Dark Freedom: The Rise of Western Lawlessness - Chapter Three

Dark Freedom: The Rise of Western Lawlessness - Chapter Three

by C.W. Steinle
Copyright 2015 by C.W. Steinle

Copyrighted material.  All rights reserved.  No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise - without written permission from the publisher.  This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people.  If you would like to purchase this book or share with another person, please purchase a copy for each reader from any online bookseller.  Visit Dark-Freedom.com for purchase details or: http://darkfreedombook.com/

Part I - Pulling Down Strongholds
The Lord, He is God!

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.  Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?  Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." – II Peter 3:10-13

Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved. . . . It is not a matter of if, but when.  NASA alone lists five programs which are on the lookout for "Near Earth Objects": Catalina Sky Survey, Pan-STARRS, LINEAR, Spacewatch, and NEOWISE.  Physicists around the globe are hurriedly putting together proposals on the best way to blow-up or divert incoming asteroids and comets.  Here's the point.  If scientists really believed the earth went for millions of years in between killer collisions, none of these programs would exist!  But somehow the evolution scientists just haven't gotten the picture.  If only a few thousand years go by between these age-ending impacts, even an evolutionist would agree that is simply not enough time for life to magically appear from a mud puddle.

Evolution proponents have also been reluctant to acknowledge that fossils aren't formed every time something dies.  Dead plants and animals typically decay before they can be encased by mud or clay.  Some type of mold must be formed so that the shape of the corpse can be filled with sediment capable of turning into rock.  This petrification also needs to take place quickly enough so that the organism's own chemical compounds don't have time to react with one another causing their own self-destruction.  There are only a few agents that can cause these rapid entombments; those being, ash or earth from volcanoes, and sediment moved quickly by wind or flood.  Furthermore, some scientists have been willing to admit that the last major fossil-forming event occurred only a few thousand years ago.

Paleontologists, operating under the assumption that earth’s strata represent millions or billions of years, have not looked for fresh tissues within fossilized remains.  But fresh biological material within some fossils has been there all along and is being continually discovered, despite the protests of biochemists that it should not exist.

Molecules such as proteins, pigments, and DNA - as well as intact cells and, in some cases, cells still grouped together in tissues - have been found in fossils that are supposedly millions of years old.  Whole organisms are sealed in amber deposits, and over a thousand still-living kinds of microbes have been extracted from them.

Fresh tissues and living cells cannot possibly be millions of years old, and they constitute some of the strongest evidence for the young world that the Bible describes.²⁷

The theory of evolution is not supported by the fossil record, but is instead brutally betrayed by the absence of the fossils of transitional species.  ScienceDaily provides an estimate for the number of known species as follow: "About 8.7 million (give or take 1.3 million) is the new, estimated total number of species on Earth -- the most precise calculation ever offered -- with 6.5 million species on land and 2.2 million in oceans. Announced by the Census of Marine Life, the figure is based on a new analytical technique.  The number of species on Earth had been estimated previously at 3 million to 100 million."²⁸

If we were to assume that each existing species jumped to its present form with just one step in between its original form and its final form, then one transitional life form would existed for each of the 8.7 million species.  Now let's say that just a few thousand of each of these transitional bodies were preserved by becoming fossilized.  Even in this simplest case we should find these fossils everywhere.  In fact, there should be many times more of these fossils than the fossils of known species which have already been found.

Now if we "get real," and assume a series of transitions occurred for each of the known species, then there should be tens of thousands of each of these transitional fossils for every one of the fossils of one of the known species.  A person shouldn't be able to walk out the front door of his house without tripping over piles of these intermediate fossils.

The sobering fact is that thousands of scientists have devoted their entire lives to finding just one of these missing links.  Some have become so discouraged at the non-existence of these transitional forms that they have created fake relics in desperation, as if coming up with just one would solve their whole problem.  The real problem is that the rocks should be teeming with these transitional forms.  But instead, the very rocks cry out that evolution is a lie.  The ungodly and unbelieving have built their arguments for evolution on fiction.  People who believe in evolution do so because they choose to believe it.  It takes a greater leap of faith to believe in the lie than it does to believe in the truth of God.

Furthermore, the notion that ancient people would be intelligent enough to draw pictures on the walls of caves and at the same time be too stupid to build a shelter is preposterous.  Did it take thousands of years for birds to learn how to build nests?  How many million years did it take bees to figure out how to build hives?  Of course, some outcasts, fugitives, and homeless people lived in caves in the past, just as they always have, and as they continue to do today.  But there are simply not enough natural caves on the planet to house a population of any significant size.  The suggestion that an entire age of history should be designated as the era of "cavemen" is so irrational that it would require a mind less developed than one of those so-called cavemen to believe such a myth.

The obvious fact is that man, and all the other living creatures, were placed on the earth.  The only two practical considerations for life on the planet are: we were placed here by God, or we were dropped out of a spaceship.  The problem with the "alien concept" is that it doesn't explain the existence of the spiritual realm, which we have discussed previously.  And in fact, we don't need to search the skies for our Maker as though we were searching for aliens.  God has already made Himself known.   As we look among all the objects of man's worship, only one God has ever proven His own existence.  The God who answers by fire, He is God.

This was the test which Elijah proposed to the worshippers of Baal.  "Elijah came to all the people, and said, ‘How long will you falter between two opinions?  If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.’ But the people answered him not a word.  Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I alone am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.  Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it.  Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.’" - I Kings 18:21-24

Most readers know how the prophets of Baal jumped around and shouted for hours, and that nothing happened.  But then Elijah called on the Lord God of Israel.  "Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.  Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!’" - I Kings 18:38-39 By this same test we can know that the God of the Bible - He is God!  The real God is the God who shows up.

No other God among men has an entire book recording how He has worked on the earth.  The Bible gives details, backed up by archaeology and history, showing how He has directed men and nations, heard and answered prayers, and spoken in advance concerning future events.  Not only has the greatest story ever told been written on the Bible's pages, it continues to be told in the lives of God's people to this day.  God is still making Himself real to His people; blessing, comforting, guiding, directing, and offering the hope of eternal life.  And He is still correcting, chastening and warning mankind to repent of their ungodliness that they might not perish.  Throughout the ages, and among all people, the God of Bible is the only God who has this kind of testimony.  He is the God who has shown up.  The Lord - He is God!

Man has every reason to believe that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is their Creator and Savior.  But people who are un-churched and ignorant of the Bible are not even aware there is a real God who has proven His existence and power through His testimony.  They have been convinced of the lie that man has risen up from the atoms to become his own master of the universe.  Their delusion is so strong that most of them never even stop to think, "Who made the atoms?"  "Where did energy and the building blocks of the physical universe come from?"  "Have they existed forever?"  "Are they, then, the eternal god?"

