The Great Rebellion...

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It usually is difficult for us to "place" ourselves historically. I think most people assume that, by and large, what we are experiencing today has always been true of people. What we may not realize is that the philosophy of humanism, like a foul virus, is infecting many nations—and the Christian churches as well. We may assume that "it has always been like this." But it hasn't!

(4/24/2001). From 1400 A.D. onward the philosophy of humanism began to compete with religion for the thinking of learned men. Whereas the Christian religion had, in Europe, generally been assumed as truth, scholars and teachers now were looking toward human reasoning as the basis for values and behaviour.

America from its foundation has been oriented toward the Christian Gospels as the basis for values and behaviour. This point of view came with the immigrants from Europe. In our day, however, secular humanism is striving successfully against our traditional Christian values.

Our current President as well as some members of Congress do not seem to uphold the typical Christian attitude toward abortion or deviant sexual lifestyles. Piece by piece the traditional American cultural norms are reflecting humanistic rather than Christian beliefs.

Anyone can see that the removal of the fear of God as a basis for a disciplined life is leading us toward moral, educational, military, political, and financial chaos. In today's paper we notice that for the first time America is being warned by Standard and Poor that its financial stability is being viewed with concern.

The philosophy of democracy is allied to humanistic thought. I suppose we Christians always have considered that democracy somehow is a Christian philosophy. It is not. Democratic government is the rule of people. The Kingdom of God is the rule of God. Democracy and the Kingdom of God are opposite in their basic premise.

Democracy supposes that people are basically good and should be free to pursue happiness. The Christian Gospel supposes that people are driven by a sinful nature and are to be pursuing righteousness of behaviour. These two suppositions actually are hostile one to the other.

The Apostle Paul warned us what would take place when humanism, and its political handmaid, democratic government, begin to flower:

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as these. (II Timothy 3:1-5—NASB)

When there neither is strong governmental control, nor strong ecclesiastical control, with predictable rewards for good behaviour and punishments for bad behaviour, the sinful nature of people will come to the front.

The above list of behaviours is the fruit of humanistic thought. People are not inherently virtuous. All of us have a sinful nature. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can deliver us from such destructive thoughts, words, and deeds. Because of this, secular humanism and democratic government, albeit with the best of intentions, always will result in moral chaos. And moral chaos results in the most undesirable and destructive relationships.

At the present time we are attempting to spread the American way of life to other countries, particularly Arab countries. This is so foolish! We here in America do not have enough money to put everyone in jail that should be there. We are in a mess, socially and financially.

It may be true that the Arab people would favour some sort of theocracy rather than a democracy. In this case, we are wasting money attempting to force our form of government on them. From the looks of things, we have enough trouble at home without attempting to force other people to adopt our way of life. Our culture increasingly resembles Second Timothy 3:1-5 (above).

The subject of the present thesis is the Great Rebellion, The Great Rebellion is the ultimate flowering of secular humanism. Let's turn now to see what the Apostle Paul had to say about this flowering.

Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, (II Thessalonians 2:1—NASB)

In First Thessalonians, the fourth chapter, Paul spoke of the coming of the Lord and our gathering together to him. The Greek term for "coming" is the same word throughout First and Second Thessalonians. It is the same coming and gathering described in Matthew, Chapter Twenty-four, also employing the same Greek term.

Paul is going to speak now concerning the one coming of the Lord Jesus and our gathering together to Him. That you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. (II Thessalonians 2:2—NASB)

Notice that the coming of the Lord and our gathering together to Him was in dispute. Apparently in Paul's day that there were various splinter groups who were preaching their own beliefs. We know that some were into Gnosticism. Others were baptizing for the dead. And now we find a group who were claiming that the Day of the Lord already had come. Sounds kind of like the situation today, doesn't it?

Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy [the Great Rebellion] comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, (II Thessalonians 2:3—NASB)

It sometimes is taught that prior to the rise of Antichrist, and the consequent Great Tribulation, all who have "accepted Christ" will be carried up to Heaven to avoid suffering. There absolutely is no scriptural basis whatever for such a notion.

Now notice: "It" (the coming of the Lord and our gathering together to Him) "will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness (Antichrist) is revealed."

The "apostasy" (the Great Rebellion) comes first and Antichrist is revealed. After that will occur the coming of the Lord and our gathering together with Him.

It does seem, doesn't it, that the Great Rebellion and the revealing of Antichrist will take place before the Lord Jesus comes and we are gathered together to Him. For myself, I prefer to go by the Bible rather than by the traditions of Christians teachers.

Who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. (II Thessalonians 2:4—NASB)

"Who," in the above verse, is Antichrist, the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction. Daniel has quite a bit to say about the man of lawlessness.

Out of one of them came forth a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land. It grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down. It even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host; and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down. And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper. (Daniel 8:9-12—NASB)

You can see from the above the power that Christ will permit the man of lawlessness to exercise. All this will take place before the coming of Jesus and our gathering together to Him.

And again:

Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven "sevens," and sixty-two "sevens." It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two "sevens," the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one "seven." In the middle of the "seven" he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. (Daniel 9:25-27—NASB)

The "abomination that causes desolation" possibly refers to the man of lawlessness sitting on the Mercy Seat in a restored Temple in Jerusalem. Also, there may be a statue of a man erected on a wing of the Temple, standing at the place where Satan invited the Lord Jesus to jump off and prove that He is the Son of God.

