Who and What are restraining the mystery of lawlessness?
Many have wondered what significance should be given to the mystery of lawlessness as well as to the mysterious power that is restraining it so that it only appears in its time.
Here is the answer that the Word of our Lord gives us about this topic, an answer that will maybe come as a surprise for you, but yet it is that of the Bible!
The day of the Lord.
Paul in his second epistle to the Thessalonians, in chapter 2 and in verses 1 and 2, is warning us not to be easily shaken in our common sense about the day of the Lord as if it is already there! Indeed, just as Yeshuah Christ predicted before (Matthew 24: 23-26), many false prophets to not say false christs will come to turn people away from the Truth.
Paul is asking to watch very carefully because the return of Christ will be preceded by two important and distinct events:
• THE FALLING AWAY and then
• THE REVELATION OF THE MAN OF SIN.
Most people confuse these two events and consider them to be one and the same thing.
THIS IS COMPLETELY WRONG!
THE FALLING AWAY.
Falling away or also apostasy means to renounce one's faith. In other words, to fall away is the public abandonment of previous beliefs. In our case, it is about abandoning our Creator's instructions as defined by the Bible. The fall away or apostasy mentioned by Paul is a general phenomenon happening in the whole Church of Elohim.
Very famous examples of apostasy are those of the golden calf in the Sinai desert and the worship of golden calves instituted by Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel also known as the Kingdom of Samaria. You can read the description of these events in chapter 32 of the book of Exodus and in the first book of Kings, in chapter 12, verses 25 to 33. In each case, apostasy is the fact of the greatest number in the assembly while the minority who is sometimes rejected by the apostates is on the right track that follows the truth.
It is also interesting to note that the Roman Empire at the time of Constantine acted in the same way as Jeroboam in an attempt to stay in power over its people! Didn't the emperor encourage with the help of his prophet, the pope of the time, the Christians to integrate most of the pagan feasts of the Empire by masking them under so-called Christian anniversary events? The Saturnalia in the winter thus became as many feasts like Saint Martin, Saint Nicolaus, Christmas, New Year's Eve (also named Saint Sylvester) or even the feast of circumcision aka feast of kings. The summum was to usurp the birth of Christ to make a feast on a date quite different from that of his actual birth as conceded by the famous Encyclopedia Catholica. This “birthday” feast of Christ was instituted without even consulting Him! Based on the writings of the New Testament, there is no trace of such a feast both during his life in the flesh and after his resurrection and this until around 90 AD, when the Book of Revelation was written. Constantine and the papacy also took great care to remove all traces of the festivals really instituted by our Elohim, whether on Saturday, the last day of the week and day of rest, the festivals of Passover and unleavened bread, the true Pentecost counted 50 days starting from the day after shabbat day taking place during the seven days of unleavened bread or finally the feasts of the seventh month according to the sacred calendar as they are described in many books of the old testament and in particular in Leviticus 23.
If you want to know more about the calendar as it was designed by your Creator, see the article entitled THE CALENDAR OF THE LORD!
The goal of Constantine and the Papacy and the goal of Jeroboam is the same:
Keep the people under their spiritual domination by hiding the truth from them and replacing it with a thinly veiled lie!
Regarding the so-called Christian festivals, it is also interesting to have a look at the etymology of the chosen names for these feasts.
For instance Santa Claus is another name for Saint Nicholas; and as we will show below, the etymology of Nicholas indicates the same meaning as the one of Balaam, namely the winner or even the dominator of the people or the nations:
• Nicholas comes from the Greek Nike meaning victory and Laos meaning people. So Nicholas is the one who was victorious over people, who has domination over the people.
• As for Balaam, there are two options, or it comes from Baal, the ruler and Aam, the people or it comes from Bala meaning to swallow and Aam the people. In both cases, it has a meaning to dominate or destroy people.
It is consequently not surprising to see that the book of Revelation, in chapter 2: 14-15, is linking tightly together the doctrine of Balaam with the one of the Nicolaitans!
This example should reflect on the importance that Elohim attributes to the meaning of names, starting with those of His titles and attributes. If you're interested in the importance of names, read the article about the third commandment.
