You will find many a qwerky theologian and many Christians who deny that there will be a last days. The internet is rife with false doctrine, and anti-Christ pundits that it is next to impossible to find the truth, let alone protect your mind from the false teachers and prophets, who will try to lead you to believe that we currently are or soon will be living in the time the book of Revelations predicts. What we can know, is that the time is short, and that every life is to be protected. Knowing the truth, about what the bible says about the end of days, will give you a knowledge about what the bible says so that when you hear some mad prophet saying the end is near, you will already know what the bible says about the second coming of Christ and end time theology.
The day of Apostasy must come first. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 NASB
Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, 2that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, ( 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4a)
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. ( 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12)
In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 the writer of this book addresses the church and explains to them, that they need not be disturbed, because the day of the Lord will not come before the apostasy. The word used here by Paul talks about a falling away of the church. Many have and will argue just what this apostasy is, my interpretation is a falling away from the gospel through false doctrine. If the church looses it's power people will not hear the saving gospel of Jesus Christ, and when this happens people will no longer be saved in our churches. The apostasy will lead to the revealing of the anti-Christ, or the man of lawlessness. Already people who refuse the gospel are deceived, but when the church finally apostatises, and the anti-Christ is revealed, it will be impossible for those who rejected Christ to be saved because they "did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. (v12)"
To attack the current day church could lead to confusion, and possibly persecution but in the last days the church would have given up on being a church, signs we already see happening in mainline Protestantism. There is a real apostasy happening right now throughout the protestant world, with the world wide acceptance of small group ministries, the secularisation of the church, the rapid church growth movement sweeping the world, which leads these protestant churches away from the gospel and into a business style of church ministry. Forsaking the mission of the church and turning it into a commodity not a ministry of light for the lost. So in a sense, the protestant church is ripe for this kind of Apostasy.
The day of the Lord, is a day of great wrath. Zephaniah 1:14-18 NASB
Near is the great day of the LORD,
Near and coming very quickly;
Listen, the day of the LORD!
In it the warrior cries out bitterly.
15A day of wrath is that day,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of destruction and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness, Zephaniah 1:14-15.
So the trouble and the persecution that the church is going through now, will either refine her or lead her to what the bible calls the Great Apostasy. Jesus Christ has redeemed for Himself a Bride, and that is his true church. We can not hasten the end of the world, but surely we can apostatize. This is Mike.
The day of Apostasy must come first. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 NASB
Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, 2that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, ( 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4a)
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. ( 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12)
In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 the writer of this book addresses the church and explains to them, that they need not be disturbed, because the day of the Lord will not come before the apostasy. The word used here by Paul talks about a falling away of the church. Many have and will argue just what this apostasy is, my interpretation is a falling away from the gospel through false doctrine. If the church looses it's power people will not hear the saving gospel of Jesus Christ, and when this happens people will no longer be saved in our churches. The apostasy will lead to the revealing of the anti-Christ, or the man of lawlessness. Already people who refuse the gospel are deceived, but when the church finally apostatises, and the anti-Christ is revealed, it will be impossible for those who rejected Christ to be saved because they "did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. (v12)"
To attack the current day church could lead to confusion, and possibly persecution but in the last days the church would have given up on being a church, signs we already see happening in mainline Protestantism. There is a real apostasy happening right now throughout the protestant world, with the world wide acceptance of small group ministries, the secularisation of the church, the rapid church growth movement sweeping the world, which leads these protestant churches away from the gospel and into a business style of church ministry. Forsaking the mission of the church and turning it into a commodity not a ministry of light for the lost. So in a sense, the protestant church is ripe for this kind of Apostasy.
The day of the Lord, is a day of great wrath. Zephaniah 1:14-18 NASB
Near is the great day of the LORD,
Near and coming very quickly;
Listen, the day of the LORD!
In it the warrior cries out bitterly.
15A day of wrath is that day,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of destruction and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness, Zephaniah 1:14-15.
So the trouble and the persecution that the church is going through now, will either refine her or lead her to what the bible calls the Great Apostasy. Jesus Christ has redeemed for Himself a Bride, and that is his true church. We can not hasten the end of the world, but surely we can apostatize. This is Mike.
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