"The Contested Planet: Tribulation & the Anti-Christ"	December 5th, 2004

Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43

24. Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.
25. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
26. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27. “The owner's servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28. “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29. “ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them.
30. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ ”

36. Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
37. He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.
38. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,
39. and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40. “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
41. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.
42. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

2 Thessalonians 2: 1-8

1. Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers,
2. not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come.
3. Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for (that day will not come) until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness[a] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
4. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
5. Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?
6. And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time.
7. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.
8. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.

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