The Ultimate Snare

Introduction

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[*] By analogy: if one needed to hunt for an invisible man walking through a forest, the hunter would look for the tracks and the disturbed bushes left as the invisible man passed by.

Apocalyptic Times

Now more than at any time in history, many Christians expect the Apocalypse and the Return of Christ.  Although we cannot know “that day and hour,” there is reason for spiritual vigilance.  Heresy and apostasy abound among Church pastors and teachers.  In many formerly Christian nations, the flock stays out of the churches – and in other parts of the world, violent persecution of the faithful increases.  Financial skullduggery, sexual abuse, and cover-up of ongoing scandals is common in ancient and new denominations alike, as shepherds play the part of wolves.  Civil wars and international wars spread.  Nuclear weapons proliferate to rogue states; Great Powers take up the idea of pre-emptive war; Cold War rivalries resume. Globalization promises prosperity for all, but brings debt-bondage to Third World nations and domestic borrowers, wage-cuts and outsourcing for those who had been in the middle class, and sweatshops for peasants who have been forced off their land.  Around the world, terrorism becomes a pretext for new curbs on liberty; privacy becomes an anachronism.  The media from the once-Christian West give the whole world an electronic anti-gospel of cheap sex, disposable luxury, and bread-and-circuses distractions.  As C. S. Lewis said in That Hideous Strength, “The shadow of one dark wing is over all Tellus.”[1]

 
The Danger That Traditional Christians Expect: A "Leftist" New World Order

Many orthodox Christians expect the current crises to climax with the establishment of a New World Order and the emergence of an evil spiritual/political leader, the Antichrist.  Almost all who have written about this peril expect the Deceiver to be a Leftist, one who will complete the subversive work that the French Revolution began and that the Communists and secularists have carried forward.  Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen wrote in 1977, “We do know that at the end of time, when the great conflict between the forces of good and evil takes place, Satan will appear without the Cross, as the Great Philanthropist and Social Reformer to become the final temptation of mankind.”[2]  Popular non-fiction works by dispensationalists Hal Lindsey and John Walvoord portray a “progressive” Antichrist who rises to power with the aid of an apostate, ecumenical “super-Church.”[3]  Christian writers of apocalyptic fiction, from the best-selling Left Behind series[4] to the Catholic authors of Lord of the World[5] and Father Elijah,[6] have likewise painted the Final Enemy as a man of the Left.  In this view, the Antichrist is the beast who brazenly attacks traditional beliefs about God and Christ, oppresses the faithful, and wages war against the Church – primarily as an external foe. 

It may be that this is, indeed, the hour before the triumph of “progressive” religious and political globalists.  The global economy is a house of cards; interlocking alliances may allow local wars to become a planetary holocaust; anti-U.S. political and military alliances grow.  If the present U.S.-led global order collapses into rubble, then the Left’s globalists will likely have their chance at creating a New World Order.

If this open attack from the Left were the totality of the final contest, it is one for which traditional Christians are psychologically prepared.  This would be the final conflict in the defensive war that traditionalists have been waging since the fall of the Bastille. 

 
The Unexpected Peril: A "Rightist" New World Order

However, the faithful could very well be facing a sterner trial yet: a final spiritual temptation that comes from within our own camp.  This would take the form of a “Christian” spiritual/political leader who promises to save us all from the Left – if only we follow him.  Just as Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, and other fascists promised to save their own nations from Bolshevism before World War II, this new global leader would offer the whole world protection against the Left’s New World Order.  His initial weapon would be seduction, and hypocrisy would be his modus operandi – until his global position is secure. 

Such an alarm might seem outlandish, a needless exercise in leftist paranoia – but it is a possibility of which all Christians should be aware.  If we do not consider it, we will be spiritually unprepared – and prone to attack from this unexpected quarter.  Evil does not necessarily come from our identified enemies; it can arise amongst our friends and allies.  (Most perilously,  it can come from ourselves.  Examination of conscience is essential to spiritual survival.)

