Page 92 - Prophetic Word Newsletters Archive 2006 by Pastor Randy Shupe

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“NOW, BRETHREN,
CONCERNING THE COMING OF
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST (1) Are we to believe that the contents of points (1) and (2)
(words of comfort concerning the coming of Christ and our
AND OUR GATHERING TOGETHER
TO HIM, gathering together to Him) are being fulfilled by this
WE ASK YOU, widely accepted “doom and gloom”
NOT TO BE SOON SHAKEN IN
MIND OR TROUBLED, interpretation of the contents of point (3) ?
EITHER BY SPIRIT OR BY WORD
OR BY LETTER, AS IF FROM US, (2) “BEFORE THE “DAY OF CHRIST” CAN COME THERE MUST
FIRST BE “THE FALLING AWAY” OF THE SAINTS FROM
AS THOUGH THE DAY OF CHRIST THE FAITH. SECONDLY, BEFORE THIS DAY CAN COME,
HAD COME. “THE MAN OF SIN” MUST BE REVEALED.

LET NO ONE DECEIVE YOU Such an interpretation certainly is not imparting to God’s
BY ANY MEANS; people comforting truths that will help them to “…not be soon
FOR THAT DAY WILL NOT COME (3) shaken in mind or troubled…as though the Day of Christ had
come.” Neither does some indefinable and nebulous sign of
UNLESS “the falling away” fulfill Paul’s opening theme of “Concerning
THE FALLING AWAY COMES FIRST, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering
AND THE MAN OF SIN together to Him.” How many would need to “fall away” to
IS REVEALED, make this a clear sign of the pending coming of Christ and our
THE SON OF PERDITION… gathering together to Him? Believers have been “falling away”
from the inception of the church to this very day! How can this
DO YOU NOT REMEMBER THAT (4) be a measurable sign preceding “the Day of Christ?”
WHEN I WAS STILL WITH YOU I (5)
(6) We must then add that points (5) (6) and (7) stand in direct
TOLD YOU THESE THINGS? conflict with such an interpretation that “the man of sin is
AND NOW YOU KNOW WHAT IS (7) revealed first.” Paul clearly states in these verses that
antichrist is revealed AFTER “He who restrains is taken out of
RESTRAINING, the way”, and it is “THEN” that “the lawless one will be
THAT HE MAY BE REVEALED revealed” rather than beforehand.

IN HIS OWN TIME. CONSIDERATION OF
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…”

2 Thess. 2:1-7

Will the Holy Spirit be “taken out of the way” before the
church is “taken out of the way” by means of the rapture?
Does that make sense? It does not to this teacher! Paul’s
context is not in harmony with what is being presented to
God’s people today pertaining to the prerequisite sign of
“the falling away.”

Note that Paul reminds the saints, “Do you not remember WITH OTHER PASSAGES
that when I was still with you I told you these things?” (4).

Search throughout Paul’s first epistle to the Thessalonians and see if you can find any mention of “the
falling away” of saints from the faith. It is not there. Why so? Because he did not, and is not in his second
epistle, preaching such a falling away from the faith as a sign that must precede the rapture. The theme of
First Thessalonians is the rapture prior to God’s wrath! There is NO depiction of a great falling away of the
saints from the faith in any of Paul’s epistles. What Paul did teach was this:

“NOW THE SPIRIT EXPRESSLY SAYS THAT IN THE LATTER TIMES

SOME WILL DEPART FROM THE FAITH,

GIVING HEED TO DECEIVING SPIRITS AND DOCTRINES OF DEMONS.” 1Tim. 4:1

Notice Paul does not say “MANY” or “MOST” will depart, but rather “SOME.” How do you measure
“some” departing from the faith? How many must we observe to meet the criteria of “some”? Can we say
that when we see the sign of “some” departing from the faith that we know “the Day of Christ” is at hand?