The Signs of the End Times (2 of 3)

Mike Connell

The reason the passion will go is because “iniquity will abound”. What do they mean by iniquity? It comes from the word ‘anomia’ – ‘a’ means ‘without’, and ‘nomia’ means ‘law’. Unrestrained, no boundaries, no restraint of the laws of God - and that expands to having no restraint of the laws of the nation either. It's a deep-seated attitude of wanting to do your own thing, to act independently of any boundaries. So, iniquity means to act without restraint - doing what pleases you, without any respect for boundaries or laws.

Have a look what's going on in America right now. Firstly, there is real, authentic injustice, and deep-seated wounding in the core of the nation, among many people. There's no doubt that there is a very deep and true injustice. However, demonic spirits exploit unresolved injustice, and turn it into iniquity, and lawlessness, so that it becomes destructive. It's one thing to raise a voice, to challenge the system; but it's another thing to enter wanton disruption. It's a spirit! It's a spirit that gets on people, and they don't even know what's going on. They violate the laws of God! They show contempt for the law, and contempt for boundaries.

Where are you at, in all of this? Often the spirit of lawlessness just shows up in the attitude towards authorities, when you encounter them. All authority comes from God, so even if an authority on earth misrepresents Him, and doesn't act well, I still need to keep my heart of respect for God, and His authority; and not try to justify rebelling against what is in front of me.

The Bible says that if you love God, it's demonstrated by how you treat people. His authority, His Lordship - you see it by how you respond, when an authority person comes in front of you. We're not to be afraid of them, and we're not to disrespect, or despise them; we're just to recognise that's what it is.

Commonly, lawlessness is shown by independence; disrespect for authority; abusive names to people in authority - criticising them, running them down. It's shown by passive rebellion, or defiance.

If you have a look at the methods of raising children in the last 50 years, their whole philosophy of parenting is never saying ‘no’ to the child. When the heck will they learn that ‘no’ is a part of life? What they learn is that my will is more important than anyone else. You've trained them in lawlessness.

The End Times spread of lawlessness will be deeply connected to what's happening in families, and the raising of children, so that they get used to living with no restraints. You can't say no to them. You can't point out things that are wrong and get them to change. All of that has a rational thinking behind it, but it endorses the spirit of lawlessness. There are such things as boundaries, and if you teach people healthy boundaries, they learn respect for authority, and a fear of God. If you don't have healthy boundaries, then people learn that nothing can stop me. I will have what I want, when I want, how I want, and I get what I want - so they throw tantrums, and parents give in.

If you're a parent that gives in to your child's tantrums, and lets them have everything they want, when they want it, then you are training them in lawlessness. You are literally ruining them. They won't respect you, when they grow up. You will have problems later on.

We've got a great family. I'm proud of my children. I have seven children, with seven wonderful spouses, and 24 grandchildren - and there's honour and respect that flows through the family. There's a reason for that. It doesn't just happen. There are principles that you put into family life, into raising children, building family culture, and it has to do with the fear of God, and respect.

If there's disrespect in family for those who are older, then you're going to have the spirit of lawlessness unleashed. This is a huge problem, and a lot of parents need to have a re-think of what you're doing. Where did you get these ideas from? Did you get them from the word of God? Some of the stuff that's been current - I've been around long enough to see when they changed it, from this to that; and years later they had to change it back again, because they got it all wrong. I was in confrontation back here, because I said: this is the right way to do it. I thought later, when I went to one of the schools, and they're making this big announcement about the change, I thought: who will stand up and say “we got it wrong, for a whole generation of children, about their reading”?