Over the years I have struggled to find an exact definition of what “Man of Sin” (or, Lawlessness) actually means. [2 Thess 2:3] I know who he will be, but the term used to describe him in Thessalonians seemed vague. Also, what exactly does it describe about his actions?
We understand what a “Man of God” is, or for example, a “Man of Many Talents”. Therefore I feel what is lacking is a more precise definition of SIN itself. What does this man epitomize, and what is sin?
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Today I read a news report that totally sickened and disgusted me. Having said that, it’s not an unusual circumstance these days! However, the report affected me so badly that I cried out to the Lord, “what sort of person DOES that??”
I’m not going to spell out in detail what this twisted individual did, because it’s not appropriate, apart from giving an illustration of what I mean.
Just take it from me, this person is the worst of the worst – selfish, psychotic, murderous, depraved, cruel – and if you really want to know the details you can look them up for yourself here. (However, the point of this blog post is not the actions of this person, as you will see as you read on.) Continue reading
Do you want to be freed from the enticing and sometimes overwhelming power of sin?
I’m asking Christians, who have already received a free pardon for their activities in the flesh, and a new life in Jesus Christ – although there’s nothing wrong with others benefiting from this message, too.
If all Christians became [in a practical earthly sense] perfect at the moment of new birth, and never thereafter sinned, I would not have to ask this question, but we all know that is not the case.
Being forgiven, and being delivered from the power of sin are two different things. Rather, two sides of the same coin. Continue reading
Are you ever plagued by unwanted thoughts? Do suggestions, temptations, fears and worries come to your head even though in your heart you don’t believe them? It’s happened to me, and I recently found a way to repel them, which I want to share with you.
It’s just a very simplistic picture but it’s also true, and has the backing of scripture, so I share it in the hope it will help somebody. Continue reading
What is the “lawlessness” of the last days?Anyone looking at the scriptures referring to conditions in the last days will have come across the term “lawlessness”. In fact, the epitome and embodiment of the condition is the Man of Lawlessness himself, (2 Thess 2:8) who sums it all up and crowns lawlessness with his personal blessing.
Nevertheless, I found myself struggling to grasp exactly what lawlessness means, in real terms. So I set about praying and researching, to gain an understanding of what we might expect very soon.
It’s very important to know not only what we are facing in these darkening last days, but also how to identify the problems. Could we be missing something significant that is a marker to a growing problem, one that will eventually become a global ‘religion’ and belief? How can we both identify and avoid lawlessness?
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It’s hard to know what to say when for three days and nights your cities have been under siege, set on fire and ransacked.
We watch the news with a sense of disbelief but not surprise. Many of us had said “if this goes on, there will be rioting in the streets”. But we meant that the poor, the oppressed, the angry, and those treated cruelly and unjustly would hit back with a protest so strong that this country would reel from it.
In the event, the rioting was even worse because it was the result, not of protest, nor in support of basic human rights, but a selfish greedy and criminal desire to loot and burn for the sake of it, just because they can.
The bible said “lawlessness shall increase” and it is. It said this:
2 Tim 3:1-5
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come, for people will be…
lovers of themselves
lovers of money
boasters
proud
blasphemers
disobedient to parents
unthankful
unholy
unloving
unforgiving
slanderers
without self-control
brutal
despisers of good
traitors
headstrong
haughty
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God
This we see all around us, growing worse by the day.
There has always been selfishness and lawlessness. But throughout history that evil was contained and restricted by physical distance and location, by lack of speedy communication, and by the unavailably of graphic media, as well as the inclination of most people to be law-abiding and moral. All that has been swept away.
Today we see gangs organised via Twitter and Blackberry messaging, being directed round the streets by mobile phones.
Today we see the result of that mayhem instantly via a live feed on TV, encouraging others to go out and do the same thing the next day.
But given all that is true, what are some of the recent causes underlying the situation we are witnessing of rampant uncontrolled lawlessness roaming our streets? It’s not hard to identify because these are issues that are being discussed in every gathering of normal people (but somehow not in the corridors of power, where a corporate insanity prevails.)
For many years the education system has been infiltrated by left-wing, liberal, and fanciful new-world ideas that have removed discipline and straightforward studying of the facts, and replaced them with “yuman rights”, and propaganda for the cause. Instead of educating children, they introduced them to the idea that anything goes, and nobody must complain. We ended up with generations of illiterate yobs whose only aim in life is to take from society and escape all consequences.
Whether or not you believe in the death penalty for murder, it was a turning point for this country when we decided to imprison killers instead. It was the leading edge of another liberal agenda to see criminals as “victims of society” instead of those who needed punishment. Year by year we have watched the justice system strain and break. Shorter sentences, more lenient courts, fewer people arrested, while crime escalated at an alarming rate. The police are hogtied by nit-picking rules and regulations that forbid them to violate anybody’s “rights” (apart from the victims of crime, naturally). Add to this the prevailing attitude of the authorities that it’s illegal to defend yourself or (as they call it) “take the law into your own hands” and you have the disgraceful situation of innocent citizens brought to court for trying to defend their own property or lives!
