End Times: The Spirit of Our Age

 Editor's Note:  This post may be somewhat controversial.  It has been written as a warning of judgments that face our world as we approach the day of judgment.  

A church that I pioneered in Riverside, California recently celebrated twenty years of service to that community.  Looking back, it seems like a simpler time.  There was no real threat of terrorism in the US at that time.  The economy was working fairly well.  Race relations seemed less tense.

The church opened on August 5, 2001 and a few short weeks later was the attack on the World Trade center.  I remember thinking that this would cause people to come to church and hear from God.  It did to a certain extent.  People came to church, but not many stayed for the long term.  After they began to feel better, they went back to their old habits with regard to God.

I believe that through that attack, something changed in America.  Something was released into, not just the US, but the entire world – A spirit – the spirit of our age.  That’s what I want to post on today:

2 Thessalonians 2:1-8 (NKJV)
^2:1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ² 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. 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, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. ⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. ⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then 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 Spirit of Our Age – Lawlessness

I don’t want you to think that this is political.  I am not going to preach politics:

Romans 13:1 (NKJV)
^13:1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

I believe this – God is in control and God can use governments for His purposes; for His own reasons.  He used the Assyrians, who were terrorists; pagan, godless enemies of Israel.  He sent His people to Babylon to serve under Nebuchadnezzar, another godless enemy. For seventy years they were subject to the whims of a corrupt government and king.

God used those nations and those authorities as His instrument of judgment.  His purpose was to draw the people back to Him.  That was His purpose for those leaders, so:

Joe Biden is the President of the United States; God has ordained him for this time, in the same way that Donald Trump was ordained by God.  This is not about politics or who’s the president, but in these times:

“In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics’.  All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia. – George Orwell 1984

I believe that Governments are being used by God, at this time, to prepare for the return of Jesus.  Th main thrust of what I’m writing about is this: On September 11, 2001 a spirit was released into the earth.  It has changed the course and direction of the entire world!

Look at these changes that have taken place in the United States.

1.      The “Patriot Act.”  Formally titled: The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001, is intended to give the government the ability to monitor terrorists’ phone calls and be able to react accordingly to protect the nation from further attacks.

As a result, certain rights regarding search and seizure have been disregarded.  Your phone and computer are being monitored twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.  Whereas in the past this was only possible through the use of a warrant, it is now routine.

It’s important to understand that the rights outlined in the constitution are God-given rights.  The Bill of Rights doesn’t list what rights the government has granted us, it lists the rights that the government can’t take away from us.

2.       We are seeing great government overreach, that’s when the governments steps beyond the rights we’re guaranteed.  An example would be the “Vaccine Mandate and Passport”.  You can’t work without the vaccine.  You can’t go into stores or restaurants without a vaccine.  You aren’t able to have customers in your stores unless your staff is vaccinated.

Revelation 13:17 (NKJV)
^13:17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

 I’m not saying that the vaccine is good or bad.  I’m not saying whether or not you should be vaccinated. I’m not even saying that this is the mark, but it sure looks like practice for the mark.  It’s conditioning to get people to accept it.

3.       There’s a lack of accountability on the part of our leaders.  A drone strike in Afghanistan is reported to have killed two leaders of ISIS-K, when, in fact, it killed a relief worker and seven innocent children.  The president of the United States refuses to even speak about it!

4.       Look at the massive lies in our media. You don’t know what’s true anymore.  You don’t really know what happened.  You can’t tell if it's news or propaganda.

Another quote from George Orwell in his book 1984: 

The very concept of truth is fading out in our world.  Lies will pass into history.

5.       Finally, there’s the censorship of ideas and words that don’t fit into the political narrative.  The Hunter Biden laptop story comes to mind.  On social media the reporting about it was censored.  It was called misinformation; "Russian Disinformation".  They said it was to protect us from being misled, but recently, it was proven to be true.

I’m not being political.  This is not a political issue it is a spiritual issue, that’s pulling us into the time of judgment.  This spirit has a name.  It’s name is lawlessness.

2 Thessalonians 2:7-9 (NKJV)
^2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then 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. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,

The spirit of lawlessness already exists in our world.  So, we can say the spirit of antichrist already exists…and it is growing in power every day.  These are indeed perilous times.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NKJV)
^3:1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: ² For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ⁴ traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

Look at this description of people in the last days.  Does it seem to you that more and more people are acting exactly like that?

For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud…

Billionaires, politicians, Hollywood actors – The Elite!

disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ⁴ traitors…

Antifa, BLM, CRT, anarchists, Marxists – The Self Righteous!

headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…

Pedophiles, hedonists, homosexuals, transgenders – The Deviants!

