Love the Truth

We are living in the last days and we are most likely living in the final days. Meaning, we are probably living in the last days of the last days.

But, II Thessalonians 2:3 tells us that two things must happen before the great Day of the Lord:

1. A falling away of those who have professed to be Christians
2. The debut and revealing of the Anti-Christ

The falling away is a rebellion towards God and will be committed by many Christians. Yes, many, many Christians will leave their faith in the final days.

Even today, there are Christian teenagers that go off to college and give up their faith for sex, alcohol, and drugs believing that it’s more important to follow the crowd than to follow the Lord. There are pastors that have given up their families and ministries to run away with their secretaries believing that they will be happier with another person. And there are Christians that God gifted with very powerful musical talents who have given up their faith believing that money and fame are more important than eternal life.

But this falling away mentioned in II Thessalonians 2 is on a much greater scale than ever before. How does this great apostasy happen? What power is strong enough to cause so many Christians to forsake their Savior?

In just three verses, (:9–12), of the same chapter there are seven references to lies, deceiving, and not loving the truth:

The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

The world will see counterfeit works of God, deception, and a powerful delusion, unlike any other time in the history of man. The great lie and many other lies will flood the earth and many who are now Christians will believe those lies because they will refuse to love the truth.

We must, as Christians who want to finish the course that the Lord set before us, always have love for the truth—God’s Truth and truth and honesty from anyone else.

It is imperative that all Christians have friends that are truth-talkers and avoid those that speak lies. Jesus called Satan the father of lies (John 8:44). Why hang with Satan’s kids?

According to Dr. Michael Lewis of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey, "In a single day, most of us lie, I would say, a minimum of 25 times." (Wow. No Christian should be included in this category of “most of us”!)

These lies can be as “socially acceptable” as: “You look good in that new dress.” to something more pathological: “No, I did not have sexual relations with that woman...”

Unfortunately, we can actually expect to be lied to as we go about our daily activities that involve other people. Accordingly, we should constantly be alert for what is true and what is false. Anything that comes at us that is false, we should not accept, agree to, act upon or whatever. To casually accept anything and everything that is said to us is not only unwise, it is not scriptural.

Ephesians 4:14 tells us that one of the reasons Jesus gave the five-fold ministries to His church is to make us grow up so that we won’t be moved by liars: “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.”

2 Thessalonians 2:3 begins with a direct command: “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;”

We should apply that command to every person that we have contact with—“no man” means no man.

God will speak only the truth to you—He cannot lie. If your ears are dull to what is true and what is false, it will be more difficult for you to recognize God’s words when He speaks to you. But if your ears are sharp and can discern truth from lies, you will hear God’s voice very clearly because His words are the purest truth that you will ever hear.

It is my prayer for you that Father will continue to help you to hear His voice, and more and more frequently.

With God’s grace and in His peace,

Gary

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Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

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