The Powerful Delusion

The Monster Hidden In Us

0:00 SPEAKER_00: Chapter one The Lie Heinrich Himmler, the organizer of Hitler's SS Army and overseer of the extermination of millions of Jews, studied agriculture before the war.

0:13 SPEAKER_00: He wanted to be a farmer.

0:15 SPEAKER_00: If Himmler had never joined Hitler, the world would never know the monstrous heart he possessed.

0:20 SPEAKER_00: Hitler himself dreamed of becoming an artist, but the conditions in Germany provided fertile ground to work the seeds of destruction.

0:28 SPEAKER_00: The same is true for us.

0:29 SPEAKER_00: The opportunity to sin may not yet present itself, but that does not mean we too do not have a monster hidden inside our hearts.

0:38 SPEAKER_00: A time fast approaches when the door will open for the wickedness in each man to come to life if he has not died to self.

0:46 SPEAKER_00: The opportunity comes in the form of a lie invading the church and sweeping the world today.

0:51 SPEAKER_00: This lie penetrates every aspect of the church, and the right circumstance will allow the monster to arise.

0:58 SPEAKER_00: This hidden lie, deceiving the Christian world, is the powerful delusion that Paul warns us about.

1:04 SPEAKER_00: For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth, but have delighted in wickedness.

1:15 SPEAKER_00: Second Thessalonians two verse eleven.

1:18 SPEAKER_00: This book does not focus on the errors of a specific revival movement, church, denomination ministry, or person for two reasons.

1:26 SPEAKER_00: First, none of us can stand before God innocent and declared we are untouched by the delusion.

1:32 SPEAKER_00: Secondly, Scripture should motivate us to repent without the need to point out the faults of another.

1:37 SPEAKER_00: It is far too easy to build the church or ministry, or to sell a book by pointing out the faults of another.

1:44 SPEAKER_00: There are always objectors to any group or person.

1:47 SPEAKER_00: Using lurid gossip to get individuals decide on an issue does not kill the monster in our own hearts.

1:53 SPEAKER_00: In other words, it is easy to look at others and think we are not like them.

1:57 SPEAKER_00: That is why Jesus bids us to look at our own lives rather than someone else's.

2:02 SPEAKER_00: The words of Jesus telling us no carry even more weight as we approach the last days.

2:08 SPEAKER_00: For unless we repent, we will also perish.

2:13 SPEAKER_00: Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them, do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?

2:21 SPEAKER_00: I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you too will all perish.

2:26 SPEAKER_00: Luke thirteen verses four through five.

Why God Sends A Delusion

2:30 SPEAKER_00: God sends the delusion.

2:32 SPEAKER_00: Unless we repent by hating our own life and suffering with Christ, which we will talk more about later, God will make sure we believe the lie.

2:41 SPEAKER_00: Right now God, not Satan, sends the powerful delusion.

2:45 SPEAKER_00: Look again at Second Thessalonians 2 verse eleven.

2:48 SPEAKER_00: For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion, so that they will believe the lie.

2:54 SPEAKER_00: God allows and permits rather than hinders the work of Satan, so that circumstances arise that expose each man's heart.

3:01 SPEAKER_00: Like Himmler, who only needed a Hitler, God will bring about a situation that reveals the wickedness in our hearts.

3:08 SPEAKER_00: There will be no gray areas and no doubts about where a man stands.

3:13 SPEAKER_00: There will be no lying words that cover up man's heart.

3:16 SPEAKER_00: Each man will be shown for who he really is.

3:19 SPEAKER_00: Whether religious or atheist, the heat will be turned up so that the evil in a man will rise to the surface for all to see.

3:26 SPEAKER_00: If you have been fooling yourself about your relationship with Jesus, you will find out the truth.

3:33 SPEAKER_00: A powerful delusion is a powerful lie.

3:36 SPEAKER_00: It is faith, strong faith in something false.

3:39 SPEAKER_00: Right now as you read these words, God is causing a strong faith in a false Jesus to take place.

3:45 SPEAKER_00: In this book we will look at the true Jesus in order to expose the lie.

3:50 SPEAKER_00: Genuine faith can only happen by loving the truth, and a love for the truth can only happen as we die to self.

3:56 SPEAKER_00: It is the message of the offensive cross that crucifies self so we might have a sincere love for the truth.

The Lawless One And Fake Power

4:04 SPEAKER_00: The Lawless One.

4:06 SPEAKER_00: The delusion or lie comes with great power and authority.

4:10 SPEAKER_00: Believing in the false Jesus is easy.

