Today there have already been waves of deception within the church and some contemporary prophets have been warning of this trend for some time. One of the seedbeds for the end time systematic deception will be the interfaith movement
Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us – whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter – asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion (apostasy in AV) occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming.
9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 2THESSALONIANS 2:1-13.
We examined this passage from 2 Thessalonians last March, when we discussed the timing of “Rapture”. This month we will examine the events of the ‘antichrist’ who is biblically defined as the one who claims to be ‘Christ’ in place of Christ, whom Paul calls ‘the lawless one,’ in this letter. He uses the term ‘?ποστασ?α’ in Greek, ‘rebellion (apostasy in AV)’ to describe a “must” event preceding the day of the Lord, depicting an aggressive and fearful revolt, that of a great departure from faith in Christ, rather than mere disbelief. Paul also repeatedly warns of a great falling away from the faith in the end times in 1 Timothy & 2 Timothy: ‘The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons’ (Ti.4:1, Line added), ‘But mark this: there will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God ? having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people’ (2Ti.3:1-5). Other authors of the Bible such as James, Peter and Jude also warn of this specific apostasy in the future. Today, after two thousand years since the establishment of the first church many believe that this rebellion will take place before long within the professing church, by a departure from the truth revealed in the Word of God. They also believe that this apostasy will sweep the earth, become a worldwide movement and will provide a seedbed for the great systematic deception by the ‘antichrist’, the very personification of Satan himself.
This thread of apostasy had already begun in the first century church as clearly stated by Paul in the quoted Epistle at the beginning: ‘the secret power of lawlessness is already at work’ (vs.7). However, it will intensify in the end, shortly before the Lord’s Second Coming. Concerning the coming earth-shattering events in the last days, Christ gave a lot of hints that suggest that they would be caused by signs and wonders from supernatural demonic forces: ‘If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, “Look, here is the Messiah!” or, “There he is!” do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect’ (Mt.24:22-24, Line added), and ‘ As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man’ (Mt.24:37-39, Line added). Here Christ not only described the fallen situation to be similar to Noah’s days, but also likened the characteristics of the end time deceptions to that of the days of Noah. What was so specific in the days of Noah, that God had determined to destroy the whole earth except for eight people? It was the satanic manifestation of the fallen angels and also, the uncontrollable habitation of the ‘Nephilim’ on the earth. God wiped out mankind from the face of the earth but it is stated in Scripture that the ‘Nephilim’ a hybrid race between the fallen angels and the daughters of men ? continued to inhabit the earth even after the flood: ‘The Nephilim were on the earth in those days ? and also afterwards ? when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown’ (Ge.6:4, Line added). It is possible, therefore, that the end times will be marked by the return of the fallen angels and demonic forces just as it was in the days of Noah.
Revelation 12 predicts the war in heaven between Michael and his angels, and Satan and his fallen angels. As a result, Satan and his fallen angels will completely lose their place in heaven as written: ‘The great dragon was hurled down ? that ancient snake called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him’(Re.12:9). This incident will usher in a drastic shift in Satan’s activity. After being hurled to the earth, very powerful satanic beings will openly and directly manifest themselves and their activities on the earth to deceive everyone. An enraged Satan will launch into his last and most intensive demonic strategy to wage war against the believers in the Lord as written: ‘When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child……But the earth helped the woman……Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring ? those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus’ (Re.12:13- 17), and Satan’s strategies are detailed in Re.13. Paul, in his Epistle quoted at the beginning, describes that the manifestation of the powerful satanic beings on earth will be inaugurated by the removal of ‘the one who now holds it back’ (v.7) so that ‘the lawless one will be revealed’ (v.8). In other words, exactly when Israel’s guardian angel Michael who has been continually holding back Satan in heaven, releases him and irreversibly throws him out of heaven at God’s appointed time, Satan’s final strategy will manifest and he will incarnate himself as ‘antichrist’. Now that Satan has been hurled out to the earth, there will be no way left for him to prevent God’s redemptive plans for mankind, apart from causing the final deception and delusion over those who ‘refused to love the truth and so be saved……so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness’ (vs.10-12).
The message in this passage of Paul’s Epistle is very serious. Today there have already been waves of deception within the church and some contemporary prophets have been warning of this trend for some time. One of the seedbeds for the end time systematic deception will be the interfaith movement, which seems to be ingenuously proceeding among prominent religious leaders in the world today. The following article describes Satan’s deceptive way of attracting people’s hearts and minds towards “One World Religion”, under which the antichrist will be worshiped, and which Paul refers to in verse 4 in his Epistle quoted at the beginning. ‘The devil will use this movement to draw all the world’s religions together as a stepping stone towards the formation of his One World Religion. Several factors guarantee the popularity and growth of the interfaith movement in the coming years. It provides a solution to the religiously inspired violence which is escalating around the world today. It could help solve the Israel Palestinian problem in the Middle East. It can provide a means by which people of different religions can come together to tackle problems caused by climate change. It could also help the western powers win the battle for hearts and minds within the Islamic community in their war on terror. The vast political influence of the western world is therefore likely to be thrown behind promoting this movement in the future; we are in fact already seeing the early stages of this. Misguided influential western politicians and Christian ministers are already emerging as leading figures within the interfaith movement already. Tony Blair, who has also recently converted to Catholicism, is also now the peace envoy to the Middle East, and evangelical leader Rick Warren, known by many as “America’s Pastor,” are both now leading figures within the interfaith movement. They plan to use good works, for example programs to help eradicate malaria from around the world, to gain support and draw people from different religions together. Many other influential people and organisations are now linking to these ventures and becoming involved in interfaith as a result. Many other Christians in the western world are already being drawn to this movement which looks set to continue. We are only in the early stages of this at present but a great momentum has now started and is almost certain to continue to expand, and at an accelerating rate in the coming years.
