Cancer Stricken
The topic of this
interpretation deals with a mystery.
This mystery is difficult to pin down because a lot of opinions surround
this mystery. Sometimes the things God
allows or wills into our lives are hidden, and it becomes our burden to search
these hidden things out in order to come to a place of fruition and
escape. I am going to address a mystery
that is active right now and has already begun to work. My purpose is to outline this mystery and
place it front and center, so we can address something we can see, rather than
something we’re trying to grope for. The
mystery I am going to deal with in this interpretation is God’s usage of
delusions. I will further clarify how
God will use delusions within His judgment process, and how delusions eventually
lead mankind into a deceived state.
God has already allowed
the processes of delusions to begin His judgment on the nations as well as His
church. The mystery of iniquity has been ongoing for the last 2000 years (2
Thessalonians 2:7), but the specific process of God’s judgment through
delusions have been working for the better part of a century. These judgments are cancerous decaying
processes which eventually overtake all who have known the truth but who have
chosen to ignore that truth (Romans 1, especially verse 32). A good example of people who have forsaken
the truth would be people either searing their conscience, or playing games
with it enough to become deceived (1 Timothy 1:19, 4:2). This delusion judgment that God is allowing
right now, when viewed in its entirety outside the scope of time, becomes His
foundation for judgment; for delusions become the “setting up” or the
“precursors” which commence all His other judgments. The book of Revelation bears witness to this
fact when we see that God’s seal judgments set up His trumpet judgments, and
again God’s trumpet judgments set up His vial judgments; one judgment
establishes and then becomes the foundation for the other judgments in
procession. In short, God has allowed
the judgment of delusions to become His foundation upon which all future and
consequential judgments will be laid.
By default, since God has
allowed deceptions to strike against the core of the people currently, then
this action becomes God’s starting point and establishes His future
judgments. Simply put, since delusions
have come upon us, it is the beginning of the end.
2 Thessalonians 2:7-12
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.
Isaiah
66:4
I also will choose their delusions, and will
bring their fears upon them; because
when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they
did evil before mine eyes, and chose
that in which I delighted not.
Romans
1:21, 24
Because
that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful;
but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened…Wherefore
God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts,
to dishonour their own bodies between themselves.
Romans
1:26, 28, 29
For this cause God gave them up unto vile
affections: for even their women did change the natural use
into that which is against nature…And
even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to
do those things which are not convenient. Being filled with all unrighteousness…
Isaiah
45:7
I
form the light, and create darkness:
I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these
things.
These above verses are scriptural facts
that point to a God who is not only going to call us on our choices, but who is
going to send us that which we have lusted for, so we will become deceived by
it, to the extent these delusions will become our ruin. It is kind of like that story about the
father who catches his son smoking cigarettes so he locks him in a closet with
a box full of cigarettes and orders him to smoke them all. If you flirt with danger long enough, and do
not listen to the cautioning voices trying to persuade you toward godly escape,
then these dangerous vices will eventually addict you and place you into
absolute bondage. You will have become
bound within the choices you have settled for.
I am going to outline God’s process of delusion
leading to deception so we can discuss its latter end.
Delusion
leading to Deception - a process of Decay
God is righteous, and is
always going to caution us toward the path that is right and edifying, as long
as we continue to seek Him. What God
will do with a people or nation that has strayed long enough and hard enough is
send them a delusion so they will eventually become deceived by it (2
Thessalonians 2:7-12, Isaiah 19:14, 29: 9-10).
God gives us the desires of our heart, and if we ignore His truth and
cautioning long enough… and desire for ourselves lies, ignorance, hypocrisy and
evil then God will send those things into our lives like a flood (Revelation
18:2). Make no mistake about, one of the
most evil things a person or nation can do is to call evil good and good, evil
(Isaiah 5:20). God frowns on this… so a
nation or person who chooses this path will be given over to the process of
delusions to such an extent that they end up deceived and absolutely
contrary.
God’s solemn purpose is to
judge us in righteousness. A lot of
times, God needs us to become absolutely full
within our disobedience so that we are without excuse (Genesis 15:16, Matthew
23:31-32). For this reason, God will not
only allow us to stray when we ignore His cautioning, but He will further send
us delusions so that we can “fill up” (1 Thessalonians 2:16, Daniel 8:23) on
all the things we have lusted after.
This is so on the great Day of Judgment, we will be totally without excuse,
and God will be able to show us, even to the utmost, how internally deceived we
have allowed ourselves to become within our choices. This allows God’s judgment to be more secure
within OUR hearts, the truth bearing witness that we not only gave ourselves
over fully to this lustfulness, but that we also allowed ourselves to become fully
consumed within it.