What do these people have in common? A spirit of lawlessness.  They have turned their backs on God.  Look at this:

Romans 1:28-31 (NKJV)
^1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; ²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, ³⁰ backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ³¹ undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;

This is the spirit we’re witnessing in these last days.  It’s the spirit of lawlessness – the spirit of antichrist.

Our society is often defined as a “post-Christian society.”

Before Covid – It was estimated that eight thousand churches closed every year.  It is estimated that in 2021, that number could climb to sixteen thousand.  That equates to roughly forty churches every day. – church answers.com

People are leaving the church, both in-person and on-line; but this is prophesied in verse three of our text.

2 Thessalonians 2:3a (NKJV)
^2:3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first…

The falling away is happening right before our eyes.  It is a product of the release of the spirit of lawlessness.  The next thing will be rapture, followed by the revealing of the “man of sin” – the lawless one; the antichrist.  We are very close to these events.  My thought is that the antichrist is alive and waiting to be revealed.

Do Not Be Fooled

The stakes are very high in our times.  Time is winding up.  We are rapidly approaching the end of the church age.  I believe we will see the rapture of the church:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (NKJV)
^4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

“He who restrains will be taken out of the way.” This is from our text in verse 7:

2 Thessalonians 2:7 (NKJV)
^2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.

I want you to think a moment how the Holy Spirit restrains.  It’s through Christians, through our lifestyles, through our words, and through our testimonies – the pressure that's placed on society by our beliefs.  This is why it is important for Christians to vote their consciences.

When we are removed what will be left to influence sinners?  The answer to that is their own morality, but their morality leads to abortion;

According to the CDC there are 186 abortions per 1,000 live births.  That equals 2,326 abortions every day, about 98 per hour, or one abortion every 37 seconds. – Guttmacher Institute

Their morality allows them to fight for the rights of pedophiles.  The theme for the 2015 Gay Pride Parade in Taipei was “Act Your Love, Not Your Age”. The meaning was that the age of consent should be repealed. 

Their morality allows them to fill school libraries with transgender and pornographic material.  The following is from a news article appearing on WND.com:

Stacy Langton opened by explaining that she watched what had happened at a Texas school board meeting after parents discovered two books accessible to their children, "Lawn Boy" by Jonathan Evison and "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe. Langton looked for and found the books at her own child’s school, Fairfax High School, as well as other places in the county, including Robinson Secondary School where students as young as 12 could access the books.

Langton discovered that the books depicted pedophilia and sex between men and boys, including one book that showed a fourth-grade boy performing oral sex on an adult male. – This is from Sept. 2021

https://www.wnd.com/2021/09/mom-reveals-books-school-libraries-depicting-child-porn-pedophilia/

As this woman testified before the school board, they shut off her microphone.  Those are just three examples.  I haven’t even mentioned human trafficking, slavery, sexual abuse of children and women, racism, political corruption or the thousands of other perversions and defilements, their morality allows them to be a part of.  If the restraint of the Holy Spirit is removed, anything goes.  Lawlessness will abound and the “lawless One” will arise.

Let me also just say they will be happy when you are gone.  They’ll be happy when you aren’t preaching your morals to them.  They’ll be happy – until the fruits of their sin begin to be felt.  They’ll rejoice in the antichrist until the judgments begin:

Revelation 6:2 (NKJV)
^6:2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

I believe this is the rise of the antichrist, a counterfeit of Jesus, and a political leader.  He comes first as a man of peace, but eventually:

Revelation 6:4 (NKJV)
^6:4 Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.

This is war.  Peace will be taken from the earth, by the same political leader.  He will make war against the tribulation saints.

Revelation 6:5-6 (NKJV)
^6:5 When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come and see." So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. ⁶ And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine."

 The black horse represents famine; food shortages.  The rider, again the antichrist, will determine who gets food and who doesn’t.  This is the time that the mark of the beast will be implemented.  No one can buy and sell without the mark. Finally:

Revelation 6:8 (NKJV)
^6:8 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.

Violence, pestilences, wild animals, a quarter of the world’s population will be destroyed.  There will be other judgments as well, martyrs, earthquakes, asteroids and many people will die.  Hell will follow with him.

This is to what the spirit of lawlessness leads.  At the end of all of this Jesus will come back.  The power of the antichrist will be destroyed.  That will be followed by the Day of Judgment.

Why is All This Necessary

What is the purpose of God’s judgment?  It’s always to draw people back to Him.  He uses governments for judgments.  This post is a wake-up call, that was my intention.  I believe that we are posed on the edge of the rapture and subsequent judgments. 

