2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, Part 3

[Hidden In Him]

The Return of False Christs During The End-Times, Part 3

     Did you know there were heretics during New Testament times who were “alluring unstable souls” by presenting themselves as believers, yet entering Christian congregations only to sexually prey upon Christian wives, and seduce them away from their husbands into lives of sexual sin? Some would eventually teach it was a sacred thing to engage in sexual sin, and only those who did so every day could inherit eternal life. As strange as these doctrines sound, this heresy now appears to be returning in the earth, and few are aware of how it is actually being promoted as true “Christianity” on television programs and documentaries. Would you recognize the foundations of this heresy if you saw them being presented?
     Along with performing great signs and wonders to bewilder others by the powers of Satan, the false Christs that arise in the end-times will seduce others by another means: They will encourage their followers to engage in sexual immorality in the name of "Christ." In essence, they will preach a religion that's "Christian" in name only, but Satanist in practice. This is because Satan knows full well that God will never receive those who honor Him with their lips but dishonor Him with their lives. In the judgement, they will find themselves cast into the Lake of Fire rather than being granted entrance into the kingdom of God.
     This is made clear by several New Testament verses:

     For this you have known, that every person who is sexually immoral, or unclean, or [sexually] covetous, who is an idolater, does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with vain words, for on account of these things comes the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not be joint-partakers with them. (Ephesians 5:5-7a)

     Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry… which I tell you beforehand, even as also I said before, that the one doing such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

     Or do you not know that the unjust shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be misled; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor homosexuals… shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

     As covered in Part 2, a false Christ was already operating in the earth by the time Paul was writing his second letter to the Thessalonians. Simon the Magician was performing great signs and wonders before the Roman senate and people to mislead them into believing he was actually the "Christ" who years before had manifested himself in Judaea. Now he had supposedly "returned in power." Part of Simon's appeal was that his doctrines offered sexual liberation. Those who adhered to his teachings were granted freedom from the strict rules of sexual behavior that governed the rest of society. His followers could engage in any sexually licentiousness behavior they wished, for he had freed them from all religious tyranny.
     Returning now to our passage, those who were buying into these doctrines were the ones Paul was referring to as "delighting in unrighteousness." They would eventually perish into eternal damnation, specifically because they had "received not the love of the truth for them to be saved." 

     … the demonic activity of Satan [is manifesting itself] in all the power, signs and wonders of falsehood and in all the deceitfulness of unrighteousness unto those who are perishing, on which account they have received not the love of the truth for them to be saved. And God is sending them this demonic activity which endorses falsehood for them to believe a lie for this very reason: That all may be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)

    The unrighteousness that Simon was preaching was "deceitful" in that it promised a life of sexual pleasure. Yet the lives of those who did so would not remain pleasurable forever. Their destination would ultimately be the pits of Hell, and an eternity spent in torment. 


The Sexually Immoral Teachings Of Simon Magus

     To allure gullible souls during the end-times, the false Christs that are coming will teach doctrines that actually promote sin, and elevate it to a place of virtue rather than condemning it. This is what was taking place during New Testament times. Because the wicked rejected Christ's teaching that all who gave themselves over to sexually immorality were in danger of hellfire, God was now sending them a false Christ He knew they would trust in, one who encouraged them to fully indulge themselves in sexual lusts rather than resist them.
     According to the early Ecclesiastical writers, Simon went about with a prostitute named Helena, whom he had purchased out of slavery. She assisted him in initiating people into the "higher" mysteries of his religion by performing sex rites with him in private before the eyes of his latest "initiates."
     To cite a few quotes regarding Simon's methodology:

     This Simon of Samaria, from whom all sorts of heresies derive their origin... redeemed from slavery in Tyre, a city in Phoenicia, a certain woman named Helena, [and] was in the the habit of carrying her about with him... (Irenaeus, Ante-Nicene Fathers, V.1, P.348)

     Simon Magus, who taught that his prostitute Helena was the Holy Spirit, instituted certain foul and infamous mysteries inexpressibly filthy, and had assemblies equally filthy to celebrate them, these being the Mysteries of Life, and of the most perfect "knowledge." (Queenborough, Occult Theocracy, P.119) 

     Simon mocked the commandments of God to abstain from sexual immorality by teaching that they were only given because the God of the Jews (and His angels) wanted only to dominate over humanity and bring them under subjugation. But Simon had come to reveal that those who believed in him no longer needed to fear such tyranny any longer, but should reject the Biblical prophesies that stated the God of the Jews would cast sinners into a Lake of Fire. These were all a lie:

     Since the angels ruled the world wickedly because each of them coveted the highest power for himself [Simon] had come to amend matters... Moreover, (i.e. according to Simon) the [Biblical] prophets uttered their predictions under the inspiration of the angels who formed the world, for which reason those who place their trust in him and Helena no longer feared them but, as being free, live as they please... (Irenaeus, Ante-Nicene Fathers, V.1, P.348)

     Many of Simon's later successors, men like Nicholaus, Carpocrates and Valentinian, even went so far as to teach that practicing sexual immorality should be a law, and only those who participated in fornication daily could be saved, since practicing sexual immorality commemorated the "mystery" those with true spiritual "knowledge" were supposed to be meditating upon on a daily basis:       

     The Carpocratians grew to the degree of madness that, unable to conceal their debaucheries, they made sexual incontinence to be a law... Podicus added to the tenets of Carpocrates that fornication ought to be open and public, and the use of women common. For which reason, when the candles were extinguished in their feasts, each lay with the women as chance appointed it, and they call this licentiousness a mystical initiation, a mystical communion. (Queenborough, Occult Theocracy, P.120)

     And to aggravate their wickedness, [the Valentinians] esteemed copulation as a most sacred mystery, known only to themselves, which the profane were not allowed to put into practice, what was abominable in others being highly virtuous in themselves. For, as Irenaeus said again, "they have this grace descending to them from the unnamable and unspeakable copulation above, for which reason they ought always to be meditating upon the mystery of copulation."

     Both Epiphanius and Irenaeus before him say of the founder of the Nicolatians: "Being ashamed of his own remissness, audaciously pronounced that no one who was not lascivious every day could be an inheritor of eternal life... therefore those Gnostics, after a debauchery, used to boast of their happiness as having done a virtuous thing..." (Queenborough, Occult Theocracy, P.121)

     
Alluring Unstable Souls Through Spiritual Deceit

     Even more insidious, however, was that consistent with his claim to be "the Christ," Simon taught doctrines such as these to be the true tenets of Christianity, using both Christian terminology and the name of Christ as a means of deceiving those who were still unclear about what true Christianity was all about:

     [These men] have been sent forth by Satan to bring dishonor upon the Church, so that, in one way or another, men... seeing the things which they practice, may speak evil of us all, who in fact have no fellowship with them, either in doctrine or in morals or in our daily conduct. But they lead a licentious life. And to conceal their impious doctrines, they abuse the Name [of Christ] as a means of hiding their wickedness. (Irenaeus, Ante-Nicene Fathers, V.1, P.350-351)

     They set forth, indeed, the name of Christ Jesus as a sort of lure, but in various ways introduce the impious doctrines of Simon. And thus they destroy multitudes, wickedly disseminating their own doctrines by the use of a Good Name. (Irenaeus, Ante-Nicene Fathers, V.1, P.353)
     
     By identifying themselves as "Christians", Simon's followers were also also able to entice new Christians away from true salvation in Christ, by infiltrating Christian congregations and seducing unstable souls with the temptation to convert over to Simon's heresy:
   
     The Carpocratians... spend their time in luxury and pleasure and bodily enjoyments, nor do they ever come among us unless it be to ensnare unstable souls, and entice them into their impious doctrine. To this end (i.e. for the purpose of enticing unstable souls), they taught sexual incontinence to be obligatory, as a law, and not only lawful but necessary to salvation, not merely compatible with the Savior's religion, but an integral part of it. (Queenborough, P.119)