Sometimes we understand
that we don’t reach out for help until we have hit “rock bottom.” A lot of times God will allow us to hit rock
bottom so we will see we are totally helpless and that we need
intervention. Notice God does not simply
allow us to flirt with the dangers and then judge us. He allows us to become totally consumed by
these dangers, so we learn exactly how sinful we are (we’ll be without excuse)
and so we learn exactly how low we were willing to go to justify our
means. Many times, this process is
allowed to show us our true sinfulness in full measure. How many times have you heard an alcoholic or
drug addict say that until they hit “rock bottom,” they just couldn’t see they
needed help. But as soon as they hit
“rock bottom,” they came to the realization they were helpless and they needed
to change. This is God’s wisdom within
the process of delusions. If a people or
nation do not hit rock bottom within their choices for evil and debauchery then
when the judgment comes, the people will feel entitled and justified… and will
probably say, “Well, we were bad and we wanted the lies but things never got
really bad. If things had gotten bad
enough then we would have woken up and would have mended our ways.” You see, God bi-passes our justification by
sending us a delusion leading to deception so things WILL (Genesis 15:16,
Daniel 8:23) get that bad and so people will have the utmost opportunity to
either repent (giving God the glory) or continue their downward spiral leading
to destruction. That way, on the Day of
Judgment, none can justify they would have woken up had they hit “rock
bottom.” God allows “rock bottom” to
happen, so, if no repentance occurs… God is justified and the people are
condemned because in this “rock bottom” place the people chose not to repent
but chose to take pleasure in unrighteousness.
Another reason the Lord
allows the process of delusion to flood into our very lives is so when He
judges us within our deceitful actions, He also judges the spirits and the
individuals that have fully empowered us to yield toward our deceitful actions
(Genesis 3:1-19). God is spiritually
able to kill two or even three birds with one stone through this judgment
process. Go ask any police officer if
they seek to catch one criminal, or if they seek to catch the conspiracy within
its entirety. If God judges us prematurely
within our actions, then the conspiracy has not been able to come to its
fruitfulness. This is why the police
often catch one person and then “turn” that person to get as many others as
they can. If they decide to build a case
against that one individual, they will probably be successful, but they end up
losing all the others they could have taken down with that individuals
help. God utilizes the same concept
within His judgment process. He allows
our disobedience to become absolutely full (Daniel 8:23) so He not only has an
individual hook line and sinker, but He also has the conspiracy in its
entirety… the principalities, the powers, those who have influenced us as well
as those we have influenced (Matthew 18:6-7).
It is not wise for God to judge prematurely, this allows a lot to fall
through the cracks. God allows a fullness
to come so when He judges, He simply judges within that fullness (Daniel
8:23). It would be ignorant to impose a
full judgment where only parts exist.
Delusions leading to
deception is a process of decay which will tarnish the soul (calling good evil
and evil good). So, for these reasons,
God allows delusions to come upon us so our choices we reveal our true heart (whether
we want to escape or become deceived). Those
who repent and embrace the truth and fight to understand the truth will become
shielded from these deceptions (John 10:27).
God is going to personally minister to them to ensure they stay on the
narrow pathway (as opposed to the broad) and continue to receive the Lord in
all His fullness. God will absolutely
protect those who cleave onto Him for His truth and for His direction… although
in the end times the deception will become so strong that even the Lord
continuously cautions that we must remain aware (Matthew 24:24).
For those who have taken
pleasure in unrighteousness and who have mocked God by not repenting and by
ignoring His cautioning and His truth… these strong delusions serve for one
purpose and for one purpose only. To
gather the rebellious together for the Great Day of Judgment (Revelation 16:14,
2 Thessalonians 2:7-12). God will grow
weary with ministering to our lies and our deluded state and will fully give us
over to what we want… our lies. He will
give us over to delusions for us to fully trust in them, and His purpose is to
righteously judge us as we stand in those lies.
Delusion as a Cancer
Just like cancer, a
delusion can go unnoticed and undetected until such a time as it envelopes you
(God mercifully placing you where you belong… in jail, the hospital or in some
other agony so you will repent) or until such a time a skilled physician (holy
minister) can diagnose it, offering you wisdom (enlightened help so you will see
it and repent). Delusion leading to
deception is without a doubt a cancer.
It is a cancer that usually, but not always, goes unnoticed and works
within itself to bring you to absolute destruction.
It is interesting that
cancer has one purpose, to destroy you.
It is kind of like a wrecking ball.
