The
American
Wisdom Series
Presents
Pamphlet #5150 KC2Thes4-1
You
see, no one would worship the beast if they knew he was the beast,
would they?
Would you believe that most people
would not recognize Satan as Satan, the Wicked One, the Devil himself,
if they came face to face to him?
Really, it is true!
People like this guy, especially
liberal Christians!
He is very intelligent, extremely
charismatic, a very smooth talker, and he has an entitlement program ready
to go with
your name on it!
Add to that his good looks as it
is written in Ezekiel 28:12, "Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom,
and perfect in beauty", and many, many people will follow him and his liberal
theology right into the pit of hell!
Go figure!
In fact, it is written in Rev. 12:4
that the Great Red Dragon, aka Lucifer, drew fully one third of God's children
away from our Father and His righteous ways in the first earth age, which
is why our Father destroyed that "world that then was" (2 Pet. 3:6) and
why we are now here walking under the sun in corruptible flesh bodies!
The prophet Isaiah records Satan's
fall and his big problem:
Isaiah
14:12
How art thou
fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down
to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
[13] For
thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation, in the sides of the north:
[14] I
will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
This is exactly what Satan
will do when he is "revealed" at the appointed time when Michael casts
him to this earth (Rev. 12:7-9), just as Paul describes it in 2 Thes. 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."
However, when Jesus Christ, the
King of kings and Lord of lords returns, Michael will grab hold of Sleazy
Slimy Satan once again and cast him back into the pit where he will remain
bound throughout the Millennium.
You will find that documented in
Rev.
20:1-3 "And I saw an angel come down from
heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
[2]
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and
Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
[3]
And
cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon
him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years
should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season."
Isaiah gives us some more insight
concerning Satan's incarceration during the Millennium:
Isa.
14:15
Yet thou shalt
be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
[16] They
that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying,
Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
People will walk by Satan during
the Millennium and shake their heads in dismay and unbelief that this scumbag
could have caused so much pain and suffering to God's children.
Meanwhile back home at the turn
of the 21st century many Christians were anxiously awaiting the return
of Jesus Christ at any moment and paying little or no attention to the
Written Word of God because they were told they were soon going be "taken
up" in the Rapture of the church.
They were not told to "Study to
shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Tim. 2:15)", but that going to church
regularly and participating in church activities puts them in good standing.
Therefore the day is coming when
they shall surely be ashamed!
Yes, little do they know that they
shall soon actually see that which they are expecting.
They will soon see "Jesus" coming
in the clouds with a host of angels and with great power and signs and
performing great miracles in the sight of men.
The problem is that this first Jesus
will be doing the work of Satan!
Why?
Because he will be Satan, the Dragon,
the Beast, disguised as an angel of light.
2 Cor. 11:14 "And no marvel; for
Satan himself is transformed [disguised] into an angel of light."
2 Thes.
2:9
Even him, whose
coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying
wonders,
The Greek word for "wonders"
is "dunamis" meaning "miraculous power".
In other words, he will put on a
dynamite display of deceptive miracles to convince folks he is really Jesus.
The people are going to absolutely
love it!
This "star" performer really knows
how to "work a crowd"!
wonders = dunamis,
doo'-nam-is, Greek 1411; from Greek 1410 (dunamai); force (literal or figurative);
specially miraculous power (usually by implication a miracle itself)
:- ability, abundance, meaning, might (-ily, -y, -y deed), (worker of)
miracle (-s), power, strength, violence, might (wonderful) work.
Should miracles alone give
a person credentials if what they teach does not align with the Word of
God?
The answer is NO!
Let's read from the law in the Book
of Deuteronomy.
Deut.
13:1
If there arise
among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or
a wonder,
[2] And
the
sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying,
Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve
them;
Hey, the miracles could really
be dynamite and the things he says could actually come true!
The question is, "Would seeing those
miracles cause you to 'let loose' of the Word and follow after him?"
[3]
Thou
shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams:
for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your
God with all your heart and with all your soul.
There is a time of "proving"
coming such as the world has never seen, no, nor ever will again.
Will you be deceived by the miracles
and the signs and the wonders performed by Satan as the instead-of-Jesus
or do you love the Word of God with all your heart and with all your soul?
Here is what you are to do!
[4]
Ye
shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments,
and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
You stick to the Word of God
and keep His commandments.
Period!
Jesus said in Mat. 24 & Mark
13 that when you see this abomination, the "desolator", standing in the
holy place where he ought not, then get away from him and stay away from
him!
