Have you been shaken to your core? Has something unnerved you to the point of being immovable or unable to react? Does remembering it continue to cause you to shudder? What if you found out it was a hoax? What if the thing that shook you had all been a lie?
Horrific events can shake us, especially if they happen to us or we are in the vicinity of where they occur. Some of us will run into a burning building to save others. Some will be frozen by the horror. Some volunteer to help with disaster recovery while others don’t.
But what if the disaster was a hoax? What if it had been staged? If we discovered such a thing had been done, we would be outraged. The Apostle Paul warns the church in Thessalonica of just such a thing. Not about a disaster but about the coming of Jesus. He tells them, and us, not to be upset when they hear rumors. He explains that the lawless one, or the anti-Christ, must be revealed.
Throughout history, there have been many false accusations of someone being the anti-Christ, including Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and others. We must understand that the rebellion will be much larger than a single nation. It will be worldwide. There will be a power unlike we have seen before that will lead the rebellion. For it will be Satan’s right-hand demon leading it. Therefore, we are not to be alarmed by speculation and thoughtless rumors. Stand firm in your faith and wait patiently for Jesus’ return.
I pray we all understand the warning of Paul. I pray we are not quickly shaken by speculation. I pray each one of us will continue to stand firm in our faith and wait patiently for Jesus’ return. Understand the warning. Do not be quickly shaken. Wait patiently. Stand firm in your faith.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction.
Marty Pressey 