Grace Pt. 10: Hyper Grace & the Coming Great Deception

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 3^rd 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.

So, do you truly love Him? Do you? Are you are passionate about obeying the gospel of the Lord Jesus? If so, don’t let your heart be troubled. By grace, your heavenly Father will not let you be deceived in that day. 

Putt-Putt Golf and God's Wrath

Isn't it funny how playing putt-putt golf on a beautiful day with your family can end up teaching you about the wrath of God? 

A few days ago Stephanie and I took our kids to play putt-putt golf. Around the 6^th or 7^th hole, while I was preparing to swing, Stephanie yelled out, “Oh my gosh! Look at that kid!” I turned and saw a 12 or 13-year-old boy walk about 8 feet away from my 7-year-old daughter, unzip and start peeing.

Normally, I’m a pretty mild-mannered guy. Not that day. Something snapped in me that day.

I ran over screaming at him to stop. He turned to look at me and started laughing. That didn’t help matters. I never touched him or cussed at him, but I verbally laid the smack down… hard. I loudly asked him where his parents were, and basically commanded him to follow me inside to see the manager so we could page his mom.

After the kid had spent about 10 minutes in the manager’s office with his mother and the manger, he came out in tears and gave me a sincere apology. Though she too was apologetic, his mother seemed to have a hard time fathoming how her son could have done such a thing. 

When I got back to Stephanie, she seemed shocked over what just transpired. Both of my kids said they had never seen me so angry. It was weird. It shocked me too how quickly I went from 0-60 when I felt like my daughter was threatened. 

Some people have a hard time believing that a loving God will pour out His wrath on humanity. I realize the subject of God’s wrath can be difficult to wrap our minds around, especially in light of the incomparable love we see in Jesus.

However, if you struggle believing in God’s wrath, just become a loving parent. If you’re a loving parent and you experience your child being threatened, that love you have for your child will cause you to act.

The apostle John shows us in his Gospel God’s incredible love in letting His Son die for us to be saved. However, John also shows how God won’t allow someone to disrespect His Son’s loving sacrifice and get away with it. 

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because He has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. – John 3:17-18

Early Christian apologist, Irenaeus, reveals how God takes a similar stance toward those of us who become God’s adopted children by grace through faith:

Vengeance came from God upon the Egyptians who were subjecting Israel to unjust punishment. … So the apostle says, in like manner … “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to repay tribulation to them that trouble you … at the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ from heaven with His mighty angels, and in a flame of fire, to take vengeance upon those who know not God, and upon those that do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” – Irenaeus 180CE, Volume 1 p. 838 [CD-ROM]

Take special note of those last two phrases. It may feel good at times to take vengeance into our own hands, but that approach is completely against the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It sometimes feels good to hate, to repay evil with evil, to hold grudges, etc. But let me encourage you to leave room for God to be the avenger of evil. As I saw the other day, the drive for vengeance can very quickly take us in a direction we often later regret. 

Trust that God loves you and let Him do His job; then you do yours. Especially when you want to snap, may you walk as Jesus walked and obey His Gospel.

Justin Martyr on Christians and Pre-Marital Sex in 160CE

We ought not, therefore, as that presbyter remarks, to be puffed up, nor be severe upon those of old time, but ought ourselves to fear, lest perchance, after [we have come to] the knowledge of Christ, if we do things displeasing to God, we obtain no further forgiveness of sins, but be shut out from His kingdom. And therefore it was that Paul said, “For if [God] did not spare the natural branches, [take heed] lest He also not spare you, who, when you were a wild olive tree, were grafted into the fatness of the olive tree, and were made a partaker of its fatness.”

You will notice, too, that the transgressions of the common people have been described in like manner, not for the sake of those who did then transgress, but as a means of instruction for us, and that we should understand that it is one and the same God against whom these men sinned, and against whom certain persons do now transgress from among those who profess to have believed in Him. But this also, [as the presbyter states,] has Paul declared most plainly in the Epistle to the Corinthians, when he says, “Brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant, how all our fathers were under the cloud, and were all baptized unto Moses in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual meat, and all drank the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them; and the rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

These things were for our example, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted; do not be idolaters, as were some of them, as it is written: The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them also did, and twenty three thousand fell in one day. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents. Neither murmur, as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. But all these things happened to them in a figure, and were written for our admonition, upon whom the end of the world is come. Therefore, let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.”

As then the unrighteous, the idolaters, and fornicators perished, so also is it now: for both the Lord declares, that such persons are sent into eternal fire; and the apostle says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, not effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” And as it was not to those who are without that he said these things, but to us, lest we should be cast forth from the kingdom of God, by doing any such thing, he proceeds to say, “And such were you; but you are washed, but you are sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God.” …

And as then the condemnation of sinners extended to others who approved of them, and joined in their society; so also is it the case at present, that “a little leaven leavens the whole lump.” And as the wrath of God did then descend upon the unrighteous, here also does the apostle likewise say: “For the wrath of God shall be revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of those men who hold back the truth in unrighteousness.” …

So says the apostle, in like manner, in the Epistle to the Thessalonians: “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, at the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ from heaven with His mighty angels, and in a flame of fire, to take vengeance upon those who do not know God, and upon those that do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall also be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power; when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them who have believed in Him.”