This is DAY FORTY FOUR of the daily devotional.

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I am releasing a 50 day daily devotional about the end-times as revealed in Scripture. Along with the text, I will be providing a video where I cover the text of the day, and @verbal-d will be providing an audio version of it. That way, whether you want to read, watch, or listen, you'll be able to enjoy this study as you wish.

The plan is to release this devotional over the next 50 consecutive days, but life may "get in the way." We will do our best, but please be patient with me if I fall behind.

The SoundCloud Audio from @verbal-d

The YouTube Video from @papa-pepper

The Text I Originally Shared on the @narrowminded Account

DAY 44 : THE CAUSE OF THE FALLING AWAY

Concerning Christ’s return and the beginning of the “Day of Christ” (the “Day of the Lord”), we are told “… that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed…” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). It is my belief that the second event mentioned in this passage may play a role in causing the first.

Exactly what effect will movies like Left Behind and all the pretribulational pastors making pretribulational believers have if the pretribulational rapture is soon proven to be false? So many believe that an any-moment rapture is a fact, and wholeheartedly trust that they are forever spared from the events of the supposed “Tribulation period”. They believe these things to be Biblical fact, but I have not been able to find that such is the case. Let’s examine some verses that may show how these two coming events could be tied together.

“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming?” (2 Peter 3:3-4a)

This question posed by the scoffers to believers is meant to be a provoking taunt. I wonder how effective it would be if such a question was raised after the “Abomination of Desolation”. Since pretribulational believers are, as they say, “Looking for Jesus Christ, not the Antichrist”, what will they do when the Antichrist shows up first? I believe that many may forsake the Bible as being the source of truth. After all, the Bible supposedly promised them that they would not be present for the reign of the Antichrist, right? Or, was it really such a small number of true believers that had been raptured, and the rest of us missed it? Perhaps nobody noticed the few true believers leaving earth and the rest of us had somehow not “believed correctly”. To ask “Where is the promise of his coming?” during such a time would certainly be a most persuasive tactic for attacking the accuracy of what the Bible supposedly teaches.

Within the “Olivet Discourse” we have another potential reason why believing in the pretribulational rapture may be dangerous. We are told that some will conclude “My lord delayeth his coming”.

“But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 24:48-51)

What would cause someone to conclude that Jesus had delayed His coming? Could it be events occurring that weren’t supposed to happen until after Jesus came? For a pretribulationist who finds himself within what he believes is “The Tribulation” to conclude that Christ was late seems like the only logical option, unless He isn’t coming at all. We are also told that such a one “shall begin to smite his fellowservants”. This was also promised ahead of time, “And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another and hate one another” (Matthew 24:10). If Christianity appears false and the only reason persecution is coming is for His name’s sake, why not forsake His name and turn on those who still believe?

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Point #1: There must be a cause for this falling away and perhaps the Bible mentions it.

Point #2: Perhaps the “Abomination of Desolation” and persecution at that time will be that cause.

CLOSER

If anyone is really interested, I did post the entire volume through an alt account over a year ago. I did so as an experiment to see how hard it would be for a new user to get noticed on steemit, so I didn't let anyone know that I was doing it. You can click here to a post that has links to the entire 50 days of this devotional if you really want to read ahead. That information has always been available there since I first posted it. It is not the purpose of this series to just copy all of my previous work, but instead to transform it into some new outlets by releasing it in an audio and video format, to broaden the reach that this work has.

Again, though I will certainly never claim to know it all, I do believe that many are being lead astray by some popular beliefs. I hope that this project will be able to help many others understand the end-times more accurately. Thanks!

PREVIOUS POSTS

Just in case you are new to this series and wanted to check out the previous audio or videos, here are links to the posts from each day of this series.

• NEW SERIES
• PREFACE
• DAY 1 - THE FOUNDATION
• DAY 2 - "THE TRIBULATION"
• DAY 3 - THE SEVENTIETH WEEK OF DANIEL
• DAY 4 - NOT APPOINTED TO WRATH
• DAY 5 - WRATH vs. TRIBULATION
• DAY 6 - THE DAY OF THE LORD
• DAY 7 - THE LORD ALONE
• DAY 8 - THE EXALTATION OF THE ANTICHRIST
• DAY 9 - PROMISES
• DAY 10 - THE PRESUPPOSITION
• DAY 11 - 2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-4
• DAY 12 - THE REVEALING OF THE ANTICHRIST
• DAY 13 - SAME DAY 1
• DAY 14 - SAME DAY 2
• DAY 15 - HAND IN HAND
• DAY 16 - OVERTAKE YOU AS A THIEF
• DAY 17 - ANOTHER THIEF?
• DAY 18 - NOT KNOWING THE DAY OR HOUR - 1
• DAY 19 - NOT KNOWING THE DAY OR HOUR - 2
• DAY 20 - NOT KNOWING THE DAY OR HOUR - 3
• DAY 21 - IGNORANCE
• DAY 22 - "OLIVET DISCOURSE" : ARMAGEDDON OR RAPTURE Part 1
• DAY 23 - "OLIVET DISCOURSE" : ARMAGEDDON OR RAPTURE Part 2
• DAY 24 - FOR MY NAME'S SAKE : Part 1
• DAY 25 - FOR MY NAME'S SAKE : Part 2
• DAY 26 - ENDURING TO THE END
• DAY 27 - THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED
• DAY 28 - DARK SUN AND BLOOD MOON - Part 1
• DAY 29 - DARK SUN AND BLOOD MOON - Part 2
• DAY 30 - DARK SUN AND BLOOD MOON - Part 3
• DAY 31 - "SEAL JUDGMENTS"
• DAY 32 - THE FIFTH SEAL
• DAY 33 - TIMING : Part 1
• DAY 34 - TIMING : Part 2
• DAY 35 - TIMING : Part 3
• DAY 36 - TWO WITNESSES : Part 1
• DAY 37 - TWO WITNESSES : Part 2
• DAY 38 - TWO WITNESSES : Part 3
• DAY 39 - TWO WITNESSES : Part 4
• DAY 40 - TWO WITNESSES : Part 5
• DAY 41 - IMMINENT : Part 1
• DAY 42 - IMMINENT : Part 2
• DAY 43 - REASON WHY

Also - A special thanks to @allforthegood for helping design my cover image!

Until next time…

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GIF provided by @orelmely

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