C. S. Lewis described how a pseudo-religious regime would work: “The loftier the pretensions of the power, the more meddlesome, inhuman, and oppressive it will be.  Theocracy is the worst of all possible governments..  All political power is at best a necessary evil; but it is least evil when its sanctions are most modest and commonplace, when it claims no more than to be useful or convenient and sets itself strictly limited objectives.”[7]  He added, “The higher the pretensions of our rulers are, the more meddlesome and impertinent their rule is likely to be and the more the thing in whose name they rule will be defiled.”[8]  By proposing tyranny in the name of Christianity, a future “orthodox” ruler would perform an ultimate defilement.  In 1940, Lewis warned against “pseudo-theology” of the extreme Left and Right: “Fascism and Communism, like all other evils, are potent because of the good they contain or imitate.  Diabolus simius Dei.[9]  And of course, their occasion is the failure of those who left humanity starved of that particular good.  …  One of the things we must guard against is the penetration of both into Christianity.  …  Mark my words: you will frequently see both a Leftist and a Rightist pseudo-theology developing – the abomination will stand where it ought not.”[10]

Our spiritual radar should scan the entire horizon, and not just look to the Left.  We should not repeat the mistake that the French High Command made before World War II, when they expected the next attack from Germany to come as a frontal assault.  In response, they built, and trusted, the “impregnable” Maginot Line – and were overwhelmed when Germany outflanked their defenses in 1940.

Careful study of the Scriptures, and prayerful meditation on their implications, can give us the 360-degree early warning system that we need now.

 
Before the Return of Christ: Chaos And Apostasy, Not Revival, Dominion, Or A "New Christendom"

The time before the Return of Christ will be an era of loss of faith, false teaching, and immorality.  Such is the consistent witness of Scripture.  Christ said that before His Return, “because wickedness is multiplied, most men’s love will grow cold” (Mt. 24:12), and “many will fall away” (Mt. 24:10).[11]  He asked, “When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Lk. 18:8).  St. Paul warned that false teachers will abound at the end of the age, and mankind will become increasingly immoral.[12]  St. John saw in his vision of the last days that most of mankind, the great and the small alike, would be impenitent and defiant in their sins and apostasy.  They will flee God, or curse Him, rather than return to Him.[13]  After a cataclysm in which “a third of mankind was killed” (Rev. 9:18), the survivors, “the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues,” refused to “give up worshiping demons … nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their immorality or their thefts.” (Rev. 9:20-21) Rather than heeding true prophets, “those who dwell on the earth” will celebrate their death (Rev. 11:9-10). 

The earliest tradition of the Church says the same.  The Didache, a summary of Church teaching from the end of the first century, says: “For in the last days the false prophets and the corrupters shall be multiplied, and the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall change to hate.  For as lawlessness increaseth they shall hate one another and persecute and betray, and then shall appear the deceiver of the world as a Son of God.”[14] 

There is no warrant for the idea that the Second Coming will be preceded by a time of Christian revival, moral improvement, and earthly implementation of Gospel values.  If any kind of seemingly orthodox “dominion” comes to power before the Return of Christ, it will be a counterfeit of the Kingdom of Christ, not a salutary prelude to it.

 
The Appearance Of The False Christ

Christ warned that many false messiahs would come before His Return.  They will say, “I am the Christ,” and they will “lead many astray” (Mt. 24:4-5).[15]  The followers of these “false Christs and false prophets” will seek converts, telling people that “he is in the wilderness” or “he is in the inner room.”  Some of the false teachers will “show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” (Mt. 24:23-26).[16]  After healing a man on the Sabbath (Jn. 5:15-16), He told His religious opponents, “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.” (Jn. 5:42-43).

