The Apostasy

In verse 1 Paul say

1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

I believe this is what Paul want to address.

He wan to talk about when the rapture and second coming happen.



The deception is

3 Let no man deceive you by any means:

(b)for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

That day (rapture and second coming) come before falling away and the antichrist being reveal

The truth is

Verse 3 (b)

Rapture and second coming come after the antichrist being reveal or after gt

I think it has a lot to do with the pre trib rapture actually. Not that a falling away hasn’t already happened...but that hasn’t had anything to do with Jesus says that...


I think many pre tribbers will be besides themselves that they are all left behind and that they will have to go through the tribulation period. They will hate God for not taking them away from such a hard period they thought for some reason they were special enough to avoid and they will hate the Christians that knew all along that we would be going through it.

Yes, the reality is, it is unfortunate to be unprepared, like the virgins without oil in their lamps, whose faith will be unwilling to withstand the requirement of the kind of faith to be willing to withstand and suffer persecution for the testimony of Christ Yeshua.

John 16 (New King James Version)

33These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you [f]will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Matthew 13 (New King James Version)

21...For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

Revelation 13 (English Standard Version)

10If anyone is to be taken captive,
to captivity he goes;
if anyone is to be slain with the sword,
with the sword must he be slain.
Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 is essentially about the church experiencing a massive apostasy event. There are any number of theories what could cause the church to to fall away on a large scale, possibly a very good deception that is appealing enough to make people abandon their faith. Or perhaps some sort of event that leaves people disillusioned with God or upset with God. This can easily be spurred along by one of the many false doctrines that are circulating in the church today. The best candidate for causing a great apostasy right up to the time of the anti-Christ and great tribulation is most likely pretribulation rapture theology in my opinion.

Jesus said we are the salt of the Earth and the light of the world:
Matthew 5:13-15
13Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
14Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Is Jesus saying that, like salt, we prevent moral and spiritual decay in a fallen world? What happens to the light if the candle is snuffed out? Decay and darkness. Savourless salt and an unlit candle are good for nothing.

I think the below verses help explain 2 Thess. 2 more:
1 Timothy 4:1-2
1Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

2 Timothy 4:3-4
3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

My opinion, there is a rapture but happen after falling away and antichrist being reveal

2 tes 2

2 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

3 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;

I also believe many pre tribbers will be besides themselves that they are here when things on the earth go south big time. Many of these pretribbers, who have little root in the Word, will be those who hate those who having more root in the Word, were expecting the tribulation, and thus will have patience to experience the injustices that will abound for the faithful, while the pretribbers will mostly fall away, deny the truth, and side with the faithless.

Hi Runningman,
In the Olivet discourse prior to the abomination of desolations appearance, the world will be experiencing numerous dire situations, including famines, pestilences, wars, along with other plagues. When these things are occurring, is when the tribulation on the faithful is set to occur, while at the same time the falling away of those who are weak in the faith occurs, thus triggering their hatred for those whose faith is firm who do not fall away when times get tough.

That doesn't sound like the times of Noah Jesus describes. He said there won't even be a rumour of war.


Matt. 24-6
And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

This scenario is a closer picture
Luke 19:39-41




39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

That is a fine theory and I do not disagree with it. Read this and see if any ideas come to mind:

Matthew 13:18-23 (The Parable of the Sower Explained )
18Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. 19When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. 20But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; 21Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. 22He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. 23But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

You are quite right, that this isn't when times like those of Noah, or those of Lot are occurring. Those days of carnal euphoria come in after the abomination of desolation, who in allegiance with the beast and the dragon usher in a new system that the whole world who are not written in the lambs book of life (Revelation 13:4 & 8), will be goo goo gaga over.
If you go back over prior posts I've made here you will see that prior to the beasts ascension from the pit (Revelation 9), one third of earth's natural resources will have been destroyed in Revelation 8, which the Lord attributes to the love mankind has for the things his hands produce (Revelation 9:20).
In other words, things are pretty bad here on earth for nearly everyone in Revelation 8, which prior to the beasts ascension from the bottomless pit, correlates with the events in the Olivet discourse prior to the abomination of desolation's appearance in allegiance with the beast.
Many who are then weak in faith, with little root in the Word, will find themselves falling away, having expected to be raptured away, but instead finding themselves in the beginning of sorrows, when famines, pestilences, wars, and other plagues are affecting them directly.
They will see those who are not weak in the Word, be jealous of their continuing faith, and hate them.

