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Sexual Immorality and the Brink of Apostasy-pg 4
Economics deals with subjects such as the standard of living in terms of monetary values. Similarly, society can be viewed and analyzed in religious and spiritual terms according to Biblical values: When a nation obeys and adheres to God's word, prosperity, righteousness and honor follow. But when the people of a nation disrespect God's commandments, lawlessness abounds: See Jude, v. 18. According to II Thes. 2:1-3 the apostasy will come first, and the man of sin will be revealed (made known) before the day of Christ is at hand. "And then ... " (v. 8) implies that the lawless one will have already been in position to make his showing after lawlessness extends itself without restraint (v. 7), so as the Lord Jesus will at the appearing of His advent-- {par-oo-see'-ah} "coming," this same word in the Greek is used in v. 1, by the spirit of his mouth consume the son of perdition, and the Lord Jesus will annul the wicked impostor. So in order for lawlessness to culminate in such an abominable manner, it can not happen unless the apostasy comes first (v. 3). But, we Christians still have time to reach for Christ throughout the world. I believe millions of people may be saved before the terrible time of greater lawlessness comes upon this earth, but we must stand "for"--not "away from," nor to abandon, which is what "apostasy" denotes--Christ and his commandments. Nominal Christianity is not a sufficient force to fight off the things that are exalted against God--it takes the sword of the spirit, the word of God. The Christian's battle is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places. The battle is against ideas other than God's ideas. These ideas occur in government, in the church, in educational institutions, in the home, wherever there is a source of authority. A person must look unto the "Way," Jesus the Christ, the Holy Scripture, in order to be furnished adequately to be able to do good works. Without the study of the Bible, there is not sufficient knowledge to stand up against the wiles of the devil. Satan has men blinded from all walks of life who promote ideas contrary to God's word through every philosophical channel.
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