Likewise, the Apostle Paul wrote against the “man of lawlessness,” the “son of perdition” (2 Th. 2:3) who would lead people worldwide astray in a final spiritual deception before the Return of Christ.. This False Christ, when he appears, will not seem to be a raving demagogue, or a lunatic, or a charlatan.  Nor will his reign begin with violence.   He will be a counterfeit Christ, a seemingly plausible substitute for the real Christ – one so well-disguised that he could deceive “the very elect,” if that were to be allowed by God.  The  way of this “lawless one” is now being prepared in secret; when the one “who now restrains it” is removed, the Deceiver will appear openly (2 Th. 2:6-7).

 
The Contrast: The False Christ Versus Christ

When Christ came into Jerusalem before His Passion, He came in humility, riding on a donkey, without the earthly trappings of a conqueror (Mt. 21:5-11).  When the False Christ begins his earthly rule, it will be with pomp and luxury; he will act the part of a “holy” and victorious Emperor.  As such, he will fulfill the desires of those who seek a worldly, “religious” savior. 

St. Hippolytus of Rome wrote in the early part of the third century that “The Savior was manifested as a lamb, so he [the Antichrist] too, in like manner, will appear as a lamb, though within he is a wolf.”[17] Brooks Alexander, an Evangelical who is one of the founders of the Spiritual Counterfeits Project (SCP), , warns: “The mystery of iniquity evades any simplistic attempt to identify evil with chaos and disruption, or with vice and immorality.”[18]  The Final Deceiver will arrive on his own White Horse, a simulation of righteousness and justice.

Christ chased the money changers out of the Temple (Mt. 21:12-13); the False Christ will give obedient and generous money changers the seats of honor in his unholy “Temple.”  Many religious leaders, “a third of the stars of heaven,” will accept the False Christ.  These hierarchs will have been swept down to the earth by the “great red dragon” (Rev.. 12:3-4), just as Lucifer dragged many angels down from Heaven with him when he fell.[19] 

Thus, Satan comes disguised as an “angel of light” and his servants, the “false apostles,” will “disguise themselves as servants of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:14-15).  The precursors and servants of the False Christ will not seem, at first sight, to be wicked.  These “ravenous wolves” who wear “sheep’s clothing” (Mt. 7:15) will appear to be pious and devout, strict and orthodox – but the reality will be otherwise..  Their fruit has been – and will be – evil, and Christ will not accept them or the works they claim to have done in His Name (Mt. 7:16-23).

This Deceiver will be the one who “comes in his own name” (Jn. 5:43) and “takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Th. 2:4).[20]  He will come to power on earth, within the Church, and will demand worship and obedience.  His spiritual regime will be void of the “diversity” offered by the leftist New World Order.  There will be no interfaith services or polytheism in his presence.  No atheism or conscientious objection will be allowed.  The Son of Perdition will jealously demand that all adore him, and him alone.

The Lawless One will come “by the activity of Satan,” with “all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Th. 2:9-10).  The “miracles” and actions of the False Christ will be in line with the temptations offered to Christ in the desert by Satan:

·        They will be materialistic, making it seem that man lives by bread alone (contrary to Mt. 4:4); and

·        They will be sensational stunts, displaying pride and presumption rather than God’s compassion and love for His people (contrary to Mt. 4:7); and

·        They will be oriented to the assertion of worldly power, as the Devil assumes rule of “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor,” and seeks to convince all mankind to “fall at my feet and worship me” (in accord with the Devil’s final temptation, as offered in Mt. 4:8-9).

 
The Brief Reign Of The False Christ And His Allies

For a brief time, the whole world will be in the power of the Devil and his servants, as represented by the dragon, the beast “rising out of the sea,” and the beast which “rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon” (Rev. 13:1-18).  Scripture specifies this time as 42 months,[21] or 1,260 days,[22] or 3½ years.[23]   Symbolically, these warnings indicate a brief time – but they may also refer to a literal time of about 3½ years. 

During this period, the evil rulers will be “allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them” (Rev. 13:7).  The faithful will be “hated by all the nations” on account of the Name of Christ (Mt. 24:9).[24]  Scripture promises spiritual safety for believing Christians, not immunity from persecution.  As a “voice from heaven” told St. John, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth.” (Rev. 14:13)

If those days were not cut short by God, “no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect these days will be shortened.” (Mt. 24:22)  Such would be the seductive and coercive power of the Devil and his servants that unless their reign were cut short, everyone – including orthodox, obedient Christians – would fall.  If the Last Trial is to test the faith of everybody, there will inevitably be a trap that could lure the Right as well as the Left.  In the time of the leftist New World Order, the Left will be tempted by seeing the realization of its own rebellious desires.  In the time of the False Christ, the orthodox and the rightists will be tempted by means of their own orthodoxy, religiosity, and habits of obedience.

 
The False Christ's Luxury-Loving "Prophet"

St. John had warned his flock that “many antichrists have come … They went out from us, but they were not of us” (1 Jn. 2:18-19).  Just as these lesser antichrists arose from within the Church, so could the final Antichrist.[25] 

Christ was preceded by a prophet, John the Baptist.[26]  In the same way, the False Christ will have his own prophet.  John the Baptist lived in the wilderness, ate “locusts and wild honey,” and wore rough garments of camel’s hair (Mt. 3:1-4).[27]  Just as the False Christ will invert the ministry of Christ, his forerunner will invert the ministry of John the Baptist.  This false prophet may eat the finest food, live in “kings’ houses,” and wear “soft raiment” (Mt. 11:8) – perhaps, even a red velvet cap and a matching cape trimmed with ermine,[28] “Gucci shades,” and red Prada loafers under a cassock with “shimmering, sequinlike details.”[29]  (As today’s secular writers know, The Devil Wears Prada.[30])

The False Christ will be a seductive, popular “messiah” – but those who know Christ will be able to use the Scriptures and their own relationship with God to resist the allure of evil. 

 
Christ's Actions Upon His Return

When Christ returns, He will come “on the clouds of heaven,” (Mt. 26:64) and with glory, to reign over the Earth and to “put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Cor. 15:25).  A careful reading of Scripture shows that the Return of Christ will be preceded,  accompanied, and followed by an unmistakable sequence of events.  These upheavals in the cosmos will be manifest worldwide – with no assistance needed from the mass media, or publicity agents, or the Church, or any political or religious movement.  Nobody other than God will be able to do these things:

·        Immediately before the Return of Christ, toward the end of the Tribulation,[31] there will be wonders in the heavens and signs on the earth, during which “the sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood” (Acts 2:19-20, referring to Jl. 2:30-31).

·        After these cosmic disturbances, the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the heavens (Mt. 24:30), and the people of the world will mourn as they look upon the one that they have pierced.  “Every eye will see him, every one who pierced him; and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.” (Rev. 1:7)

·        The Son of Man will come “on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Mt. 24:30),[32] accompanied by His angels.[33]  Christ ascended in a cloud (Acts 1:9), and the angels told the crowd of disciples who had witnessed the Ascension that “this same Jesus will come back in the same way as you have seen him go” into the heavens (Acts 1:10-11).

·        The Return will be a sudden event that is evident to everyone on earth, at once.[34]  The faithful will rejoice, and the faithless will mourn.  Christ will not be proclaimed at the Vatican by the person who claims to be his vicar on earth.  Nor will He announce Himself at a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem, or at any other shrine or holy site made by man.

By contrast, the False Christ may arise from the earth to challenge the real Christ.  Beforehand, the Deceiver may attempt to fake coming “in the clouds” with a pretended miracle.  Or, the Deceiver may explain (as the Theosophist Alice Bailey did, when describing the coming of the future “World Teacher”) that “coming in the clouds” is just a First Century way of describing travel by airplane.[35]

·        Christ will send His angels to gather all of His elect, living and dead, from wherever they may be.[36]

First will come the gathering of the faithful dead[37] in the “first resurrection” (Rev. 20:5).  Immediately afterward, the believers who are alive at the Return of Christ will be transfigured “in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.” (1 Cor. 15:51-53)[38]   As St. Paul says, “we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Th. 4:17).

Those who are chosen by Christ to be with Him will be taken up, suddenly, from amongst their families, neighbors, and co-workers.[39]  This is when the wicked will be “left behind” – not before the beginning of the Tribulation, but at its end.  The writers of the Left Behind books are in error; Christians will go through the Tribulation.

·        Having gathered his own to Himself, Christ will come to Earth to put down His enemies (Rev. 19:11-21).  He will destroy the False Christ “with the breath of his mouth and will destroy him by his appearing and coming” (2 Th. 2:8).  The beast and the false prophet are to be “thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur” (Rev. 19:20).  Christ will cast those who were on top of the world during the regime of the False Christ down to the bottom of all worlds, and their doom is eternal.

·        Then comes Christ’s Kingdom.  This will begin with a feast that Christ will offer for His followers.[40] Then, Christ will rule for a thousand years – a number symbolizing a long time (Rev. 20:2, 6).  He will govern with an “iron scepter,”[41] exercising equity and integrity, and judging on behalf of the oppressed (Mal. 3:4-5).

 
What Christians Should Do - And Refrain From Doing - In The Times of Apocalypse

If these are indeed Apocalyptic times, what should Christians do?  Scripture offers some suggestions – none of which include undue hoarding of supplies, or gathering guns, or sending money to the Temple Mount Faithful,[42] or lobbying for restoration of a “Christian America,” or preemptively bombing the enemy-of-the-day, or counting on an early escape via a pre-Tribulation Rapture.

·        Remain awake, watchful, and sober, discerning the signs of the times and looking for the Return of Christ.[43]  It is because people know “neither the day nor the hour” (Mt. 25:13) that they must “be ready” (Mt. 24:44).  Unbelievers and evil-doers will be dismayed and caught by surprise at the Return.  For them, the Day will come as suddenly and disastrously as a thief.[44]  By contrast, the faithful will expect the Day, and see it as the fulfillment of their hopes.

·        Do not be shocked into loss of faith because of the trials of the latter days.  Judgment will “begin with the household of God” (1 Pet. 4:17), and will include the religious leaders of the time.[45]  Indeed, those who teach the faith will be “judged with greater strictness” than others in the Church (Jas. 3:1).  So, it appears that the first of the Tribulations will strike the Church – and its hierarchs and ministers..

·        Take up only spiritual weapons; as St. Paul said, “since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.”  (1 Th. 5:8)  There is no indication, anywhere in the New Testament, that believers should take physical arms against the evil powers, or that they should gather and use weapons in their own defense.

·        The followers of Christ will receive sufficient warning to await the Return with faith and hope, in the same way that Noah, Lot, and the people of Nineveh were warned in sufficient time to escape destruction.[46]  During the times of trial, when the faithful are warned by God, they must act quickly in obedience.  They are not to look back on their earthly possessions, lest they suffer the fate of Lot’s wife.[47]  Nor are they to take undue care for their life. As Jesus said, “Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it.” (Lk. 17:33).

·        Act with love, obeying Christ’s commands as set forth in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5:1-7:28) and elsewhere in the Gospels.  Pray for our enemies and persecutors, for their salvation and conversion to the fullness of Truth.  In doing this, we are asking God to bestow the greatest of blessings on them (Mt 5:43-45).  Christ’s teachings do not have an expiration date, and “will not pass away” (Mt. 24:25).  To a great extent, our fate at the Last Judgment will be determined by whether or not we were merciful to “one of the least of these my brethren” (Mt. 25:31-46).

·        Above all else, remain loyal to Christ.  “He who endures to the end will be saved.” (Mt. 24:13)[48]  When Christ comes again, He will “save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Heb. 9:28).