The Great Restrainer (2 Thessalonians 2:5-8a Jeff Kliewer)

Growth in Grace, Knowledge, and the Christian Walk

Seat as we join together in fellowship this morning. I'm going to open up with a passage out of 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 18. This is a passage that encourages us in our relationship and our growth and our walk with the Lord.

2nd Peter 3 18. Grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I wanted to highlight a few quick points on that and the first one is that we're exhorted to grow and what I want us all to realize is that none of us have achieved that level of conformity to God's image and likeness that that he has in store for us.

Our walk is a walk of growth. Our walk is a walk of eliminating those things that God would want us to get rid of and to choosing those things it says in Galatians 5 16. Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

So the first message is that we need to be growing and the second is that we're going to grow in grace and knowledge and there are two sides to this one. Our growth is not all empowered or based on our own internal strength.

You see it says that we're going to grow in grace. God even once we become believers and once that grace has reached into our heart and we're regenerated and by the grace of God we're saved by faith. Grace continues in our lives to help us to become more and more like him but we have to respond to that and so the second part of this is we grow in grace we grow in knowledge.

It says in John 5 39 that we study the Scriptures well we actually at the end of it says so that we might know him. Spending time in prayer, spending time in study and in meditation, spending time with fellow believers, spending time where you're immersed in his truth is part of this growth process and then it says that we would grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

These are personal these are personal things. Our God is a God that cares personally for each and every one of us. It says but as many as receive him to them he come to the right become children of God.

He is our personal Lord and Savior. Some announcements for this morning. First of all on Saturday we are going to have our Love Life ministry. It's from 9 to 10. I encourage you to join with that to be part of those who are praying for those individuals that are potentially making a decision praying for those lives that they would actually come through the period of pregnancy and to become children that can turn to God.

The same day you have the opportunity to go from one to the other for our workday. I'm not getting a whole lot of exciting faces on that one. If you feel called and led please come join us on Saturday we're going to be sprucing up the grounds.

Both of those happen on Saturday. On Memorial Day Jeff didn't want me to make this announcement because if people aren't already training I said Jeff it's just a 5k. You can go out there and run three miles because Jeff has promised.

He denied at first service but he promised he will run the whole 5k dribbling a basketball. No he said he won't do that but come on out it's a great time of fellowship it's Memorial Day it'll be 8 o 'clock in the morning.

We're getting within a month now it's a month from today will be the closing on our land. God has worked through every action every decision every process every door has remained open and so we are on all systems go that a month from today on June 15th we're anticipating closing on the land.

Man God is so good and gracious in the time of pandemic and everything else we're not only increasing in numbers we're getting deeper and deeper in the study of word and now he's chosen to give us a new plan we can land a lamppost out there on our new piece of property.

That's exciting stuff. Continue with our weekly schedule. Last week we chose to not have the prayer meeting so that we could honor our mothers spend time with them. Come back tonight we're coming back into our weekly prayer meeting at six o 'clock.

We also had to take Wednesday noon off from our Isaiah study because both Jeff and I were out of state. We're back so we will be resuming on Wednesday noon with our Isaiah study. You have the men's groups you have the women's groups you have the care group so look to our weekly schedule.

I understand that last Saturday's trip the women had to the tabernacle was a rousing success. What I've heard I hear some yes amens to that. I understand there were over 20 women that took part in it.

If you did not take part in it and if it interested you they're going to do it again sometime so don't think that you missed the last opportunity. So watch for that in months to come. This time I'm going to ask Louise would you come up please.

Missionary Update and Prayer for Neil and Juanie Thompson

Good morning everyone. Our featured missionary for this month is Neil and Juanie Thompson and they are with oh they have two children Nathan and Kevin and Neil is Rick Thompson's brother. They are associated with Overseas Missionary Fellowship which is located in Colorado.

Juanie is an assistant to international international facilitator for medical missions mostly administrative work she does and logistic work. She also is program coordinator to serve Asia. She coordinates church partnership teams and medical placements and teams that go to Thailand.

Neil provides resources for their current missionaries and mobilizes future medical workers for the harvest of East Asia and we ask that you keep them in prayer. We have handouts on the back table for more information and they have prayer requests.

