“…the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY. And then THE LAWLESS ONE WILL BE REVEALED, whom the Lord WILL CONSUME with the breath of His mouth AND DESTROY with the brightness of His coming.” (2 Thess. 2:7-8) Currently, the restrainer holds back lawlessness, but HE WILL BE REMOVED someday. When He is out of the way, LAWLESS ACTIVITIES will culminate through the MAN OF LAWLESSNESS. But WHO IS THE RESTRAINER? Only THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS THE POWER TO HOLD BACK SIN FROM BECOMING FULL BLOWN. Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit “…will convict the world OF SIN, and of righteousness, and of judgment…” (John 16:8-9) He will do so through Jesus’ followers, but AT THE RAPTURE JESUS’ FOLLOWERS WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE EARTH, and the earthly influence of Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, will be greatly diminished. While the Holy Spirit with His unique sin-restraining ministry through saved believers will be gone: He will no longer convict the world of sin through believers. Therefore, LAWLESSNESS WILL REACH AN EXTRAORDINARY MANIFESTATION.
“Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.” (1 John 2:18) The prefix “anti” in the Greek can be defined in one of two ways. The most common meaning is as an indicator of something that is THE EXACT OPPOSITE of the suffix that follows it. But, the second definition surprisingly can mean “another“, “replaced by another“, or “instead of”. The coming Antichrist fits both of these definitions. He will at first seem to be “ANOTHER” Christ; a savior that the world willingly welcomes and follows because of the apparent goodness that he brings about. Soon afterwards, however, he will reveal his true nature and display that he is actually THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF THE TRUE MESSIAH, Jesus Christ.
Because each new day brings humanity closer to the time when the Antichrist will be set loose upon the earth, it is critical that those who have not yet put their faith in Jesus Christ do so and escape the time of the Antichrist’s rule: “I tell you, NOW IS THE TIME of God’s favor, now is the DAY OF SALVATION.” (2 Corin. 6:2)
Pray this,
“Lord I’m a sinner, please forgive me of my sins and come into my heart…”
-Bill Stockham