March 11, 2024 • 25 mins
Embark on a profound journey through Second Thessalonians, Chapter 2, as Aaron and I grapple with the eschatological enigma of the end times and the Antichrist. The early Thessalonians wrestled with a significant misunderstanding - the belief that the Day of the Lord had already come. As we dissect this scripture, our humble pursuit of clarity takes us into the heart of Paul's teachings. We're not scholars, just earnest believers, and we invite you to reflect on the signposts of our current era that may signal the unfolding of these ancient prophecies. Within this episode, we also unveil our website's latest interactive enhancements, designed to foster a deeper sense of community and spiritual growth among our listeners. Dwayne Yoder's impactful daily devotionals are spotlighted, offering a resource for those seeking daily inspiration.
The dialogue continues, dissecting the perplexing notion of a preordained deception and the promise of Christ's ultimate victory over the forces of darkness. Together, Aaron and I confront the unsettling scripture that speaks of God sending a strong delusion, unpacking its theological implications with the utmost care. We emphasize the importance of immediate action in faith, as we contemplate the urgency of embracing salvation and grace in these complex times. Whether it's getting baptized, joining a church, or simply reaching out with your questions, this episode is a clarion call to engage with your beliefs actively. So, let's huddle around this metaphorical campfire, share in prayer, and uplift each other in fellowship, fortified by the hopeful messages amidst the trials foretold.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome back to the two fish podcast.
My name is Nick, I'm Aaron andthis week we're going back to
second Thessalonians, chaptertwo, and another chapter about
the end times in Antichrist.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Welcome back to fish community, man.
We are excited to be here foranother week, another episode
this week.
We want to start out by askingyou guys go out to our website,
two fish podcast com.
A couple cool things on thewebsite.
One you can leave us a review.
(00:41):
We would love to get yourreview.
Second thing is you can sign upfor our email chain.
You just hit the follow buttonon the website.
It'll ask you for your firstname, your email, and we are
going to start trying to get outan email a couple times a month
.
And then don't forget aboutDwayne Yoder's daily Devo.
(01:02):
You can go and get signed upfor that and get a daily Devo.
Dwayne is a fan of the show anda listener and a good friend of
ours through a church ministryand I've been watching, reading
his daily Devo's and reached outto him to see if we can share
that with the two fish community, because it's another way for
(01:24):
us to grow together and stayconnected.
So we need you guys to dive inand join us in those areas as
well.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, and again, that's all at two fish
podcastcom Also head over toFacebook.
We do a live, we're doing alive show again.
So the recording of thisepisode is going to be on
Facebook and then we're alsogoing to take it and upload it
to YouTube along with someshorts.
And I want to just go back towhat you said about reviews.
We haven't had some reviews ina while.
(01:54):
Leave five star reviews, notbad reviews.
If you're going to leave a badreview, don't leave one Just
because we also don't needViagra reviews.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I just deleted one today.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
I put a short on YouTube and I commented on it
just to say, hey, check out thefull show.
Here's the link.
And then someone else commentsjust some brood thing.
That was unnecessary,irrelevant and just dumb, so we
don't need that.
I don't know why people do that.
It's kind of weird to me.
But called a sheep, sheep orsheep, I guess.
(02:28):
I mean, I guess, yeah, jesus isthe shepherd, I guess I'm the
sheep, so I'll take it.
I'll take it, we'll turn itinto something good, all right,
so again this week we're goinginto second Thessalonians,
chapter two.
We're just going to read ifyou're new to the show, we just
read it together, we talk aboutit, but kind of like that
campfire setting style Biblestudy together.
(02:53):
We are not theologians, we donot have all the answers, and if
we don't we'll admit that wedon't and we just kind of
walking through it.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah, we just believe the answers are found in the
Bible.
There is some always backgroundthings that are good to know
about the Bible that theologiansmay know better than Well.
I'm going to guess they knowbetter than we do.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
But anyways, let's dive in All right Verse one now,
concerning the coming of ourLord Jesus Christ and our being
and our being gathered togetherto him.
We ask you, brothers, not to bequickly shaken in mind or
alarmed either by spirit or byspoken word, or a letter seeming
(03:35):
to be from us, to the effectthat the day of the Lord has
come.
Let no one deceive you in anyway, for that day will not come
unless the rebellion comes firstand the man of lawlessness is
revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself
against every so called God andobject of worship, so that he
(03:55):
takes his seat in the temple ofGod, proclaiming himself to be
God.
Oh, that was a lot there.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Well, that is and I think we mentioned this last
week and the one thing toremember here, paul, this is
Paul's second letter toThessalonians, right, and he had
gone there and he had spentlike a month or maybe two months
with them and he would wentback and then the Thessalonians
somehow, as this is describinggrabbed onto the fact that they
(04:24):
thought the second coming ofJesus had already happened.
So the purpose of this, ofsecond Thessalonians, is
basically to tell theThessalonians that, hey, this
hasn't happened and in thischapter, paul's kind of diving
into what we're going to seewhen the day does come.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Yeah, I think he had only been there the first trip,
that we had read him firstbefore Therese Thessalonians.
