The Final Analysis

In the following post I am seeking to explain how and why I believe much of what we would call the Christian church has departed from the truth, and fallen into apostasy. This won’t be too long a post and in fact the error which I’m alluding to can be summed up in few words. I do feel however that it is important for people to see this as they seek to live righteously in Christ.

Who would have believed such a thing, that God would reveal in these last days the profound mystery which encompasses a vast number of denominational churches. Like John of Revelation who was amazed as he beheld the vision of the harlot. I can scarcely believe it myself, but such is the promise to this generation according to Paul’s doctrine, the revealing of the man of sin, the son of perdition.

Most church goers are quite happy to point out the sins and harlotry of the Catholic church, and to be sure they are many. But my supposition is far more widespread and finds it’s foundation primarily through my own journey in the Charismatic Pentecostal movement, and that which I see and hear preached through the various forms of modern media.

The thought that I could propose such a widespread falling away, beyond the oft criticized Catholic churches, sounds like the height of arrogance on my part. Yet the simple and profound reality is that the rebellion must be fulfilled prior to the return of the Lord, according to that which was written for our admonition. There must be, it is written, an apostasy. Then following on from this event, Paul tells us that the “man of sin” must be revealed, then the Lord will come.

Men devoid of God, the heathen as we might call them have always been rebellious, they have a beastly nature and little understanding of the things of God. The apostasy passage does not speak of the world and the lost. The falling away is not for them, they never did obtain anything to which they can now fall away. The rebellion/falling away spoken of is the church at large. It is a falling away from a place of truth.

The fulfillment of the falling away or apostasy spoken of by the prophets and apostles manifests in the temple of God. Yes, in what I would loosely term, the church at large. And this is the AMAZING part. This rebellion is fulfilled in such a way that the Lord God Almighty is no longer the head, but the man of sin/lawlessness is firmly seated in the temple and rules according to self will, preaching another gospel. This man of sin/lawlessness and his objectives will take precedent over the will of God, the truth of His Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Hence, He proclaims himself to be as God by virtue of the fact that man’s will is exalted above all.

Ezekiel 22:25There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. 26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

For those who are of the world and playing church, this scenario sounds like an unreal supposition. It does not compute that the devil can be in the detail, the temple, the Christian church. It seems too far removed from our reasoning, and this is because we do not hear or want to believe what Christ taught. Specifically that the tares and wheat would grow together until the end of the age. The mainstream churches by and large refuse to teach along these lines, and shudder at the thought that this all happens in our own backyard. This is all way too profoundly challenging for them and far too close to home. What, that we might be deceived! That there might be wolves amongst us! In fact I would venture to say that it is probably rare for a mainstream church to even venture in to these waters. Way too murky!

Yet we are assured that this falling away and revealing of the man of sin is in accordance with the nature of the day as prophesied.  It is in accordance with a strong delusion, sent by an indignant God who has grown weary of our religious games and harlotry. And is also confirmed by Christ’s words to a materially rich and spiritually needy Western church.

2 Thessalonians 2:11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie.

Revelation 3:16 Because you are neither hot nor cold I will spew you from My mouth.

This man of lawlessness/son of perdition referred to in Paul’s text is a corporate man, not an individual. Even as the term “man of god” represents many, so too, the “man of sin” represents many. In the same way that Judas was one of the twelve, a devil, and also referred to as the son of perdition.  The end time corporate son of perdition is of the devil. In like fashion, the disciples had no idea that Judas was the son of perdition, it remained hidden from their eyes until the final days of Christ’s earthly ministry. So too, the final son of perdition remains a mystery until the final days of the body of Christ upon the earth.

I ask myself how it can be that much of the church as we know it, the leadership of the visible denominational churches, mainstream Christianity can have arrived at a place where the man of lawlessness, the son of perdition, has been able to take his seat amidst the congregation of the Lord. To be sure he has. The son of perdition is firmly established in the temple and continues to sell out the Saviour for earthly gain. I shudder as I write this and realize how easily we err when our motivation is for the things of the world. When we are motivated to build church as compared to making disciples. How easy it is to neglect truth, sell the Saviour short as we seek something of this world and make a name for ourselves. Woe is me!

Furthermore it is a confounding thought for me, as one who has been raised through the modern charismatic church system. I look at all of this and am in wonder. Yet there can be little doubt that this is the day in which the mystery of iniquity is fulfilled, and the man of sin is seated and firmly established in the temple of God, according to the apostle Paul’s prophecy.

2 Thessalonians 2:3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for [that day will not come] until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness^a is revealed, the son of perdition. 4He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

In seeking to understand what has happened here we will find a clear leading in Paul’s words. The key word in this verse, which motivates this revealing of the man of sin, can be found in one word “rebellion”  From the place of rebellion, satan is able to fulfill his ambition.

You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. Isaiah 14:13

The foundation of apostasy.

It became fairly obvious earlier on in my walk that certain foundational commands of the Lord concerning righteousness and discipleship were overlooked in most sermons and services. And it is this refusal to yield to Christ’s headship that opens the door to the schemes of the wicked one and his ultimate goal. Here are some examples of the more critical commandments that we so often overlook or ignore.

• So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:33  KJV)
• If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14)
  
• And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me,  cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26-27 KJV)
• No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Matt 6:24 KJV)
• For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. (Matt 16:25 KJV)

What is the overall context concerning these verses. It is “YOU CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE” unless…….