World evangelism is like igniting a fire that consumes the earth.  I’m using this post to emphasize the urgency of the fire.  We stand at the crossroads of eternity and judgment.  The Door Church in Tucson, Arizona has always been an ignition point.  We have lit a blaze that is burning right now in countless cities and nations.  The fire has been lit by the releasing of men and their wives into the nations to enlarge the kingdom of God.  Pray that it becomes a conflagration befoe the church age winds up.

John 9:4 (NKJV)
^9:4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.

The Night is coming.  The spirit of lawlessness is like twilight.  The Darkness draws near!

The Pathway to World Evangelism

Our fellowship holds a conference twice a year in Prescott, Arizona.  At those conferences, young men and their wives are launched into a city or nation to pioneer a church.  At the conference in January, seven international and twenty-one domestic works were announced.  Those announced churches bring the number of churches in the fellowship to 1, 950 churches in one hundred fifteen nations. There is a commitment to evangelism and foreign missions in our fellowship. 

The fellowship began with one pastor, Pastor Wayman Mitchell, in Prescott, Arizona in 1970.  He took over a church with a handful of people and forty-three years later we have 1,950 churches.  What is the reason for this type of revival?

We often think of revival as something that’s explosive.  Suddenly, things begin to happen; people get saved, lives begin to change, more and more people come into the church, but not all revival is explosive.  Sometimes revival is a sustained move of God over a period of time. 

What is the catalyst for this move of God in our fellowship?    What is the thing that gave impetus to this type of revival?  I believe that there are two key elements to revival:  evangelism and discipleship.   Today I want to look at one of those things, discipleship. 

Matthew 28:17-20 (NKJV)
^28:17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

Make Disciples of All Nations

The first International Conference on World Evangelism took place in 1974 in Lausanne, Philippines.  One of the things that were accomplished in that conference was the development of a working definition of missionary work.  Missionary work was defined in this conference as:  To form a viable indigenous church-planting movement.

That word indigenous is a scientific term that means those naturally occurring in a place or a region.  For our purposes a good synonym would be native.  If you were born a particular country, then you’re native or indigenous to that place.  So then, the definition of missionary work would be to raise up local men, plant churches, and carry on the missionary’s work in their native land.  Missionary work is to disciple men and to build the church. 

This is what Paul did.  He made disciples.  He built local churches through men he discipled and trained. 

1 Corinthians 4:14-16 (NKJV)
^4:14 I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. ¹⁵ For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. ¹⁶ Therefore I urge you, imitate me.

This is a picture of discipleship; being fathers in Christ.  He’s speaking of a father who teaches his son. 

You know, it’s interesting how much I've become like my dad.  The older I get the more I’m like him.  This is natural, though, that we would be like our parents because children learn to be adults through imitating their parents. 

When I was a kid, I’d play house with the other neighborhood kids.  I’d be the dad, one of the neighbor girls would be the mom, and some others were the children.  We would imitate our parents.  My “job” was always to drive a Wonder Bread delivery truck, just like my father did.  

That’s how we learn to be adults.  We imitate our parents.  I also have a spiritual father and I try to imitate him as well.  I try to be like my pastor, in how I operate and live as a Christian.  This is the mark of discipleship, we try to be like our spiritual father.  Paul says, “Imitate me.”

This is the difference between a disciple and a student.  A student will work to gain information and a disciple will work to be like the teacher.  I know a number of English teachers, and they work hard to give information about the use of the English language, but in discipleship there is a transaction that takes place.  It’s a spiritual transaction that’s called impartation.  The teacher imparts something of himself into his disciples.  Much of this impartation takes place during preaching.

1 Corinthians 1:21 (NKJV)
^1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

God chose the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.  There is something that takes place in us when we hear the spoken Word of God.

Romans 10:17 (NKJV)
^10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Preaching causes us to believe and have faith, but there is much more than that.

Romans 1:17 (NKJV)
^1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

Who God is, is transferred between us:  From my faith to yours.  That transfer takes place through preaching.  There is even more than that, though.  If we are endeavoring to do the will of God then we must be involved in discipleship.  This is the primary thrust of the church of Jesus Christ.  Many times we think, “Well, I got them saved,” but salvation isn't the ending place, it’s the beginning.  It ends with the making of disciples.

That’s what causes the church of Jesus Christ to continue on.  The reason the church has lasted for more than 2,000 years is because of the emphasis on discipleship:  Men that follow the fathers of their faith, and raise other men to follow them, and so on down the line.  A church without discipleship is doomed, because it either won’t propagate itself, or it will morph into something other than what was intended and sway with every wind of doctrine.

Ephesians 4:11-14 (NKJV)
^4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ¹⁴ that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,

This speaks of discipleship, coming to the unity of the faith; believing the same things, being of one accord, and to be like Christ.  It is in this spirit that Paul cries out. “Imitate me.” 