     By the time Peter and Jude were warning congregations about this heresy in their epistles, it was already an increasing problem for many of the churches. With the followers and successors of Simon now greatly increasing in number toward the end of Nero's reign, the apostle Peter told his readers:

     They are about to receive the wages of unrighteousness, thinking indulgence in the daytime is pleasure. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceits while feasting among you. Having "eyes" for an adulteress and for incessant sin, they allure unstable souls, having a heart which has become trained on [sexual] covetousness. They are accursed children... By speaking vain exaggerations, they allure with the lusts of the flesh [and] licentiousness those who are almost escaping from the ones living in error, promising them freedom [while yet] themselves being slaves of corruption. For by whatsoever anyone has been overcome, by this also he is kept in bondage. For, if having escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but again getting entangled in these things they are subdued, their last state is worse than their first. For it was better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to have turned from the holy commandment given unto them. But the true proverb has happened to them: "The dog has returned to his own vomit, and the pig that was washed to wallowing in the mud." (2 Peter 2:13-14, 18-22)

     There are now strong reasons to believe that the Gnosticism Simon fathered is now slowly making a comeback, and that Satan will eventually do everything in his power to replace true Christianity with this abomination of a religion created many centuries ago.


The Resurrection Of Satanic "Christianity"

     Gnostic "Christianity" is again surfacing in not only books but movies and television documentaries as well. The most famous of these works to date has been the novel The Da Vinci Code, which was made into a major motion picture back in 2006.

                 

     Sophie, the heroin in the story, is taught what "true" Christianity was by a college professor named Mr. Langdon. Among other things, she is told that not only did early Christians practice Gnostic sexual rites, but the early Jews did as well, practicing ritual sex with temple priestesses within the confines of the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctum of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem:

     Langdon's Jewish students always looked flabbergasted when he first told them that the early Jewish tradition involved ritualistic sex. In the Temple, no less. Early Jews believed that the Holy of Holies in Solomon's Temple housed not only God but also His powerful female equal, Shekinah. Men seeking spiritual wholeness came to the temple to visit priestesses - or hierodules - with whom they made love and experienced the divine through physical union. (The De Vinci Code, P.318)

     Several other books depicting Gnosticism as "True" Christianity followed the release of this movie, including two by author Lynn Picknett. One was entitled The Templar Revelation: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ, and another, as an even more clear identifier of exactly whose side she was really on, she gave the title of The Secret History of Lucifer: And the Meaning of the true Da Vinci code.
     In this second book, Lucifer is portrayed as a benevolent god, merely attempting to offer man "knowledge" (Gnosis) that will deliver him from the evil, tyrannical Creator god of the Old Testament. The "true" Jesus Christ came to deliver men out from under this tyranny by performing secret sexual rituals before his disciples, purportedly to initiate them "behind closed doors" into the deeper mysteries of "true" Christianity.
     Thus, the woman with the alabaster jar, as mentioned in the Book of Acts, is transformed into one of Jesus' female disciples who was granted the right to anoint him with oil in preparation for a secret sexual rite, with the bigoted male disciples looking on in resentment because of her apparent place of greater importance in Christ's eyes:
 
     In the traditional form of scared marriage, the hieros games, the priestess/queen/goddess also anoints the priest/king/god with oil on the genitals as a preparation for ritual horasis [i.e. for ritual sex]. Behind the male disciples' concern for the wasted money and the plight of the poor, was there another reason for their distaste at this ritual? Clearly the anointing of Jesus' feet - the singling out of the sacrificial king - took place in front of them, but the climax of the ceremony might have been a matter for closed doors (and a great deal of muttering conjecture). The woman with the alabaster jar may have been making a sacred king, but she was also making herself some powerful enemies. (The Secret History Of Lucifer, and the meaning of the true Da Vinci code, P.74-76)

     Oh, and by the way, Simon the Magician is not surprisingly presented in this book as a hero figure, one who instead of teaching rank heresy was merely attempting to "return the Jews to a form of goddess worship, based on the Egyptian system." (The Secret History Of Lucifer, and the meaning of the true Da Vinci code, P.101).


Superficial Christians Are Now In The Dark

     Many decades ago now, modern Christian scholarship got seduced into dismissing Gnosticism as the threat being discussed in letters like Jude and 2nd Peter. Instead they began teaching that it had no significant presence until the 2nd century. As a result, rarely will you now read a Bible commentary that explains the dangers of this heresy, and how it posed a serious threat to New Testament believers. Pastors, therefore, know little about it, meaning the average believer in the seats knows even less. Meanwhile, television is now permeated with programs about "Christianity"  from a distinctly Gnostic point if view (albeit references to their licentious sexual beliefs and practices are often left out). Thus, most Christians today are naive to the spiritual dangers of their children watch Gnostic-oriented presentations of "Christianity" in televised documentaries these days.
     This is why the true nature of early Gnosticism must be taught once more. Gnosticism is nothing more than taking the practices and ceremonies of Satanism and putting "Christian" names on them, much like how Simon did in New Testament times. Yet television programs produced by the History Channel, the Discovery Channel and A&E over the last 20 years have increasingly presented early "Christianity" in a very pro-Gnostic light, depicting Gnosticism as unfairly demonized by the church. Yet because of their general ignorance and lack of education, most today have no idea just how satanic early Gnosticism was, both in practice and in doctrine.
     I noticed just how naive many are to the potential infiltration of Gnosticism when reading an article on keeping the Sabbath yesterday. Beginning by quoting from Ignatius of Antioch, the author of the online article had this to say:

     "If those who have been brought up in the ancient order of things [i.e., converted Jews] have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath but living in observance of the Lord's day, on which also our life has sprung up again by him and his death … how shall we [i.e., Gentile converts] be able to live apart from him, when even the prophets themselves—also his disciples— waited for him in the Spirit as their Teacher?" (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Magnesians 9, 110 A.D.)
     Christians will be arguing about what the Bible says—about the Sabbath and many other issues—until the day of Jesus Christ... However, there are some clear, objective issues I can settle for you, and one of them is whether the churches the apostles started kept the Sabbath. The answer is no, they did not keep the Sabbath... Ignatius is not a nobody. Ignatius was the overseer of the church in Antioch. Antioch was Paul's home church, and Ignatius was appointed to that position by the apostle John. It's hard to carry much more authority than that without actually being one of the original apostles yourself." (Christian History For Everyman, The Sabbath, Christian History.org)

     This author certainly means well, only he is quoting from a Gnostic document posing as a letter from Ignatius. Paul warned the Thessalonians of people potentially sending letters in their name, saying that the Day of the was at hand:

     Now we implore you, brothers, by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto Him, that you not become quickly disturbed in mind nor troubled, neither by spirit, nor by report, nor by letter as if written by us [intimating] that the Day of the Lord is here. No one should deceive you in any way if the apostasy has not [yet] come first... (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3a)

     This is a trick the Gnostics were using, and they will do so again in the end-times. Even now they tout documents like The Secret Gospel of Mark, which makes Mark out to teach that Jesus engaged in secret homosexual rites with his closest "disciples." But some documents are a little more subtle, and such is the case with the one this well-meaning brother was citing. This is not the true letter of Ignatius to the Magnesians, as is evident from some distinctly Gnostic statements in it.
     For instance, in Chapter 13 this document states:

     Study, therefore, to be established in the doctrines of the Lord and the apostles, that so all things, whatsoever you do, may prosper both in the flesh and spirit... Be subject to the bishop and to one another, as Jesus Christ to the Father according to the flesh, and... that so that there may be a union both fleshly and spiritual. (Ignatius of Antioch, The [False] Epistle To The Magnesians, 13)

