portunity to receive Christ. Only two classes make up the human race: the saved and the unsaved. Verse ten has the emphasis on those who have rejected the truth. “For this cause,” verse 11 tells us, “God shall send them strong delu sion, that they should believe a lie.” This is one of the most solemn state ments in the entire epistle. This is an act of divine retribution upon those who heard but willfully reject ed the Lord’s grace. Every violation of any law of God must inevitably bring its own consequence. When Pharaoh hardened his heart, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. When the king of Israel hated God’s true proph ets, then the Lord permitted him to be deceived by placing a lying spirit in the mouth of other prophets. When men practice impurity, God gives them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity. My friend, you are not one of these, are you ? Having heard the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, have you rejected Him? If this has been the case, I beg you, I implore you, I beseech you, in God’s name, surrender .your heart at once to the Saviourhood and sovereignty of our Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on Him and thou shalt be saved.
the one who will endeavor to change times and laws according to Daniel 7:25. Throughout the course of his tory there have been many anti- Christs, but THE anti-Christ of the last days is the little horn (Dan. 7: 8); the prince that shall come (Dan. 9:26); the willful king (Dan. 11: 36); and the beast out of the sea (Rev. 13:1-10). He is not an abstract power, not a mere influence, but an eschatalogical person. He is further described as the son of perdition, thereby identifying him with Judas Iscariot. What are his designs? What is he after? II Thessalonians 2:4 gives us the clear answer. He wants to be worshipped as God. It was this wicked design which caused Lucifer to become Satan (Isa. 14:12-14). Dur ing the 40 days and 40 nights that our Lord was tested in the wilder ness, the devil took him up to an exceeding high mountain. He showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, urging, “All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and wor ship me” (Matt. 4:8-9). The one thing Satan sought from Christ was worship. As the god of this world (II Cor. 4:14), Satan has his false apostles of Christ, appearing as the ministers of righteousness (II Cor. 11:13-15). It is in this way that the devil gains the worship of many re ligious people throughout the world. He will achieve his goal in the end time through the man of sin and the ecumenical world church. A vivid de scription of this final scene of devil worship is given in Revelation 13. Note the five appearances of the word “worship.” His clever approach is one of de ception (II Thess. 2:9-10). He will come in a mighty display of power and miracles that will spring from falsehood. The deceived will be those who perish; or, as the present tense of the verb indicates, are perishing. Verse 10 says, “because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” They had their op- 8
Mr. JohnOzmon(left), design and layout artist for Biota, discusses a brochure with Mr. Dick Gartrell,who is in charge of Student Employ ment at Biola. Mr. Ozmon, a born-again Chris tian, is responsible for some of the excellent designs which appear in advertising and maga zine layouts for the school.
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