Compromise

Several years ago now I saw a movie titled Good, staring Vigo Mortensen. The movie was meant to convey the question of if a person has the ability to remain good under such dyer circumstances as Hitler’s Germany during WWII.  This was something I did not realize going into the movie and so, with the belief that no one is good (see Mark 10:18), I saw it instead as a journey of compromise.  One small step at a time, things in a person’s life can go so far wrong that the thought of accepting truth, taking a stand, or ever turning back seems all but impossible.

Did you know this is scriptural?  Check out this passage:

8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 NIV

So we have an outlaw that comes onto the world scene and uses everything in his power, including miracles, to deceive the people – anything that serves the lie that he wants those who are gullible to believe. Why are they gullible? Because they refuse to be lovers of truth. The bible says in John 8:32 that if we know the truth, it will set us free. They willingly choose to turn a blind eye again and again and again, refusing to believe what the Spirit of God speaks.

But what exactly does this passage mean when it says, “God sends them a powerful delusion”?  Does God really hold this cup up to their lips and force them to drink?  This was a question I needed to answer, and so decided to look up the word “sends” in the Greek to see the meaning of it and why it might have been translated this way. 

The original Greek word, πέμπω, or “pempó” does mean “to send”, but one of the usages of this word includes “permit to go”.  Ahhh… ding, ding!  It was then I got a vision of the Lord waiving His hand in a motion that would indicate “FINE, have it your way”, turning a person over to the lie because that person has refused to believe the truth.  Before, the Holy Spirit was holding the delusion back.  Now He permits the delusion to go forth.  Before, the Holy Spirit was actively wooing, but now He no longer is. If you want to cut off the branch you’re sitting on, He will let you!

Many of you may not know that my husband is originally from Germany.  He chose to naturalize as a US Citizen in the mid 1990’s. One question I have witnessed people ask him more than once is “how”.  How could an entire nation allow such evil to run loose, unchecked?  How could an entire nation allow such atrocities to get so bad that Hitler’s evil regime became unstoppable for so long?  How?  The sad thing is that they ask with the arrogant conviction that “this could never happen here”.  Hmmm… I beg to differ.  It has already happened here, and now we know how because this passage explains it.

Jeremiah 17:9 tells us “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” 

I just wonder if there was anyone in Germany who believed that Hitler was THE antichrist, the outlaw that 2 Thessalonians spoke of, and as a result believed that the rapture would happen at any moment and take all the Christians out…  Oh, wait, that’s right – the concept of the “rapture” is pretty much foreign to Germans because it is primarily an American thing.  To them, the second coming of Christ is the only coming of Christ that remains.  BUT, all that is happening now begs the question, is His second coming right around the corner or will He tarry? 

If He tarries, what should we do?  We are not to tarry (an example can be seen when He tells the disciples to tarry in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes, see Acts 1); rather, we are to occupy until He comes (as can be seen in the example Jesus gives in the parable of the ten minas in Luke 13). There is a big difference!  Tarry is passive/reactive, where occupy is active/proactive. In military terms, the term occupy means to “hold in place”, either until you die or until relief comes. 

Now is not the time to idly stand by or give up out of despondency or frustration, now is the time to take a stand and NOT compromise!  Should the Lord tarry, ask yourself what kind of world you want to leave for your children?  We cannot walk away from this evil.  We must take the spiritual authority Jesus has given to us and stand against it.  A good place to start is to pray the truth of the Holy Spirit may have its way with you.

Be courageous, be blessed.