4:12 SPEAKER_00: Outward circumstances make it seem as if the lie stands on a firm foundation.

4:17 SPEAKER_00: Yet in reality, its foundation is the lawless one, spoken about in 2 Thessalonians.

4:24 SPEAKER_00: Hitler's regime looked like it had a strong foundation, but it crumbled when the truth was revealed.

4:30 SPEAKER_00: The Hitler for our hearts will be the lawless one.

4:32 SPEAKER_00: Just like Hitler promised freedom and prosperity, a form of Christianity based upon a false freedom, will allow man to abandon the restraints of holy worship.

4:41 SPEAKER_00: The false Jesus will come with all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders.

4:47 SPEAKER_00: There will literally be all kinds of manifestations, feelings, and confirmations preparing the way for the lawless one.

4:55 SPEAKER_00: Right now on any given Sunday, preacher after preacher talks about new freedom in Christ, but such freedom is a lie and has nothing to do with the true and holy Jesus.

5:05 SPEAKER_00: The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.

5:17 SPEAKER_00: They perish because they refuse to love the truth is the explanation God gives for allowing the powerful delusion to work within the church.

5:24 SPEAKER_00: Instead of loving the truth, they at best only give lip service to it.

5:29 SPEAKER_00: They are mockers.

5:30 SPEAKER_00: The powerful delusion comes with every sort of evil.

5:34 SPEAKER_00: For those who love the emotional worship to those who embrace a calmer style, the lie still works its magic.

5:40 SPEAKER_00: Even among those who talk of the cross, the offense is missing.

One Lie That Unites The World

5:45 SPEAKER_00: Unity This lie sweeps the world today.

5:49 SPEAKER_00: It is a lie that both Christians and non Christians believe without realizing it.

5:53 SPEAKER_00: This falsehood brings all men together in unity.

5:56 SPEAKER_00: All half truths and full blown heresies, all subtle compromises in the church converge together under a single banner.

6:04 SPEAKER_00: But the change is so slow and gradual that few honestly realize what is happening.

6:09 SPEAKER_00: Yet the entire world will unite when the Antichrist comes on the scene.

6:14 SPEAKER_00: Men will look at each other in amazement, suddenly realizing they have been believing and preaching in agreement with one another for a long time.

6:21 SPEAKER_00: In ever so subtle ways, the same message is embraced throughout the world and in the worldly church.

6:27 SPEAKER_00: Whether atheist or Christian, there is unity under one lie chanted by all.

6:32 SPEAKER_00: Pulpits by the thousands preach it while the world promotes it.

6:36 SPEAKER_00: Even those at odds with each other are taken in by the same single lie.

6:40 SPEAKER_00: For the first time in the history of the world the great confirmation of a lie on a global scale is occurring.

6:46 SPEAKER_00: When the evidence is weighed and the facts established, the world and the church will conclude and agree that this lie is really true.

6:54 SPEAKER_00: If it were not for the grace of God and the small remnant of the elect, everyone would believe the lie.

7:01 SPEAKER_00: A gift of healing will manifest in a powerful way, and the whole world will be astonished, so astonished that everyone in the world, except for the elect, will be persuaded to follow the beast.

7:12 SPEAKER_00: One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.

7:19 SPEAKER_00: This whole world was astonished and followed the beast.

7:22 SPEAKER_00: Revelation 13, verse 3.

7:25 SPEAKER_00: God allows confirmation of the lie through miracles, signs, and wonders.

7:29 SPEAKER_00: For even as the Mormons have a burning in the bosom to affirm their lie, and others speak in tongues to confirm their truth, so too God validates the lie in Christian churches worldwide.

7:41 SPEAKER_00: The original lie continues.

7:45 SPEAKER_00: Please understand that God still works true miracles, but we live in a time period when we need the utmost discernment.

7:53 SPEAKER_00: This lie or powerful delusion is not a new lie, but the same ancient ruse told to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

8:01 SPEAKER_00: The delusion tells people that they can be as God, taking matters in their own hands, living their own life, applying Scripture as they see fit, and still live forever.

8:12 SPEAKER_00: The deception that we will not die as man seeks to bless himself with Scripture is the same lie of the powerful delusion told in the garden.

8:21 SPEAKER_00: But God did say, You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it or you will die.

8:28 SPEAKER_00: You will not surely die, the serpent said to the woman, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

8:38 SPEAKER_00: Genesis three verses three through five.

8:41 SPEAKER_00: Satan deceived man once, and the same lie that sweeps the world will end with the Antichrist declaring himself to be God.