Do the atoms have a spirit or soul which drives them to express themselves in ever-higher forms?  Are the atoms aware of their progress toward some grand scheme, and will they know when it has been achieved?  Would atoms be disappointed, or feel unfulfilled, if they had never become more than rocks and minerals?  Is every creature, solar system, and galaxy in the universe a meaningless accident?  If so, is it better to be a dog than a rock, or better to be a man than a shrub?  No wonder that modern philosophers have come to believe in existentialism and fatalism.

The disparity between lifeless atoms and the living souls of men is far too great to ignore.  How did spirit and matter intersect to form the body, soul, and spirit of man?  The question of life's origin has more of an impact on attitude and culture than any other philosophical question.  It makes the difference between purpose and mere existence, between meaning and insignificance, between spiritual consciousness and oblivion.

The fact is, people have a spirit with hopes and aspirations, desires and expectations.  It is reasonable to conclude that we have inherited these qualities from our creator, and that we were indeed made in the image and likeness of God; a God who has a plan, a will, and expectations for His creation.  A God who knows us, loves us, and wants to keep us from perishing by offering us eternal life.  And amazingly, He is willing to overlook the time that man has spent running from Him, and worshipping the false god of matter.

The Apostle Paul observed that when people choose to worship the things which God has created rather than worshipping God Himself, God allows them to be carried away into a state of complete immorality.  And because today's presumptuous philosophers (so-called evolutionary scientists) have led mankind into the worship of matter, western culture stands on the brink of total depravity.

"Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.  Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.  For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.  Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them." – Rom. 1:22-32

Man still retains a God-given conscience and many good character traits from his original identity as the image and likeness of God.  Yet at the same time, fallen man believes he can be good on his own, even while he seeks independence from God - the source of his goodness.  This is a direct conflict.  But man foolishly hopes to contrive some arrangement by which he can experience goodness on earth, while remaining alienated from God.  Today, as the West toys with Atheism, man tries to reclassify wicked behavior as morally neutral - as long as it is accompanied by a pleasant temperament and the acceptance of others.  The soul and conscience are not fooled by this cover-up; and so unredeemed man lives in an irresolvable state of confusion.  He searches for another source of stability and strength.  A spiritual source that is compatible with wickedness.  Having turned away from the protection of God, man has become easy prey to the forces of darkness, and has begun to identify with God's enemy.  We find, therefore, a direct correlation between man's slide into wickedness and his worship of Satan - the god of wickedness.

The physical sciences, which man once contorted to support evolution, have ultimately revealed through astronomy the brevity of the age.  Man's habitation on the earth is not an everlasting kingdom.  God sustains the duration of the ages by His word.  But because our Lord is a long time in coming, mankind has determined to build his own kingdom; a kingdom in which his conduct is unconcerned with God's will.  This laxity is to be expected by the world, which desires to remain alienated from God.  Unfortunately, the Church has largely adopted the same lethargic attitude.

"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." - Matt. 6:10 These two actions are bound together.  The understanding that "Thine is the kingdom" is the basis of the fear of the Lord.  Many western Christians have embraced the world's delusion that man is the heir of his own runaway kingdom.  The decline of holy conduct and godliness in western culture can be directly attributed to a lack of fear of the Lord; a Lord who is perceived as being so weak that He has lost control of His kingdom.  The Church has lost its saltiness because it has lost its watchfulness.  The church has been lulled to sleep by the lullaby of the lawless - "The Lord will do nothing, either good or bad." – Zeph.1:12

Whereas in fact, we have God's word that He is doing a short work on the earth, and that He will cut it short in righteousness.  "The heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat."  "Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?" – II Peter 3:10 (Emphasis added)

Holy conduct and godliness will not return to the Church until it acknowledges the coming end of the age.  As much as worldly scientists would like to ignore it, science only serves to confirm the end-time prophecies.  The fallen world's faith in itself cannot save the world.  The heavens and the earth will pass away precisely as God has ordained.  May the Church awaken to remember that the Lord's kingdom was not of this world, and neither is this world the kingdom of the saints.   

"Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world.  And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever." - I John 2:15-17

Dark Freedom: The Rise of Western Lawlessness - Chapter Two

Dark Freedom: The Rise of Western Lawlessness - Chapter Two

Dark Freedom

The Rise of Western Lawlessness

by C.W. Steinle

Copyright 2015 by C.W. Steinle

Copyrighted material.  All rights reserved.  No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise - without written permission from the publisher.  This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people.  If you would like to purchase this book or share with another person, please purchase a copy for each reader from any online bookseller.  Visit Dark-Freedom.com for purchase details or: http://darkfreedombook.com/

Part I - Pulling Down Strongholds

From the Flood to the Fire

"For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,

Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth." – Rom. 9:28

How short is short to the eternal God for whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day?  Jesus told His disciples to watch and be ready.  But man's expectations about the timing of Christ's return have not been ruled by patience.  "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."   After two thousand years of triumphs, trials, and persecution, the hearts of Christ's followers still cry out, "How long, O Lord."

The first century church supposed that Jesus would return during the lifetime of the Apostles.  Then Christians thought the end of the age had come when the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed; and again, when the blood of the saints was shed during the ten waves of Roman persecution.  But as the Church melded into the Roman Empire under Constantine, the focus shifted from the Lord's return from heaven to the glory of His Church on the earth.  But within the centuries surrounding the Little Ice Age of the 1600's, roughly one-third of the earth's population was killed by wars, famines, plagues, and persecutions.¹²  Once again, believers expected the end.  Then came the wars of Napoleon, the revolutionary wars, civil wars, and world wars. 

The first and second millennia have now come and gone, and "where is the promise of His coming?"  The patience of the world, and of the Nominal Church, has reached its limit.  The natural man has never been good about waiting.  Just when the fish is about to bite, the fisherman reels in the line to check his bait.  Just when the market bottoms, the investor sells all of his stocks.  And consider the youth, who would risk their lives rather than miss out on something they think they should have NOW.  So often we give up at the moment just before we would have received the reward for our patience.

What if God really is doing a short work?  What if He has determined to cut the work short in righteousness because keeping it short is the right thing to do?  Just like He cut the pre-flood maximum lifespan of man down from close to 1,000 years to 120 years because of the rise of wickedness on the earth; saying, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." - Genesis 6:3

What if God has predetermined the duration of this age and we are nearly to the end?  As the sin of our times grows exponentially, wouldn't we anticipate that God would respond?  If that idea sounds unnerving, it just goes to show how far away modern thought has drifted from the apostolic expectation of Christ's return.  Yet the Church was directly warned by the Apostle Peter that the length of this age has a limit.

"Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming?  For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.  But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.  But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." - II Peter 3:1-9

Peter makes three main points that we should keep in mind and never forget: God made the world, God sustains the world, and God determines the duration of each age.  It is amazing how accurately Peter described the world before the flood as, the earth standing out of water and in the water.  This is a great description of the ancient geological configuration of the earth known as Pangaea, which depicts all of the continents joined together as one landmass encompassed by one global sea.

Figure 1 - Map of Pangaea¹³

Peter stated of that former age; "the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water."  Whether a person holds the belief of six literal days of creation, or they believe in a recently inhabited old earth, everyone must agree that at some point in the past, something horrible happened to the planet.  This trauma actually rearranged whole continents and oceans.  Parts of the earth were turned inside out like a worn out soccer ball.  The evidence is all around us.  Tectonic plates tipped on edge are exposed on nearly every mountain range.  Some were tipped completely upside down.  Others rose from the bottom of the ocean to become the tops of mountains.  The oilfields of Wyoming are a good example.  There oil (fossil fuel) lies at the top of the continental divide, yet it is trapped thousands of feet below the mountain peaks.

The location of oilfields and limestone deposits provide two of the most graphic illustrations of the difference between the world that then existed and the earth's present form.  Petroleum is made from organic material which has decomposed and then been chemically altered over time.  Limestone is also largely made from marine plants, animals, and shells that have undergone pressure to form sedimentary rock.  Both of these substances, which were formed from living organisms, could have once been forests or jungles; but most of the oil and limestone is thought to have come from the bottom of the sea.

It is common for limestone to include the fossils of the plants and animals that once lived in the vicinity where the sediment formed.  Now consider that vast inland quantities of oil and limestone have been dislocated and moved to higher elevations.  The bones of whales and other marine animals have been found in the sediment of the Andes Mountains of South America.  Seabed fossils have also been found atop the Mogollon Rim of Arizona at an elevation of 7,000 feet.

"About 15,000 feet up on Tibet's desolate Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau, an international research team led by Florida State University geologist Yang Wang was surprised to find thick layers of ancient lake sediment filled with plant, fish and animal fossils typical of far lower elevations and warmer, wetter climates."¹⁴ The disfiguration of the earth that divided the continents and turned ocean floors into mountain ranges could not have been the result of volcanoes or storms.  This unparalleled catastrophe, by which the world that then existed perished, could only have been caused by the earth's collision with another celestial body.  Scientists agree that such a collision would have also caused the continents to be flooded with water.

We have more than geological evidence for this great upheaval which divided the ages.  The very language of the Bible preserves terminology which would otherwise seem meaningless, or at the least irrelevant, if it were not based on actual events of the past.  The Bible alludes to such extraordinary events as the islands being removed, mountains thrown into the sea, and mountains being brought low and valleys raised up.  Without the benefit of modern geology where else could these concepts have come from, unless they were based on actual historical accounts passed down from one generation to another?

We will return to the second catastrophe, noted by Peter as the scorching of the planet by fire; but first, let's consider the possibility of a future significant astrological collision.  There is more stuff flying around in outer space than most people think.  The sources below provide ample evidence that the duration of man's time on earth has been exaggerated by evolutionary scientists in order to provide enough time for their theory.

According to Dr. Sten Odenwald, "On any given day, the estimates are that the Earth intercepts about 19,000 meteorites weighing over 3.5 ounces."¹⁵

"Scientists estimate that 44 tonnes (44,000 kilograms, about 48.5 tons) of meteoritic material falls on the Earth each day.  Several meteors per hour can usually be seen on any given night.  Sometimes the number increases dramatically - these events are termed meteor showers.  Some occur annually, or at regular intervals, as the Earth passes through the trail of dusty debris left by comets.  Meteor showers are usually named after the star or constellation that is close to where the meteors appear in the sky.  Perhaps the most famous are the Perseids, which peak around the Twelfth of August every year.  Each Perseid meteor is a tiny piece of the comet Swift-Tuttle, which swings by the Sun every 135 years.  Other meteor showers and their associated comets are the Leonids (Tempel-Tuttle), the Aquarids and Orionids (Halley), and the Taurids (Encke).  Most comet dust in meteor showers burns up in the atmosphere before reaching the ground; some dust is captured by high-altitude aircraft and analyzed in NASA laboratories. . . . More than 50,000 meteorites have been found on Earth.  Of these, 99.8 percent come from asteroids."¹⁶

"Asteroids with a diameter of 7 meters enter Earth's atmosphere with as much kinetic energy as Little Boy (the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, approximately 16 kilotons of TNT) about every 5 years, but the air burst only generates a much reduced 5 kilotons of TNT.  These ordinarily explode in the upper atmosphere, and most or all of the solids are vaporized.  Objects with a diameter of roughly 50 m (164 ft) strike Earth approximately once every thousand years, producing explosions comparable to the one known to have detonated roughly 8.5 kilometers (28,000 ft) above Tunguska in 1908."¹⁷ 

"On February 14, 2013 a 10,000 ton meteor about 17-meters in diameter entered Earth’s atmosphere over Russia traveling at 40,000 mph (18 km/s). It detonated in the air over the town of Chelyabinsk and the explosion caused major damage to the town injuring 1,000 people.  The people were hurt by flying glass when the windows of over 3000 buildings blew out over an area of about 1000 km2.  Unlike the famous Tunguska Event of 1908 which blew down 80 million trees and was not ‘discovered’ for many decades afterwards, the Chelyabinsk Meteor was extensively videoed by hundreds of dash-cams and cell phones as it happened.  Studies of thousands of meteor sightings by scientists can now tell us just how often asteroids of 4-meters or larger enter Earth’s atmosphere. About two of these events happen each year over the entire surface area of Earth."¹⁸

Professor S.A. Nelson of Tulane University has articulated the dangers presented by incoming astrological bodies.  Below are some excerpts from his summary titled, "Meteorites, Impacts, & Mass Extinction."¹⁹

Although the Chelyabinsk meteorite probably weighed about 12,000–13,000 metric tonnes, and measured 17 to 20 m in diameter before it exploded, scientists were quick to point out that it was very small compared to other objects that could potentially hit the earth. The explosion released energy estimated at about 500 kilotons of TNT (about 20 to 30 times more energy than the Hiroshima atomic bomb). The event brought to the world's attention the very real hazards associated with the impact of objects from outer space.

