I’d like to begin with a Scripture reading from 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, and I’ll comment a bit as we go along. “Now we beseech you, brethren, (the primary meaning of the word “beseech” in the Greek is “to interrogate.” In other words, Paul is grilling or quizzing the Thessalonians to see if they remember what he taught them previously. That’s what a good teacher does.) “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 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. (In other words, Paul is warning that people may come to you and say that they heard this directly from the Holy Spirit, or from someone else, or even if they say they read it in a letter purported to come from us, don’t believe it. And so Paul made it clear that Jesus wasn’t going to come back right away. And then he says why in verse 3) Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (the coming of the Lord) shall not come, except there come a falling away first (the words “falling away” means there would be a “defection from the truth” or a great apostasy within Christianity before Jesus returns), 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.”

This of course is a reference to the last day antichrist that would come into the temple of God, or the church. In Ephesians 2:21 Paul says that our bodies are the temple of God, and collectively as individuals we make up the church, don’t we? And so, the man of sin would come to the church and claim to be God, and therefore worthy to have divine authority and worship.

Now let’s think this through for a minute. We already know that this man of sin, and by the way, he’s given that designation, because above every other man upon earth, he is the most responsible for causing the majority of people to sin, which means he’s a commandment breaker, because that’s what sin is according to 1 John 3:4. But how would being “the man of sin” exalt him above God? That alone would not exalt anyone, would it? But how about this, wouldn’t someone who changes the law of God be able to claim that he is above God when God has said that His covenant, which has to do with His Ten Commandment Law, is unchangeable and that He will never “alters the thing that has gone out of His lips”? because that’s what it says in Psalm 89:34.

Now we know that no one can actually change God’s law, because it’s eternal. But wouldn’t someone who was able to make people think that he could, fool people into believing that he actually did it? And if he were successful at that, wouldn’t this antichrist be exalting himself above the unchangeable God? I mean, if someone was able to change an unchangeable law, wouldn’t that someone be more powerful than the One who made the law to begin with? Yes! This is what the man of sin claims, and this is indeed what he has done as we shall see.

Then in verse 5 Paul says, “Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?” This is the beseeching or quizzing taking place. Evidently there were some who had either forgotten or didn’t believe him, or perhaps there were those who were setting dates for the Lord to come like is being done by some today, but Paul says no, Jesus won’t be coming back anytime soon, because there are certain things that have to happen first, so don’t be deceived by anyone who says differently, no matter where they say that communication comes from.

Now let me just say something about date setting for a minute, because this has been done over and over again, especially over the past 200 years. If anyone sets a date or even says that the Lord has to come within one year, five years, or even 20 years, you can know that that person is a false prophet, because Jesus said, “no man knows the day or the hour.” What we can know for sure is that it’s near at hand, because we’ve been given signs and fulfilled prophecies that tell us in no uncertain terms that it won’t be much longer, but we are not to try to calculate an exact time or even a time within a certain period. All that will do is discourage people when it doesn’t come to pass, and I guarantee you that it won’t come to pass. And if someone keeps doing that, guess what? they will eventually set on a time that’s too far off, giving themselves and others the idea that they can put off surrendering all to Jesus while there’s still opportunity, because one day soon human probation is going to close, and then it will be forever too late, and no one knows when that’s going to happen. So you can totally dismiss anyone who does this.

In Verse 6 Paul says, “And now ye know what withholdeth (the word “withholdeth” means “to hold down or to hold fast.” In other words, there was a power that was keeping the man of sin in check until sometime in the future) that he might be revealed in his time (or when the time is right). For the mystery of iniquity (or the mystery of lawlessness or sin, which again has to do with breaking the commandments) doth already work (in other words, that much is already happening): only he who now letteth will let (the word “letteth” means to hold down, or to hold back, or to restrain. It’s the same Greek word as “withholdeth” and the words “will let” are italicized, which means they were added by the translators in an effort to clarify Paul’s meaning. All it means is that there was a power in Paul’s day that was holding back the man of sin from exerting his power and that he would be revealed sometime in the future), only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way.”

