Falling away for 'children in whom is no faith'

Revelation 13: [7] And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

[8] And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
[9] If any man have an ear, let him hear.

That career of the Antichrist in the height, in the zenith of his diabolical working against God, is all energized, and it all comes from, the strengthening and the activity of Satan himself. So the source of the Antichrist’s personal strength as an individual, and his political activity strength, is going to be Satan, explains Richard Jordan.

Paul describes in II Thessalonians 2: [9] Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
[10] And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
[11] And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
[12] That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

It’s going to be WITH all power, signs and lying wonders. That’s the reason in Revelation 13 you see that other beast, the false prophet, who comes along and does all these miracles.

The Antichrist is going to be a political guy; the religious leader is going to be the false prophet and he’s going to work all these miracles that point to the Antichrist as being the false Messiah.

By the way, this is the source of the “falling away” in II Thessalonians 2: [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;
[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.
[5] Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

For ages people have wondered, “What is that falling away and where’s it going to come from and how’s it going to be?” That falling away, the source of it, is what he’s describing in chapter 2 verses 9-12. The falling away is going to come because of the satanic attack and the working the Antichrist.

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Giving the Parable of the Unjust Steward, Jesus says in Luke 18:

[7] And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
[8] I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

That’s a strange question in verse 8. He’s going to find individuals that believe, but when He looks at Israel, Israel is going to be in complete total apostasy.

The truth, the faith that God had communicated to them, is going to have been completely abandoned by the nation Israel. There’s going to be a falling away that allows for Israel to be sifted out.

You go all the way back to Deuteronomy 32, and to this great prophetic anthem, the Song of Moses, and it says:

[20] And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.
[21] They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

That’s exactly the group of people in Acts 2 when Peter says, “Save yourself from this untoward generation.” That’s the group in Luke when Jesus says He's going to pour out His wrath upon this wicked generation.

Notice the comma in Deuteronomy 32:20, followed by the phrase “children in whom is no faith.”

That doesn’t mean they aren’t religious. They just completely apostasized into idolatry; into a Baal-worshipping, idolatrous system that comes all the way through the Scripture and will culminate in the worshipping of the Antichrist.

So, when you come over here in II Thessalonians 2, this falling away and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, how does that come about?

It comes about with the “working of Satan” in connection with the deception of Israel into believing that the Messiah is the Antichrist.

Again, II Thessalonians 2:9: [9] Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

Here’s a verse of Scripture that puts the lie to that kind of idea that Satan wouldn’t perform miracles of healing, and power and signs and wonders—that he wouldn’t perform lying wonders because “it would be a house divided against itself.”

Not true at all. That’s the assumption that Satan made them sick to start with. If he’d been inflicting the thing on them, then the healing of them isn’t doing anything but deceiving people into thinking he’s God. But that’s exactly what’s happening.

When he talks about power, it’s ALL powers, signs and wonders. What he’s going to do is duplicate the apostolic powers; the apostolic signs and wonders.

Paul writes in II Corinthians 12: [11] I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.
[12] Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.

So the power, the signs and the wonders of an apostle that were the credentials that identified them as being sent from God—the Antichrist is going to be able to have performed in his ministry.

Satan’s going to do that. There are going to be false, lying wonders; counterfeit, deceiving things that are designed to convince people whose faith rests in LOOKING, and resting in their experiences rather than in the working of God, to be deceived.

What that tells you is how careful you have to be in these things. People have the assumption that if it looks like it’s a supernatural event, it has to be from God. Not so.