8:48 SPEAKER_00: The lie told to man in the Garden of Eden, that we can be like God, will come to its fullest level by the Antichrist in Satan.

8:56 SPEAKER_00: The whole world will finally achieve perfect good self-esteem.

8:59 SPEAKER_00: The good self-esteem we give ourselves because of what we have created.

9:04 SPEAKER_00: It would not surprise me if the Antichrist turns out to be a cloned man, the work of our hands, for which Satan gives the power to do amazing, miraculous things.

9:13 SPEAKER_00: The lie is then confirmed that we can create a perfect man with godlike God given talents.

9:18 SPEAKER_00: But as the following scripture declares, to worship the work of our hands is to worship demons.

9:25 SPEAKER_00: The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands.

9:31 SPEAKER_00: They did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, idols that cannot see or hear or walk.

9:38 SPEAKER_00: Revelation chapter nine verse twenty.

9:41 SPEAKER_00: Satan deceived man from the beginning that he would not suffer or die.

9:45 SPEAKER_00: Man continues today to believe the lie that he can be successful without the cross crucifying self.

9:51 SPEAKER_00: Religious man believes that he can command God if he has enough faith.

9:55 SPEAKER_00: The powerful delusion tells the church that we can use all the power of self to win numbers to Christ and not be sinful in God's sight.

10:03 SPEAKER_00: In all of its various manifestations, we can reduce the lie in the church to one statement.

10:09 SPEAKER_00: Man is acceptable to God without crucifixion of self by the power of his Holy Spirit.

10:14 SPEAKER_00: Like Adam and Eve, many Christians today believe we can strive to be as God and become godly without suffering or dying on the cross to overcome sin.

10:24 SPEAKER_00: We think God wants to bless our plans and dreams without utter death to self, but only those who share in the sufferings of Christ go to heaven.

10:33 SPEAKER_00: We become co heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings.

10:38 SPEAKER_00: Now if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

10:49 SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter eight seventeen.

Self Love Versus Loving Truth

10:52 SPEAKER_00: Refuse to love the truth.

10:54 SPEAKER_00: The Christian Church possesses the greatest risk in being duped by the delusion.

10:59 SPEAKER_00: A gospel close to the truth, without actually being true, is the most deadly.

11:03 SPEAKER_00: We need not fear the atheist, for we know where he stands, yet the one who reads Scripture from a spirit of self becomes our most dangerous enemy.

11:11 SPEAKER_00: Indeed, our greatest enemy is ourselves as we read and love the scriptures, but reject the work of the cross.

11:18 SPEAKER_00: It is great darkness to speak of holiness, righteousness, carrying our crosses, and glorifying God when loving self is the motivation.

11:28 SPEAKER_00: God is strengthening this lie in millions today who lay hold of his name.

11:33 SPEAKER_00: Millions upon millions of people believe the delusion in spite of strong evidence of its falsehood.

11:39 SPEAKER_00: Many fall prey to the slow deluding and subtle indulgence of self and sin, even as they quote Scripture.

11:46 SPEAKER_00: They enlarge their influence, territory, and blessings in the name of the Lord, but it is the glorification of themselves they really seek.

11:54 SPEAKER_00: Christians everywhere refuse to accept the evidence against the lie because they love themselves more than God.

12:00 SPEAKER_00: When conviction comes from the Holy Spirit, they say there is no condemnation in Christ.

12:05 SPEAKER_00: When a preacher speaks of obeying God's commands by the Holy Spirit, they call it legalism.

12:10 SPEAKER_00: When the Holy Spirit points out ways in which they serve Jesus only for what they can get from him, they reject it as too hard a gospel.

12:19 SPEAKER_00: As Scripture declares, they perish because they refuse to love the truth.

12:23 SPEAKER_00: They do not love all of Scripture, only the ones that feed their flesh and make them feel good.

12:29 SPEAKER_00: They do not love true righteousness, but idolize the blessings they receive.

12:34 SPEAKER_00: Forsaken by God.

12:36 SPEAKER_00: Since they refuse to let go of the vilest form of idolatry, the worship of self, God works a poetic justice.

12:44 SPEAKER_00: He permits false Christianity to be confirmed as truth, while allowing true Christianity to be seen as a lie.

12:50 SPEAKER_00: The closing of time for wickedness on earth will find men fully rejecting the cross of Christ.

12:56 SPEAKER_00: We do well to remember that men crucified Jesus when the tree was green.