One is pray for the salvation of souls in Thailand and East Asia. Thank you.

Prayer for Missionaries, Love Life, and the New Land

It is exciting as we each month get the chance to hear about our missionaries. One of the things that I find just so encouraging is the number of missionaries that are either homegrown or are direct relations to people in our church.

It is so exciting to see that. We keep praying that God's raising the next missionaries and so that we look forward to also. Let's go to prayer. Father we do pray for our missionaries. We pray for Neil and Juanie.

We thank you for the many years that they answered the call and were your missionaries on the field and now they're here back in the states supporting the missionary fields. We thank you for them and for all of our missionaries.

We thank you that the lamp is lit in countries that need to have the word of God. So Father we acknowledge not only our missionaries but ourselves. Lord you have equipped each of us with the power of the Holy Spirit.

You have called each of us to go into Jerusalem and Judea and to the other most parts of the world with your message. And so Lord we pray that we would see and respond to the opportunities. We would be obedient to spreading the word of God to friends, neighbors, co-workers.

Father Lord that our own lives would be growing closer and closer to you. Father this weekend as we have our ministry to love life we do pray Father for an outpouring of your Holy Spirit into the lives of these women and men who are considering making a decision.

Lord we pray for these unborn children. They are your children. We pray that they would come to full term. They would be actually come into this world as babies and grow. Lord protect protect these people from making this horrible decision.

Father for those in our land, in our midst, in our congregation who are in need with health concerns, grieving concerns, we continue we continue to hold them up. And Father we say thank you for the news that we are progressing toward this land.

It is a gift from you. It can only be a gift from you with all all that's gone on. We Lord rejoice in your sovereignty and as we move forward from here now Lord to think about a building we again we seek to be following your lead.

Now Lord as Pastor Jeff comes and speaks to us about the Holy Spirit, speaks to us about that protection that you provide from the evil that's in the world. We pray Lord that you would give him strength, give him your very words, prepare our hearts to hear.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Let's all stand. I'm going to sing of the greatness of our Lord, our God. You know, the more we dive deeper into his word, the more of his word we know, the more we can respond to him, the greater our worship is of him.

Lord God, we just pray that as we grow in you that you would reveal yourself to us through your scripture, greater knowledge, greater revelations of you so that we can glorify.

You more.

Worship Through Song and Prayer for God’s Presence

I'll bless your name, O God, each day that I await. From dawn to setting sun, your greatness I'll proclaim. Your glory far exceeds all human thought. With each breath I'll bless your name, O God. As January interposed his precious blood.

Oh to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a veteran bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to all. Take and seal it, seal it for thy court above. Here's my heart, Lord.

Take and seal it, seal it for. Amen. Let's.

Pray. Gracious Father, we are reminded of the words of Moses who said in prayer, if your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. And Lord, I pray if your presence is not with me, your empowering presence by your Holy Spirit, then don't let me go into the pulpit.

But Lord, meet me in this pulpit. And for all of us in the building, how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I in your people? Is it not in your going with us so that we are distinct, I in your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?

Lord, we need your presence here with us to make us distinct and different. Fill us with your Holy Spirit. Give us ears to hear your word and change us through the preaching of your word. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. There have always been antichrists in the world. In Thessalonica in the first century, they believed often that the Roman empire, Roman emperors were the antichrists. The Roman emperors were actually very hostile to Christianity for 300 years through 10 great waves of persecution.

Very often, Christians thought that they were dealing with the antichrist. Even after the conversion of Constantine, one named Julian apostatized from Christianity and tried to reinstate paganism and the people thought he was the antichrist.

In the dark ages, the popes were often very wicked and regarded as antichrist. In fact, all of the reformers thought that the pope was the antichrist. There have always been antichrists in the world. One of them was Adolf Hitler.

When Hitler rose and kind of took over Europe, it looked like he was the antichrist and many people thought it was the case. But did you know, catch this, that when Hitler was born, Charles Spurgeon was still preaching in London.

That's how close in time they were. In London, Spurgeon was preaching the gospel and holding to the authority of God's word and he was training up pastors and sending them out into the towns of England.

