REPENT OR PERISH
“I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Luke 13:3
INTRODUCTION
Our beloved country of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is in a terrible state. It is clearly falling apart at the seams; everyone but the morally blind can see it. Year by year, month by month, week by week, even day by day we are left wondering how much worse can it get.
I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news in this respect, and it gives me no pleasure to talk like this. On the authority of a plain reading of the Scriptures, things are going to get worse and worse throughout the world; and much worse, certainly than it has ever been in the history of our nation. We need to be ready. Not by hoarding food as a ‘prepper’, not by living in a hole in the ground to shield ourselves ― for we shall not escape.
The good news is this: that those who will turn from their sin and sinful living and throw themselves upon God’s mercy, receive forgiveness of sins by faith in Christ, who shed His blood to save sinners, they and they alone will be saved in the end. All others will perish for ever. The good news of the Gospel is that there is salvation in Christ alone, by the grace of God.
“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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17)
Perhaps you are waiting for some political figure, someone not yet even seen, to step forward and save our nation. Do not rest your confidence in hopelessness. It is not going to happen. No one will come. No man can save us. Throw yourself instead upon the mercy of God. As the Psalmist reminds us:
“Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.” (Psalm 60:11-12)
There is no other way: God alone can help us in our hour of desperate need. But will we turn to Him as a nation? There are no signs of this, despite what you may think. Much that claims to be Christian on closer inspection is nothing if the kind. The hour is close to midnight, but there is yet a little time.
Has there ever been such rampant lawlessness? Street robbers and burglars go about their activities with impunity. There are organized gangs of men intent on raping innocent young girls and more often than not escaping justice. Justice is suspect anyway and prisons are bursting at the seams to such an extent that serious criminals are being freed long before their sentences have been fully served in order to make room for the next batch of delinquents. Corruption has infected our society from top to bottom, but especially among those in positions of leadership, bankers and money men, industrialists, politicians. Indeed, politics seems to be the route not to serving the nation, but to amassing wealth and self-aggrandisement. We have entrusted our parliament to elected members, but all too often those sacred halls resemble a circus. Those who were essentially responsible for disasters such as Aberfan, Hillsborough, Grenfell Tower, the Post Office fraud, and much more that need not have happened, all are able to cover their tracks and walk away unpunished as the money flows upwards. Individuals in public roles who should command our respect have been revealed as indulging in the most hideous behaviour such as should not be spoken of in detail among decent people. One foreign leader referred to them as ‘Satanic paedophiles’ and we learn of more offenders almost every week, substantiating his taunt. They have betrayed us all when we could not see them and they thought they would get away with their actions.
Education is a pathway to nowhere for our youngsters. Children grow up, perhaps with an intimate knowledge of computers, but in complete ignorance of the Bible. At the end of their learning years, they now find it increasingly difficult to find work and certainly almost impossible to purchase their first home, especially when they have an ever-growing student debt to finance. We have a health service overwhelmed, and in some areas not fit for purpose. The British economy is weighed down with a debt of £3 trillion and rising, and at the present rate we must be heading doubtless for bankruptcy. Then there is the uncontrolled immigration, where thousands of young men flood into Britain without us having much of an idea who they are or where they have come from. Many of them are responsible for the increase in criminality and most of whom hate us and our culture. Very serious, yet often unseen, is the bloodthirstiness and the readiness of our government, ex-military gurus and other hangers-on to plunge us into wars that cannot be won. “Get ready, war is coming,” they cry. It certainly will if they provoke it as they have so often in the past. Our land has become a laughing stock around the globe, a joke with us strutting the world stage with chests stuck out!
You have heard all this before and it has been expressed more eloquently by others, and in more detail and more vehemently. The temptation is to conclude that these things, and others I have not mentioned, that they are responsible for our downfall when they are not. Immigration, corruption, lawlessness, extreme wickedness in high places, not any one of these things, nor all of them together is responsible for Britain’s downfall. The reason lies elsewhere. We must not confuse the consequences with the cause. The cause lies quite somewhere else and this frightful malaise, that has spread like a deathly cancer, is the consequence.
The process does not stop with the original cause. In an essay on the English language, the writer George Orwell makes the following observation, “an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fails all the more completely because he drinks.”