The impact of a space object with a size greater than about 1 km would be expected to be felt over the entire surface of the Earth. Smaller objects would certainly destroy the ecosystem in the vicinity of the impact, similar to the effects of a volcanic eruption. Larger impacts could have a worldwide effect on life on the Earth. We will here first consider the possible effects of an impact, and then discuss how impacts may have resulted in mass extinction of species on the Earth in the past.

Regional and Global Effects

Again, we as humans have no firsthand knowledge of what the effects of an impact of a large meteorite (> 1 km in size) or comet would be. Still, calculations can be made and scaled experiments can be conducted to estimate the effects. The general consensus is summarized here.

Massive earthquake - up to Richter Magnitude 13, and numerous large magnitude aftershocks would result from the impact of a large object with the Earth.

The large quantities of dust put into the atmosphere would block incoming solar radiation. The dust could take months to settle back to the surface. Meanwhile, the Earth would be in a state of continual darkness, and temperatures would drop throughout the world, generating global winter like conditions. A similar effect has been postulated for the aftermath of a nuclear war (termed a nuclear winter). Blockage of solar radiation would also diminish the ability of photosynthetic organisms, like plants, to photosynthesize. Since photosynthetic organisms are the base of the food chain, this would seriously disrupt all ecosystems.

Widespread wildfires ignited by radiation from the fireball as the object passed through the atmosphere would be generated. Smoke from these fires would further block solar radiation to enhance the cooling effect and further disrupt photosynthesis.

If the impact occurred in an ocean, a large steam cloud would be produced by the sudden evaporation of the seawater. This water vapor and CO₂ would remain in the atmosphere long after the dust settles. Both of these gases are greenhouse gases which scatter solar radiation and create a warming effect. Thus, after the initial global cooling, the atmosphere would undergo global warming for many years after the impact.

Also, if the impact occurred in an ocean, a giant tsunami would be generated. For a ten km-diameter object, the leading edge would hit the seafloor of the deep ocean basins before the top of the object had reached sea level. The tsunami from such an impact is estimated to produce waves from one to three km high. These could easily flood the interior of continents.

Large amounts of nitrogen oxides would result from combining nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere due to the shock produced by the impact. These nitrogen oxides would combine with water in the atmosphere to produce nitric acid which would fall back to the surface as acid rain, resulting in the acidification of surface waters.

The Geologic Record of Mass Extinction

It has long been known that extinction of large percentages families or species of organisms have occurred at specific times in the history of our planet. Among the mechanisms that have been suggested to have caused these mass extinctions have been large volcanic eruptions, changes in climatic conditions, changes in sea level, and, more recently, meteorite impacts.

Risk - It is estimated that in any given year the odds that you will die from an impact of an asteroid or comet are between 1 in 3,000 and 1 in 250,000. . . . Although this seems like long odds, you have about the [the same odds] of dying from other natural disasters likes floods and tornadoes. In fact the odds of dying from an impact event are much better than the odds of winning the Powerball lottery.

A 400 meter asteroid striking the earth would produce a destructive force of 2,800 megatons of TNT.  On November 8, 2011, the 400 meter asteroid designated (308635) 2005 YU55 passed within the moon's orbit of the earth.  Purdue University has calculated that a 400 meter asteroid will only strike the earth about once every 100,000 years.²⁰ The problem is that we naturally assume the interval of time between strikes starts from the time we read the data.  No one knows where in time their measurements should begin.  Neither does anyone know how evenly spaced throughout time certain sized asteroids might make their arrival.  Furthermore, there are so many known and unknown celestial objects out there, we simply have no assurance that there is any great length of time between these age-ending collisions.

Figure 2 - Plot of orbits of known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (size over 460 feet (140 m) and passing within 4.7 million miles (7.6×106 km) of Earth's orbit) as of early 2013.²¹

In 2002 an asteroid between 50 and 120 meters passed between the moon and the earth.  Two asteroids in 2012, and one in 2013, all in the 35-45 meter range, passed through this same corridor.  According to the scientists' calculations, asteroids of this size enter the earth's atmosphere about once every 300 years.  But the reality is that we only went 106 years, from 1908 to 2015 to experience two massive explosions from asteroids of this size.  And who knows how many more entered uninhabited areas of the planet during that same period.

Through advanced telescopes astronomers have gotten a much better picture of all that is "out there".  The earth is moving around the sun at 67,000 MPH.  Our solar system is moving through the galaxy at 490,000 MPH.  And the galaxy appears to be traveling through space at 2,236,936,290 MPH.  What could possibly go wrong?  The data which astronomers have obtained has not set the scientific community at ease about the possibility of another extinction event.  Quite the contrary.  Canada, Europe, and the United States have begun to scramble to prevent the next extinction event.  The U.S. Congress passed, in 2005, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Authorization Act, containing the following directive:

The U.S. Congress has declared that the general welfare and security of the United States require that the unique competence of NASA be directed to detecting, tracking, cataloguing, and characterizing near-Earth asteroids and comets in order to provide warning and mitigation of the potential hazard of such near-Earth objects to the Earth. The NASA Administrator shall plan, develop, and implement a Near-Earth Object Survey program to detect, track, catalogue, and characterize the physical characteristics of near- Earth objects equal to or greater than 140 meters in diameter in order to assess the threat of such near-Earth objects to the Earth. It shall be the goal of the Survey program to achieve 90% completion of its near-Earth object catalogue (based on statistically predicted populations of near-Earth objects) within 15 years after the date of enactment of this Act. The NASA Administrator shall transmit to Congress not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act an initial report that provides the following: (A) An analysis of possible alternatives that NASA may employ to carry out the Survey program, including ground-based and space-based alternatives with technical descriptions. (B) A recommended option and proposed budget to carry out the Survey program pursuant to the recommended option. (C) Analysis of possible alternatives that NASA could employ to divert an object on a likely collision course with Earth.²²

The Biblical account of the flood tells us that eight people survived the last great extinction event and were able to tell the story.  This is indeed the most reasonable explanation for the Bible's inclusion of language describing the same geological changes which have only recently been discovered through science.  Considering the damage, it is truly a miracle that Noah and his family survived.  And based on the number of the bodies in motion which have the potential to impact the planet, it is quite reasonable to believe that only a few thousand years have gone by since the beginning of the present age.

