He who now letteth will let
II Thessalonians 2:7 - For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
The church at Thessalonian believed they had missed the return of the Lord. They believed He was returning soon.
When are the last days described in II Timothy 3:1-7?
I John 2:18 - Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
From the time of Christ some 2,000 years ago until this present time.
We are now living in the last of the last days.
Most of the early church believed Christ would return quickly.
John 20:23 – The saying went abroad that Peter would not die before the return of the Lord.
Luke 2:26 – They had a scripture to go by, as it was revealed to Simon that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
The message of Paul is a soon return of the Lord.
I Thess. 4:13-18 – Note the “we” of verse 14, 15, and 17.
II Tim. 4:6,7 – Paul came to see the return of the Lord as being after his death, and probably that it would be much later than he originally thought.
Paul never changed his message of a soon return of the Lord, and we shouldn’t either.
Matthew 24:1-3 – There was much questioning about the end of the world, and the coming kingdom of Christ.
Acts 1:6 – Before the ascension of Christ, the disciples asked if Christ would establish His kingdom at this time, but was told it is not for them to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own hands.
Some signs of the last days.
II Timothy 3:13 – “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”
II Peter 3:4 – “And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”
lovers of their own selves - The “me” generation has arrived! What’s in it for me? No thought for the welfare of others, but only of ones own self.
Matthew 22:37,38 – Love God first, others second.
covetous – Desiring that thing that you do not need. Commonly thought of as wanting that thing that someone else possesses. The thought behind covetous is a dissatisfaction with what one possesses. Covetousness involves destructive pride in oneself.
Joshua 7:21 – Achan desired that which God desired.
Joshua 6:24 – God desired the gold, silver, and vessels of brass, but destroyed them when they had the stain of sin upon them.
Joshua 7:24,25 – The silver, gold, and vessels of brass were destroyed.
Proverbs 21:25,26 – “The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour. 26 He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and spareth not.”
boasters - A braggart. Their possessions reflect what kind of character they are and what they consider important.
proud - They think they are more important than others. They picture themselves as above others, which are below them in spiritual, social, economic and intellectual standards.
Blasphemers - They are against those that are around them, whether these are people or gods. They are impious (irreverent, ungodly, profane) and loudly complain against anybody and anything that doesn’t suit them. They are completely filled with bias and refuse to give any quarter to any person.
disobedient to parents - They will not allow their parents to persuade them to any good work. They are a law unto themselves and will not listen to their parents. Toward their parents, they are unyielding, obstinate, perverse, stubborn, inflexible, and contrary. To their friends, they are exactly the opposite.
unthankful - They are thankless, and ungrateful. They do not notice any good that others do for them, but take their goodness and expect more and more.
unholy - They are wicked. This is on top of retaining their form of godliness, which has lost all power to them.
without natural affection - Their hearts are hard toward those less fortunate than themselves. This is not spiritual affection, but the natural affection displayed by the human spirit. This natural affection for things right and good is lost.
trucebreakers - They readily break all kind of agreements. In days gone by, a handshake sealed a verbal agreement. Both parties would take a loss rather than go back on their words. Today, signed contracts have very small print which takes away all that the large print gives. Then both parties try to get out of doing what they have agreed, yet try to get the other party to do what they agree to.
false accusers - They are slanderers, taking Satan’s place in accusing the brothers, Rev. 12:10.
incontinent - They are powerless to control their emotions. No self-control.
fierce - They are a savage people, not caring about the welfare of others, or how much they are hurt, as long as the all important “me” is satisfied.
despisers of those that are good - They are hostile to virtue of any kind. They love evil and hate the good.
traitors - This is a giving forward into the hands of the enemy. Even if they know they are playing into the hands of the enemy, that is okay if the all important “me” is satisfied. Their future is doomed, but that is okay as long as there is contentment in the present.
heady - They are rashly (wastefully) falling forward, or headlong, to destruction.
highminded - They are inflated with self-conceit, lifted up with pride. The smoke of their destruction is all around them, but they cannot see their own soon coming destruction.
lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God - This simply means that if they had their choice between pleasure and God, they would choose pleasure. Everything in their life boils down to satisfying the flesh and ignoring God. They make continual allowances to satisfy their body, but make no allowances to satisfy their soul.
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts - They have retained their religion, but it is powerless. Their religion has no force in their lives, even though they retain all the appearance or structure of worship.
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth - The more they learn, the farther away they get from God. Their religion doesn’t teach them about God, but about humanistic, fleshly religion, which has nothing at all to do with God and His service.
Benny Hinn saying that the Lord Jesus Christ will soon appear with him on stage, probably in Kenya Africa to announce that He is soon coming.
Getting ready to clone humans.