The
prophecy gives this forewarning. “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.” (Ref. 2 Thessalonians 2:7)
Certainly,
it goes without saying that this present, highly self-infatuated world, and in
particular the American segment, is now increasingly insensitive, to God. And,
it naturally follows that the same is true regarding His redemptive workings
and timetable.
Nevertheless,
that relentless divine agenda has now seemingly brought us, whether wittingly
or unwittingly, to this brink of an almost unimaginable change. Indeed, if this
prophecy’s time has come it will bring us to a level of darkness in the world which
we’ve never known before.
This
relatively uncomplicated prophecy indicates three important things. First, it indicates that there exists a long
running and mysterious lawlessness in our world. It is long running because it
has existed from the beginning. And, this
ongoing lawlessness seems mysterious because it springs, not from the physical,
but from the metaphysical (or spiritual) life-dimension.
When
Satan said to Eve in the Garden of Eden, “You
will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it [in the
day you taste the desire for a self-determined life] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and
evil…” in that moment, all was set in motion. [Brackets
Added]
This
was and is “The Great Lie” which
fostered this mysterious lawlessness which has plagued our world ever since. It
all centers around the most defining choice within mankind’s existence. It is the choice of whether or not to embrace
the supremacy of God’s truth (as the
always correct and authoritative interpretations of reality), or
alternately, to choose our own self-determined truth (our own entirely self-based interpretations of reality).
Satan’s
lying pitch to Eve in that garden episode was intended to set man and God
against each other. And, indeed, it did. And, it has continued to do so in every
generation, all through these intervening centuries.
So
now, within humanity, there are those lawless ones who choose to reject a loving
and mutually fulfilling relationship with their divine Creator which is based
in the Christ-confirmed goodness of divine truth. Rather, they choose not to embrace an allegiance
to God’s truth, but rather, only to their own. It is at that point that they become
truly lawless – responsible to no one and nothing but their own self-determined
whims regarding the interpretations of their life circumstances.
And,
it is this driving, self-centered, human arrogance which has proven to be, as
Satan intended, an affront to God and the well-spring of all the militant blood-letting
and suffering in our world – from Eden to now.
And this is the second thing we can notice from this prophecy. It is that the dark outflows of this human lawlessness
is what the Holy Spirit has been restraining throughout the centuries.
And
finally, from this prophecy we can also notice that there is a plan to
eventually withdraw of the Holy Spirit from this restraining role. Again, the scripture says it this way, “… only He who now restrains, will do so until
He is taken out of the way.”
The
Holy Spirit has two primary roles in our world.
One is to empower the devout believer who embraces the Lordship of
Christ. The Divine Spirit was made available
to the Church at its beginning specifically for this purpose. He serves as the conduit to literally connect
the character essence of the Living Christ to that of the devout believer through
what the Church calls the “Spiritual Baptism.” Through this redemptive event,
He provides Christ’s enabling sufficiency to the believer to consistently
sustain his or her faith-expressiveness and the resulting elevation of their heart
and lifestyle realities.
But
beyond this life-transforming purpose for believers, God’s loving Spirit has also
hovered over this earthly economy from the beginning to serve God’s agenda. Genesis 1:1 puts it this way, “In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the
Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
So, in real terms,
the Divine Spirit is and has always been the Hovering Guardian of our world.
And, as such He is the Primary Order Keeper, ever countering
the chaotic activities of the dark economy.
And
finally, this prophecy indicates that there will come a time when God will intentionally
withdraw His Spirit from this guardianship. And, the larger context of the
scriptures indicates that this is a strategic and very telling move in God’s
redemptive plan and timetable.
So,
the question becomes, “Is this that time?” Are we now
seeing the effects of that dramatic, status quo altering withdrawal of the
Divine Guardian in this present moment?
No doubt some will
say, “Yes, absolutely.” and others will insist, “No, absolutely not.” And doubtless, many of those answers will
simply be offhanded – based simply in personal druthers, or other spontaneous intuitions.
But
perhaps, before answering, it would be better to actually examine the visible evidence
which is readily available, that being the landscape of the world’s present
condition. And certainly, when one
honestly does so, it is presently a terrifying picture. Clearly, the Darkness now widely lurks.
And
perhaps, even more telling than its sprawl is the speed with which the darkness
has grown. Indeed, Western Civilization has
now been all but completely swallowed in only about one generation.
Consider,
that the once bright democracies of Europe have now been largely usurped by the
twin demonic influences of oppressive Marxism and radical Islam. And, Canada has also now largely succumbed to
the influence of Marxism, as has Australia.
Mexico and major players in South and Central America are mostly losing
an existential war with the Devil’s drug lords.
And, crazed antisemitism has also again reared its head – but this time,
on a worldwide scale.
And
in that same short time, America, too, has become imminently endangered by the
same evil trifecta – Marxism, radical Islam, and the drug cartels. And unmistakably, this amalgamated evil is
absolutely now making a decisive move on America. These sociological predators are very
obviously circling and salivating as they anticipate an imminent American
takedown.
So, how else can we explain
the now wide expanse and blinding speed of this growth of the Darkness across
this contemporary world but by this now awakening prophecy? Perhaps Mr. Occam actually has it right again.
Occam’s razor holds that, “The simplest
answer is usually the correct answer.”
So,
perhaps the prophesied exit of the Divine Spirit is now actually coming to pass. And as a result, the now less restrained Darkness
is just quickly filling in behind to occupy the vacancy as the Divine Guardian
is withdrawn.
~
Undeniably,
the human species has actually become much more widely insolent as we have
matured into the modern creature that we have become. We are now choosing ever more broadly to
merely entrust ourselves to ourselves. As
a result, we are also ever more widely embracing the belief that by our
intellect, our advanced technologies and the sheer power of our will we can actually
bring our individual lives and our species as a whole to a fulfilling existence
by our petty little self-determined philosophical truth.
But
in reality, even with all of those purely human assets, and sometimes because
of them, we have yet to move more than just a whisper beyond the ever present threat
of interpersonal and international clashes, genocidal conflicts, and even complete
self-annihilation. Every day, in innumerable places and resulting from our own willful
violence we drown in our own blood.
And,
we yet remain so morally degraded as to widely think it perfectly fine to kill
our own innocent unborn children, and then toss them into those graves of
convenience which are so readily available in those graveyards furnished by
corporate greed. So, in light of all of
this ever amassing evidence of chronic, pervasive and inter-generational human failure
– is it really logical to continue to believe that we are our own best hope for
personal, societal and even global fulfillment.
The vastness of hard anecdotal evidence clearly declares – “Not hardly.” In all cases, our benevolent Creator’s intimate friendship, obtained through Christ and sustained by Him, is actually humanity’s only substantive hope for enduring fulfillment. And, it surely looks like the volume is about to be turned way up on that declaration.
When the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? ~ Jesus
