By: Dale Weckbacher
2 Thessalonians
2:9-10
The coming of the
lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and
lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish,
because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
NKJV
Many theologians believe we are living in the last
days. Among these is Alan Yusko who has stated
“We are truly living in the last days before the return of the Lord Jesus! The world is in the process of throwing away
all forms of discretion, decency, and morality.” (1) According to Hebrews 1:2, the last days began
when the world first heard from Jesus the Son of God. We can therefore conclude that Mr. Yusko is
correct and that his observations provide evidence that we are getting closer
to the return of Jesus Christ. Of
course, since God sets the day of the return of Jesus, we do not know the
specific day of the Lord’s return (Matthew 25:13). However, each day brings us closer to the Lord’s
return. Our role, therefore, as
believers in Jesus Christ is not as predictor of the day but a watchman warning
others to prepare for the day is approaching.
We live in the information age, a time when access to
information has never been easier but also a time when much deceptive information
is available. We, therefore as children
of God engaged in spiritual warfare must practice discernment in order to avoid
deceptive information and instead focus on the truth. To do this we must have some gauge with which
to measure truth from lies.
For believers in Jesus Christ, this gauge is the Bible. However, in order to properly use this gauge,
we must take time to study and learn what the Bible has to say. 2 Thessalonians 2:10 speaks of falling for
deception due to not receiving the love of the truth. I therefore want to urge everyone reading
this who is a follower of Jesus Christ to develop a hunger for the truth
contained in the Bible and begin a regular plan to study and learn what it has
to say. This includes,
1)
Daily personal bible study – This can be simply
reading a chapter a day or doing as I do, reading from a one-year Bible each
day. However, for those of us desiring
to enter into spiritual warfare, we must also embark on a more in depth study
of the word of God by embarking on a verse-by-verse study of books of the Bible
or topical studies of topics God leads us to that will help us develop a closer
relationship with God.
2)
Regular church attendance in a church teaching
the Bible – I included in this recommendation attending a church teaching the
Bible. Unfortunately, there are churches
in existence that do not teach from the Bible and as such are not gauging their
teaching against the gauge of the Word of God.
If you find yourself in such a church, I urge you to get out so you do
not fall prey to deceptive teaching straying from the truth of the Bible.
3)
Become part of a small group Bible study – Many
of us attend large churches that do teach the Bible but there is something
special about being part of a smaller Bible study group. In these smaller group are able to ask
questions when we encounter something we do not understand. These smaller group studies also help us
develop relationships with other believers or people who will pray for us and
people we can pray for when we find ourselves in a spiritual battle.
In John 8:32, Jesus tells us that knowing the truth sets us
free. In the information age there is a
plethora of information available to us but, unfortunately, much of the
information is untruthful. We therefore
must use the gauge of the Bible, the Word of God, to discern truth from
lies.
As we have previously observed, we are in a spiritual
battle. The greatest weapon our enemy,
Satan, possesses is deception. This was
true in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-5) and remains true today (2Thessalonians 2:9-10). However, Jesus
came to declare the truth (John 18:37) the truth that sets us free from the
deception of the enemy (John 8:32).
Join me in arming ourselves with the weapon of liberating
truth, the truth of the Bible, the Word of God.
1. Berean Bible Church. The "Last
Days". www.bereanbiblechurch.org. [Online] Berean Bible Church.
[Cited: November 26, 2015.]
www.bereanbiblechurch.org/transcripts/hebrews/1_2_last_days.htm.
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