13:01 SPEAKER_00: Now that the tree is dry and the fullness of the message of the cross draws to an end, we see a reflection of our time period in Jesus' death.

13:09 SPEAKER_00: For when Jesus stood on the very pinnacle of victory, his life, his teachings, his words all appeared false.

13:16 SPEAKER_00: The same remains true for all who understand and truly walk the crucified life.

13:21 SPEAKER_00: The false church has so much power it is easy to think something must be wrong with the true message of the cross.

13:27 SPEAKER_00: Like Jesus who, at the peak of his weakness, wondered where God was, true Christians in the last days will cry the same thing.

13:36 SPEAKER_00: Eloy, alloy, lama sabakhthani, which means My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

13:43 SPEAKER_00: Mark fifteen thirty four.

13:46 SPEAKER_00: True Christians wonder why God leaves them so powerless when the false and empty teaching in Christ's name remains so powerful.

13:54 SPEAKER_00: Like the Pharisees and the mob that gathered around Jesus to watch him die, those who love self gather around to taunt those who are being crucified with Christ.

14:04 SPEAKER_00: The temptation to come down off the cross is very great because false Christianity appears blessed and successful.

14:11 SPEAKER_00: The weakness of true Christians, however, will condemn false ones someday, and in God's timing they will be resurrected.

14:18 SPEAKER_00: False teachers may promote themselves in their ministries, while others become weaker and weaker.

14:24 SPEAKER_00: But if you pick up your cross, be of good courage.

14:27 SPEAKER_00: The resurrected life of Christ will soon be yours in his fullness and glory.

14:32 SPEAKER_00: Just don't become afflicted yourself with the madness infecting the worldly church.

14:37 SPEAKER_00: Man is insanely in love with himself even as he talks about denying self, and God lets this mental illness grow.

14:45 SPEAKER_00: Those suffering from spiritual mental illness delude and deceive themselves and others about what constitutes sound judgment.

14:52 SPEAKER_00: They are unable to discern reality from dreams, lies from truth.

14:56 SPEAKER_00: To an insane man, whatever he believes becomes his truth, the seeds of which can be seen in comments like whatever you believe is fine, or that's just your interpretation.

15:07 SPEAKER_00: To discern the vileness of the insanity in the church, one must step back for a moment and ponder what is happening.

15:14 SPEAKER_00: As this lie grows, the falsehood in the church also increases.

15:19 SPEAKER_00: It is God's way of disciplining the church for its lukewarmness and hostility toward the truth.

15:24 SPEAKER_00: God will work perfect justice by paying back those who have not fully embraced the truth, picking up the cross of Christ in their lives.

15:32 SPEAKER_00: They may speak of the cross, but they have no longing for that cross to be applied to their lives.

15:38 SPEAKER_00: Bad news.

Why The Cross Sounds Like Bad News

15:40 SPEAKER_00: The message of the cross spells bad news for our flesh.

15:43 SPEAKER_00: It is a negative gospel to our sinful nature and to those who believe the lie.

15:48 SPEAKER_00: They hate the message of the cross and seek desperately to alter its meaning.

15:52 SPEAKER_00: Those drawn into the powerful delusion fully reject and fight against this message because it bears bad news.

15:59 SPEAKER_00: Like the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, they want to hear good news from the prophets, even if it's false.

16:07 SPEAKER_00: Dressed in their royal robes, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor by the entrance to the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them.

16:19 SPEAKER_00: Now Zedekiah, son of Kanana, had made iron horns, and he declared, This is what the Lord says, with these you will gore the Aramines until they are destroyed.

16:30 SPEAKER_00: All the other prophets were prophesying the same thing.

16:33 SPEAKER_00: Attack Ramath Gilead and be victorious, they said, for the Lord will give it into the king's hand.

16:39 SPEAKER_00: Second Chronicles eighteen verses nine through eleven.

16:43 SPEAKER_00: Jehoshaphat and the king of Israel enjoyed hearing from the false prophets, who promised victory and prosperity, not promised by God.

16:50 SPEAKER_00: But let a true prophet speak, and they try to persuade him to lie.

16:55 SPEAKER_00: The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, Look, as one man, the other prophets predicting success for the king, let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably.

17:07 SPEAKER_00: But Micaiah said, As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what my God says.

17:12 SPEAKER_00: Second Chronicles eighteen verses twelve through thirteen.

17:16 SPEAKER_00: Jehoshaphat and the king of Israel hated the true prophet, Micaiah, because he never prophesied anything good.

