"So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, ‘Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ?’. . .and they said, ‘Barabbas’" Matthew 27:17,21

For those of us who have read the life of Jesus and who love Him with all of our heart, it’s hard to imagine that His own kinsmen would choose Barabbas over Him. The Gospel of Matthew refers to Barabbas as a "notorious prisoner," while everyone knew that Jesus went about healing the sick and even raising the dead. And yet the people chose Barabbas, and when they were asked what should be done with Jesus they cried, "crucify Him!"

The Bible says that God’s Word is the Truth and Jesus declared Himself as the embodiment of the Word and the Truth. The day the Israelites chose Barabbas was not the first time they had chosen an alternative to the Truth - in fact, from the very beginning, man had always chosen the alternative. Consider the two trees of significance in Eden - the Tree of Life and essentially, what was the Tree of Death. God freely gave them the Tree of Life but they chose the alternative and exchanged the truth for the lie that they could eat of it and not die - they were wrong - they died.

 Romans chapter 1 tells us that all men knew of God from the beginning but exchanged this truth for a lie by worshiping created things rather than the Creator. Sadly, most people never receive a love of the truth but instead love and cherish the lie. Like Adam and Eve, they still believe that they can live without loving the truth, but they are very much deceived, -"The one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive a love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them strong delusion so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness." (2 Thes.2)

 This "one" who is coming is the end-time Anti-Christ. "Anti-Christ" means "in place of" or "instead of" Christ. He is also called the "Beast" and the empire which he will rule is referred to as the "fourth Beast."

Revelation 20 tells us that the whole world will worship him and the Dragon (devil) who gives him power. Again we see people choosing a fatal alternative. In fact, most of the world has always chosen to serve Satan as an alternative to the true God. Paul wrote that Satan is presently the "god of this world" (2 Cor.4) and John added, -"We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." (1 Jo.5)

 2 Thessalonians 2 also reveals a frightening truth - and that is in how God deals with those who will not receive a love of the truth but who cherish and nurture the lie. God will actually send upon them a spirit of strong delusion that they would come to believe the lie they  hold so dear.

Even wicked hearts are sometimes troubled by the conscience. The conscience will remind the person with a wicked heart that it is wrong to yield to their lusts causing temporary emotional pain. To find peace they may even try to change for a while, but eventually the wicked heart will rise back up and demand the satisfaction of it's lusts. When God sends the spirit of strong delusion the conscience is forever quieted and the inner struggle is over though the person is a lost soul.

 Jesus told the Jewish Religious leaders that their worship was in vain because they had replaced the Commandments of God with the traditions of men, -"Why do you transgress the Commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?. . .You invalidated the Word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you saying, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men." (Matt.15)

 The devil will always offer you an alternative, and if you do not love and seek the truth, you will surely receive it.

We see here that the traditions and teachings of men can be a alternative to truth. Sunday for the Sabbath? Easter for Passover? Christmas for the Feast of Tabernacles? Traditional Holidays for God’s Holy Days? Think about it.