People fuelled by these are much more likely to be irrational and desperate. Too much crime is drug-related. Yet alcohol continues to be dirt cheap, and the licensing hours have been extended instead of cut. So unable are the authorities to deal with the drug problem that their recently proposed “answer” was just to make personal drug use legal because it’s impossible to stop it now. Yet people out of their heads on drugs and drink are frequently violent and abusive, stealing to support their habit, unable to work, ill and using up NHS resources, not to speak of the damage they do to their own and their family’s lives. (Much of what was stolen in the rioting was alcohol.)
This is another huge area of concern. Very young children are getting access to the internet, seeing and involving themselves in things that scar their minds and corrupt their spirits. Social Networking introduces them to people they would not normally have known, and outside of all parental control. Peer-pressure means they will attempt things against their better judgement. Video games are violent and horrific, teaching them to kill and steal without mercy and without restraint. What they see informs their lives and educates them to believe in a world where everything is up for grabs, without consequences.
Music too, and TV programming, has become more and more sexually explicit and foul in every way. Censorship seems non-existent. Storylines are about all about getting your own way, no matter what. Crime is fun, and clever. Younger and younger children are reading magazines and other media that pushes them to conform to a sexualized and greedy lifestyle when they are too young to make adult decisions about the need for restraint.
At the same time, as we all know, the family has crumbled apart. With the open encouragement of successive Governments, marriage has been abandoned in favour of casual relationships, children being born to multiple partners, men drifting from one woman to the next, women raising several non-related children alone… meaning that the all-important input of a strong and reliable father-figure is missing. The only parenting that the children understand is getting their wants supplied. They witness arguments, abandonment and strife all their lives and conclude that there is nothing stable or good about the human experience. It’s “every man for himself”.
One strong incentive in life is to do better than those around you, gain a good education and train for a career that will reward you and your family in later life. However, that aim has been removed from the lives of many ordinary people. Much schooling is a joke and even now children leave without knowing how to write or speak correctly, and unable to do basic sums. They know nothing about history or geography and even less about science. Then when they try to go on to university they either drop out, unable to face the challenge of a good education, or else they are unable to attend in the first place due to cost. The only jobs they can get (if any at all) are menial and badly-paid. If despite all this they enter a profession that provides a good salary they are stung by the various taxes and disincentives this country has always provided to punish those who do well. Talent and Invention are shipped off to countries who know how to reward them, while we struggle on with a dumbed-down lack-lustre population that only knows how to toe the line.
Another incentive used to be the role-models people encountered while growing up. Now, many role-models such as footballers, rock stars and actors are famous for being loud-mouthed, drunken, adulterous and ignorant. It’s the evil of society that is paraded in the press and applauded, and made into entertainment. It is greed, selfishness, infidelity, pride, anger and hatred of religion that people see and hear. They conclude “this is how life is lived, this is how I should be.”
The prevailing attitude of the media today is “bash the bible”. No holds barred in portraying Christians as ignorant depraved fools who deserve no consideration from society. Every sinew is stretched out to find yet another way to disprove the Christian truths, whether in the Press, on TV or just in private conversations.
Children may not have been taught anything about history, but if any conversation arises with a religious element they suddenly “know” all about the bible, how contradictory and “repressive” it is (even though they have never seen, let alone read, one.) It seems as if TV producers work to a golden rule that Christians must appear in every drama and cartoon, to be mocked and resented and shown up as corrupt and self-serving idiots.
It’s no wonder churches are empty and Christianity has such a bad name. But along with that goes the intense fear of “judgement” that people instinctively feel! Anyone who is Christian knows the knee-jerk response “how dare you judge me?” when anything about God is mentioned.
Deep levels of sin have produced a bad conscience in society, but instead of owning up to sin people would rather do away with God, so as to avoid unpleasantness. When they are told by everything they hear and see that God is judgemental and repressive, they join in the chorus, rejoicing in their freedom to do as they please.
The result can be seen on the TV news today.
When a child as young as 10 gets a message from a gang of friends who say they are going into the city to smash and burn shops and loot whatever they can carry, what is there from the list above to prevent him saying “I’m there.”
Is there any parental disapproval? NO! His Mum is probably too busy watching TV with her new boyfriend, and even if she stands in his way, she’ll be told to F-Off.
Is there any fear of the police or the legal system? NO! Even if by bad luck he was arrested he wouldn’t be charged, and would be let back home with nothing more than a caution. Then he’d be even more proud of his status in the gang!
Is there any personal inclination to avoid criminal behaviour? NO! “Everybody else is doing it” and the more they succeed the better they feel. Everything he watches and everyone he admires spurs him on, rather than the opposite.
Is there any reason to resist? NO! Because he “needs” to “have things” like the rest of the world, and his Mum won’t buy them. He wants new trainers, and the clothes that his friends wear, and all those “must-have” electronic gadgets, and the drink that dulls his unhappy memories, and he knows he’ll never be able to have them without stealing. So why not? Society “owes him”! “THEY” have things, so why shouldn’t he?
And I must say, when big businesses, banks, government departments, celebrities, and the high-fliers in this country are so dismissively arrogant about their billions of ill-gotten gains, while others have nothing, it’s not surprising there is a deep resentment amongst ordinary people!
Finally, is there any fear of the consequences? NO! From whom could there be consequences? His mother doesn’t care that much, his friends already approve, his school won’t intervene and to be sure he won’t be hearing anything about God and the Ten Commandments anytime soon.
The Trinity is a subject hotly debated and still mysterious. We understand from scripture that God exists in three persons, and these persons at times act and move in independent ways, yet they are in perfect coordination and unity.
In explaining the Trinity with an example drawn from our own experience it both helps us to understand God, and at the same time helps us see a further important truth: HOW to “walk in the Spirit” as the scriptures demand. Many Christians know the command to walk in the spirit, but really have no idea what it means or how to “do it”. Likewise, many Christians struggle with sin and don’t know how to “be better” and be less sinful. This little analogy may help.
We were created in the image of God. This means we are three united elements: body, soul and spirit. The body contains the personality with its feelings, thoughts and drives (the soul), and the spirit is the inward man who either reaches out to God or denies him.
When the bible speaks of “the flesh” it means more than just physical cells of the body. It’s referring to our natural tendency towards selfishness and gratifying the senses. The body and soul are working together to live out a human life on earth. The spirit starts out quite dormant (the bible uses the term “dead”) until filled with the Spirit of God, and then it’s resurrected to its true function, to know and worship God and to discern his will. And so on.
So these three parts also form a kind of “trinity”.
They do not always work in unity. Sometimes the body is tired, but the spirit wants to pray or speak to somebody. Jesus said “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”. There are differences of activities within these three parts of a human being. Maybe the soul wants to party but the spirit says, hold back. The flesh wants to eat but the soul commands it “you will get overweight, so restrain yourself”.
We can now see more clearly the Trinity, the Godhead. Apart from sin, the “tripartate” nature of God is like a person’s soul spirit and body. God is the Eternal Father on the Throne, also the incarnated Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Each of these is equally God, just as we are not divided – we are not three people living in a body, but ONE person!
At times, the three-ness of God was revealed through unity, and sometimes through different persons. Jesus prayed always that he might be brought into unity and conformity with God the Father, and he did nothing but what he perceived his Father doing.
When Jesus ascended he sent the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God, both terms are used in scripture) to be “another helper” to be ALL that Jesus was to his disciples and more. When we receive God, we receive “The Son” and we receive the “Spirit of the Father” and the “Holy Spirit” and we receive “The Father” – there is no disagreement here, it’s all one and the same.
But Jesus on earth could be tempted to step outside of perfect oneness with the Father (the wilderness temptation and the Garden of Gethsemane). He could act independently of his Father, yet he chose to submit himself to Him.
That’s our clue to “walking in the spirit”. The “flesh” – body and soul – wants to be better, and sets out to change things. That’s a fundamental mistake! So many people, including Christians, think they have to clean up their own act and struggle to be a better person. Yet using only the body and soul to TRY just exaggerates the problem: being out of harmony with God in the Spirit.
Each time you exercise your flesh to “try harder” you are drowning out the voice of the Spirit and becoming less able to surrender to its commands. Whether or not the flesh is being evil or good, it’s still the flesh and really of no use to God UNLESS it’s in conformity and unity with the Spirit.
Just as Jesus never went outside his Father’s will or command or power, never acting in his own nature, so WE – like miniature trinities – have the task of bringing our personalities and wills into submission to the voice of the Spirit. THAT alone is the way of victory, peace, wisdom and ability.
We have to align in harmony with the Spirit and let God be the conductor of our human symphony. No “instrument” of ours can play its own independent tune.
One last illustration. I played a computer game where one task was manipulating three separate knobs to adjust a sound wave into perfect harmony with the given “key” wave. The frequency and tone of my wave had to be modulated so that eventually the sound was a perfect harmony, not discord. When perfect harmony was achieved the task was completed.
I see my soul and flesh like two parts of my human “soundwave”. God’s beautiful key tone within my spirit can be heard, and my only task is to conform myself to it, to bring myself into harmony with God. Then HIS nature will sound out, not mine!
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