“The heart is perverse above all things …” (Jer. 17:9, DRB)
We are currently examing what grants the spirit of perversity access to the lives of believers. A great deal of our discussion thus far has been trying to understand why it is God (and not Satan) who sends this spirit to believers, and which brought us to a very complex part of Scripture, namely 2 Thess. 2:1-12, which can possibly hold the key to this matter.
Once we had rewritten Paul’s complex syntax in a simpler form, we came to this immensely important conclusion – the institution that accommodates “all power, signs, and lying wonders” in order to maintain a false anointing, is the institutionalised Babylonian church system. This ”defection from the truth” takes place within the visible church, not outside it. This carnality of the church is enmity against God.
Whilst reading these teachings please keep the teachings of Days 845-847 next to you as a reference, as we will be continuing the chronological discussion.
Let’s start with Points 1 and 2 – the terms that are important here are predestination, calling and sanctification (that to some extent corresponds with, for instance, the order given thereof in Rom. 8:29-30). This “upward call” (Phil. 3:14) is linked to the “gospel of glory”, the gospel that is the marker of the third dimension, and in which the Bride, not the Church, functions. Predestination, as it has been described in our earlier teachings, is not at all connected to salvation, but relates to calling (according to 1 Pet. 1:2).
Points 3 and 4 is a warning to the true believers of the third dimension that they should not allow themselves to be deceived, or even seduced (Eph. 5:6; Col 2:4), and thus become part of a system that will eventually cost them their callings. The “day of Christ”, it is spelled out, has not yet come in its complete form. That day, when Christ is everything, and within everyone – a mystery which we have not yet touched upon – still needs to take place. The process is akin to the birth of a child – the head first needs to crown, then the body with all its various parts – the shoulders, the arms, the torso, the lower body, the legs and then feet – this is the correct order. When the feet are for instance not yet visible, the complete baby has not yet been born.
Therefore Paul makes it very clear – “the day of Christ” has not yet arrived if the full Body has not yet been made manifest.
Note the analogy – the Head, Jesus, arrived almost two thousand years ago. Since Pentecost (Acts 2) the Body is slowly being born. It remains one Christ (Jesus, the Head, plus the rest of the anointed Body, the Bride), as Paul also makes clear in Eph. 1:22-23 (Weymouth): “God has put all things under His feet, and has appointed Him universal and supreme Head of the Church, which is His Body, the completeness of Him who everywhere fills the universe with Himself.”
The Body of Christ is the fullness of the Christ of God (Luke 9:20). Two thousand years ago the revelation of the Head was there (1 Cor. 11:3; Eph. 1:10 & 22; 4:15; 5:23; Col. 1:18; 2:20 & 19), but the Body of that Head developed throughout the ages until one day “we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).
1 Cor. 12:12 makes it very clear: “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.”
In Point 5 Paul speaks of “the mystery of lawlessness”. This mystery can be juxtaposed with another mystery, which is explicitly named in various instances in the New Testament as “the mystery of Christ” (Eph. 3:4). Also read the following references to it:
- Eph. 3:9 – “and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ”
- Eph. 5:32 – “This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”
- Col. 1:26-27 – “the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
- Col. 2:2 – “attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding … the knowledge of the mystery of God”
- Col. 4:3 “to speak the mystery of Christ …”
Please note – the mystery of Christ is made known, according to Col. 1:26, “to His saints”, and not to all believers (various Scriptures make this claim, for instance Eph. 4:12). It is therefore very insightful and important that this mystery of Christ counters the Babylonian church system. The Bride of Christ from the third dimension opposes the Whore of Babylon. Note what Rev. 17:5 says about her: “And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” Please understand – the Whore of Babylon is the ruling demonic church structure which carries the spirit of the Antichrist, and stands in direct opposition to “the spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9; 1 Pet. 1:11). Within the various structures of the Whore of Babylon there are many saved individuals, people who are born-again, even those who are genuine in their walk of faith and who are Spirit-filled.
