 So let's begin reading in verse one of Second Thessalonians chapter two. We'll read to verse two and then we'll begin our study with an introduction and then move into the Antichrist. Paul writes, now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled either by spirit or by word or by letter as if from us as though the day of Christ had come. So in this chapter Paul gives details concerning the second coming of Christ. He says that in verse one, notice brethren concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so he's giving us details concerning the second coming of Christ and he does that because as we've already seen the church there, members of the church are believing that they are already in what is called the tribulation. And that would come out of a couple of reasons. One is because they were undergoing persecution and tribulations and the times are very difficult for them. And so they were beginning to believe that they had missed the rapture and were in the tribulation. Now that's something that Paul already addressed. He had done so in first Thessalonians. He had said to them in chapter two, verse 14, you brethren became imitators of the churches of God, which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen just as they did from the Jews, making an allusion to the fact that they are going through enduring tough times. And he went on in chapter three of first Thessalonians in verses two and three to speak of how Timothy had come to encourage them that no one should be shaken, Paul says, by these afflictions. And so they believed that they had missed the rapture. They were in the tribulation because they were going through suffering and afflictions. And so as we saw in first Thessalonians in chapter four, verses 13 through 18, Paul had written about the rapture and he did so to bring comfort to them. Well, in spite of that, the false teachers had begun to infiltrate the church and they were continuing to disturb the hearts of the believers. They were saying that the rapture had taken place and were telling the church that they were in tribulation. And so with that in mind, Paul continues his letter in order to give them proper teaching concerning that. And so that's how he begins in verse one when it says, now, brethren concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he instructs them concerning the second coming and begins by speaking of the events that immediately precede the return of Jesus Christ. He speaks of in verse one, the coming of the Lord Jesus and our gathering together to him. So he explains what he means by the term the coming of the Lord, but he also writes concerning the church's gathering together to him. So he says, brethren concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in verse one, the word coming there is a Greek word, parosia. And the word parosia speaks of an arrival or an advent. It's a word that is used 22 times in the New Testament. It speaks of the future visible return of Jesus Christ from heaven. Now, he had said in chapter one, verse seven, to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. He's already spoken of this by saying that the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven, but he's also speaking of our gathering together to him. When he speaks of that, that speaks of the rapture. And this is again something that he wrote about in his first letter. I mentioned it a moment ago, but the rapture is an event that begins the day of the Lord or the tribulation. So the rapture is really that prophetic occurrence that's going to happen that is going to be before the tribulation and the tribulation will come right after the rapture. He had said in 1 Thessalonians 4, 16, and 17, the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. The rapture. So in his earlier epistle, he wrote concerning this event because he wanted to give them hope. Here Paul gives details concerning the tribulation because he wants to bring them comfort. By this time they were growing more agitated by persecution that was mixed with bad teaching. And so let me develop this for just a moment as I'm moving into our study. You need to remember that false teachers disrupt faith and the fruit of their teaching will be despair. Bad doctrine always undermines Christian faith, hope, and love. It always does. On the opposite hand would be correct teaching. Correct teaching is intended to produce hope, especially in the heart of the believer. Paul said that in Romans 15 verse 4, he said whatever things were written before were written for our learning that we through the patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. And so the word of God communicates to us so many things, but it especially develops in us the hope that we need to survive. Again, bad teaching leads to poorly lived lives as well as frustration. So when the error is presented as Christian doctrine, the result will always be the undermining of faith. We saw that in our study of 2 Timothy, how in 2 Timothy Paul had said in verses 16 and 18 in verse 2, 16 through 18, avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenias and Phyletes who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place and they destroy the faith of some. So bad doctrine destroys faith and removes hope. And so in this case, the Thessalonians are being victimized by false teaching. And so he says in verse 1, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter as if from us as though the day of Christ had come. So notice what he says. He doesn't want them to be shaken and he doesn't want them to be