It doesn't matter if he can snap
his fingers and call lightning down from the sky or "take people up" in
his high-tech saucers, i.e. his "flying wheels" (See Ezek. chapters 1 &
10).
Are you beginning to get the picture
of the magnitude of this event?
So let's recap once more: Satan,
the son of perdition, is coming to this earth as Jesus Christ and he will
have all power to perform signs and wonders and flashy miracles in the
sight of men.
He will be spectacular to say the
least and most people will not recognize him as Satan but will rather believe
he is truly the Messiah returned.
The problem is he is the religious
"beast" of Rev. 13 and in their ignorance Christians all over the world
will forsake the true Christ and begin to worship him!
That is the great falling away,
the great apostasy which occurs when the son of perdition make his appearance,
i.e. is revealed.
You see, no one would worship the
beast if they knew he was the beast, would they?
Of course not!
They will believe he is really
Jesus because of his powers and miracles and because they do not know the
scriptures and the fact there are two Christs, the real Jesus and His look
alike, the false messiah!
They still perceive Satan as
a bad dude with horns, a red suit with a tail, and a pitch fork in his
hand!
2 Thes.
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.
What is this truth that people,
yes even most Christians, do not love?
That's real easy for Christ Himself
gave us the answer:
John
17:17
Sanctify them
through thy truth: thy word is truth.
The "love of the truth" then
is the "love of His Word".
The great apostasy is of those who
claim to be Christians but do not know or love the truth, which brings
up an important question.
"Is everyone who now claims to be
a Christian going to enter into the kingdom?"
Again, Jesus Christ personally answers
this question:
Matthew
7:21
Not every one
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many Christians love their
church.
Many Christians love singing hymns
and praises to the Lord and they love dancing in the isles and waving their
hands in the air.
Many love seeing those entertaining
displays of "miracles" on stage where people get knocked down or prancing
preachers speak garbled syllables and pretend they don't even know they
are doing it!
Christians do all sorts of religious
things and support all sorts of charitable causes all the while believing
they are doing "the will of the Father which is in heaven", but they are
not!
They have never studied and rightly
divided His Word to get to know Him and understand His will.
So will they be able to cash in
those wonderful works for a ticket to the marriage feast of the Lamb?
Here is what Messiah says about
that:
[22]
Many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful
works?
These are the "Many" Christians
Jesus prophesied WOULD BE deceived by the false preachers who come in His
name, claiming to be Christ's representatives, and teach the people after
the "precepts of men" and not directly from the Word of God.
He warned us not to be among them!
Paul also warned us not to be deceived
by any man!
[23]
And
then will I profess unto them, I never knew
you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
The reason Christ never knew
them is because He never saw their faces in the pages of His Word wherein
He dwelled all the time while they were busy doing other religious things.
They did not hunger and thirst for
Him.
They did not "love the truth".
Therefore they did not really believe
in Him, did they?
And for that reason God shall "prove
them" and send Satan as Jesus Christ to teach them a big lesson.
2 Thes.
2:11
And for this
cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
Again, "the cause" is that
they loved not the truth, i.e. His Word!
They would rather listen to some
story-telling preacher promise them they are going to be raptured on out
of here when the Big Bad Wolf shows up.
The problem is that the Big Bad
Wolf is going to huff and puff and blow their houses down because they
built them upon sand from the straw doctrines taken from the traditions
of men.
The BIG LIE that they will
believe comes directly from the father of lies himself, Satan (John 8:44).
The BIG LIE is that JESUS CHRIST
HAS RETURNED and the 7th Trump has sounded, when actually SATAN THE DEVIL
disguised and Jesus Christ has been revealed and only the 6th Trump has
sounded!
Will you go to his wedding feast
and be taken prematurely, out of season, or will you wait until the 7th
Trump sounds?
[12]
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure
in unrighteousness.
The traditions of men are unrighteousness
indeed for they will lead you straight to worshipping the false-christ.
But our people love them and hang
onto them.
They love their pagan "Easter" (Ishtar)
and the sexual fertility symbols of "quick like a bunny" and rolling Ishtar's
eggs.
The word "Easter" isn't even in
the manuscripts of the New Testament.
Neither is the word "rapture" to
be found.
Neither is the word "apple" in the
Book of Genesis!
We could go on and on with the traditions
of men but the sad reality is that our people are just plain Biblically
illiterate and do not really know the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Word
of God.