There is also a longstanding belief, passed down from the ancients, that the present age is only intended by God to last for a few thousand years.  To understand this tradition it is necessary to understand Biblical "seasons."  The Apostle Paul said that Christians should be knowledgeable about times and seasons.  One example of the use of the word "season" (one which also stresses the importance of being watchful) is found in Jesus' response to the request for a sign from heaven.  "Then the Pharisees and Sadducee's came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.'  Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times." – Matt. 16:1-3

The Greek word used here for "times" is kairon.  Kairos is the Greek word for season, or a measure of time.  Both of these words from the ancient manuscripts are derived from the Greek word for time chrono.  Our English word chronology comes from this Greek root.

The ancient Hebraic seasons had names and were about 2,000 years in duration.  In the Hebrew traditions there were three of these seasons totaling 6,000 years.  Each thousand-year period was thought to represent one of the six days of creation.

The late Risto Santala was an international authority on ancient Hebrew writings.  He was the author of the well known books, The Messiah in the Old and in the New Testament in the Light of Rabbinical Writings,²³ and Paul - The Man and the Teacher in the Light of Jewish Sources.²⁴  Many of the Pauline Epistles express concepts found in the ancient rabbinical writings.  In his book on Paul, Santala inserts several paragraphs expressing his own eschatological theories.  These were primarily based on the Hebrew 6,000 year doctrine.  The following quotes, which state the basic assumptions of this ancient Hebraic tradition, are from Risto’s website.

The tradition of Elijah teaches that the world is to exist for six thousand years; In the first two thousand desolation; in the next two thousand the Torah will flourish and the next two thousand are the days of the Messiah but on account of our sins, which were great, things turned out as they did."- Sanhedrin 97a

It was essential to this traditional expectation that the sovereignty of the Torah -- the Law of Moses -- would last 2000 years, the same as that of the Messianic period. In the same far-ranging discussion from which the above citation is taken we find, in explanation, that:

"The seventh millennium will be war, and at the close of the millennium the Son of David will come". - Sanhedrin 97b

In the discussion which follows mention is made of "The war of Gog and Magog and the remaining period will be the Messianic era, whilst the Holy One, blessed be he, will restore his world only when the seventh millennium is over."

This so-called "Elijah Tradition", which represents the understanding of the majority of the Sages, brings to mind the mainstream Christian teaching of the Last Days and the Millennial Kingdom. When six millennia have passed, there will follow, according to some, a thousand-year Sabbath, shabaton. This could be the "Messianic era" after which the "world" will be renewed.²⁵  

Risto Santala isn’t the only Bible scholar who believed in this tradition of the ancient rabbis.  Irenaeus of Lyons lived about a hundred years after the death of the Apostle John.  Irenaeus was tutored by John's disciple, Polycarp.  Irenaeus wrote extensively during the late second century in order to battle the onslaught of false teachings.  Fortunately, he not only discredited false doctrines, he also recorded what was believed universally by the Church of his day.  His writings have been relied on by the Church as a source for sound and true doctrine.  In Volume 5 of his work, Against Heresies, Irenaeus states some of the eschatological views held by the Early Church.

He says also: "And he will cause a mark [to be put] in the forehead and in the right hand, that no one may be able to buy or sell, unless he who has the mark of the name of the beast or the number of his name; and the number is six hundred and sixty-six,"that is, six times a hundred, six times ten, and six units. [He gives this] as a summing up of the whole of that apostasy which has taken place during six thousand years.

For in as many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall it be concluded. And for this reason the Scripture says: "Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. And God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works that He had made; and God rested upon the seventh day from all His works." This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousand year.

But when this Antichrist shall have devastated all things in this world, he will reign for three years and six months, and sit in the temple at Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from heaven in the clouds, in the glory of the Father, sending this man and those who follow him into the lake of fire; but bringing in for the righteous the times of the kingdom, that is, the rest, the hallowed seventh day; and restoring to Abraham the promised inheritance, in which kingdom the Lord declared, that "many coming from the east and from the west should sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."²⁶

Obviously, the Early Church continued to base their eschatological doctrines on the foundations laid by the Jewish scholars. So now let’s see how the 6,000 year doctrine lines up with the Bible.  About the Hebrew year 4,000, Jesus came proclaiming, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand." – Mark 1:15)

The time has been fulfilled - kairos.  Jesus spoke in other places about the Scriptures being fulfilled, joy being fulfilled; and Paul wrote that the law had been fulfilled.  But here in Mark, Jesus says the time (a measure of time, or season) has been fulfilled.  That season which had been fulfilled was that 2,000 year season called the time of the Law or the Days of Elijah. (Remember, the first 2,000 year period was the time of desolation, or, the Days of Wilderness.)

Today we are just finishing up the Days of Messiah – the third 2,000 year period.  Those who believe that this age of man has continued for millions of years cannot fathom that man’s time upon the earth is about to come to an end.  However, those who believe the Bible understand that only scoffers refuse to acknowledge the coming catastrophe and Christ's return.

Seasons do change.  It’s a God thing.  Today we live around the Hebrew calendar year 6,000 – the time of the end of man’s kingdom.  (Experts have determined that the popular Hebrew calendar date is off by around two hundred years.)

No man knows the hour.  But we can, and are expected to, know the season.  Because Jesus came in due time (at just the right time, right at the 4,000-year mark), we have every reason to believe the events of the Tribulation will begin around the 6,000-year mark.  In other words – at any moment.

Peter wrote that, "the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." – II Peter 3:7 End times Bible prophecy lends itself strongly to the conclusion that celestial impacts will play a significant role in the end of the age.  The destructions listed in the eighth chapter of Revelation begin with fire being thrown to the earth.  But the physical effects of these judgments align themselves closely with to the expected results of falling asteroids.

"Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound." - Rev. 8:5-6

Flaming meteors?  "The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up." - Rev. 8:7

Large asteroid?  "Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed." - Rev. 8:8-9

Torch-like falling star - Perhaps a comet, resulting in acid rain?  "Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter." - Rev. 8:10-11

Sky darkened by debris?  "Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night." - Rev. 8:12

Comet or Massive Asteroid?  "Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit." - Rev. 9:1-2

Lastly consider the mountainous rock of the end times prophet, Daniel.  Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream also ends with a rock breaking up all of the kingdoms of the earth.  The generally accepted Christian teaching holds that the Rock is Christ - in keeping with Isaiah 9:7; "Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end."

Nevertheless, it is also reasonable to expect that God would use a physical rock to manifest the breaking up and destruction of the kingdoms of man; those kingdoms which stand in ever-increasing unity against the Lord and His anointed One. (Psalm 2)

"Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure." – Dan. 2:45

But clearly we must consider the fact that Peter said the final judgment would come by fire, and God has promised never to flood the entire earth again.  This dilemma might be solved by the descent of several smaller asteroids (described in Rev. 8), accompanied by a large enough meteor storm to heat up the earth's atmosphere.  God will use whatever means He has purposed to use.  Our sun has been acting peculiar recently.  Will it go into a super-nova phase?  That would provide another physical explanation for the fire.  Or perhaps the CERN super-collider will split the wrong particle?

