Part #04 of “The Mystery of Iniquity”
“Counterfeit is the order of day” in the world we live in.
We are living in days of mass counterfeit affecting the lives of people in just about every area of their lives.
There is a counterfeit to everything that is out there, from the smallest of products to men in high places.
There is not a person on this planet who has not come across a counterfeit on more than a few occasions.
And we all know what a counterfeit is.
It’s something made in exact imitation of something valuable with the intention to deceive and defraud.
That is the perfect dictionary meaning of a counterfeit.
We live in a world which has come to a place with a commercial price tag attached to everything.
Be it natural, physical or spiritual, it comes with a price tag.
That is why counterfeit currency in all nations are rampant in our times.
And we all know the reasons for counterfeit, which are endless, so we won’t get into it.
But just like ‘iniquity’, counterfeit has an endless list of connotations attached to it.
Fake, forged, spurious, phoney, copied, replica, fraud, rip-off, pirated are just a few that come under that banner of counterfeit.
And the ‘only way’ to recognize a counterfeit, is to really know and be totally familiar with the ‘original’.
So, here is the thing:
Because counterfeit is the prime order of the day, it is also the key player in the ‘mystery of iniquity’.
A Falling Away
In CRUMB 0130 we talked about a ‘falling away’, with strong exhortation from the Apostle Paul, ‘not to be deceived’.
And just like a counterfeit, the only way ‘not to be deceived’ is to know and familiarize ourselves with ‘the truth’.
For only if we know the real thing, can we spot the deception and counterfeit.
This is especially crucial more than ever in these times, as there some nasty things on the way.
And they are close, closer than we can imagine, and there is no human ‘contingency plan’ to cater for it.
This mystery of iniquity that is about to manifest itself in short order.
It’s effectively at work behinds the scenes, exceedingly and far more than what meets the eye.
And this ‘falling away’, which speaks of ‘apostasy’, is the vehicle and driving force to bring it to a head and total fruition.
Not just in the secular world, but very much within professing Christendom too.
This may not go down well with several professing Christians, but Scripture, ‘WHICH NEVER LIES’, has clearly laid it out.
In The Latter Times
The Apostle Paul by revelation, in the words of the Holy Spirit Himself, tells us that “In the latter times some shall depart from the faith” [1 Timothy 4:1].
And the evidence of that revelation is clearly visible all around us.
Much of Christendom, which was supposed be a true beacon of light to a lost and suffering world out there…..
….has instead, over time, been caught up and entangled in the web of the world.
And the result has been one of complacency, lack of zeal, true knowledge and true spiritual power.
And unfortunately, to a point where one can’t tell the difference any more.
This beacon of light, if not totally put out, has certainly been dimmed down to a ray or two.
So, is God surprised by all this?
Certainly not! Not by any means.
Everything, according to God’s determinate counsel and foreknowledge, without even remotely infringing the free will of men and nations, is right on track.
The Power Of The Remnant
Throughout human history, from its inception, God has only ever enjoyed the remnant, instead of the majority.
The majority of men in every era, have turned their backs on God, choosing to go their own way.
There were just but a few, which speaks of a ‘remnant’, that God could work through as instruments is His Hands.
A small minority of people who would remain faithful to Him.
God can only operate through men who are willing, even though they may just a handful.
That is enough for Him bring His plans to total fruition.
Before the flood, from amongst the entire human race then, ‘only eight’, Noah and his family, remained faithful to God.
And that was enough for God to keep His plan moving forward.
God Forsaken In Israel’s History
At one point in Israel’s history, who were God’s covenant people, they had forsaken Him and killed all their prophets.
Elijah the prophet thought he was the only one left, he was scared to bits, his life being in danger.
“I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts”, He tells God in [1 Kings 19:14].
“Because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword”
“And I”, he tells the LORD, “I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
Then after giving Elijah His instructions, God tells him in [1 Kings 19:18].
“Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel”, He says.
“All the knees which have not bowed unto Baal…..”, which was a man-made false pagan deity of worship.
But what was seven thousand in comparison to five to seven million of Israel’s population?
‘Just a remnant’, but that was enough for God to keep His plan of redemption going and moving forward.
It was only through remnants, as instruments in His Hand, God wrought a full judicial redemption for the entire human race.
This redemption, through the Person of the Son, Jesus Christ came to full fruition at the ‘Cross of Calvary’.
It’s where, “Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried, and then rose victoriously over sin, Satan, hell and death”…….
…..which is the Gospel, the only good news of our eternal hope of salvation [1 Corinthians 15:1-4].
And this event became ‘the spiritual centre’ of all that preceded and that which was to follow, to this very day.
That is the ‘power of a remnant’ and it has not changed!
The Body Of Christ
That remaining ray or two from the dimmed-out light, is the remnant, which is the ‘Body of Christ’.
That universal body of believers from all corners of the earth, who have heart-placed their faith in the Gospel.
And their very existence alone plays a ‘vital and pivotal role’ in God’s scheme of things in the very hour we live in today.
