strong delusion

Here's a passage to ponder:

"The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thess 2:9-12

Let's break this down:

1. people (who are perishing already) are deceived by Satan

2. they are deceived because they refuse the truth (of the gospel)

3. Therefore, God sends them a strong delusion to believe that deception more stongly

4. in order to condemn them.

If you find this passage disturbing and at this moment are trying to think of ways to explain how God doesn't violate man's "free will", then deep down are you not taking man's depravity seriously?

"None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God."

Non-Calvinists say they believe man is a sinner, but have a hard time admitting the fact that we are guilty because of Adam's sin - NOT because we've rejected Jesus - and are in a state of condemnation from the point of conception. "I was sinful from my mother's womb". The assumption that our guiltiness has something to do with the decision to trust Jesus or not is simply unbiblical. If that were the case, churches should NEVER send out missionaries for fear of someone rejecting Christ and thereby condeming themselves. You see how strange this is?

We don't go to hell because we reject Jesus, we go to hell because we are born "in Adam" and we need God to put us "in Christ". People's rejection of Jesus is the RESULT not the cause of our state of depravity, the "curse" as the bible calls it. All because of Adam. Non-Calvinists make their starting point with us. We must make the starting point Adam.

Adam's Fall and Mine by R.C. Sproul