What Is the Lie in the End Times?

Dr. Couch, what is the lie that people will believe in the end times? ANSWER: The word lie comes from the word pseudos, and can be translated lie, deceive, false. Surprisingly, the NT uses the word often with many verifications and combinations. One of the key passages where the word is used in found in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12. There, it is used in the context of the tribulation when Satan seems to have complete control of the world and its philosophies. But it must be kept in mind that, while the passage is about the seven year tribulation, what is happening in that period really began some years before the rapture of the church. In other words, the world progressively moves into that horrible period, not just suddenly! Satan during the tribulation will be active "with all power and signs and false (lying) wonders" (v. 9). He will deceive the world "with all deception (trickery) of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved" (v. 10). Notice the open door for the satanic deception begins with the world's attitude of not loving the truth! The world does not desire the truth and has no love for it. For this reason, God will send upon them a deluding (leading astray) spirit (influence) "so that they might believe what is false (a lie), in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness" (vv. 11-12). Now, what is the lie? The lie may include many things but it begins with a denial of God. Paul writes in Romans 1:25: The lost "exchanged the truth (about) God for a lie (for that which is false), and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator …" The creature is better translated as "That which is created," the physical. To worship humanity is part of this as well. What mankind can create and do is worshipped rather than the God who made man. Just recently many churches celebrated the birth of Charles Darwin. They consider him a great man and scientist. Darwin replaced "chance" with God, not just in his science, but in his theology. God is dead! The world today despises the truth, and rejects God. Therefore, it is becoming more and more humanistic and moving deeper into immorality. The world has said "There is no God" (Psa. 14:1). From that, men feel no compulsion to know the God of Scripture. Instead, they commit "abominable deeds; there is no one who does God." "They have turned aside; have become corrupt" (v. 3). This is why there is on its way, the wrath of God! In the future, in the Kingdom period, "salvation will come out of Zion (Israel)" (v. 7), when the Lord restores His captive people, (then) Jacob (Israel) will rejoice, Israel will be glad" (v. 7b). For the deceiver, the liar, "There is no fear of God before his eyes" (Psa. 36:1). TV shows us the direction the world is going. There is no turning back. We are into the apostasy. The rapture of the church is probably closer than we can imagine! Thanks for asking. Dr. Mal Couch

Psalm 83 and The End Times

Dr. Couch, is Psalm 83 about the end times? It seems to be prophetic concerning the nations that are near her and who come against Israel in the latter days. What do you think? ANSWER: I agree. The psalmist Asaph pleads with God not to remain silent. "For behold, Your enemies make an uproar; and those who hate You have exalted themselves. They [will] make shrewd plans against Your people, and conspire against Your treasured ones" (vv. 1-3). More, "They have said, 'Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more'" (v. 4). They have conspired "together with one mind; against You do they make a covenant" (v. 5). (Does this seem like today!) What adds to this view is the fact that the nations mentioned who despise Israel are the nations surrounding her and that are the closest to the Promised Land! "Edom and the Ishmaelites," Moab, Ammon, and the Amalekites. Philistia and the inhabitants of Tyre. But more, even the Assyrians, who today would be the peoples of Iraq and Iran! The way the text puts it, is that the "Assyrians also have joined with them" (v. 7). In other words, the people of Iraq and Iran have joined in a pact to come and help the nations who are closer to Israel to come and help destroy her! A hundred years ago or so, all the Arab peoples were called by the West, the "Ishmaelites." Today, the enemies of the Jewish people have all been mixed up together; they now are the descendants of the nations mentioned above. As with the Arabs today, they want what the Jews have. They want to take over the Promised Land, the Holy Land, as their own. They say, "Let us possess for ourselves the pastures of God" (v. 12). But the Lord will have the last word. He is beseeched by the psalmist to "make them like the whirling dust; like chaff before the wind. Like fire that burns the forest, and like a flame that sets the mountains on fire, so pursue them with Your tempest, and terrify them with Your storm" (vv. 13-15). While these peoples have an opportunity to turn to God, they more than likely will not. "They will be humbled and perish" (v. 17). They will then know that God's "name is the Lord, and that He is the Most High over all the earth" (v. 18). Unger believes also that Psalm 83 is a prophetic glimpse of Israel's future troubles and ultimate deliverance into the Messianic Kingdom, the Davidic reign of Christ. It is about the Wrath, the Tribulation, that will last seven years on earth. These nations will be chastened and finally destroyed, though some of the peoples will repent and be saved for the Kingdom. Unger further points out that there has never been recorded a coalition in the past such as mentioned here in these verses, so the Psalm waits for a future fulfillment. But Unger goes further and says that it is not impossible that this passage could be fulfilled just before the Tribulation, that is, even in our present time! He writes: Probably its fulfillment will come in some pan-Arabic coalition and attack on the Israeli State before the church is taken out, or at least before Daniel's seventieth week begins. (Commentary, pp. 866-67) Interestingly, some of the Rabbis of the past held that Edom was Rome, or the kingdom of Italy. Many have forgotten that about 150 years ago, all of Italy was the kingdom of the Pope. It was his own state, the Papal state. Then a civil war followed and the various kingdoms of the Italian peninsula broke away from the Vatican. That Edom is Rome is a minor view of some of the orthodox Rabbis. On the day of Edom's downfall, the Lord will make war against the nations. When He is victorious, there will come about the resurrection of the dead Old Testament saints in order that they may enter the Messianic Kingdom. Below is Rabbinical fiction, but it is very interesting: During this turmoil, the Jews will say to the Arabs, "The temple is ours. Take silver and gold and leave the temple." The Arabs will answer, "You have no right to the temple. Accept our sacrifice and we shall be one people. Accept our faith!" The Jews will answer, "We shall rather slay and be slain, but we shall not deny God!" The Messiah in the Tribulation will end this conflict; He will say "See the salvation of the Lord!" He will blow upon the Arabs with the breath of His mouth, and all of them will fall dead before Him. Thanks for asking. Dr. Mal Couch