17:23 SPEAKER_00: The prophets before him prophesied lies and they loved it.

17:26 SPEAKER_00: Micaiah, however, prophesied death and disaster.

17:30 SPEAKER_00: The truth of the message of the cross tells us that we must destroy the self that lives in us.

17:36 SPEAKER_00: At its core is a message of death, and there is no resurrected life without death to self.

17:41 SPEAKER_00: This thoroughly frustrates most Christians.

17:44 SPEAKER_00: Many find the message of the cross negative, legalistic, and unloving because they do not want to lose their lives for Jesus.

17:51 SPEAKER_00: Instead, they worship Jesus in the fullness of the sinful flesh, and to such individuals God sends a lying spirit.

17:59 SPEAKER_00: More than likely right now someone works the spiritual lie in your church.

18:03 SPEAKER_00: Indeed, you may be the one that God uses to move the powerful delusion forward.

18:08 SPEAKER_00: You could be the spiritual person with wisdom, insight, or even dreams from God in order to lie to the people.

18:14 SPEAKER_00: The powerful delusion is an enticing message, confirmed by all of the prophets.

18:20 SPEAKER_00: With every passing day, more and more individuals demonstrate that the powerful delusion is true.

18:25 SPEAKER_00: They feel in their spirits that it is true.

18:28 SPEAKER_00: God has proven to them that the lie is the truth.

18:31 SPEAKER_00: The powerful delusion is divine justice, a paying back in a way we deserve to be paid back.

18:37 SPEAKER_00: For if we claim to carry our cross for Jesus but live a lie, God will repay us with a lie for the lie we lived.

18:44 SPEAKER_00: Only he knows how many millions will find the powerful delusion to be a disaster.

18:50 SPEAKER_00: Just as Mekiah told Jehoshaphat, God permits a lying spirit to sweep the church.

18:56 SPEAKER_00: The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Didn't I tell you that he never prophesizes anything good about me, but only bad?

A Lying Spirit And Divine Justice

19:04 SPEAKER_00: Micaiah continued.

19:05 SPEAKER_00: Therefore hear the word of the Lord.

19:08 SPEAKER_00: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the host of heaven standing on his right and on his left.

19:14 SPEAKER_00: And the Lord said, Who will entice Ahab King of Israel into attacking Ramath, Gilead, and going to his death there?

19:21 SPEAKER_00: One suggested this and another that.

19:24 SPEAKER_00: Finally a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord, and said, I will entice him.

19:29 SPEAKER_00: By what means?

19:30 SPEAKER_00: The Lord asked.

19:31 SPEAKER_00: I will go and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets, he said.

19:36 SPEAKER_00: You will succeed in enticing him, said the Lord.

19:39 SPEAKER_00: Go and do it.

19:40 SPEAKER_00: So now the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours.

19:45 SPEAKER_00: The Lord has decreed disaster for you.

19:47 SPEAKER_00: Second Chronicles eighteen verses seventeen through twenty two.

19:52 SPEAKER_00: We love a lie, so God gives us what we want.

19:55 SPEAKER_00: We refuse to surrender unto death to be able to love the truth.

19:59 SPEAKER_00: So God agrees to a spirit suggestion to be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.

20:05 SPEAKER_00: So, should it really surprise us that within churches today all the prophets, teachers, and leaders prophesy the same lie?

20:12 SPEAKER_00: We live in the last days when Jesus declared that most people's love for God would grow cold.

20:18 SPEAKER_00: Most who profess Christianity are actually cold in their love for God and constantly compromise the truth.

20:24 SPEAKER_00: Sure, they cling to certain doctrines that show others wrong, but there is a vast difference between pointing out error and loving the truth.

20:31 SPEAKER_00: Since vast numbers of individuals follow Jesus for what they can get from him, rather than picking up a cross and dying to self, God sends a delusion so they will believe a lie.

20:42 SPEAKER_00: The delusion overcomes anyone who will not hate his or her own life.

20:47 SPEAKER_00: Anyone who does not discover how to hate his life by the power of the Holy Spirit does not have eternal life.

20:54 SPEAKER_00: The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

21:00 SPEAKER_00: John chapter twelve, verse twenty-five.

21:04 SPEAKER_00: False Gospel.

A False Gospel Prepares Antichrist

21:06 SPEAKER_00: The powerful delusion, the church forsaking the message of the cross, is part of God's plan to usher in the Antichrist.

21:13 SPEAKER_00: Those who love Jesus need to rebuke and remove themselves from churches and individuals refusing to deny self.

