2nd Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there comes a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.
Pay very close attention to what followed not long after he arrives on the scene, with his newly minted authority and mandate. This is what will be coming down the pike for all of earth’s inhabitants who are not sheltered by God’s power…. [The great controversy pp 88] Then God withdrew His protection from them, and He removed His restraining power from Satan and his angels, and the nation was left to the control of the leader she had chosen.
Her children had spurned the grace of Christ, which would have enabled them to subdue their evil impulses, and now these became the conquerors. Satan aroused the fiercest and most debased passions of the soul. Men did not reason; they were beyond reason, controlled by impulse and blind rage. They became Satanic in their cruelty. In the family and in the nation, among the highest and the lowest classes alike, there was suspicion, envy, hatred, strife, rebellion, murder.
“The fear of God no longer disturbed them. Satan was at the head of the nation, and the highest civil and religious authorities were under his sway.” …. Then, in the most solemn words, the warning comes down to all earth’s inhabitants in our day, that there will be an astronomical increase in droppings, and pellets, the naturally occurring byproducts of the prince of darkness.
2nd Thessalonians 2:4 He opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
May The Lord add His blessing to the study of His word. God bless!