The original cause at the start of the dreadful state of affairs that has come upon us has one very simple source: our nation, our people, have all turned their backs on God; they have pushed Him out of their lives and this is the inevitable result that has multiplied itself over and over again becoming worse and worse and in this we only have ourselves to blame. We have despised God’s laws, His commandments given to us by His goodness and mercy. Instead, we have exchanged them for our own our own and this is the resultant mess we have gotten ourselves into. We have rebelled stoney-faced against Him, indulging in behaviour that can only in the end provoke God and so this is what has come to pass as a result. Successive governments of all colours have passed laws that are both anti-Christian and immoral. This is why we can expect nothing from God and matters will most certainly worsen as we continue to tread this pathway led by godless and wicked individuals. I am suggesting to you that Britain rather than being Christian today is largely apostate, it has fallen away from the faith, has abandoned, renounced and rejected that which once to a large degree was the mainstay of our society, the cement that held us all together. The Bible was taught in our schools and still held to be the Word of God. Britain is in reality now little better than a profoundly heathen country.
My friends, how those today in positions of power hate the Word of God. They hate it, because it reveals who they are and the sins they are committing. They hate it, because it prophesies not their salvation but their doom, the judgement God is going to bring down on them and their people who have turned their backs on God and refuse to repent. The argument about so-called ‘free speech’ today is less about letting everyone have their say, but getting rid of everything that contradicts the way governing elites want us to think. At the top of their hate list will be the Christian faith and the Word of God. Local councils are becoming increasing active at stopping any Christian witness in their town. They hate with venom the preaching of the Word of God. Their arrogance will be repaid by God in full. They will seek to silence all who speak the truth in God’s name. They are afraid that the people will hear and believe the truth and turn against them. Maybe the people will then turn to the Lord in a revival of true faith and find forgiveness. God’s enemies in high places have no fear of Him; they do not tremble as they ought ― “there is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:18) When Jeremiah heard what had happened to the scroll he received from God, he simply wrote another one with the assistance of Baruch the scribe!
Wicked men think to destroy the Word of God, but they cannot. The bishop of London, Cuthbert Tunstall, on October 27th 1526, held a public burning ceremony outside St Paul’s Cathedral of every copy he could find of Tyndale’s English New Testament that had been smuggled into the country. There are very few copies of Tyndale’s original printed version left today. The irony is that one of those copies, where is it? but in the archive at St Paul’s! Destroying the Word of God will not prevent what God has revealed from coming to pass. Burning the Bible is a useless occupation: God will preserve His Word and see that all that is in it unfolds as He has said. No one can escape the working of God’s word. “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (23:29) As our world continues to reject God’s Word the more it will become vulnerable to mass deception and delusion.
SIN, EVIL AND ITS INESCAPABLE JUDGEMENT
Before we look at anything else, instead of living in the expectation of matters improving, we are to expect the increase of evil before the end. In the last days, “evil men and seducers”, we are told in 2 Timothy 3:13, “shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” This is fundamental to understanding the future of human history: things are going to get very much worse.
Human wickedness will increase right to the end of time. However, we need at this point to make some distinctions. First, there is that which happens to us because God gives us up to the consequences of the sinful choices we have made (see Romans 1:24-26). This is most certainly the situation that we are in today in Britain. God has given us up to the consequences of our sin and wickedness.
Second, it remains to be seen whether God will now say: “Enough is enough, I am not letting this wickedness go any further.” Then what happens is that God brings upon us direct action prompted by His wrath against our sin when our wickedness has become so increasingly flagrant and has reached beyond what He is prepared to tolerate and it becomes essential for Him to intervene and judge it.
Here are just two well-known examples of this given in Scripture of where this happened, there will be others. There was the universal deluge that God brought about in Noah’s day.
“And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” (Genesis 65-8; 12-13)
Yet another instance was the seventy-year Babylonian captivity of Israel. One reason this kind of action comes upon a nation is to show the rest of the world that God will not tolerate the endless growth of evil and wickedness.
“And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.” (Ezekiel 39:23)
“Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers. Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.” (Jeremiah 44:3-4)
We note that in all these types of instances so far, God did not and does not leave the sinners without a voice of warning. That warning is still before us today. God appointed Noah to warn of the coming flood, but no one listened. Noah was doubtless scorned as a fanatic, as indeed are all today who speak of the end times and judgement. The magnitude of the horror came when the mockers realised that all the time Noah had been telling the truth. It was too late, the floods came and they perished.
