Matthew 24:27-31

For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

I worry over how we, the righteous, will endure when the tribulation truly arrives until the time of the rapture. However, on the other hand, a feeling of thankfulness also arises. It is because I have thought about the fact that if we were to stay alive until the rapture we would be able to taste the glory of getting raised before the Lord and having been changed without having suffered death.

By saying, “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52) the Apostle Paul told us that if we were to stay alive until that moment, we shall all be changed in the twinkling of an eye, be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

Therefore, I don’t know whether to say to you that you and I have been born into good times or to say that you and I have been born into bad times. It is because a life of faith isn’t a theory but rather a reality.

A GRAVE WORLD

Dear fellow believers, please take a look at how the world is turning out. You might be in a very good mood, but once you ponder how the world is turning out, your hearts can never be just jovial.

When Will the End of the Age Mentioned in the Bible Begin?

Precisely, when is the day that this world will completely come to an end? When will the rapture occur? This is the biggest concern for all people. The greatest matters that the entire humankind is concerned about are these three questions: When will the tribulation begin? When will this world come to an end? And, when will the rapture occur to the righteous people who have been born again of water and the Spirit?

The Bible often says that at the end of the age, there will be tribulation. It is written that the nation of Israel will fall into tribulation and suffer tribulation for three and a half years. Also, it is said that those among the people of God who endure to the end times will receive salvation. And the Bible says that the end of the world is near.

The nation of Israel had lost its country for about 2,000 years and was rebuilt just recently. That country has sprouted once more and now puts forth leaves in abundance. And the Lord has said that when that country becomes a bit more exuberant, it will be invaded by enemy troops once more until it recognizes and accepts the truth that Jesus who had come in the past is the Savior that they have been waiting for. Then it will live in the midst of tribulation.

A conceited person will sit on top of a place where the ark is laid, inside the Temple of the nation of Israel, and the person will proclaim, “I am God. From this moment on, I completely prohibit your offering sacrifices to God.” The Lord has said that for three and a half years, there will be tribulation upon the people of Israel as well as the entire world. The Book of Daniel says that hence, three and a half years after the nation of Israel has gone under tribulation, the end will fall upon this world.

Then, What Point in Time Should We Consider as the Beginning of Sorrows?

When does the Bible say will be the end of this world? Today, we are going to think about this and how we will live from now on. The Gospel of Matthew chapter 24, in its entirety, speaks about the end of the nation of Israel and the end of this world. And so, this chapter is referred to as the chapter of the end times. The disciples first asked the Lord, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming and the end of the age?”

And the Lord answered and said to them, “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

With the Word, the Lord spoke of the end of the world in a long series as if it were a novel. Also, the Lord spoke of the things that will happen in the end times repeatedly. Thus, the born-again righteous can understand this passage by reading it once. In other words, it is said that destruction shall overtake the sons of darkness as a thief, but all sons of light, not sleeping, shall watch and be sober for that day (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5). People of this world cannot understand the Word of Christ concerning the end of the world.

First, the Lord spoke of when the tribulation will begin. It is shown in verse 6, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” There will be so many wars and rumors of wars. However, it is said that that will not yet be the end. In verse 7 and 8, it is said, “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

Dear fellow believers, in the future, nations will rise against nations, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. Soon, worldwide famine will worsen. And countries will create alliances and fight each other. In order to defend one’s country, it would have to possess nuclear weapons. When wars pervade, weaker nations that do not possess nuclear weapons will be crushed to destruction by stronger nations. Also, even if the powerful nations do not use military force through trade wars, they will devour those nations that are weak

Using the WTO system established through the Uruguay Round, all the powerful nations will make pacts that are favorable to them and try to dominate weaker nations. People say that globalization is beneficial, but it isn’t always good. With the finalization of globalization, the world will become one, and an absolute king will come to rise. Then, at the end, he will coerce every one into receiving the mark of 666.

In other words, this world is right now crying out for globalization in order to head toward the end. Wars rising from countries and nations fighting against each other are categorized as an artificial calamity, but what can we do about the two calamities brought on by nature, that is, famines and earthquakes? All over the world, the number of famines and earthquakes are on the rise.

