2 Timothy 3:1-9 - Perilous Times!

2 Timothy 3:1-9

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 

6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

These last days demonstrate what we were told to Timothy nearly two thousand years ago.  The warning that has materialized more each century is accelerating in this time as we see all care for others virtually disappear as self interest and selfish pursuits dominate the cultural landscape, even intruding into the church.  People increasingly pursue the love of money with prideful boasting in their accomplishments at the expense of the good of their fellow man as they make everything about themselves and their entitlement to rights not granted them over another by God.  Even the ungodly notice this trend and lament the downward trend of society.  People now speak evil against one another, especially if they believe conspiracy theories and propaganda on the internet that is propagated as if true while the truth of God’s word is ignored or ridiculed.  Children rise against parents and laws of these easily manipulated people are passed to support the evil of idolatry and immorality which destroyed the nation of Israel in the Old Testament days, a lesson ignored and repeated as nothing new under the sun.  The world now lost love and respect for one another as they live unholy and unrighteous lives set on brutality that hates good and self-control equally.  They turn against each other and are hard-headed in their pursuit of the passing pleasures of sin and sometimes tout this lifestyle and philosophy as godliness while they deny God and His Son and trample on His word of life offered to them!  We who know Christ are commanded to avoid these attitudes and actions and those who propagate the conspiracies and blasphemous words against the righteous and loving responses we are to have for one another.  We are to be cognizant of those who slyly deceive for immoral purposes but refuse to listen and heed the warnings of God’s words of truth for life and godliness.  Those who resist the truth only end up being disapproved by the Lord God because they refuse to believe and receive the truth of the gospel and the resulting obedience that inevitably follows conviction of sin and conversion of their souls.  These worldly pursuits are foolish and this folly will surface in time for all to see to their eternal shame if they refuse to repent and turn in submission to the Lord Jesus Christ before it is too late (Hebrews 9:27-28, 10:29-31).  We are all accountable for our actions, even the saved who cannot lose their position of eternal forgiveness, with the difference that we who know Him do know better than to live such selfish unloving lives at the expense of the good of others.  We then are called not to make best friends of the ungodly nor shun from telling them the truth as we do not share in their sin (Ephesians 5:6-7, 2 John 1:9-11) by claiming Christ but living in opposition to His word and will.  We have the word of God and know better, and will be half accountable and suffer loss if we continue without repentance (1 Corinthians 3:12-13, 14-15, 16-17).  These are perilous times indeed!