Evil Things Will Happen
1Brothers and sisters, we have something to say about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We want to talk to you about that time when we will meet together with him.
2Don’t become easily upset in your thinking or afraid if you hear that the day of the Lord has already come. Some person may say this in a prophecy
3Don’t let any person fool you in any way. {That day of the Lord will not come} until the turning away {from God} happens. And {that day will not come} until the Man of Evil appears (comes). That Man of Evil belongs to hell.
4That Man of Evil is against anything called God or anything that people worship. And that Man of Evil puts himself above anything called God or anything that people worship. And that Man of Evil even goes into God’s temple
5I told you before that all these things would happen. Remember?
6And you know what is stopping that Man of Evil now. He is being stopped now so that he will appear (come) at the right time.
7The secret power of evil is already working in the world now. But there is one who is stopping that secret power of evil. And he will continue to stop it until he is removed (taken out of the way).
8Then that Man of Evil will appear (come). And the Lord Jesus will kill that Man of Evil with the breath that comes from his mouth. The Lord Jesus will destroy that Man of Evil with the glory of his coming.
9The Man of Evil will come by the power of Satan (the devil). He will have great power, and he will do many different false miracles, signs, and wonders.
10The Man of Evil will use every kind of evil to trick those people who are lost. Those people are lost because they refused to love the truth. (If they loved the truth, they would be saved.)
11But those people refused to love the truth, so God sends them something powerful that leads them away from the truth. God sends them that power so that they will believe something that is not true.
12So all those people who don’t believe the truth will be condemned (judged guilty). They did not believe the truth, and they enjoyed doing evil things.
You Are Chosen for Salvation
13Brothers and sisters, the Lord loves you. God chose you from the beginning to be saved. So we should always thank God for you. You are saved by the Spirit
14God called you to have that salvation. He called you by using the Good News
15So, brothers and sisters, stand strong and continue to believe the teachings we gave you. We taught you those things in our speaking and in our letter to you.
16We pray that the Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father will comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say. God loved us. Through his grace (kindness) he gave us a good hope and comfort that continues forever.
17(2:16)