Hundreds, even thousands of pastors trained by Spurgeon. Meanwhile, in Austria where Hitler was born and then in Germany, the leading theologian of the day and preacher was a guy named Adolf Harnack. Harnack rejected the authority of scripture.

He preached a different gospel, a social gospel, and rejected miracles as having ever happened. So Hitler was raised in a culture where the people had apostatized from the faith. Higher criticism in the German churches had taken hold and the majority of Christians held to that view.

So it was fertile ground for a pagan like Adolf Hitler to take power. And it would have been Hitler's design not just to conquer Germany and the mainland, but to be really the ruler of the world. He had an antichrist spirit, but God.

Something restrained him and that was those Christian boys in England and in the United States of America. Coming from America, they got on ships and they sailed and they joined forces with Britain and they sailed across the English Channel and they stormed the beaches of Normandy and they, through blood, sweat, and tears, defeated the German army.

And as they approached Berlin, Hitler put a bullet in his own head. He was restrained by the Christian church operating through the military of the nations, especially Britain and the United States of America.

God restrained his evil. Now, why do I bring this up? Well, fast forward to today, look out around us. There are antichrist spirits that would desire to take over the world. We talked last week about what?

The Great Reset, which is the design of those who meet in Davos, these thousand powerful leaders of the world, headed up by Klaus Schwab, who desires a one world government. The resetting of the world economy to a supranationalism and socialism.

This is his design. But the message this morning is that whatever he designs, God is still on his throne. And there is a restraining power in the world, the Holy Spirit of the living God, who tells the oceans how far they can go.

You can only go this far. Likewise, he tells the rulers of the world, even the antichrist spirit, how far they're free to go. And he is the one in charge. Putin had a design to overtake Ukraine. And if you read Ezekiel 38 and 39, we learn about Gog and Magog.

Gog of Magog, I should say. A ruler from the northern country who coming through Ukraine on a straight line down to Jerusalem would seek to conquer God's city. Putin would be more than happy to attempt such a thing.

But he's restrained. As much effort as he puts into conquering, there's pushback. There are nations standing behind the Ukraine which are pushing back against his design. And very much those nations are themselves tied together with unholy designs.

You can't trust Zelensky as far as you can throw him. Neither can you trust the rulers of the West, including the president of the United States of America. It was Fauci's design to lock down the nations in response to a virus.

And now in Shanghai, because of Xi Jinping and his authoritarian designs, his hatred of freedom, what is he doing? He has locked up a city of 25 million people. They're behind padlocks in their own buildings.

The same thing would have happened in the United States of America if it weren't for the restraining power of the Holy Spirit working in the church. There's too much capital of the Christian nation that once existed for that to happen.

Americans love freedom because Americans have been founded upon biblical notions of individual rights which come from being made in the image of God. So America was founded on these Christian principles and because of the culture in which we live, the evil powers that exist in the world could only go so far.

They were restrained. We were never padlocked in our homes like Shanghai. You see, Xi Jinping and Fauci or any other ruler of the Great Reset, they have earthly power, but they can only go as far as the restrainer will let him go.

Last week we saw some bad news, didn't we? We watched that ridiculous Harari guy, Yuval Harari, the right-hand man of Klaus Schwab, who has designs to monitor you not just where you go but under your skin.

Terrifying. This Antichrist hatred of the gospel saying that the resurrection is fake news. All of these things are the wicked intentions of the Antichrist spirit called the mystery of lawlessness. Last week I wanted to look that straight in the eye and say, here, look at it.

This is as bad as it gets, but now let's revisit the passage we're studying and understand the thrust of it because it's not about him. He's mentioned on the aside, the mystery of lawlessness, the Antichrist is the aside to the main point.

So what is the main point? Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Today we'll read verses 1 to 8. The main point is that the Holy Spirit is conducting a ministry of restraint in the world during this present dispensation, but that ministry will abruptly, decisively end.

Everything is going to change and we'll see that in the text today. Let's read, first of all, verses 1 to 4 to remember what we talked about last week and then today we're doing 5 to 8. Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, here's the point, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed.

That's the imperative, guys. That's what you're to do is not be shaken or alarmed even either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

Let no one deceive you in any way for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called God or object of worship so that he takes a seat in the temple of God proclaiming himself to be God.

