End-time Delusions - by Jim Tharp, 2007

Jesus said to them, "Watch out that you are not deceived" (Luke 21:8). ...Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation (wasteful and indulgent living), drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man" (vv. 34-36).

"Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God ...and now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness" (II Thes. 2:3-4; 6-12).

In Matthew 24 and in Luke 21 Jesus warns His followers that in the last days they must be prepared for a universal sweep of deception driven by hosts of evil spirits designed to snare both sinners and saints, even "to the very elect." "For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth," He said (Luke 21:35).

The apostle Paul wrote his second epistle to the Thessalonians from Corinth only a few months after he wrote the first. He wrote the second time to correct their misunderstanding of his first letter. Paul had learned that many of the Thessalonian believers had taken his teachings on the imminence of the Second Coming of Christ so seriously that some had quit their jobs, grown antisocial and gone into hibernation to await the coming of Christ. Paul wrote his second letter to tell them to come out of hiding, rejoin the body of Christ in worship and loving fellowship, go back to work and prepare more responsibly for the Second Coming of Christ.

But Paul also wrote his second letter to the Thessalonians to brace them for the darkness and deception that would sweep all nations and cultures in the last days preceding the revelation of the AntiChrist.

"Wake Up, O Sleeper" - by Jim Tharp, 2008

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness and truth; and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: 'WAKE UP, O SLEEPER, RISE FROM THE DEAD, AND CHRIST WILL SHINE ON YOU.'" (Eph. 5:8-14)

Whether v. 14 is a quote from an ancient baptismal hymn or a line from an Easter celebration, its command to the "sleeper" to "rise from the dead so that Christ may shine on him" places the order solidly within the context of revival. The general call in the passage above is to holiness. Christians are to come out of darkness and walk in light. The light of Christ will shine on them so that the worldly who walk in darkness, as well as weakened believers who have slipped back into the shades of the world, may be exposed and wake up and repent and become a part of the community of light.

Waking Christians from their slumber is a task beyond human ability. 

Destroying Strongholds - By Jim Tharp, 2002

And give no foothold to the devil. (Eph. 4:27, NASB)

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ … (II Cor. 10:3-5)

Why are thousands of Christian congregations in North America locked in spiritual stalemate with boring services and barren altars? It is not due to the lack of sound doctrine, sincere preaching, adequate facilities and friendly worshipers. We have to look beyond the visible for the answers.

Many Christian leaders are so bound to tradition (cultural, denominational, congregational) that they are blind to the nature of the tragedies they face in their ministries. With all their knowledge and training, they remain ignorant of Christ's provision to turn their tragedies into triumphs. The average pastor prays to become a better leader, wants to deliver God's Word to the people, hopes for renewal in the church body and seeks to be open to divine direction for a more effective ministry.

Believe me, it is this great majority that Satan has set out to deceive. He calls their attention to some wild preacher who has a strange fascination with evil spirits, who sees a demon behind every bush or pew or pulpit, and who seeks to identify the unclean spirit attached to every bad cold or sinus infection. With this distraction, skepticism of the supernatural is deepened and it is easier to conclude that the actual work of evil spirits was limited to the times of Jesus and His apostles. Satan will do almost anything to keep pastors, teachers and evangelists from discovering the need for true spiritual warfare. One of his most effective strategies is to simply keep them preoccupied with administration, counseling, meetings, visitation, and putting out fires of opposition so that every week is pretty much a prayerless one. These otherwise intelligent leaders would never dream that they themselves have become casualties in a spiritual war.

Satan recognized that the coming of Jesus Christ into the world represented a challenge to him and his kingdom. He knew that with Christ's entrance on planet earth his domain was being invaded and he knew that the stakes were high. Therefore, Satan attacked Jesus in every way. When he could not buy Jesus, he decided to kill Him. But the enemy never knew until it was too late that his plot to kill our Lord played right into the preordained purpose of the Sovereign God to give His One and Only Son as a ransom for sinners and to destroy the works of the devil. Satan did not know that the voluntary, self-sacrificing death of Jesus Christ on the cross decisively and eternally defeated him and his hierarchy of evil.

Our Risen Christ now calls on His Spirit-filled church to enforce the mighty victory over Satan and evil that He won at Calvary. Until the Lord Jesus returns to actually and finally destroy Satan, we who are filled with the Holy Spirit, we who are clad in His armor, we who are obedient to His commands, are called to resist the evil one, to tear down his strongholds, to order his retreat, to unmask his intentions and to release his captives. Otherwise, it is the nature of Satan to impose, intrude, usurp until confronted by true representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ who know they have the authority to invoke His strong name and see victory replace defeat.

 

A "stronghold" is any condition in the believer or in the congregation or in the ministry that gives Satan an advantage in seeking to defeat the Kingdom of God. It might be an act of disobedience, a mindset contrary to the leading of the Holy Spirit or a state of compromise.

Baptism with the Holy Spirit and Fire - by Jim Tharp, 2008

I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Luke 3:11-12).

John the Baptist had become the most popular preacher in Israel by the time he was to introduce Jesus to the people. He had become the most powerful, because he was filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Nor had he grieved, quenched or disobeyed the Holy Spirit, so he was at his zenith in spiritual power and public influence when it was time for him to present Jesus Christ as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

John humbly presents Jesus by contrasting their respective baptisms. "I have baptized with water," he said, "but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." I don't believe John was denying the importance of his "baptism, a sign of repentance," but was seeking to show the eternal urgency of believers shifting their faith to Jesus Christ and His "baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire!"

I would like for us to consider three effects of the Christian believer's "baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire:" (1) Purification; (2) Illumination; and (3) Radiation.

“Called Unto Holiness” - by Jim Tharp, 2009

Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Eph. 4:22-24).

The apostle Paul is writing to Christian believers who have been born again, and in whom the Holy Spirit abides. They have been justified by faith and adopted into the family of God. They have already been counted as righteous in Jesus Christ, who died for their sins. They now have a destiny which they must pursue. They are called unto holiness, not because they are not yet accepted by God, but because they are.

The miracle of regeneration changes our standing with God – we pass from death unto life; we are transplanted from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light; we are transformed from creatures of despair into children of hope with a glorious inheritance.

As lost souls, we responded to the Holy Spirit’s call to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. As believers, we must now respond to the Holy Spirit’s call to God’s ordained purpose for each of His redeemed children: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son (Rom. 8:29). This change from our old sinful corrupt nature of Adam into the new nature of Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit, with our consent – with our willingness to die to our selfish desires, our total surrender to the will of God. This change is called sanctification. This sanctifying experience is both a refining crisis and a renewing continuation.

Let us note three conditions on the part of the believer in order to experience the sanctifying crisis as well as the purifying process: ask, obey, believe.

New Testament Praying - by Jim Tharp, 2002

And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My Name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full… In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father. John 16:23-24, 26-28

Jesus’ final discourse on prayer took place within the context of the Paraclete Passages (John 14:15-21; 14:26-27; 15:26-27; 16:7-15). These promises concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit had to do with many things in the lives of Christ’s followers, not the least of which would mean a new economy of prayer. I want us to consider at least four components of New Covenant praying as emphasized by Jesus in His final message on prayer.

Approaching the Father

"In that day," said Jesus, "you will no longer ask Me anything." The phrase "in that day" appears twice in this context, referring to the time when the Holy Spirit will come and influence the praying of believers. When Jesus said, "You will no longer ask Me anything," He was reminding them that He would no longer be with them physically and visibly. But with the Holy Spirit indwelling and illumining and guiding them, they would have no need to ask Him anything. So it would be to their advantage that He depart in the flesh in order to return to them in the Spirit. With the Holy Spirit abiding in their hearts, the Father and the Son would be approachable at all times and in all circumstances. "The Father Himself loves you," Jesus assured them, "because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God." 

No apologies would be necessary in approaching the Father. As His redeemed children, purchased by the precious blood of His Son, we are not intruding or interrupting Him when we come before Him in prayer. "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:14-16). The inspired writer here argues for an approach to the Father that is one of confidence because of our standing in Christ. We are not approaching the Father as a stranger but as a blood-bought child who is in favor because of Jesus and what He did for us. Christians, think of it! We are invited to share in that holy intercourse between the Father and the Son and to participate in the intercession of the Son before the Father. Our relationship with the Holy Spirit can be such that we are assured an understanding of how to pray in unity and in sympathy with our interceding Lord. In so doing the will of God is prayed to pass here on earth even as it is in Heaven.

In the Name of Jesus

"I tell you the truth," Jesus said, "My Father will give you whatever you ask in My name" (v. 23). 

All true believers are given the name of Jesus. What a powerful name! In commissioning His Church to go into the world to carry His message and work His works, Jesus wanted His followers to realize that He was not leaving them powerless; they would invoke His name and the Spirit would release His power in and by and through them. Jesus intends us today to operate in the power of His name, just as any company executive would delegate authority to go out and conduct business for his enterprise. The members of the Jewish Sanhedrin and the people of Jerusalem soon learned that the same power by which Jesus had conducted His ministry was present with His disciples for continuing His work. It was "in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth" that Peter and John ordered the crippled beggar at the temple gate to rise up and walk (Acts 3:6). May a Spirit-cleansed, Spirit-filled Church today return to the same precious understanding and reverent use of the name of Jesus. When it does, we will learn that "the kingdom of God is not in word but in power" (I Cor. 4:20).