Now, what was it that was holding back the man of sin from overtaking the one holding him back, and who is this man of sin? Well, we’ve studied this in the past and we don’t have time to prove the point this morning, but the man of sin, the son of perdition, that wicked, this antichrist is the papacy with the pope at the head, and the one that was holding him back in Paul’s day was the pagan Roman government, that’s who was in power when Paul wrote this, and historically we know that the papacy did become more powerful than the civil government of Rome.

And so, the time would come, and did come, when papal Rome would indeed become more powerful than pagan Rome. The time came when the church ruled the government, and whenever that happens, religious persecution follows, and it certainly did, and we’ll get to that.

Verse 8 says, “And then (that is, when the man of sin can no longer be held back) then shall that Wicked be revealed (and he was revealed when he became more powerful than the government of Rome that was holding him back. And what happened when the papacy gained this power? The dark ages commenced in 538 AD and God’s true saints were persecuted for 1260 years, same as the 42 prophetic months of Revelation 13:5 and the 3 1/2 prophetic years of Daniel 7:25, which ended in 1798 when the pope was taken captive by Napoleon’s army. These are all historical facts if you want to take the time to search it out. Then 131 years later in 1929 the deadly wound the papacy received when the pope was taken captive, was healed when Benito Mussolini, Prime Minister of Italy, signed a concordat, called the Lateran pact or treaty with the man of sin, restoring that lost power to the papacy, according to Revelation 13:12. But what’s going to happen to him in the end? The last part of verse 8 says, “whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” And so, we don’t want to have anything to do with the papacy, because if we do, we will suffer the same fate. According to what we just read, the man of sin will be able to exercise his power to deceive right up to the time when Jesus comes and makes an end of him.

Now here’s the main point I wanted to get to this morning. What we’ve read so far is just for context so we know who we’re talking about. Now let’s read and discuss verses 9-12. “Even him (still speaking of the man of sin), whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.” (And so it’s obvious that Satan is in control of this man of sin, which means he’s possessed by an evil spirit.) He comes “with all power and signs and lying wonders. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that (do what?) perish; because (now here’s the punchline) because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” Notice, it doesn’t say they will perish because they received not the truth, but because they received not the love of the truth, and there’s a huge difference.

Friends, it’s not enough to just know the truth. How many times have we heard that? We must love it! Do you love the truth? If you don’t, you will be among those who will be deceived and perish, that’s the implication in these verses. If we don’t love the truth, we will perish, that’s how important it is.

Now let me give you an example of why this is true. Who is it that will be able to obey the truth from the heart, the one who does it because he knows he should, or because he thinks he has to, or the one who loves it, and loves the One it represents? The answer is pretty obvious, isn’t it? The one who obeys the truth from a heart of love is the only one who will be able to stop transgressing God’s law from the heart, and if we don’t stop, we are following in the footsteps of the man of sin, and we will perish right along with him.

The question is, where does that kind of love come from, and how can it be obtained? Well it’s very simple, it comes from the One who died so that we could live, and live eternally. We need to understand that Jesus is the truth, and He said, “If you love me, (do what?) keep my commandments.” You see, no one can keep the commandments unless they love those commandments and love the One who wrote them on tables of stone with His own finger. He made them for our benefit and not just as a restriction. Is there a difference? There’s a big difference!

When you love to do something, no one has to force you to do it, do they? No. When you love to do something, you will find every opportunity to do whatever it is you love, but if you don’t love it, you will find every opportunity to get out of it. Does that make sense? Someone has said, “If you love your job you’ll never have to work a day in your life, but if you hate your job, you’ll dread going there every time you go. And it’s the same way with having a love of the truth or not.

So, if a person doesn’t receive the love of the truth, what do they love? They love a lie. Verses 11, 12 says, “And for this cause (because they didn’t love the truth) 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.”

Now these two verses are just loaded with information we need to understand, but before we unpack them I want to back up and look more closely at verse 9 where Paul says the coming of the man of sin would be “with all power and signs and lying wonders.”