He'd only been there for ashort time and then he's sending
this letter hey, justconfirming that you understood
everything that I said andclearly they hadn't, because
soon after he's writing thesecond one.
I think there's people in thechurch and we're going to get
(05:05):
into it a little bit more hereas we go along in this chapter
but there's people in the churchthat are going to read things
and they're just going to assumesomething about it and it's
going to be wrong.
And that happens.
We've done that, we've readstuff, and then later we're like
oh, you know what?
I think we read that wrong andwe've tried to correct it.
There's been a couple of timeswhere we tried to correct it,
(05:25):
but these people are saying, hey, it's already come, now we
gotta do something different.
And Paul's saying, no, no, it'sokay, we're gonna correct this.
Just make sure you understand.
And I think that points to whenwe've talked about this a bunch
always going back to scriptureand making sure everything lines
up with the word of God.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
And we're blessed to have that.
They didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Correct.
They didn't have it.
They would have had theoriginal the Old Testament.
They would have thosemanuscripts and Paul's letters
as he wrote them and maybechurches shared a copy.
But I even doubt that happenedright.
So, like he wrote theThessalonians, he wrote the
(06:11):
Colossians.
The was another one.
He wrote most of the NewTestament by himself, so not
necessarily with the churcheshave shared those At some point.
They all got obviously gotcompiled for us and that's what
we currently read out of.
So verse two, I think, veryplainly describes what Paul's
(06:33):
telling them not to do, and it'splease do not be easily shaken
and troubled by those who saythat the day of the Lord has
already begun.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And he's saying you gotta check yourself.
Like, calm down, it's not here,hasn't happened.
And he's gonna dive into what'sgotta happen.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, cause I think this church was concerned.
Oh, they're being told wemissed it.
Have you ever had one of thosemoments?
I've had this happen.
My wife and I have talked aboutthis before.
It's like you have this momentwhere maybe you go into a room
and someone's supposed to bethere, you know, and all of a
sudden no one's there.
And then you go to the otherroom and you're like, hey, babe,
are you there?
And all of a sudden you havethis just split second, freak
(07:20):
out.
We're like, oh my gosh, didJesus come?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
when I missed it.
You know what I mean, oh oh, oh.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
But then you have that second thought and you're
like, well, no way, no way, shemade it.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
and I didn't Come on now.
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
But I have not had that happen.
Was that that honestly freaksme out?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Oh, that's funny.
I'm not gonna walk in andeverybody else would go on.
Yes, and I'm left behind.
So I think that was the thingthat this church was like oh my
gosh, have we missed it?
And he's saying, hey, youhaven't, don't worry, but
there's gonna be a time thatyou're gonna have to work.
Well, you're not.
Let me back that up.
Future, nick, sorry, hold on.
(08:03):
There's gonna be a time, though, where you're gonna see some
things happen, and that's whenyou know, hey, it could happen
now.
And one of the things he saysis in verse, in the verse three,
for there will be a day when arebellion comes first and the
man of lawlessness is revealed,the son of destruction.
I did a little research and Ican't point to exactly what
(08:27):
website it was, but maybe Ishould do a better job of that,
but the way it was described isunless the rebellion comes first
.
This guy pretty respected pastor, but he said that's gonna be a
time where even the church isgonna turn away, like there's
gonna be a rebellion away fromChrist.
A lot of times I hear oh right,before the second coming,
(08:50):
there's gonna be more Christiansthan ever.
And this guy was sayingactually, if you dive in the
scripture multiple times, itsays no, there's gonna be a
turning away.
Like it's almost like that.
You always say when times gettough, that's when you're gonna
find out who is real and who'snot, because if it's too tough,
I'm out.
You know what I mean.
That's the attitude of a lot ofpeople, and so he was pointing
(09:12):
to.
This rebellion that Paul'swriting about is going to be a
time where Christians are gonnasay no, and I think we get that
scripture when it says there'sgonna be a future time.
I can't remember what chapterit is We've done or what book it
is we've done a study on it butall the Christians are gonna
want just something that ticklestheir ear, something that, oh,
it's not hard, it's fluffy, itdoesn't make them stretch
(09:35):
themselves or dig in and bebetter.
It allows their flesh to thatgrace that Daniel had said.
That cheap grace allows them toto not have to worry about
their flesh and they can justaccept it for who they are like.
The church is gonna turn away.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
It also reminds me of the concept of the narrow path
on the wide path.
This is not being a Christfollower is a narrow path, is a
narrow path to heaven andOftentimes our flesh desires
that wide path, and I think whatyou're describing is describing
that is end times come and itgets more difficult.
(10:16):
Are you gonna dig your heels in?
Yeah, you're gonna say you knowwhat.
It's getting a little bit toodifficult to be a Christian and
you're gonna fall away.
Yeah, and I.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
I Really hear all the time of Christians
deconstructing their faith or orhow, whatever word you want to
use, but there are a lot ofpeople that are turning away
from the faith now, and I thinksocial media Tick-tock and all
the social media avenues you getstuck in some algorithm and all
of a sudden, all you hear isSomething refuting something
(10:47):
else, and then by the time,you're questioning everything,
which is not a bad thing toquestion in the hopes of
understanding better.
Yeah, but there are peopleturning away left and right.
