Do you want to know what "it" is?

Strong Delusion Do you want to know what "it" is? In the futuristic movie, entitled, "The Matrix", Morpheus says, ""Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream, Neo? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world? " Later he adds, "The Matrix is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth." Morpheus continues, 1 / 6

"What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad." This is also true of Christians in their daily lives. Something seems off, something seems not quite right. Everything we see looks real but we have an innate sense that it is not entirely true. The central theme of this science fiction fantasy resonates with people because it is, in fact, extremely close to the truth which is, we are at the beginning stages of: Strong Delusion The Bible is a curious book. It is written by sixty six authors over thousands of years and yet it presents one consistent viewpoint...i.e. God's viewpoint. Another interesting characteristic of the scriptures is that you cannot understand them without God revealing them to you. In other words, without the illumination of the Holy Spirit, who is the author, the Bible is a closed book. When you give your heart to Jesus, God forgives us. When God forgives us it is now possible to begin to fellowship with Him. The way that was closed through sin is now open through grace because our sins have been washed away through faith in our Savior. At this point, when we read the Word, we begin to understand the things of God. We learn of salvation, water baptism, grace and mercy, and how our Father dealt with mankind down through the ages. Though it may feel like it, none of this understanding comes through our natural minds, but is rather given through God's Spirit. This is why we understand now what we could not begin to understand when we were unsaved. It is written, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come." John 16:13 As we progress deeper into the things of God we learn that we can be filled with His Holy Spirit and that this infilling is evidenced by speaking in an unknown language. This is called speaking in other tongues. We speak as the Spirit gives us the words. What the Bible calls the most unruly member of our body, our tongue, is now completely given over to the God's Spirit as we speak in a heavenly language. This has the added benefit of opening us up further to His Spirit and the illumination in His word increases commensurately. God bypasses our natural understanding an speak directly through our spirits. What may have seemed difficult to understand in the past now becomes clear as God speaks to us. It is written, 2 / 6

"Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." John 14:17 As we progress still deeper, and experience Tabernacles, the clarity of our vision increases yet again. It is akin to an optometrist making the final few adjustments to your lens selection bringing even the smallest letters of the chart into focus. We finally start to touch upon the true state of the first century church and what was written at that time now begins to make perfect sense. Through the experience of "Love of the Spirit" or "Divine Love" we realize that the unity they enjoyed between one another was born out of a shared experience and not just doctrinal agreement. We begin to catch a glimpse of what a "love feast" truly meant and we understand why it was logical and practical for those in Jerusalem to have all things in common. Here is a truth, "Those who follow after Christ experience progressively stronger revelation while those who reject Christ experience progressively stronger delusion." It is written, "And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 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:" 2 Thessalonians 2:8-11 In these verses, God is speaking about strong delusion brought about by the coming of the Antichrist who is the express image of Satan on the Earth. Instead of performing miracles that do good and glorify God the Antichrist performs signs and lying wonders that are meant to deceive the world and glorify himself. Furthermore, God sends strong delusion upon those who rejected the knowledge and sacrifice of His son so that they will believe the lying wonders of this son of perdition. 3 / 6

A Time of Strong Delusion Here is a truth, "The world has already begun to slip into the time of strong delusion." "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" Isaiah 5:20 In these last days, those of the world are pushing for, and to a large extent accomplishing, the goal of making sin seem good and righteousness seem evil. They are doing this with the aid of "strong delusion." What once would not have been even contemplated, for it was viewed as sin, is now days becoming common place, acceptable, and even popular. Such things as abortion, promiscuity, and homosexuality are being presented as the "new normal" when, in fact, they are against everything that God stands for. Even the president of the United States, a historically Christian nation, has come out in favor of same sex marriage. Yet, when someone points this out they are viewed as archaic, out of touch, and bigoted. We have entered into the beginnings of strong delusion. This lying spirit does not just appear suddenly when the Antichrist is revealed but is a gradual decent into wickedness culminating in the revealing of the man of sin. It is meant to change our perceptions of what is good and what is evil to prepare us to receive someone instead of Christ. The Antichrist is called a man of sin because that is his chief characteristic and those who follow after him do so because they are like him. This deception is coming upon the whole world and it is "Strong." It is written, "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Matthew 24:24 This strong delusion is insidious and pervasive and it has already started to prepare the world to 4 / 6

receive the son of perdition, the Antichrist. It is in our churches and is corrupting our beliefs and is so influential that it threatens even the best of God's people. Strong Revelation Can Defeat Strong Delusion This is why we need to live by revelation, because, left to our own natural minds we cannot fight against the onslaught of the near total reversal of right and wrong, good and evil, light and darkness. The lying spirit that precedes the revealing of the Antichrist appeals to the mind and reasons with the soul, through demonic inspiration, to deceive those who do not obey God. The only real protection we have against this type of deception is through knowing and trusting the voice of God through His Holy Spirit. In order to walk in the midst of deception (without being deceived ourselves) we must walk in the Spirit through living by revelation. When I talk about revelation I mean living by whatever God speaks to our hearts and minds and not trusting our own intellect more than we trust His Spirit. What you really need when there is natural darkness is sun light. What you really need when there is spiritual darkness is "Son" light. Right now, because the world is being prepared to accept a lie we need to be able to trust the truth. In order to do this we must trust the Holy Spirit and submit our minds to His perception rather than ours. Yes, when we do this it will seem as though we are out of step with what people generally perceived to be right, however, the truth is, they are caught in the Matrix and do not know it. The Depth of Strong Delusion The magnitude of this strong delusion is breath taking. It pervades literally everything that we experience on a daily basis. If we had the benefit of living longer perhaps this seismic shift in attitude and morals would be more apparent. Unfortunately, most of us have grown up in this tidal wave of deception and therefore we do not see it. It is gradualism at its finest. Put a frog suddenly into a boiling pot of water and he will immediate jump out. Put a frog in a pot of lukewarm water, gradually turning up the heat, and he will slowly cook to death. At this point, most of us are viewing life from the bottom of a kettle that is getting dangerously hot and we don't even realize it. The Church, contrary to their perception, is deeply mired in this delusion too. The trend towards mega churches is symptomatic of this delusion. A one-world religion is not meant to serve God but 5 / 6

Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) rather to support the Antichrist. Those who are pushing for large "world wide" ministries are, in fact, preparing their people to become part of the harlot church spoken of in the book of Revelation. The emphasis on prosperity and personal improvement is not the gospel of Jesus Christ but the false gospel of the Antichrist. Those who cringe at what I am saying do so, not because what I say is untrue, but because what I say is diametrically opposed to what they "perceive" to be truth...this is the effect of strong delusion. Stand Against Strong Delusion In conclusion, when the devil sends a flood God raises up a standard against that flood. That standard is the Holy Spirit (which is just the Spirit of our Father who is holy.) We, the very elect, must stand strong in His Spirit in order to be a light to the world. We must not bow to convention for that convention is not of God. We must speak the truth even if others fear to do so. Let us stand in this generation and be counted for God so that we will be beacons of hope and reason to those who seek refuge against the fall of night. SEO 6 / 6