So pause right there. We cannot have the day of the Lord, that is the day of his wrath as described in the book of Joel and all the Old Testament prophets. We can't have it until three things happen. They all start with A.

The first is the apostasia, that word rebellion. It's a turning away. The second is the antichrist, this man of lawlessness, the son of destruction. And the third is the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, chapter 9, chapter 11 and Matthew 24, Jesus refers to it.

These three things have to happen first before the day of the Lord. Got it? Now the point of today's text, five to eight. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things and you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

So the big idea that we're reading about is the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit. Let's look at verses five to seven A. Before we read it, I want you to think about the word mystery. When I say the word mystery, what comes to mind?

Is it something hidden? Something that you can't really figure out because it's mysterious, right? If I gave you a mystery novel, you wouldn't really know what the point is until you've read the whole book.

It's, it's hidden in there. It's a mystery. You don't really get it, right? And in English usage, the word mystery carries that idea of hiddenness that you don't really understand. Now, before I read this text, understand that is not what the Greek word mysterion actually means.

Okay, let's read it. Then I'll tell you what it does mean. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things and you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. The Greek word mystery does not refer to something hidden that we can't understand. It refers to something that previously had been hidden, but is now made known.

Namely, in the Old Testament, revelation was only given to a certain level. But revelation in this sense is progressive, that the New Testament brings knowledge that the Old Testament saint did not have.

A mystery is something that the Old Testament saint could not see, but has now been made known. You know it. So he says in verse 5, do you not remember when I was still with you, I told you. The apostle told them.

Verse 6, and you know. You have understanding. It's not that you're in the dark or it's cloudy or mysterious. You know these things. They've been told you. And if you don't know it, it's because you're not remembering.

You're not listening. You're not taking the data that the New Testament has given us and understanding what God has clearly said. The problem of misinterpretation is never on God's part. His word is always clear.

At times, we misunderstand because we don't read carefully and take him at his word. Here's an example of a mystery. In Daniel chapter 9, verses 24 to 27, we are told that there are 77 year periods decreed for God's people, the Jews.

But before the last week, in that last week, that last seven year period, the Antichrist is going to be revealed. So Daniel, when he got that prophecy, he pictured it happening 70 straight weeks in a row.

In other words, 490 years. The prophecy, you'd have to read it later, but the prophecy says Messiah would be cut off after the 69th week. Daniel assumes, okay, boom, the last seven years of the world are when the Antichrist comes right when Jesus is cut off.

But there's a mystery. There's something that Daniel would not see, but that we know by the apostolic teaching, Ephesians chapter 2 and 3. The mystery is that Jew and Gentile will be included in this new entity called the church.

The church age was not there in Daniel 9, but there is a gap between the 69th and 70th week. There's a parentheses that we only learn about when you get to the New Testament. So God's dealing with the Jewish people will resume for the last week, but until that happens, there's this gap.

Romans chapter 9 through 11 refers to a hardening in part of the Jewish people until the fullness of the Gentiles come in and then their hearts will be softened. God will resume this program with the Jewish people.

That's a mystery. The church that Jew and Gentile would be included in one body called the church, that's not in the Old Testament with this clarity. It's hidden, it's mysterious, but in the New Testament, it's revealed in the same way.

Here is another mystery. It is called the mystery of lawlessness. The church will be submitted to the Lordship of Christ. Go, therefore, make disciples in my name, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything.

Lo, I am with you always. All authority is given to Christ and he's the head of the church. Here's the mystery of lawlessness. The world will hate his authority and they will rebel against that authority.

There will be an anti-Christ spirit that doesn't submit to the kingship of Christ in the world. They will try to arise and overthrow his kingdom. There will always be an anti-Christ seeking to overthrow the rightful reign of Christ at the right hand of the Father.

What does that mean to us? It means that friendship with the world is enmity with God. It means the difference between being in the church, in Christ, versus out of the church, out of Christ, is the difference between being a sheep and a goat.

The difference between being light and being darkness, day and night, wheat and tare. There is a difference between world on one side and being in the word on the other. The mystery of lawlessness is that there is a hatred for Christ in the world that seeks to overthrow him.

