THE THREE STAGES OF END-TIME DELUSION - INTRODUCTION
READ 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12
It is the prediction of 2 Thessalonians 2 that in the end times multitudes of people in the world will fall for the Antichrist. They will fall for his counterfeit miracles, and they will worship him as God. He will establish himself on the throne in the temple of God, and the multitudes of the world will bow down and worship him as their ultimate deity.
The question arises -- why in the world would people do this? Why would intelligent people fall for something as obviously satanic as the appearance of the Antichrist at the end of the age.
Do you remember the Heaven’s Gate cult out in California, who followed the teachings of a man named Marshall Applewhite? Thirty-eight of them followed him in suicide. They believed that they were going to have a rendezvous with the Halle Bop comet or with a spaceship behind that comet and that they would be lifted to a higher level.
You might say they just weren't intelligent people, that they were simple minded and uneducated and that's why they fell for it. But that is not what the indications are when you read the biographical background of these people in the cult.
You will find that many of them were computer experts. Many of them had graduate degrees. These were not uneducated, simple people. So, why would people, normally intelligent people of above-average intelligence, fall for this kind of delusional teaching?
It is an illustration to us in the end times, just like it was in the Heaven’s Gate cult, of the tremendous power of deception. Deception can have tremendous power on the minds of individuals. Deception can do things to people and cause them to believe things and act in ways that you would never imagine normal people could believe and act.
Have you ever had anybody say to you --it really doesn't matter what you believe, just as long as you are sincere? I want you to know that it does matter what you believe, because what you believe affects what you do, and what you do affects other people.
Timothy McVeigh was convicted by a jury of putting the bomb in front of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City that snuffed out the lives of 168 people, many of whom were little boys and girls.
The indications are that Timothy McVeigh came to believe a certain matter. He came to believe that the Federal government was our enemy, that there was a conspiracy in the federal government to do in the very citizens of the government for which they exist. Because of what he believed, he thought the thing to do was retaliate against the government. He chose the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. He drove a Ryder truck up in front of it. The bomb explosion went off. The building was ripped to shreds and 168 people lost their lives.
It does matter what a person believes because what a person believes affects what that person does, and what a person does affects other people. It is amazing to consider how easily people can be deceived.
That's why these verses are so important. Be alert and attentive as we study over the next three days, as we learn how it is possible for people to experience strong delusion and to act upon that delusion.
Your Friend and HIS,
Pastor Abbott
MEDITATIONS
1. How do you see the stage being set for the world to follow the lies of the Antichrist?
2. What will protect you more than anything else from being easily deceived?
3. Why does what you believe matter so very much?
4. What do you think of the delusion of Timothy McVeigh and Marshall Applewhite?