In the case of Israel, God sent His prophets. What did they do? We read of it in Jesu’s lament over Jerusalem. They stoned them, killed them.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” Matthew 23:37
In Acts 7:52, Stephen became the first Christian martyr after addressing the Jewish council with the following words. Yet, Stephen was then dragged outside the city and stoned to death. What he said had enraged his listeners.
"Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:"
Stephen accused them of slaying the prophets God sent, but also of murdering the ‘Just One’, that is to say, Jesus the Messiah. They paid the price. In AD 70, Jerusalem was sacked and the inhabitants forced to flee. The Temple was also reduced to rubble, pillaged and stripped of its treasures as the Lord Jesus said it would be ― “there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Matthew 24:2). Again, a warning was given and now the Temple ruins still remain as a perpetual reminder to all visitors to the city of what was done to the Son of God.
Today, God has His servants among us. They are they who call our country to repentance and faith in Christ. Will we listen or will God tire of our insolent behaviour, our blatant arrogance, and our persistent rebellion? Every day we postpone a response as individuals and a nation, but a day of terrible reckoning is drawing near. The time is coming when the door will be closed fast, there will be no more preachers and there will be no escape.
This leads us to a third situation yet to arise at the very end of time, when God’s wrath will fall in order to destroy every vestige of sin of earth so that in its place His glory may flood every part of the created world. Paul the apostle writes of this in Romans 2:5, 8-9 when there will be no more opportunity to escape the wrath of God and no warning of its coming.
“But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God... But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil...”
“For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” (1 Thessalonians 5:2)
The Lord Jesus himself said:
“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matthew 24:36-39)
Christ will return at the very end of time and bring immediate vengeance upon unrepentant sin and He will come at a time when He is least expected.
“...when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8)
Christ has come as Saviour. He is yet to come as Judge and He will come in terrible vengeance against sin. Instead of living in the hope of the progress or even the intervention of the good, in the days ahead we must expect the opposite: that evil will only become worse and more widespread and those who genuinely profess faith in Christ will face severe persecution. This is what the Scriptures say most clearly.
What we are seeing before us today in a real sense is just a mild warning, a quiet reflection of what is to come, of the judgement of God hanging over us. It hangs suspended as by a thread over our heads. You say you see nothing, but you will and you will remember my words. How long before the consuming fire of God’s wrath is released? The question is this, how much longer will God tolerate the wickedness in our nation? How much worse must it become before His wrath rains down upon us in fury to call a halt to it all? This is a fearful thought most people do not even consider. Surely, it cannot be too far away before everything of which we have spoken of unfolds? We cannot continue indefinitely like this without God intervening. It is likely to happen as a widespread and fearful destruction which no one will escape. Scoffing? Do so, but remembering my words may one day then choke you. At that point, all possibility of repentance will be gone and there will be no way back. Oh God, hear us and cause us and our nation to repent and to turn from what we are doing.
“For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” (Deuteronomy 4:24; see also Hebrews 12:29)
Fire burns all before it. Think of the wildfires we experienced in the recent summer months. They blackened fields of crops and grassland; destroyed heathland and its habitat completely; trees charred beyond recognition; houses and buildings razed to the ground; lives endangered and some lost. It is an apt metaphor of God’s burning rage against wickedness, against that which assaults His holiness.
Persistent rebellion against God brings its own terrible end. We must never think that what happened to Judah, that God making use of our enemies cannot bring judgement down upon us. Our persistent treachery and obduracy will reach the point of no return is reached and no miracle to save us will be forthcoming. No one can escape God, no one!
“Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.” (Jeremiah 23:24)
We can still hear and respond to the call of God the repent and seek cleansing from our sin and salvation in the Lord Jesus. This day of God’s grace will come one day to an abrupt end.
How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.” (Hebrews 2:3)
The answer is we will not escape. The day of salvation is now; there is no promise for tomorrow. Repent and turn to Christ!
“For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2)
Christ will return and He will do so in terrible judgement. Scoff if you will, but you are only substantiating what I have been saying about the last days. In mocking you are only fulfilling what the Bible says about you. “Jesus Christ has been gone for over 2000 years,” you say, “and nothing has changed since then!”
