PERILOUS TIMES

July/August 2007

The Apostle Paul wrote in his first epistle to Timothy, that some would "depart from the faith" ("depart" in the original Greek is APHISTEMI Strong's #868 and means to apostatize) and it is from "the" faith in these latter days, because they will give heed and listen to seducing spirits, and to doctrines of devils. That they will be speaking hypocritical lies and they will have their conscience seared with a hot iron. He goes on to deal with two main areas of deviation i.e. the forbidding of marriage and giving commandments not to eat certain food.

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer    [I Timothy 4:1-5]

In his second Epistle to Timothy, Paul continues the warnings, further defining the days in which we live.

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away
with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
[II Timothy 3:1-7]

If I were asked to pick out two of the most obvious reasons for men to become so evil yea, diabolical, in the degeneration of their moral character it would begin with the fact that "Men shall be lovers of their own selves" and would culminate in the condition where they are  “Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God”. This last point quickly results in their; "having a form of godliness" that actually denies the power of God. 

Who among us would ever think that such labels could belong to us? And if we did
think so, would we not want to quickly change the situation? Lord, may it always
be so! Nevertheless, the words in these portions of Scripture describe a Character
which I can truthfully say is not too uncommon in these days of such easy and close
contact with the ways of the world. These are also days in which Christians often
look to pleasurable aspects of the world with favorable eyes. This is especially
true when the world meets our children while they are in the young and formative
stages. We do not want to hurt their “Psyche”, and would rather let “Kids be
kids”, often until it is too late to change them. You may find the definition of
"Psyche" according to the pseudo-science of Psychiatry interesting. It is " The
mind functioning as the center of thought, emotion, and behavior and
consciously or unconsciously adjusting or mediating the body's responses to
the social and physical environment."  If this has any truth at all to it, don't you
think we should be concerned about what goes into our minds and that of our
children's minds?

 Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God?  Paul is talking here and elsewhere of sensual pleasures, or vain entertainment and amusements. This has always been the characteristic of the greater part of the population of the world, and has often been the distinguishing feature of many who claim to be God's people. We may truly say that a large portion of mankind put pleasure ahead of God. They live for pleasure with no serious spiritual pursuits. They reject all restraints which interfere with their love of pleasure, and they greatly prefer the pleasures to be found in secular activities to the friendship that is offered to them by the grace of their Creator.

If nothing worse is known about a person than that they are rather too fond of what are commonly called the “Innocent Pleasures and Amusements” of life, then they are considered by the bulk of mankind to be Moral, and probably good enough to be admitted into heaven. This is true even though it may be evident from the whole conduct of that person that they are lovers of pleasure more than a lover of God.

It is also evident from the language of I Timothy 4:1 that the Holy Spirit Who inspired Paul took this matter very seriously. The idea here is that "The Spirit speaks in words" The Spirit wants us to see that those who have such characteristics  listed are classed with the most gross and notorious offenders. We would be wise to do the same. 

Let me pose a question; How much neglect of the things of God in the interest of self is necessary to make us guilty of being Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God?

There are as many answers to this as there are people in the world. But one attitude that should sound a warning that we are setting God aside is when we become lovers of ourselves. John Wesley commenting on these verses says that in the latter times; "Some, even in the Church, will be to a higher degree than ever and in greater numbers than ever, lovers of themselves only, and not of their neighbors, which is the first root of evil. Lovers of money then naturally follows." And I believe he was right. As much as we talk about the love of money being the root of all kinds of evil, it is certain also that the love of self leads to innumerable difficulties.

Once a man is on the slippery slope of self love, it is only a matter of opportunity before he takes on some of the other attributes to his character such as being a covetous person, a boaster, proud, blasphemer, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, a trucebreaker, false accuser, incontinent, fierce, despiser of those that are good, traitors, heady and high-minded.

How about taking the time today to do a CHARACTER CHECK.

Several years ago I wrote in these hollowed pages about the three "C's", Confession, Conduct and Character. The essence of that teaching was that true character is what is left when no one else is around. At the end of the day, when you are all alone with God, and you consider what is your relationship to Him, with no chance to be a hypocrite, that is your true character. I used the formula C + C = C which relates as
Confession + Conduct = Character. Throughout the Bible, What you say you are + How you actually conduct yourself = What your true character is.

If we say we love God, and always put Him first and always love our neighbor as ourselves, then we have a fine Christian Character. Good for us! But as the Apostle of Love, John teaches in his First Epistle, If we say we have fellowship with God (our first C - Confession), But walk in darkness (second C - Conduct), then we have the Character of a liar (third C in the formula) [I John 1:6]. Likewise in verse 8, If we say that we have no sin (C1), when in fact we do (C2), our character is one void of truth (C3). Verse 10 similarly says that if we say we have not sinned which is our (Confession) but we have sin (Conduct), we make God a liar and again we should see that our character is void of truth.

Want more? See [I John 2:4] He that says I know God (Confession) But fails to keep His commandments (Conduct), once again is a liar and void of truth (Character). In 2:9, one that says he is in the Light (Confession), but hates his brother (Conduct) Once again, is in darkness (Character). And finally in 4:20 our confession is that we love God while our conduct is that we hate our brother, therefore our character is that we are a liar.

One of the Seven Churches in the Revelation clearly demonstrates this C+C+C formula rather clearly. That is the Church of the Laodiceans, [Revelation 3:14ff] If you will look at verse 17, you will see that they had a (Confession) that they were rich and having need of nothing. While all the time they were really wretched and poor and miserable and blind and naked! (Conduct) Which left them with a (Character) that was luke warm. So these folks thinking they were a HOT number were actually luke warm, and the Lord had to spew them out. Now get the picture: it is a very difficult concept to grasp. God wants us to tell it like it is. If you are a hot number, say so with humility and giving the glory to God. But make sure your conduct proves it. If you are a cold number, say so. God will help you by His grace to be conformed to the image of His Son. But if you are luke warm, because your Conduct does not match your great Confession, you better either change your ways or change your confession.