Many Sinners Will Die of Famine

In the future, Somalis won’t be the only ones dying of famine, but rather there will be many people all over the world dying of famine. Earthquakes will also occur everywhere. About this time last year, there was a strong earthquake in Los Angeles, California, USA. US geologists are predicting that a super-scale earthquake will be occurring in the western part of the US in the near future. Geologists can find out how large of an earthquake will be occurring and approximately when, by basing it on information concerning structures of the continental plates and their moving speed. The recent earthquake in Japan was made up of three continuous shocks. There were much more losses because strong aftershocks had shortly followed the initial tremor.

Thus, what we fear the most is the coming of famines and earthquakes on a worldwide scale. Famines and earthquakes are scarier than wars. Dear fellow believers, even though there isn’t anyone shooting guns, when a famine continues for a few years people turn feeble and die. What I am saying is that there will come a tragic time when people will just die because there isn’t any food, even if they were to struggle restlessly to live.

Right now famines have already begun all over the world. And unusual changes of weather are accelerating all over the world. Not too long ago, I heard that Los Angeles issued a state of emergency because of a winter tornado. Such events will occur more and more in the future. Please know that such natural disasters will continue to occur more and more.



((NB: Reference to real life events were made as at around the time it happened.))

Of course, there have been earthquakes on the earth since the beginning, and they still exist today. In other words, earthquakes have always occurred. However, the thing is that from now on, earthquakes will be occurring all over the world at the same time.

As of recent, there have been earthquakes even in Korea, a region that supposedly had hardly any occurrences of earthquakes. There are magmas flowing underneath the earth’s crust, and it is reported that there has been a change in their flow. There are so many abnormalities in weather that typhoons are occurring even in winter. Just in Korea alone, there were many great abnormalities in weather.

The Lord has said that when there are FREQUENT famines and earthquakes on earth, BE WARNED that they are the beginning of sorrows. What it means is that that would be the beginning of the tribulation. Frequent occurrences of calamities are the warning signs of the tribulation to come. God turns up the warning siren saying, “From this moment on, there will be the tribulation,” and that time is when there will be occurrences of famines and earthquakes in various places and many outbreaks of war. When the calamities occur, an alarm will ring, signifyingthat the tribulation has come upon this world.

Our Lord says, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red;’ and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:2-3), and He grieves. Even while we are going round and round, just eating food, going to the bathroom, falling asleep, and then waking up, there is one thing that we must know. We must go on living with a proper understanding of how this world will change in the future and of what the Lord has said about this day and age, all the while thinking about them.

As the calamities occur rampantly in this world, the nation of Israel signs an agreement with a certain country. “Let us not go to war against each other.” But all of a sudden one day, that country betrays Israel and invades rapidly. We should know beforehand the fact that when the nation of Israel gets invaded by a certain country, we have entered the last phase toward the tribulation. The tribulation is seven years long, but the duration of the tribulation that we have to go through will be three and a half years. It is three and a half years from the moment when the nation of Israel gets invaded by a certain country and its entire territory gets completely burnt to the ground. Daniel and the Apostle Paul speak of this part.

The Prophet Daniel said, “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days” (Daniel 12:11-12). 1,290 days as well as 1,335 days refer to a time period that is a little more than three and a half years since the beginning of the tribulation.

Those who endure for three and a half years since the beginning of the tribulation get to receive the salvation. Our Lord comes down to this earth to reward those who had endured to the end, not having bowed before the idol of the Antichrist, not having received the mark on their hands or forehead, and not having betrayed the Lord God. That will be the end of the world. For the first time since the creation of the heavens and the earth, the beginning of His work, this world will be coming to an end.

Once a year on the Day of the Atonement, the High Priest laid his hand on the head of a goat. Having TRANSFERRED THE SINS of the people of Israel over to that goat, he then drew blood from it by cutting open its throat. And as he collected the blood in basins and sprinkled it seven times on top of the Mercy Seat, which is the cover for the ark, the people of Israel got to receive the remission of sins. Because this is carried out at the end of the sacrificial ceremony of the Day of Atonement, it was of great importance.

Even though Jesus has already offered the eternal sacrifice for atonement in accordance with this sacrificial system and thus has become the Savior, the people of Israel are still offering this legalistic sacrifice because they do not believe in the eternal sacrifice for atonement that the Lord has fulfilled. But, when the end of the age comes, a certain man, the antichrist, will go on top of the ark, and saying that he is God, he will block out everything so that people cannot offer sacrifices before God anymore.

Because the people of Israel regard that as something that is worse than death or loosing in a war, when that happens it will be the end for that nation. To the people of Israel, religious oppression that does not allow them to offer sacrifices is the same as death. It is said by prophet Daniel that a certain powerful ruler will appear and “take away the daily sacrifice and set up the abomination of desolation.” In other words, it is telling us that when see a certain idol set upon the ark and people are made to worship it, let it be known that it is time when the tribulation is moving toward its peak.