The crisis is that because of this institutionalised system of religion they are kept in bondage, with all of the other meanings of this word in the original Greek holding true: to be irrevocably bound, to keep you in bondage at all costs, to be oppressed, to be in chains. Now that we know who the “he” of Point 6 is, we need to understand that the formal church structure, in general, leads to apostasy. This may sound slightly dubious, or like a very harsh judgment, but all that is not Christ is still ruled by the carnal nature, and thus by that which is Evil. The reason apostasy occurs, or why a secularising of the church takes place, is because the believer elevates himself. The ego of the old nature of the unregenerated self has taken its place on the throne in the temple of God: his own body. Within the institutionalised Babylonian church system he becomes part of a demonic “many-membered man” that opposes the Bride of Christ as a “many-membered man”. We thus now also understand Point – the mystery of lawlessness is at work.
Also, with this clear understanding of who the enigmatic “he” is in this section (Point 6), and the understanding of what the secularisation of the church system means (Point 7), it becomes easier to place the rest of the role players and events within the correct context and perspective. Point 8 is however the crux of the argument, and this is where the misinterpretation traditionally occurs. The Babylonian church system must first be removed before that which hides within can be brought to light, “(that which) develop(ed) from the midst” (1 Thess. 2:7b, ACV). And Point 9 then explains who the unholy trinity is that brings about this unrigteousness: the man of sin, the son of perdition, he who opposes. Only then will it be clear to what degree the ungodly Babylonian church structure has prevented those who are caught up in her systems of false carnal authority to operate within their callings. Then the next three Points are explained, as it is then clear that it is a hidden working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders (Point 10), with those who are lost being seduced by lawlessness, as they did not accept the love of truth which could save them (Point 11). The spirit of the antichrist sits in the temple of God and pretends to be God (Point 12). The reason for this is that this spirit operates in believers by elevating the old nature above all that is called God or is an object of worship (Point 13).
If this is the spiritual state of affairs, it is a spiritual principle that Point 14 must happen: “And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie.” It is God who sends the spirit of perversity, no one else. Seen in this light, it is then understandable why it is God and not Satan who sends this spirit – it is part of the judgment on the system, which stands in ENMITY against God, even though there are people within it who worship God.
Jer. 17:9 explains how this deception can take place: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” More than anything, man’s heart is “exceedingly corrupt” (ACV), “more deceitful than anything else and mortally sick” (CJB), “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (KJV), “hopelessly dark” (Msg), “unsearchable” (MSTC), “more devious than any other thing” (NJB), “dangerously wayward” (Rotherham). It therefore makes sense that two of the classic Scripture translations clearly links this deceitful heart of (an often religious) man to the spirit of perversity: “Crooked is the heart above all things” (YLT), “exceedingly perverse” (AB).
When the believers who were part of the Babylonian church system of his time asked Jesus why he does not wash his hands in a religiously-ritualistic manner, he said the following: “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” (Mark 7:20-23). Note that heart is singular, but men is plural – we thus have one heart, even though we are many! Call this a corporate, evil, worldly heart. This heart is the communal property of all people, a subconscious thought system shared by everyone. It is the mind of Adam, which opposes the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16), which is also a corporate mind! The Amplified aptly states: “But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart.”
The apostatic church system veils the believers within it, so that they cannot understand how the system prevents the man of sin, the son of perdition, and he who opposes from being brought to light WITHIN them. Therefore, with the second coming, Jesus can truly say to them: “I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.” (Luke 13:27). This spirit of the antichrist which hides within our hearts in the church, is the power of Satan, the root of our carnal way of thinking, organised within the kingdom of darkness, error and superstition, which presents itself as the Kingdom of Christ (Eph. 5:5). You will find him on the pulpit on Sundays; He is theologically educated, highly regarded. You will find him in the church pews where he tithes and attends all church programmes. He is in the corporate heart of the people that are bound to him through the demonic system. He will sit in his own temple until he is made known, but this will only occur at the time of the second coming (Points 15, 16 and 17).
It is important that you start discerning the spirit of perversity. Like Rev. 18:4 makes clear – “And I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.’”
- Selah: This teaching has immense implications for you. Ponder it prayerfully and with the needed
action.
- Read: 21-27
- Memorise: 21:9
- For a more in-depth understanding: Read N.T. Wright’s book Simply Christian.