21:20 SPEAKER_00: Those who love the Lord must prepare themselves to be run over by the false church.

21:25 SPEAKER_00: As Daniel 12, verse 7 declares, once the power of the holy people has been finally broken, the Antichrist will arise.

21:33 SPEAKER_00: As the false church increases in power, true Christians will become powerless.

21:38 SPEAKER_00: The world and the worldly in the church will come together in unity.

21:41 SPEAKER_00: God will allow the lying spirit to replace the message of the cross with a powerful delusion, a false gospel that comes with many miracles and much fanfare.

21:52 SPEAKER_00: The man clothed in linen, who is above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by his Him who lives forever, saying, It will be for a time, times and a half a time, when the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.

22:11 SPEAKER_00: I heard but I did not understand.

22:13 SPEAKER_00: So I asked, My Lord, what will the outcome of all this be?

22:17 SPEAKER_00: He replied.

22:27 SPEAKER_00: But the wicked will continue to be wicked.

22:29 SPEAKER_00: None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.

22:34 SPEAKER_00: Daniel twelve verses seven through ten.

22:37 SPEAKER_00: The powerful delusion will refine and purify those who truly love God, but they will have to be wise in understanding.

22:44 SPEAKER_00: The time period fast approaching gives the Antichrist power through his flattery and persuasive words.

22:51 SPEAKER_00: Flattery is the calling card of the powerful delusion.

22:54 SPEAKER_00: We love flattery, and that gives the false message its power.

22:58 SPEAKER_00: The powerful delusion will cause many who love the Lord to stumble in their walk because they fall prey to flattery.

23:04 SPEAKER_00: His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice.

23:11 SPEAKER_00: Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.

23:15 SPEAKER_00: With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.

23:22 SPEAKER_00: Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered.

23:29 SPEAKER_00: When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them.

23:35 SPEAKER_00: Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.

23:44 SPEAKER_00: Daniel eleven verses thirty one through thirty five.

23:48 SPEAKER_00: God told Daniel that many who are not sincere will join the church.

23:53 SPEAKER_00: As this happens even the best churches weaken.

23:56 SPEAKER_00: The dynamic way the delusion arrives will cause some of the wise to stumble into accepting erroneous doctrines, attitudes, and false spirituality.

24:05 SPEAKER_00: In order to be refined, the elect must repent of this sin and compromise.

24:10 SPEAKER_00: If you don't want to stumble when the Antichrist comes on the scene, repent now of the small sins in your life that will blossom during the fullness of the powerful delusion.

24:20 SPEAKER_00: Right now Satan corrupts the church with flattery, and we overlook little sins, because we are blinded and dazzled by the attention and flattery Satan sends our way.

24:30 SPEAKER_00: True Christians must firmly resist the powerful delusion now if they hope to resist the Antichrist later.

24:37 SPEAKER_00: He will gain his power because the powerful delusion will break the strength of the church and allow the Antichrist free reign.

24:45 SPEAKER_00: Therefore, when the book of Revelation discusses the condition of the church during the reign of the Antichrist, we must take it as a warning to tune out the overcoming feel-good type of preachers.

24:56 SPEAKER_00: Let us have ears to hear what the Spirit says, so we might remain strong and ready.

25:03 SPEAKER_00: Options in the last days.

End Times Choices For The Faithful

25:06 SPEAKER_00: The overcoming church will have one of three options in the last days.

25:10 SPEAKER_00: Let me repeat, there are only three options enter captivity, be burned, or killed by the sword.

25:16 SPEAKER_00: As Daniel chapter 11 34 stated, the wise will fall by the sword, be burned or captured.

25:23 SPEAKER_00: Daniel declares that the church will only receive a little help during the most distressing time the world has ever experienced.

25:30 SPEAKER_00: The church will not be victorious as the false teachers declare today.

25:34 SPEAKER_00: We will not be raptured out but will survive through endurance and faithfulness.

25:39 SPEAKER_00: People who fall for the powerful delusion will not be prepared for this time period, to say the least.

25:45 SPEAKER_00: Daniel's list matches the following options given in Revelation.

25:49 SPEAKER_00: He who has an ear, let him hear.

25:52 SPEAKER_00: If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go.

25:56 SPEAKER_00: If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed.

26:00 SPEAKER_00: This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.

26:05 SPEAKER_00: Revelation chapter thirteen verses nine ten.

26:10 SPEAKER_00: Garden Beginnings.

26:12 SPEAKER_00: Whatever you believe about the rapture, keep in mind the core of the powerful delusion in the worship of self and the pleasing of man.