This is the invitation to presumption, which still is given to us today. We refer to it as "stepping out in faith." Let us think about this for a moment. The whole issue is that of obedience to God. People either are going to be their own God, or they are going to worship and serve the Lord. The man of lawlessness will personify the human being who rejects all gods except himself.

Here is the problem with secular humanism and democracy. Both philosophies imply that man should be his own God. The coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth means that only one will shall be performed. That will is the will of God, the only valid will in the universe.

If you can imagine, I was taught in Bible school that no one can do God's will completely; and for this reason God has given us grace so we can escape Hell and go to Heaven, even though we do not do God's will to any great extent. I defied that reasoning at the time. I told God if He would make His will known to me, and give me the grace to do it, I would do His complete will at all times for the rest of my life. Although I have been deceived on a couple of occasions and got off the track, I have made things right and have fought on. I can say truthfully that right now I am doing God's complete will for me, as far as I know.

I have found God's will to be a delight. The Christian people to a certain extent have accepted a lie concerning the doing of God's will. I will say also that to not do God's will at all times and in all circumstances is to rebel against God. The modern teaching of "grace" is a massive, destructive lie, a sophisticated form of rebellion against God!

It is true that we have not been perfected as yet. It is true also that we can be perfect for the day and are expected to be perfect for the day.

The reason Christ and His saints are going to have to govern with a rod of iron when He appears is that people have been infected with the virus of self-will, with their so-called "rights." Brother, sister, the only right we have is the right to do the will of Christ as it is revealed to us.

Anything other than the doing of God's will is lawlessness. Antichrist is the man of lawlessness; therefore the son of destruction. In the new world of righteousness that will come after the Lord returns, every person who is saved to that world will have to do God's will at all times.

No disobedience to Christ shall be permitted in the Kingdom of God. There will be no such creature as a "free moral agent." The Lord Jesus will give us the Spirit of delight in the doing of God's will, if we ask Him to.

Antichrist is the man of lawlessness. Secular humanistic thought leads to anarchy, to rebellion against God's will. This is true also of democratic thinking. Such thinking is related more closely to agnosticism than it is to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Another thought is as follows:

And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; (II Thessalonians 2:6-8)

Traditional teaching often states that "what restrains him" is the Spirit of God, and that the Spirit of God will be lifted to Heaven with the Gentile believers prior to the coming of the Lord and our gathering together to Him. Those teachers should realize that God never will remove His Spirit from the earth and turn the earth over to the spirit of Satan, leaving His chosen people, the Jews, here to try to serve God without the Holy Spirit.

"He who now restrains" is the Lord Jesus Christ bearing witness in His saints. But sin and rebellion against God will become so prevalent the witness that today restrains the full revealing of the man of lawlessness will be overcome. Isn't it true that when a saint is overcome with sin, his witness no longer is effective? That is all I am saying.

Now consider:

When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. (Revelation 11:7,8—NASB)

Antichrist will wage war against the saints who will bear the last great witness. There are two witnesses. Christ, and then the victorious saints. We see then that is actually is Christ; just as when the Father was dwelling in Christ, it was the Father who was speaking the words and doing the works.

Now, how are the saints overcome? By three means: first, by Sodom; second, by Egypt; third, by Jerusalem Sodom represent sexual lust. Many of God's leaders of today are falling into sexual lust. Thus their witness is destroyed.

Egypt represents material wealth. Many of God's leaders of today are forsaking the Gospel in order to become wealthy. Thus their witness is destroyed.

Jerusalem represents self-will and presumption on the part of religious leaders. How many of today's famous Bible teachers and pastors are acting from their own self-will and presumption? As they do, their witness is destroyed.

In the above three areas, lust, money, and pride, the last-day witness will be slain. It is the removal of this powerful witness that opens the door to the revealing of the lawless one, the son of destruction. This individual, whether man or woman, will come to prominence before the coming of the Lord and our gathering together to Him.

Whenever man begins to assume the role of God, as we see today in England and America, every kind of destruction follows. Financial ruin occurs. Also God raises up vicious enemies whose intent is destroy America and England, because these two nations have been strongholds of Christianity.

The forces that have been let loose upon the earth in our day are spiritual titans. We can make every political, military, and educational effort of which we are able. There will be no remedy. In order for the United States and England to regain their former power, the citizens would have to abandon their sexual lust, pursuit of money, and self-direction, and turn again to the God who at one time had made them great.

Since such national repentance may not take place, the leadership of the world will move from the Western nations to the Eastern nations. I expect this to take place in the not too distant future.

What can we as an individual do? We must cease from our own works and enter the rest of God, that place where we are looking to Jesus for every thought we think; every word we speak; and every action we take. We absolutely must learn to live by the Life of the Lord Jesus if we are to survive and help our loved one and friends to survive the chaos that is on the horizon.

The issue is obedience to God, which is the same as obedience to Jesus Christ. Will we as an individual set ourselves to obey Christ in every aspect of our life? If not, we ourselves are part of the Great Rebellion. We are a rebel against God.

And we cannot say "I am saved by grace and therefore do not have to obey God completely and sternly." Such an attitude will lead us to destruction.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)

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