And then the second part ofthat is the man of lawlessness
is revealed, the son ofdestruction.
There.
He's talking about theantichrist Now.
Whether I have no idea, I'm notgonna point to that.
(11:08):
Whether the antichrist isaround now or not, I have no
idea, but he's gonna come andhe's gonna take over and he's
gonna proclaim himself as God.
The end of verse four saysthere so that I know of there's
no one out there that's takingcontrol of the world and said I
am God.
There's a lot of dumb peopleonline that say that, but that I
(11:29):
know of there's no one inparticular that is taken Taking
that stance.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
No, I would agree.
I don't.
I don't know of that happening.
I think there's a lot of otherlittle things happening that may
or may not line up with Endtimes and revelations, but once
again, I don't understand.
Yeah, all of that, but there'sdefinite signs and there's
definite things that are goingon that point to Point to the
(11:56):
fact that it's happening.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, first number five.
Do you not remember when I wasstill with you and I told you
these things?
And you know what isrestraining him now so that he
may be revealed in his time, forthe mystery of the lawlessness
is already at work.
Only he who now restrains itwill do so until he is out of
the way.
There he's in.
(12:18):
I told you these things but,like we said at the beginning,
he wasn't there for very long.
So I think that's where and Ithink that also points to you
need to make sure you'recontinually studying this stuff,
so that you don't just hear itonce and then later you hear
something else.
Me like oh yeah, that must beenwhat it said, but he's haven't.
Don't remember?
I told you these things andThen he said it's already
(12:40):
happening.
The spirit of the antichrist ishere.
One of the other, the lastbooks we did talked about Little
a anacrites, that there areanacrists now just stirring
things up, preparing the way,and and Paul saying that stuff's
already happening, that stuff'salready at work.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah, you bring up like continually studying and
Paul pointed to that actually upin up in verse 2 Even if they
claim, even if they claim tohave had a vision or a
revelation or a lettersupposedly from us, don't
(13:19):
believe them.
And I am thinking of thatstudying.
If you study Paul's letters weoften talk about it he starts
them and ends them a prettyparticular way.
Yeah, and his writings are.
They're very similar.
Might be to a different church,but it's formatted, very
similar.
(13:39):
So, in that regards to studying, like he's even telling them,
like you should be able to tellif this is a letter from me and
we should be able to tell is, isthese times approach?
If, if it is true to the Bible.
(13:59):
Yeah like we have better accessthan anybody else in any
Previous history.
Now we also have access to alot of false Information out
there, so you really got towatch what you read and and how
Things can get twisted now andit can just be a few words that
(14:21):
throw it off.
And Nick even pointed to itearlier like sometimes people
just get it get it wrong.
Yeah, but if there is nocorrection to that when they
discover they get it wrong,that's where you got a problem.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Yeah, and I mean we could have a whole podcast on
pride there.
Well, I don't want to admit amistake, we'll just move on.
How many people you see do thatall the time?
Well, I'm, that's just over andmoving on.
That's too proud to admit.
Hey, you know what I screwed uphere.
Let's correct it.
The the verse seven is sayingyou, only he who now restrains
(14:56):
it will Will do so until he'sout of the way.
The Antichrist being restrained, satan's being restrained right
now, but there's gonna be atime where he's not gonna be,
which is gonna, which is gonnakick off in times.
Verse number eight and Then thelawless one will be revealed,
whom the Lord Jesus will killwith the breath of his mouth and
(15:18):
bring to To nothing by theappearance of his coming.
The coming of the lost one isby the activity of Satan, with
all power and false signs andwonders and with all wicked
Deception for those who areperishing because they refuse to
love the truth and so be saved.
That's good stuff.
That's like that's the hopethere.
(15:39):
There's always hope Anytime.
Paul's writing, peters writing.
They're like all this bad stuffcould happen.
It's gonna happen.
Do this, do that.
Here's what's coming, and thenhere's the hope, though.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yeah, I really like how my I'm gonna read the same
verses here, verse nine throughthrough ten, but I kind of like
how mine read a little betterand once again I'm in the Every
every man's Bible.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Oh, we got a back nice the NLT version.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
So the evil man will come to do the work of Satan
with counterfeit power and signsand miracles.
He will use every kind ofwicked deception to fool those
who are on their way todestruction because they Refuse
(16:27):
to believe the truth that wouldsave them.
It's gonna go ahead and readverse 11.
We can talk about all this, butso.
God will send great deceptionupon them and they will Believe
all these lies.
Then they will be condemned fornot believing the truth, you
and for enjoying the evil theydo.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
That's a tough one there for me when I think about
that verse 11.
Therefore, god sends them Mine,says, a strong delusion so they
may not believe, or they maybelieve false.
Yeah, man, that verse 11.
That's, that's hard for me.
That's one of those verses thatI struggle to understand.
Therefore, god sends them astrong delusion so that they may
believe what is false.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Makes it sound like God is bad.
First 10 here he will use.
He will use.
So this evil man right will useevery kind of wicked deception
to fool those who are on theirway to destruction because they
refuse to believe the truth thatwould save them.
Reminds me of 2 Peter, chapter2.