Not only is the man of sin Satan’s righthand man, but he will be given power through signs and lying wonders. What do you suppose some of these signs and lying wonders could be? Well, there are probably too many to count, but I can think of a few. Do you think it’s possible for  evil angels to impersonate people who have died and make themselves visible to human eyes? Without a doubt! That’s why it’s important for us to understand the Bible’s teaching on the state of the dead. If a person believes that when one dies they’re really not dead, but exist in some other form or dimension, why should it be a strange thing for them to be able to communicate with them? And if they do communicate with them, are they going to communicate the truth, or will it be “lying wonders?” The testimony of Scripture is that it will be a lying wonder. Isaiah 8:19 warns against any such communication with the dead, because the dead really are dead, and they’re being impersonated by demons who will lie to you. Then in the next verse, verse 20 Isaiah says, “To the law (the Ten Commandment law) and to the testimony (of the rest of the Bible), if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Not even a little bit! If the Bible teaches that “the dead know not anything”, as it says in Ecclesiastes 9:5, then we need to believe that, and leave all such communication with the so called dead alone. Pope John Paul was loved by many people, but if he were to seemingly come back to life, would he tell the truth, or would he display the power of signs and lying wonders? It would be signs and lying wonders, wouldn’t it? Because it wouldn’t be John Paul at all, but the spirits of devils working miracles.

This is also why it’s important for us to understand the Bible’s teaching about the non-immortality of the soul. In other words, the soul is not immortal and something that lives on after the body dies. The testimony of Scripture is that God is the only one who has immortality, as it says in 1 Timothy 6:16, and He doesn’t give it to anyone, according to 1 Corinthians 15:53, until the resurrection takes place when Jesus returns.

This is also why it’s important to understand the Bible’s teaching about hell fire. The teaching of an eternally burning hell is another invention of the devil, because if the dead aren’t really dead and the soul is immortal, then it has to have a place to go if it doesn’t go to heaven. However, in Revelation 20:9 it says when all the wicked are raised from the dead at the end of the thousand years, according to verse 5, fire is going to come down from God out of heaven and devour those who are trying to take the holy city, that’s hell fire and it hasn’t happened yet, and the word “devoured” means that they will be no more. Obadiah 1:16 says the wicked “shall be as though they had not been”, and Malachi 4:3 says the wicked will be ashes under the souls of righteous feet.

And think about this, if Satan is the one behind the man of sin, which he is according to what we’ve already read, then could it be that the pope will help his 1.5 billion followers to look to Satan as the Lord himself as the counterfeit Christ? Think about it. The pope claims to be the vicar of Christ on earth. The word “Vicar” means “to take the place of” or a substitute. Until Satan comes to counterfeit Christ, the pope is the dupe of the devil, and Satan will not allow anyone to continue on in his coveted spot when he comes as the counterfeit christ. Oh pastor Jones, you’re just making that up! Am I?

Remember what Lucifer said his goal was in Isaiah 14:13, 14? He said, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” That’s what Satan has always wanted; that’s what the controversy between Christ and Satan is all about. When the devil is done with the pope, he will be discarded like a piece of trash. That’s how much Satan cares about those he uses for his own purpose.

Never forget it. The devil has a counterfeit, or an opposite teaching for every truth in God’s word, so why wouldn’t he try to impersonate Jesus before the real advent of Christ? I think we would be naïve to think he wouldn’t.

Remember how the serpent said the exact opposite of what God told Adam and Eve? God said the innocent pair could eat of every tree in the Garden except one, that was their test, and if they failed they would what? They would surely die. But what did the devil say? Basically he said God lied to you. You won’t die, you’ll become like God, and the devil has been doing this same kind of thing with everything else God has said. He is a master at twisting God’s words around to mean just the opposite, and we are no match for him, except as we cling to our Bibles and believe what it says without question.

Let me ask you this, why do you think the Bible describes in detail how Jesus will come if there wasn’t going to be an effort to counterfeit it? The only people that will be fooled by Satan claiming to be Christ are those who don’t love the truth enough to study it to find out what the differences are. Remember, it was by satanic aid that Pharaoh’s magicians were able to counterfeit the work of God, and Paul testifies that before the second advent of Christ there will be similar manifestations of satanic power.

Also the apostle John, in Revelation 13:13, 14 describes the miracle-working power of the beast that will be manifested in the last days when he says, “He doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do.” Notice, God says Satan, working through the beast, has the power to do miracles. It’s not something he pretends to do, or an illusion, or trickery like a magician you might see on a stage. He can actually do supernatural things. There are many people today who think miracles can only be performed by God, and if that’s their thinking, they will be fooled by the miracles the devil has power to do.

