One thing that has always puzzled me is how the dramatic things that we see taking place in the end times would suddenly unfold, without people reacting in horror.

Paul writes that at one point the Antichrist would actually defile the Temple and set himself up as God:

Who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. (2 Thessalonians 2:4 NASV)

In what is becoming an increasingly secularized world, why would people be so accepting of this?

While many believe this verse addresses something that will occur in a yet unbuilt third Jewish temple, Paul says that the church is actually the temple of God, because it holds the presence of God (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

But if Paul is describing the church, why would people accept the Antichrist as god?

As I watch world events unfold, I think that old adage of a frog in a boiling pot may be at play here. Basically, if you do something gradual enough, in small incremental steps, people won’t even notice the change and accept the ultimate horrific end as normal.

We see an example of this at work in Communist China, the Christian Post reports.

According to a report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has ordered churches across China to remove Christian emblems. Crosses and pictures of Mary and Jesus have been replaced with images of the country’s current despot Xi Jinping or China’s most famous mass murderer Mao Zedong.

USCIRF’s report actually showed an image of Xi Jinping hanging on a church wall where once hung a picture of Mary and an even more blasphemous photo showed how images of Xi Jinping and Mao were incorporated into a cross.

While Jesus died for the sins of the world, Mao is responsible for the slaughter of between 45 million to 80 million Chinese as he instituted China’s glorious communist revolution.

Bible verses that were once printed on the walls of churches have been replace with Communist slogans or statement made by Mao or Jinping.

According to USCIRF, It is part of the CCP’s “sinicization of religion” with communist ideals. It other words, communism is the new religion in China.

While there appears to be no direct deification of China’s current despot Jinping or the world’s biggest mass murderer, it partially fulfills Paul warning of how the Antichrist will be “displaying himself as being God.” The key word here being ‘displaying.’

But this is not the end goal and it will go one step further, as John writes in his vision of the end time that people will ultimately be forced to “worship the image of the beast” (Revelation 13:15).

So what seems like an inconceivable end times event will in fact be the inevitable conclusion of a series of small incremental steps.

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