26:19 SPEAKER_00: After all, the Antichrist will be a man who perfectly worships himself.

26:24 SPEAKER_00: What started in the Garden of Eden, the temptation to become like God, ends with a man declaring himself to be God.

26:31 SPEAKER_00: Inside each of us hides the seed of thinking we can become as God, and unless it has been crucified unto death, we will follow the Antichrist.

26:40 SPEAKER_00: He will speak of being God, and it will sound correct and true, if we have not died to self.

26:46 SPEAKER_00: At this point, both the atheist and the false believer in Jesus will discover they believe the same thing.

26:52 SPEAKER_00: He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

27:02 SPEAKER_00: 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 4.

27:05 SPEAKER_00: The false Christian church will hear the talk of the Antichrist and realize it has preached the same thing for years.

27:11 SPEAKER_00: Both proclaim a message of good self-esteem, finding one's life and gaining the power God intended for man.

27:18 SPEAKER_00: However, that power was lost when we fell in the garden and will not return to man until he has fallen to the ground and died.

27:25 SPEAKER_00: We deceive ourselves when we believe that if the goal is noble, our hearts must be right.

27:30 SPEAKER_00: No heart is totally pure until it has been crucified with Christ.

27:34 SPEAKER_00: No cause, even those for the kingdom of God, will result in good if we are not actively dead to self.

27:41 SPEAKER_00: Paul warned Timothy to have nothing to do with these false Christians and churches, because they are lovers of self while claiming to know God.

27:50 SPEAKER_00: Treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power, have nothing to do with them.

28:00 SPEAKER_00: 2 Timothy 3 verses 4 through 5.

28:03 SPEAKER_00: How much closer to the last days we must be than in Timothy and Paul's time?

28:08 SPEAKER_00: The powerful delusion happens everywhere in every church.

28:11 SPEAKER_00: The root of loving self remains while the false Christians boast of their relationship with God.

28:16 SPEAKER_00: They brag with all the insanity they can muster of their works and experiences in God.

28:21 SPEAKER_00: Yet all the talk of love is not really love, but self righteous man doing good deeds in order to feel better about himself.

28:28 SPEAKER_00: True love only flows through those who hate their own lives, but such an offensive cross is just not present in the church.

28:35 SPEAKER_00: Look closely again at the passage in 2 Timothy and see how it plays out in our churches today.

28:41 SPEAKER_00: Look at the rebellious children in the church today, dressing and acting like the world.

28:46 SPEAKER_00: The love for pleasure is obvious in the picnics, parties, tanning, playing cruises, fine dining, and having fun in the name of the Lord.

28:55 SPEAKER_00: Any church that teaches self-control by the Holy Spirit is mocked as legalistic and unloving.

Church Culture That Trains Self Worship

29:00 SPEAKER_00: False Christians act brutal toward those who preach the message of the cross, yet quickly act on any impulse and claim to hear the voice of the Lord.

29:09 SPEAKER_00: Certainly, a gospel that works out one's salvation with fear and trembling is hotly rejected.

29:15 SPEAKER_00: If you begin to live and preach the message of the cross, you will find out just how brutal these individuals and churches act.

29:23 SPEAKER_00: The true church will know the power found in a crucified life, of losing one's life and daily surrendering self.

29:30 SPEAKER_00: True Christians will have died to self so much every day that when the time comes to fully give up their lives, God will grant them the grace they need.

29:38 SPEAKER_00: We will not look for comfort while picking up our crosses, but rejoice in the suffering.

29:43 SPEAKER_00: Where can death to self be found in men leading seminars on carrying one's cross, while promoting the golf courses, find food, and fun in their brochures?

29:52 SPEAKER_00: How can they think they will overcome the Antichrist with ease, thinking we can claim the blood of Jesus, the promises of his word, and still go to heaven, while we embrace the insanity of the world is a powerful delusion indeed.

30:06 SPEAKER_00: They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.

30:10 SPEAKER_00: They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

30:13 SPEAKER_00: Revelation twelve verse eleven.

30:16 SPEAKER_00: Anyone not hating his life and truth and spirit on a daily basis will never find the power to lay down his life when the Antichrist makes his demands.

30:25 SPEAKER_00: Indeed, God will make sure that you take the mark of the beast, for it is not really Satan we fight against, but God who allows Satan to work in those who refuse to love the truth.

30:36 SPEAKER_00: For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion, so that they will believe the lie.

30:42 SPEAKER_00: Thessalonians eleven.