It is not so important to know how God will bring the fire of judgment as it is to understand that the world was made by God's word, it is sustained by His word, and God has already determined the means of the next judgment.  The present age is reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.  This is the reason that the destructive forces at the end of this age are referred to as the wrath of God.  It is the same wrath that closed out the last age with the flood, because "the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." – Gen. 6:5

The godly are not the only ones grieved as lawlessness leads to more lawlessness - God is watching.  And although this age is only a short work upon the earth to the Lord, He is waiting patiently.  "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." – II Peter 3:9

This discussion of NEO's continues into the next chapter here: http://darkfreedombook.blogspot.com/2016/01/dark-freedom-rise-of-western_18.html

For more details visit dark-freedom.com or darkfreedombook.com

Dark Freedom: The Rise of Western Lawlessness - Chapter One

Dark Freedom

The Rise of Western Lawlessness

by C.W. Steinle

Copyright 2015 by C.W. Steinle

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Part I - Pulling Down Strongholds

Deciphering the Mystery of Lawlessness

It is appropriate to begin this investigation into the meaning and consequences of lawlessness by reviewing the most specific biblical reference on this topic, which of course, is the second chapter of Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians.  The first four verses do not speak directly of lawlessness but they do mention the falling away, which likely refers to a falling away from God and His law.  The references to the Man of Sin and the Son of Perdition in verses three and four are linked directly to the Lawless One in the subsequent verses.  Because the timing of end-time events is not the focus of this book, the timing of the rapture and the actual coming of the Lawless One will not be addressed; although, some puzzling characteristics of the Lawless One will be discussed in the last chapter.

"Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.  Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the Man of Sin is revealed, the Son of Perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?  And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.  For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.  And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." - II Thess. 2:1-12

We can draw six facts from this Scripture pertaining to lawlessness.  These are listed below and will be examined individually.

1. The epitome of lawlessness (the Lawless One) opposes God and all that is called God or is worshiped as God; even presenting himself as a counterfeit God.

2. Lawlessness was already at work in the world at the time of Paul's letter.

3. Lawlessness will be cloaked in deception.

4. Deliverance from perishing will be afforded by loving the truth.

5. The delusion will be strong.

6. The deception is tied to pleasure in what is unrighteous.

1. The epitome of lawlessness (the Lawless One) opposes God and all that is called God or is worshiped as God; even presenting himself as a counterfeit God.

All sin opposes God.  This is why, after the murder of Uriah and his affair with Bathsheba, King David confessed to God; "Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight." - Psalm 51:4 We must recognize that God is a God of law and order, while Satan is the source of lawlessness and chaos.  The word 'lawless' (Gr. anomos) is the opposite of law (Gr. nomos).  Anomos is used in the Bible to mean both "without law," and "to transgress the law."  Lawlessness is fundamentally opposed to God, so that we should expect that the lawless leader would also oppose Him.

Now the fact that the Lawless One opposes all that is called God and is worshipped indicates his disdain, not only for God, but for every form of religion.  Religion has historically been considered one of man's basic needs.  This assumption has been predicated on the fact that every culture has sought an object of worship.  An awareness of the spiritual realm and of a cosmic designer is intuitive to the human psyche.  As the Nineteenth Psalm states;

"The heavens declare the glory of God;

And the firmament shows His handiwork.

Day unto day utters speech,

And night unto night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech nor language

Where their voice is not heard.

Their sound has gone out through all the earth,

And their words to the end of the world."  - Psalm 19:1-4

The Apostle Paul goes so far as to say ignorance of God is inexcusable "because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead." - Rom. 1:19-20

Mankind has always concluded that some spiritual force, some invisible hand, must be behind the experiences of premonitions, coincidences, and the consequences related to unrighteous behavior.  People have sought a variety of ways to please and appease "the gods."  In fact, few individuals, and no post-deluvian civilizations (other than the Marxist states of the twentieth century) have been predominantly godless.  But instead of acknowledging the reasonableness of mankind's awareness of God's existence, the behavioral scientists have only been willing to concede that all peoples possess some unexplainable need for religion.

Nevertheless, the Lawless One will deplore man's awareness of God and detest his desire to worship anything called God - anything, that is, but himself.  So we find in this verse that the Lawless One will prefer either Atheism, or that he alone should be worshiped as God.  Thus it is clear that the way for the Lawless One will be prepared by the so-called religion of Atheism.  And if he should have a forerunner to prepare the way, a John-the-Baptist if you will, we might expect that he is already among us based on the growing popularity of Atheism.

2. Lawlessness was already at work in the world at the time of Paul's letter.

When Paul wrote, "the mystery of lawlessness," he was not using the word "mystery" to indicate that lawlessness was only a vague term to him, or that it was some indefinable concept.  What is meant by the mystery of lawlessness?  The Bible indicates three usages of the word "mystery."  Jesus said that His parables were given so that the truths being presented might be understood by some, and disregarded by others.  We might think of the parables as a type of filter that would enable people who possess the capacity to receive the truth of God to indeed hear His words; while at the same time, allowing those who were ambivalent toward God to entirely miss the meaning of the same words.

"And the disciples came and said to Him, ‘Why do You speak to them in parables?’  He answered and said to them, ‘Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.  For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.  Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.’" – Matt. 13:10-13

"All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

‘I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.’" – Matt. 13:34-35

Another example of this type of discretionary mystery is found in I Corinthians 2:6-8:

"However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

Another usage of the word "mystery" has to do with God's timing in revealing secret things.  When taken in this sense, mysteries do not depend on individual receptivity.  These mysteries might come through divine revelation or be gradually revealed over the course of history.  Romans 16:25-26 gives an example of this type of mystery.

"Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith."

A third usage of "mystery" denotes concepts which are beyond human comprehension and may be so complex that they can only be known by God.  A sufficient example of this usage is provided by I Timothy 3:16.  "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory."

Clearly, the coming of the Lawless One involves timing because Paul states that the Lawless One will come in his own time.  But the fact that lawlessness was already working in the world during Paul's lifetime would indicate that this mystery is only somewhat, and not entirely, dependent on the passage of time for its revelation.  Neither can we say that there will come a time when lawlessness will become so apparent that it is no longer a mystery.  This conclusion is drawn from the fact that even when the Lawless One is revealed, the working of lawlessness will remain concealed to such an extent that mankind will be easily led to believe in the lie.

