Delusion Confusion

Many believers have heard of the "strong delusion" that the apostle Paul mentions in his second letter to the Thessalonians; and as an increasingly dazed and confused world tumbles headlong into the run-up to the Tribulation, this topic seems to be receiving a bit more attention in certain circles.

Although it's true that in the past I have seen many good people fail to properly understand and interpret the strong delusion in various ways and to varying degrees, I recently watched a video by one of my absolute favorite Bible teachers (and no names are needed because I have nothing but the sincerest love and deepest respect for this individual, and nothing I say in this article is meant as criticism) that made me realize that this particular scriptural topic and the misunderstanding thereof is becoming a bit more prevalent and pronounced as the world inexorably lurches into the sequence of events that will usher in Daniel's 70th Week.

Although I have written about the strong delusion before, what I want to do in this article is briefly revisit it so I can focus my attention on its widespread misinterpretation, and discuss in greater depth why I am convinced from Scripture that some of the things that are widely taught and believed about it today are in error.

My approach to this topic is going to be a bit like that of a doctor:

First clean the wound, and then dress it.

To that end, first we will consider the errant view of the strong delusion that is so often promulgated by many good Bible teachers today (cleaning the wound). After that, we will take a closer look at what Paul actually says in his second letter to the Thessalonians in regard to this strong delusion and the context in which he mentions it. And by the time we finish, I believe it will be quite clear that this popular view is in error and why (dressing the wound).

And again, I feel compelled to stress that I don't mean any of what I am going to say in this article as a criticism of some well-loved and highly respected ministers of the Word—it's just that I think a clear and compelling scriptural case can be made that this "delusion confusion" misses the mark, and I feel led to humbly and respectfully offer up some solid scriptural reasons why I am convinced this is the case.

Deception à gogo

Unless you've been living on another planet for a number of years (perhaps one devoid of politics and the requisite politicians), no one need tell you that the world is being plunged deeper and deeper into deception and being sucked into a maelstrom of misinformation.

Uhm...or is it disinformation? Before we continue, let's pause to get a few key terms straight because these things are not quite the same:

1. Misinformation is simply wrong or erroneous information. Although it may not be deliberately spread for the purpose of causing people to believe things that are not true, that is all too frequently the result.

2. Disinformation is misinformation that is deliberately spread for the purpose of causing people (often rivals or enemies) to believe things that are not true for the purpose of gaining a strategic advantage or achieving a specific goal.

3. Deception is the act of deceiving someone, or deliberately misleading them by causing them to believe something that is not true, in many cases with an ulterior motive that is malicious or injurious in nature.

4. Delusion is the act of deluding someone, or deceiving them so thoroughly that they reach the point where they believe something that is irrational or demonstrably false and known to be so by many others.

5. Confusion is when someone is faced with (possibly a great deal of) unclear and/or contradictory information (typically both true and false) and as a result simply doesn't know what to believe.

I scarcely need to do a whole lotta digging on this one—most of us already know and many others are beginning to awaken to the reality that we are being inundated with lies and deception, and it's just getting worse and worse. And it's getting worse quickly. (Hmm...just where did I put that soapbox of mine? Ah, there it is.) For example:

• Over just the last few years, we have reached the point where billions of people willingly line up for a vaccine that has always been known by certain experts to be neither safe nor effective, to treat a virus that has always been known by certain experts to be on par with the common flu, primarily because people believe the lies and the inflated statistics peddled by a compliant mainstream media and Big Pharma companies who are raking in untold billions in profits and who will stoop to absolutely anything to ensure that continues.

• The United States saw a feeble puppet of a man installed in the White House through blatant, well-planned fraud so that a cabal of globalists could pull the strings to tear America down with capricious impunity. This was done in order to cut the legs out from under this country in order to pave the way toward a global government that they have been deceived by the Deceiver himself into believing is necessary to save the world and all of mankind.

• And now in an election year, we are witnessing the continued evolution of blatant schemes and various species of legal (or perhaps I should say illegal) chicanery crafted to ensure the globalist's candidate of choice (whoever that may be) emerges "victorious" in place of the people's candidate of choice (whoever that may be).

And it just goes on and on. We the people are being lied to—deluged with misinformation and disinformation, and as a result we are being deceived by institutions that we could once trust...but no more. And frankly that seems unlikely to change anytime in the foreseeable future.

In all fairness, as a result of this tsunami of misinformation, disinformation, deception, delusion, and confusion the world is unquestionably being overtaken by, is it really any wonder that a lot of good, Bible-believing folks instinctively want to focus their attention on the idea of there being a "strong delusion" coming upon the world during the end times and proceed to connect it to what we see happening today?

