For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
This will likely be a longer Post, so bear with me. As some of you here are aware, I see the letters to the seven churches of revelation as being both to current churches existing in John's time, as well as being prophetic of church ages. Within them is a wealth of information of church history throughout the two thousand year the church has existed. But there is also found therein a history of the mystery of iniquity at work in those churches. Much like the church has grown and changed over its history, so too has the adversary altered his ways to infiltrate and attack the church. This post will focus on that.
If this post convicts you, Go to the cross on your Knees in repentance and seek God. It has been a hard post for me to write because there are many in all the churches mentioned Below who are brothers and sisters in Christ and is not an attack on your church or denomination, or sect. Many of the movements were led by anointed men of God only to have their authority and movement usurped by Satan.
False Apostles: Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 11:12-13, Revelation 2:2
In Paul's defense of his apostleship found in 1 Cor. 11, Paul defends his apostleship by the "stripes" which he suffered, and counters this with the false apostles seeking apostleship as a glorious calling and to raise themselves up in the world. (If you have not read this chapter, do so, as it is a literary masterpiece)
The Mystery of iniquity must first infiltrate anything God builds, and the place the mystery of iniquity seeks to infiltrate more than anything is church leadership. Once there, the adversary can plant his seeds of heresy, and His false doctrines and lies. We see this fight beginning in the Epistles of the New Testament and continuing on in the first letter to the church of Ephesus. Just about every Epistle in the new testament deals with these false apostles, teachers, and prophets, and their doctrines and heresies. At 90 ad when John received Revelation Gnosticism was the prevailing heresy that was influencing the church.
Nicolaitans: Scriptures: Revelation 2:6, Revelation 2:14-15
Once those false Apostles and teachers have a foothold in the church they will begin to act to keep their power and status. If You notice the two verses above we see deeds evolve into doctrines. Now there is a lot of views on what the heresy of the Nicolaitans was in the first century, But Prophetically the name means to "rule over the laity". This to me is the Prophetic implication of Nicolaitanism. At first a false apostle will do deeds to exalt themselves, works that glorify themselves, afterward, these deeds become doctrines that must be obeyed, where agreement with this or that doctrine is vital to membership in the Body, and disagreement is worthy of excommunication, thus rule by fear is established in the body by a leader that rules over them. These are the "doctrines of Balaam" That cause the faithful to stumble, and thus be unable to confront these leaders in the churches, because they hold damning information on these people. A classic case of this is the confessionals of the RCC as well as some of the counseling aspects used in the evangelical churches of today which mix psychology and Christianity to create a Doctor/ patient relationship. the latter being more subtle.
Synagogue of Satan: Scriptures: Revelation 2:9, Revelation 3:9
The second avenue for these false apostles to take when their power is fully entrenched, is to begin outright persecution of those who disagree with them and desire the truth. We see this in the church of Smyrna. When this church gets so big and powerful with false apostle and nicolaitans at the helm, controlling earthly powers such as nations. This is when the church comes allied with "Satan's seat" (Revelation 2:13) and instead of ruling with mere church authority they have military might behind their decrees. Examples of this include the inquisition, The church of England's persecution of sects such as the Puritan's, And Calvin's Purges in Geneva and other parts of Europe.
Jezebel Doctrines: Scripture: Revelation 2:20-24, 2 Thessalonians 2:4
Once empowered, whether with Nicolaitan rule or that backed by Satan's seat, the mystery of Iniquity now seeks to take the place of God, to declare them self God. That comes by declaring themselves as having divine revelation from God, and being the voice of God over the people. In the case of Jezebel, she turned the grace of God into lasciviousness, saying it was Ok to fornicate, to eat foods sacrificed to idols, and by these idolatries to exert emotional and psychological control over the people. Manipulation of the very desires of the people. (Although this could be a post on it's own, I will limit this for now). Examples of this include the catholic payments for indulgences, and much of what we see in the Prosperity preachers on TV Today, and even in some of the evangelical emergent churches teachings.
Apathy: Scripture: Revelation 3:1-3
In these Latter three church ages, The mystery of Iniquity is so ingrained that it begins to transform the members of those churches, the first thing to happen is that apathy sets in. Discernment of wickedness is so far gone that even the loudest of voices trying to expose that wickedness are shrugged off. The church that was vibrant and alive, becomes dead. This happened to the protestant reformation, within years what was a liberating and vibrant movement adopted the many of the same Nicolaitan doctrines and Jezebel manipulations of the RCC that they protested against, and tried to reform, as voices were raised in opposition to them they were ignored as the Protestants began to build their earthly kingdoms, Thus the daughter of the harlot began to be just like her mother.
Synagogue of Satan part 2, Textualism : Scripture: Revelation 3:9-11, Romans 7:6
Just like the Nicolaitan's in leadership, once given power, they can begin to beat the one's who would stand up against them, so to in the members of the church this drive sets in place. This is when the deeds of apathy, become the doctrine of apathy. The manipulation becomes the doctrine, and any who go against the doctrine of the scribes are cast out or worse. This was the the death of the fundamentalist movement, around the turn of the 19th century, as it became so entrenched in hyper dispensationalism that when voices called out for holiness they disposed of them for their scribe inspired religion. Another example of this is what Judaism had become at the time of Christ, to the point that they had no ears to hear the truth of who Jesus was. So Much so that they crucified their messiah. It is the Total lack of hearing divine revelation from the Spirit, and a reliance on the Letter of the law (Bible).
Just like Israel, who with the second temple had cast out much of the idolatry therein, so to the fundamentalist movement did this as well, and many continued onto holiness and vibrant Spirit filled faith, Or how the protestant reformation brought liberty from the oppressive RCC only to adopt those manipulations again, so too fundamentalism which was vibrant Spirit filled movement placed those same oppressive rules and doctrines in the people only now they are ingrained in them. Put another way, this is the false religious tower of Satan.
Complacency: Scripture: Revelation 3:15-18
The final nail in the coffin is complacency. This is the self deception that the church member who has fallen victim to the manipulation of the false apostles finally settles into, and where much of those who call themselves Christian are living in today. The deception is that they are "good with God", and need of nothing. They have stagnated in their growth, to the point that they see no need for growth Spiritually. They have reached the point of total seduction by the mystery of Iniquity, Just like the leaders of the church of Thyatira were seduced by Jezebel. Examples of this are the modern evangelical churches of today that have become "seeker sensitive" Preaching a Gospel devoid of conviction and repentance.
The mystery of iniquity takes hold in the leadership of the church, and from there it infects into the people in the church it's lies. This rider on the white Horse was unleashed When the church was born on Pentecost and began its attempts to conquer with a bow with no arrows, and crown, and went forth to conquer. He continues to this day restrained by the Holy Ghost from accomplishing his mission of turning the virgin church into His harlot, yet many have fallen victim to his persecution and seduction along the way. In everyone of these churches there are those who overcome, and those who fail to do so. Paul writes: "For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you." (1 Corinthians 11:19) In the end the man of sin will rise up and deceive a good majority of the people who call themselves Christians, and stand in the Holy place and declare himself as the anointed one. There have been many that have declared themselves as anointed who are not from Popes to Protestant church leaders, Just as John said there are many antichrists even in his time. But this last one will be believed by the majority of "Christians" (Quotation marks intended) and fall away to following the man of sin. This is why the battle Satan is fighting is for your mind. He does not just want to declare himself God, He wants you to worship his man who does so And Satan himself who empowers the man held as God.
God Bless.