I am quite sad and unhappy to find that apostasy is a real chronic disease; I experienced it when it hit the brunt of what was decades ago the Worldwide Church of God. In the beginning, my contact with this Assembly was a very enriching experience because it made me discover all the value contained in the Word of Elohim but later it also made me live the hardly believable events of the rejection of the truth and the apostasy by the head of its organization.
I’m opening a parenthesis here to tell you a personal anecdote just like Paul did in his time by mentioning the actions of certain people so that they serve as examples. At one time I participated in the activities of this Worlwide Church of God which had taught me to live only from every word that comes from the mouth of my Lord, namely from the Bible.
Their leaders, whom many of you probably do not know, namely the late gentlemen HW Armstrong and D. Apartian or even J. Carion, all had at one time or another an attitude similar to that of the apostates if I refer to their words, deeds and writings. It is important to note here once again that apostasy is appearing in an individual who was initially faithful. This was the case, I imagine for the men whose names I have just mentioned before. They became like apostates by their pride, their hardness and probably their attachment to money. Another possible reason for their hardening is to have deified the human organization of their Assembly which they called Worldwide Church of God. While deifying this Church, they also deified its Headquarters located in Pasadena at the time and which probably no longer exist today! They also deified when it suited them the words of their so-called apostle at the time, the late HW Armstrong around whom were spreaded all kinds of fables intended to make believe that he was the Elijah who was to come or even the high priest Joshua mentioned in Zechariah 3! All of these deification actions were done without checking whether they were in line with the Word of Elohim. In this sense, all these above mentioned people have become like the Pharisees and the teachers of the law in the time of Christ who were imposing on others what they did not imposed on themselves:
“ And He (note: Yeshuah) said, “Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.. ” (Luke 11:46)
Is it not also a repetition of what was done by the papal system at the beginning of Christianity when it sanctified its headquarters in Rome by making it a holy city and later by deifying and making the papal word infallible?
But let's go back to my personal experience and the origins of Mr. H. W. Armstrong's activity in the Christian world. Thus, in his biography, HW Armstrong insists a lot on the fact that he and his wife celebrated alone the festivals of the Lord (it means festivals fixed on more or less the same dates as the Jewish religious festivals) for seven years without having never been worried by the Assembly authorities they frequented at the time. This authority sought more to enrich themselves spiritually and to enrich their sheep than to protect their authority and their prerogatives. You have to realize that the Armstrong couple’s religious habits were quite original compared to what is customary to all Christianity. At that time, the leaders of this Church therefore invited the Armstrong couple to come and present their beliefs and therefore acted in an exemplary manner as did some 1900 years before the famous inhabitants of the town of Berea; Let us read this interesting story in Acts 17: 10-12:
“ 10 Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.”
However, the attitude of Mr. H. W. Armstrong and his close associates managing the Worldwide Church of God did change to become the complete opposite of the one we described above.
At least twice, members including myself or groups of members of this Church were purely expelled because they wanted to live according to their deep and wisdom-based convictions. This was the case when some realized that the feast of weeks also called Pentecost was to take place on the first day of the week after the Sabbath and not on Monday as was the custom of the Church at the same time. In my own case, I was dismissed, “marked” and all my brothers were forbidden to be in touch whatsoever with me for the reason that in the teachings that this religious authority asked me to do, I proved black on white that Elohim still spoke today through his servants, the prophets, several contemporary prophets teaching during the same time. This teaching was at the time completely contrary to the teaching which the authority of this church wished to impose while already on the way of apostasy. Their teaching consisted in imposing that any revelation which Elohim wanted to provide to His people would come only by the channel of the alleged apostle H. W. Armstrong. I was therefore expelled.
A similar decision to expel members of the Church was taken again when other members became convinced that the Passover was to be celebrated near the end of the fourteenth day of the first month of the sacred calendar, just as is the practice among the Israelites and no longer in the beginning of said fourteenth day as practiced by the Church at the time. For these different types of reasons, all the members in question were expelled as wicked beings and it was recommended that the other members of the assembly refrain from speaking to them. We were very far from the Bereans or the beginnings of Mister H. W. Armstrong in Christianity. It is quite significant to see that some 19 years later, after the death of HW Armstrong, many divisions and schisms took place in the said church and ultimately, as the prophet says, they passed as the grass that dries up which we no longer find the place in the area!
But if we come back to the reason why such events could have happened, we see that it is very simple: The virus of apostasy has settled in what is commonly called “Worldwide Church of God ”and like all apostasy, it manifests itself by a dictatorial absolutism which will try to crush everything, even the truth if it is possible. It is the papal infallibility that recurs.
And according to Yeshuah’s prophecy, all who persevere in the words of Christ must be driven from their church even if they remain silent.
And woe to those who actively participate in the apostasy because sooner or later, it will happen to them what Paul wrote in his epistle to the Romans, in chapter one and in verse 18:
" For the wrath of Elohim is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,"
There are meetings and meetings…
At the time of the call by our Lord of Loma Armstrong, the wife of Mr. H. W. Armstrong, the meetings of the assembly were nothing like those of apostasy! At that time, the door was open to the discovery and revelation of Lord’s prophecies by those prophets that the Lord choses for Himself.
It was in line with what Paul wrote about how an assembly meeting should be held; read this in the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 14, verses 23 to 40:
“23 Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. 25 And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship Elohim and report that Elohim is truly among you.
26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to Elohim. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. 30 But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. 32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 33 For Elohim is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
34 Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. 35 And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church.
36 Or did the word of Elohim come originally from you? Or was it you only that it reached? 37 If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. 38 But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant.
39 Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. 40 Let all things be done decently and in order.”
This is how, from the start, men like Mister HW Armstrong or like Paul or like many others were able to freely explain the reasons for their conduct, the observation of sabbaths or even the symbolism of the feasts of Yehoah in assemblies of which they were not even members!
But once the apostasy walks through the door of the assembly, it’s the world of the Pharisees, the world of obscurantism, intransigence and misunderstanding that sets in. It is a world where it is forbidden to speak freely, to prophesy and to burst the joy of living according to all the beautiful words that come out of the mouth of Yehoah our Lord.
It is a characteristic of apostasy to see the apostle or head of the assembly establish himself as the ONLY intermediary between Elohim and men and proclaim with force and without ceasing that any revelation coming from Elohim MUST go through him and him alone! Have you ever looked for that in the Bible? What are these sayings based on? A man has already expressed himself in this way before, the vicar of Christ, the one who, according to the very meaning of his name, is the most prestigious of the antichrists: that is to say that he functions or is in lieu of Christ, a vice-Christ.
Indeed the Latin word vicarius christi is the literal translation of the Greek antechrist which means vice-Christ or the one who is occupying the seat of Christ. The papacy system started with a fallacious successor to the apostle Peter and he wanted to replace Christ in the same way that a Viceroy or a Vice Admiral replaces the King or the Admiral. But in this specific case, this designation is made by usurpation. Balaam, the story of which is described in detail in Numbers, in chapters 22 to 25 and 31, is in a way a prefiguration of the papacy. Meanwhile I want to draw your attention to the facxt that in the bible, John is using the word antichrist which means against Christ and is not precisely the same as antichrist whose meaning is given above. But both words are linked together as an antechrist is taking over the role of Yeshuah Christ without his permission. None in the bible has said that he was in charge and is replacing the Christ!
This phenomenon of apostasy has been repeated several times in history, as John tells us, there are several antichrists in the world. In the specific case of Mr. H. W. Armstrong, he too has taken the same step as the Pope of Rome and the assertion that Elohim can only speak by one man is completely unfounded as we will see!
Indeed, Jeremiah, Daniel and Ezekiel all three prophesied simultaneously from Elohim and without common intermediary. Daniel, while receiving the word of Elohim directly from the angels, is prompted to pray after he read the prophecies that Jeremiah sent to his people in exile. At the same time, Ezekiel was warned by a fugitive of the capture and destruction of the city of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 33:21).
That our Creator expresses Himself by whomever he chooses does not mean that the Church lives without an organized authority! As we had read above, Elohim is not an Elohim of disorder. There must therefore be an authority in the Church, but this must in no way seek to limit the power of Elohim. This is what the apostasy would hope to do: destroy and limit the authority of the Lord by destroying the freedom that Elohim gave to men by freeing them from the bondage established by the prince of this world. If you want to know more about this Freedom, read in this website the articles on Freedom associated with the Passover holy days.
As in the days of the Apostolic Church, a new apostasy is ongoing now and this is the first of the two events announced by Paul as having to precede the DAY OF THE LORD!
But let us review the second event which will precede the anger of Elohim, I mean the appearance of the impious man who is preparing himself efficiently… ..
THE LAWLESS MAN.
It is quite sad to think that the apostates are the ones who are paving the way of the lawless and impious man. Indeed, the apostates are working diligently to eliminate from the Church the power and the person who were preventing the entry on the scene of the mystery of iniquity. The apostates are putting the final touch on their “masterpiece”, the new Babylon which is nothing else than the fruit of the diabolical transformation of Jerusalem emerging from its chrysalis into the dreadful mother of all the prostituted churches shortly before the beginning of the end times.
Let us read how John sees it in chapter 17 of the book of Revelation, from verses 4 to 6:
“4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. 5 And on her forehead a name was written:
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS
OF THE EARTH.
6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Yeshuah. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.”
Only true Christians can understand the great amazement of John when he understands that Babylon the Great and the Jerusalem of the end are one and the same entity!
If you want to know more about the true identity of Babylon the Great, read the article on this topic in this website.
This Babylon the Great aka the prostitute riding on the Beast will see its power destroyed by the Beast it rides as you can read in the last part of the book of Revelation. It will be the precise moment of the appearance of the impious man who is none other than the Beast itself!
BUT HOW DOES THE APOSTATES PROCEED TO ELIMINATE THE FORCES PREVENTING THE APPEARANCE OF THE LAWLESS MAN?
How did they do it for so long should we rather say? The answer is already written in the Gospel of John, in chapter 16 where we will read the first sixteen verses and pay particular attention to verse 2:
“1 These things I (editor’s note: Yeshuah/Jesus) have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers Elohim service. 3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.
“And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.
The Work of the Holy Spirit
5 “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
16 “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.”
As we read at the beginning, apostasy is the public renown of earlier beliefs and the abandonment of Divine instructions as set forth in His Word. To be able to carry out such an operation and to be followed by the greatest number in the church, the apostasy must undertake the chase of the believers who persevere in the Word. The apostates will expel them one by one from the assembly.
But it is not yet enough to expel them, the apostates will also imitate the example of one of their spiritual fathers, Diotrephes, of which John speaks in his third epistle, in verses 9 and 10:
“9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. 10 Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.”
The apostasy implements a system intended to isolate and cut off the true believers of the assembly as soon as they have been driven out preventing the members of the assembly from speaking and having contact with them! This increases the guarantees that the embarrassing Truth will no longer have a place in the assembly. The apostates therefore hold the truth captive since no member of the assembly for fear of reprisals can verify for their own whether the reasons for the exclusion are good. We are far from the beautiful practices of the Jews of Berea (Acts 17: 10-15). One of the most spectacular acts committed by the papacy in this regard was quite simply the blacklisting of the Word of Elohim, the Bible. This blacklisting meant an absolute ban on reading it.
A characteristic feature which makes it possible to recognize that a person is being expelled unjustly and which establishes a contrast with apostasy is described in Romans 16: 17-18:
“17 Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. 18 For those who are such do not serve our Lord Yeshuah Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.”
The apostasy which should be banished lives on the hook of others and for its own belly while the true Christian is blessed with Elohim and contributes to the well-being of those around him.
So we come to the suicidal effect caused by the exclusion of Christians expelled from the assembly! First of all let us remember that this hunt for Christians is done without any intervention from Elohim just as He did not oppose that the hunt of the pharisees who wanted so much the death His Son almost two thousand ago years. Elohim even prophesied this event very precisely in chapter 53 of the book of Isaiah.