The exact same thing is also mentioned in the Book of 2nd Thessalonians. In chapter 2, it is said, “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to besoon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, SO THAT HE SITS AS GOD IN THE TEMPLE OF GOD, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4). What the Apostle Paul says starting from the middle of verse 3 to verse 4 is the same thing as the Word in the Book of Daniel which says that the son of perdition, the king of the North, shall take away the daily sacrifices and place there the abomination of desolation.

Here, in Second Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 4, it is said, “Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the Temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” The Apostle Paul is telling us that the abomination of desolation is a man. He is saying that a certain man will sit on top of the ark and say, "I am God. And when we see such happen, we should bear in mind that the Lord will come around 3 and half years from that very time as that will mark the beginning of the 7 year Great tribulation.

The book of Daniel said, “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days” (Daniel 12:11-12). 1,290 days as well as 1,335 days refer to a time period that is a little more than 3 and a half years since the beginning of the tribulation.

Those who endure for 3 and a half years since the beginning of the tribulation get to receive the salvation. Our Lord comes down to this earth to reward those who had endured to the end, not having bowed before the idol of the Antichrist, not having received the mark on their hands or forehead, and not having betrayed the Lord God. That will mark the total destruction and end of the world as the remaining 3 and half years of the tribulation will be the time when the PLAGUES OF THE SEVEN BOWLS of God's wrath will be poured out to the remaining inhabitants of the earth, to all those who collectively stood against God, received the mark of the Antichrist and aided him in the killing of the saints of God.

In a nutshell, the point we need to grasp is that there will be only 3 and a half years left for the saints when a certain country invades the nation of Israel, burns the nation of Israel down to the ground, and erects its own idol, referred to as the abomination of desolation, inside the most holy of the Temple. When this tribulation comes upon Israel, soon, there will be the rapture, and THE WORLD WILL COME TO AN END. The entire history of mankind begins in the nation of Israel, moves around the globe once, and comes back to the nation of Israel where it concludes. And the end of the world comes.

The Righteous Must Closely Observe the Nation of Israel

In Korea, there once was a group of people called, Dami Mission, who were seducing the world by saying that Jesus would come October 28, 1992. To say that Jesus was coming despite the fact that the nation of Israel wasn’t even invaded was nothing more than a delirious utterance spoken out of ignorance of the Bible. To those who were claiming that Jesus would be coming on October 28, 1992, I said, “How could someone who claims to have faith in Jesus be so imprudent? Do you not know the Bible? Do you believe so without the knowledge of the history of the nation of Israel? What does God say about the end of the world in the Bible? The reason why God has to burn the people of Israel down to the ground is all shown in the Bible, yet you do not know the reason?

Right now, this nation of Israel has become a powerful nation by sprouting new leaves like that and then becoming a fig tree full of leaves like that. Isn’t the case that so many countries throughout the world are right now showing animosity toward the nation of Israel?” As such, I admonished them.

Even in the United Nations, the nation of Israel is treated like a stumbling stone. Even though Israel is an explosives warehouse of the Middle East and acts like an eyesore to many countries, the entire world cannot bring the nation of Israel under its control. God allowed the people of Israel to reclaim their land about 2,000 years after the loss, just as He had promised, “I shall make you know that I am your God.” God had made promises through numerous prophets of the Old Testament, and He did actually fulfill them.

For a country that has been devastated for about 2,000 years to be rebuilt is an unprecedented event in history. It is something that can never happen without the working of God.

What we should remember is the fact that this country has now become a powerful nation. The nation of Israel is strongly intact like so. Thus, how can Jesus come? That nation has to be burned down to the ground for Jesus to come. Why? It is because the Lord will burn that nation down to the ground at least once to save the people of Israel.

And thus, after the people of Israel have been born again by believing in Jesus Christ, the Lord will come to wake those who are sleeping in their tombs and having received the remission of sins and to bring His people, that is, His children up to His Kingdom. When the Lord created humankind He had the intention to take them up to the Kingdom of Heaven and live together with them forever, and on the last day He will bring all the righteous people up to Heaven by saving the people of Israel.

The Lord speaks of when this world will come to a perfect end like so:

“At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; MANY SHALL RUN TO AND FRO, AND KNOWLEDGE SHALL INCREASE” (Daniel 12:1-4).


