Falling Away on Display :: By Terry James

Published on: by RR10 Category:General Articles, Terry James

There has long been controversy about the following words the Apostle Paul was given concerning the falling away that will happen as an introduction to Antichrist coming on the world scene:

“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:1–3).

Paul had, during a previous visit to the Thessalonian Christians (1 Thessalonians 4) prophesied that the Rapture would occur and that the Day of Christ would usher in God’s vengeance on those who opposed His righteousness. Some naysayers had come to those believers since that previous visit and planted the seed of disbelief that the prophecy had been fulfilled already and that the believers’ loved ones who had died since had missed the Rapture, et cetera.

Paul straightened out the believers’ falsely received information by saying the Rapture and all of God’s promises to deal with the evil oppressors had not yet taken place, and that the loved ones who had gone on to Heaven had not missed anything.

He told them that the great Day of Christ—thus, the ushering in of the Tribulation and the coming of Antichrist—wouldn’t come before the falling away took place.

The controversy among eschatological viewpoints is: What is meant by the “falling away”?

The “falling away” comes from the Greek word apostasía. It means “to stand away from” or “a departure.”

Some who study the matters involved believe the “falling away” of 2 Thessalonians means a departure from or a falling away from belief in Jesus Christ—from the gospel.

Others believe the phrase here means “a spatial or physical departure”—as when one leaves one place to go to another.

My own belief is that the term in this prophecy has the characteristics of both the spiritual meaning of departure from faith in Christ alone for salvation and departure in the spatial sense—the Rapture, when all believers will leave Earth to be with Christ when He shouts, “Come up here!” (Revelation 4:1).   

I want to address where I believe we are on God’s prophetic timeline with regard to the departure from the faith—from the gospel of Jesus Christ. Particularly, I want to present how that falling away, or departure, is on full display at this moment, showing just how near must be the spatial departure—the Rapture, followed by the arrival of Antichrist on the world stage.

I believe the following information provides that evidence.

Walk into certain churches today, and you may encounter something that would be almost unrecognizable to Christians who worshiped in the same denominations only a generation ago.

Rainbow flags surround the sanctuary. Pastors preach in Pride-colored vestments. Worship services feature queer hymns and transgender themes. Glitter replaces traditional ashes. Rainbow bread appears at Communion. Special ceremonies celebrate transgender name changes, while Pride Month brings its own sermons, liturgies and church celebrations.

These aren’t simply changes in decoration or attempts to make visitors feel welcome. Taken together, they reveal how deeply LGBTQ+ ideology has worked its way into the worship and theology of parts of the modern church.

Christianity already has its own worship, hymns, sacraments, symbols, sacred language and understanding of identity. Increasingly, each is being reworked through the lens of sexuality and gender. (“10 Ways LGBTQ+ Ideology Is Reshaping the Church,” by PNW staff, Prophecy News Watch, RR News, September 16, 2026)

The Prophecy News Watch story goes on to give ten specific and clearest examples of how LGBTQ+ forces are fulfilling the 2 Thessalonians 2 prophecy by apostatizing within churches formerly of true faith, as I understand the report. I will let the reader find the item and read the details of ten specific ways this is happening. Here they are in brief:

  1. Transgender Worship Leaders and Bands

The worship platform has become one of the most visible places for churches to demonstrate LGBTQ+ affirmation. Transgender and nonbinary worship leaders are sometimes deliberately celebrated as representatives of a congregation’s commitment to queer inclusion.

  1. Queer Hymns and Trans-Inclusive Worship Songs

Even the songs are being rewritten.

  1. Glitter Blessings

Few examples capture the transformation as vividly as “Glitter Ash Wednesday.”

  1. Rainbow Communion

Even the Lord’s Supper has received a Pride makeover.

Communion was given to point Christians toward the broken body and shed blood of Jesus Christ. When Pride symbolism surrounds—or becomes part of—the sacrament itself, the symbolism competing for the congregation’s attention is impossible to ignore.

  1. Transgender Renaming Ceremonies

Some churches now conduct special ceremonies recognizing the new names and gender identities of transgender members.

  1. Pride and Trans-Themed Sermons

The transformation inevitably reaches the pulpit.

At that point, the debate has moved far beyond hospitality. It has become a debate over who gets to define Christian truth.

  1. Rainbow Symbols Throughout the Sanctuary

Sometimes you don’t need to hear the sermon to understand what a church is proclaiming.

Rainbow flags hang from sanctuary walls. Pride banners appear around altars. Churches illuminate their buildings in rainbow colors. LGBTQ+ symbols appear on church signs, windows and Communion tables—sometimes within sight of the cross itself.

  1. Rainbow Clergy Vestments

Pastors themselves have become part of the visual transformation.

  1. Queering the Bible

This transformation reaches much deeper than flags and clothing.

Queer theology can reinterpret Scripture through LGBTQ+ categories, challenge historic Christian understandings of sexuality and gender, reconsider biblical relationships through a queer lens, and alter traditional language concerning God.

  1. Pride Has Become a Church Season

Christmas. Easter. Pentecost.

Now some churches effectively add Pride Month to the calendar.

It is most interesting to see this end-times falling away spiritually. Much more than merely interesting, however, it is most telling of exactly how near we must be to the moment of Rapture—that Departure we as Christians are looking for—and the appearance of Antichrist—a matter we are thankful not to experience.

Here again is how to make sure you go to Christ in that departure and are not left behind to suffer that coming seven years of Antichrist-spawned Tribulation.

“That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10: 9-10).

—Terry

Wtjames1@swbell.net

The Third Pillar of Antichrist :: By Jack Kinsella

Published on: by RR10 Category:General Articles

I have always been leery of those Bible teachers who have a new ‘revelation’ — seeing something in Bible prophecy that they had never seen before.

I am also keenly aware of the dangers inherent in interpreting Bible prophecy in light of current events. It is a good attitude to have, I think, but it does tend to close one’s mind to alternative explanations.

In that regard, what should rightly be accepted as interpretational can subtly shift over from interpretation to doctrine. And interpretation and doctrine are two entirely different animals.

‘Doctrine’ is defined as “a principle or position or the body of principles in a branch of knowledge or system of belief.”

‘Interpretation’ is defined as “a particular adaptation or version of a work, method, or style.”

Doctrine is iron-clad; a ballet teacher teaches the identical doctrine of classical ballet to two students in the same class, but how they INTERPRET that doctrine is what separates a Mikhail Baryshnikov from a Rudolf Nureyev.

Doctrine is constant, but interpretation changes with understanding.

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10).

According to Bible prophecy, the reign of the antichrist rests on the existence of three central pillars: a global government, a global religion, and a global economy.

The prophet Daniel identifies the antichrist as being of “the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary” (Daniel 9:26).

History tells us the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple took place in AD 70 under the command of Titus, later Emperor Titus of Rome. Hence the interpretation that the antichrist comes to power through some form of a revived Roman Empire that serves as a de facto global government.

In this generation, the countries of the old Roman Empire united under the banner of the European Union, uniting Europe as a single empire for the first time since the fall of Rome.

The second pillar, that of a global economy, is necessary to fulfill John’s prophecy that he will have the ability to restrict persons from normal buying and selling at the individual level.

Such economic control was never possible prior to this generation. If you doubt it exists now, imagine if your Social Security number were deleted. You couldn’t work, open a bank account, get a loan, or make a major purchase.

Elimination of cash (a work already in progress) would completely exclude a person from any economic participation.

Of the third pillar, the global religious system, the Bible reveals the following:

1) It will claim authority over Christianity. “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb…”

The references to ‘the lamb’ are pretty much self-explanatory. It is a reference to something ‘like’ Christianity, but a counterfeit… “he spake as a dragon” (Revelation 13:11).

2) It will share political power with the first beast. “And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him” (Revelation 13:12).

3) Participation will be mandatory. “cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” (Revelation 13:15)

4) The method employed by the false prophet’s religious system as the penalty for refusing conversion is decapitation.

“and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast” (Revelation 20:4).

For more than a thousand years, most interpreters saw the Church of Rome and the papacy as the third pillar of the antichrist’s platform.

The Vatican claims authority of Christianity and has always been as much political as religious. But that is where the similarities stop.

600 years ago, the papacy tried to enforce conversion and sometimes executed those who refused. The papacy also believed the world was flat 600 years ago.

It is safe to say that when the Pope believes in a flat earth, the papacy will launch another Grand Inquisition.

There is in existence another religion that fits John’s description like a glove. Islam claims to be the third revelation from God.

It claims its existence from Abraham, acknowledges the Divine inspiration of the Bible, but claims that Abraham, Moses, and Jesus were all Muslim prophets.

It is Islam’s claim to be the third and final revelation from God, from which Islam derives its claim of authority over Christians and Jews.

Islam is not just a religion but is equally a political system carefully defined by Sharia law and fulfilling points 1 and 2 much more perfectly than does the modern Vatican.

Islam is the religion of the sword. The word itself means ‘submission,’ and Islamic law authorizes the death penalty for unbelievers, fulfilling point 3 as a matter of existing religious doctrine — not a new doctrine forced upon an existing system by a mad pope.

And the penalty of choice for refusing to submit to Allah is decapitation, fulfilling point 4.

None of this has to be developed and imposed upon Western religionists as new religious doctrine by a new pope, as previous interpretations required — it already exists. And it is already practiced by one-fifth of the human race.

As noted, Islam claims to be the wellspring of Judeo-Christianity, claiming Islam predates both. Islam claims Allah is the same God worshipped by Christians and Jews and that the Old and New Testaments were corrupted by scribes.

Christians and Jews scoff at this claim, since the Koran’s Allah bears no resemblance to the God revealed in Scripture.

God is love. Salvation is a gift of grace through faith. As a matter of accepted doctrine, it cannot be imposed by force.

Salvation through Allah comes through martyrdom in the jihad, after conversion to Islam either voluntarily — or by force.

Daniel provides another glimpse into the religion of antichrist. He says that he will be an atheist, but that he will pretend to be religious in public.

“Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.”

Then Daniel gives a letter-perfect description of Islam — as Islam describes ITSELF.

“But IN HIS ESTATE shall he honour the GOD OF FORCES: and a god WHOM HIS FATHERS KNEW NOT…” ‘A god of forces, and a god his fathers knew not’ cannot be applied to the Roman Catholic Church or the Papacy without the RCC formally renouncing Scripture, God and Jesus.

For 1600 years, interpreters looked to the Vatican, and for 1600 years, the argument seemed valid. Until the arrival of the generation to whom the prophecy was written.

“And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are CLOSED UP AND SEALED TILL THE TIME OF THE END. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; BUT THE WISE SHALL UNDERSTAND” (Daniel 12:9-10).

This Letter was written by Jack Kinsella on February 26, 2006. Jack went to be with the Lord on March 14, 2013.

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