(17:34):
They're talking about falseteachers here, verse 12, and I
think this is kind of adescription of the type of
people we're talking about.
But this is particular 2 Petertalking about false teachers.
These false teachers are likeunthinking animals, creatures of
instinct who are born to becaught and killed.
(17:56):
They laugh at the terrifyingpowers they know so little about
and they will be destroyedalong with them.
Their destruction is theirreward for the harm they have
done.
They love to indulge in evilpleasures and broad day.
They are a disgrace and a stainamong you.
(18:18):
They revel in deceitfulnesswhile they feast with you.
They commit adultery with theireyes and their lust is never
satisfied.
They make a game of luringunstable people into sin.
They train themselves to begreedy.
(18:38):
They are doomed and cursed.
So I think those are the typeof people we're talking about
here.
The.
This evil man is going to beable to easily get ahold of them
, fool and drag them down thisroad, and then here in verse 11,
it's so.
God will send great deceptionupon them and they will believe
(19:03):
all of these lies.
God's just going to let them go, because they're so far gone
already, for whatever reason,fallen to this deceitful man
that is trying to lead us, asbelievers, astray.
But these people have alreadyrejected God, rejected Jesus,
(19:24):
and God's going to come in andhe's just going to say okay,
you're done, you're too far gone.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
I hate to say that, but you're too far gone.
I don't want anyone to thinkthat someone you love or know or
they've just done somethingthat's too far, that God's grace
is real.
We need to receive, believe andthen receive his grace and his
salvation.
But I think we're talking abouta point in time where that's it
.
I'm getting ready to end it.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
There's going to be a point where there's a line in
the sand and and it's too late,it's too late, not, and we're
talking second coming.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
We're talking the very, very end at judgment.
We're talking about then, notnow.
So don't misunderstand thatthere is still time.
If you're praying for someonein your family or or a relative,
or whatever it is, there'sstill time and we're never too
far gone.
But there is going to be a daywhen it ends.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, I mean and you can think of the thief on the
cross again with that right,like there were two and one
accepted at the very last momentof his life, and I up to the
point that, like it's done, it'snot too late.
Um, so if you do, if you dohave people that you're praying
(20:36):
for and all that, keep doing it.
Like, by no means are we thetwo fish podcast, saying
tomorrow's, the tomorrow's, theday, tomorrow is also the day to
reach out to that person thatyou've been thinking about.
It's not too late, it's time toreach out.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
But it's not time to give up.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yep, I love it, verse 13 but we are always to give
thanks to God for you, brothersBeloved by the Lord, because God
chose you as the first fruitsto be saved through
sanctification by the spirit andbelief in the truth.
To this he called you throughour gospel, so that you may
obtain the glory of our Lord,jesus Christ.
(21:18):
So then, brothers, stand firmand hold to the traditions that
you were taught by us, either byour spoken word or by our
letter.
Now, okay, let's stop there fora second.
That section, this section inmy verse is called stand firm,
and mine says it several.
He says it several times there,I think he's saying blessed are
you because you're one of thefirst.
(21:38):
You didn't.
You maybe you didn'tnecessarily see Jesus, but
you're understanding it.
The Holy Spirit is revealing itto you.
You're the first.
Now, here we are, two thousandyears later.
We're still blessed because weknow these people didn't have
scripture like we've talkedabout they.
They had to.
They had faith.
Yeah, they had to believe.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
No, they did.
They had to believe.
One like this is a letter fromPaul, and I think verse 13 is a
great Example of how this is aletter from Paul, because he
wrapped up a lot of his lettersthat way.
As for us, we always thank Godfor you, yeah, like so often, as
how he ended his letter.
And ultimately, they had tobelieve what Paul was writing
(22:20):
them, and the, the Paul andthese other disciples Walked
with Jesus, and this is what,this is what they saw and this
is what they're teaching, andthis is what Thessalonians
believed in.
They believed in the fact thatJesus came and he walked with
these men, that Jesus came andhe died on the cross and he was
buried in a tomb and the stonerolled away three days later and
(22:43):
he came back.
Yeah right like.
That is what our faith is builtupon and we have to stay in
firm in that.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Yeah, the end of verse 13, though To be saved
through sanctification by thespirit and belief in the truth.
It's a continual thing.
Sanctification is a continualthing here.
At the beginning of this bookhe's saying what the heck are
you guys doing?
You're believing somethingthat's not true.
But then again he's saying wecan still grow, we can still be
(23:16):
better.
It's a sanctification by thespirit.
It's it's growth.
Wrapping it up here, verse 16.
Now may our Lord, jesus Christhimself, and God, our father,
who loved us and gave us eternalcomfort and good hope through
grace, comfort your hearts andestablish them in every good
work and word.
There he goes, he's comfort,comfort your hearts.
(23:36):
He's in in this chapter thesame way he ends and we have a
whole another book.
Next week We'll go throughchapter or a whole another, and
we got a whole another chapter.
We'll go through chapter threenext week.
But comfort your hearts, andit's good hope through grace.
He always ends this like justthis constant grace.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Be with you and Next week my heading is Paul requests
for prayer.
So like he's kind of ended whathe is instructing the church to
do, I think here in verse 2,and he's gonna go into a little
bit of like Pray for me.
This is kind of what I need, iswhat I gather from what I've
(24:17):
read.
But we'll dive into that nextweek, but this week just
remember Like the time is coming.
Yeah we don't know when it is,but it's not here right now.
So it's not too late for you.
It's not too late for you toreach out to somebody.
It's not too late for you toask questions.
It's not too late for you toshow up to church.
(24:38):
It's not too late for you toget baptized and go public like
none of that.
It's not too late, yeah, butdon't wait.
Yeah, do not wait.
The gift of grace and salvationare there for you.
That is our encouragement tothe two fish community fear in
one of those boats man, don'twait, jump.
(24:59):
The life fest is Jesus, justjump.
Welcome back to the two fish podcast.
My name is Nick, I'm Aaron andthis week we're going back to
second Thessalonians, chaptertwo, and another chapter about
the end times in Antichrist.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Welcome back to fish community, man.
We are excited to be here foranother week, another episode
this week.
We want to start out by askingyou guys go out to our website,
two fish podcast com.
A couple cool things on thewebsite.
One you can leave us a review.
(00:41):
We would love to get yourreview.
Second thing is you can sign upfor our email chain.
You just hit the follow buttonon the website.
It'll ask you for your firstname, your email, and we are
going to start trying to get outan email a couple times a month
.
And then don't forget aboutDwayne Yoder's daily Devo.
(01:02):
You can go and get signed upfor that and get a daily Devo.
Dwayne is a fan of the show anda listener and a good friend of
ours through a church ministryand I've been watching, reading
his daily Devo's and reached outto him to see if we can share
that with the two fish community, because it's another way for
(01:24):
us to grow together and stayconnected.
So we need you guys to dive inand join us in those areas as
well.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, and again, that's all at two fish
podcastcom Also head over toFacebook.
We do a live, we're doing alive show again.
So the recording of thisepisode is going to be on
Facebook and then we're alsogoing to take it and upload it
to YouTube along with someshorts.
And I want to just go back towhat you said about reviews.
We haven't had some reviews ina while.
(01:54):
Leave five star reviews, notbad reviews.
If you're going to leave a badreview, don't leave one Just
because we also don't needViagra reviews.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I just deleted one today.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
I put a short on YouTube and I commented on it
just to say, hey, check out thefull show.
Here's the link.
And then someone else commentsjust some brood thing.
That was unnecessary,irrelevant and just dumb, so we
don't need that.
I don't know why people do that.
It's kind of weird to me.
But called a sheep, sheep orsheep, I guess.
(02:28):
I mean, I guess, yeah, jesus isthe shepherd, I guess I'm the
sheep, so I'll take it.
I'll take it, we'll turn itinto something good, all right,
so again this week we're goinginto second Thessalonians,
chapter two.
We're just going to read ifyou're new to the show, we just
read it together, we talk aboutit, but kind of like that
campfire setting style Biblestudy together.
(02:53):
We are not theologians, we donot have all the answers, and if
we don't we'll admit that wedon't and we just kind of
walking through it.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah, we just believe the answers are found in the
Bible.
There is some always backgroundthings that are good to know
about the Bible that theologiansmay know better than Well.
I'm going to guess they knowbetter than we do.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
But anyways, let's dive in All right Verse one now,
concerning the coming of ourLord Jesus Christ and our being
and our being gathered togetherto him.
We ask you, brothers, not to bequickly shaken in mind or
alarmed either by spirit or byspoken word, or a letter seeming
(03:35):
to be from us, to the effectthat the day of the Lord has
come.
Let no one deceive you in anyway, for that day will not come
unless the rebellion comes firstand the man of lawlessness is
revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself
against every so called God andobject of worship, so that he
(03:55):
takes his seat in the temple ofGod, proclaiming himself to be
God.
Oh, that was a lot there.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Well, that is and I think we mentioned this last
week and the one thing toremember here, paul, this is
Paul's second letter toThessalonians, right, and he had
gone there and he had spentlike a month or maybe two months
with them and he would wentback and then the Thessalonians
somehow, as this is describinggrabbed onto the fact that they
(04:24):
thought the second coming ofJesus had already happened.
So the purpose of this, ofsecond Thessalonians, is
basically to tell theThessalonians that, hey, this
hasn't happened and in thischapter, paul's kind of diving
into what we're going to seewhen the day does come.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Yeah, I think he had only been there the first trip,
that we had read him firstbefore Therese Thessalonians.
He'd only been there for ashort time and then he's sending
this letter hey, justconfirming that you understood
everything that I said andclearly they hadn't, because
soon after he's writing thesecond one.
I think there's people in thechurch and we're going to get
(05:05):
into it a little bit more hereas we go along in this chapter
but there's people in the churchthat are going to read things
and they're just going to assumesomething about it and it's
going to be wrong.
And that happens.
We've done that, we've readstuff, and then later we're like
oh, you know what?
I think we read that wrong andwe've tried to correct it.
There's been a couple of timeswhere we tried to correct it,
(05:25):
but these people are saying, hey, it's already come, now we
gotta do something different.
And Paul's saying, no, no, it'sokay, we're gonna correct this.
Just make sure you understand.
And I think that points to whenwe've talked about this a bunch
always going back to scriptureand making sure everything lines
up with the word of God.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
And we're blessed to have that.
They didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Correct.
They didn't have it.
They would have had theoriginal the Old Testament.
They would have thosemanuscripts and Paul's letters
as he wrote them and maybechurches shared a copy.
But I even doubt that happenedright.
So, like he wrote theThessalonians, he wrote the
(06:11):
Colossians.
The was another one.
He wrote most of the NewTestament by himself, so not
necessarily with the churcheshave shared those At some point.
They all got obviously gotcompiled for us and that's what
we currently read out of.
So verse two, I think, veryplainly describes what Paul's
(06:33):
telling them not to do, and it'splease do not be easily shaken
and troubled by those who saythat the day of the Lord has
already begun.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And he's saying you gotta check yourself.
Like, calm down, it's not here,hasn't happened.
And he's gonna dive into what'sgotta happen.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, cause I think this church was concerned.
Oh, they're being told wemissed it.
Have you ever had one of thosemoments?
I've had this happen.
My wife and I have talked aboutthis before.
It's like you have this momentwhere maybe you go into a room
and someone's supposed to bethere, you know, and all of a
sudden no one's there.
And then you go to the otherroom and you're like, hey, babe,
are you there?
And all of a sudden you havethis just split second, freak
(07:20):
out.
We're like, oh my gosh, didJesus come?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
when I missed it.
You know what I mean, oh oh, oh.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
But then you have that second thought and you're
like, well, no way, no way, shemade it.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
and I didn't Come on now.
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
But I have not had that happen.
Was that that honestly freaksme out?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Oh, that's funny.
I'm not gonna walk in andeverybody else would go on.
Yes, and I'm left behind.
So I think that was the thingthat this church was like oh my
gosh, have we missed it?
And he's saying, hey, youhaven't, don't worry, but
there's gonna be a time thatyou're gonna have to work.
Well, you're not.
Let me back that up.
Future, nick, sorry, hold on.
(08:03):
There's gonna be a time, though, where you're gonna see some
things happen, and that's whenyou know, hey, it could happen
now.
And one of the things he saysis in verse, in the verse three,
for there will be a day when arebellion comes first and the
man of lawlessness is revealed,the son of destruction.
I did a little research and Ican't point to exactly what
(08:27):
website it was, but maybe Ishould do a better job of that,
but the way it was described isunless the rebellion comes first
.
This guy pretty respected pastor, but he said that's gonna be a
time where even the church isgonna turn away, like there's
gonna be a rebellion away fromChrist.
A lot of times I hear oh right,before the second coming,
(08:50):
there's gonna be more Christiansthan ever.
And this guy was sayingactually, if you dive in the
scripture multiple times, itsays no, there's gonna be a
turning away.
Like it's almost like that.
You always say when times gettough, that's when you're gonna
find out who is real and who'snot, because if it's too tough,
I'm out.
You know what I mean.
That's the attitude of a lot ofpeople, and so he was pointing
(09:12):
to.
This rebellion that Paul'swriting about is going to be a
time where Christians are gonnasay no, and I think we get that
scripture when it says there'sgonna be a future time.
I can't remember what chapterit is We've done or what book it
is we've done a study on it butall the Christians are gonna
want just something that ticklestheir ear, something that, oh,
it's not hard, it's fluffy, itdoesn't make them stretch
(09:35):
themselves or dig in and bebetter.
It allows their flesh to thatgrace that Daniel had said.
That cheap grace allows them toto not have to worry about
their flesh and they can justaccept it for who they are like.
The church is gonna turn away.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
It also reminds me of the concept of the narrow path
on the wide path.
This is not being a Christfollower is a narrow path, is a
narrow path to heaven andOftentimes our flesh desires
that wide path, and I think whatyou're describing is describing
that is end times come and itgets more difficult.
(10:16):
Are you gonna dig your heels in?
Yeah, you're gonna say you knowwhat.
It's getting a little bit toodifficult to be a Christian and
you're gonna fall away.
Yeah, and I.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
I Really hear all the time of Christians
deconstructing their faith or orhow, whatever word you want to
use, but there are a lot ofpeople that are turning away
from the faith now, and I thinksocial media Tick-tock and all
the social media avenues you getstuck in some algorithm and all
of a sudden, all you hear isSomething refuting something
(10:47):
else, and then by the time,you're questioning everything,
which is not a bad thing toquestion in the hopes of
understanding better.
Yeah, but there are peopleturning away left and right.
And then the second part ofthat is the man of lawlessness
is revealed, the son ofdestruction.
There.
He's talking about theantichrist Now.
Whether I have no idea, I'm notgonna point to that.
(11:08):
Whether the antichrist isaround now or not, I have no
idea, but he's gonna come andhe's gonna take over and he's
gonna proclaim himself as God.
The end of verse four saysthere so that I know of there's
no one out there that's takingcontrol of the world and said I
am God.
There's a lot of dumb peopleonline that say that, but that I
(11:29):
know of there's no one inparticular that is taken Taking
that stance.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
No, I would agree.
I don't.
I don't know of that happening.
