In our world today we are living in truly "Perilous Times". The men and women of today, both young and old, walk around as if they are "10 Feet Tall and Bullet Proof"! We see them in our school's, the workplace, the doctor's office, the store, the gas station and yes even in the Church!Today I sit down to write about something that has been troubling me for a long time. In II Timothy 3:1-7 we see the truth about this plague that is quite literally infecting Christianity and the Church of today.
II Timothy 3:1-7 says:
(1) ¶ This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
(2) For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
(3) Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
(4) Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
(5) Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
(6) For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
(7) Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
As an Evangelist for many years I began to detect a frightful change in the direction of most Christians in most of our Bible Believing Churches. It is with a heavy heart I must tell you that there has been a steady decline in the way that we, the children of God, are treating Him, His Blessed Book, His Sacred Principles, His Precious Blood, His Grace and His Mercy.
THERE IS NO REVERENTIAL FEAR OF GOD ANYMORE!
America does NOT fear falling into the hands of a Righteous, Holy God, she does not fear that God will bring destruction upon her because of her great sin. BUT He will! Even if America chooses NOT to believe it, that will not keep it from coming. The Christian Church in America does NOT fear The Lord and His Divine Judgment either. The proof of this fact is easily seen, just look around your local Church house next Sunday. I never cease to be amazed at how "Far" we "Christians" will try and stretch the grace and mercy of Almighty God!
We go right on living the way we want to, dressing like the world, forgetting separation, forgetting worldliness, listening to whatever music YOU like, most of us NEVER take God into the consideration process of what is in fact "Good Music". We watch whatever WE want on the TV, never giving God a second thought, not caring that we are ripping His Heart out every time we do wrong. Here is a little bit of truth that we "Christian's" need to be reminded of! When we are NOT serving God, We are serving Satan! You can argue all you want that "No I am not serving satan Preacher, I am looking out for ol' number 1." (ME) If you are looking out for "Self" then you cannot be looking for Jesus.
Think about it this way, every time that we, the Christian's in America, do something wrong, or take His word out of context and blaspheme His precious promises, we drag His Holy name through the mud, or instead of fighting alongside of our Christian brother's we are killing them ourselves with "Friendly Fire" shooting them in the back. It is my personal opinion that we (Christian's) have shot and killed as many as the enemy has. When we do this it is as if we are "Re-Nailing" Jesus to that Cross again and again and again.
We through our "Willful Stupidity" and total lack of concern for the things of God, have begun to make a mockery of all that is Holy and Sacred. When we come together to worship inside our Churches we come in loaded up with all kinds of sin and covered in the filth of this world, with no thought of the truth that in the Old Testament, before they went into worship God, the first washed themselves. They cleaned up before they went into God's presence. Do you know why?
BECAUSE THEY KNEW THAT GOD WAS IN THERE WAITING FOR THEM!
That is the difference, they KNEW God was in there! Today, when we go into Church or the Prayer closet, or to sit down and have our devotions, we don't see God in it, we don't even believe that He is there! We don't go to Church to SEE or MEET God anymore. We go to sit and listen to the Pastor, Evangelist, or Missionary speak, or we go to listen to "Sister So And So" stand and sing a song. We go with our physical eyes open and we NEVER ask God to open our Spiritual Eyes so that we may see HIM!
Shame on us! What have we done! What kind of excuse can we give to God today?? There isn't one that will make it right. Face it folks, we have sinned in rejecting Christ! The Bible tells us about the fact that lost people, those who have rejected Jesus Christ, will be punished for eternity in Hell for this great sin. Hey Christian, I wouldn't be pointing a finger at the lost and wagging my head at them in dissapointment, they learned it from US! We have been putting forth the most pathetic example of what a Christian is supposed to be. It's no wonder that lost people in the world don't want to have anything to do with God. Look at the Church, look at Christianity as a whole, look in the mirror. What kind of example are you setting?
I think that Christian's everywhere need to sit down and take a good, long look at II Timothy 3:1-7 again. Don't just read it once and then close the Book, read it several times, each time asking God to make it real to ALL of us.
The apostle Paul was very clear about this fact, he said (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) that in the "... last days perilous times shall come." (II Timothy 3:1) Paul went on to tell us just exactly what the world would be like "In the last days". I think, if you and I were honest before God, we would have to confess that this does describe our world in 2008! I mean look at some of the list that was given:
- Lovers of their own selves
- Boasters
- Proud
- Blasphemers
- Disobedient to Parents (* God feels that this is something "Perilous".)
- Unthankful
- Unholy
- False accusers
- Despisers of those that are good
- Traitors
- Highminded
- Lovers of pleasure more than Lovers of God
All of these certainly describe our world today. Let's look at verse 5. Paul says that they have a "Form of godliness". Notice this phrase, Paul did NOT say they "WERE GODLY" He used the word "Form". Webster in his dictionary gave the definition of this word as meaning "Model, or Pattern". Another words, paul was saying that these people "Profess" to know God, but in fact they do NOT have the real thing, they have a "Model" OF the real thing. Notice again, Paul said the word "godliness", They had a "Form of Religion", But denied the power, or the Real Power of God, and did not let the true Power of God influence their lives in any way. I believe that God say's we are to turn away from these kinds of people. I am afriad that the sad truth of it is that our churches in America and around the world are full of these kinds of people!
Verse 7 to me is such a sad verse, however it too describes our world today. It says: "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." In other words, they sit under these "So-called" religious teachers but they NEVER get the basic, foundational truth of Salvation. They sit and they work, they sit and they work, and it ALL COUNTS FOR NOTHING. THEY ARE LOST WITH NOTHING BUT HELL TO LOOK FORWARD TOO.
What a sad, sad truth. We truly do live in a World of NO Fear. The real question is Christian, what are "WE" doing to change this? The answer is... NOTHING!
Wake Up Christian... God IS watching!
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