"C'mon...open your eyes, dude! That strong delusion is HERE!"

And with this deluge of deception on their minds, many believers turn to the Word...as they should. They want to know what the Word of God has to say about all this, and they go searching for insight into what it all means in the only place we really have any business doing any serious searching.

And what do they find? What do they come up with concerning deception, delusion, and confusion in the end times and related things?

In the video I mentioned that prompted me to write this article, the teacher started out by wisely and correctly settling the issue that some might struggle with in connection with God sending a strong delusion, and that is Paul's words to the church in Corinth:

²⁶How is it then, brothers? when you come together, every one of you has a psalm, has a doctrine, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done to edifying. ²⁷If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. ²⁸But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God. ²⁹Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. ³⁰If any thing be revealed to another that sits by, let the first hold his peace. ³¹For you may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. ³²And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. ³³For God is not the author of confusion, [Greek: a form of akatastasia, or instability, disorder, tumult, etc.] but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

(1 Corinthians 14:26–33 AKJV / emphasis & [comments] added)

Many translations read something along the lines of "God is not a God of confusion," which arguably more closely resembles the Greek syntax. But some people look at the Bible and question how we can square this verse with the idea of God sending a strong delusion, which...you know, is kinda sorta like confusion (well, not exactly—see the above definitions).

The author of the video comes at this from the angle that although God may not be the author of confusion, He is the sender of confusion. He proceeds to list about seven or eight places in the Old Testament where God does indeed send some manner of confusion to a group of people for some reason (Gen. 11:7–9; Exod. 14:24; Exod. 23:27; Deut. 28:20; Josh. 10:10; etc.).

And this is absolutely correct, because God clearly does send confusion to certain groups of people in certain circumstances throughout the Bible—the Word is perfectly clear on this. But as a matter of fact, the author of the video didn't really have to do that, and that's because this is not the sort of thing Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians anyway. In the above passage, Paul is talking about order in a worship service, and pointing out that God's Spirit does not operate in believers in ways that are chaotic or disorderly (a fact that many charismatic groups would do well to take note of, but I digress).

That's why I did something very few others seem to do when they refer to this verse and took the liberty of including the previous seven verses in order to remind you of the context of Paul's words, which should not be ignored.

As you can see, this is one of the issues Paul deals with in this first letter to the Corinthians, and that is the utter chaos that was characterizing their worship services due to blatant, excessive abuse of the supernatural sign gifts of the Holy Spirit that were in full, legitimate operation at the time (AD 53–54).

What Paul is basically doing is telling the believers in Corinth that God does not want the atmosphere in any worship service to be one of chaos, disorder, and babbling that was devoid of meaning. Paul is seeking to make the Corinthians understand that God wants their worship of Him to be characterized by peace and order—by knowledge and edification in the Holy Spirit.

With that out of the way, however, the author of the video proceeds to focus on the same passage of Scripture that legions of others gravitate to when they talk about the strong delusion as he seeks to conflate it with what we see happening in the world today, and that's Jesus' opening salvo to His disciples in the Olivet Discourse in the book of Matthew:

³And as he sat on the mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the world?

4 And Jesus answered and said to them, Take heed that no man deceive you. [Greek: a form of planaó, or to deceive, lead astray, etc.]

(Matthew 24:3–4 AKJV / emphasis & [comments] added)

Jesus is about to launch into a discussion of the end times, which in this case focuses on the period that includes the run-up to and the entire Tribulation (which is just about where we are now). Of course, you could certainly argue that verse 4 speaks to conditions today, as Satan is increasingly inundating the world with lies and deception meant to lead people ever further from the truth of the gospel and to prepare the world for his coming surrogate's 42-month kingdom. I suspect few would dispute that.

Satan knows it's almost showtime, and he is getting ready for the curtain to come up at the Rapture. And you think there's deception now?

After the Rapture, it's going to be deception à gogo.

That said, however, I guarantee you that Jesus' words will mean much more to those who become believers during the Tribulation. And I say that because as we get past the Rapture and into the Tribulation proper, you can be sure that with the Restrainer out of the way, Satan's deception will get ramped up to levels that will dwarf what we are experiencing today.

That is a sobering thought indeed, and that means Jesus' admonition to not be deceived or led astray will take on even more profound levels of significance as we get into Daniel's 70th Week.

The lie is out there: For example, not long after the Rapture, I am convinced Satan will break out his explanation for this incredible supernatural event to blind people's minds to the truth of the Bible's explanation. Judging from what some New Agers are "channeling" from demonic entities, Satan has prepared an exotic tale of how an advanced race of extraterrestrials have been visiting our planet for a long time, and have decided to come to help mankind evolve spiritually and get through the coming period of earth changes (i.e. the judgments of the Tribulation). To help prepare mankind for this tumultuous period, these benevolent aliens have seen fit to suddenly evacuate several hundred million people from earth (those simply unprepared to evolve spiritually...tsk tsk tsk) to a fleet of spacecraft waiting nearby, where they will be patiently and loving retrained until they are ready to evolve spiritually and rejoin the rest of mankind here on a planet that will be enjoying life in the fourth (fifth?) dimension. To borrow Ripley's tagline: "Believe it or not."

But as I said, the interpretational error that so many make today is to read 2 Thessalonians 2:11 and automatically assume that the strong delusion is part and parcel of the lies and deception we are witnessing in the world today, which arguably constitute the first baby steps of the deception that Jesus warns of in Matthew 24:4. And at this point, we have effectively cleaned the wound.

To see more clearly why this is an error, however, we need to take a closer look at what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians. Now it's time to dress it.

The biggest Big Lie of all

Although it was certainly one of the most cringeworthy species of disinformation I have ever witnessed, it cracked me up three years ago when the liberal left and the mainstream media labeled the "baseless" idea that Trump lost the 2020 election due to widespread voter fraud as the "Big Lie," and it cracked me up because I couldn't help but think to myself...

You think that's the "Big Lie"?! You people ain't seen nothin' yet!

OK, so why can't we just wheel in the strong delusion whenever we talk about all the deception we see overtaking the world today? Delusion is delusion—deception is deception, right? What's the big deal?

Here is the full passage all this revolves around:

¹Now we beseech you, brothers, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together to him, ²That you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. ³Let no man deceive you by any means: [Paul uses a line similar to what Jesus said in Matt. 24:4 in the Olivet Discourse, although he uses a different word for "deceive" in Greek: here a form of exapataó, or to deceive, wholly seduce, etc. (*see remarks below).] for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, [and I am firmly in the camp that is convinced this can be nothing but the Rapture] and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; ⁴Who 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, showing himself that he is God. ⁵Remember you not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? ⁶And now you know what withholds that he might be revealed in his time. ⁷For the mystery of iniquity does already work: only he who now lets will let, [i.e. restrain...using the word "let" in this way is an Elizabethanism that the "American" King James translators neglected to "Americanize" for some odd reason] until he be taken out of the way. [This can be nothing but the Holy Spirit being removed at the Rapture.] ⁸And then shall that Wicked [i.e. the Antichrist] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: ⁹Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, ¹⁰And with all delusion of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. [There's the reason for the delusion.] ¹¹And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: [...singular. Note that this delusion is sent by God to make people believe one lie. The Greek word used here for "delusion" is plané, a form derived from planaó used in Matt. 24:4 and meaning deceit, delusion, error, etc. (**see remarks below).] ¹²That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. [God sends a strong delusion to cause those who have staunchly rejected everything He has done to reach them to thoroughly believe one eternally damning lie as a form of His righteous judgment...and they believe it and their fate is sealed.]

(2 Thessalonians 2:1–12 AKJV / emphasis & [comments] added)

*Note that although I did mention the key Greek words used in the above passages of Scripture, I decided to refrain from getting into a heavy-duty word study since even though the words used in 1 Corinthians 14:33, Matthew 24:4, and 2 Thessalonians 2:3 and 11 are actually four different words in Greek, their meanings and usages are predictably straightforward.

When I began work on this article, I thought there might be some subtle nuances in the Greek that would jump out at me and provide further insight or enlightenment as to the meaning and application of these passages, but there really isn't as much of that sort of thing as I thought there might be. As it turns out, the key takeaway is simply this:

Satan causes people to believe things that are not true to harm, control, and prevent them from believing the truth, while God causes people to believe things that are not true as a form of His divine judgment on people who refuse to believe the truth.

So in the end I decided to pass on the big word study, take things pretty much at face value, and press on.

**The focal point is verse 11:

Because people have refused (not merely failed...refused) to "receive the love of the truth," or believe in faith that God sent His Son the real Messiah to die on a cross 2,000 years ago to pay the penalty for their sin so they might be saved (not to mention refusing to change their minds in spite of witnessing God's hand moving in judgment during the first part of the Tribulation as described in Revelation 6:16–17), God sends a strong delusion to cause such people to ultimately believe one, singular lie.

This, in its full essence, is the nature of the strong delusion. Now, note with care the context in which God sends the strong delusion:

Paul describes the revealing of the Antichrist in verses 8–9, and in the next breath describes the strong delusion that God will send to make people who have rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah to believe one Big Lie.

Now, please understand that the full revelation of the Antichrist—when he is fully revealed to the world for exactly who and what he is and launches his 42-month kingdom—occurs around the midpoint of the Tribulation, when he stages a phony "resurrection" and desecrates the new Third Temple and is presented to the world as the long-awaited Messiah, who is God in the flesh (as was Jesus in reality) and who must be worshiped as God on pain of death (Rev. 13).

So God sends the strong delusion around the time of the revelation of the Antichrist to cause hardened unbelievers to believe one Big Lie. Why? Because they have stubbornly refused to believe in Christ as their Messiah.

Oooh-kay. Pardon me for saying, but...

If it's not starting to dawn on you what this Big Lie is by now, then I really don't know what else to say to you.

As you consider everything we have discussed up to this point, it becomes crystal clear what the nature of the Big Lie is:

God deludes these hardened unbelievers

who have rejected Christ, the real Messiah,

into believing the Antichrist is their Messiah.

And He does so as a form of His divine, sovereign judgment that will damn every last one of them to an eternity of separation from a holy, just, loving God who made every effort to get them to respond to the incredible outpouring of grace and mercy that He expressed to them through Christ...but they would have none of it and instead chose to have "pleasure in unrighteousness."

So, here's a summary of what we have so far:

• In Matthew 24:4, Jesus is speaking prophetically to people who become believers during the time frame of the Tribulation, and this primarily includes but is not limited to the believing Jewish remnant (not the Church, which is removed prior to the period of time Jesus is talking about). He is admonishing such believers to not allow themselves to be deceived or led astray by the satanic deception that will engulf the world during that period of time, which will comprise a massive number of lies and tons of deception and disinformation designed to lead people away from the truth of the gospel. That's Satan's forte.

• In 2 Thessalonians 2:11, God sends the strong delusion on hardened unbelievers (primarily unbelieving Israel) who have stridently and persistently rejected Christ as their Messiah. He does this around the midpoint of the Tribulation, after the Antichrist has been revealed as such following the abomination of desolation. The purpose of this delusion is to give such people one last, final push in the direction they are already heading and cause them to believe one singular lie, and that is that the Antichrist really is the Messiah and should be worshiped as God.

Deceiving the deceiver: I've written about this before, but I just can't pass up an opportunity to briefly rehash it. One reason God is going to send a strong delusion primarily to unbelieving Israel to cause them to believe the Antichrist is their Messiah is because it is a form of "patriarchal payback," so to speak. In Genesis 27, Jacob (i.e. Israel) deliberately deceived his father Isaac by pretending to be his older brother Esau in order to receive the older brother's blessing from an elderly and nearly blind Isaac. That blessing had clear messianic overtones ("Let people serve you, and nations bow down to you: be lord over your brothers"), and through his outright deception, Jacob (Israel) was successfully able to steal that messianic blessing. But what did Israel as a nation ultimately do with that messianic blessing? You already know the answer to that one: When the promised Messiah finally showed up 2,000 years ago, they violently rejected Him and had Him crucified like the worst of criminals. Well, at the midpoint of the Tribulation, when unbelieving Israel is face to face with a messianic impostor in the form of the Antichrist, take a wild guess as to how God will carry out the most exquisite form of poetic justice on the hard-hearted, stiff-necked, unbelieving portion of His people Israel.

Go ahead...guess.

And as if that weren't enough, consider the following two observations, which if nothing else serve as a little icing on the proverbial cake:

1. When God sends a delusion on a group of people, are they all in fact deluded? You bet they are. Will any of those people really have a choice and be able to reject that delusion and refrain from believing that lie? Nope...they're all gonna be on board: Their minds are already made up. Like I said, God just gives them one last divine shove in the direction they are already heading by their own foolish, free-will choices.

In Matthew 24:4, however, Jesus is admonishing future believers in the Tribulation period to not be deceived. Do these people have a choice? They sure do—that's why Jesus is warning them. Hopefully, most will follow Christ's admonition and refrain from falling for Satan's multi-faceted deception, although a few weaker believers are bound to succumb to the Deceiver's lies. If it was a certainty that none would do so, why would Jesus feel the need to put such strong emphasis on this warning to not be deceived and highlight it at the very outset of His discussion?

And just to be clear: When I say that "a few weaker believers are bound to succumb to the Deceiver's lies," I am referencing the fact that after the Rapture and during the Tribulation, those who come to believe the gospel will not enjoy the same sealing and indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that Church Age believers are blessed with. They will have to maintain a faithful witness under great duress in order to make it through the Tribulation and ultimately be granted access to the Millennial Kingdom at the Sheep and Goat Judgment.

