The Cult

2 Thess 2 mentions a man of sin / son of perdition - generally referred to as the Antichrist. He sits in the holy place and sees himself as God. Many say the Temple in Jerusalem must be rebuilt in order for the Antichrist to sit in the holy place. My theory is that if the Antichrist writes satanic heresy on the hearts of Christians then he will be sitting in the holy place. Recall 1 Corinthians 3. 16 tells us that the heart of a Christian is the Temple of God. Obviously True Christians have the Divine Law / new covenant written on their hearts not satanic heresy, recall Matthew 26. 28 and Jeremiah 31. 31-34. But Christians who are not quite True Christians might be in big trouble. If 99% of what the Antichrist pushes is sound doctrine, and if 1% is satanic heresy, but if that 1% is enough to drag one down to hell, then this might create big problems for lots of Christians who aren't so great at distinguishing between sound doctrine and satanic heresy. Let's practice a little. We're commanded to love God. And how do you love God? 1 John 5. 3 says you must obey the Commandments in order to love God. In Catholic nations people are very forgetful about the Commandment against Adultery. Protestants nations are terrible at keeping the Sabbath day holy. The Eastern Orthodox violate the 2nd Commandment with all of their idolatrous ikons. Lots of Christian nations support movies and TV shows where God's name is routinely taken in vain. Moving along, the Roman Catholic Church, in the Dogma of Papal Infallibility, says one is anathema if one rejects that Dogma. Are you damned if you reject that Dogma? Well if Rome is God's True Church then you better accept that Dogma. But if Rome is a false church which leads people to perdition, then the Dogma of Papal Infallibility is voodoo. Rome says it's a big heresy to say Mary was not ever-Virgin. But the scriptures say Jesus had brothers and sisters. Well, if Rome is God's True Church, then just obey God's True Church. It is so terribly crazy to risk hellfire by rebelling against Rome if Rome is God's True Church. Just obey the Holy Father and you are assured of salvation, unless of course the "Holy Father' is a heretic, in which case the Roman Catholic Church is a false church which leads people to perdition.

Christianity has lots of harsh scriptures on hellfire - Malachi 4. 1, Matthew 25. 31-46, Luke 16. 19-31, John 15. 6, 2 Thess 1. 8, Revelation 20. 12-15 etc. I've always assumed that the typical person who is outside of the True Church is subject to eternal banishment from heaven, eternal perdition, but this doesn't mean he's subjected to eternal fire. It's all wrong to take a scripture like John 15. 6, and then distort it, by insisting it means eternal fiery torture when John 15. 6 doesn't say that.