Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
This is a very highly debated portion of scripture in which the religious leaders have argued over it and meaning ever since it was written by the apostle Paul. I believe if you have learned how to listen to the Holy Spirit within you and learned how to receive His instruction and teaching …that you can listen to Him now and understand what HE wants you to learn from it. A few things definitely jumped out at me; that the ‘information’ would be presented in many different ways (by a spirit, speech, and the written word) and that we should NOT be deceived, and that there is a recognizable rebellion against God and His kingdom in the present day. Did you notice that there would be those who are ‘perishing’ would be deceived because they refused to believe the Truth? That these perishing people would then be given a ‘strong delusion’ so that they WOULD believe what is false?
Can you discern the Truth now through the Holy Spirit? Has the Holy Spirit revealed any lies NOW that you are believing or have believed? If not – when the time comes, what makes you think and believe you will believe Him then? Are you humble enough to accept the conviction of the Holy Spirit about your current wrong beliefs and actions? Or do you just swat away those uncomfortable thoughts from your mind and heart, and try to bury them? Has the Holy Spirit ever revealed to you personally when you’ve encountered false signs and wonders? What makes you think you’ll believe Him differently in the future?
What is your definitive method of discerning the Truth of things? Your own opinion? Your own history and teaching? Those who you know and are surrounded by? Your own interpretation? Have you ever had the Holy Spirit challenge you and your own beliefs? If not, you aren’t hearing or listening to Him. That’s the JOB of the Holy Spirit … to realign you into the image of Christ, which means you will HAVE TO change … a lot. You will have to listen to Him and acknowledge ALL of the lies you currently believe and all those in the past you have accepted as ‘truth’. The Holy Spirit’s JOB is to reveal Jesus Christ to YOU … which is THE TRUTH … of ALL things. (John 14:6) This IS the beginning of true spiritual discernment. This is you learning to TRUST the Holy Spirit and the (rhema) Word He sets into your heart and mind.
As the evil rises in the world so also the need for true discernment also rises, and the deluded become even more delusional and crazy. Why is that?
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Matthew 7:13-14
The “gate is narrow, … hard” and few find it. What makes the gate ‘narrow’? Because the gate requires that an individual give up EVERYTHING to make it through the ‘gate’ and then rely on someone else to ‘drag’ them through it. Jesus is willing to drag you through the gate – but you must surrender to Him for Him to do it. You can’t be ‘kicking and screaming’ and fighting Him, you must surrender and accept His help and the price He PAID for you. This means giving up your ’pride’ and selfish ways. This means giving up your fear and learn to trust Him. This means being willing to have your thoughts and beliefs challenged by the Holy Spirit, and confess that you were wrong. True and real humility is REQUIRED in His Kingdom.
As the craziness increases all around us – so is the need to be able to hear the words and instructions from the Holy Spirit. Are you asking Him questions and getting answers from Him? Are you changing your ways in compliance to what He is asking you to do?