We, the leadership of the church have in stark contrast to the Saviour told men that all can follow Him regardless of circumstances. In this way we have built a harlot church. A church who can be in love with the things of the world and self directed. This is a deceitful gospel and is opposed to what Christ taught. In this way the man of sin and his version of the gospel opposes God.

Why do we water the word down, alter it, lighten it, make it of no effect, you might ask? We do it for earthly gain; recognition, income, popularity, making a name for ourselves, pride…….and the list goes on. The leadership/son of perdition sell the Saviour short, betray His will and purposes in exchange for earthly gain. Even as Judas betrayed the Saviour for earthly gain.

I realize that the commandments I listed above may not be immediately received by the hearer, and may come in the course of time. But to neglect from teaching these His commandments as a foundational requirement to following Him is to pervert the gospel. The faith of Christ when applied to the life of a believer represents death to self – the man of sin, who was crucified with Christ. The modern gospel is now given over to everything but.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

In stark contrast to the gospel of our day, Christ told the rich young ruler that he could not be his disciple. Can you just stop and think upon that point for one moment. Christ allowed the young man to walk away. You cannot be my disciple young man, sorry! It is better that men hear the truth and be challenged by it, than to fool them with a lie.

Oh c’mon brother, you can keep it all and have Christ…REALLY? Jesus just wants you to blessed to be a blessing, C’mon your the kings kids, He wants the best for you bla, bla, bla. Actually He wanted to crucify you and now according to His loving kindness He has provided a substitute and given you understanding so that by faith you would crucify the old man, and all of the lusts that go with that.

And so too the foundations of a world wide apostasy from the truth of His word have rather humble beginnings. When ministers are accumulated into the church without observance to these foundational commands, there will come a generation who believe that they can follow Christ on their own terms. And with that comes a gospel that is man centred, worldly and devilish. The foundations for discipleship have been removed and the whole house is built on another foundation.

It is rebellion. It is man, supposing to be as God, declaring what is and what is not acceptable concerning salvation. It opposes the call to enter by the narrow gate. In this way the man of sin opposes and exalts himself against the knowledge of God.

These requirements of discipleship that the Saviour speaks of were not meant to be options which one can choose, or not. Though we may not immediately meet these requirements at the time of initial belief, and we should allow all men grace in coming to a knowledge of the truth.  It ought to be the natural course of the faith, that these things continue to be taught and preached, of continuing obedience to His word, or otherwise we should acknowledge that we cannot be His disciple.  He would not want us to be ignorant of these things brethren.

These commands were absolutes to which no man could follow Him, unless they obeyed. And this is to enter by the narrow gate.

This monumental end time apostasy all sound quite ridiculous until we remember that Christ made it plain that MANY would come in His name, who would lead MANY, astray. And that in the end, FEW would be chosen. And unless those days would be shortened, no flesh would be saved.

Quite simply, this rebellion, this revolt, this apostasy, is a rebellion against His word. A refusal to accept His word of truth, the known will of the Saviour. And what ought to have been ongoing steps of obedience to the will of the Almighty, has led us to a place in which the much of what we call mainstream Christianity is an object of horror. A denominational cesspool. And these are the days in to which Paul alluded men would be lovers of themselves, proud, boastful, lovers of money and so on. 2 Thessalonians.

The man of sin, the son of perdition is firmly established and seated in the temple.

The bottom line.

The final analysis according to my thinking, the reason why we did not earnestly seek the Lord, to keep and obey His commands is because we do not love Him. We love most everything else, and this to our shame. We love money, we love pleasure, we love the things of the world. The church has entered into a marriage of convenience. We have taken His name to ourselves, but refused, rejected and rebelled against His word. Now we are fallen far away…

Ultimately everything stands or falls according to the first commandment, that we should love the Lord our God with all of our heart, our mind, soul and strength, and our neighbour as ourself.

And it is according to these the greatest of commands that the end state of much of Christianity is revealed, in this tell all parable of Isaiah’s.

In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, “We will eat our own food and provide our own clothes; only let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!” Isaiah 4:1

I believe that the seven women represent the fullness of the church system, even as Christ wrote to seven churches in Revelation. These seven women, the church have taken of Him that which seemed convenient, His name, His promise to cover our nakedness and shame. But resisted and refused to take upon ourselves His headship and His righteousness. We refused His word and hard heartedly rebelled, and continue to rebel against Him. This is the nature of the rebellion that gets us to this point.

In the end, according to the word, much of the church is known as a harlot. She wants to enter by the narrow gate, but lives and rides upon the back of the beast. And the reason she finds her strength in the beast/world is because the foundation to forsake the love of the world was ignored. She says she’s married to the Lord and want’s the righteousness that He can offer (let us be called by your name), but she does not want Him. She remains in rebellion to His headship (we will eat our own food, and provide our own clothes) which is exactly the place the visible church will arrive to before His coming. A lawless wife, in accordance with Isaiah’s prophecy.

When the lawless wife is revealed, the man of lawlessness is also revealed, the son of destruction.

BUT all is not lost, the promises are precious for those who escape and survive this apostasy. Read on from Isaiah’s prophecy as above and see what is said concerning that which remains, the branch of the Lord.

The Branch of the Lord

2In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel. 3Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem. 4The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit^a of judgment and a spirit^b of fire. 5Then the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over all the glory will be a canopy. 6It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.

As a final thought – In response to the question the disciples asked concerning the signs of His coming in Matthew 24, the Lords introductory response was this : Take heed that no man deceive you.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, strive to enter by the narrow gate. In doing this, you will flee the wrath that is to come.

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