It's A Mystery!

     It's a mystery to me why so many people reject The Gospel! Are they brain-dead? The Bible says only a fool believes there is no God [Ps. 53]. This type of fool [there are at least 4 different types in the Bible] is stupid! wicked! impious! Maybe this is the answer, since rejecting The Gospel brings the specter of an unpleasant eternal hell.

    I ponder these things and then remember what the scriptures say: "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way." [II Thess. 2:7] This adds a spiritual dynamic beyond intellect, alone. 

    Human beings are characterized in The Bible as sinners, from birth: born in iniquity. We are 'cut off' from God, unable and unwilling to repent and believe on The Lord Jesus Christ. But here's an additional limitation: The Enemy of our soul is at work hindering men and women from believing!

    The old English "let" is confusing. It's referencing the restraining work of the Holy Spirit that keep Satan's efforts from succeeding completely. This restraining ministry will continue until the Spirit of God is 'taken out of the way.' Of course, then, Satan will have almost carte blanche to work his wiles and deceive the masses, even more.

    Dispensationalism sees The Church personifying this restraining power, until she is taken from the earth, in The Rapture. This easy solution does not answer some other important questions, however. Satan's liberty to deceive and enslave does not become a reality until the middle of the Great Tribulation, which has given rise to the Mid-Tribulation Rapture Theory. Rapture issues are not the purview of this treatise.

    The Point is: The Church represents at least A restraining influence in this world, perhaps THE restraining influence. The reality that sin and wickedness is once again on the increase makes us wonder about how close we are to Christ's Return. In the past couple of centuries we have had The United States as the bastion of Christian Testimony. We have looked to the U.S. for hope and for a hedge against the evils of this world. No More!

    Now, the U.S. is at the forefront of wickedness. We just celebrated(?) forty years of Roe v. Wade. Did you know in Liberal, Humanist, Progressive, Socialist France, it is a crime to abort a child after the first Tri-mester? In Russia, their Parliament, the Duma, has recently backed a draft law that outlaws homosexual propaganda.

    At home? We're doing all we can to open the flood gates of wickedness and immorality, in every area of society. Social policy, economic policy and government policy. We WANT to get God out of our life and out of our thinking. Keep in mind, God is still restraining wickedness. Can you imagine what the future will look like, if Jesus tarries? It apparently will be worse, if He doesn't!

    The Church, The Bride of Christ, is at her weakest point in recent memory. In the past we dealt with men and women who sought to depart from the cardinal doctrines of The Faith, creating new and different doctrines. We called this Liberalism. Today, we are watching folks who think themselves to be Christians flocking to large, impersonal, venues to be titillated and entertained and calling it worship of God. 

    This is not the worst, however. The newest [and oldest] fad is mysticism. Christians are embracing a mystical form of Christianity where how The Word of God makes them feel or how various techniques can get them out of their bodies, so as to merge with The Spirit, or how these techniques can improve upon what we know of God or of His Word, passes for worship and/or study and/or meditation.

    Christian Yoga, Lectio divina, Emerging Church Movement, where feelings matter more than reason; a growing number of young pastors fixated on teaching about sex, in graphic terms, others playing with alternate spiritualities and doctrines. These are what we read about, not Evangelistic efforts or about strong families or dedicated Christians.

    There are more "mysteries" afoot than we know. The mystery of iniquity is just one. Mystery Babylon is another. We'll talk about that on Sunday Evening, from 8 - 11 pm.  Join Us!

     PS: You can watch the Bible Forum from our Facebook Page

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