We are approaching the end of this earth’s history friends, and Satan is working as never before. Through the papacy he’s trying to act as the director of the Christian world, and is represented as walking about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. But here’s the good news, there’s a limit beyond which Satan cannot go. He may in appearance look like Christ, but he will not be able to counterfeit the manner in which Jesus will come. When Christ comes it will be with “power and great glory, accompanied by ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands” of angels. And remember this, the counterfeit always comes before the real thing, otherwise it would be too late for the counterfeit to work.

The Bible says, “As the lightening comes out of the east and shines even unto the west, so shall the coming of the Lord be.” Satan may have power to perform miracles, but this is beyond his power to do, because the God of heaven, who is more powerful, won’t permit it.

And here’s another thing to remember, when Jesus comes His feet will not touch the ground. According to 1 Thessalonians 4:17 the righteous dead will be raised, and afterward the righteous living, and together they are going to meet the Lord in the air, which means when Satan personates Christ, he will have to do it here on earth. He may look like Jesus in appearance and say some of the same gracious words He spoke when He was here 2000 years ago, but when the devil, in his assumed character of Christ, declares that the seventh day Sabbath has been changed to Sunday, this is when he will expose himself to everyone who knows better. How can I says that? I can say that because we already know that the last day deception of antichrist has something to do with God’s law or he wouldn’t be called “the man of sin”, or the man who breaks the law, and the only commandment of the ten that the Christian world doesn’t accept is the seventh day Sabbath, the one the “man of sin” has changed to Sunday, so we know that that will be the point of contention. And so it wouldn’t make sense for Satan not to try to counterfeit the second coming of Christ and claim the authority to make the change in the law that he professes to have the power to do.

In Acts 1:11 the angel told the disciples that Jesus is coming back just like He left, with the clouds, and Revelation 1:7 says every eye will see Him when He comes, and so there will be no “secret rapture” as is being taught today. When Jesus comes everyone will know it and see it, and no one will have to tell us about it. Can Satan counterfeit this? Absolutely not! In Matthew 24 Jesus warned about false christ’s that would come and someone would say he’s over here or over there, or in the desert or in a secret chamber somewhere, and Jesus said, “believe them not.” Why did Jesus say that? It’s because Satan does not have the ability to come the way Jesus is going to come, plain and simple.

I think we ought to read that and get it right from Lord Himself. Matthew 24:24-27, “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. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. (Now Jesus is going to tell us how He is going to come and how Satan is not and cannot come) For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” There is so much information about the second coming of Christ that no one needs to be deceived.

Besides the Sabbath/Sunday issue, another way we will be able to know the genuine from the false, is that Satan will turn the people from the law of God by convincing them that they are saved in sin, because they’ve been fooled into thinking that it’s impossible to keep the law, and their false shepherds have given them permission to think that way. So for them the Sabbath/Sunday controversy isn’t a problem at all, because they believe that obedience to the law of God as a whole is not necessary or even possible, and this group will fall right in line with whatever their leaders tell them they must do.

And secondly, for those who believe obedience is important, he will convince them that the law has been changed, and as already mentioned, there’s only one commandment of the ten that Satan has drilled into people’s heads for many centuries through the man of sin, and one that even the Protestant world refuses to acknowledge, and that’s number four, the seventh-day Sabbath. The Papacy changed the day centuries ago, she freely admits it, and this she claims as, guess what? The “mark of her authority.” Think about it, and I belabor this point because it’s so important to understand. There’s no true Christian anywhere that has a problem with nine of the ten commandments, but with number four they do have a problem. Why do you suppose that is? God didn’t change it, because the Bible says He never changes. In fact He said to “remember” it. Do you suppose God knew ahead of time that people would forget? He didn’t say remember the other nine, did He? No, because He knew the Christian world would have no problem with them, but that fourth one, well what difference does it really make?

Did you know that you could worship a door knob and still keep nine of the ten commandments? Why is that? It’s because only the fourth commandment tells you who you are worshipping. He’s the Creator of heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is.” None of the other commandments tells you who it is. Only number four.