     There exists what is called a long and short reading of this letter preserved by the church, and the long version makes no such statement. The long version simply reads, "Be subject to the bishop and to one another, as Christ to the Father, that there may be a unity according to God among you." Why change it to "so that there may be a union both fleshly and spiritual"? So that the Gnostics, empowered by demons to prophesy, cast out demons and perform "miracles," could take unstable souls aside privately and show them how Ignatius actually taught that Christians should engage "in fleshly union," i.e. sexual intercourse with one another.
     This is not the only statement made in this letter that is blatantly Gnostic. Nevertheless, this document is included in every set of the Ante-Nicene Fathers sold on the market today, and posted on many Christian websites as having come from a man appointed by the apostle John himself to oversee the church in Antioch.

                                                           

     It begs the question: If to this day Christian scholars and teachers cannot recognize Gnostic forgeries, just how many would be vulnerable to all out deception? Not only are many modern Christians ill-informed today, but many are still entrenched in sins of the flesh. When false Christs do come, these heresies will be the doctrines they teach. Thus, those still bound by such sins will be susceptible to the temptations presented by these heretics, and the Devil's servants will be more than willing and ready to train them up in the "deeper things of God." It is likely that the false Christs that arise during the end-times will actually be practicing Satanists, whose sexual rites as Gnostic leaders mesh seamlessly with the sexual rites they perform as Satanists in secret. Thus, those seduced into engaging in sexual acts with them will legally authorize their demons to enter into their bodies through the sex act, making their deliverance from the grips of demonic deception all that much more difficult.

                                                                    


Casting Doubt On The Power And Promises Of God

     Another objective Satan will have in raising up false Christs will be to cast doubt on God's word, and the promise of His second coming. A great outpouring of the Holy Spirit is prophesied to take place in the end-times, and greater miracles will be done in the Name of Jesus Christ than have ever been done before in the history of man, in keeping with the following promises made in the Old and New Testaments:

     Truly, truly, I say unto you. The one believing on Me, the works which I do shall he do also, and greater than these shall he do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you may ask in My name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (John 14:12-13)

     And He said unto them, "Going into all the world, proclaim the gospel unto all creation... these signs shall follow those having believed: In My name they shall cast out demons. They shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents, and if the shall drink any deadly thing it shall not harm them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." Indeed, therefore, after the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into Heaven, and sat at the right hand of God. And they, having gone forth, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through signs following. (Mark 16:15-20)

     I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. And I will pour out My Spirit upon My servants and My handmaidens in those days. And I will show wonders in the heaven and on earth, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and glorious Day of the Lord comes. (Joel 2:25-31 LXX)

     These signs and wonders will manifest to supernaturally confirm once again that the promises of God are true, and the Lord Jesus is indeed returning in power from Heaven eventually. Unfortunately, however, Satan will again make sure false Christs are raised up to try and match the signs and wonders being done by God's servants, and those weak in faith may end up dismissing these confirmations as "demonic," to their own spiritual demise. Even during Jesus' time some were saying His miracles were being done by demonic power, thereby attributing the works of the Holy Spirit to the Devil. This was a grave sin, for it potentially kept multitudes from believing by invalidating the very things God uses to confirm His word. No wonder Jesus warned the Pharisees of the spiritual dangers they placed themselves in by saying these things (Matthew 12:22-32).
     In summary, Satan is again resurrecting the heresy of Simon in our times, and many are still naive and uninformed about the dangers inherent in this. When the time comes for Satan to again raise up false Christs, unstable souls will again be targets for deception. We must become truly educated again in the things of God, and again learn to discern between the deceptive works of darkness and the true works of light.





Links to sources:
https://www.christianforums.com/threads/help-pastor-no-longer-my-friend.8013521/#post-71403500
https://www.christian-history.org/sabbath.html