30:44 SPEAKER_00: Note with fear and trembling that God sends the powerful delusion.

30:49 SPEAKER_00: In the last days many ministers and teachers of the Word will step up first to take the mark of the beast.

30:55 SPEAKER_00: Many right now who speak a lot about the Antichrist in the last days will surprise you on that day.

31:01 SPEAKER_00: God will send the powerful delusion into their hearts, and they will gladly take the mark of the beast.

31:07 SPEAKER_00: For it is not the knowledge of the last days that saves a man, but whether on a daily basis he hated his own life and died to self.

31:14 SPEAKER_00: We fight not against Satan, but against God who is against all who reject the message of the cross.

31:20 SPEAKER_00: It is time for us to kiss the Son, and cry out with all our hearts to understand and live the crucified life before the day of wrath.

31:28 SPEAKER_00: Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment.

31:35 SPEAKER_00: Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

31:38 SPEAKER_00: Psalms twelve.

31:41 SPEAKER_00: Worship of self.

31:43 SPEAKER_00: Again, what is the powerful delusion?

31:46 SPEAKER_00: Like a madman, it is believing something in spite of strong evidence to the contrary.

31:51 SPEAKER_00: For a false Christian, it is believing that we can be saved apart from the true cross of Christ in our lives.

31:57 SPEAKER_00: It is always amazing to watch someone when the blinders fall from their eyes.

32:01 SPEAKER_00: I know a man who shook his head in amazement after hearing this message and started to pick up the cross God had for him.

32:08 SPEAKER_00: He asked in wonderment, where was I at?

32:11 SPEAKER_00: I read all those scriptures before and even taught others about them.

32:15 SPEAKER_00: I heard emotion packed sermons and read many books, but I never saw this before.

32:20 SPEAKER_00: Now I see it in every scripture, and can feel the effects of the cross and all that God does in my life.

32:26 SPEAKER_00: The grandest delusion in the church today is that man can love his own life and still go to heaven.

32:31 SPEAKER_00: Satan loves to worship himself and perpetrates this lie in the name of Jesus.

32:36 SPEAKER_00: He uses Scripture as evidenced by miracles, signs, and wonders to get us to bless self.

32:42 SPEAKER_00: While such miracles and evidence begin slowly, they gain intensity with each passing year, to the point that it affects nearly every church.

32:50 SPEAKER_00: For a church to declare itself clean of this insanity, much effort will be needed to first cleanse the church and then to keep it clean.

32:58 SPEAKER_00: The powerful delusion and false revival will be so powerful that even the elect will take a second look and question their Christianity.

33:06 SPEAKER_00: The cross must be measured against all works, worship, lives, and doctrines if the elect hope to find the grace to overcome.

33:13 SPEAKER_00: If you are indeed one of the elect, the Holy Spirit must immediately make real to you the following passage, for it will take great resolve not to move from the true gospel.

Daily Cross Bearing Against The Mark

33:24 SPEAKER_00: For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

33:32 SPEAKER_00: If you have the power of the cross in your life, all of this will become clear to you.

33:37 SPEAKER_00: You will clearly see the false church and revival.

33:39 SPEAKER_00: You will not see it just because the logic of a book or sermon shows some faults in the false church, but because the cross gives you the power to see it.

33:47 SPEAKER_00: Let me repeat it again.

33:49 SPEAKER_00: Just because you have knowledge of the wickedness of the false church, does it mean you will not take the mark of the beast?

33:55 SPEAKER_00: God does not save a man because he has knowledge of the last days, but because daily, by grace, he picks up his cross and follows Jesus.

34:04 SPEAKER_00: Then he said to them all, If any one would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me, for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life from me will save it.

34:16 SPEAKER_00: Luke 9 verses 23 through 24.

34:20 SPEAKER_00: Only those who lose their lives will possess the power and grace not to be taken in by the powerful delusion.

34:26 SPEAKER_00: All those who have found their lives in their ministry, church, prayers, works, miracles, and Bible studies will follow the Antichrist, persecute true Christians, and be judged apart from the blood of Jesus.

34:38 SPEAKER_00: All who enjoy their life in Christ, without carrying a cross of suffering unto death, live a lie, and God will make sure they believe the powerful delusion.

34:48 SPEAKER_00: God will send whatever it takes to get them to believe.

34:51 SPEAKER_00: The spiritual feelings, answered prayers, miracles, numbers, insight into Scripture, open doors, healings, blessings, and more confirm the lie to all who will not hate their own lives.