THE END TIME OUTPOURING vs. THE SATANIC PENTECOST

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh.  Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams,” (Acts 2:17).

At Pentecost, God sent an outpouring of His Holy Spirit like an early rain, leading to a great harvest of souls— both Jew & Gentile— in the early church.  Every age of the church since then has experienced a degree of spiritual watering out of God’s own Spirit.

But, the latter rains are quite bountiful.  They began to fall on the church in the early 20th century and have not stopped.  In gatherings all over the world, men & women are still experiencing the transformational power of the Holy Spirit as they seek after God with their whole hearts.

Yet at the same time, tares are being sowed among the wheat.  A counterfeit Pentecost is also playing out.

Satan was once Lucifer, “the anointed cherub” who covered the throne of God Himself.  Satan knows what the presence of God looks and feels like.  To a large extent, he knows how to mimic it.  He produces a counterfeit of the true and genuine article.

In 2 Timothy 3:1, we are strongly warned “that in the last days perilous times will come.”  One of the hallmarks of the end times is that there will arise “evil men and imposters” who “will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived,” (2 Timothy 3:13).  The more accurate translation of “imposters” from the original Greek is “magicians.”  Evil men and magicians will arise in the end times, deceiving many, while being deceived themselves.  These are the false prophets, producing false signs & wonders…and who will point to a false messiah, Antichrist, as the great hope for the world.

What is the antidote for such deception?  Paul immediately declared:  “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  ALL SCRIPTURE IS GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD, AND IS PROFITABLE FOR DOCTRINE, FOR REPROOF, FOR CORRECTION, FOR INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, that the man of God may be be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work,” (2 Timothy 3:14-17).

Jesus Himself was tested by the connivery of Satan.  Christ Jesus— being full of the Holy Spirit —was led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. How did Jesus stand against the wiles of Satan? Through the WORD OF GOD!  Jesus is our Example.  In order to face the onslaught of the great deception ahead, we must as Spirit-filled believers also hold fast to the word of God.  “IT IS WRITTEN…”

We are not seeing clearly if we are getting all our information from outside sources.  And judging something spiritual as being from God, when it runs contrary to what is written in the Bible, is dangerous. Satan has and will use his own version of the Holy Spirit and Scripture through false prophets, signs, and lying wonders:

“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…” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11).

In 1 John 2:18-19, the example of the early church is set before us, where antichrist spirits were already arising from within the church itself:

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”

How bad will deception get in end times?

In 2 Thessalonians 2:3, Paul tells us that the revealing of Antichrist in all his awful wickedness, is first PRECEDED BY “the falling away” or apostasy.  What is the apostasy?  It is a deliberate rejection of revealed truth (the word of God) by people.

In the end times, there will be a departure from Biblical faith concerning Christ, the Anointed One or Messiah.  People will be yearning for a messiah to save them & preserve this world.  When such a man arises, he will garner the approval of the religious, even appearing as a friend to Israel.  Israel will be able to build her temple & do sacrifice.  But, the mask comes off when this world leader enters into the Jewish temple, declaring himself to be God— the anticipated savior of the world.

In the end times, when love of the truth is exchanged for a lie, the Divine restraint that has been in place since the early days of the church, will cease.  “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,”  (2 Thessalonians 2:6-8).

The church’s adherence to foundational Scriptural truths concerning Jesus has functioned— throughout the centuries— as the barrier preventing the spirit of antichrist from breaking forth into its fullness as THE Antichrist.

Today, both Catholic & Protestant churches are uniting with other religions which openly avow that “God has no Son.”  Others are espousing a man (who is not Christ) as their great hope of bringing peace & prosperity to the world.

Maybe it’s time to refresh ourselves with the Holy Scriptures, which “are able to make us wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”  With birth pangs increasing in our world, Jesus’ warning about deception in the last days (fostered by impressive signs & wonders) and exaltation of a leader (promoted by a False Prophet in Christian disguise) is one we cannot afford to ignore!  “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”