"And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days. “But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days” (Daniel 12:11-13)

Right now, the nation of Israel has a hostile relationship with all the surrounding Arab nations. When those Arab nations join hands with a country that has a powerful military force and attack Israel all of a sudden, Israel will just have to suffer. The Bible said that the great enemy of Israel will swoop down like a swarm of locusts. Which country can do that?

Just wait and see. Precisely, only two countries are capable of invading the nation of Israel. It will be either RUSSIA or the EUROPEAN UNION. Not just any country can invade and claim victory over the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel itself is a powerful country. A country that challenges the nation of Israel cannot be but a powerful country. In the future, Russia and the former Soviet Republics will again be united as one. Also, EU will wield its power all over the world once more. It’s not just my story, but rather, it is something that the Book of Revelation and the Book of Daniel speak a lot about.

Then will the world be peaceful when the nation of Israel gets swallowed up by an enemy country? That is not the case. The world ends. In the Book of Revelation, it is said that a third of the trees will be burned up. And it is said that water will turn to blood. It means that people won’t be able to drink water. Thus, all the conditions for the world to come to ruins and for all the people to die will be met. It will become a world where one would not want to live in.

When that happens, all that the righteous have to do is to wait for the second coming of Jesus. Even so, instead of waiting haphazardly, we must see what will happen to the nation of Israel in the future, and we must believe in the truth that there will be exactly three and a half years left for the second coming of the Lord once the nation of Israel loses from a war against a certain country. If such things occur in Israel and if we doubt even then, saying, “Well, a war is always something that one can win and lose,” and do not prepare by faith then it will be too late.

When the nation of Israel gets invaded, the person who seizes that country will be the one who has seized the entire world, and that person will precisely be the Antichrist getting used by Satan the Devil in order to control the entire world.

The Devil makes people bow before his idol set in the Temple and the Devil gives power to that idol. The Devil carves and erects an idol, and by giving it power, the Devil makes that idol speak. And the Antichrist kills all those who do not bow down to his idol without exception. And then servants of that Devil who are in all places seek out and kill those that do not submit to the Devil. Killing off all those people who do not submit to the Devil, that is the law of the Devil.

To control people, servants of the Devil place the mark of the beast on people’s right hand or on their forehead. And, as for those that do not have the mark, they do not allow them to neither buy nor sell things (Revelation 13:16-17). That is the last calamity. Thus, it is written in the Book of Revelations that even though all those who haven’t been born again become servants of the Devil by bowing to the idol and receiving the mark on their hand or on their forehead, those whose name is written on the Book of Life suffers MARTYRDOM for having refused to receive the mark to the end because of their faith in God.

Because such tribulation will come and people of this world will all be standing against God bluntly, God will come to pass judgment over this world. The fact is that the Lord will come down to this earth personally. At that time, the people of Israel who hadn’t bowed to idols and hadn’t received the mark until that moment will believe in the Lord and be raised before God.

Actually, the people of Israel are more devout in faith than us. For them, there is only one God. Thus, they cannot worship anything other than Jehovah God. Also, because they have already suffered endless pain for having worshiped so many idols, they no longer do things like worshipping idols, ever again. Also, because they are well versed with the Word of God, they know that Jehovah God is the very God who has allowed them to reclaim their land. They believe in and follow the very God whom David had believed as the God who had saved them.

Therefore, we must keep our minds fully collected. Until the nation of Israel gets invaded and something fearful happens inside that country, the righteous has to collect their minds fully. When the time comes, be known that the day of the rapture has come close and let us not even be thinking about marrying or giving in marriage. Our Lord has said, “Woe to those who are pregnant at the time of the tribulation.” Thus, He is telling us to know the times and not to even think about getting married when something like that happens to the people of Israel

But, it will be better to get married if you are prone to do this that you are told not to do and are about to go crazy wanting to get married. However, do not forget that you must go on living by faith, knowing that there are only about three and a half years left for the world from the time when such things happens. When that moment comes, you might not even be able to hear the Word of the Bible because those who truly believe in God will be killed and any large-scale gathering will not be permitted by the government.

Then, the question of how will we be waiting for three and a half years is crucial to us. How will we endure three and a half years? And, as I now speak to you about the end of this world, I say to you from this moment on that the calamities have already begun in this world. I want to tell you that the age of sorrows has begun in this world and that the countdown toward the end of the age has begun.