I think there's a lot of otherlittle things happening that may
or may not line up with Endtimes and revelations, but once
again, I don't understand.
Yeah, all of that, but there'sdefinite signs and there's
definite things that are goingon that point to Point to the
(11:56):
fact that it's happening.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, first number five.
Do you not remember when I wasstill with you and I told you
these things?
And you know what isrestraining him now so that he
may be revealed in his time, forthe mystery of the lawlessness
is already at work.
Only he who now restrains itwill do so until he is out of
the way.
There he's in.
(12:18):
I told you these things but,like we said at the beginning,
he wasn't there for very long.
So I think that's where and Ithink that also points to you
need to make sure you'recontinually studying this stuff,
so that you don't just hear itonce and then later you hear
something else.
Me like oh yeah, that must beenwhat it said, but he's haven't.
Don't remember?
I told you these things andThen he said it's already
(12:40):
happening.
The spirit of the antichrist ishere.
One of the other, the lastbooks we did talked about Little
a anacrites, that there areanacrists now just stirring
things up, preparing the way,and and Paul saying that stuff's
already happening, that stuff'salready at work.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah, you bring up like continually studying and
Paul pointed to that actually upin up in verse 2 Even if they
claim, even if they claim tohave had a vision or a
revelation or a lettersupposedly from us, don't
(13:19):
believe them.
And I am thinking of thatstudying.
If you study Paul's letters weoften talk about it he starts
them and ends them a prettyparticular way.
Yeah, and his writings are.
They're very similar.
Might be to a different church,but it's formatted, very
similar.
(13:39):
So, in that regards to studying, like he's even telling them,
like you should be able to tellif this is a letter from me and
we should be able to tell is, isthese times approach?
If, if it is true to the Bible.
(13:59):
Yeah like we have better accessthan anybody else in any
Previous history.
Now we also have access to alot of false Information out
there, so you really got towatch what you read and and how
Things can get twisted now andit can just be a few words that
(14:21):
throw it off.
And Nick even pointed to itearlier like sometimes people
just get it get it wrong.
Yeah, but if there is nocorrection to that when they
discover they get it wrong,that's where you got a problem.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Yeah, and I mean we could have a whole podcast on
pride there.
Well, I don't want to admit amistake, we'll just move on.
How many people you see do thatall the time?
Well, I'm, that's just over andmoving on.
That's too proud to admit.
Hey, you know what I screwed uphere.
Let's correct it.
The the verse seven is sayingyou, only he who now restrains
(14:56):
it will Will do so until he'sout of the way.
The Antichrist being restrained, satan's being restrained right
now, but there's gonna be atime where he's not gonna be,
which is gonna, which is gonnakick off in times.
Verse number eight and Then thelawless one will be revealed,
whom the Lord Jesus will killwith the breath of his mouth and
(15:18):
bring to To nothing by theappearance of his coming.
The coming of the lost one isby the activity of Satan, with
all power and false signs andwonders and with all wicked
Deception for those who areperishing because they refuse to
love the truth and so be saved.
That's good stuff.
That's like that's the hopethere.
(15:39):
There's always hope Anytime.
Paul's writing, peters writing.
They're like all this bad stuffcould happen.
It's gonna happen.
Do this, do that.
Here's what's coming, and thenhere's the hope, though.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yeah, I really like how my I'm gonna read the same
verses here, verse nine throughthrough ten, but I kind of like
how mine read a little betterand once again I'm in the Every
every man's Bible.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Oh, we got a back nice the NLT version.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
So the evil man will come to do the work of Satan
with counterfeit power and signsand miracles.
He will use every kind ofwicked deception to fool those
who are on their way todestruction because they Refuse
(16:27):
to believe the truth that wouldsave them.
It's gonna go ahead and readverse 11.
We can talk about all this, butso.
God will send great deceptionupon them and they will Believe
all these lies.
Then they will be condemned fornot believing the truth, you
and for enjoying the evil theydo.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
That's a tough one there for me when I think about
that verse 11.
Therefore, god sends them Mine,says, a strong delusion so they
may not believe, or they maybelieve false.
Yeah, man, that verse 11.
That's, that's hard for me.
That's one of those verses thatI struggle to understand.
Therefore, god sends them astrong delusion so that they may
believe what is false.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Makes it sound like God is bad.
First 10 here he will use.
He will use.
So this evil man right will useevery kind of wicked deception
to fool those who are on theirway to destruction because they
refuse to believe the truth thatwould save them.
Reminds me of 2 Peter, chapter2.
(17:34):
They're talking about falseteachers here, verse 12, and I
think this is kind of adescription of the type of
people we're talking about.
But this is particular 2 Petertalking about false teachers.
These false teachers are likeunthinking animals, creatures of
instinct who are born to becaught and killed.
(17:56):
They laugh at the terrifyingpowers they know so little about
and they will be destroyedalong with them.
Their destruction is theirreward for the harm they have
done.
They love to indulge in evilpleasures and broad day.
They are a disgrace and a stainamong you.
(18:18):
They revel in deceitfulnesswhile they feast with you.
They commit adultery with theireyes and their lust is never
satisfied.
They make a game of luringunstable people into sin.
They train themselves to begreedy.
(18:38):
They are doomed and cursed.
