And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming; even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasures in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth (2Thessalonians 2:8-13).

How important is truth?

This is a very important question that needs a scriptural answer. I know many who will answer the above question by admitting that truth is everything. Many scriptures will immediately pop up such as:

• Then said Jesus unto the Jews which believed on Him, if ye continue in my word, then ye are my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the TRUTH, and the TRUTH shall make you free (John 8:31-32)
• ..Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the TRUTH. Everyone that is of the TRUTH heareth my voice (John 18:37)
• Thy word is TRUTH (Text); But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him (1 John 2:5)
• I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in TRUTH (3 John 1:4)
• Of His own will begat He us with the word of TRUTH, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures (James 1:18)
• ...And many more

This is just a scratch of the surface. Nevertheless, the above scriptures are more than sufficient to prove the importance of absolute TRUTH. To even imply or harbor thoughts that truth is not significant, barks hard at the very word of God. Jesus is not only the Way, but he is the Truth. No man can go to God without going through this door of Truth. To reject TRUTH is to reject Jesus. He is the real light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Without this light of TRUTH shining into our hearts, we would still be groping in the darkness of sin. Is it any wonder why John said, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4)?

Now, these are the simple facts of scriptures.

• There is no hurt in Truth
• There is no real loss in Truth
• There is Freedom in Truth
• There is soul-salvation in Truth
• Love is Perfected in Truth
• And if there is any other good thing it comes to us because of Truth

Truth is what love is and love is of God. It should be easily received that they that have Truth and are exercise thereby is of God. Wow!!! This is real Apostolic Truth. Those who believe the Truth believe God, who the Truth represents. We do not see God, but we can understand him by the Truth He reveals to us. This is a great revelation!!! Can you receive it?

Now Jude said we are to [… earnestly contend for the FAITH which was once delivered to the saints] (Jude 3). This Faith is the Apostolic Faith, which is the embodiment of all the Truth that we must receive to be saved. Is it any wonder why the Apostle Paul could say to the saints in Corinthians that he was set in defense of the Truth?

Destructiveness of Lies

On the flip side we have lies. Lies are the opposite of Truth. They are everything the Truth is not, so we will see that:

• There is hurt in lies
• There is real loss in lies
• There is no freedom in lies; in fact lies bring you into bondage
• There is no salvation in lies
• There is no love in lies
• And if there is any bad thing it comes to us because of lies (The devil is a liar and the father-source of it)

It can be easily seen that lies are not of God and in principle, they go against everything God is; thus a Liar is ANTI-GOD. Let me play a little here: now Jesus Messiah is the God of both Testaments, so a Liar is an Anti-Christ. You do not have to believe me, see 1 John 2:20-22.

To believe a lie is the same as believing the Devil; thereby being deceived. Therefore, John was very clear that a liar is a deceiver and an antichrist (1 John 2:21).

I have come to realize that an unbeliever is deceived.

They believe the lie that they are ok not believing the Truth (Mark 16:15-16).

They believe they can reject Jesus as Messiah and God; Acts 2:38 with Acts 2:4 experience, the Oneness of God; Post-tribulation resurrection and rapture; annual Passover; part of the truth, etc and still be saved. Only the devil can make an individual to believe such lies. A man who selectively picks bits and pieces of the Truth he wants to receive has in many regards believed the lie of that old dragon: that Jesus Messiah’s own words mean nothing and that no one can be absolutely perfect. Jesus said we are to be perfect; and because He is TRUTH, we know He meant every word that proceeded out of His mouth. Also, we know that He would never require of us something we cannot give, so I believe Jesus more than the devil. We can and should be perfect, because Jesus said so.

According to Jesus: He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, but the unbelievers would be damned. But what were they to believe? Answer: the TRUTH. Part of that Truth is on Jesus as our ONLY Messiah and God, and his entire teaching. These are Great Truths. The unbelievers do not believe these great TRUTHS; hence they are on a damnable path. What damns their soul? According to Jesus, their unbelief is the culprit. But here comes Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2 to say that they are damned for not believing the Truth, but believing a lie.

Wow!!! We can see that rejecting the Truth also means accepting a lie.

People always believe something!!! Paul went on to say God will send them (unbelievers who believe lies) a strong delusion to CONTINUE to believe a lie so that they ALL (not one escape) may be damned (2Thess 2:9-11). No one who received this strong delusion from God can be saved. This carries the same penalty as blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.

According to the Apostle Paul, believing lies will eventually damn our souls if we do not recover ourselves out of this snare (see text here). Now, a person who believes a lie is deluded, that is, they are deceived, but how does one move from being deluded to become strongly deluded. I will take some time here to show you what the Lord Jesus has shown me.

Moving from Deluded to become Strongly Deluded

The process of going from deluded to becoming strongly deluded is somewhat a long one, but it is made possible through three (3) main things; (1) Association; (2) Leaders’ encouragement; and (3) One’s personal preferences/convictions. In most cases, what we see is a combination of these principles that are leading to one having a strong delusion. Let me use a simple example to illustrate these 3 principles.

A boy who was raised in a church where homosexuality was openly encouraged and taught as a normal behavior, may grow up to believe the same through his ASSOCIATION. He will learn by association to look past the person’s homosexual conduct, and focus more on the other good things the person may displays such as their kindness, compassion, thoughtfulness, etc. and with these judge how good or bad the person is. This is known as ASSOCIATION encouragement to do or believe error.

A man who realized that he started to have homosexual feelings for his peer became very uncomfortable and sought spiritual help from his pastor/minister. His pastor/minister who is, himself, either a closet homosexual or did not see anything wrong with that type of lifestyle, told the boy that his feelings for the opposite sex was normal and pure and if he wants to get married to another male, he was willing to give marital counseling. The man who was uncomfortable and in doubt about the correctness of such feelings will now, on the advice of his leaders, be encouraged to allow his homosexual feelings to mature. This is called Leader’s encouragement to do or believe error.

A person with a homosexual tendency is almost always reminded that homosexuality is a sin. Their leaders and their peers never fail to put him in remembrance that homosexuality is an abnormal behaviour. At church, school, home, and with friends the truths about these mal-practices are revealed. In spite of all the facts of scripture and scientific research to prove that homosexuality is a learned behaviour which is abnormal and wrong, he still decides that he wants to continue in that path. This is a personal preference, since he did not have the support of leaders or from his associates.

We have looked at the 3 principles, so we can turn to applying them to 2 Thessalonians 2 text.

Then we can apply them to every other false doctrine:
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10. So many more...

An Answer to Delusion:

What then is the solution to this dilemma? Answer: Believe and practice the scriptures.

Rule 1: Love truth. Since Jesus is truth; love Him with all thy heart.
Rule 2: Only encourage and support doctrines, which have scriptural support.
Rule 3: Surround yourselves with men and women who hold true, practice, and believe the Truth as is laid out in the word of God.
Rule 4: Avoid all traditions of men and religious organizations.

Peace be upon the Israel of God.

Jesus Son