The apostle Peter wrote this:
“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” (2 Peter 3:3-4)
Is Peter talking about you?
A FALLING AWAY IN THE PROFESSING CHURCH OF CHRIST
Instead of living in the hope of the progress or even the intervention of the good, still less a widespread acceptance of the Gospel, in the days ahead we must expect the opposite. Evil is destined to become worse and more widespread. Those who genuinely profess faith in Christ, those who are truly His, will face ever more severe persecution and we must be ready.
A latter-day renewal is not the next event on the prophetic calendar, but a falling away must first come and it appears to have already begun. So many who once attended the faithful preaching of the Word of God, drifted away for something they found more attractive. They have been deceived in a big way. It seems to me that the Scriptures are quite plain. There are many who began well, but drifted away, some altogether, many others were waylaid by some false teacher.
“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.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
The falling away is well underway. In fact, it was already there in the days of the apostles.
"They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." (1 John 2:19)
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:28-31)
This was happening in the apostles’ day and it is happening today. Apostates and false believers in the end separate themselves from genuine believers in order that the difference between genuine believers and the reprobate may become evident. As time goes on who and who is not a genuine believer will become ever clearer.
Ours is an age of false teachers, false apostles, false Christs even.
“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)
Christendom is right now becoming increasingly corrupt and bereft of the truth and will not be restored. Those who ought to have spoken up and called upon governments to acknowledge their duties before God to follow Him, have themselves been in revolt. They have abandoned the truth of God’s Word and preached another Gospel bringing upon themselves a curse of God.
“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8–9)
It is thought that around 6 to 7 churches close each week across the United Kingdom. Over the last ten years something in excess of 3500 churches have permanently shut their doors. Wales the land of revival has been particularly hard hit in that at least a quarter of all historic chapels and churches have closed with the same number currently at risk of closing. They are now used by businesses or have been turned into holiday homes. Many of these chapels were built at the time of religious awakening in the principality. Wales is going into reverse.
For me the decline in Wales is particularly poignant and personal. Last summer with my youngest son and his wife I travelled to Llangefni on Anglesey. Peniel Chapel near the centre of the town was where my grandparents worshipped, standing just a hundred yards from where they lived. It was erected to commemorate the ministry of Christmas Evans (1766-1838), who was widely known as the ‘Bunyan of Wales.’ Evans was an exceptionally powerful Welsh Baptist minister who reached thousands with the Gospel. According to Martyn Lloyd Jones, he was “the greatest preacher that the Baptists have ever had in Great Britain.” At one time the chapel was a place to find life, eternal life, now it reeks of death as the offices of a local funeral home. It makes me weep in deep sorrow. Born near Pwllheli, another Welsh preacher whom God used in an extraordinary way was John Elias ((1774 - 1841). Elias made his home in Llangefni. The house stands a little way off the road but was still there, last time I looked. Wales, Wales, what has happened since those days? In the words of William Cowper’s hymn: “Where is the blessedness once you knew, when first you saw the Lord?”
Many if not most of the churches now closing will have been part of mainstream denominations that many years ago left the biblical faith for humanistic liberal theology. They are reaping what they have sown. Remaining churches in the UK try to survive by being woke and wobbly, others have embraced the very worst elements of the charismatic renewal movement and this in itself will have sealed their own demise when one day everything is revealed for what it truly is.
In past centuries, the Gospel of Christ has been preached in truth to countless multitudes. It has gone around the world and our nation has been blessed like few others. However, the vast majority who have heard it did not receive it.
Despite this, many are quite content to take on what they see as Christian ideals and values, considering Britain a Christian country. However, they are unwilling themselves to enter into a personal relationship with Christ, to repent of their sin, put their trust in Him and walk in His ways. “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” (2 Timoth 3:5) They remain in their sin, albeit at the same time wrapping themselves in a cloak of Christian belief. Christendom is today a very much a mixed multitude of wheat and tares (see Matthew 13), to be separated by the angels of God in the last day and the tares thrown to the flames.
In New Testament days, there were those who claimed to be apostles but were not. Today once more, there are some deluded individuals claiming to be modern-day apostles, but they are at best nothing but confidence tricksters, deceiving many. Their claim is that they can do all the works and miracles of the first apostles, even to the raising of the dead. Although thousands unbelievably fall for their lies, they ae impostors. As servants of Satan, some of them fill auditoriums propagating their fraudulent claims and false gospel. They prey upon the gullible and desperate, pretending to heal when they possess no such power. These imposters are to be called out and avoided at all costs.
