THE RISE OF LAWLESSNESS

All over the world we see a terrifying rise in violence and acts of terrorism.

  In Pakistan terrorists murdered 148 in a school, mostly children.

  In Nigeria and neighboring nations, the terror group Boko Haram indiscriminately attacked villages and killed people, taking away young girls to be kept in sexual slavery.

  In Sydney, Australia, a terrorist sympathizer killed two people and took over a coffee shop, holding fifteen hostages for hours before the police killed him.

  In Syria and Iraq the terror group known as ISIS killed hundreds of Christians and innocents. Some were beheaded and the act was videotaped and released to the news media and over the Internet.

  In Quebec, Canada, a terrorist sympathizer used his car to kill one Canadian soldier and seriously injure a second. Two days later a gunman killed a Canadian soldier standing guard outside the Canadian National War Memorial and then rushed into one of the Parliament buildings, where he was shot and killed by one of the staff.

  Here in the United States, our country has been profoundly affected by the deaths of two African-American men. One was the death of the teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the other happened on Staten Island, New York, when a career criminal, Eric Garner, was being arrested. These two events have set off a wave of protests across the country that have been going on for months.

  Just as I was writing this blog, the news came out about two police officers being assassinated in Brooklyn, NY, apparently in retaliation for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

The above list is just a random sampling of what is happening around the world. Almost every day we hear of tragic, unexpected acts of violence and terrorism both here and all across the world.

It seems to me that the frequency of these incidents is increasing. I am not trying to defend the police or vilify the protestors; what I am going to try to do is give you a different perspective, a prophetic perspective that hopefully will serve as an alarm bell to some of you.

The disciples came to Jesus and asked Him, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the close of the age?” (Matthew 24:3). Jesus had just prophesied to the disciples about the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem and that prompted their questions.

Jesus explained to them that a series of signs will come like the birthing pains a woman experiences awaiting the completion of her pregnancy; the pains will increase in frequency and intensity. Among the signs that Jesus prophesied about was, “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12).

It is my belief that the rise of lawlessness we are seeing is what Jesus prophesied would happen as one of the signs of the nearness of His return.

The Apostle Paul essentially says the same thing in 2 Timothy 3:1-5: “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

The word translated “difficulty” in verse one means “fierce, violent, hard to live with, hard to bear.” The only other time this exact word (in the Greek) is used in the New Testament is in Matthew 8:28 when it describes the demon-possessed men that Jesus encountered.

In 2 Timothy 3 after Paul speaks of “difficult days,” he uses nineteen adjectives and descriptive phrases to describe how the difficulties would manifest themselves. It seems to me that Paul is encircling the word “difficult” with descriptive words in an attempt to show just how tumultuous these “difficult days” will be.

I believe we are watching the rise of the demonically-inspired spirit of lawlessness that will eventuate in the revealing of “the man of lawlessness” that Paul prophesied about in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4. This is the one also known as “the Antichrist.”

Both Jesus and Paul alert us to the fact that concurrent with the rise of lawlessness will be a spirit of deception.  When the disciples asked Jesus what would be the sign of the end, before He told them anything else He said, “Take heed that no man deceive you” (Matthew 24:4). Paul says exactly the same thing in 2 Thessalonians 2:3: “Let no one deceive you.”

The spirit of deception is attempting to portray the rise of lawlessness as protest against the evil of the violation of civil rights, and to law enforcement in general. This is a demonically-inspired spirit that is involved in paving the way for “the man of lawlessness.”

The rising of the spirit of lawlessness and deception is the force driving what is happening in America and the horrific acts of terror around the world.

The words of Jesus and the words of Paul are shouting at the Bride of Christ (if she is listening), “Let no one deceive you!”

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 3:22).