Hey Gang: Paul wrote, ”Beware, tough times are going to
come, times when the world will be filled with men of depraved minds and anyone
who chooses to live godly lives will become the targets of these depraved
minds. A reading of 2 Timothy 3:1-7
removes any doubt about how very close we are to the coming of the Lord.
Each time I read this panoramic overview of
what man will look like in that final time, before Father God says to His Son,
“Go and bring your sheep to the Marriage Feast of the Lamb”, I see our culture
moving more that direction. How very powerful and filled with truth is that
final verse (7): They will be “Always
learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”.
I do not believe
it was an accident that Paul placed the following words at the end of this
prophesy in II Timothy of things that will happen in the Later Day, for I have
watched it come to fruition even in my lifetime: “All Scripture
is inspired by God and profitable for teaching for reproof or correction, for training in righteousness;
so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work”
(2Tim. 16-17).
I believe Paul
was telling us that we should load both barrels of our weapon with the Scriptures
and be ever prepared to do battle with the enemy. I know you have heard this many times, always
“Put on the full armor of God, from shod
feet to the helmet of salvation with shield of faith in one hand and the sword
of God, which is His Word, in the other”.
When the
children of Israel returned to Jerusalem after the Babylon captivity to rebuild
the walls the enemy was ever present to harass, threaten, ridicule and frighten
the workers. But it only deepened the
resolve, in the hearts of the workers, to complete the task. Nehemiah let it be known that he would not
come down from the wall until it was finished.
The workers worked with sword in one hand and tools in the other.
O, how far we
have gone astray! Surely, you’ve noticed that in these reckless
times Christianity has lost respectability and is looked upon, by growing
numbers, as “intolerant” and “discriminatory.”
Churches that once preached the pure Word - including the prophetic word
- have become ‘missing in action.’ Surprised?
If you are in the Word, you should not be surprised in the rapid decline
of the influence of the church. Paul
said, “Yea, and all that will live godly
in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse
and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Tim. 3:12-13).
In Revelation
we read a description of the church of the last days. Jesus called it “neither hot nor cold”. He said “I
know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold
or hot. So, because you are lukewarm,
and neither hot or cold, I will spit you out of My mouth” (Rev. 3:15-16).
What say you,
do you think that God has spewed many churches out of His mouth and even now
continues the culling process? Barna, a
well-known Christian research group, recently reported that a hundred churches
per week, I emphasize “PER WEEK” are closing their doors.
My friends, if
ever there was a time to stay glued to the Word, in touch with Abba Father and
diligently listening to -but verifying what is coming forth from the
pulpits of the land, it is right NOW.
Jesus made it abundantly clear that in the final chapter of this Age there
will be great deception! Truer words
were never spoken.
I would be remiss
if I did not close with Jesus’ Words found in Revelation 3:21, “He who overcomes, I will grant to sit down
with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His
throne.” If you happen to come
across this epistle and are not secure in the Father’s hand, notice Jesus’ Words
in the next chapter, “I looked and
behold a door standing open in heaven.”
A door to salvation in Christ that
one day soon is going to close and then comes judgment and eternity!
Blessings,
Gramps
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