So much steel has only one purpose, to wreck. Delusion leading to deception is sent to
yield the same result. It is not there
to reason with you, or to try and help you feel a certain way… it is there to expose
you, and if you choose delusion it will eventually deceive you so you
continually and ignorantly give yourself over to its decay… for you to
basically spiritually rot from the inside out.
We must understand that deception is a cancer that can go unnoticed for
a long period of time. The moral of the
story is anyone can be deceived and they probably wouldn’t know it. Check out this verse…
2 Timothy 3:13
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
Do you see the cancerous
process, worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived? Like a dog chasing its tail… absolutely no
knowledge, just ignorance and plenty of it.
Deception becomes a plague or cancer that brings us to absolute
destruction… usually without ever being detected. The only cure or remedy for someone caught
within deception’s snare is twofold: the knowledge that brings the deception to
the light, and then your acceptance of that knowledge which leads you to
repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10). Let me
ask you a question. What if you take
fifteen people and put them in a house?
You set them to live in a house for ten years and give them the
availability and freedom to do whatever they choose. Now, two of the fifteen people have secretly
been given the AIDS virus. What is the
likelihood that at least half of the remaining thirteen people will contract
the AIDS virus? The likelihood is
great. Deception works in much the same
way. It’s not possible to throw a people
or nation headlong into the delusion process and then, years later, have that
nation come out wise… totally untainted by the deception. The only thing that will counter the delusion
process is the light (truth) that manifests the delusion. Just like the knowledge that those two people
were infected with the AIDS virus would have been enough workable information
in order for the other thirteen to avoid them at all costs. But, if the fifteen had no knowledge, then
they could not protect themselves against the dangers they could not see. This is true with deception. If we are deceived, we cannot protect
ourselves from the deception that is deceiving us… from the deception that has
taken away our sight. Therefore, our
only plausible end when met with the process of delusions leading to deception
is twofold: Godly knowledge that if received, will eventually yield repentance…
or the righteous end of that deception, indeed God’s judgment.
I would like to outline
the example of Pharaoh in the Old Testament (Exodus 5-14). From the time that God sent Moses to
God has for thousands of
years born witness to His Truth. He has
set men to stand for righteousness and He has never left Himself without a
witness (Acts 14:17). Even in our darkest
hour, there have been witnesses of Gods power, His grace and His mercy. But within all of this, just like Pharaoh in
the Old Testament, we have hardened our hearts and have mocked God by trusting
in lies and ignorance (calling good evil and evil good). This has been going on for so long… that even
God’s longsuffering has come to an end.
Therefore God, in His wisdom, has decreed strong delusions so all that
have partaken in wickedness should trust in a lie (deception). Just like Pharaoh in the Old Testament… God has
put us mockers out to pasture. He has
set our hearts on cruise control and is heading us straight toward the
tribulation to become subject to the devils lying wonders. Evil has been decreed against us, for…
Psalm 9:17
The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God…
The Finality of the Delusion Process
Although I have outlined
the spiritual process of delusions leading to deception I want to bring it
closer to home. In the Bible, in the
second book of Thessalonians, there are specific scriptures that outline a
final delusion that will be so great, that the repercussions will change the
world as we know it. This final delusion
will indeed become a judgment. It will
be ushered in as a result of the world ultimately and wholeheartedly ignoring
God’s merciful truth. God’s merciful witness
and truth has yet to be fully revealed… but when it is fully revealed, it will
prompt a great falling away that will usher in God’s final delusion and
judgment on a people who have mocked the truth and delighted in lies.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
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.
There is going to be a final truth
preached, a final enlightenment that will reveal itself and offer all people
the opportunity to delight in the truth (Jude 23). When this final truth or enlightenment is
mocked at and ignored, this cataclysmic decision by the people will usher in
God’s final delusion to deceive all who have ignored that truth… thus paving
the way toward their destruction.
I want to digress for a moment and expound
on this idea of a final enlightenment.
1
Peter 4:17
For
the time is come that judgment must
begin at the house of God: and if it first
begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
This judgment, beginning at the house of
God, has already in part begun. God,
through His Spirit, is currently disciplining His true body of believers
(Revelation 3:18-21). Not necessarily a
church denomination or even a church at large… but His body of believers in
this world (His Ekklesia… or called out ones).
Through this process He is also raising up ministers who will eventually
manifest His ordained wisdom toward His church and toward His world for such a
time as this (Jeremiah 3:15). This
ministry toward His church will be His last ditch spiritual effort to minister truth to them before they slide
down that final slope of deception. This
spiritual manifestation, which will first be directed toward His church, will
offer truths which will provoke the great falling away spoken about in 2
Thessalonians 2:3. One of the big truths
that will provoke the falling away is the truth that the Lord is going to
require His church to endure the entire tribulation period, and to endure until
the end (Matthew 10:22). This one truth
is going to absolutely decimate the current hypocritical church climate and is
going to actually bring healing to God’s true church body. After this poignant truth is preached (along
with some others), many “so called” Christians will no longer follow the Lord
(John 6:66), but will indeed become enemies of the cross and possibly antichrists
(1 John 2:18-19, Philippians 3:18).
Everybody… Christians, non Christians, antichrists, Muslims, agnostics
and atheists. We are all going through the great tribulation. It is God the Fathers will that the current
tribulation church (Christ’s bride) “make herself ready” (Revelation 19:7) by
entering and even enduring throughout the tribulation (Psalm 34:18). It will become the church’s willingness,
endurance, patience, faith and martyrdom (Revelation 14:12, 20:4, 6:9-11,
7:13-17) throughout the tribulation period that prepares the bride (church) for
her groom (Jesus Christ).
So, Gods judgment on His church will be:
1.
The current spiritual
discipline process that sanctifies the individual Christian believer
(Revelation 3:18-22).
2.
The final
enlightenment and representation of God’s truth that will force believers to
accept His absolute will for their lives… to perhaps leave all and follow
Christ directly through the tribulation period.
By the way, this is no small judgment at all. This ministry judgment (Psalm 9:8) will
actually provoke the great falling away.
3.
The bride of
Christ (His church) making herself ready (Revelation 19:7) by submitting to God
the Father and remaining faithful throughout the tribulation period.
These three judgments accumulate in one
heck of a judgment. What the church is
going to have to endure is a lot harder then simply reading 1 Peter 4:17. God’s judgment on His church is His refining
fire (Revelation 3:18-19), and this fire has already personally begun burning
in the life of every believer who has unconditionally and wholeheartedly
accepted God’s truth. Once the two
witnesses come on the scene, a Christian’s acquiescence to the truth process
will sanctify their vessels to receive the oil the two witnesses will pour out
without measure (Zechariah 4:12-14, Revelation 11, Matthew 25:1-12).
If you read 2 Thessalonians closely, it
emphasizes that those who are perishing are perishing because they were not
willing to accept the truth, and so be saved.
And this is why they are damned, because they believed not in the truth,
but had pleasure (continued in) unrighteousness. This scripture also gives reference to “a
lie” or possibly… “a wrong focus” that God will allow, for the wicked to
eventually to trust in. I am not going
to discuss what this lie might be only to say some believe it is the antichrist
himself. The lie will obviously be the
antichrist’s claim that he is god. I am
going to emphasize it is obvious these wicked people are given over to this
final lie simply because they were not willing to receive the truth. Again, I believe it will be some kind of
end-time ministering event (as well as a powerful witness toward the world) which
will prompt the world to alienate themselves from the truth and thus God. God is going to give the inhabitants of this
land one more defining, and perhaps dire… chance… to trust in the truth and so
be saved. This representation will be a
powerful (even binding) representation of the truth, so the people will be
without excuse. After this chance is
wasted, then at this point the church will have already endured almost 2/3rds
of their judgment from God and God, in His righteousness, is going to commence
judging the inhabitants of this world who mocked and abandoned His effort to
reveal His truth to them. He will usher
in His final delusion… and the world, because they ignored His truth, will be conned
into believing the delusion is a good thing, and will become utterly deceived
by it. Judgment truly begins at the
house of God, but then… rolls over to become the world’s judgment as well. Notice 1 Peter 4:17. The verse clearly says judgment will begin at
the house of God. But then Peter uses
the simple phrase… “…if it first begin at us.” It is important to understand God’s entire
process (delusion leading to deception leading to God’s Judgment) happens first
in the church, but then leaven’s itself throughout the world.
The
Judgment Factor
I would like to emphasize how at this
point, first the church, and then the world, are going to be forced to make a
choice. The enlightenment period is going to bring the hearers into a closer
relationship with the truth. From
here on out, the hearers are either going to accept the truth and bear it, or
lie to themselves regarding that truth and eventually become deceived in the
process. I believe only a specific
period of enlightenment from the Lord could set up His consequential
judgment. In other words… people and
information currently are not in a place for God to bring forth such powerful
judgment. Would you judge a ten year old
child harshly for not knowing how to operate a vehicle? Of course not, and there currently does not
exist enough workable truths in the world right now, not to mention there does
not exist enough faithful witnesses in the world right now, for the Lord to
commence with such judgments. You can’t
just throw a bible in the middle of the room and point to it and then have
everyone choose a side. In order for God
to arrive at such a place of vehement judgment, there will need to be such a
witness of the truth that God has declared that the truths spoken are accurate
enough that they are binding, and that His judgments could righteously follow
such accurate ministering (Deuteronomy 17:6, 19:15, Revelation 11:3). I believe God has and is preparing ministers
He will use to shed forth these powerful truths, even comparable to the
ministers He used during the book of Acts… and I humbly believe this commentary
of beliefs is a foreshadowing of such a ministry.
I also believe the two witnesses of the
book of Revelation (chapter 11) bear witness to the necessity of a righteous
witness existing prior to judgment. The
book of Deuteronomy bears witness in two different places 17:6, 19:15, that
judgment must not happen unless two witnesses bear witness against the
accused. Is it a coincidence that right
before God’s righteous end time judgment on the world that two witnesses arise
and testify, through both signs and wonders, that God is righteous in His
Judgment. Even God holds Himself to the
truth of the scriptures (Psalms 138:2).
He won’t even judge the world until two witnesses arise to testify to
His righteous judgment (Revelation 11:7)!
Right now… we don’t even have signs and
wonders following the truths we preach, so how do you suppose that God is going
to start backing our words with incredible judgments. God doesn’t even back our words with His
miracles, let alone His everlasting judgments.
Wisdom teaches had God given us a clear direction in the Bible He was
going to begin His Judgment with a powerful ministry of enlightenment, then we
as a church over the last 2000 years would be lusting after such a time. We would not offer God faith that pleases
Him, but would mark those passages in the Bible and quote them every fifteen
minutes. In other words… if God is going
to allow a time of enlightenment to enlighten the inhabitants of the land
before His judgment, He was wise not to specify those truths in the Bible. These scriptures existing would not only take
faith totally out of the equation, but would also cause many to miss quote and
lust after such a period… turning the movement into an idol, rather than a
faith process. If this time of
enlightenment does happen, then God was righteous to shield it from us, so that
our faith would search and so we would come to an understanding of this period
through a diligent search, and not through some carnal apprehension.
Last
Admonishment
I was led to write this interpretation
because of the judgments (delusions leading to deception) that are already
impacting us on a grand scale. We must
always remember that Jesus’ first words regarding the end times were, “Be not
deceived.” (Matthew 24:4, Mark 13:5, Luke 21:8)
God’s usage of delusions leading to deception is huge throughout
scripture (2 Thessalonians 2:3, Job 12:16, Matthew 15:14) and becomes central
to our purposes on the earth currently.
I would not put 100% stock in all that I said in this
interpretation. The bible says in 1
Corinthians 13:9 that we know in part and we prophesy in part. Whatever I do, I do in part. But deception is too real to sideline or
rationalize away. We must all take heed
lest we fall, and remain driven to search out the Lord in all His fullness. God is looking for such to worship Him, in
spirit and in truth. We must not mock
God by feeling we understand everything or that we have a comfortable lock on
everything. In these last days, the
Bible says that even some of the elect are going to be enticed against the
truth. Remain open to the possibility
that you have much to learn, and much to consider. Remain open to the possibility of God opening
some doors you didn’t think would be opened.
If in these last days the devil is going to have the authority do his
dirty work… then don’t you think it righteous that God is going to reserve some
authority of His own to raise up some sort of standard against the enemy and
for the truth? Is God left without a
witness, either in standard or in truth (Isaiah 59:19)?
I have no evidence that God is going to
bring a huge enlightened move to this earth, but my faith tells me it would be
unrighteous to commence judgment when most people don’t even have a witness
that the truth is indeed the truth.
Often times, you can’t require the truth from someone unless there has
been an adequate representation of the truth.
Has there been an adequate representation of the truth? Don’t we look at our neighbors and judge them
righteous when they have doubts about God, especially since they have witnessed
our hypocrisy over and over and over again?
Although I fully believe in The Spirit’s ability to save the soul (not
to mention the conscience), even separate from the church’s hypocrisy, I don’t
believe this becomes the final standard or authority God wants projected. God did not raise up a church body because He
desires to work separately from us. God
sent John the Baptist to be a forerunner to Jesus Christ for a reason. John bore witness to the truth (John
5:33). Something
Possibly a John the Baptist ministry would
greatly help at this point, to qualify us for God’s righteous judgment. Perhaps a John the Baptist ministry could be
the move of enlightenment I have referred to, arriving first to the church and
then rolling over toward the world… God only knows. But God, in His marvelous ways, has allowed
something like this before. I firmly conclude
a truth ministry toward the church (and a truth witness toward the world) is desperately
needed right now… and our prayers, supplications and petitions should settle
for nothing less.