Difficult Times Ahead
I tend to use the YouVersion Bible app on my phone. I either read or listen to Max McClean narrating every evening.
I prefer reading the New American Standard version but listen the King James via McClean.
Tuesday evening, 8 November 2022, I went to bed knowing that elections were not going to go well. I hit play for the day, part of which was 2 Timothy 3. What I heard was stunning. 2 Timothy 4 the next day was just as stunning.
I have no idea how many times I've read or heard these passages. This time, however, they jumped out at me.
Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they’re animals. Stay clear of these people.
These are the kind of people who smooth-talk themselves into the homes of unstable and needy women and take advantage of them; women who, depressed by their sinfulness, take up with every new religious fad that calls itself “truth.” They get exploited every time and never really learn. These men are like those old Egyptian frauds Jannes and Jambres, who challenged Moses. They were rejects from the faith, twisted in their thinking, defying truth itself. But nothing will come of these latest impostors. Everyone will see through them, just as people saw through that Egyptian hoax.
2 Timothy 3:1-9You’re going to find that there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching, but will fill up on spiritual junk food—catchy opinions that tickle their fancy. They’ll turn their backs on truth and chase mirages. But you—keep your eye on what you’re doing; accept the hard times along with the good; keep the Message alive; do a thorough job as God’s servant.
2 Timothy 4:3-5
Note: The above quotations are from The Message. It is a contemporary language version that is easily understood.
Difficult times ahead... I think those difficult times are now or soon will be.
Christians, real Christians who follow their convictions, are hated: the bakers and photographers that refuse to perform their services for gay weddings, nurses that refuse to assist in abortions, the Greek politician who recently spoke out on transgenderism, whole villages in various places in Africa that have been annihilated because of their non-conformity with area beliefs.
Cancel culture hates anyone that doesn't endorse their idiosyncrasies. It's not enough that one doesn't bad mouth them. Their ways must be condoned.
It is coming to the point where Christians have to make a choice -- which they should have already -- be real and not merely a church-goer or throw your hat in with the other side.
Just my thoughts.