Perilous times

We're looking at a chapter in II Timothy, before going back to our studies in Psalms. Last time we met here, I posted the third chapter of II Timothy for all of us to re-read. We mentioned the fact that Paul was writing from his prison cell to his young friend and new pastor, Timothy.

We've taken the title for our study from the very first verse, and it's the key to the whole chapter! Depending on which translation we use, the words are slightly different, but in the NIV which many folks use, it says this:

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. (II Timothy 3:1, NIV)

See that word "terrible" up there? It's only found here and in one other place in the New Testament. In the other use, it refers to the two men who were possessed by demons:

When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. (Matthew 8:28)

The Bible tells us that these were wild, uncontrollable men who lived among the tombs. That particular Greek word is also used in II Timothy. The last days will be fierce, dangerous, threatening, and even violent. The scholars say another synonym could be that "savage" times will come as men cast off all moral restraint, and society continues to slide down the path to disintegration.

Carl Henry wrote in Twilight of a Great Civilization (1988) that as America loses its Judeo-Christian heritage, paganism will grow bolder. From a kind of benign humanism, as the years went on we would face a situation similar to when the new Christian church confronted paganism in the first century. He said that in our day, the angry monsters of secularism, atheism, and Marxism would be revealed. His words are becoming more true with every passing day!

That's why we can read and take to heart Paul's words to Timothy: "After I'm gone, things are going to get worse. Buckle up!" We needn't be naive and think that everything is going to be ok. Long term, yes, but in the short term? No. That's why we need to "mark this" and pay attention. Being forewarned is forearmed. If we know what's happening, we won't be taken by surprise.

(Anybody pay attention to the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell? Anybody wondering why the records are being sealed after the trial? It's because if they were open, we'd see much of what Paul is going to discuss in these verses!)

The first few verses of chapter three are a list of sins, a catalog of moral decay and corruption. It's similar to what Paul writes in the first chapter of Romans. 
It's what happens when a nation turns its back on God. 

Let's say that again, and think on it. This is what happens when a nation turns its back on God. The nation of America has indeed been a "grand experiment," a country established with our founders' vision of a nation conceived in His trust; based on His blessings of liberty; modeled on the Judeo-Christian ethos that Rabbi Aryeh Spero so eloquently defends today. (I would encourage all those who love God and love liberty to read his works.) The Rabbi believes that we are worshiping at the feet of Molech today, sacrificing our children to an absurd, inside-out morality which says "bad is good, and good is bad." (Rabbi Spero also says....."if we wish to transmit to our children and grandchildren the religious heritage we cherish as well as the Americanism we inherited from our forefathers, we must fight now - in the public domain. We cannot afford to lose. We cannot turn the other cheek, for our battle is for the soul of America....Now, before it is too late!")

But I have digressed, and I must climb down from my soap box and pick up my Bible again . . . 

When a nation turns its back on God, there is first a rejection of God. Paul says that people are unholy, ungrateful, lovers of themselves, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

This, in turn, leads to a moral collapse. People become lovers of money, conceited, without love toward others, boastful, proud, unforgiving. 

Finally, there's the total breakdown of society. People will be treacherous, rash, brutal, disobedient to parents, abusive, and without any self control.

In other words, anything goes. No rules. No morals. No restraints. Everyone does what is right in his/her own eyes, just as in the time of the judges:

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25, NASB)

Everyone does as they choose to do, and woe to the person who questions another's lifestyle choices.

As if this wasn't enough, this solemn list of corruption is not the end of it. And we can expect that as we get closer to the end times, all of these things will increase in intensity and in frequency.

The worst of it comes in verse five:

having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. (II Timothy 3:5)

We'll look at the evil of "religious" rebels next time.