For I tell you in all truth, while Heaven and Earth remain, the Law shall not be docked of one letter or comma till its purpose is achieved.
Therefore, the man who abolishes one of these little rules and teaches people to forget it shall count for little in the Kingdom of Heaven; whereas the man who acts and teaches in accordance with them shall count for much in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Matthew 5:17-19 Rieu Translation
"There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in Religion. It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner." Sherlock Holmes The Adventure of the Naval Treaty
"... an absolute stillness fell upon us, save for the chimes of the distant church which told us of the progress of the Night..." The Adventure of Black Peter Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Mystery of Iniquity
The Apostle Paul wrote in his day that "the mystery of iniquity doth already work" (2Thessalonians 2:7). While there has been much speculation and disputation about the whole last days scenario of the Bible, the phrase "mystery of iniquity" has not been adequately dealt with in the Christian forum. Because of this, there is no general understanding among believers as to what the mystery of iniquity actually is-- What does the term represent according to the Greek words the phrase is translated from?
Musterion is the Greek word from which "mystery" is derived-- according to James Strong it means: "a secret through the idea of silence imposed by initiation into religious rites".
While this already says much about the vague notions of righteousness held by the bulk of popular Christianity, we are given more specific understanding by seeing the meaning of the word "iniquity" with which MUSTERION is coupled:
"Iniquity" is a Latin-forged Greek word carrying a nebulous meaning to most minds, but the Greek word anomos from which iniquity is translated simply means LAWLESSNESS, the state of being without Law. Again already, popular Christianity is under strong indictment!
That which had begun to work in Paul's day has now waxed full to the extent that most indoctrinated believers are convinced that it is wrong to even attempt to obey God's Law!
They therefore deny the standard of righteousness that the Lord Jesus lived and LIVES to fulfill. Furthermore, they hold this foolish belief forth as the only way to be saved by grace!
While we can only be justified by faith in the Lord Jesus, He has not changed His Mind about every precept of His Law being in our best interests to observe. In fact, the very reason He lives in us is to empower us to fulfill all righteousness, walking as He walked to keep the commandments!
The present animousity of Christians towards the Law is an incredibly astounding course of events beyond all comparison! On this very point, the balance of all creation trembles, and the powers of heaven are shaken!
Thankfully, the foundations of righteousness laid in the Law are stronger than the heavens and the earth (Luke 16:17). If we are to be manifested as the sons of God, we must overcome the mystery of iniquity to follow the Example of our High Priest in fulfilling the Law of Righteousness.
Despite the calamitous wrestings of Paul's writings used by modern preachers to denigrate the Law, Paul's own stance is made clear by his words in 1Corinthians 9:21: "BEING NOT WITHOUT LAW TO GOD, BUT UNDER THE LAW TO CHRIST". Has anyone ever heard a modern-day preacher admit that he is "under the Law to Christ"?
A few scriptures easily overthrow the mystery of iniquity, and realization of these will overturn the effects of the anti-law religion that has been promulgated to the ends of the earth in the name of Christ!
The Lord Jesus said: "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15).
John further explained: "This IS the Love of God, that we keep His commandments" (1John 5:3),
"sin is the transgression of the Law" and "He who commits sin is of the devil" (1John 3:4,8).
Paul summarized: "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed!" (1Corinthians 16:22)
By these scriptures it is plain that anyone who does not love the Lord Jesus shows it by disregarding His commandments. As such, they are transgressing against the Law, they are OF the devil, and are forever accursed unless they come to repentance. This condemns most of our day's professing Christians!
Mystery Babylon
Now with the above understanding of the Mystery of Iniquity, we can see the extent to which it has prospered unto this day, since the time of the apostle Paul. James, the (half) brother of Jesus, told Paul in Acts 21:20, "Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe, AND THEY ARE ALL ZEALOUS OF THE LAW...".
The majority of Christians at that time were Jews-- law-abiding Judeans who embraced the Messiah and evinced His righteousness in the earth by His grace. However, within the next fifty years after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, Christianity shifted into a more "Gentile" oriented majority.
As it did so, emphasis on and zeal for the Law dwindled. The term "Jew" became a byword meaning Christ-rejecter, and Christians no longer identified themselves as Jews (This was in fulfillment of prophecy: Deuteronomy 28:37, Isaiah 65:15, 62:2 & Acts 11:26).
Those believers of Jewish ancestry who married, bore children, and reared them in the faith, over time lost all association and identification with the aberration that "Jewish" culture had become, that is, they distanced themselves from anti-Christ Jewish culture by identifying themselves instead with Jesus as Christians.
Likewise, overall Christianity progressing to our day especially, lost respect for the Law of God. Even as Paul had prophesied: Israel (the law keeping apostles and prophets) was taken out of the way, so that the mystery of iniquity could then abound as it has since that time [see 2Thessalonians 2:3,6,7]. The popular Christianity that has since filled the earth is the prop and sham of anti-Christ, bound to be cast down.
The form of Christianity that reigns over the kings of the earth is not the faithful Bride of Christ, but is instead Mystery Babylon the Great, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication!
Babylonian Christianity has sold nations through her whoredoms and sold families through her witchcrafts (Nahum 3:4-7). Rebellion to the Law of God is as the sin of witchcraft: through financial injustice and failing to teach the law forbidding usury among brethren (Deuteronomy 23:19,20), Babylon's witchcrafts have given her queenship over the earth.
She is that great city, the religious economic system which reigns over the kings of the earth. Printing paper money at very little cost while confiscating precious metals is the means of Babylon attaining her great wealth. Imposing debt slavery through usury is the way in which she sells nations and families.
Chiefly by these two financial frauds, the whore of Babylon has amassed the wealth of the world, and lives deliciously at present. Even church people are drunkenly unwilling to endure sound doctrine, heaping up multitudes of false teachers to placate their lusts and comfort them in their sins.
Thus, Mystery Babylon is revealed: the voice of heaven is saying, "Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues". Babylon is soon to be cast down with violence as Yah's people come out of religious bondage. To come OUT of her, one must first realize that he is IN her!
The Love of money is the root of all evil, usury and covetousness has co-opted Biblical Christianity and made drunkards out of professing believers. Sadly, even "spiritual" Christians wallow in Babylon's economic mire!
However, our Father in heaven has given us richly all things to enjoy, and with it has given us the grace to be content with such things as we have, even if we have only food and raiment!
Opening our ears to the wisdom of keeping His Law, and moving us by His Spirit in accord with His commands, Yahweh leads us in a straight path out of Babylonian covetousness and confusion.
The hour is soon to come when all of heaven rejoices, saying, "HalleluYah! Salvation and glory and honour and power unto the LORD our God. For True and Righteous are His Judgements, for He has judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand".
In Jude 3, we are exhorted to earnestly CONTEND for the Faith once delivered to the saints: "they that forsake the Law praise the wicked, but such as keep the Law CONTEND with them". Proverbs 28:4