Our Father says it best:
Jeremiah
4:22
For my people
is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they
have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they
have no knowledge.
The word "sottish" means "stupid".
(See note in the Companion Bible.)
But thank God for the servants of
God who do love the truth and "hold fast" His Word.
2 Thes.
2:13
But we are bound
to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
This is in contrast to verse
12 of them who believed not the "truth", His Word, but rather followed
after the traditions of men.
You SEE, in this final generation
of the fig tree, if you have eyes to see and ears to hear that means you
were chosen "from the beginning", i.e. from "before the foundation of this
world" (Eph. 1:4) and were also justified according to Romans 8:30, "Moreover
whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them
he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified."
All others are blinded for their
own protection by the "strong delusion", the "spirit of slumber" as recorded
in Romans 11:8 "(According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit
of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not
hear;) unto this day."
2 Thes.
2:14
Whereunto he
called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
[15]
Therefore,
brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught,
whether by word, or our epistle.
Remember in verse 2 of this
chapter Paul said "Do not be shaken in mind or be troubled"?
We are to "Stand fast" in the Word
of God according to the words spoken by the prophets or written as epistles
in His word.
In other words, believe the WORD
of GOD, not man!
Remember Paul's instructions in
his first letter: 1 Thes. 5:21 "Prove all
things; hold fast that which is good."
2 Thes.
2:16
Now our Lord
Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and
hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
[17]
Comfort
your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.
We are comforted by His Word
even as our Lord said in John 8:32 "Ye shall
know the truth and the truth shall set you free",
free from worry and anxiety and free from strong delusion.
His word is truth!
We are "stablished", i.e. "set fast",
"confirmed", "made strong", in every "good word" we have "proved" from
His Word!
It is then made evident by the work
we do according to His will.
We love our Christian brothers and
sisters who have a "zeal for God" but do not seek after His Word and therefore
have no knowledge to do good!
We do not judge them nor condemn
them but rather we pray for the "healing of their eyes" that they may be
opened and that they might be saved by the true Messiah and not the fake.
The first woman taken in the field,
the foolish virgin, is taken and seduced by Satan when he comes as the
spurious messiah.
The other woman, the wise virgin
with wisdom and knowledge from His Word, i.e. with enough oil in her lamp
to see her way clearly through the hour of darkness, stayed working in
the field until the true Bridegroom arrived.
Paul expresses best our desires
for our brethren:
Romans
10:1
Brethren, my
heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
The House of Israel includes not just
Judah and Benjamin but all of the so-called 10 Lost Tribes who basically
make up the Christian nations of the world. If
you would like to learn more about where the 10 "lost" tribes of the House
of Israel reside today go to Pamphlet
#1064 or Pamphlet
#1020 under Table of Contents "Wisdom" on the this American Wisdom
Series site.
[2]
For
I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
1st and 2nd Thessalonians sure
bear them record! Since they do not study His Word they are therefore ignorant
of God's will, which simply means they are void of wisdom and knowledge!
[3]
For
they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God.
Again, they go to church and
sit in pews and sing praises with their lips, and submit themselves to
the traditions and practices of the church, all of which "appears good"
but will get them nowhere fast for their heart is far from seeking after
His Word.
Hear the words of the Lord:
Matthew
15:8
This people
draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips;
but their heart is far from me.
[9] But
in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of
men.
The choice is now yours.
The vision of Margaret MacDonald
is that Christ will return at any moment and rapture, "take up", his church
into the clouds before the tribulation of the false-christ.
Whereas the apostle Paul has gone
to great lengths to make it quite clear to us that we are going to gather
back to Christ ONLY at the LAST Trump and NOT before and that our gathering
back will NOT take place UNTIL AFTER the son of perdition comes and reigns
on this earth as God, i.e. as Jesus Christ, in His stead!
Who are you going to believe?
To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits;
to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy
Spirit, you accomplish both.
1 Corinthians
10:11 Now all these things happened unto them {the
ancient Israelites} for
ensamples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends
of the world are come.
This
"American
Wisdom Series"
pamphlet
is
Published by:
Rhine Publishing Co
E-mail address - americanwisdomseries@verizon.net
If you would like to have your essay
published
as part of the American Wisdom
Series
submit your manuscript to Rhine
Publishing Co
at the address above for consideration,
or e-mail us
at the address shown on our home
page.
Click
Here to Return to "The
American Wisdom Series" home page.