Does God Send ‘Strong Delusions’ into the World?

Ask Pastor John

Desiring God

John Piper, Unknown, 163859, Pastor, Ask, Theology, Desiring God, Religion & Spirituality/christianity, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Questions

4.8 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2022

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In our sin, we refuse to hear the truth, receive the truth, believe the truth — until God intervenes to give us a deep and abiding love for the truth.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Good Friday morning, things for listening. Well, as most of you know, maturing in our Bible
0:10.0	knowledge means facing the hardest questions that the Bible raises. And on the podcast, we're
0:15.1	working through three of those hard questions prompted by your readings in the first two chapters
0:20.4	of Second Thessalonians. Namely, is God present or is he absent in his eternal judgment? Second
0:28.4	Thessalonians 1.9 seems to say that he's absent. We address that question in APJ 1801. But then
0:34.2	many of you have asked about the man of lawlessness since Second Thessalonians chapter 2. Who is that?
0:39.1	That was a week ago in APJ 1803. And now finally, the third question, one about God sending strong
0:44.8	delusions into the world. Does he still do that today? If so, how so? And what does it mean?
0:50.0	That's a question raised by Second Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 11. That one is on the table today.
0:55.6	Pastor John on Monday in that man of lawlessness episode in APJ 1803, you read our text for today,
1:02.2	Second Thessalonians 211, that God quote, sends them a strong delusion so that they might believe
1:09.6	what is false, unquote. We've never addressed this text on APJ, but it has been asked several times,
1:17.5	particularly from two listeners, Deborah asks it this way. Pastor John, hello. Can you explain
1:22.5	God's providential work in Second Thessalonians 211 in his sending of a strong delusion on those
1:27.6	who do not love or obey the truth? I stumble over this text. Thank you. And David writes,
1:33.2	and ask it this way, hello, Pastor John, can a professing nominal Christian who doesn't think they're
1:38.1	saved? Ask God for them to be able to love the truth when they've previously not embraced it in
1:43.6	faith or with such a one be given to strong delusions like we read about in Second Thessalonians 211.
1:50.2	In fact, what does that phrase even mean? So both Deborah and David are asking about the meaning of
1:59.3	God's sending a quote, strong delusion, unquote, on people at the end of the age in connection with
2:09.4	the man of lawlessness and the great deception that Satan worked through him just before the
2:15.5	Lord's coming. And David more specifically is asking about whether a person in the midst of
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