BLUF: Europe, the Christian civilization, rebelled against Jesus Christ, and set himself in the place of God. This is the Man ofLawlessness.

“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thes 2:1-12 ESV

The Apostasy, or Great Rebellion

The Day of the Lord won’t be revealed until the “man of lawlessness” is revealed, along with the great rebellion. The New American Standard Bible refers to this as the “apostasy.” The Living Bible says, “There will be a time of great rebellion against God” (2 Thes 2:3). This unique thing about the Lawless One is the utterly apostasy that accompanies him.

Apostasy from what? At the time Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians was written, there could not have been an apostasy — Europe had not been converted. In other words, both the Jews and the Gentile could not suddenly fall into Apostasy because they were already in darkess.

Here is a scriptural example: Jesus Christ spent most of his earthly life in “Galilee of the Gentiles,” they were in darkness, and therefore could not have fallen into darkness from the darkness — they were already there.

“there the people who sat in darkness have seen a great Light; they sat in the land of death, and the Light broke through upon them.”
Matt 4:16 TLB.

Apostasy cannot happen before conversion, either personally or as a civilization. Europe was fully Christian, and then rebelled and became modern, secular, democratic, and atheistic under the Rule of Man.
Man without Jesus Christ is Lawless.
Man claimed to have invented God — this is the Age of Reason.
Lawless Man placed himself in the seat of God and claims to be God.

We, as a global civilization, are the Man of Lawlessness.

This is not Ceasar or the Pope or a singular Antichrist, it is the very history and soul of Christian Europe that rejects (the apostasy) Christ and claims one’s own secular divinity.

The Great Apostasy appeared in the heart of Christendom.
The Age of Reason, or the Enlightement, is the Great Apostasy — it is a European invention.
Man replaced God — that Man is the Man of Lawlessness.

Europe, the unique Christian civilization, rebelled against Jesus Christ, tore down Christendom, set himself in the place of God, and claimed to be God.  This is the Man of Lawlessness.

God is dethroned. Man ascends into His place, and the rebellion is complete. There is no reason to demand that the “man of Lawlessness” be a singular person — it is that aura a spirit of Rebellion and apostasy accompanied by delusions. The delusion signs and wonder may include infinite space travel, flying, breaking into heaven, evolution, AI, with more signs and wonders to follow. But the foundation has been laid — the foundation of the Apostasy and putting Man at the center of existence, in control of everything, including God.

This man of Lawless is not coming — it is here. It emerged out of the heart of Christendom — this is the Great Rebellion, the Apostasy. It has been going on since the Declaration Of Independence was signed. It was not only Independence from the King of England, but independence from God. While the Colonists founded explicitly Christian nations, by the time our constitution was adopted, the insidious rebellion against God was well under way. It was not apparent then, but over the last two-hundred and fifty years the U.S. has worked out the implications of a “secular, rational, democracy” and it is profoundly wicked, anti-Christ, and rebellious.

The United States and Europe (the progeny of Christendom) is in total apostasy against Jesus Christ, the God of our ancestors.

The “Man of Lawless” is Man with a capital M — Mankind’s conception of himself as the Creator of God — we live with his world now.

Fritz Berggren
Colorado
17 April 2026 A.D.