Now, we must verify this through the Word, and if it is the case that we believe this, we must think about what we must do. Should we wait for the tribulation just sitting around? What must we do now? The Bible says that the tribulation will come upon this world and that the end will come, but it is also said that the end will come when the gospel of the baptism and the blood is preached to the ends of the earth.

From here, we can find an answer to the question of what we must do. From here on out, I would like to speak a bit about this and then draw this sermon to a close. What must we do now? From now on, we must not put our hearts in things of the earth but instead strive to share the gospel to others. If we do not teach those who do not know this in advance before it happens, we will be rebuked by God and we will be reproached by the saints as well.

Dear fellow believers, do you think there is a difference between leading a life of faith knowing that the calamities have begun in this world and just facing the calamities without having any knowledge beforehand? There is a great difference. It is because if you were to go on living without any preparations in your heart, it would be hard for you to keep the faith at the end. This is something that I must tell you because you cannot fall into hardships and face difficulty in keeping the faith.

Calamities Have Already Begun


If it were the case that there is much time left for this world, then all we have to do is to lead a life of faith like this all through our life time, and come to God when the Lord commands us to come and sleep when He commands us to sleep a bit somewhere. However, the reason why I say this is because, in truth, the age you and I live in hasn’t much time left and the time for our Lord to fulfill all that He has promised is really close at hand.

Now, when what is meant to occur breaks out, we must be able to face it tranquilly by knowing about it in advance and having prepared for it. Just as someone on his or her deathbed would try to settle everything and does what must be done before dying, we must go on living having prepared our faith, prepared for the rapture, prepared for a life of faith, and made plans on how we are going to live. We must live out our faith properly by knowing what things need to be settled and how to lead a life of faith.

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We won’t just die having lived this way and that. During our time, a great upheaval will occur on this earth. To put it easier, I am saying that the end of this world will come, just as people have always been worrying. Soon, great natural disasters that people only heard about will occur in this world. What do you think of this current world?

Do you think that it is the beginning of sorrows or do you think it still isn’t? What are your thoughts? As for me, I think that the calamities have already started. Although we realize that it is the beginning of sorrows, if we do not precisely point it out within the Word, we would just be forgetting about that fact, and when the tribulation actually does arrive, we would just be submitting to the mob of the Antichrist out of confusion.

Cast away Your Selfishness In the Last Days and Keep Your Faith
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< Matthew 24:9-14 > “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come.

This Scripture passage tells us about the coming age of the pale horse, when Satan works through an empowered ANTI-CHRIST, after the age of black horse. At this time, people who are not born again through the gospel of the water and the Spirit will hand in the born-again to martyrdom. At this time, the bornagain will not only be hated by one or two people but by all races because of their faith in the name of Jesus. During this Great Seven Year Tribulation, the world divides into TWO GROUPS of people—those who are born again and those who are not, and all the races hate all of the born-again. All the people in the world shall hate the born-again. And families, friends, and our acquaintances lead us to tribulation and martyrdom.

Rapture may be sooner than most expect. Could be this January: Just A New Universe And Real Yahweh.

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2 Thessalonians 2: 3-12
Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for, that day (the rapture or the Lord's second coming) WILL NOT COME until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness( the ANTI-CHRIST) is REVEALED, the man doomed to destruction.
He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is ALREADY AT WORK; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor for his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of COUNTERFEIT MIRACLES, SIGNS and WONDERS , and in every sort of evil that DECEIVES those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
For this reason God sends them a POWERFUL DELUSION so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the TRUTH but have delighted in wickedness.

The Scripture passage says, “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” This tells us about the phenomena that will happen when tribulation comes and selfishness in man’s heart goes to an extreme. There are twelve sins that come from a man’s heart—evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness (Mark 7:21-22). If we analyze these sins one by one, we understand that all of them are originated from selfishness. These sins come from a selfish and egotistical greed.

One murders for one’s own interest, one commits adultery to satisfy oneself whether others want it or not, jealousy also comes from selfishness, one has hatred when one’s heart doesn’t like someone, one has pride when one thinks that he or she is the best, and foolishness occurs when things don’t go the way one wants. Every sin comes from egotistical selfishness. Men’s nature has changed that way after Adam and Eve sinned. So every man is born selfish and his or her selfishness becomes extreme in the worst days of tribulation. Having the evil in one’s heart spilled out, lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. The love of many will grow cold because people will forsake their righteous behavior and faith, and instead pursue their own self-interest.