Now you’ve probably heard the argument that the reason for Sunday sacredness is because of the resurrection. But is that true? Now I understand that the resurrection is an important event, because without it we have no hope, but there’s not a single verse in God’s holy word that says we should commemorate that day every week in place of the seventh day God blessed and sanctified the last day of creation week. Besides, baptism is the memorial of the resurrection not Sunday. Read Romans 6. Yes, the resurrection happened sometime during the hours of the first day of the week, but it’s the event that’s important, not the day. Now why is baptism the memorial of the resurrection rather than Sunday? It’s because baptism represents the death and burial of the old man of sin, or our sinful nature, and then being raised out of that watery grave to walk in newness of life. That’s the memorial of the resurrection. Sunday is nothing more than one of the 6 working days, and that’s all it’s ever been.

Now what difference does it make, Sabbath or Sunday. Well, it’s very simple. Since obedience to the fourth commandment is one of the ten, and to break even one is sin, according to James 2:10, then it follows that the day we keep holy is the difference between sin and righteousness. Not that there’s anything wrong with going to church and worshipping on Sunday or any other day of the week for that matter, but it’s the violation of the seventh day Sabbath that’s the problem. You see, the Sabbath is not only one of the commandments, but it’s a test God has placed in the center of His law in order to evaluate the loyalty of those who really have “the love of the truth.”

It’s much like the test God gave to our first parents in their beautiful garden home. The Bible doesn’t say there was anything wrong with the fruit on the tree in the midst of the Garden, the wrong was simply in disobeying what God said, and it’s no different with the Sabbath. We should do what God says rather than what man says, and regardless of what everybody else does.

And so, Sunday sacredness is the papacy’s mark, that’s what they claim, and all who accept it in place of the seventh day Sabbath when it’s enforced by law, and it will be, will receive that mark in their foreheads, or upon their character, and those who go along with it to be able to continue to buy and sell, even when they know better, will receive it in their right hand, because the hand represents power do, power to work, power to make money, which also means those who don’t keep the man-made sabbath will become the real sinners in the eyes of the law and will have to be dealt with as such. That’s why Revelation 13:15 says, “As many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” You see, it’s all about worship! It’s not about having a literal mark or a tattoo stamped upon your skin. It’s all about who are you going to worship and obey.

Now, if you’re hearing all this for the first time, it may not seem like this could  never happen, but I can assure you that the time is coming, when just as in the past,  Sunday sacredness will be enforced by civil law when the church and state unite like what happened when the papacy first gained power over the pagan Roman Empire centuries ago. And it will be the Protestant Sunday churches in America that will have made an image to the Roman beast who will do the papacy’s bidding, and all who fall for this lie and reject the true Sabbath will receive the Sunday mark of the papal beast.

If you doubt what I’m saying I would encourage you to go to my YouTube channel at watchgospelworkers (all one word with no spaces) and listen to the sermon titled “America in Prophecy”, because the United Sates will be foremost in cooperating with the papacy in trampling upon the law of God, and you will hear the historical and Biblical truth about this subject, and I even quote the papacy itself as to how and when and why the day of worship was changed.

And so yes, Satan will impersonate Jesus Christ, because his hatred for Jesus and His followers will compel him to do it, and when he does, the world that has rejected the love of the truth will receive him as King of kings, and Lord of lords. The question is, will you?

If we’re not going to be fooled, we must study the word of God for ourselves, that when the miracle-working power of Satan is displayed and the enemy comes as an angel of light, we might be able to distinguish between the genuine work of God and the imitative work of the powers of darkness.

And know this also, the Bible will never be superseded by miraculous manifestations. In other words, a genuine miracle from God will never contradict what God has already said in His word. If the Bible says the seventh day is the Sabbath and one working miracles says that Sunday is the Sabbath, then you can know that it’s the miracle working power of Satan. If one working miracles claims to be able to communicate with the dead when the Bible says, “the dead know not anything”, you can know that this is not coming from any credible source.

In 1 Kings 18:38 it says fire came down from God and consumed Elijah’s sacrifice when all the prophets of Baal couldn’t get their gods to do it, remember that? God did this to show that He was the true God and prevented Satan, through the false prophets, from doing it. But when we get to Revelation 13:13 it says that the second beast, apostate Protestantism in America, when it causes people to worship the first beast, the papacy, will do great wonders, and actually will be able to make fire come down from the sky on the earth in the sight of men.