troubled. He said, I don't want you to be shaken. The word shaken speaks of being agitated or unsettled. It's a word that describes being moved by a storm like a wave of the sea. The word troubled speaks of being disturbed or terrified. It causes you to cry out in fear. And what's happening with this bad doctrine is they're being agitated and terrified. And so he says, I don't want you to be agitated or terrified concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together with him. Now what is it that's agitating them and terrifying them? Again, a false report. There's a false report that's circulating that the day of the Lord had arrived. So that brings confusion because they had been taught that the rapture would occur first. So again, that's a picture of the effects of bad doctrine. It causes agitation. It steals your peace. In Ephesians 4 verse 14, he says we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. We shouldn't be children tossed to and fro. We need stability and solid teaching produces that. But these people are bringing in false doctrine and they're undermining the hope of the church. Now it's been said that if they thought that their tribulation occurred before the rapture, they would not have been disturbed. But a false teaching had been received and now the church was disturbed. Now how did the church receive this? How did they become disturbed? Well, he tells us in verse 2, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled either by spirit or by word or by letter as if from us. That's how it had entered in. How had they allowed this to take place? There were people who were prophesying that they were in the tribulation. That's what he's referring to when he speaks of by spirit. When he says by spirit he's speaking of a false prophecy that they had believed. Now remember the Holy Spirit inspired prophecies that were given in the church. And when the prophetic gift is being in operation, there's going to be encouragement. But the fact is they're being undermined. You see, again, when the gift of prophecies exercise, it's supposed to edify. In 1 Corinthians 14.3, it says, he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. But what happened is when the church would receive the prophecy was to be tested. He had said, Paul had said in 1 Corinthians 14.29, let two or three prophets speak and let the others judge. And so if the gift of prophecy was operating in church, the people were intended to listen with discerning ears to judge. He had said in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 19 through 21, do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophecies. But he went on to say, test all things, hold fast what is good. And so if somebody is purporting to speak in the name of the Lord, it needs to be tested. God gives to you the spirit of discernment as a gift, but also and especially, he gives us his word. So when somebody is speaking, we can test what he's saying by what the word of God has declared. And so if it contradicts what the Bible says, then we ought not to receive it. And so he had already said, you're to hold fast what is good. So the Thessalonians had been instructed to not quench the spirit or despise prophecies. They were to test all things, hold fast what was good. But the false prophets had entered the church and the people were receiving what was being said and it produced chaos. So the first thing they say is that this is something that has come by spirit. The second thing, or by word. When he says or by word, well that would be an alleged conversation with Paul. Somebody was saying that they had spoken personally to Paul and Paul had said yes, the church is in the tribulation. So that's what he means when he says that by word. Somebody is alleging to have spoken to Paul and Paul has allegedly said yes, the tribulations occurring. Now there are those who are claiming to personally know Paul in that way. And what happens when somebody says, oh I know Paul very well and thus I have inside information, a person who claims to have inside information because they spent a lot of time with somebody has a tendency of being believed. And that's what happens not only then, that happens to this day. If somebody says I was an insider, I have inside information, therefore I must be believed. Well people have a tendency of believing without testing. They simply have a tendency of believing simply because the guy claims to have been talking to somebody and gotten that information. And if that person happens to be known to have a relationship with that other person, well that has a tendency again of elevating their credibility. And so he says there are those who claim to have had a conversation with me and that's how this is spreading. And then the third is by letter. Now when he says by letter, the term by letter would be speaking of a forged letter. They are saying that they have a letter that Paul had written but that he's saying would have been a forged one. He did not write such a letter. We need to remember that Paul would send his letters very often through a carrier and there were times that he with his own hand would affix his signature. There were times that perhaps somebody else wrote in the name of Paul. It's interesting if you note this with me, you can see it very quickly in chapter 3 verse 17 of 2 Thessalonians. This is how he closed this letter. He says, the salutation of Paul with my own hand which is a sign in every epistle so I write. And so he would say there are those who forged a letter and are saying that that letter came from me when in fact that's not true. So these are the three things that have gotten them shaken. One, somebody is giving or people are giving a prophetic utterance. Two, people are saying they have inside information through a conversation with Paul. And three, some are circulating a letter alleged from Paul and he's saying none of this is true. And that's how he begins in verses 1 and 2 as he's responding to things that have occurred and is about to be concerning the last days. Now I want you to know something here. Notice verse 3. He says this, let no one deceive you by any means for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed the son of perdition. Now we'll look at that for just a moment as I lay some foundations and continue to do so. I want you to notice verse 3 again. Notice how he writes, let no one deceive you. When he says let no one deceive you guys that's another way of saying you have responsibility not to be deceived. It's easy for us today to say well somebody said it therefore I believe it. He's credible but Paul would say no you have responsibility. Teachers have responsibility to tell the truth and not everyone should consider themselves a teacher or even desire to teach. James in chapter 3 verse 1 said my brethren let not many of you become teachers knowing that we shall receive stricter judgment. It's not something you just run around doing. It's not something you should call yourself a teacher simply because you like the attention or like to talk. We need to remember that we are responsible before the Lord for what we teach and we're accountable for the things that we taught. But the believer also has a responsibility to be accountable for the things that they believe and have received. Again Paul had said test all things hold fast what is good. So believers are to carefully guard themselves from deception. Matthew 24 verse 4 Jesus said take heed that no one deceives you. So the Thessalonians are to be aware of this. They need to know what is being said they shouldn't be so quick to receive it they ought to be rejecting it. Instead of following them what they were intended to do and actually commanded to do is to expose them and to reject their teaching. It's like what Paul said in Romans 16 verse 17 I urge you brethren note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine in which you learned and avoid them. See the church has a responsibility to note which means to mark them out say this is a false teacher and to avoid their doctrine and their teaching. So regarding the coming of the Lord Jesus there are various events that will take place and Paul begins to speak concerning that. He speaks about things that must come first. Notice verse 3 let no one deceive you by any means for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed the son of perdition. That day will not come unless the falling away comes first. That day is something that he's written about it's the tribulation we saw that when we studied in 1st Thessalonians. In 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 2 Paul had spoken of the day of the Lord coming as a thief in the night the day of the Lord is referred to in Joel chapter 1 verse 15 Isaiah 13 6 through 9 and many other passages is the day of the Lord it's referred to in various ways it's called the tribulation it's called the time of Jacob's trouble it's referred to as the day of trouble it's the great tribulation it's spoken of in this way various ways through scripture so he's speaking concerning that day so that day verse 3 the tribulation will not come unless the falling away comes first the tribulation will follow a time of great apostasy as people reject Christianity during their day Paul's teaching was already infiltrating the church when you read your New Testament you're going to see that various New Testament letters were written to warn and expose false teaching that was already entered into the church in the first century when you read the book of Romans Paul said note those who caused divisions avoid them when you read in the letters to the Corinthians there were some who were denying the resurrection when you look in the letter to the Galatians Paul said to that church you are turning to a different gospel and ask the question who has bewitched you when he wrote to the Colossians he said to that church beware lest anyone cheat you through empty philosophy first and second Thessalonians warns against false teachers infiltrating and undermining first and second Timothy spoke of some departing from the faith they were giving ear to deceiving spirits there were false teachers that were saying the resurrection had occurred and they were overthrowing the faith of some in the book of Titus Titus chapter one speaks of insubordinate idle talkers deceivers whose mouths must be stopped the letter to the Hebrews was written to Jewish believers who were returning to Judaism and rejecting Jesus the book of James spoke of believers who thought they were justified by their works Peter warned against false prophets who were denying the Lord bringing themselves bringing upon themselves swift destruction he said that they were bringing people into bondage with their teachings first and second John dealt with false teachers denying the incarnation and promoting unholy living the book of Jude exposed false teachers commanding believers to contend earnestly for the faith that is one time for all time been delivered to the saints in the book of revelation Jesus said the church in Pergamos had some who held the doctrine of Balaam the church in Thyatira allowed a self