June 30, 2008
-------The Lie-------
2 Thessalonians Chapter 2 Verse 11 reads, "And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie". NKJ Version ; The King James Version reads "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie".
The New King James has a more accurate translation of the original Hebrew text with the term "the lie."
The question is what lie? The whole world will believe this "lie" to be a truth as the text tells us that it is a "strong delusion".
What is a delusion? It is something that is believed to be true or real but that is actually false or unreal.
What is it that the people believe to be true but, in fact, it is the greatest lie in history?
The people will believe that a man has finally evolved into Godhood. This man will "prove this" by power, signs, and lying wonders. He will seemingly be able to perform miracles.
This type of spirit is already at work in the church today. There are many so-called ministers who claim to have miracle producing worship events. The public thinks, "Well if it is a miracle then it must be from God." This is the mindset that leads to delusion.
Different sects such as Mormons and the Science Of Mind believe that all men are "little gods". The lie being perpetrated is that we are gods...we just haven't reached the state of Godhood yet. This is really a twist on scripture.
Scripture does say we in John 3:2 "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is"
Who are the children of God? It is anyone who has put their complete and total trust in the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross to pay mankind's sin debt who become children of God. No one is born a child of God. We are born sinners and our true nature is to rebel against God. We will never become "gods" but we will become "like Christ" and Christ is God. We have to put our complete trust and faith in Christ to receive our new glorified eternal bodies. There is not a single thing we can do on our own to achieve this. In other words, our "godhood" is totally dependent on Christ. Without Him, our future would be an eternity in hell forever separated from God.
I always wondered how the world could ever believe that a man was God when the world didn't believe it when it actually happened when Christ became a man.
An excerpt from an article written by Dave Hunt states, "The Science of Mind cult, for example, teaches, "We do not deny the divinity of Jesus, but rather we affirm the divinity of all people...." They call Jesus a Savior, but add, "Any world teacher [Buddha, Muhammad, Freud, et al.] who helps mankind to be free from material, intellectual, or emotional bondage is a spiritual 'savior.'" Yet Robert Schuller puts a picture of Della Reese, a leader in Science of Mind, on the cover of his Possibilities magazine and features her as a Christian."
Another exceprt from the same article states, "Mormonism teaches that "God" (who has another "God" over him and so on endlessly) was once a sinful man redeemed by a "Christ" on another planet. The "Christ" of our planet (Satan's half-brother in a pre-earth spirit world) was conceived when "the God of this world" came to earth in his physical body and had sex with Mary. Mormonism's "Christ" was not God who became man, but a spirit entity who came to earth to get a physical body so he could become a "God," a metamorphosis which is the ambition of every Mormon male (females become goddesses). To a Mormon, eternal life is not a free gift of God's grace, but must be earned and culminates in becoming a "God," who manufactures another world with another Adam and Eve, another Satan, another fall, another Jesus and so on, ad infinitum absurdum."
Why do people believe in what is obviously contrived nonsense as opposed to those who know and study the word of God? 2 Thessalonians 2:9 gives us the answer "9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved."
The people simply reject the truth of God's word and invent their own truths which are anything but truths.
The "Lie' is the antichrist who will deceive the world that rejects God's truth into believing he is God. His "gospel" will be, "Hey world, I am the first man to ever achieve Godhood therefore I am the greatest man in history. You too can be like me. All you have to do if bow down and worship me and I will teach you how to become gods." Since the world doesn't like to be told they are sinners and fall short of the glory of God, they will eat this up as being truth.
According to 2 Thessalonians this "lie" will "oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."
Where is the temple of God today? 1 Corinthians 3:16 states, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"
The temple of God is the body of believers. This antichrist infects the minds of people who say they are Christians but have the devil himself as their ruler. This is obviously happening in the church today and it is going to get far worse. Very few Christians take the time to study the word of God which opens them to very strong delusions.
What will be the fate of the "Lie"? "the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming" 2 Thess. 2:8
What will be the fate of those who accept the "Lie" as truth? "that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thess. 2:12
Where do you stand?
Copyright 2008 by Gary Goodworth