And so, this will be another one of those signs and wonders the devil will be able to perform in order to convince people that he is the true Christ, but this time God won’t stop it. This time He will allow Satan to do it, but those who know the Scriptures won’t be fooled, while those who don’t will swallow it hook, line, and sinker.

And here’s another important point, don’t ever think that the devil is stupid. So closely will his counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Scriptures. According to the Bible every statement and every miracle must be tested, because the apostle Paul makes it clear that in the last days many will turn away from the truth and give heed to what? Seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.

Now back to 2 Thessalonians 2:11 for a minute, because there’s more truth we need to love and understand here. Paul says, “And for this cause (that is, because they didn’t have the love of the truth) God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: verse 12, That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had (what?) pleasure in unrighteousness.” We’ll come back to what it means to have “pleasure in unrighteousness” in just a minute, but first I’d like to talk about what it means to believe “a lie.” The words “a lie” would be better translated “the lie” without doing violence to the Scriptures, because this is a specific lie and not just any lie as verse 12 brings out. If this lie is going to cause all who believe it to be deluded and perish, then don’t you think God would want us to know what it is?

In Verse 12 Paul says the reason people will receive “strong delusion and be damned is because they “had pleasure in unrighteousness.” And what is unrighteousness? 1 John 5:17 says, “all unrighteousness is sin”, and 1 John 3:4 says, “sin is the transgression of the law.” But what I want to zero in on is the word “pleasure.” According to the Greek, the word “pleasure” here is made up of two other Greek words meaning “to think well of”, or “to approve.” In other words, those who believe “the lie” believe that they are approved of God even while they are transgressing  the law. This is the same as believing that one can be in a saving relationship with Jesus while they are committing sin. That’s the lie! This is what the papacy teaches, and this is what nearly every Protestant church believes and teaches today. This is why I said earlier that the reason the pope is called the man of sin, is because He is foremost responsible for propagating this big lie, and her harlot Protestant daughters are following blindly along.

Part of the long list of sins in these last days Paul speaks of in 2 Timothy 3:4 is that people would be, “Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” And why are they lovers of pleasures? Because they don’t have “the love of the truth.” There are only two sides to the question, people love the truth or they love sin.

So you see dear friends, people cannot with impunity reject the warnings that God in mercy sends them, because when they do, the Holy Spirit withdraws from them, leaving them to the deceptions they love. That’s how God sends them strong delusion to believe the lie.

When a person becomes deluded, they no longer have spiritual discernment. Because of repeatedly ignoring the Holy Spirit’s warnings upon the conscience, it becomes seared as with a hot iron. In other words, their conscience doesn’t bother them anymore and they can actually believe the lie and think they’re on their way to heaven.

Don’t you suppose the Catholic priests that burned people at the stake and tortured them unmercifully in bygone days thought they were doing God’s service? Didn’t they think they were candidates for heaven while they lit the flames and watched people burn? Friends, when the Holy Spirit withdraws from a person, they can become very cruel, and in their cruelty they can think they are the saints of God. It happened in the past, and similar things are going to happen in the near future. That’s the testimony of God’s word.

And here’s one last thing before we close, if you love the truth, it won’t be hard to have a daily devotional life and spend quality time with God every day in the study of His word. In Psalm 119:97 David said, “O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.”

You see dear friends, it’s God’s design that your love for the truth will grow in direct proportion to how much time you spend with Him in His word, and as I already stated, if you really love something it’s hard for something else to drag you away from it. But the devil will try, oh he will try in a thousand different ways and in a multitude of different forms to interest you in other things, and they can even be good things, but we must not allow that to happen.

It’s by beholding Christ that we become changed, and the way we behold Him is through His word. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass (or in a mirror) the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Oh, I want that change, don’t you? It’s within the reach of all of us to become so changed that the very image of Christ will be formed within, the hope of glory. And friends, when that happens and we don’t allow the devil to take it away from us, we won’t have to worry about all the signs and lying wonders that will come upon those who are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Develop “the love of the truth”, the love of Jesus if you will, and you will be changed into His image, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.

Sermon Notes in pdf  THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH