In his letter to the Thessalonians, speaking about the return of Jesus Christ to the earth, he writes, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). He then proceeds to explain this “falling away” or apostasy from the truth in greater detail.

Paul writes that it will involve the revealing of “the man of sin . . . the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). Some man is going to put himself in the place of God, effectively claiming to be God—and people will believe him. Why? Because: “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11).

The “man of sin,” posing as divine, will be performing supernatural acts with the help of the devil, deceiving all those who have rejected God and setting himself up to be worshipped by the world.

Revelation 19:20 describes this powerful religious leader as “the false prophet who worked signs” in connection with the political leader called the “beast.” The False Prophet is the same as the one called “another beast” in Revelation 13:11, who performs miraculous “signs” (Revelation 13:14-15). He is also the leader of the false church (“the harlot”) in Revelation 17:1-5. He is also referred to as “another horn” who will “persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law” in Daniel 7:8, Daniel 7:20-22, Daniel 7:24-25.

What should you do? We’re told there’s one thing that can save you from being deceived: Have the love of the truth. That means knowing the Bible, understanding what it says and obeying the law of God out of love. If you’re going to avoid being deceived by this man of sin, you’d better know the law—and do it!