Whilst interfaith aims are often noble in themselves any Christian who becomes involved with this movement will expose themselves to powerful political and spiritual influences that can compromise or undermine their Christian faith. Their emphasis will subtly shift from walking the narrow road of faith in Christ as the only way to God to seeking common ground with other religions instead. As a result many will come under pressure to accept that other religions are also valid paths to God. This effectively contradicts the core Christian doctrine of salvation which teaches that forgiveness and reconciliation with God can only be found through faith in Christ’s death on the cross. Like Catholics many Protestants will come under pressure to compromise as this movement becomes popular. Interfaith involvement will also expose many Christians to New Age teachings. We can see this in the ministry of Rick Warren who has now introduced his vast church network to three New Age gurus as advisers for his churches’ interfaith-based health campaign. Between them these three men also teach various eastern meditation techniques and occult Reiki healing. As the saying goes “the path to hell is paved with good intentions” and the noble interfaith aims of achieving world peace and harmony between religions will fall right into the hands of those with an occult agenda’ (http://www.wordconnect.org/page_article14.php).
Among many, considering the fact that supernatural events such as the manifestation of UFOs are on the increase on a global scale, it would be worth informing the readers about the possibility of demonic deception in the near future as preliminary knowledge before it is too late. L.A.Marzulli, who is known to possess an in-depth knowledge of UFO’s and other supernatural phenomena is one of those who argue that the crop circle phenomena, alien abductions, cattle mutilations and UFO manifestations are all part of what might be the coming luciferian deception, i.e., the end time satanic deceptions and delusions. Recently, people are beginning to believe in the existence of friendly extraterrestrial beings, as if they would be a savior to this disintegrating earth. However, from the biblical view point Christians should not be caught up in such a deception. UFOs are nothing but agents of ‘the ruler of the kingdom of the air’, i.e., Satan written in Ephesians 2:2.
Marzulli illustrates a scenario of the coming “Luciferian Endgame” in his book ‘Politics Prophecy & The Supernatural’ (Anomalos Publishing House, 2007, p.207-208). As for the verse 9 in Paul’s letter: ‘He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie’, he puts it: ‘We are talking about very powerful satanic beings…They will mesmerize and deceive almost everyone. I believe that these beings will manifest as extraterrestrials in UFOs, as this is the one event that could change everyone’s worldview almost instantaneously. When they appear, everyone realize that “we are not alone.” What if these beings then begin to tell us that they genetically manipulated us from primitive man, some thirty thousand years ago, and that, in fact, they are our progenitors? …What if they say that they are responsible for the “parting of the Red Sea”?...How would the average Christian belief system hold up against such an event? I believe that unless a person is firmly rooted and grounded in the scriptures, i.e. the Bible, and has a direct born again relationship with Jesus, he or she will be deceived and will believe the lie’. He also argues: ‘Cattle mutilations began in the late 1970s and have continued to the present day…The areas around the eye, cheek, and rectum have been cored out with almost surgical precision…It makes one wonder what is going on and why they are continuing today…While some researchers separate the phenomena of crop circles and cattle mutilations, I propose that they may be caused by the same agency―that of the UFO (fallen angels) masquerading as aliens. I make this assertion because these phenomena are very deliberate and demonstrate that the entity behind the crop circles and cattle mutilations has control over our skies and can take from us what it wants, any time it wants…It would be one thing if the cattle were never found again, but the fact that only certain parts are taken, and then the carcass is “returned” in my opinion is diabolically evil. What is the point, unless it is to create fear and suspicion, which it does…I feel the crop circles and cattle mutilations phenomena are leading to a disclosure of the “alien” presence at some point in the future’(p.142-144), and he mentions the possibility of the manifestation of UFO crafts over the city of Jerusalem in broad daylight and of the extraterrestrials’ demonstration of advanced technology and power, coupled with holographic imagery depicting biblical miracles and supernatural events such as the parting of the Red Sea to show how they were behind all these biblical miraculous events. They would also claim that they genetically manipulated primitive man and that they are responsible for all that is written in the Bible. Marzulli believes that everyone seeing such a holographic film will come to embrace the new truth and this will be the beginning of a one world religious system. In this way the fallen angels disguised as aliens will deceive ‘those who are perishing... because they refused to love the truth and so be saved’ (v.10).