Seven Mysteries of God

 Seven Mysteries of God - By Bill Pierce - https://www.raptureready.com/2022/07/14/seven-mysteries-of-god-by-bill-pierce/ Text: “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1Corinthians 4:1). Revealed after Christ’s first coming — The word mystery is foundtwenty-two times, and mysteries is found five times in the Holy Bible. Neither word is found in the Old Testament. Even though “known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18), the mysteries of God were concealed until JesusChrist, “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:7) was sent from heaven. According to Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary, a “steward” is ‘a minister of Christ, whose duty is to dispense the provisions of the gospel, to preach its doctrines and administerits ordinances.’ A “mystery” is ‘In religion, any thing in the character or attributes of God, or in the economy of divine providence, which is not revealed to man…That which is beyond human comprehension until explained. In this sense, mystery often conveysthe idea of something awfully sublime or important; something that excites wonder.’ Revealed by the word of God alone — The “mysteries of God” arebeyond human knowledge until explained by God in his word. Neither God’s prophets, who lived before the first coming of Jesus Christ, nor his angels know these mysteries (1Peter 1:10-12). And even after a mystery of God is revealed to men through his word,no man is capable of understanding how God accomplishes his “mighty works” (Luke 10:13) and “mighty deeds” (2Corinthians 12:12). Although Bible believers receive the word of God as absolute truth (1Thessalonians 2:13), we cannot explain how God does his work.Unbelieving ‘Bible scholars’ attempt to explain the mysteries of God by using nature and their “science falsely so called” (1Timothy 6:20). Understanding that God made the heavens “and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth” (Psalm 33:6; Hebrews 11:3; 2Peter 3:5-7), that “…with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:26-27), and “…with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37), it is absurd and irrational for any man to attempt to explain how God accomplished the mysteries! We would do well to agree with David, who declared: “LORD, my heart is not haughty,nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me” (Psalm 131:1). God will show his faithful children all they need to know to love, serve, and please him (Revelation 4:11), for “The secret of the LORD is withthem that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant” (Psalm 25:14). THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS 1Timothy 3:16 “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,believed on in the world, received up into glory.” To ‘manifest’ means ‘To reveal; to make to appear; to show plainly; to make public; to disclose to the eye or to the understanding.’ (Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary). Testimony of the prophets — Isaiah wrote: “Therefore the Lordhimself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14), which means, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23), whose name shall be called “Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father,The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6-7). The Lord Jesus said to Philip, “…he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” (John 14:9). Micah declared that his “goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah5:2). The Son of God himself is “the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth…” (Isaiah 40:28). Testimony of the apostles— After “the resurrection of Jesus Christfrom the dead” (1Peter 1:3), the disciples gave clear and plain testimonies of the truth that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. John said that “the Word was God” (John 1:1), and that “the Word was made flesh” (John 1:14; 1John 5:20; John 20:28; Luke 24:36-48).The apostle Paul declared that God’s dear Son is the creator and sustainer of all things (Colossians 1:12-17; Genesis 1:1). Testimony of God the Father — “But unto the Son he saith, Thythrone, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom” (Hebrews 1:8). Testimony of men—The word of God warns: “And every spirit thatconfesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God… For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist” (1John 4:3; 2John 1:7). Jesus Christ plainly toldthe unbelieving Jews, “…if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24). All unbelievers, Jews and Gentiles alike, will suffer eternally with all Christ rejecters in the “lake of fire” (Revelation 20:14-15; 21:8)! THE MYSTERY OF THE INDWELLING CHRIST Colossians 1:25-27 “Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hathbeen hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The witness of the Spirit — The mystery of the indwelling of Christis made “manifest to his saints,” but not to unbelievers (1John 3:1-2). Born-again believers know that they are saved, because God has put the Holy Ghost, “the Spirit of Christ,” in them: “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hathgiven us of his Spirit” (1John 4:13). “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:16). As long as the unbelieving seek truth outside of the word of God, “They know not, neither will they understand; they walkon in darkness…” (Psalm 82:5; 1John 1:6; John 8:12). For “…the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1Corinthians 2:14). Understanding—The Lord foretold of the gift of the Holy Ghostwhich would be given after his resurrection (John 7:37-39; 14:15-17). It is by the Spirit that believers understand the word of God (John 16:13; 1Corinthians 2:12-13). Self-examination—A man receives the Spirit of Christ when he receivesJesus Christ by faith as his personal Saviour: “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit” (1John 4:13). According to the word of God, “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hathnot life” (1John 5:12), and if a man does not have “the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9)! In light of the seriousness of this truth, the apostle Paul commanded the church of God which is at Corinth: “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in thefaith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2Corinthians 13:5). THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST AND THE CHURCH Ephesians 5:30 “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife,and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” The operation of God — A sinner is saved according to God’s mercy(Titus 3:5) when he is “born again” (John 3:3-8; 1Peter 1:23) and washed from his sins in the blood of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:5). At this same time, God performs a mysterious operation. By the living word of God, which is “sharper than any twoedged sword,” he divides asunder the “soul and spirit” from “the joints and marrow [the physical body]” (Hebrews 4:12). God circumcises the believer “with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ” (Colossians 2:11). The allegory of the woman — This operation makes it possible forthe “new creature” (2Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15) to be joined unto Christ and be “one spirit” (1Corinthians 6:17) with him. His soul is likened to a woman who—after the death of her former husband, has been made free to lawfully marry another (Romans7:1-3). The believer’s “old man” has been “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), and he has “put on the new man” (Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10) who has been “espoused…to one husband” that he may be presented “…as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2Corinthians11:2). Paul uses the woman as an allegory of the believer: “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit untoGod…” (Romans 7:4-6). We know “that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:6). Therefore, we are commanded: “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;” (Ephesians 4:22) and, “Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds” (Colossians 3:9). The Son made us “freeindeed” (John 8:36) and “partakers of Christ” (Hebrews 3:14) when he baptized us “with the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 3:11-12) into “one body” (1Corinthians 12:13), the “one body in Christ” (Romans 12:4-5)—his “body, the church” (Colossians 1:18). Powerless religion — There are literally billions of souls inthis world today who are ‘religious.’ To state the truth briefly and plainly, anyone who trusts and attempts to be saved by religious works—such as infant baptism, church membership, confirmation by men, or any other so-called religious work, will utterlyand completely fail! “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse…” (Galatians 3:10). But thank God, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on atree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:11-14). Power of God through faith — No religion, including “pure religion” (James 1:27), has the power to save and keep any man’s soul! The word of God clearly declares: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus3:5). “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9); “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them thatbelieve on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). They do not receive “the Spirit by the works of the law [but] by the hearing of faith” (Galatians 3:2; Romans 10:17). Paul told the believers at Thessalonica, “But we arebound to give thanks alway 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: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of theglory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2Thessalonians 2:13-14; Ephesians 1:13-14). THE MYSTERY OF ISRAEL’S BLINDNESS Romans 11:25 “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel,until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” Israel rejected their Messiah — The Lord Jesus Christ “came untohis own [Israel], and his own received him not” (John 1:11). As a nation, Israel said, “We will not have this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14). They demanded of Pilate, “Crucify him, crucify him” (John 19:6)! When Pilate declared Jesus Christ to be innocent,the Jews said, “His blood be on us, and on our children” (Matthew 27:24-25). Because of their rejection of Jesus Christ, their Messiah, God has placed a terrible curse upon the nation of Israel. He has blinded them in part to “the light of the glorious gospelof Christ” (2Corinthians 4:4), “until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Romans 11:25). Even though the majority of Jewish people have rejected Jesus Christ, God has not cast away his people: “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant [of Israel]according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work” (Romans 11:5-6). Grace is ‘Appropriately, the free unmeritedlove and favor of God, the spring and source of all the benefits men receive from him…The application of Christ’s righteousness to the sinner [through faith (2Timothy 3:15; Romans 9:30)]‘ (Noah Webster, 1828). Israel will be restored — After Barnabas and Paul declared “whatmiracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them” (Acts 15:12), “James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to thisagree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord,and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things” (Acts 15:13-17). Witness of the prophets — According to the prophets, the Lord “…shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people [and]…shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isaiah 11:11-12). “For the LORD will have mercy onJacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob” (Isaiah 14:1). “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch,and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jeremiah 23:5-6; 32:37-38;Zephaniah 3:14-15). Witness of the apostles — In perfect concordance with the prophets,the New Testament declares that after “the fulness of the Gentiles be come in…” (Romans 11:25): “…all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant untothem, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past havenot believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord?or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever Amen” (Romans 11:25-36). God’s merciful salvation plan — Jews and Gentiles are both savedby grace through faith! When the apostles and elders were gathered together in Jerusalem to consider the teaching of some of the believing Pharisees that it was necessary to require the believing Gentiles to be circumcised and to keep the law of Moses, Peterrose up and rehearsed how that God had saved and had given the Holy Ghost to the Gentiles when they heard and believed the gospel. Furthermore, Peter said that God “put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why temptye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they” (Acts 15:7-11). MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT Revelation 17:5 “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” Babylon has many harlot daughters—When people worship anything that is not God, or give their hearts to idols, or institutional systems, doctrines, rites, so-called churches, or administrations as substitutes for what is set forth in scripture, such is calledwhoredom, adultery, and fornication (Jeremiah 3:6-9; Ezekiel 16:32; Hosea 1-2; Revelation 2:22). “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,” as it exists today, is a religious system which includes all churches that preach “another gospel” and “another Jesus” with “another spirit” (2Corinthians 11:4, 13-15). Satan’s church is a MOTHER OF HARLOTS. The MOTHER and her HARLOT offspring are all Satan’sministers, preaching lies and making millions of deceived followers two-fold more the children of hell than themselves (Matthew 23:15)! Some of the Lord’s people have also been deceived by her lies. The Lord commands them: “Come out of her, my people, thatye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4), because the Lord will destroy such churches in the tribulation period (Revelation 17:16-17). The devil, “the god of this world,” “the prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11), has “blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the gloriousgospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2Corinthians 4:3-4). His deceiving religions are by far Satan’s most powerful tool for deceiving and blinding people to the truth of the word of God! The sure antidote against deception — The only source of absolute truth in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) is the Holy Bible. “The words of the LORD are pure words:as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever” (Psalms 12:6-7). God has magnified his word even above all his name (Psalms 138:2). “So then faith cometh byhearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). “…many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall wego? thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:66-68). There is no place to go in this world but to the word of God—the Holy Bible, if you want to know the truth and you want to receive eternal life from God (Romans 6:23). Fools put their trust in men — The apostle Paul prophesied aboutthese last days: “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2Timothy 3:13). Only a fool trusts his eternal soul to another man: “Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm,and whose heart departeth from the LORD” (Jeremiah 17:5). Many religious people have never opened the Holy Bible to read it for themselves! They have put all their trust in the words of deceived religious men! Because of their ignorance of the scriptures,they are headed down a false religious path to destruction: “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25). Even the man “that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered” (Proverbs 28:26). But on the other hand: “Blessed is the man thattrusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is” (Jeremiah 17:7). Paul was an apostle “by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope” (1Timothy 1:1), “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, andwhich entereth into that within the veil” (Hebrews 6:19). Eternal judgment for Christ rejecters — If you reject the LordJesus Christ and his words, he will judge you by his word and reject you in the last day (John 12:48). He will say to you: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). You will then be cast into the Lord’s eternal garbage dump, where you “shall dwell with the devouring fire…with everlasting burnings” (Isaiah 33:14); where the smoke of yourtorment will ascend up for ever and ever, and you will have no rest day nor night (Revelation 14:11). You will be “in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8). You will be in “the blackness of darkness forever” (Jude 1:13) with “the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars” (Revelation 21:8), where there shall be wailing and “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:42; Luke13:28)! God offers the gift of eternal life — “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Eternal life is notavailable to anyone except those who receive and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:12-13). The exclusive way to the true God is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father,but by me” (John 14:6). Our “spiritual Rock” is Christ (1Corinthians 10:4): “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” (Deuteronomy 32:4). But the “rock” of all the world’sreligions “is not as our Rock” (Deuteronomy 32:31)! If you want to escape the damnation of hell, then you must be “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1Peter 1:23-25). Every saved child of God trusted the Lord Jesus Christ after he first “heard the word of truth, the gospel” (Ephesians 1:13; Colossians 1:5). The Lord Jesus prayed “for themalso which shall believe” (John 17:20) on him through the words of the apostles found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. John wrote his gospel account, “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life throughhis name” (John 20:31). Praise God, that’s me! How about you? The gospel — The “glorious gospel of Christ” (2Corinthians 4:4) is “how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose againthe third day according to the scriptures” (1Corinthians 15:3-4)! And in his incorruptible word, our gracious and merciful God promises: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him fromthe dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9)! THE MYSTERY OF THE CATCHING AWAY 1Corinthians 15:51-52 “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for thetrumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” Sleep — Many times in the scriptures, sleep refers to the death of the physical body. At this present time, the spirits and souls of all believers whose bodies are asleep areabsent from their bodies and are present with the Lord (2Corinthians 5:8). When the Lord returns for the church, “them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive andremain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first [God will give the “dead in Christ” a glorious “body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body” (1Corinthians 15:38; Philippians 3:21)]: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shallwe ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1Thessalonians 4:13-18). We who have been saved by the mercy and grace of God (Ephesians 2:8-9) are “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour JesusChrist” (Titus 2:13). He is coming “as a thief in the night” (1Thessalonians 5:2; 2Peter 3:10). He could come at this very hour (1Thessalonians 4:16-18). We are waiting for nothing to happen first! Are you ready for the coming of Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:43-44)? THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY 2Thessalonians 2:7 “For the MYSTERY of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let [prevent; withhold], until he be taken out of the way.” Best news—It is a mystery why everyone in the world doesn’t believethe gospel of God’s grace when they first hear it. The Bible tells us that the spirit of “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), the spirit of the devil, works in all of “the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1-3) to blind them to the truth: “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2Corinthians 4:3-4). Great deception — After the church is caught up, the ultimatefulfillment of the mystery of iniquity will appear in the person of “the son of perdition” (2Thessalonians 2:3). “The mystery of godliness” is that “God was manifest in the flesh” (1Timothy 3:16). “The mystery of iniquity” (2Thessalonians 2:7) is Satan manifestin the flesh! He is called “antichrist” (1John 2:18), “that man of sin…the son of perdition” (2Thessalonians 2:3), and “that Wicked” (2Thessalonians 2:8). After the church is taken out of the world by the Lord Jesus Christ (1Thessalonians 4:16-18; 1Corinthians 15:51-53), the world will be deceived by this man who will flatterthem and deceive them by “peace” (Daniel 8:25; 1Thessalonians 5:1-3). After three and a half years, he will sit in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, “shewing himself that he is God” (2Thessalonians 2:4)! “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him” (Revelation 13:8)! These unbelievers will actually worship “that man of sin…the son of perdition” (2Thessalonians 2:3)! As God blinded Israel “in part” because of unbelief, so during this present time, God promises to blind and damn every one who rejects his only begotten Son Jesus Christ afterthe Spirit of God calls him by the gospel. Speaking of the events which take place just after the Lord comes and catches his church away (1Thessalonians 4:16-18; 1Corinthians 15:51-53), the apostle Paul warned that God will send a strong delusion to thosemen whom he had previously called by the gospel (2Thessalonians 2:13-14), but who “received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved…That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2Thessalonians 2:8-12)! If you do not believe “the mystery of godliness,” that “God was manifest in the flesh” (1Timothy 3:16), then you have been blinded by “the mystery of iniquity.” You are stillin darkness. May today be “the day of salvation” (2Corinthians 6:2) for you. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). Share this: