We have restraining to do

We so easily read over these verses without understanding the real impact of them. If we exchange the words of verse four with who/what they actually refer to, it reads like this: People (the entire earth as stated in verse 3) worshiped Satan because he had given authority to the Antichrist, and they also worshiped the Antichrist ….

And there you have it – global satanic worship. This will fully deploy at about the time that the Tribulation that John speaks about in Revelation commences, roughly a seven-year period during which Antichrist, as global political leader, will start to reign on earth. He will start out as part of a ruling faction of ten, but in the middle of that time will emerge as a dictator (Dan 11:21-23).

We know that he has a set time to appear, and that he is being restrained by the presence of Holy Spirit in believers on earth at the moment. (2 Thes 2:6-8). Even so, we can already see an alarming increase in openly satanic rituals across the globe – from Olympic Opening ceremonies to the ceremony opening the Gotthard Tunnel. Recently also the displaying of a pentagram and a tifo (visual display by supporters in the stands of a stadium) of the Devil emerging from the pentagram at the German Kaiserslautern football match, to name but a few.

The question we have to ask of the church is, why? Why is this increase allowed? What would the result be if there were multiple protests against such blasphemous behaviour; if millions of Christians the world over would reularly gather for prayer meetings to counter the enemy’s influence; if there were voices going up at ground level all over the world to stem the tide of evil infiltrating our schools, our municipalities, our government, our churches even?

Are our ministers urging us to become part of our community and be the voice of our God there – joining school governing bodies/neighbourhood watches/municipalities? Or are we silenced by the notion that standing up to evil is not showing love to others?

Pearls to ponder:

When we look to Jesus to model our behaviour on, we see that He was never naïve. He discerned the hearts of men, knowing who were sincere and who only wanted to use and manipulate Him. He quickly corrected the Pharisees; He overturned tables in the Temple. He instructed His disciples to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves – soft hearts but sharp minds. Let us ask Jesus how to stand up to evil in our environments. We have restraining to do!