Perilous Times Shall Come

I was reflecting today on yesterday’s news story about the couple that nearly starved their six-year-old child to death.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the longer I live, and the more I see, the truer the Bible becomes.  It is indeed a prophetic book.  God told us these things would happen.  I don’t have to ask myself why things are so bad, neither do I have to furrow my brow and wonder if things will ever get better, because I know they won’t.  Things will only get worse.  The Bible says so.  Listen to what the apostle Paul wrote about the times we are now in.

“Know also, that in the last times, perilous time shall come.

“For men shall be lovers of their own selves: covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemous, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

“Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those who are good,

“Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.  Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:1-4).

Because Americans today are more ungodly than we have ever been in any other time in our history, most people will not be able to see that this is a very good description of our culture.  A look at some of the terms will bear this out.

Lovers of Their Own Selves.  Every time I hear that song by Whitney Houston, “The Greatest Love of All,” I think about this verse.  The Bible says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).  This is the greatest Love of all.  But, the world says that the greatest love is the love that one has for oneself.  That is a selfish love.  That is the reason people are so selfish, and actually it is the love of oneself that is responsible for all the other problems that are listed here.  The apostle Paul knew what he was doing when he listed it first.

Covetous.  This means you want something that belongs to someone else.  Each and every one of us, whether we know it or not, whether we choose to accept it or not, has an enemy.  Some of us are fortunate in that we know who some of our enemies are.  But did you know that there are people who believe that everyone likes them?  I know at least one person like that.  It’s true.  And they do everything in their power to make sure that everyone likes them.

But for all their “going along to get along,” they still have enemies.  Satan always makes sure of that.  Even if you never do anything to anger anyone, Satan will make sure that there will always be someone, in or out of your life, who will hate you just because you have.  Maybe you have an attractive wife.  Maybe you have a nice car.  Maybe you have a successful marriage.  Maybe you have a job.  Maybe you cut your grass.  Maybe you don’t curse.  There are literally a gazillion reasons they could hate you, but usually it’s because of something you have that they don’t.  They’re covetous.

Proud.  Americans are known the world over for being proud.  The “Ugly American” is actually a proud American.  One who thinks that Americans are the standard by which all others should be measured.

Blasphemous.  This means to speak evil of God.  Americans are especially guilty of this one.  Just look at our language.  The Bible says that we should not take the Lord’s name in vain.  Yet, “Oh, my God!” is so commonplace, that the abbreviation for it (omg), is probably part of the lexicon.  The name of the Lord Jesus Christ is one of America’s best-loved curse words.  I once bought a four-DVD entertainment pack which included the movies, “Twister” and “Outbreak.”  I had not seen these movies since I became a Christian almost six years ago, so I was shocked to hear how often the name of Jesus was used as a swear word in both these movies.

We even shorten it to make it look OK.  Did you ever stop to think that the word “Gee” (like the Beaver used to say) sounds amazingly close to Jesus?  It could very well be that the Beaver, by saying “gee” all the time, was actually training America’s kids to take the Lord’s name in vain.  Those kids are now grown, and we know what they are saying now, and it’s not “gee.”

Disobedient to Parents.  Kids these days are so disrespectful to their parents, that it has become commonplace.   The weird kid is actually the one who obeys his parents.  We are so disrespectful, that there is even a saying that when something is really good, it’s “so good, it makes you wanna slap yo’ mama.”  Now, who would come up with something like that?  But when you think about it, it makes perfect sense.  If we disrespect our Father, how could we ever expect our children to respect us?

And there lies the crux of the matter.  Children these days, no matter what else they may be, are very intelligent.  They know how hypocritical it sounds for them to have to obey us, but we don’t have to obey anyone.  If we took our marching orders from the Lord Jesus, and made this clear to our kids, they would understand that we are not just making this stuff up as we go along.  They would know that just as they have their orders, we have our orders too, from above.  Just as they are held accountable, so are we.  But as it is, we tell them that who pays the bills makes the rules.  This may be true to an extent, but it should not be the sole basis of our authority.  We are in charge because God said so.  And we should let our children know that to disobey us is to disobey God; and that has consequences. 

By the way, click here to read how Secular Humanism is creating a generation of selfish, self-centered, arrogant, and disrespectful children.

Unthankful.  We are a thankless generation.  Most of our parents made incredible sacrifices to provide a decent life for us.  And how do we repay them?  When they get old, we ship them off to an old folk’s home to die.  When they’re old, and when we have achieved a modicum of success and independence, this is a perfect time to repay them for all that they did for us when we were young.  But we don’t.

Unholy.  SEE Blasphemous.

Without Natural Affection.  This is something that we see a lot of these days. Natural affection is the affection that normally exists between family members, and especially that which should exist between a mother and her children.  But this type of affection is quickly becoming a thing of the past.  Never in history have there been so many instances of parents harming their own children, or visa versa.  When was the last time you saw a parent and a child hug each other out of genuine affection for one another?  It is becoming extremely rare.  Many parents only do what they legally have to for their children.  They do the bare minimum.  Everything else is left up to someone else.  This puts tremendous pressure on teachers, caregivers, and yes, even spouses, because they are left to deal with the inevitable emotional baggage of a child or adult who has been neglected.

Trucebreakers.   How many people keep their promises these days?  I remember a time when a person’s word was his bond.  A person knew that if he betrayed his word to just one person, the word would get around until pretty soon, that person had a reputation for being untrustworthy, and then no one would trust that person anymore.  This is no longer the case.  Oftentimes, it is almost a given that if a person promises to do something, they likely will not.  People no longer place a premium on honesty.  A truth and a lie have equal value in the minds of many.  We can thank “situation ethics” for that.

False accusers.  We will begin to see more and more of this.  This is not just bearing false witness, or lying.  This means someone lies for the express purpose of getting someone else in trouble, often for something they themselves did.  During the Inquisition, in Nazi Germany and in Stalinist Russia, you could not trust anyone.  People routinely lied on their neighbors just to see them disappear.  And it will happen here too, you can believe that.

Incontinent.  This is a lack of self-control.  The contemporary meaning of the word is the inability to control one’s bodily functions.  The Bible, however, uses it in the classical sense of an inability to keep one’s passions in check.  An example would be someone who is easily angered, is sexually promiscuous, or even has a problem with substance abuse.  The general idea is that one is not in control, but one’s passions are.  Could there be any doubt that this is the case today?

Despisers of Those Who Are Good.  Let’s face it.  People nowadays hate people who are decent.  Do you doubt this?  Well, walk into a doctor’s office and just say a general “Good morning” to everyone in the room.  I have done this.  This will visibly disturb some people.  I have heard someone called fake, just because that person always smiled and had a kind word to say.  But, someone who wears a perpetual scowl on his face, and is quick to blow up will get fear and respect, even admiration.

Traitors.  Did you know that many Americans say and believe things that would have been considered treasonous seventy years ago?  We embrace ideologies that run counter to everything America stood for.  Socialism is considered the answer to America’s problems.  If this is true, then many a mother’s son has died in vain to protect the American way of life, just so we could become that which we fought against.  How hypocritical!  Some of America’s worst enemies are her own citizens.

Lovers of Pleasure More Than Lovers of God.  Ultimately, this is what is really wrong with America.  We have become a pleasure-seeking society and not a God-seeking society.  And we’re proud of it.

The Bible foretold of this over two thousand years ago.  And it is spot on.  Now, if it was right about this, and so many other prophecies, is it such a stretch to believe that the predictions the Bible makes about the Antichrist, the coming New World Order, and the return of Jesus Christ and the coming Judgment will also prove correct?  I think not.

Brothers and sisters, if the Bible is right about what’s coming, it will far surpass even the most horrible times in world history.  It behooves each of us to make his peace with the Lord Jesus.  Now.  Before it’s too late.  All the signs are there for us to see.

If you would like to make your peace with the Lord, click here.

Nothing can stop what is coming, but we can delay it for a little while, if we would humble ourselves, turn from our evil ways, and seek God’s face.   There’s still time.

The Still Man

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