Satan is a pipsqueak. He can have no power over us if we audibly renounce him in the name of Jesus Christ. But if we underestimate his power, as feeble as it is over born again believers, we might find ourselves in hot water. Let's explore just how.
2 Thessalonians 2:4
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.1) When pondering the verses above, consider a Christian that proudly declares he is a "self-made man". While this may be a little simplistic, and perhaps seem somewhat unfair, consider how it measures up to scripture.
"...exalteth himself above all that is called God..."
Remember what we discovered about letting doctrine trump the truth of God's Word:
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 2) What about when we are driven by our egos? We know what God wants:
Micah 6:8
He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?Yet sometimes we march off in lockstep with Satan, putting him at the helm, knowing full well what is right. Perhaps even pointing our fingers in judgment of other persons (shewing) to boot.
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Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God"
3) Consider the slim majority of nicolaitan bishops in the Episcopal Church (ECUSA) "House of Bishops", that ordained a homosexual priest as bishop, who had divorced his wife, abandoned the home of his wife and two minor daughters, and was shacked up with his boyfriend when ordained, in spite of the requirements for Bishop clearly detailed in scripture.
Professing themselves to be wise enough to know better than God's Holy Word, they went exactly contrary to it regarding the qualifications for bishop, in respect to the individual they ordained. Did they exhault themselves above all that is called God?
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.Were they acting as GOD? Taking God's place by reinterpreting God's Holy Word to conform to this world?
For those who aren't familiar with God's requirements for Bishop they can be found directly on this link to the BLB.
It should have been no surprise then that just as the bishop related scriptures indicate, it would seem he was prone to the "snare of the devil", as he checked himself in to an alcohol rehab center just a couple of years later.
While the church has been dead in Europe for much longer, the falling away, or apostasy of the Church, has been going on double time in the U.S. since 1948 and entry into Daniel's "time of the end", punctuated by the founding of the World Council of Churches in 1948, with stated socialist goals, is perhaps best known for spending Church funds to prop up tin-horn dictators and leaders of communist countries that oppress their people. Also marking the U.S. entry into the "time of the end" was the Everson decision in 1947 with the so-called "separation of Church and State" (had only been brought before the courts on two other occasions in the prior 150 years), followed by the McCollum decision in 1948, which ended religious instruction in schools. It is more difficult to see the falling away, or apostasy, if we believe that the man of sin is some indistinct individual feature of the future, as a result of our failure to understand where the "man of sin" sitteth.
4) Some Christians don't hesitate to proclaim God's judgment on those of our devout Jewish Brethren, from whose eyes the Lord has not yet lifted the "spirit of slumber" (and for some will not lift it until the fullness of the nations comes in), and as a result don't yet recognize Jesus as their Messiah.
You will find no shortage in the Church that will state flat out that Jews are headed to perdition if they don't recognize Jesus is their Messiah. In my parents generation this would have been unthinkable. At worst they would have chalked it up as the mystery that it is, since they knew that the Jews were God's chosen people, and He had an everlasting covenant with them. But as the Church moved deeper into the falling away, beginning about mid-20th century, things changed.
Consider again the Christian doing the judging of our devout Jewish Brethren:
Romans 11:33
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable [are] his judgments, and his ways past finding out!Has the Christian that proclaimed judgment on our Jewish Brethren "opposeth" by going directly against what we learn from God's Holy Word?
Did he "exalteth himself above all that is called God"? John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And by so doing "shewing" himself that he is God?
Scroll down for Strong's on "shewing" ("to point away from oneself").
"himself that he is God"? Does he take God's place by standing in judgment as God?
Has that regenerate Christian allowed Satan, aka that man of sin, aka the son of perdition (only other reference in scripture to son of perdition is Judas), to sitteth in his temple of God? Does it even occur to the 20th century Church to take an introspective look for the man of sin, or is it too distracted by picking up a torch and pitchfork and chasing after some future silver screen boogeyman?
5) What about a Christian husband that may misunderstand his "authority" over his wife. If his wife is regenerate and walking in her own lead of the Holy Spirit, and he makes demands that she stop attending a particular church, or go to a church of his choosing, or not attend at all, is his will then preempting the lead of the Holy Spirit in her life? Wouldn't his exercising his will, over her Holy Spirit lead, presume that his understanding is necessarily correct? What if he's wrong? How can there be so many denominations if everyone is correct in detail? The following verse qualifies itself:
Ephesians 5:23
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Isn't it about how best to love our wives by allowing the Holy Spirit to lead them down their own path? If allowed, might the Holy Spirit merge those paths eventually?
If a husband sees only the first part, his relationship with his wife risks being like that prescribed by the Koran: (Sura 2:223) your wives are as tilth (farmland) unto you; so approach your tilth when or how ye will.