There is no power in hell that can remove them, they have a security that is way higher than Z+.
Oh, they can kill the body of a few but not the soul, and what God has accomplished [Matthew 10:28].
Only God can and ‘will’ take them ‘out of the way’ when that moment of reckoning comes.
When that ‘man of sin’, the ‘son of perdition’, the anti-Christ has to be revealed [2 Thessalonians 2:3].
The Mystery Of Iniquity At Work
“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work:”, Paul the Apostle says categorically in [2 Thessalonians 2:7].
Paul says, “For the mystery”, (or the secret), “of iniquity doth already work.”
The ‘Amplified version’ says:
“For the mystery of lawlessness [rebellion against divine authority and the coming reign of lawlessness] is already at work.
When did this mystery of iniquity or lawlessness against Divine Authority begin?
Basically, at the ‘Tower of Babel’, which we addressed in CRUMB 0129.
Oh, we know it goes back to the Garden of Eden.
But we also know that God started afresh with Noah and his family after the flood.
So, it was at the Tower of Babel, when all things began.
And they are now reaching a crescendo, right before our very eyes.
The explosion in the Oriental religions, the New Age and LBGT movements.
And what’s the heart and soul of the New Age movement?
That we can become our own god!
This whole idea of positive thinking sounded so good a few years ago.
But, we can now expose it now for what it really is.
It’s ‘New Ageism’, the whole concept being that you can become your own god.
And if you can become your own god, then Who do you not need?
The Real One! And this is what is exploding all around us.
It’s come into the churches and people are blind to it.
It’s the mystery of iniquity already at work.
He Who Letteth
Now The Apostle Paul continues in [2 Thessalonians 2:7], making a very telling and revealing statement:
“Only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.”
Once again, the ‘Amplified version’ puts it like this:
“But it is restrained, only until he who now restrains it is taken out of the way.”
So, this tells us that there is a ‘hinderer’ or ‘restrainer’.
Just think for a moment!
What Person has the power today to hold back, like a dam on a river, the forces of Satan?
So that things won’t break loose and start bringing in the Tribulation until the right time.
He’s the Holy Spirit.
So, the Holy Spirit here is the hinderer or restrainer.
Now, where is the Holy Spirit dwelling today?
In the heart and life of every believer, those placed their heart-believing-faith in the ‘Gospel of Grace’ [1 Corinthians 15:1-4].
God’s infallible Word in [Ephesians 1:13-14] through the Apostle Paul confirms that.
That is why Paul the Apostle is ‘indispensable’ for our understanding, for that is where we are today.
And Christendom for the most part, has brushed him aside and really not laid hold of him.
They’re still predominantly dwelling in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
And which Paul, by revelation, in [Hebrews 6:1] has told us to now leave behind (not forsake), and move on.
We don’t forsake our parents when we get married, but we do leave them and move on, so there is a difference.
Only One Brake
So, there’s only ‘ONE BRAKE’ that God has on the earth against the influx of all this evil work.
And that is today’s ‘remnant’, the believer and the indwelling Holy Spirit.
That’s God’s brake on the system.
And that’s why we have to ‘know’ our Bible, and lay hold of the real truth.
All of us must know ‘what we believe’ and we have to stand on it.
The Reformation
When we think back of the Reformation which began in about 1517 A.D., it’s truly amazing!
How many of us would endure the torture and martyrdom of the believers back in the Reformation?
I doubt if I could.
Their torture was unbelievable.
They were laid out on ‘the rack’ and cranked up until every bone in their body was broken.
And yet they survived to walk like a cripple.
How many of us could be peacefully tied to a stake with the brush piled around us, waiting for them to light the torch?
It happened all the time!
One of the prime reasons those days, was because of getting the Bible into the hands of the common man.
That which did not go down well with the ‘ecclesiastical hierarchies’ of the church, who wanted to keep people subjected and manipulated.
These were visible evidences of our arch-enemy Satan from keeping the truth away from men.
And he’s still doing that today in various ways!
In recent years, and we’re talking about the 2000’s, when ISIS were literally live-barbequing the Christian believers in the Middle-East.
But they all endured it, only because of that incredibly supernatural, beyond comprehension “GRACE OF GOD”.
Where We Are To Stand
But, this is where we’re to stand.
We’re to be so rooted in the Word of God that none of those things would scare us.
We can rest on that supernatural ‘GRACE OF GOD’, because evidently GOD Himself does.
Those people back there, otherwise, would have never been able to survive and go through what they did.
So, the Holy Spirit indwelling in the lives of the believers, are like a dam in the river to hold back this flood of iniquity.
And then, when He’s taken out of the way, it will be just like lifting that dam out of the river.
The ‘Body of Christ’ will be gone ‘In the twinkling of an eye’.
AND THEN…………
CLICK [HERE] for Part #05 of this series, “The Mystery of Iniquity”
(Please note, all that is written in the ORANGE COLOUR, are connecting links, so do refer to them. You will find them very useful.)
