love of the truth.
People love to say that the truth is subjective, that my truth might not be your truth, and that other person might still have another kind of truth. We can believe that if we want to, but that goes along the same vein as this saying I've been caught up preaching myself in the past- 'As long as their hearts are in the right place it doesn't matter what they believe. God knows they're good people, He knows and won't fault them for not outright believing as the Bible teaches.' Yes, I've said that and I've meant it, but then after being blessed with a 'prodigal son' experience I could no longer say that. I wanted to believe it because the friends I had were pagans, witches, and the like and they were super nice, loving, kind people. I couldn't for the life of me believe that God would condemn that sweet pagan who would lay down her life for a friend if need be. But in the end the TRUTH is the TRUTH and there are sweet, loving, and self-sacrificing devil worshipers- and that devil worship keeps them from the TRUTH in CHRIST JESUS the ONLY SAVIOR! Being mean and nasty isn't a prerequisite towards being deceived, towards being lost, towards being an enemy of God's. We'd love if that were true, it'd make things easier for us wouldn't it, to be able to point to all the evil people and say - see, they're not God's they're blatantly bad. But there will be many people who we believe are brilliantly good people without a stain upon them because they never ceased to do good for others, but they will not have surrendered their hearts, their lives to their SAVIOR, Jesus Christ. Those amazing good people who appear to be better than a lot of so called Christ followers are truly serving themselves- the good they do will be done in their own names, not God's. The praise they received they'll award to themselves, not God. The humility they show will be a humble selfishness as they absorb the praise and use it to give themselves self-worth, not God-worth. So while they might appear to be truly, honestly, wonderfully amazing people their hearts are not God's.
Can we judge ANYONE'S eternal life? NO! I'll say it again, NO! We can only judge actions not the end results of those actions. The blatant sinner might be a secret confessor- repenting and asking forgiveness for their outward sins- something we never see. We might be witness to a struggling Christian engaged in a fierce battle with Satan while we sit back and judge wrongly. We CAN'T know the things God knows. While we can judge right and wrong actions- whether or not they'll result in condemnation is NOT within our realm of knowledge- it can't be! We can ONLY hope and pray those we believe are far from Christ will come to know His saving grace before it's too late, and that we will NOT judge them, but leave that judging to GOD.
Let's read those verses above again--
2Th 2:3 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;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 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:
2Th 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
WE HAVE TO BELIEVE IN THE TRUTH or we will be lost, completely and utterly lost.
If we choose NOT to believe in the truth we will be deceived there is NO getting around this fact, none. Without a love of the truth there is NO SALVATION. Without a love for the truth there is only a life of delusion, a life believing in lies, a damnation, as pleasure is taken in that which is unrighteous.
WE HAVE TO LOVE THE TRUTH!
We will live in a world rife with deception, delusions, lies and even as we live in this world we must love the TRUTH, knowing the TRUTH isn't of this world, but found in our SAVIOR!
BY HIS GRACE!
Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 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:
2Th 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
They received NOT the LOVE of the TRUTH that they might be SAVED.
LOVE of the TRUTH.
Damned who believed NOT the TRUTH.
Truth. In a world filled with lie upon lie the truth still exists and will always exist even if it's only in a few people who believe in that truth.
You can call lies- truth and believe them as your truth, but that will not make them truth, but deception. People will be allowed to believe their lies as if they are truths because this is what their heart truly desires.
Are your truths really lies? How do you know? Deception is called deception because you are fooled into believing something that isn't true. Sometimes it's because people perfect the art of deception and use their skilled art of deceiving to truly make you believe something that isn't real. Other times there is a choice you make to ALLOW yourself to be deceived. You overlook inconsistencies in a story told. You look the other way when you realize something isn't quite right because you'd rather not face what that could mean. It might only be a flicker of knowledge, a tiny suspicion that is easily squashed, but it's enough for you to be a willing participant in the deception.
God will present the truth to all. That's right, to EVERYONE who lives the truth will be presented. Along with that truth a lot of lies will be offered by another source. Even though the lies will be swimming around us by the millions and the truth will be there alone by itself, it is unique enough to stand out to everyone if only for a moment- long enough to prick the conscience giving people time to either embrace or reject the truth.
You wouldn't think if fair would you? You'd call it a sham, the game is rigged so to speak. You're immersed in a tank of fake 100 dollar bills and only one real 100 dollar bill is among the many and it's your job to snatch the real 100 dollar bill. In truth the real hundred dollar bill is larger, it's real color is infinitely brighter than the false ones, it stands out brilliantly so that you do have a fighting chance to grab the real one. When the game is up and you are allowed to see the real placed next to the false you can't believe you didn't recognize the real one- it really is LARGER by two times- double the size. It really is the real color of a dollar while all the others are a much faded color barely recognizable as that green dollar bill hue. So how did you miss the mark? How did you not recognize the true dollar? Were you caught up in the belief that it was going to be extremely hard to pick out the single bill? Did you allow yourself to believe that it would be so incredibly difficult that you didn't really look?
The TRUTH will stand out for EVERYONE to either receive or reject. No one will be able to say they were NOT given a chance to know the truth. In fact there will come a moment in time when everyone will be able to witness their rejection of the truth, and a lot of people will be shown how they rejected it time and time again, not just once. They will not be able to accuse God of not giving them ample opportunity to know the truth.
Love of the truth.
People love to say that the truth is subjective, that my truth might not be your truth, and that other person might still have another kind of truth. We can believe that if we want to, but that goes along the same vein as this saying I've been caught up preaching myself in the past- 'As long as their hearts are in the right place it doesn't matter what they believe. God knows they're good people, He knows and won't fault them for not outright believing as the Bible teaches.' Yes, I've said that and I've meant it, but then after being blessed with a 'prodigal son' experience I could no longer say that. I wanted to believe it because the friends I had were pagans, witches, and the like and they were super nice, loving, kind people. I couldn't for the life of me believe that God would condemn that sweet pagan who would lay down her life for a friend if need be. But in the end the TRUTH is the TRUTH and there are sweet, loving, and self-sacrificing devil worshipers- and that devil worship keeps them from the TRUTH in CHRIST JESUS the ONLY SAVIOR! Being mean and nasty isn't a prerequisite towards being deceived, towards being lost, towards being an enemy of God's. We'd love if that were true, it'd make things easier for us wouldn't it, to be able to point to all the evil people and say - see, they're not God's they're blatantly bad. But there will be many people who we believe are brilliantly good people without a stain upon them because they never ceased to do good for others, but they will not have surrendered their hearts, their lives to their SAVIOR, Jesus Christ. Those amazing good people who appear to be better than a lot of so called Christ followers are truly serving themselves- the good they do will be done in their own names, not God's. The praise they received they'll award to themselves, not God. The humility they show will be a humble selfishness as they absorb the praise and use it to give themselves self-worth, not God-worth. So while they might appear to be truly, honestly, wonderfully amazing people their hearts are not God's.
Can we judge ANYONE'S eternal life? NO! I'll say it again, NO! We can only judge actions not the end results of those actions. The blatant sinner might be a secret confessor- repenting and asking forgiveness for their outward sins- something we never see. We might be witness to a struggling Christian engaged in a fierce battle with Satan while we sit back and judge wrongly. We CAN'T know the things God knows. While we can judge right and wrong actions- whether or not they'll result in condemnation is NOT within our realm of knowledge- it can't be! We can ONLY hope and pray those we believe are far from Christ will come to know His saving grace before it's too late, and that we will NOT judge them, but leave that judging to GOD.
Let's read those verses above again--
2Th 2:3 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;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 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:
2Th 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
WE HAVE TO BELIEVE IN THE TRUTH or we will be lost, completely and utterly lost.
If we choose NOT to believe in the truth we will be deceived there is NO getting around this fact, none. Without a love of the truth there is NO SALVATION. Without a love for the truth there is only a life of delusion, a life believing in lies, a damnation, as pleasure is taken in that which is unrighteous.
WE HAVE TO LOVE THE TRUTH!
We will live in a world rife with deception, delusions, lies and even as we live in this world we must love the TRUTH, knowing the TRUTH isn't of this world, but found in our SAVIOR!
BY HIS GRACE!
Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
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