04 January 2025
Another question I was asked had to do with the Second Coming of Christ. Here's the issue: If you take John's Revelation as mostly symbolism, as we teach in our community, then there is darned little you can easily draw out of it about the time leading up to the the Day of Judgment. We need to look elsewhere for clear statements.
For the the Last Days, that would be 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12. The context is that Paul was putting out the fire of panic started by some idiots asserting that Christ had already returned and that the folks in Thessalonica had missed it. Paul laid out a few hints, events and conditions that must manifest clearly before the Day of Judgment.
The key issue here is how a central figure will seek to displace all religious worship and proclaim himself as God in the flesh. In other words, it will be a false Second Coming (Matthew 24). This will be accompanied by sufficient false miracles to convince everyone, to include some of the Elect.
Until Christ's Return approaches, there is a powerful force that forbids this character from arising. This is part of why I say that God by policy restricts the elohim, and likely the Nephilim as well, from taking up human form until the time has come. That would include Satan, though nothing here nails it down that he is the one who will fill this role. The point is that the power of false miracles is the key issue here; any of the elohim (a whole class of beings, not just a particular group) are capable of performing miracles, especially when they assume human form.
Now, I should think it was obvious that the primary message would be that this character has come to save the world. That should be your first tip-off. Christ literally walked away from that several times, but this false "Christ" is going to drive hard on that very issue. This guy will exhibit impossible charisma and charm. This is how he will sucker in the human race. We would hope the Elect can be persuaded to believe this world is not worth saving, but is slated for destruction. That's why the Second Coming is described as the kind of thing that does not require you to believe and join a human movement. It will happen without your assistance. You will rise into the sky to meet Jesus coming in the air with the saints who have passed on before. They will take up their eternal bodies, after which we will float up to join them. Then He will remake the world from above (1 Thessalonians 4). The old one will burn up and a new one will appear.
But leading up to that, a part of the what we should expect is a radical collapse of social constraints, rather like it was in the days of Noah (2 Timothy 3:1-5). This by itself isn't that instructive; it's too easy to imagine that we are already there. Rather, the implication is that humanity will be sent into a moral tailspin primarily because the work of this fraudulent "Christ" will destroy all restraint. This is part of how we'll know he works for the wrong side.
Worse, this creature will have a cadre of servants who can also perform some wonders and will preach the false gospel of this new savior. But a major point Paul makes in the first passage cited above is how this fellow will seek to shut down all religious activity not devoted to himself. He will use the power of law and enforcement. Thus, our community teaching as been that, unique to this final time of tribulation will be government oppression of faith itself.
As stated elsewhere: As long as Satan is working through actual humans, things will be limited. Fallen humanity is incapable of understanding faith. Instead, the most Satan can do is herd them to attack organizations on certain ideological and political grounds. Only an eternal being can grasp the nature of faith. As long as we see only routine human oppression against political targets that happen to include us with a host of others who aren't Covenant people, then it's not the Last Days. Only when someone who possesses superhuman capabilities can they come up with a driving need to persecute faith itself regardless of human organizations.
This person Paul describes seems to predict someone who will aim specifically at faith in Christ. It will be very clearly announced by someone who gains full political control of humanity as a whole. That's not to say he can't arise quickly in the current situation, but we have these earmarks warning us what to look for, and we don't see him yet. It will be clear to us he's not just a human.
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