“…know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people TURN AWAY!” (2 Tim. 3:1-5) Isn’t it amazing AMY, how God gave the Apostle Paul revelation about what the world would be like in the future. In reading what is written in this text, it is no doubt that these words were divinely inspired and BREATHED OUT BY GOD HIMSELF. The Apostle Paul’s prophetic words spoken in this text is not only a picture of our world today, but they are also proof of the SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. The Apostle Paul describes the time in which we live as difficult, troublesome, trying, uneasy, violent, threatening and dangerous just to name a few.
So AMY, what must we do??? “…you must CONTINUE IN THE THINGS WHICH YOU HAVE LEARNED and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to MAKE YOU WISE FOR SALVATION through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Tim. 3:14-15) Everything in the Scriptures is God’s Word. All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live. The Word of God will train God’s servants to do all kinds of good deeds. One of those is to, “PREACH THE WORD! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will NOT ENDURE SOUND DOCTRINE, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears AWAY FROM THE TRUTH, and be turned aside to fables.” (2 Tim. 4:2-4)
Even though no man knows the day nor the hour when God’s Son will return, we are told throughout scripture of the signs of the beginning of the end. Not the end, but the beginning of it. Are we living in the time of sorrow, pain, sufferings, wars and rumors of wars yet? Have we begun to see the pages of the bible unfold in our world today right before our very own eyes? NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!
-Bill Stockham