How Should We Live in the Apostasy?

Dr. Couch, I appreciate what you've been writing in regard to the end times and the apostasy coming upon the world. How should we then live under these circumstances?

ANSWER: Read Titus 2:12-13. Paul tells us what we should be doing. He says in verse 12 how we are to live, and then in verse 13 he reminds us that we are to be anxiously waiting for the "going home," the rapture. We are to be doing both—living and waiting! Not simply one or the other. Rick Warren said that studying prophecy is a waste of time and not necessary today. How foolish! And how contrary to the Word of God!

We are to be "denying ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age" (v. 12). Then, we are to be looking "for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus" (v. 13). Quoting from my Titus Commentary, on verse 12, I wrote:

In the present age. "In the now eon." Or, "in the present course of things." (Ellicott) The apostle is speaking of his times, his generation, and his era. Each generation of Christians must live godly in the present history God has placed them. The evils of today may be a little different than the past, but the child of God must walk according to the Word of God and the injunctions set forth in it. Some generations are destined to suffer greatly. Others face waves of error and false doctrine. But these words of Paul remain firm, and are as applicable to us today as when the apostle wrote them. "The Lord has appointed the present life for the trial of our faith." (Calvin) "These are the duties we owe in the present life." (Barnes)

Thanks for asking.
Dr. Mal Couch

No End Time Teachings From The Pulpit?

Dr. Couch, my church never teaches about the end times. The pastor says he believes in Bible prophecy but never reveals to us scripturally the doctrines of the coming rapture of the church or the tribulation. What should I do?

ANSWER: I would leave that church. I am finding that many pastors are lulling the people to sleep. They want to give only the positive. They need to discuss the issue with the Lord. HE is the One who gave us the revelations of what is yet to come. One pastor said recently "I don't want to give all that prophetic teaching, the doom and gloom, to my congregation. I want to give them only hope!" The backdrop of hope is the truth about what is going to happen that is bad. But too, all prophecy is not doom and gloom. It is about the blessed hope, the return of Christ for the church, and the blessedness of the kingdom following the end of the tribulation.

There are dozens if not hundreds of verses our people need to hear about God's future judgment upon the world in the tribulation. The tribulation is about His wrath upon a disobedient world. Isaiah writes in 13:11-13:

I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud, and abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. … Therefore I shall make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the fury of the Lord of hosts in the day of His burning anger.

And in 26:21:

For behold, the Lord is sure to come out from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.

What could get more plain as is in Jeremiah 25:30-32?

"Therefore you shall prophecy against them all these words and you shall say to them, The Lord will roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will roar mightily against His fold (even the Jews). He will shout like those who tread the grapes, against all the inhabitations of the earth.

" A clamor has come to the end of the earth, because the Lord has a controversy with the nations. He is entering into judgment with all flesh; as for the wicked, He has given them to the sword," declares the Lord.

Thus says the Lord of host, "Behold, evil is going forth from nation to nations, and a great storm is being stirred up from the remotest parts of the earth."

On these terrible verses in Jeremiah 25 Unger writes:

God is pictured as a judge. He has a controversy with the nations and pleads with all flesh, slaying the wicked with the sword. … The coming great tribulation is prophetically unfolded as a great whirlwind raised up from the remotest parts of the earth with evil spreading worldwide. The frightful carnage is pictured extending from one end of the earth to the other.

Thanks for asking.
Dr. Mal Couch