FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5
Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 says, “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Is it possible, that by accepting a culture of grace and mercy only, we have invited in strong delusion and find ourselves believing lies? The message of mercy and grace, without taking Scripture in context, allows unrighteousness to flourish in our midst. The culture of untempered grace allows people to do whatever they want to do, whenever they want to do it without the fear of God ever entering into the equation. When what is popular rules, then Jesus becomes a God of our own creation. The grace message sweeping the nation is understandably popular. 2 Thessalonians tells us why – it comes with strong delusion. When grace is preached without any judgment, delusion is inevitable. It is how today’s church has developed the culture of grace and mercy. There is practically no fear of God in it and unrighteousness is flourishing. Satan is all for such delusion because it thwarts Kingdom purposes. Jesus is first Judge of all the Earth and second Savior of all the Earth. Unless we preach Him that way, we are walking a path of compromise. Anytime we hear someone preach the judgment of God as an “exception” to the rule, we are listening to heresy. If we hear this, it would be better to grab our shoes and Bible and head for the door. Confronting such heresy is only our job if we know Jesus the Judge! Recognizing heresy is the fruit of walking in the Spirit and knowing our King. If we do not, we simply regress into the image of a counterfeit Jesus. Like Thyatira, we enable evil through the demonic doctrine of tolerance! This group of preachers may well hear, “Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you.”