“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (2 Corinthians 11:13–15)
Many of these fraudsters and apostate preachers at the top of their ‘profession’, more often than not live in huge mansions, and drive magnificent cars, flaunt expensive watches, fly round the world in private jets, yet many are deceived by them and do not see the criminality involved. They make blasphemous promises on God’s behalf, whilst squeezing every penny they can from their gullible followers to support a lavish lifestyle. We need to listen to the apostle Peter, who explicitly warns that false teachers will view believers as resources to exploit for profit.
“And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." (2 Peter 2:3)
The apostle Paul says something similar, already warning us about those such as preachers of today’s so-called ‘prosperity gospel’. We are to withdraw from teachers who believe that financial wealth or worldly success is proof of God's blessing or our spiritual standing.
“Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.” (1 Timothy 6:5)
So many despise everything that has gone before. They think themselves on the wave of a new thing They are not; there have been such false teachers throughout the history of the Church. They have already fled from the truth and exchanged it for a lie and have fallen away. Their deception has been transformed into action: new songs, new re-written bibles to accompany their false teaching, new worship, but old heresy. Inside the church buildings they have taken over, and there are many, they have replaced the pulpit with a platform; the old pipe organ gathers dust or has been pulled out; the pews have now gone to a tip or wood merchant. These sacred seats were where once godly believers heard the Scriptures faithfully expounded and sinners heard the Gospel and believed. Don’t believe me? I’ll take you to at least one such building that I know. Walk into their ‘worship’ services and you think you are in a night club. The preacher, if there is one, or song leader, which there will be, are slovenly dressed. People are jumping up and down with their arms flailing about in the air, some falling over. It is scandalous. They are not worshipping a holy almighty God; there is no awe or reverence towards Him, just noise and blasphemous lunacy. They have turned the House of God into a circus. In His day, Jesus took a whip and drove out those who had no right behaving as they did in the House of God. Without doubt, this is precisely what He would do today in these places and we need to avoid such people at all costs.
"And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;" (John 2:15)
People follow false teachers because this is the message they themselves want to hear and the unsent and false prophets are happy to comply at a price.
“The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” (Jeremiah 5:31)
I am told by some that Britain is already turning to Christ. I beg to differ. It is true rather that misguided men and false teachers are leading many astray by the thousand. You say, but recently 500 people were baptized in the sea. So what? This, rather than denying what I am saying, proves my point. At about the same time 2000 Roman Catholics had a ‘rosary procession’ through the streets of London. Surely there must be a revival of the Christian faith beginning? Other well-meaning, and otherwise orthodox Bible teachers, tell us that not judgement but a great revival will mark the end of the age. They are profoundly mistaken.
The Scriptures tell us something very different about the last days before the ‘day of the Lord’ and the return of Christ. I can only repeat:
“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.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
Evangelicals are now to a large degree compromised and so have deprived themselves of any real spiritual effectiveness. New bibles, new hymnbooks, trendy worship services, were all supposed to bring their witness up-to-date and make it relevant. Many are dying at the root and have adopted a shrunken Gospel that cannot speak to needy souls.
On the other hand, God has not left Himself without a testimony in the darkness. Thankfully, there are those still proclaiming the old truths, preaching the Gospel we used to hear everywhere. Often, though not always, these congregations are made up in large part of elderly people so that within ten years or so their places of worship may well close. Preachers too, even in some of the more well-known Churches have grown older. Many are now in their sixties and seventies with one long-standing minister in London is in his eighties and still expounding the Word of God. We can be sure that God will keep alive testimony to His truth, to the real Gospel, in some way or another in these difficult and perilous times ― and may God richly bless them all.
GLOBAL UNITY AND THE APPEARANCE OF ANTICHRIST
There is an apostasy that takes place within the Churches of Christendom itself, but also in governments. Our governments have turned against God and it seems to be worst in places where in times past the Gospel once had entrance. This is plain and before our eyes. In this passage in 2 Timothy 3:1-8, we see a mixture of the two. This is an apt description of the days through which we are currently living. Coming is not a day of Christian revival, but ‘perilous times’.