6) What about within the corporate body of Christ? Here is Todd Bentley's way out of order "healing" ministry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN9Ay4QAtW8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCcGaTRwG_4Before he removed it from his website he claimed visitations by a 9' tall angel named Emma.
2Cr 11:14
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.Prior to his show he would lay on the stage and vibrate for a considerably long time.
He wound up with an adulterous relationship with a staff member and abandoned that "ministry".
Was it in order? No. We're supposed to go to our elders for laying on of hands. Likely the reason for the plural is so that no one man is tempted to take credit for the healing.
Here is a very direct manifestation of this section of 2 Thessalonians. Speaking in tongues is a gift of the spirit. Some Churches understand this as a blessing, and with all appropriate gravity. In the summer of 2007 I visited a church that declares that speaking in tongues is the proof that a person is saved, an experience described on this link.
Some Churches view speaking in tongues more casually, but this is serious business.
THE BIBLE WOULD SEEM SPECIFIC ABOUT THIS.
1 John 4:1
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.1 John 4:2
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:1 John 4:3
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.If we don't test or "try the spirits" we are inviting Satan right into our congregation, and encouraging him to remain seated in that individual's temple of God, if the tongues are coming from unclean spirits.
Ask the spirit - not the person - to confess that Jesus Christ the Son of God IS come in the flesh. An atheist, Muslim, or evil spirit, can readily agree that Jesus Christ did, has, or was, come in the flesh, simply because it is a widely recognized historical fact.
(Note: When tongues are to be tested in a born again individual, it is the spirit that has to be tested, not the person.)
Not uncommonly these spirits, that sitteth in the temple of God - the regenerate Christian - and right there in the congregation, are found to be unclean spirits. When unclean spirits are tried, and the spirit is thus found out, the person that had been speaking that tongue may fall to the floor in fetal position, with spastic convulsions, hands curled up, etc. Could this be explained here?:
1Timothy 4:1
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;
There are some excellent sources to help us understand this spirit filled world in which we live. Read "Bondage Breaker" by Neil Anderson. This book is written by a Christian counselor regarding his years of experience with how evil spirits can haunt regenerate Christians lives, often unrecognized by the individual, and causing painful, misunderstood grief, in that person for years.
We also learn that many persons that house, and were well familiar with these spirits, thought they were of God and the Holy Spirit, when they were unclean or demonic. THIS IS WHY IT MAY BE MOST IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND WHO THE MAN OF SIN IS. These unclean spirits may enter as a result of severe abuse at an early age (MPD), by inadvertent invitation, and sometimes by ancestral assignment, if there were spiritualists or Satanists in the last few family generations.
7) Regenerate believers with multiple personality disorder sometimes have a host of spirits, some unclean, and some demonic, while others operate in the capacity of guardians, or protectors, doing their best to maintain order within the community of alternates. In the vast majority of cases these folks were physically or sexually abused at extremely early ages and created an alternate reality as their only means of escape. As many as 1 in 100 of us may suffer from MPD. The only clue for self-diagnosis by the sufferer is to notice that they miss large blocks of time.
"Shining Man With Hurt Hands", by Ellis Skolfield is about his online ministry that helped many poor sufferers with MPD, recover their monominds, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Mr Skolfield spent over 8000 hours in online chat with MPDs toward that effort. He worked with one sufferer that had as many as 350 alternate personalities. This book moved me more deeply than any book I have ever read. It will offer you a view straight into the spirit world. It is available FREE in PDF directly at this link:
http://www.fish-house.com/pdf/ShiningMan.pdfAre some folks so doctrinally preoccupied with picking up a pitchfork in one hand and a torch in the other, running to and fro, looking for some future "man of sin", some - someday - "son of perdition", that they perhaps can't see him, right before them?
2 Thessalonians 2:4
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."shewing himself that he is God." (link to this spot)
Strong's:
http://www.olivetree.com/cgi-bin/EnglishBible.htmshewing
New Testament Greek Definition:
584 apodeiknumi {ap-od-ike'-noo-mee}
from 575 and 1166;; v
AV - approve 1, prove 1, set forth 1, show 1; 4
1) to point away from one's self, to point out, show forth, to
expose to view, exhibit
2) to declare, to show, to prove what kind of person anyone is,
to prove by arguments, demonstrate
When Christians make judgments in regard to other persons, particularly when judging the condition of another's heart, like Christians that tend to be "wise in their conceits" regarding our Jewish brethren for example, have we then assumed the role of God, since we cannot know God's judgments? When we judge others don't we exalt ourselves above God by so doing? Have we then seated the man of sin?
Romans 11:33
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable [are] his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