appointed prophet is called Jezebel to teach and seduce believers to commit sexual immorality it was already happening in the first century deception already was entering in there's so many today who have this attitude well if it's Jesus it's if the name Jesus is being used and they refer to scriptures it must be true but again you need to remember that Paul had made it very clear let no one deceive you by any means know the scriptures is what he's saying know them well enough to know when error is being mixed with truth and presented as gospel and you have that responsibility and he's saying it's going to happen there's going to be a great falling away people are going to turn away from the Christian faith you see the seeds of rejecting Jesus and accepting anti-christ were planted centuries ago and today those same seeds remain and they are bearing fruit in 1st Timothy 4 1 it says the spirit speaks expressly that in latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils so some of the fruit lies at the feet of preachers who are obscuring the message afraid to communicate it there are pastors today and I say this as a pastor of many years so I speak of myself I need to be very careful how I divide the word and present it there are some pastors who want to have people in church and to such a degree that they'll actually obscure the truth of the gospel they won't tell the truth because when you really actually give the word of God it's very offensive to people who have settled that they're going to live in a certain way because the word of God has a way of exposing our hearts and so there are those who will not teach the whole council of God because they're afraid of offending sensitive hearers especially today when you have so many people who are unwilling to hear somebody else and we're living in a time as you know that if somebody disagrees with somebody else they don't just politely say I beg to differ but they will call them names they reject them they sometimes even get violent towards them it's a different era and so because pastors are aware of that some are afraid to offend sensitive hearers and so the seeds are already being planted because when you don't teach the whole council you're not preparing the church to do the works of the Lord the rejection of truth paves way for antichrist he speaks of this falling away notice he says the falling away comes that prepares the spiritual atmosphere to receive antichrist the seeds of apostasy will have already been planted prior to the rapture but they will produce an abundance of fruit after the rapture occurs after the rapture false teachers will abound apostasy will rain it's during this time that the antichrist will be revealed now this had not occurred during the time of the Thessalonians so they're supposed to be encouraged and comforted but after the rapture a great willful defection from Jesus by professing Christians will occur Jesus said in Matthew 24 11 and 12 many false prophets shall rise shall deceive many and because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold and he speaks concerning this man of sin he says the man of sin will be revealed the son of perdition this man of sin son of perdition is known by a variety of names in scripture including the beast but especially known as the antichrist in apostate conditions this imposter will make his appearance and the world will welcome him there has been a voluntary departure from a formerly held belief their apostate now again that has happened throughout church history but this event Paul mentions is the most clear and specific act of apostasy the antichrist will be the consummate blasphemous sinner who lives in open defiance to God he will be the most evil depraved wicked lawless leader who has ever existed we have had some very evil men who have lived and you can use names like Hitler and others like that but this one will be the worst of them all and the sad fact is is because apostasy is occurring people will be open to him and will receive him as the answer to man's problems and John 543 Jesus said I have come in my father's name and you do not receive me if another comes in his own name him you will receive and he's speaking prophetically of antichrist so Paul begins to carefully expose him which brings comfort to the Thessalonians so they can know what is taking place notice how he is called the man of sin that's because satan empowers him and his delight is in breaking God's law revelation 13 2 speaks of the dragon satan giving him his power his seat and his great authority he's the man of sin but secondly notice he is the son of perdition when he says son of perdition literally that means a man doomed to destruction that refers to his future destiny he is doomed to destruction he will receive eternal judgment revelation 19 verse 20 speaking of him and using the the title the beast says the beast was captured with him the false prophet who works signs in his presence by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image these two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone a third thing he says he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worship again that had not happened in the time of the Thessalonians in daniel 11 36 speaking of the willful king antichrist the king shall do according to his own will he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god shall speak blasphemies against the god of gods and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished for what has been determined shall be done so he's going to exalt himself and speak