2 Timothy 3:1-5
Amplified Bible (AMP)
1 But understand this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear].
2 For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane.
3 [They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good.
4 [They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.
5 For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].
I use the Amplified version because it has a deeper, more meaningful impact to us and our language today. There is nothing wrong with the older translations, but this version helps more people to truly understand what God’s Word is saying regarding the times that the early Church had to deal with. It also sounds a lot like today’s headlines doesn’t it?
We are acting and doing all of these things and more today, and yet they were happening to the early church as well before the coming of all of today’s conveniences and all the “knowledge” that we have being thrown in our faces today as if it is “new-age thinking”. Nothing is happening today that hasn’t happened before.
Just as The Preacher said in Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun”, and there isn’t. Oh, it is true that Solomon didn’t have the Internet and neither did Jesus and His disciples, but other than the “electronic age” that we are having to endure, there is nothing new, there is nothing that hasn’t happened in the past in some way or another.
I have written about the news being or at least seeming to be mentioned in the Bible before, but when you read 2 Timothy as in the beginning of this post, it does truly sound like today’s headlines. God knew then and He knows what is happening now and what will happen in the future. He knows when the end of the age is…the exact day and hour, but no person can claim such knowledge. It is not found in the Bible nor in any other arcane book found in book stores.
But, the time is foretold, so we have to be prepared. Whether you are or not won’t matter regarding the outcome, the only part of this that we have control over is whether we have accepted Jesus as our personal Savior or not. That is the part which will have a direct impact on your personal future.
Think about it.
Some people say that we shouldn’t celebrate at this time of year because this time of year is from a pagan celebration which the church used to bring the pagans into it. While that may be true, the birth of Jesus should be celebrated, even if He wasn’t born during this time of year. Why do I say that? Because, during this month it is too cold for shepherds to be sleeping in the field at night and traveling wouldn’t have been easy at this time of year either. Many scholars think that His birth was likely during September, who knows.
In service to Him 