So I think those are the typeof people we're talking about
here.
The.
This evil man is going to beable to easily get ahold of them
, fool and drag them down thisroad, and then here in verse 11,
it's so.
God will send great deceptionupon them and they will believe
(19:03):
all of these lies.
God's just going to let them go, because they're so far gone
already, for whatever reason,fallen to this deceitful man
that is trying to lead us, asbelievers, astray.
But these people have alreadyrejected God, rejected Jesus,
(19:24):
and God's going to come in andhe's just going to say okay,
you're done, you're too far gone.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
I hate to say that, but you're too far gone.
I don't want anyone to thinkthat someone you love or know or
they've just done somethingthat's too far, that God's grace
is real.
We need to receive, believe andthen receive his grace and his
salvation.
But I think we're talking abouta point in time where that's it
.
I'm getting ready to end it.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
There's going to be a point where there's a line in
the sand and and it's too late,it's too late, not, and we're
talking second coming.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
We're talking the very, very end at judgment.
We're talking about then, notnow.
So don't misunderstand thatthere is still time.
If you're praying for someonein your family or or a relative,
or whatever it is, there'sstill time and we're never too
far gone.
But there is going to be a daywhen it ends.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, I mean and you can think of the thief on the
cross again with that right,like there were two and one
accepted at the very last momentof his life, and I up to the
point that, like it's done, it'snot too late.
Um, so if you do, if you dohave people that you're praying
(20:36):
for and all that, keep doing it.
Like, by no means are we thetwo fish podcast, saying
tomorrow's, the tomorrow's, theday, tomorrow is also the day to
reach out to that person thatyou've been thinking about.
It's not too late, it's time toreach out.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
But it's not time to give up.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yep, I love it, verse 13 but we are always to give
thanks to God for you, brothersBeloved by the Lord, because God
chose you as the first fruitsto be saved through
sanctification by the spirit andbelief in the truth.
To this he called you throughour gospel, so that you may
obtain the glory of our Lord,jesus Christ.
(21:18):
So then, brothers, stand firmand hold to the traditions that
you were taught by us, either byour spoken word or by our
letter.
Now, okay, let's stop there fora second.
That section, this section inmy verse is called stand firm,
and mine says it several.
He says it several times there,I think he's saying blessed are
you because you're one of thefirst.
(21:38):
You didn't.
You maybe you didn'tnecessarily see Jesus, but
you're understanding it.
The Holy Spirit is revealing itto you.
You're the first.
Now, here we are, two thousandyears later.
We're still blessed because weknow these people didn't have
scripture like we've talkedabout they.
They had to.
They had faith.
Yeah, they had to believe.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
No, they did.
They had to believe.
One like this is a letter fromPaul, and I think verse 13 is a
great Example of how this is aletter from Paul, because he
wrapped up a lot of his lettersthat way.
As for us, we always thank Godfor you, yeah, like so often, as
how he ended his letter.
And ultimately, they had tobelieve what Paul was writing
(22:20):
them, and the, the Paul andthese other disciples Walked
with Jesus, and this is what,this is what they saw and this
is what they're teaching, andthis is what Thessalonians
believed in.
They believed in the fact thatJesus came and he walked with
these men, that Jesus came andhe died on the cross and he was
buried in a tomb and the stonerolled away three days later and
(22:43):
he came back.
Yeah right like.
That is what our faith is builtupon and we have to stay in
firm in that.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Yeah, the end of verse 13, though To be saved
through sanctification by thespirit and belief in the truth.
It's a continual thing.
Sanctification is a continualthing here.
At the beginning of this bookhe's saying what the heck are
you guys doing?
You're believing somethingthat's not true.
But then again he's saying wecan still grow, we can still be
(23:16):
better.
It's a sanctification by thespirit.
It's it's growth.
Wrapping it up here, verse 16.
Now may our Lord, jesus Christhimself, and God, our father,
who loved us and gave us eternalcomfort and good hope through
grace, comfort your hearts andestablish them in every good
work and word.
There he goes, he's comfort,comfort your hearts.
(23:36):
He's in in this chapter thesame way he ends and we have a
whole another book.
Next week We'll go throughchapter or a whole another, and
we got a whole another chapter.
We'll go through chapter threenext week.
But comfort your hearts, andit's good hope through grace.
He always ends this like justthis constant grace.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Be with you and Next week my heading is Paul requests
for prayer.
So like he's kind of ended whathe is instructing the church to
do, I think here in verse 2,and he's gonna go into a little
bit of like Pray for me.
This is kind of what I need, iswhat I gather from what I've
(24:17):
read.
But we'll dive into that nextweek, but this week just
remember Like the time is coming.
Yeah we don't know when it is,but it's not here right now.
So it's not too late for you.
It's not too late for you toreach out to somebody.
It's not too late for you toask questions.
It's not too late for you toshow up to church.
(24:38):
It's not too late for you toget baptized and go public like
none of that.
It's not too late, yeah, butdon't wait.
Yeah, do not wait.
The gift of grace and salvationare there for you.
That is our encouragement tothe two fish community fear in
one of those boats man, don'twait, jump.
(24:59):
The life fest is Jesus, justjump.
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