To be faithful to Christ, we need to understand that this is the case. Think it not strange when you suffer in this world. Because the mystery of lawlessness is at work. But it says here in verse 7, it is restrained.

And this is the second point. He who now restrains it will do so until he is taken out of the way. So question, Bible student, when you come across a statement like that, what are you to ask? Who is he?

Who is he that's restraining the anti-Christ spirit in the world that would seek to overthrow and create this beast empire of Revelation 13? Who is he? The answer is he is the Holy Spirit. Circle that word he because he is a personal pronoun.

It cannot refer to mere governments or anything other than a person. It says in my Bible that he is doing the restraining. That refers to God's spirit himself. Consider the pronoun usage in the New Testament.

Guys, did anybody here think that the Holy Spirit is like the force in Star Wars? You have the force that the good guys tap into and then there's the evil force that bad guys tap into. That is not the biblical presentation of the Holy Spirit.

He is described as he. It's a personal pronoun. So the Bible tells us elsewhere that he, the spirit, searches. He knows. He teaches. He dwells. He accomplishes. He gives life. He cries out. He leads. He bears witness.

He desires. He helps. He intercedes. He works all things together for good. He strengthens and he is grieved by our sinfulness. He is a person. He restrains behind the scenes. So if he is the person of the Holy Spirit, which he is, why in the previous verse is the word what used?

Look at verse 6. It doesn't say you know who is restraining him so that he may be revealed in his time. It says you know what. Why is he described as what would be the question? And the answer is he, the Holy Spirit, is restraining instrumentally.

He is restraining through something. He is using something as a tool, namely the church and other things to do the restraining. What is keeping the Antichrist from being revealed? He, the Holy Spirit of verse 7 that's described as a he, is using something to restrain the wickedness of this world.

And there are a few things that he uses. Let's look at a couple verses correspondingly. The first thing that the Holy Spirit uses instrumentally to hold back the Antichrist spirit in the world is conscience.

Every human being has a conscience. Turn to Romans 2 .15 with me. We're going to look at, just quickly, four governments that God has instituted in the world. The first is the government of the individual, self-government.

In Romans 2 .15, speaking of the Gentiles who don't even have the law, it says in verse 15, they show that the work of the law is written where? On their hearts while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.

So the first government that the Holy Spirit uses is the conscience of people. How many times have you thought about doing something and your conscience quickened and kept you from doing it? Or perhaps more likely, how many times have you done something and your conscience sounded the alarm bell saying, I really shouldn't have done that.

And you just feel guilty afterwards. That gift of conscience comes from God. And the Holy Spirit uses that all around the world to keep people from doing the most wicked things that they would do in the flesh.

There is conscience in the world. And the Holy Spirit is the one that's quickening that, activating that, speaking, in order to restrain the evil of the world. The second thing is family. There is a natural affection for family.

You could go all the way to Saudi Arabia. Mom's in the room. You love your kids. You have the Holy Spirit. But guess what? If you went to Saudi Arabia to a Muslim woman who's never heard the name of Christ, she will have a natural affection for her baby.

Maybe that's why God made babies so cute. They're so helpless and dependent that people naturally will, they'll be pitiable and they'll just want to help this child. But see, that is part of God's natural gift of family in the world.

He's restraining evil by families. Which, by the way, if the lawless spirit is rising in the world, what will come into the crosshairs of the Antichrist? Family. The destruction of God's design of a husband and a wife in marriage, procreating and caring for their children, which keeps society stable.

So when you see an agenda, a culture of death, which breaks apart the marriage bond, it's a culture of death because LGBTQ doesn't reproduce, does it? It's a culture of death. And abortion, the killing of babies, is a culture of death.

But the family is a culture of life. And it's part of God's government, even in non-Christian countries where families keep a certain fabric of society together. It's God's government. It's his restraining evil in the world.

That's the second thing. Now the third thing is in Romans 13. It's also in 1 Peter 2, but we'll do Romans 13 verse 4. And that is civil authorities. The Holy Spirit wields governments of the earth to restrain the wicked intentions of men.

When the book of Romans was written, was the Roman Empire a beast Antichrist system or was it a godly Christian nation? It was the beast Antichrist system. And yet, even so, Paul is able to say that governors bear the sword of God.