blasphemies against the god of gods a fourth thing he sits as god in the temple of god showing himself that he is god again that had not happened in the time of the Thessalonians that necessitates a rebuilt temple when you read the older commentators the guys who lived prior to the 20th century very few speak concerning israel as a regathered nation because israel had been abandoned by you know for so long and was really not a nation anymore for centuries what happened is people had to come up with a theology that would help them to understand prophecy and one of those ways to handle the fact that israel didn't exist at all was to develop a replacement kind of theology where the church was placed in a position of israel and to this day there are those who hold this this view it's called replacement theology they didn't see israel as a nation there was just this little patch of land filled with nomadic Arabs in and a handful of jews not a great population of jews and that continued to exist into the 20th century until in a miraculous way israel was once again regathered and the nation began to once again exist it's never been heard in the history of man that a nation could be scattered throughout all nations and then be regathered i mean you read your old testament and you read concerning the parasites and then the hit tides and the jebusites and the cellulites and up tides and out of sites and now there's so many ides out there but when you see these things you know there was there were no israelites there were no israelites at least in the eyes of man at that time and then the lord allowed and called them to come back and now we live in a time where there is an actual nation called israel and so those who did not see the nation of israel had to develop a theology to try and explain why these prophecies could have been fulfilled or will be fulfilled in a different way with the regathering of the nation of israel we're able to see that these things can be seen literally and so the antichrist being exposed to the world is going to necessitate a temple being rebuilt when we go to israel we go to the temple institute when you go to the temple institute there are those who have already crafted various instruments for sacrifice they've been waiting for certain things to take place they have the high priestly garb that is ready for a high priest there are already movements within israel among some of the jews for the day that they will see a rebuilt temple that's already taking place and so we know that there are plans to rebuild this temple and so that's why we can also know that the antichrist is going to enter into this particular temple and that's what's being said here it says in verse 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called god or that is worshiped is going to make himself the center of worship so that he sits as god in the temple of god showing himself that he is god so this requires a rebuilt temple where he can declare himself god to the world again when you go to israel we go up into what is called the temple mount when you're up in the temple mount we go to an area that is called the dome of the spirits or the dome of the tablets when you stand there at the dome of the spirits or the dome of the tablets it's a small kind of dome when you stand there we'll have a bible study they don't like us to bring bibles as a matter of fact the muslims do not want us to bring bibles up onto that area and they watch you but i will write a scripture in my in my hand you know i have a piece of paper in it and i'll read it revelation 11 1 and 2 and as we look at this we'll speak concerning this particular area and off to my right when i'm standing facing the east off to my right is the dome of the rock and we talk about how that the the the jews want to rebuild their temple there's no doubt about that it's open and and it's spoken about and yet the muslims would not allow that because of the dome of the rock and so we speak about that and asher kaufmann a jewish archaeologist has pointed out that the eastern gate the gate that people would enter into that would go directly towards the jewish temple is not lined up with the dome of the rock but rather it's lined up with the dome of the spirits and he has pointed out that the actual holy of holies in the site that would have been there of the original temple is more than likely right there at the dome of the spirits of the dome of the tablets and i'll be standing here speaking to the group around me and i will point to the eastern wall because the eastern wall is actually buried the bridge of the top of the eastern wall is eastern wall is buried and they have discovered some of that that's the the gate that jesus would have walked in and out as he came into the temple and it's lined up with the dome of the spirits and so as we speak about that the question has to be asked how can a temple be rebuilt without causing a huge war with the Arabs and the answer is revelation 11 2 seems to indicate that they will mark out or measure out a section give it over and so the jews will be able to have their temple and there will be some treaty or agreement that is drawn up with antichrist and the world that that will allow the rebuilding of the temple and the continuation of the structure of the dome of the rock there are other options or things that could happen but that's one of those options we do know this we do know that paul is making it clear that the antichrist must sit in the temple declaring himself to be god in daniel 11 37 he shall regard neither the god of his fathers