A second important fact is that the exclusion of the true Christians means also to eliminate both Yeshuah Christ and the Holy Spirit from the assembly. Indeed, the Word of Elohim is very clear about this:
“29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey Elohim rather than men. 30 The Elohim of our fathers raised up Yeshuah whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. 31 Him Elohim has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom Elohim has given to those who obey Him.” (Acts 5: 29-32)
So to eliminate Christians who keep the word of Elohim out of the assembly means to eliminate also the Holy Spirit which remains in these Christians. This Holy Spirit is the power which holds back the appearance of the impious man about whom Paul insists so much in his epistle to the Thessalonians that we quote at the beginning of this message! By the way, in the original Greek version of the Bible, the word translated by Holy Spirit has a neutral gender and corresponds to the "what" used in the epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians.
But that's not all, apostasy also is also eliminating Christ out of the assembly in the same way as the Jewish people did some 1900 years ago by sending him to death OUTSIDE THE GATE as we can read in the epistle to the Hebrews:
“10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Yeshuah also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.”
(Hebrews 13: 10-12)
Indeed, all those who have the Spirit of Elohim know that Yeshuah makes his home in every man who loves him:
“Yeshuah answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” (John 14:23)
By the way, according to I John 5: 3,
“For this is the love of Elohim, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”
All this to convince you that the apostates, once they are expelling people who are keeping the commandments of Elohim and as a result love the Lord Yehoah, these apostates are eliminating de facto the person of Christ from their assembly or from their gates. This is what Paul is telling in the second part of his prophecy in II Thessalonians 2: 6-7: The one who restrains the mystery of iniquity is none other than Christ as long as He is present in the assembly before the apostasy is chasing all the people where Christ is living in.
AT THE END, CHRIST WILL HAVE COMPLETELY DISAPPEARED FROM THE ASSEMBLY BECAUSE HE WILL BE EXPELLED FROM HIS OWN CHURCH!
Christ will therefore find himself in the paradoxical situation described for the Church of Laodicea, the last in the series of Churches described in Revelation 3:20:
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.... ”
Yeshuah/Jesus will therefore be trying to enter His home, like a thief, from the outside. Indeed we should understand that if Christ was still living among the members of the Laodicean Church, he would not have to knock to enter in it. As a reminder, the only way to open Him the door and to welcome Him is simply to follow the example given by Paul in Hebrews 13:13:
“Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.”
A sleeping and defenseless camp!
Why does Paul encourage us to leave the camp without any delay?
Indeed, step by step, the Church symbolized by the camp will be struck by sleeping sickness, this disease which has reached the ten virgins mentioned in Matthew 25. Only five of these virgins will have wisdom and will be allowed to enter the Kingdom of Elohim. If you want to identify the ten virgins, read the article entitled “The Ten Virgins”.
The deep sleep that follows the disappearance of the Holy Spirit and Christ from the assembly will render it incapable of defending itself against the growing seeds of apostasy.
The assembly will for instance be tempted to merge with other churches in the spirit of ecumenism with celebrations of Christmas or the New Year, an abomination in the face of our Lord. The same assembly will also be tempted to act like a prostitute with other religions in the world and will adopt common symbols such as the sign of the cross, sign whose religious origin is found in paganism of ancient Egypt.
Beware of false human reasoning and do not believe you are stronger than the Children of Israel when they left Egypt. These people, a few days after having heard in particularly spectacular conditions the ten commandments of Yehoah, undertook the making of the horrible golden calf! Let us never forget that all of these examples from the Bible were written for WE AT THE END OF THE CENTURIES as Paul is reminding us in I Corinthians 10: 5-12. So let's never be too sure of ourselves.
But if we managed to get out of the camp by for instance being expelled, let's observe how the ministry of apostasy is going to work in order to make sure the camp is defenseless:
“ 5 You (the prophets of Israel) have not gone up into the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel to stand in battle on the day of Yehoah ...
10 “Because, indeed, because they have seduced My people, saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace—and one builds a wall, and they plaster it with untempered mortar— 11 say to those who plaster it with untempered mortar, that it will fall. There will be flooding rain, and you, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall tear it down. 12 Surely, when the wall has fallen, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the mortar with which you plastered it?’” (Ezekiel 13: 5 and 10-12).
Isn't this the same as what Paul describes in II Thessalonians 2? When the protective wall has collapsed, NOTHING can hold back the mystery of lawlessness while the whole camp is asleep!
For those who do not believe that this prophecy is addressed to the true Christians of today and who think that it is addressed more to the Children of Israel, I invite them to read carefully the epistle of Paul to the Romans, chapter 11.
They will find that this epistle from Paul to the Romans is explaining that the Christians, symbolized by the branches of the wild olive tree, are not an entity in themselves but that they were grafted on the stump of the frank olive tree, symbolizing the Children of Israel. Paul wants the believers who are not the Children of Israel to be very humble. Moreover everything that is prophesied for the Children of Israel also concerns the believers grafted on their olive tree!
THERE WILL NOT BE EVEN A SINGLE SHEPHERD LEFT FOR THE PHILADELPHIA ASSEMBLY!
Many believers are afraid of being excommunicated or driven out of their congregations because they cannot imagine a life without their pastors, ministers, bishops or other priests. They are afraid of it and therefore they prefer a life of unhealthy compromises towards Elohim and his Christ!
In fact, as mentioned above, such an attitude means to put the church or the assembly on a pedestal and preferring it to Elohim himself.
All these believers are blinded and even do not realize it because Ezekiel reveals that at the time of the apostasy, no terrestrial authority of the Church, not even a single shepherd, will seek to defend the flock; it is quite the opposite that happens as Ezekiel 22: 23-31 shows us, and pay attention in particular to verse 30:
" So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. "
Ezekiel describes very well the behavior of the ministry symbolized by the shepherds in his chapter 34. These shepherds choose and spare the fat sheep to suck their goods and to live in some kind of luxury at their expense by seducing them. This same ministry laughs at puny sheep by laughing at them.
But let the puny sheep reassure themselves, let them be patient because the Lord will take them back (verse 10) and make them live in safety in the desert (verse 25).
These puny sheep are in a way a symbol of the Church of Philadelphia which is described as a church with little strength and she will be protected in the desert at the time of the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth (Revelation 3 and 12: 6 and 14 ).
BUT THE CHURCH OF LAODICEANS WILL BE SACRIFICED!
The fat sheep are a symbol for the Laodicean Church which is blind and thinks she is rich (Revelation 3:17).
For that Church, Yehoah is sending out by the mouth of Isaiah a serious message of warning about what is pending for them:
“11 But you are those who forsake Yehoah, who forget My holy mountain, who prepare a table for Gad, and who furnish a drink offering for Meni.
12 Therefore I will number you for the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter; Because, when I called (Compare with Revelation 3:20), you did not answer; When I spoke, you did not hear, But did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight.”
13 Therefore thus says Yehoah Elohim: “Behold, My servants (note: the church of Philadelphia) shall eat, but you (note: the church of Laodicea) shall be hungry; Behold, My servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty;
Behold, My servants (note: the church of Philadelphia) shall rejoice, but you (note: the church of Laodicea) shall be ashamed; 14 Behold, My servants (note: the church of Philadelphia) shall sing for joy of heart, but you (note: the church of Laodicea) shall cry for sorrow of heart, and wail for grief of spirit.” (Isaiah 65: 11-14).
And Isaiah to continue under the inspiration of the Lord, in chapter 66, verses 4 to 6:
“4 So will I choose their delusions, and bring their fears on them (note: the church of Laodicea); Because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight.”
5 Hear the word of Yehoah, You who tremble at His word (note: the Church of Philadelphia): “Your brethren who hated you, who cast you out for My name’s sake, said, ‘Let Yehoah be glorified,
That we may see your joy.’ But they shall be ashamed.”
6 The sound of noise from the city! A voice from the temple! The voice Yehoah,
Who fully repays His enemies! “
Let us meditate on these words, repent and wherever you are: