Which comes first; unbelief or delusion? Well, the definition of a delusion is “a false belief held in spite of invalidating evidence.” I conclude from that that unbelief comes first and I would argue that an unbelief is a false belief. You can examine the evidence and say that you don’t believe the evidence, or you can say the evidence doesn’t exist, either way you are deluding yourself. So, where am I going with this? Is it just me or is it getting difficult to see what is real and what is not real in this world; people drawing their own lines defining right and wrong?I became a Christian as a young person and always had a tendency to speak what was on my mind…whether I should or not! (That is a hard habit to break!) When the subject of God or religion came up I was not afraid to say what I believed the Bible said on the subject. And usually people would listen, and even if they didn’t agree, were polite about it. Not so anymore! You can talk about “church” and “doing the best you can,” and you can mention God, etc., but bring in Jesus Christ and people walk away, and I am not talking about the occasional person. This is what the apostles predicted was going to happen at the end of the end of the age. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica setting in order for them the events of the age, and he prophesied “a falling away” of professed believers before the second coming of Christ.
What causes it? Take a good look around. Evil is like a cancer; if you don’t deal with it it will grow, and as the darkness grows and gets bolder in its opposition to the light there will be increasing opposition and antagonism to Christians. And those who have professed a belief in Christ, but who are really deluded into thinking they can decide for themselves what they choose to believe see the handwriting on the wall and are ‘jumping the fence.’ Remember, “The same motive that makes men flatter in prosperity will make them insult in adversity.”
Proverbs 14:12 says that “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” No matter the abundant evidence that, because of their wickedness, men need a Savior to redeem and rescue them, they will keep deluding themselves, believing a false belief that everything will turn out “okay,” And they don’t want anyone messing with their “reality!”
But the day is eventually coming when all men will bow the head and bend the knee confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. And sadly, that includes much of what “professes” to be the church of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ condemnation of what professes to be His Church at the end of this age is this; “…because you are neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” That is Jesus’ assessment of much of the Church at the end of the age…professing much and possessing nothing, But let that not be said of us. He has called us to persevere as lights in this darkness, and He is doing great things these days in some of the darkest corners of the world. 1Thess. 5:5