So then, the Lawless One will be revealed in due time, but the mystery of lawlessness will remain sufficiently veiled as to present a strong delusion.  Therefore, since the working of lawlessness is relatively independent of time, and because even at the end of the age it will not be easily detected, it is reasonable to proceed with our investigation of lawlessness assuming that the working of lawlessness is called a mystery based on its spiritual nature.

Paul's writings contain several references to evil spiritual forces.  He most often refers to these forces as principalities, powers, and authorities, which reside in heavenly places; that is to say, these forces are unseen or lurk in an outer dimension.  They are nonetheless very real and are working dynamically in their efforts to undermine the kingdom of God and His people.  The most elaborate Bible verse that identifies these various evil spiritual forces is Ephesians 6:12.

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Although Paul discourages man's search for the hierarchy and lineage of angelic beings, he does, nonetheless, present here an array of four distinct spiritual enemies.  Each of these are represented in the plural: rulers or principalities (Gr. archas), authorities or powers (Gr. exousias), world-rulers (Gr. kosmokratoras), and wicked spiritual beings (Gr. pneumatika poneras).

The New King James Version has translated the first term, archas, as principalities.  Some insight into this word is provided by the following selection from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.

"In the New Testament "principality" occurs for arche, "rule," generally in the plural, referring to men in authority (Titus 3:1, "Put them in mind to be subject (the King James Version; "in subjection," the Revised Version (British and American)) to principalities (the King James Version; "rulers," the Revised Version (British and American)), and powers" (the King James Version; "to authorities," the Revised Version (British and American)); to superhuman agencies, angelic or demonic (Romans 8:38; Ephesians 3:10; 6:12; Colossians 1:16; 2:10,15).  Paul was keenly sensible of the dualism of mind and body and of the law in his members warring against the law of his mind (Romans 7:23), and of the temporary victory of the evil, residing in the flesh, over the good of the spirit (Romans 7:14).  This dualism was objectified in Zoroastrianism, and among the Babylonians the several heavenly bodies were regarded as ruled by spirits, some good, and some evil.  The same belief, appropriated by the Jews during the captivity, appears also in Greek thought, as e.g. in Plato and later in the Stoics.  The higher spheres, which hold the even tenor of their way, were in general regarded as ruled by good spirits; but in the sublunar sphere, to which the earth belongs, ill-regulated motions prevail, which must be due to evil spirits.  The perversities of human conduct, in particular, thwarting, as was thought, the simple, intelligible divine plan, was held to be subject to rebellious powers offering defiance to God."⁷

Paul identifies the rebellious powers, or subversive authorities, by the second key word in our text - exousias.  The last two terms in our study of spiritual mysteries from the Ephesians text can only be understood in full by including their surrounding Greek modifiers.

The most specific translation of the compound word "world-rulers" is given by the Scripture4all Online Interlinear⁸ as: "the system-holders of the darkness of this age."  This same online resource offers the expanded translation of wicked spiritual beings as: "spiritual forces of wickedness among the celestial ones."

Now having examined the mystery of lawlessness and concluded that Paul has deemed lawlessness to be a mystery because of its spiritual nature, let us go a step further and suppose that lawlessness is an evil spiritual principle - a unique system with one or more spiritual beings championing its cause and guiding its campaign to overthrow man's regard for God and His law.  But we receive consolation in this epistle to the Thessalonians that the Lawless One will, along with Satan and all of his other demonic agents, be destroyed by the Lord at His coming.  "And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming." – II Thess. 2:8

3. Lawlessness will be cloaked in deception.

Christians are obsessed with identifying the Son of Perdition instead of recognizing the real and present danger of the insidious spiritual system which is already working to prepare the way for the Lawless One.  Christians have stretched their imaginations to the limit contemplating a bigger-than-life Man of Sin, whom they perceive is poised to appear in a future fantasia.  Yet they have given little heed to the examination of the forces of darkness already at work, and which are destroying the real world around them.  The gradual introduction of lawlessness has been the greatest contributor to man's oversight.  Lawlessness leads to ever greater lawlessness, as Paul states in his Letter to the Romans.

"For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness." -  Rom. 6:19

Once received and accepted into the public mindset, lawlessness grows like a destroying cancer.  The Apostle John wrote, "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness" – I John 3:4.  Due to the fact that all other references in the New Testament to leaven refer to sin, it is believed by many Bible commentators that He was speaking of the spread of sin among the people of God when Jesus said: "To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?  It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."- Luke 13:21 And again in Paul's writings; "Your glorying is not good.  Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?" – 1 Cor. 5:6 This destructive agent of sin in the camp might have been behind Jesus' haunting question; "When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" - Luke 18:8b

4. Deliverance from perishing will be afforded by loving the truth.

Our verses from Second Thessalonians clearly state that those who perish will do so because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  In His parable of the sower, Jesus compared the receptive heart to good soil.  The good and noble heart welcomes the gospel message which speaks of God's love toward men.  Although a skeptic might reason that he lacks sufficient evidence to rely on God's goodness, an unbiased person should nevertheless at least want to believe he is loved and accepted by his Creator.  A predetermination to reject God's love exposes a problem of the heart.  Jesus said that people reject God primarily because they do honestly believe that God is good, but they also realize that they have sinned.  Furthermore, being aware of the incompatibility of their sin and God's goodness, they make a conscious rejection of God so that they might continue in sin.

Here are Jesus' words: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed." - John 3:16-20

In the latter chapters of this book we will discuss God's grace and the Christian life.  But it is sufficient for now to know that the Holy Spirit leads the believer into all truth so that he might recognize deception, and cling to what is true.  Paul affirms in Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."  Chapter eight of Romans goes on to give express assurance that the spiritual forces of wickedness cannot overpower or undo the saving love of Christ that God demonstrated through the cross.

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." – Rom. 8:38-39 (Emphasis added)

5. The delusion will be strong.

Perhaps the most sobering aspect of the deception of lawlessness is this warning that it will be powerful.  It is one thing to be gullible, but quite another to be tricked by skillful slight-of-hand.  And there is no greater master of deception than the father of lies.

