What is the Great Delusion?

by Mike Ratliff

8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 (NASB) 

As I stated in yesterday’s post, I have been doing a great of research on the “order of things” Paul was referring to in 2 Thessalonians 2. I have been lining up those things with our Lord’s Olivet Discourse and, of course, the Apostle John’s account in Revelation. Why? I said yesterday that I simply cannot get past this and when this happens I know God is working. Also, our enemy knows this and I have been hammered from every direction with “doubts” about doing this and thoughts like, “if you continue to pursue this you will lose all your friends or may even have to change to another church!” Now, would God put those sorts of thoughts in my mind? Of course not! That is not how God works. I have been sifting through all sorts of articles, sermons, videos, and scripture pertaining to this topic along with the “Mark of the Beast,” “who is the Beast,” “who is the False Prophet,” and I assure you this data gets mucky in a hurry. Then I listened to a sermon where the preacher was addressing whether the Covid-19 vaccinations were the Mark of the Beast and whether a believer could take the Mark unintentionally. While I didn’t listen to the whole sermon I did agree with what he said right up front. He stated that genuine believers are saved by Grace through Faith and are sealed by the Holy Spirit at that point with the Mark of God and so could never receive the Mark of the beast. I rejoiced when I heard that, but why?

I had been mucking through videos and papers and books about this topic and was really getting worn down. Some of these people were saying that the Beast is the Roman Catholic Church, not a person, and the False Prophet is not a person either, but the government of the United States. These same people then say the Mark of the Beast is Sunday Worship which is breaking the 4th Commandment which about worshipping and resting on the 7th day of the week, the Sabbath. That caused me to go off on tangents to try to figure that one out. But as I did that and heard that wonderful statement about our salvation and sealing and it was as if the Holy Spirit affirmed that to me at the same time. Why was I even going down that dead end? I was even wondering about all by Christian friends who would obviously refuse to change from worshipping on Sunday to Saturday, etc. It was really a strange mind game. Then the light came on with that sermon and I felt stupid. My brethren, we should always base our understanding on how God operates with His elect from what the Word of God says, not what other people say.

Now, let’s look at the passage I placed at the top of this post, specifically v11. There is much speculation about what the lie or delusion is that God sends upon those who refuse to love the truth. To discern what this lie is we need to study this passage from 2 Thessalonians 2 in context. Who is Paul writing to in this book? He wrote it to believers in Thessalonica. Some of them were shaken because someone had lied to them about the coming of the Lord and the gathering of the Saints unto Himself.

1 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, 2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 (NASB) 

Then Paul explains the order of things:

3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? 6 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 (NASB) 

Now, let us ask some questions of this passage. First, what is the deluding influence that God actually sends out? Whatever it is it has to do with the Second Coming of our Lord and the gathering of the saints (v1). Whatever the delusion is it is concerning the gathering of the saints before the Great Tribulation begins. Second, Who are the recipients of this delusion? This is speaking of some sort of doctrinal error that people want to hear and it comes from God. Therefore, those who believe this delusion are professing Christians. Look at v3. Who would be deceiving the Thessalonians but other Christians teaching doctrinal error? Therefore, God is sending a delusion upon professing Christians who do not love the truth. Third, Why would God send out a delusion to His own people for them to be deceived? The answer is in v10. These are professing Christians, but they are not genuine because they do not love the truth. Instead they are in idolatry and God sends upon them a spirit of stupor (deluding influence) so that they will believe that delusion. He is giving them what they want and love, but it leads to destruction.

So what is the doctrinal error? Whatever it is, it is very popular and deeply believed by vast numbers of professing Christians. It is so popular that when any Bible teacher stands against it he is persecuted, smitten, ostracized, and made an example for all to see. The delusion is taught by most of the pastors and teachers in the Church today. This is what people want to hear so they preach it. Satan is not doing this. God is doing this. Why? It is to separate His people from those in the Church who are not His people.

What is the doctrinal error? Does it mean that all who believe it are condemned? We must pray for God to give us wisdom and discernment so that we will know what the truth is. We live in a time of great deception. There are very good and popular preachers who are deceived in this, whatever it is. Another clue for us is that the majority of professing Christians believe this delusion and only the few do not. Let us pray that God will open our eyes and give us the boldness to tell the truth. Perhaps those in this error will be drawn into the light. God’s will be done.

Soli Deo Gloria!