Revelation 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

He that received the seed in stony places and receiveth it with joy, yet has not root (Matthew 24:20-21), are they who have little grasp of the Word. These individuals are they who cherry pick what they want from the Word, and reject that which they do not want to acknowledge. These individuals are they who will fall away when the beginning of sorrows are upon us, and will therefore hate those whose faith in the whole Word (having root), keeps them going on through the tribulation, even to their deaths.
There are numerous scriptures which say the faithful will experience the great tribulation, and yet the Matthew 24:20-21 crowd reject this Word.
There are also numerous scriptures which say that we must overcome our carnal inclination, and yet there are numerous OSAS individuals who reject this Word. This later group I see correlating with those in Matthew 24:22.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/images/pdfs/Open_Letter_to_POTUS.pdf
https://www.catholic.org/news/national/story.php?id=85039

OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
DONALD J. TRUMP
Sunday, October 25, 2020
Solemnity of Christ the King

Mister President, Allow me to address you at this hour in which the fate of the whole world is being threatened by a global conspiracy against God and humanity. I write to you as an Archbishop, as a Successor of the Apostles, as the former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America. I am writing to you in the midst of the silence of both civil and religious authorities. May you accept these words of mine as the “voice of one crying out in the desert” (Jn 1:23).

As I said when I wrote my letter to you in June, this historical moment sees the forces of Evil aligned in a battle without quarter against the forces of Good; forces of Evil that appear powerful and organized as they oppose the children of Light, who are disoriented and disorganized, abandoned by their temporal and spiritual leaders.

Daily we sense the attacks multiplying of those who want to destroy the very basis of society: the natural family, respect for human life, love of country, freedom of education and business. We see heads of nations and religious leaders pandering to this suicide of Western culture and its Christian soul, while the fundamental rights of citizens and believers are denied in the name of a health emergency that is revealing itself more and more fully as instrumental to the establishment of an inhuman faceless tyranny.

A global plan called the Great Reset is underway. Its architect is a global élite that wants to subdue all of humanity, imposing coercive measures with which to drastically limit individual freedoms and those of entire populations. In several nations this plan has already been approved and financed; in others it is still in an early stage. Behind the world leaders who are the accomplices and executors of this infernal project, there are unscrupulous characters who finance the World Economic Forum and Event 201, promoting their agenda.

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The purpose of the Great Reset is the imposition of a health dictatorship aiming at the imposition of liberticidal measures, hidden behind tempting promises of ensuring a universal income and cancelling individual debt. The price of these concessions from the International Monetary Fund will be the renunciation of private property and adherence to a program of vaccination against Covid-19 and Covid-21 promoted by Bill Gates with the collaboration of the main pharmaceutical groups. Beyond the enormous economic interests that motivate the promoters of the Great Reset, the imposition of the vaccination will be accompanied by the requirement of a health passport and a digital ID, with the consequent contact tracing of the population of the entire world. Those who do not accept these measures will be confined in detention camps or placed under house arrest, and all their assets will be confiscated.

Mr. President, I imagine that you are already aware that in some countries the Great Reset will be activated between the end of this year and the first trimester of 2021. For this purpose, further lockdowns are planned, which will be officially justified by a supposed second and third wave of the pandemic. You are well aware of the means that have been deployed to sow panic and legitimize draconian limitations on individual liberties, artfully provoking a world-wide economic crisis. In the intentions of its architects, this crisis will serve to make the recourse of nations to the Great Reset irreversible, thereby giving the final blow to a world whose existence and very memory they want to completely cancel. But this world, Mr. President, includes people, affections, institutions, faith, culture, traditions, and ideals: people and values that do not act like automatons, who do not obey like machines, because they are endowed with a soul and a heart, because they are tied together by a spiritual bond that draws its strength from above, from that God that our adversaries want to challenge, just as Lucifer did at the beginning of time with his “non serviam.”

Many people – as we well know – are annoyed by this reference to the clash between Good and Evil and the use of “apocalyptic” overtones, which according to them exasperates spirits and sharpens divisions. It is not surprising that the enemy is angered at being discovered just when he believes he has reached the citadel he seeks to conquer undisturbed. What is surprising, however, is that there is no one to sound the alarm. The reaction of the deep state to those who denounce its plan is broken and incoherent, but understandable. Just when the complicity of the mainstream media had succeeded in making the transition to the New World Order almost painless and unnoticed, all sorts of deceptions, scandals and crimes are coming to light

Until a few months ago, it was easy to smear as “conspiracy theorists” those who denounced these terrible plans, which we now see being carried out down to the smallest detail. No one, up until last February, would ever have thought that, in all of our cities, citizens would be arrested simply for wanting to walk down the street, to breathe, to want to keep their business open, to

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want to go to church on Sunday. Yet now it is happening all over the world, even in picture-postcard Italy that many Americans consider to be a small enchanted country, with its ancient monuments, its churches, its charming cities, its characteristic villages. And while the politicians are barricaded inside their palaces promulgating decrees like Persian satraps, businesses are failing, shops are closing, and people are prevented from living, traveling, working, and praying. The disastrous psychological consequences of this operation are already being seen, beginning with the suicides of desperate entrepreneurs and of our children, segregated from friends and classmates, told to follow their classes while sitting at home alone in front of a computer.

