A few months after Stephanie and I adopted our two kiddos, we decided to
take some family pictures. A local photographer had placed a good deal on Groupon,
so we purchased it and set up a shoot at a park nearby. The photographer was
nice and the kids had fun. It was a success, except for one thing.
She never sent us the pictures.
We contacted her repeatedly, and she eventually gave different excuses
explaining what happened. She offered to do another shoot at the same location, so
we gave her another chance. Once again, everything went well at the shoot. And
then, just like before, we never received our pictures.
Everyone thinks they’re too smart to get scammed. No one lives believing
that they are capable of being deceived. But permit me ask you a question: If God
Himself sent a strong delusion upon you, do you think you would end up being
deceived?
The
Apostle Paul says a great deception is coming on the world during the reign
of the Antichrist, and certain professing Christians need to beware.
Now we
request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and
our gathering together to Him, … Let 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,
who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship,
so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being
God. … Then 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; that is, the one whose coming is in
accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,
and 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. For this reason God will
send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in
order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took
pleasure in wickedness. – 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 3-4, 8-12
Let’s
note a few crucial details about what Paul just wrote:
v Jesus’
return coincides with the rapture (vs 1).
v The
second coming and rapture cannot happen unless: 1) The greatest number of
Christians in history leave Christianity, and 2) The Antichrist has to already
be on the earth acting like god-made-manifest (vs 3-4).
v The
Antichrist is called the lawless one, which means one who has utter disregard
for God’s written and living Word (vs 3).
v The
lawless Antichrist is given all the power of Satan to deceive those on earth
(vs 9).
v Those he
deceives are those who do not love the truth and do not believe the truth, but
instead delight in wickedness like the lawless one (vs 9-10).
v Because
of their persistence in disregarding the truth, God gives those people a strong
delusion so that they believe the deceptions of the lawless Antichrist (vs 11-12).
Did the early Christians take Paul at his word, and believe that God
would actually send a strong delusion upon people who refused to love the
truth? Respected 3rd century bishop of Carthage, Cyprian, discussed
this very issue.
They
corrupt the repentance of the wretched men by the deceitfulness of their lies.
… True peace is done away by the falsehood of a false peace. … Their mind is
smitten by these things, and their spirit is dull, and their sense of right is
estranged: it is God’s wrath that they do not perceive their sins, lest
repentance should follow as it is written, “And God gave them the spirit of
idleness,” that
is, that they may not return and be healed, and be made whole after their sins
by just prayers and satisfactions. Paul the apostle in his epistle lays it
down, and says, “They did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. And for this reason God shall send them a strong delusion, that they
should believe a lie: that they all might be judged who did not believe truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” – Cyprian 250CE, Volume 5, p.
609 [CD-ROM]
The truth-distortions of Hyper Grace have been
polluting the earth for almost 2,000 years.
One question, therefore, that a good student of the Bible should ask is:
What is the truth that Paul says
Christians need to love and believe? Well, it’s always good to let the Bible
interpret itself, and earlier in 2
Thessalonians, Paul answered our question.
He wrote: The Lord Jesus will be
revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out
retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the
gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction,
away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He
comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among
all who have believed. – 2
Thessalonians 1:7-10
To know
and believe God is to obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
As I wrote in a previous blog, many Hyper Grace
teachers proudly proclaim that God does not expect us to obey the teachings of
Jesus because they were given before the cross. Before ‘grace’. Basically, they
teach that grace excuses us from
obeying the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
Whether they admit it or not, fundamentally, many
proponents of Hyper Grace trumpet the same basic message of the Antichrist:
Disregard the commands of Jesus.
If you read 1 Thessalonians 1, Paul didn't preach grace as an excuse to avoid obeying Jesus' commands. Paul preached that grace empowers real Christians to obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
And I really do want to challenge you to
read 1 Thessalonians 1 simply. What it shows is that someone who has truly experienced
the transformative power of the grace of Jesus thrives on being empowered to
obey the commands of Jesus because it demonstrates love to Jesus.
Just like all people have a love
language, so does Jesus. And as He so eloquently told His disciples in John 14:21, His love language is obedience to His commandments.
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