nor the desire of women nor regard any god for he shall exalt himself above them all matthew 24 15 and 16 jesus said when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by daniel the prophet standing in the holy place whoever reads let them understand let those who are in judia flee to the mountains the abomination of desolation a man proclaiming himself to be god the bible teaches us that the world will follow after the beast and will declare him that in revelation 13 for they worship the dragon which gave them which gave power into the beast and they worship the beast saying who is likened to the beast who is able to make war with him so he says again in verse three and four that no one deceive you by any means that day will not come unless a fallen away comes first the man of sin is revealed the son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called god or that is worship so that he sits as god in the temple of god showing himself that he is god then he goes on in verse five do you not remember that when i was still with you i told you these things i wasn't with you very long he's saying but i repeated this teaching constantly one of the things about teaching is constant repetition we don't learn thoroughly the first time we hear something it must be repeated and that's what he's alluding to i spoke to you about this over and over again and because i taught you this you ought to have peace but let me give you more insight verse six now you know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time what is restraining you know what is restraining he's saying what is restraining the word restraining means to hold something back you know what is restraining some have suggested that the restrainer is the gospel preaching some say that what is restraining antichrist is a church's influence or human government there are those who even say that the restrainer is michael the archangel but what needs to be noted is the restrainer has supernatural power and so what is restraining him would be the holy spirit the holy spirit is restraining antichrist from being revealed he does this because though antichrist wants to rule god determines when that occurs some are asking is it possible that the antichrist is alive on planet earth now and the answer to that question is yes it is possible yes it is the next prophecy in the in the new testament that needs to be or is going to be fulfilled is the rapture and the rapture can occur at any moment and if the rapture were to occur in our lifetime which we pray that it will then the antichrist would already be in existence he'd already be alive but he is unable to do what scripture is saying he will do until the restrainer ceases restraining him till the holy spirit stops restraining him god will determine when all of this occurs so the blessing is that god does not let antichrist be revealed until the proper time now he says in verse seven for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work only he who now restrains will do so until he's taken out of the way and so the spirit is restraining evil as he has done from earliest times in genesis six verse three it reads my spirit shall not strive with man forever he's been restraining evil from the beginning when steven was martyred in acts 751 he spoke to those who were killing him and he said you stiff-necked and uncircumcised and hardened ears you always resist the holy spirit as your fathers did so do you well at that time the spirit will no longer restrain and lawlessness and rebellion will explode in verse eight the lawless one will be revealed whom the lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of satan with all power signs and lying wonders with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they didn't receive the love of the truth that they might be saved for this reason god will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness so he continues and clarifies the lawless one verse eight will be revealed but the lord will consume him with his breath the breath of his of his mouth the after the rapture the antichrist will be manifested it'll be clear who he is but his reign is short jesus will conquer him at his second coming when it says he's consumed by the breath of his mouth destroyed with the brightness of his coming that speaks of jesus destroying his enemy isael 11 verse 4 says with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked and his future is in the lake of fire the coming of the lawless one according verse nine is with line wonders he's going to be accepted because people will not hear the truth that they might be saved it's interesting how he says it he says in verse 10 he says with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved they rejected the message if we were to do a study through the book of revelation especially chapters 6 through 19 you would see how the lord does a variety of things even in the tribulation to attempt to awaken people there's the preaching of the gospel through 144 000 evangelists there's the angels that proclaimed the everlasting gospel there are the two witnesses there is a continuation of god attempting to reach man and they will not receive the love of the truth and we ask ourselves how is that possible why is it how can that happen it's because we believe what we want to believe in the end it's that simple you believe what you want to believe you will believe what men will believe what they desire to believe what is most appealing to them and that's why there's advertising to this day it's because they will say if you drink this you're going to be happy if you drive this you're going to be happy if you eat this you're going to be happy if you you know whatever use our product for whatever it may be it will produce happiness for you and we buy these things why because we think well after all that probably would make me happy if i had some crazy chicken this afternoon i'd be really happy i mean we think that way we actually that's why advertising works it's appealing to us i've said this before but it's true just look at commercials look at the bars the bars are always filled with well-built handsome young men and beautiful young women the women swing their hair and drink their beer and and is that the way bars i don't know i didn't spend much time in bars but i didn't see a whole lot of athletes in bars and and and you know good-looking people i saw guys with no teeth and pot bellies and you know they're not they're not in commercials right but that's what we do we think if we drive that car it's going to make me happy and so we we will believe what we want to believe we have a tendency of doing that i'll develop this with for a little bit more because i think about this and i think how is it that the antichrist will be so acceptable while one apostasy has already occurred there's already been an undermining of the gospel message the rapture has happened so the believers are now gone and that restraining through the holy spirit has has been removed so that he can be revealed and there'll be underground churches people who come to faith in christ but they'll be more persecuted than at any time in history and many will be coming to faith in christ through the persecution and the proclamation of the gospel but as this is all taking place he's doing lying signs and wonders he's doing things that will cause people to marvel he will be a military genius he will be a political genius he will be a religious figure somebody who has a outward show of religiosity and because they have rejected the truth they wouldn't receive the truth they buy into the delusion that this is the true christ he has his false prophet who goes before him declares him to be such and so they they will build a an image of the beast and the image of the beast will have life and these miracles and things that are taking place are going to cause people to wonder after him that will happen and we're set for that right now people believe what they want to believe they are willingly deceived because they have set their mind in many ways to believe certain things we we can see that even in our day we believe what we really want to believe because whatever it is that i'm believing gives me pleasure current events a judge named Kavanaugh some of you have been following this going through weeks of confirmation hearings to become a supreme court justice every person who has spoken concerning him has said he's highly qualified good man Kavanaugh from what i understand is a professing believer i haven't investigated thoroughly that claim but i have heard that stated it's got good marriage children regarded as an intellect regarded as a strong conservative individual who will make judgments based on law and not create society through judicial fiat the kind of guy that you and i would trust as a lawyer and as a judge i would trust a man like that as a fear of god and wants to stay constitutionally correct i'm good with that and so we know that there are those who don't want him to be confirmed so they already have a predisposition to reject him all it requires is for someone to say something that i agree with that gives to me more reason to think i'm right and so at the last moment in the last hour just prior to his confirmation those of you have been watching the news knows what's going on nobody you know what's going on suddenly our senator feinstein reveals something that should derail the intent is derailing it's not intent there's no intent to postpone it's an intent to derail the nomination through an accusation that when he was 17 he forced himself upon a 15 year old girl now i'm a father i'm a pastor i am a husband i have daughters daughters in law and several grandchildren who are girls if there's anybody who believes in protecting women i guess i'm one of those men who does i believe in protecting my wife i believe in honoring my wife my my daughters my daughters in law my granddaughters i i believe in that very thoroughly because god created men to be protectors of women as people may not like hearing that today because after all every woman can beat up every man i know that and all of and all of us men are stupid we can't even do our own wash ladies forgive us we don't know how to do anything if i believe commercials i'm just an idiot that i'm very very lucky to be alive today it's a good thing i've got a woman who takes care of me so we're already stupid that's a fact men am i speaking to myself right now that's a fact we hear that all the time men are liars men are predators men are evil we hear that all the time men are bullies we hear that all the time especially if you're a white man especially if you're an old man you're especially evil especially and that's sickening that is so wrong and so racist but that is what our our nation is like right now am i talking to myself that's a fact that's a fact that is our nation so you have these talking heads on on the view making these outlandish comments well obviously these are stupid white men and it bothers me to hear these people who have high school education pontificating on the realities of political science but that's