A famous phrase from at least the time of Rome said, “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad”. Does it apply to now? Is God preparing to destroy parts of the world and so is allowing them to descend into madness so that they bring on their own destruction? To say the least, it’s happened before. The Latin rendition was, “Quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat,” an opinion that’s been around for centuries.
Paul the Apostle spoke of this in a different way. He said that God sends “strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” (II Thessalonians 2:11) But to whom is that strong delusion sent? Paul covers that quite succinctly. Those who “receive not the truth, that they may be saved.” (II Thessalonians 2:10)
I’ve personally witnessed the progression of history over the last 50 or 60 years. I enjoyed and spent time sharing my faith at Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and Hyde Park in London in 1971. How has Britain progressed over the last 50 years? Or Dam Square in Amsterdam where I was in 1972? Have the nations of Western Europe and North America “progressed”? You might think to say yes. But what do you think the answer would be in the eyes of God? “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.”
What incredible depth that saying has and I think I only for the first time really saw it and realized it tonight. Is that saying something that the Hebrew Bible would agree with? It certainly is. One of the most incredible passages in the Old Testament bears out this thought. 
God said to the spirits around His throne, “Who shall persuade [ancient king of Israel] Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead… And one came forth and said, ‘I will go forth and being a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets’. And the Lord said, ‘Go, you shall persuade him’.” (I Kings 22:20-22)
This is almost unfathomable for many people. But the Bible says that the Lord convened a multitude of spirits before His throne and that he sanctioned one who said he would go and be a lying spirit in the mouth of the prophets of the evil king Ahab.
This is not taught in the kids’ Sunday school class on Sunday. Or most likely even from the pulpit. But it’s the same idea as the ancient thought, “Quos Deus vult perdere prius”. Or as another translation gives it, “Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first deprives of reason”. Perhaps, if you prefer the Greek rendition, Sophocles said, “Evil appears as good in the minds of those whom god leads to destruction.”
God, at length, when they have rejected His messengers, despised His words and misused his prophets, sends a lying spirit to deceive fully and utterly those ones who have already gone so far in rejecting Him.
Like the Bible says of ancient King Saul, who ruled before King David, “The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him” (I Sam 16:14). This is where we are now in our times. Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
We all feel it and sense it. There is a spirit of madness and virtually insanity that is upon so many in our nations at this time. It is unsustainable. It is overwhelmingly lacking in basic truth and a grasp of reality and the truth that is of this time. But historically this is what happens before destruction. The ancients knew this.
But these are the overwhelmingly fearful and foreboding times we live in. 
If you study history, you’ll be aware of times when a lone voice was raised, “one crying in the wilderness”. (Mark 1:3) But it went unheeded. The multitude had hasted to follow evil. “They mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his people until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people and there was no remedy.” (II Chronicles 36:16) Ask the Germans, they can tell you about it.
Well, this kind of talk is not popular. It’s depressing and discouraging. Still, historically, a solid case could be made that the times we are in right at this moment could be encapsulated by that phrase, “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad”.
Madness, unreasonableness, fierce senselessness is the order of the day here in our times and even is daily seen in my home country. Hopefully you are not sucked into these things. Hopefully you are anchored in the Lord and His truth. Because the delusion is very strong in our times. And multitudes are being confused and perplexed by it. May God help you and us all.
What you wrote is confirmation to what I’ve been feeling about this whole on-going issue since last March. When I asked God, what is going on, He said: The curse causeless shall not come: as the bird by wandering as the swallow by flying , so the curse causeless shall not come pr 26:2
That’s a good and fitting verse, thanks.
Man has wandered far from God
I sense this has happened to me. I have fallen. God has departed. I am on the brink of hell.
What you are describing is very much what I went through while in university which was totally what I needed to bring me to desperate repentance and a completely new life in the Lord. If it happened to me, it can happen to you. If you call out to the Lord at a time like this, He can bring you out of whatever depths you are in, forgive you of whatever you have done and strengthen you to walk strongly in Him. This is what happened to me and even afterwards I have “fallen away” a few times and His loving presence and Spirit drew me back to Himself. You can never be too bad for Jesus, only too good. The greatest darkness attacks just before dawn.
“He [God the Father] gave Him [Jesus the Son] who knew no sin to BECOME sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:21, [Caps emphasis and amplification mine for clarity]
Jesus already died as and for your sin; therefore repent of any unbelief, run back to Him, confess your sin and be cleansed of all unrighteousness. If you are spiritually reborn as a new creation in Christ, your spirit is alive and untainted in Christ, hidden in Christ in God (Col. 3:3). If you are a spiritually reborn new creation in Christ, your sins have been forgiven and forgotten eternally but if your soul have led you to sin, REPENT (which is to have a change of mind that results in action) and go back to the Lord. He is there with open arms. He NEVER turns anyone away that comes to Him because the Father gave them to Him (John 6:37-65). He is like the father of the prodigal son. He looks for the prodigal to return and when he is still far away, He sees him and runs to him with open arms full of forgiveness and brings restoration.
YES!
Whoever calls upon the Lord shall be saved. God sends His rain on both the evil and the good. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of Jesus and you shall be saved. Only Jesus said this ” I am the way, the truth and the life. He who puts his trust in me will never be ashamed. It’s better to fall into the hands of God that to trust man who like the grass withers in the noon day sun.
Perfectly said, Mark. I can’t begin to describe how I feel about your post here, as I have for a long time felt basically the same as you: that there is so much going on behind the scenes that most people, even Christians, do not realize or accept, as it will shatter their personal concept of God rather than what the Bible says in its entirety. Thanks for posting this.
I agree with you Jake! I have Christian friends who seem to be way more naive than those in the world. There is like a spell has been cast over the whole earth. With a number for just the USA. I have learned to my dismay that Satan is way more evil than I had thought. I have learned to my dismay that there are way more evil people who love evil than I ever imagined. So, holding on to the Word and to the person of Jesus is where it is at, and actually always has been!
Read Romans 1 KJV and the term reprobate mind when a person gets turned over and cannot repent.
1 corinthians 5:5 god gives sinners over to satan.
Thank God I was led to your website by Steve Quayle posting this article of yours!!!
I have been preaching the same thing about how children of God such as Ahab and Saul were finally cursed by our Father for disobedience and sent straight to hell after He slew them with the enemy through the evil spirits He totally controls!
This passage was part of yesterday’s readings for Sunday, 3/14/21:
2 Chronicles 36:15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. 17 He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians,[g] who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. 18 He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. 19 They set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there.
20 He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. 21 The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.
Even more reason to pray for our leaders. Not so their plans will succeed but that their minds will be turned toward the will of God. Pray that when they act in opposition to God’s will there would be confusion. Also pray that Godly justice would be carried out
1st Kings 22:20-22 looks confusing even to Christians. It looks like God is sanctioning a lie. Doesn’t that mean God can sin?
Or it might be like Paul talked about to the Thessalonians in the New Testament, “…and with all deceit of unrighteousness in those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, so that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, so that all those who do not believe the truth, but delight in unrighteousness, might be condemned.” (II Thessalonians 2:10-12)