Passage Read: 2 Thessalonians 2-3
Meditation Verse: 2:15
Thought
The antidote to the delusion that's coming and likely is already working its deception is to hold firmly to the traditions handed down to us from Paul and the original Apostles and the rest of Scripture. They and their teaching were not part of the delusion, but anything that calls us to step aside from anything they taught is. Paul does not say to follow the traditions of men who followed him, but the traditions he established in his letters and by his public teaching. So he does not here promote the idea that all who come before us have say in what traditions we now hold to. He sets himself, his own teaching and his letters as the baseline to which we must hold. So even if Timothy introduces something new, his new teachings are not to be adopted if they contradict anything Paul wrote or taught. So any traditions introduced after Paul, disagreeing with what Paul taught and not founded in Scripture, these later traditions are not from God but from the spirit of the antichrist, who is the devil. Men (or women) who put themselves forward as qualified to change any tradition laid down by Paul and the other apostles are not serving Christ and His church, but the devil himself. They are sadly preparing a people to receive the delusion that's coming and has already been in the world, a delusion that doubtless has its foundation in the concept of rebellion against authority, a delusion that is itself a rejection of all that the original apostles taught. Jesus commanded them to teach their followers to obey everything He had commanded them, so to turn set aside from their instructions is to set aside the instruction and authority of Jesus. Those who do so have lost their connection to Christ, and they are not now freed from all constraint, but they have unwittingly handed themselves over to a new master, who is not new at all, but our old enemy from ancient times.
Application
The Scriptures from the Apostles and before are the standard for life and godliness. They are the record of their teachings and the traditions they handed down. I do not want to be influenced by later traditions; I do not want to fall for traditions laid down by later teachers, not if they violate any teaching already established by Paul and the other Apostles. This is the error of looking to the history of the church of inspiration, guidance and instruction. It is that history that led to the Reformation, because the average member of the church couldn't read the original writing of the Apostles, so they were trapped by their illiteracy under the rule of later men who introduced and followed whatever tradition they wanted to establish. Every variety of Christian, whether Roman Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant, whenever and wherever they deviate from the teachings and traditions laid down in Scripture, they need to be avoided. I don't want to fall prey to the final delusion that God is sending on the world He intends to judge, so I must not ignorantly adopt and follow any man-made tradition or teaching, regardless of its source, regardless of how "learned" or "holy" its teacher may be. If it goes against the teachings of the Old and New Testaments, it is wrong. If it is not a natural outworking of those Scriptures, it is suspect. I need to hold fast to what the Scriptures actually teach, so as to avoid the delusion that will take all who remain eternal objects of God's wrath.