A particular deception is coming, according to God’s Word and the Apostle Paul, that will ensnare the folks who oppose the Creator of all things. When thinking about “the lie” Paul mentions in 2 Thessalonians 2, it seems there can be only one sort of “lie” Satan would be so determined to foist upon the people left behind after the Rapture of the Church.
Here is the prophecy:
“Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).
Satan has always sought to separate people from the Lord and His governance. He was successful in accomplishing his goal when, in the Garden of Eden, Eve fell victim to the serpent’s seduction and then Adam willfully joined her, believing Satan rather than the Lord.
God then promised the supernatural seed through humankind that would eventually produce a Savior who would ultimately destroy the serpent and overcome his great lie that separated God and man. Jesus is that Seed, the Redeemer of humanity. He said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
Jesus is the only Way to forgiveness of sin, which separates humans from God. This is what is meant by the first Scripture I and many other young children learned in Sunday school:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Paul foretold in the 2 Thessalonians 2 account that the “lie” the Antichrist regime will impose upon those left behind on Earth after the Church is taken to be with Christ forever will involve the refusal to believe “the truth.” They will reject God’s way to redemption. They will deny that Jesus Christ—the Truth—is the way to salvation.
The “lie,” then, will be wrapped up in a grand deception that says Christ didn’t truly come in human flesh—Jewish flesh, as a matter of fact—to die for our sins. This, after all, is the “spirit of Antichrist” John warned of:
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world” (1 John 4:1-3).
That “spirit of antichrist” lie was intrinsic within Hitler’s Nazi regime. The Jews were painted as “Christ-killers and the scourge of mankind,” not as the chosen people through whom God brought His Only Begotten Son into the world to seek and save the lost. That future führer—the satanically empowered son of perdition—will likely mesmerize the post-Rapture world with a lie that denies Jesus Christ ever came to be the sacrifice for humankind. As a matter of fact, Bible prophecy paints that future leader as the one who comes in place of the real Christ. He will claim to be the Savior. He will sit in the temple of God on Moriah in Jerusalem, declaring himself to be God! (See 2 Thessalonians 2:4; Matthew 24:15.)
I believe the groundwork is being laid today for the “lie” that will doom much of the world’s population after the Rapture. The lie will have to be part of a fearful crisis of some sort. The disappearance of millions will certainly provide a crisis that will have the attention of the peoples of the world. Any leader who can answer the question of what on earth has happened will get instant adulation from a panicked world.
As mentioned above, the earth is being prepared, I’m convinced, for just such an answer as the Antichrist will concoct. We have been given a taste of that preparation taking place for quite some time. A news story from the year 2010, for example, gave more than an inkling of the groundwork being laid for that “lie”:
It has been the subject of movies for decades—but what would REALLY happen if aliens visited Earth? This may sound like a topic for conspiracy theorists or mad UFO obsessives, yet this week, science’s finest minds gathered in London to debate that very question. …The conference, The Detection of Extraterrestrial Life and the Consequences for Science and Society, was held at the high-brow Royal Society HQ in central London…
It is often said the discovery of other civilizations would shatter world religions. Delegates were not so sure. Professor Ted Peters, a theologian, briefed the meeting on some survey results that suggested that rather than undermine religious beliefs—whatever the faith—it would strengthen them by making God’s creation seem even bigger and more wonderful.
Not everyone agreed. British physicist Paul Davies thought Christians would have a problem, given the central belief that Jesus died to save us. If we discover other civilizations, it would raise the awkward question: Why just us? (Nick Pope, “If the Cosmic Phone Rings…Don’t Answer,” 1/28/10; http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/ufos/2828017/Should-we-be-offering-hand-of-friendship-to-ET.html)
The “lie” of 2 Thessalonians 2 could well bring into its orbit and make totally believable 1) universalism—the belief that all people are God’s children and there are many ways to salvation; and 2) the notion that Jesus Christ couldn’t have been the Savior or else He would have to die on other worlds for those inhabitants and for others in other universes.
With the way psychologically and demonically paved for there to be a massive UFO invasion during the Tribulation, millions looking for an explanation of why their world is upside down will undoubtedly readily believe such a lie—the one that the ETs who have just removed millions of rebels from the earth have come to rescue the world from oblivion.
As I’ve related a number of times, I believe the prophecy that tells of this very event might well be found in the following:
“And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live” (Rev. 13:13-14).
Our world today is filled with great deception. Lies come from many governmental leaders, media sources, and even from people in the pulpits of America. It is incumbent upon each of us to be discerning in these closing days of the Church Age.
Lost souls hang in the eternal balance.