that's what we have today just because someone makes an allegation or an accusation it does not immediately follow that that allegation or accusation is true from what i understand you are innocent until proven guilty and yet we have already judged a good man because of an allegation from someone who doesn't even remember when it happened or where it happened just remembers it was him and now you've got people now why am i bringing this up because it's current oh you shouldn't talk about politics i am because it's not political alone it's moral it's moral this is a moral thing not a political thing it's a moral thing and as a moral thing i will speak about that so here's the thing do women lie thank you for saying the truth or i thought i called you a liar human beings lie women lie men lie people lie that's why we need god because it's easier to lie that's a fact i need god we all need god we need his spirit to lead us to tell the truth that's a fact because we will preserve ourselves by creating memories sometimes or by inventing circumstances or by not remembering correctly i mean there's so many things but what has happened is this has appealed to the minds of those who already have rejected this man and that's wrong but why am i bringing this up we need to pray for our society we need to pray for for all of that we need to pray this is something we as the church but we need to have eyes to see and we need to be aware that your soul is in the balance people right now i'll go i might as well i stepped into i might i'll continue i'll continue a little bit more when i read quotations from hillary clinton about how when a woman makes an accusation she must be believed i i remember monica lewinsky i haven't forgotten what are you talking about hillary i remember paula jones there were people who said if you drag a hundred dollar bill through a trailer park you never know what you're gonna what you're gonna come up with they called her a trailer park prostitute that was from the democrats by the way when wanita broadrick said she had been raped by bill clinton they said she's crazy when jennifer flowers came out and said what she said she was wrong hillary clinton now is telling me that she's a defender of women when her husband was a violator in every way are you kidding me i haven't forgotten i haven't forgotten and america has and america has and why am i saying this people will receive a lie because they don't want to know the truth that's what i'm saying and the bible says the anti christ will be accepted because people will believe the lie that's how it happens read your bible jenesis 39 joseph sold into slavery ends up working for potifar potifar's wife keeps saying to him come lie with me he says how can i sin against god and my employer he has withheld nothing from me except for you and i will not sin against god and i will not sin against him what does she do he walks into the house for work and she harasses him in the workplace sexual harassment come lie with me grabs hold of him leaves a portion of his clothing he takes off and she's holding on to a portion of the clothing and then she says he attempted to rape me and he went to prison for years for something he didn't do don't tell me that people don't say things occurred sexually that never did and that's why we need to give people fair hearings but i also see this as a delay tactic because if you wait long enough you can use this as fodder to show how evil and ugly that cabinet is which is why you need our party because we love women when in fact you are also here you go you are also abortion and you are willing to kill girls in the womb don't tell me you care about women when you kill baby girls don't tell me that it's not true we need to wake up as disturbing as this may be to some we need to wake up the church is going to sleep at the wheel we're going to sleep we need to wake up because these are steps towards the apostasy where people no longer care what scripture says as long as i feel good believing what i believe listen if i offended you take it to the lord because what i told you is true it's true it's true i have one responsibility before god and that's to speak the truth and i just did and i'm willing to do that to help this church know what god wants to do absolutely absolutely and so getting back to the bible study they receive delusion god allows them to receive what they want to believe that's what he does they refuse the truth god gives them over to the lie they reap what they sow he gives them over to what they desired and so i'm 81 11 and 12 my people would not heed my voice israel would have none of me so i gave them over to their own stubborn heart to walk in their own councils that's what happens he says in verse 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness they didn't want to receive the truth and so the lord allowed them to receive the lie god help us listen we're living in a time where deception is rampant and the church needs to wake up to these days we need to wake up to these days we have a man who's running for governor who's saying that every person should receive healthcare from your tax dollars including those who have illegally entered into the united states he will bankrupt the united states he will bankrupt california you have to be careful with that you have to be careful we're going in a direction that is doomed we are we're going in a direction that we got to be aware of this i am telling you keep your eyes open keep your ears open but most of all keep your eyes on jesus and let's move through this together