Just consider some of the systemic inversions of good for evil, and evil for good, that have already crept into twenty-first century culture:

• Instead of representing everything excellent, holy, and true; the name of Jesus is offensive, irrelevant, and to be avoided in the public setting.
• The unconditional love that comes only from God, and flows through those who have experienced God's perfect love, has been replaced by the axiom that being non-judgmental is the highest form of love.
• Respecting authority and honoring parents has been replaced by the mindset that all authority is innately evil and authority figures should be ignored or belittled.
• Self-denial is harmful, but wholeness is achieved by building up self-esteem.
• Instead of abundant life through the indwelling Holy Spirit, a zestful biological life is pursued through the exhilaration of experimentation, the anticipation of change, and throwing off the bonds of inhibition and self-control.
• Instead of freedom from sin, freedom is the rejection of every restriction which might limit self-expression.
• Progressive liberalism will lead to freedom, but conservatism will only bind the hands of progress.
• Instead of preparing for eternity with God, individuality is the manifest destiny of the human race.

The deception that lawlessness is true freedom is both the great appeal, and the foundation stone, of Satan's strong delusion.  The desire to empower the self-centered soul drives mankind away from God's lordship, and unwittingly leads him directly into the snare of the devil.  Today, the omnipotent authoritarian government of the Lord God has been rejected as ludicrous because it is contrary to society's inordinate obsession with individual freedom.  The whole concept of lordship has become totally unacceptable and even vulgar to the emancipated Humanist spirit.  The strong delusion of lawlessness will not prevail against the true Church, but it has already overtaken a majority of the populations of America and Europe.

6. The deception is tied to pleasure in what is unrighteous.

Apart from outright Satanism, two other spiritual systems incline their followers to lust after material pleasure.  One is the anti-religion of Atheism.  The other is the philosophical religion of dualism.  Both of these systems were at work in the world before the lifetime of Paul.  Atheism promotes immorality by denying God's existence, whereas dualism inadvertently encourages immorality by placing God so far from the practical world that His existence becomes irrelevant.

Because of man's innate awareness of God, and the observable evidence of a designer-constructor of the universe, Atheism has historically been rare.  The Romans persecuted the Christians during the first centuries of the church partially because they considered them to be Atheists who refused to worship the Roman deities.  Atheism and dualism were both formulated to deal with the disparity between the philosopher's abstract god of goodness, and the presence of evil and suffering in the real world.  We will review these philosophies later in this book when we look at their origins and consider their influence on the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.

But for now, our focus is on how these philosophies tend to influence morality.  Pure Atheism is never long-lived.  In the absence of any other god, man quickly exalts himself to the position of god so that Atheism is transformed into Humanism.  And as we have already stated, fallen humanity will always prefer lawlessness.  Nevertheless, because the individual does not live in a vacuum, he must settle for a "controlled" lawlessness.  Godless political engineers have proposed various utopian states in which man might enjoy the carnal benefits of lawlessness without being restricted by the law or interrupted by his neighbor.

One of the foremost branches of Classical Greek philosophy was developed by Epicurus.  Epicurus formulated an alternative to Stoicism that focused on human happiness.  The Epicureans believed that happiness was the greatest virtue.  Happiness was to be achieved by applying reason in order to experience the greatest pleasure, while avoiding as much pain as possible.  Epicurus freely expressed his rejection of God by posing the following series of questions to justify the gratification of his flesh.

"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?  Then he is not omnipotent.

Is he able, but not willing?  Then he is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?

Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"⁹

Paul was familiar with ancient Greek culture and the classical philosophers.  Paul addressed the Epicureans at Mars Hill while in Athens.  While explaining God's answer to the question of evil, Paul combined the quotes of two different Greek authors when he said; "though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'" – Acts 17:27-28

The first citation was taken from the writings of Epimenides, a Greek philosopher from the Island of Crete, who wrote these words around the sixth century B.C.:

"They fashioned a tomb for you, holy and high one,

Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies.

But you are not dead: you live and abide forever,

For in you we live and move and have our being."¹⁰

The latter part of Paul's statement was a line from a poem by Aratus, a poet from Paul’s own country of Cilicia.  Aratus penned these words in 277 B.C.:

"Let us begin with Zeus, whom we mortals never leave unspoken.

For every street, every market-place is full of Zeus.

Even the sea and the harbor are full of this deity.

Everywhere, everyone is indebted to Zeus.

For we are indeed his offspring ..."¹¹

Paul answered the Epicureans' question of evil by assuring them that God "has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man [Jesus] whom He has ordained.  He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead." - Acts 17:31  So in His own time, and in His own way, the living God has already resolved the question of evil by appointing a day on which He will judge evil and restore the world from its corrupted condition.

Idealistic philosophy simply cannot deal with a real God who has His own plans and purposes.  Fallen man is always looking for a loophole to justify his alienation from God, grasping at any excuse that will mask his conscience from the guilt of sin.  It is for this reason that "God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." – II Thess. 2:11   Mankind looks to his own rickety philosophical arguments with dishonest motives, hoping to rationalize his unrighteous behavior.  But God, who knows the true motives of the heart, will judge unrepentant sinners while they are yet in the act of justifying their sin, by allowing them to believe in the very lies which they have chosen.

"With the pure You will show Yourself pure,

And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd." - Psalm 18:26

Many Christians have imagined that all things would continue the same, just as they have from the time of our fathers - right up until the moment of the rapture.  But no one can deny at this point, that religious beliefs, as well as attitudes toward government and God, are in an unprecedented state of upheaval.  A monstrous admixture consisting of Atheism and the religion known as Humanism has come to life and suddenly risen to its feet.  Atheism, dualism, and Epicureanism are all manifestations of the mystery of lawlessness.  These spiritual systems had already infiltrated Grecian Judaism, and were working their way into the church during the lifetime of the Apostles.  Our study will follow the progress of these religious and philosophical systems over the course of Church History.  Not only has the world become more susceptible to being deceived by such an aberrant god; at the same time, the spiritual landscape that was once conducive to Christianity has become parched and unproductive. 

At the time of Christ, the spiritual soil of the Eastern Mediterranean was made white for the harvest by three important nutrients: (1) a knowledge of God's historical work among the Jews which was still common among the nations surrounding Israel, (2) the age-old religious tendency to acknowledge and worship God helped prepare the hearts of the God-fearers for the gospel, and (3) respect for authority provided the basis upon which the law might act as a tutor to lead souls to Christ.

Today in the west these three ingredients have been nearly fully depleted.  This reduction is not accidental.  It is directly attributable to the principalities and evil forces of darkness which were assigned to this mission from millennia past.  These system-holders have shifted the paradigm; they have broken the system - in order to prepare the way for Son of Perdition.  Christians must face the reality that the world has changed since the time of our fathers; and it has changed drastically.  We must also honestly admit that without the testimony of God (the Bible), without the fear of the Lord, and without respect for authority - it's not coming back.