In other words, God uses civil authorities to restrain evil. Police officers, militaries. Let's read it Romans 13 verse 4, referring to these instituted powers. He is God's servant for your good. If you do wrong, be afraid.

If you steal somebody's lamp, be afraid of the policeman. If you murder somebody, be afraid of a sword. For he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

Now, wait a minute. What if a government itself begins to turn the sword of their authority against people who do good? At that point in time, God will raise up other sovereign nations to restrain that wickedness until the end.

So, when you have Adolf Hitler killing people and trying to rule the world, God will raise up the United States of America and Britain and other countries to fight against that. Now, tellingly, the Roman Catholic Church, Rome, they were on the side of Hitler.

The fascists under Mussolini, they gathered on that side of the aisle, as did all of the Muslims, the Muslim countries. But God used nations to restrain nations. What nation right now is restraining the rise of the one world government?

It's, by and large, the United States of America, which is why the goal for 2030 is the removal of the United States of America as the world's leading superpower. But it's God who uses government to restrain evil.

Is Jesus against carrying a sword? I mean, he told Peter to put it away, right? Which means he had a sword. And he told them when they tried to fight back to put down your sword because we're not fighting an earthly battle.

But there was a certain level of self-defense that was appropriate for them. In fact, when they showed Jesus a sword, what did he say to them? Of the one they had at the time, that is enough. He didn't say get rid of it.

He said that's enough. Well, in our day and age, guns are like the sword of the first century. And the right to bear arms is restraining so much of the evil that would otherwise overtake a country. This has been true since the American Revolution and even before.

The sword is in the hand of governors to restrain the wickedness of men. And it's God's design. So, we've said three spheres of government. Now, this is important. The three spheres of government that God, the Holy Spirit, is using to hold at bay the Antichrist spirit in the land are number one, conscience.

That's good, your answer. Number two, the family. And number three, governments, right? Sovereign nations. The fourth sphere of government that Christ rules through his Holy Spirit is the church. But we're not in favor of some sacralism where the church and the state are married so that the church has authority over the civil rulers.

That was a failed experiment. And the discoveries of the American Revolution and prior were the separation of church and state in the sense that the church is not to rule by ecclesiastical authority over the nations.

Rather, we have prophetic witness over all the spheres of life. We have authority here. The elders of this church have authority in the church, but not authority to tell the state and institute laws, right?

But what can we do in this sphere of our authority? We are like John the Baptist, who in his prophetic ministry looked at Herod and said, it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. And they cut off his head for saying so.

But he said it. And it was his role to preach that way. In the same way, you are salt, you are light, you are truth tellers in the world, prophetically telling the truth to individuals, appealing to their conscience, to families, building up the family, and to governments.

We say, no, it is not okay that you want to kill the babies in the womb. We prophetically say that. Do you have any idea why it is that the bill that was attempted last week failed? 49 democrats wanted to kill all the babies.

One of them said no, but he would have gone along with it if it had only gone as far as Roe. So he's only moderately pro-death. Manchin. By God's grace, the 50 men and women on the republican side restrain the evil of that law, not necessarily because they are actually genuinely pro-life, by the way.

Probably a majority aren't. But they know that the evangelical church is their constituency. And our prophetic voice, standing in front of the abortion center, and telling one another that you are never to vote for a baby killer, they know this.

And as a result, that bill failed. And that's also how the justices were appointed, for that same reason. And Roe versus Wade, it looks like, will be overturned. Do you understand what I'm saying? It is the church's prophetic witness in the world that restrains the evil of the antichrist spirit, which is already present.

Now that's an important teaching. Because it says something about who we are to be in the world. Prophets. And so let's read on, 2 Thessalonians. The next point is very interesting. If you found that one dull, what does this one mean?

You better not have found that dull. It says in verse 7, only he who now restrains it. I'm telling you that's the Holy Spirit at ministry through the church, prophetically restraining evil in the world, right?

Will do so. Now look at this last phrase, which is drastic. Think about it. Until he is out of the way. What does that mean? He, the creator of the heavens and the earth, would ever be out of the way?

He, the Holy Spirit, will be out of the antichrist way? Well, it's completely consistent with the message of this text to say that this verse refers to the rapture of the church. He will be out of the way.