Sunday, August 25, 2013

First, the Falling Away

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;  II Thessalonians 2:3

This has been happening throughout history since it was written.  The first recorded event was when Constantine officially declared a national religion, then had the Nicene Council carefully move the day of rest to the first day of the week with a societal disregard of Sabbath.  Constantine also had a line of demarcation between Passover and the celebration of Ishtar, now supposedly in celebration of the resurrection.  Once the veil is lifted, the similarity between bunnies and a golden calf becomes pretty obvious.

Moving forward in history we can read about crusades and inquisitions and conquests, all in the changed name of a man who said, "Love your enemies" and "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  It seems throughout history, no one realized they were a part of "a falling away."  I believe there was always a remnant seeking to cling to truth.  Some of the first translators of Scripture, that sought to place the Word into the hands of the people were martyred.   And some of those same translators only furthered Constantine's work, but there was a remnant.

The last century seems to have brought the deception to a powerful culmination of nationalism, greed, self-righteousness, lawlessness, heresy, and unrepentance, all while claiming to be sharing the truth!  This has resulted in a strange compromise of praying doctors, faith healing hospitals, popular crusades, and rationalized greed, just to name a few.  In the various churches themselves, there is falling out, bizarre behavior, motorcycles, circus acts, superstition, and lawlessness.

The frightening connection through out all of this happening, is the reference to "anointed."  Dr. Rev. So-and-so is sooooooooooo anointed.  Oh the anointing was flowing . . . Did you feel that anointing?  He's anointed, she's anointed.  There's a revival going on and it's anointed!  If you have a problem with any of these teachings, a partial verse from a Psalm will be quoted, "Touch not my anointed!"   If the behavior or the teaching does not align with Scripture, it's our responsibility to question it!

The following Scripture is Mark 13:21,22; but this same warning is included also in Matthew and Luke, so obviously three of the writers felt this warning to be imperative, as did our Heavenly Father.  In all three of the accounts of the Gospel that reference this, the term Christ was not translated from the Greek word, Messias.  The term for Messiah was not used in the original text.  When I looked up the word, "Christ" in Strong's Concordance, the Greek root word for spiritual anointing, chrio, is the same base word for Christ, and the definition for Christ in Strong's concordance is "anointed."

So, I would urge you, as you read the next two verses, to use the term anointing or anointed where you see the word Christ.  
And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not:  For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.

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