Some will, and some won't.

2. Paul tells us in verse 12 that all the unbelievers to whom that strong delusion is sent will be damned. That is, they will never be saved and will spend eternity separated from God. Now, consider this carefully:

What kind of lie, if believed, would preclude a person's salvation? What manner of falsehood, if fallen for, would absolutely prevent someone from believing in faith that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, sent from God and whose death and resurrection purchased their redemption?

For example, what if the lie Paul is referring to is that an alien race visiting earth really did mysteriously evacuate all those millions of people? If an unsaved person during the Tribulation actually believed that lie, would it prevent them from ever coming to faith in Christ? As foolish as that is, no...not necessarily. Coming to a saving faith in Christ would quickly and easily dispel such nonsense. The point is that the only species of lie that would absolutely prevent a person from believing that Christ is the Messiah sent by God to redeem mankind is a lie that somehow completely refutes and replaces this requisite belief that is the basis for salvation.

And believing Satan's man the Antichrist really is that Messiah is precisely such a lie. Would believing that damn you for eternity? It sure would.

So in the final analysis, there is simply no scriptural or logical way around it:

The strong delusion Paul speaks of is not simply part of the general avalanche of deception the world is currently being swallowed up in as we approach the Tribulation and Satan does the prep work for his man the Antichrist's coming-out party that is slated for its midpoint.

Simply put:

We cannot conflate the strong delusion with

the current deception we see in the world today.

These. Are. Two. Different. Things.

So don't do that. The bottom line is that the strong delusion is a very specific delusion sent to a very specific group of people at a very specific time and for a very specific purpose, and so should not be connected to, mistaken for, or casually mixed in with the general deception Satan is flooding and will continue to flood the world with in preparation for his man the Antichrist's brief and ultimately doomed kingdom of lies.

Doctor's orders

One last time...I'm not trying to get on anyone's case here. It's just that the error of conflating the strong delusion of 2 Thessalonians 2:11 with the increasing deception we are now witnessing has become commonplace and is being widely taught and believed by many in the Church.

And it is an error.

You know, maybe it's just me, but it just pours prune juice on my Rice Krispies when I see God's Word misinterpreted and misunderstood that way by so many good people. And when I keep seeing it, at some point the Holy Spirit might drop it in my in-box and the next thing I know the wheels start turning.

In reality, one could argue that it makes no real difference to us as Church Age believers how we view the strong delusion because we won't be here to witness it anyway. So, any such "delusion confusion" on our part is academic, right?

But it's like they say: The simple truth is that the truth is not that simple. You know, I started out treating this topic like a doctor, and so I may as well finish in the same vein (no pun intended, but I'll take it).

Any errors in biblical interpretation are

dangerous because they're like bacteria:

They spread and cause infection.

The problem is that if you have an errant view of one thing in Scripture, it is likely to give you an errant view of a related thing. And that causes you to have an errant view of something else, and so on and so forth on down the line.

And the next thing you know, you have a full-blown scriptural infection.

For example, let's say you believe the Rapture occurs at the end of the Tribulation. OK, fine. ("That's all right...let's just agree to disagree.") Then you read about all those people getting saved in Revelation 7, and since according to your view the Church is still on earth, these people must be Church Age believers. Then in Revelation 16:15 you read "Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." You know garments represent righteousness, so you assume this means that some believers in the Tribulation (that you presume are members of the Church) will fail to "keep their garments" and so will lose their salvation! So, that means you have to start going through the rest of the New Testament and twist, torture, and contort all those verses that clearly say that one is eternally saved the moment they believe the gospel in faith because they all must be wrong, and voilà: Eternal security is a lie from the pit of hell, ad infinitum, ad contagione. (Hey, don't laugh—I've seen worse than that.)

That's how it always works with interpretational errors—one error leads to another and the infection spreads.

Luckily, there is an antibiotic for that:

¹⁵Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

(2 Timothy 2:15 AKJV)

And luckily for the entire human race, my fantasy of being a doctor is restricted to an occasional daydream. But I do know that you should normally follow your doctor's instructions and complete the full regimen for any antibiotics he prescribes for you. If you don't, you run the risk of developing an immunity to that antibiotic, which can lead to serious medical problems in the future.

But unlike real-life antibiotics, you should never stop taking this one (and the larger the dosage, the better). So whenever you find yourself suffering from any type of illness from the "delusion confusion" family of interpretive maladies, the antibiotic that Dr. Paul prescribed for his patient Timothy has been clinically proven to be a safe and effective treatment...and it is recommended you start taking it immediately.

Doctor's orders.

From Greg Lauer @ A Little Strength—JAN '24

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