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.” (verse 1)
What a description of our day and age are these verses, ones that largely speak for themselves and need little comment!
“For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (verses 2-4)
They are “without natural affection”. The shocking growth of the sexual abuse of children and young girls is something I cannot see God long tolerating for much longer without moving in judgement. This wickedness is not confined to immigrant gangs, but is also rampant among rich elites who obtain these poor children for their own gratification. Much is done to cover things up, but these evil individuals may hide from us but they cannot hide from God. God severely punished Israel for sacrificing children by throwing them alive into a fire burning in an image of Moloch. Jesus said: “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14). This being so, I dread to think how our Lord will reward these evil people for their abuse of children. Sex offences, especially the rape of women and young girls, overall have risen dramatically over the last few decades to almost a quarter of the total adult sentenced prison population. “For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts.”
Education, education, education…has there ever been such an age of knowledge and learning? But what do we actually know? Not very much and without God, we can never know anything truly, not even themselves. ”Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
What are we to make of 1 Timothy 4:1-4?
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving.”
The marks of apostates are that they are liars and hypocrites whose consciences do not bother them as they should. They forbid marriage, which is to be understood here as living together without marriage. Unmarried cohabiting partners amount to almost a quarter of all couples. It is the fastest growing family type across the country having increased from 3.2 million families in 2015 to 3.5 million today.
Interestingly vegetarianism is also included. In this age, God has given for us to eat meat if received with thanksgiving. What is included in this is explained. “For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving.”The word creature evidently refers to animals.
“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; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 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: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-12)
It appears to be a general principle, that where there are those who reject or rebel against the truth, God sends them ‘strong delusion, that they should believe a lie’. There many historical precedents some very recent. At first nothing much seems to be amiss. The truth is seen in part, but there is an admixture of error which many overlook. Critics are silenced and a defence is raised by pointing to the straggling remnants of remaining truth. However, this little leaven of error soon pervades the whole lump until it becomes clear that falsehood, so often very serious, has a stranglehold and is predominant. The truth is gradually eroded until it disappears or is made ineffective by the error. So many former Gospel churches have been destroyed in this way. This is wicked and God will require an answer from those responsible.
“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isaiah 8:20)
Not the Gospel will draw men together in the end days, but evil and rebellion against God.
“And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” (Revelation 16:13-14)
Our age is one of the growth of antichrists, of which there are many. All will be gathered into one person Scripture calls Antichrist. He will look like any other politician and nations will run to him to save them.
This growing evil will be urged on by Satan until the point where God destroys his power. It will spread throughout our nation from top to bottom. The Christian faith will be rejected by governments and those in prominent positions, who will try to suppress all knowledge of Christ and prevent the preaching of the Gospel. Are you a true believer in Christ? Do you know Him as your Saviour? Then, be ready.
From the very beginning, empires have refused and continue to refuse the Lord Jesus as King over all the earth. Earthly powers will continue to rise against Him to whom all power belongs.
“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” (1 John 2:18)
Antichrists down through the ages have drawn their spiritual energy from Satan. An antichrist is anyone who seeks to replace Christ and His rule. These may be political leaders, preachers, entertainers, just about anyone.
All this must happen before the day of the Lord comes, before Christ returns. These are undeniable facts revealed by the Word of God. Antichrist will unite in his person all the characteristics of wickedness that have appeared on earth since the beginning of time. Three of these particularly will be found in the Antichrist: first, man has always wanted to have his own will; second, he has exalted himself against God; third, he has put himself under the deliberate guidance of Satan. All the energy of man exalting himself against God is personified, the ripened fruit of the wickedness of the human heart, itself an antichrist, is found in the Antichrist. The Antichrist rules the world in Christ’s place and stead in a one world global unity. He will have a really diabolic character, a full expression of Satan himself. He will appropriate to himself all the rights of the Lord Jesus.
The idea of a one world government in defiance of God can be traced back to the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, where mankind had a common language. Many reputable linguists believe all languages can be traced back to this one universal tongue. God brought a confusion of tongues to disperse the people and prevent a godless world rule. This was a forerunner to the city of Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar who established a false religion by force. Instead of behaving humbly before God, his arrogance took hold of him, but it was brought down by God who made him eat grass like an animal for seven years.
In in the New Testament in the book of Revelation, we read of how Antichrist shall rule the world and do much the same as those who have gone before him.
“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:7-8)
In the same chapter verses 16 and 17 we read:
“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
The Antichrist will control all economic transactions, even who can sell and who can buy. The insertion of microchip implants containing all our personal details secured under our skin as in dogs and other animals is right now a practical reality, some chips are no larger than a grain of rice.
Lest the idea of a one world government appears to be somewhat esoteric and improbable, we need to remember that there are many groups and powerful institutions today working vigorously towards this goal. H. G. Wells, a man who hated the Christian faith and the Bible, proposed with religious fervour the idea of a humanist, socialist new world order and a one world government. Wells wrote his own version of the Bible called The Bible of Civilization. There were many like him such as George Bernard Shaw who were all members of the Fabian Society, an institution still very much active and named after the Roman dictator Fabius of the third century BC. Its headquarters are located in London. The society is made up of intellectuals, politicians, businessmen, all of whom have a profound influence over the rest of society and is bankrolled by powerful organizations. Former prime ministers and their cronies on the left of politics are usually longstanding members of the Fabian Society and certainly every Labour prime minister has held membership. Many senior Labour members of parliament are also members. All such movements not grounded in Scripture can only have one source, Satan.
These antichristian strivings are far from dead. There is the destructive political correctness movement; diversity training in businesses large and small and public institutions like the police, whose workshops all employees are required to attend; the control of the media by a liberal elite and much more. In a new ecumenical unity, perhaps under the World Council of Churches, a false Church will motivate people to worship a false Christ. The advent of a one-world government, although short-lived, will be a sign that the second coming of Christ is very near.
Let us look carefully at this passage from 2 Thessalonians 2. In verses 8 and 9, the revelation of the Antichrist is revealed, but also his destruction. At the coming of Christ then, that Wicked, the Antichrist, shall be destroyed.
“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”
Verses 10 to 12 following tell us something about the situation on earth at the time.
“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.”
To those who refuse the truth in order to be saved, God will send a strong delusion for them to believe instead of the truth. They had great pleasure in unrighteousness and so they will be damned for it. Nevertheless, there will always be those who do believe the truth, chosen from the foundation of the world unto salvation to the praise and glory of God (verses 13-14).
“But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Ther Antichrist may rule, but his reign will be short lived because the kingdoms of this world belong not to him, but to God to be rule He whom He has appointed, namely His Son.
“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15)
The knowledge of the glory of God which is to fill the whole will not begin to spread until after Antichrist and all wickedness has been judged and destroyed.
“For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14)
CONCLUSION
Before Christ returns then there will be no worldwide Christian revival. Instead, evil will rise up like a mountain. Nevertheless, it is also true that during this time that there will be progress for the Gospel right to the very end.
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Matthew 24:14)
Despite the difficulties, despite the wickedness and persecution the Gospel will still be preached until the end of the age and triumph at the return of Christ. Men, women and children will come to a knowledge of Christ as Saviour. God told Noah he was going to destroy the world, but this did not prevent him from preaching. So, the prospect of coming judgement ought to activate to a more pressing preaching of the Gospel of Christ. We must not allow the nearness of the judgement of God paralyse our efforts, deter us, but let it drive us with yet more power and energy. Christ is the Head and the Holy Spirit our only source of strength.
Judgement will fall suddenly and unexpectedly, even as Christ Himself returns. People will be going about their daily affairs unaware of what is about to happen.
“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matthew 24:37-39)
Once the wrath of God falls in judgement and Christ returns in the clouds even as He departed, then and only then, will the nations turn and receive Christ as their true King, not before. Only then will His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. First the judgement, first the extermination of everything wicked, then the blessing.
“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:4}
God loves the world He created and those in it. So much so that He sent His only begotten Son to die and redeem it. When He comes a second time, in that love He will put an end to all the evil in the world, the suffering, the pain. How long will God hold back before ending the incessant wars caused by arrogant governments? Surely the rapes, the murders, the brutality, the violence and wilful destruction must end? All of these things will end and there will be a day of judgement. God will end them.
The return of Christ will come in great glory and power. It will see all political power, all the authority of hostile governments ground to powder and blown away in the summer wind like chaff on the threshing floors. Every authority on earth will be replaced by the Kingdom of Christ which will spread itself to every part of the world. This was Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
“Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” (Daniel 2:34-35)
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36)
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