In Sacred Scripture, Saint Paul speaks to us of “the one who opposes” the manifestation of the mystery of iniquity, the kathèkon (2 Thess 2:6-7). In the religious sphere, this obstacle to evil is the Church, and in particular the papacy; in the political sphere, it is those who impede the establishment of the New World Order.

As is now clear, the one who occupies the Chair of Peter has betrayed his role from the very beginning in order to defend and promote the globalist ideology, supporting the agenda of the deep church, who chose him from its ranks.

Mr. President, you have clearly stated that you want to defend the nation – One Nation under God, fundamental liberties, and non-negotiable values that are denied and fought against today. It is you, dear President, who are “the one who opposes” the deep state, the final assault of the children of darkness.

For this reason, it is necessary that all people of good will be persuaded of the epochal importance of the imminent election: not so much for the sake of this or that political program, but because of the general inspiration of your action that best embodies – in this particular historical context – that world, our world, which they want to cancel by means of the lockdown. Your adversary is also our adversary: it is the Enemy of the human race, He who is “a murderer from the beginning” (Jn 8:44).

Around you are gathered with faith and courage those who consider you the final garrison against the world dictatorship. The alternative is to vote for a person who is manipulated by the deep state, gravely compromised by scandals and corruption, who will do to the United States what Jorge Mario Bergoglio is doing to the Church, Prime Minister Conte to Italy, President Macron to France, Prime Minster Sanchez to Spain, and so on. The blackmailable nature of Joe Biden – just like that of the prelates of the Vatican’s “magic circle” – will expose him to be used unscrupulously, allowing illegitimate powers to interfere in both domestic politics as well as international balances. It is obvious that those who manipulate him already have someone worse than him ready, with whom they will replace him as soon as the opportunity arises.

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@BenjaminN

‭‭

And yet, in the midst of this bleak picture, this apparently unstoppable advance of the “Invisible Enemy,” an element of hope emerges. The adversary does not know how to love, and it does not understand that it is not enough to assure a universal income or to cancel mortgages in order to subjugate the masses and convince them to be branded like cattle. This people, which for too long has endured the abuses of a hateful and tyrannical power, is rediscovering that it has a soul; it is understanding that it is not willing to exchange its freedom for the homogenization and cancellation of its identity; it is beginning to understand the value of familial and social ties, of the bonds of faith and culture that unite honest people. This Great Reset is destined to fail because those who planned it do not understand that there are still people ready to take to the streets to defend their rights, to protect their loved ones, to give a future to their children and grandchildren. The leveling inhumanity of the globalist project will shatter miserably in the face of the firm and courageous opposition of the children of Light. The enemy has Satan on its side, He who only knows how to hate. But on our side, we have the Lord Almighty, the God of armies arrayed for battle, and the Most Holy Virgin, who will crush the head of the ancient Serpent. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31).

Mr. President, you are well aware that, in this crucial hour, the United States of America is considered the defending wall against which the war declared by the advocates of globalism has been unleashed. Place your trust in the Lord, strengthened by the words of the Apostle Paul: “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13). To be an instrument of Divine Providence is a great responsibility, for which you will certainly receive all the graces of state that you need, since they are being fervently implored for you by the many people who support you with their prayers.

With this heavenly hope and the assurance of my prayer for you, for the First Lady, and for your collaborators, with all my heart I send you my blessing.

God bless the United States of America!

+ Carlo Maria Viganò
Tit. Archbishop of Ulpiana
Former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America

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There is only one divine Man that make up all of the Body of Christ's denominations' Christian faith, it is Christ Yeshua:

John 14 (New King James Version)

6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Matthew 16 (New King James Version)

16Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not [g]prevail against it. 19And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth [h]will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
20Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.

The apostle Peter's position in the early Christian Jerusalem (not Roman) Church - http://bit.ly/EarlyJerusalemChurch

1 Timothy 4 (New King James Version)

The Great Apostasy
1Now the Spirit [a]expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; 5for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.