1 Corinthians 11:1-2 (NKJV)
^11:1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. ² Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you.

This is the work of the missionary.  To instill this doctrine, and this gospel into non-Christians and cause it to be passed down to the next generation of Christians, and the next, and the next…   Imitation is the method of discipleship. 

Discipleship is a Partnership

Paul calls on these men to follow him, but I want you to know something, we can call until we’re blue in the face, for discipleship to work, for the church to continue on, for the gospel to be spread, it is vital for that discipleship be a partnership.  We can call but for discipleship to work there must be men who are willing to answer that call to imitation.  It can’t work if it’s only one way.  If men were unwilling to follow Paul’s example and leadership, then it would have all fallen apart.

Look at it like this:  How do we react when trouble comes?  Usually, we react in the way that we've been taught.  If your father was prone to panic, then more than likely you will be too.  If your father was stable and full of faith then the chances are that you will react that way as well.  What is it that kept the early church through persecution?  It was likely the examples of the leaders that the others were willing to follow.

Jesus was strong and went to his death bravely and silently.  Peter when Jesus was crucified failed to be like him.  We all know about his failure and denial of Christ, but do you know when Peter was faced with his own crucifixion, he went to his cross with the same courage and dignity that Jesus did.

Is there a willingness to be like your own “Father in Christ?”  Because there will be those who will arise that will try to turn you from your faith, or confuse you with exotic doctrine.  We see all these fads in the church, laughing revivals, planting flags, prosperity doctrines, all of these things.  There are those who believe and support them, and they tell you. “This is the newest thing God’s doing in the earth.”  God isn’t doing anything new, God is still doing what he has always done.  Look at Paul’s warning to Timothy:

1 Timothy 6:20-21 (NKJV)
^6:20 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge-- ²¹ by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen.

Paul is talking about the things that he’s taught Timothy.  Avoid profane and idle babblings and contradictions.  Stand with what you’ve been taught.  Imitate your teacher.  This is what will keep you in the faith.  This is what will take the church forward.  This is Paul’s admonishment to Timothy, but it was up to Timothy to take it and run with it.  He had to be willing.  He had to accept that he would be a disciple, and this is the crux of the problem in our day and hour.  Men are less and less willing to be disciples.  They’re less involved in living out their faith.  They’re more difficult to motivate to live for Jesus.  That’s why we see churches more often drifting away from Christ’s design for His church. 

There’s something interesting that I want to look at for a moment:

Matthew 24:24 (NKJV)
^24:24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

The only way we can be deceived is if we don’t understand the doctrines of the church of Jesus Christ.  If we listen to everyone who professes to know something or can speak persuasively then we can be led to false teachings.  If we embrace the teachings of our spiritual fathers and live and move under their guidance and principles we will be much more difficult to move from the truth. 

We have to decide at some point if we will allow ourselves to be discipled.  Will you allow someone to speak into your life?  Will you give someone authority over your life?  Will you pattern your Christian walk after the one who teaches you?  Will you be a disciple?

If you left the church in Taoyuan City and were somehow teleported to my pastor’s church in Colton, you would see that they are essentially the same. If you closed your eyes it would be a simple thing to imagine that you are hearing me preach, because I’m a disciple.  I have worked to imitate my pastor; my father in the faith.  I have allowed him to be the authority in my life.  I’ve made myself accountable to him.  One of the greatest compliments you can pay me is to say, “You’re like your pastor.”  I want to be like him…I’m a disciple.  I’m called to imitation

The Permanence of Discipleship

All of these churches have been planted across the globe and they have been planted with an eye to permanence.  That is that churches will be built in those nations, men will be discipled and planted, and cause the work to grow.  There will be more and more churches in those nations until the missionary can turn the work over to indigenous men, with the same vision:  Men that have the same desire to spread the gospel, disciple others and plant more churches into other cities.    Our fellowship has planted churches into Australia, the Philippines, West Africa and other places, that started with one man, one missionary, and they have now become indigenous works, as the missionaries pulled back, leaving the work to local men. 

This is Jesus’ plan for the church, to disciple men so that they are equipped to take on the work in those places, and continue to press the Gospel forward.  This is what Paul did.  He turned over the church and went on to the next place, only returning to see that they remained in the doctrines and the teachings he left them.

1 Timothy 1:3 (NKJV)
^1:3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia--remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine,

Titus 1:5 (NKJV)
^1:5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you--

This is the pattern for us.  If we want to continue the work of the Gospel then we must continue within the pattern. 

2 Timothy 1:13-14 (NKJV)
^1:13 Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

This is the way in which we’ll see the Gospel spread to the far corners of the earth.  This is the pathway to World Evangelism.