At first I was just going to keep this first group together
as one sentence. After considering it
however I decided to break it down so we can really know what we’re talking
about. It begins with the statement that
in the last days perilous times shall come.
I would venture to say that many if not most Christians believe we are
in the last days but let’s let scripture break it down for us.
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times
shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Philautos – We know that phileo love is friendship type of
love but philautos is a love that loves itself.
This goes against James 2:8 which says you shall love your neighbor as
yourself. In James we are expected to
place our neighbor’s welfare as highly as our own. In verse two above nothing is placed above
their own needs, in fact their needs see to themselves almost without conscious
thought. People like this are grasping
greedy souls who consider everyone else to be beneath them. We are tools for their amusement, pleasure or
well being. Our needs are unimportant.
Covetous people follow in that once they have done
everything with whatever they have to make themselves happy they begin to look
at what YOU have to make themselves happy.
If you have what they do not then they will lie, cheat or steal to get
what you have. I could name certain
reality TV stars in America who exemplify this state. Some women have been characterized as gold
diggers in their rush to obtain by marriage what they cannot obtain by hard
work and knowledge. Men are not immune
either. You can usually identify these
people by their actions. If it puts
money in their pocket, it doesn’t even matter that they have no real right to
it. Their needs reign supreme.
Boasters walk hand in hand with the proud. My son used to watch a cartoon where the
character said, “I’m so pretty!” They
see themselves as being the most important person around. They are like Nebuchadnezzar who looked over
Babylon after God had given him victory after victory and said, “Look at this
great Babylon which I have built (Daniel 4:30).” After this, it is not a huge step to tell
yourself there is no God. Once there is
no God in your mind there is no right and wrong. Anything goes. How many parents have been ignored by their
children because generation after generation they have taught their kids there
is no real God and no absolutes.
Blasphemy.
I need not thank you because you are no better than me. There is no God to give His life and there is
no one to whom you owe any real gratitude.
You might say that you are your own god.
If you are then whatever you want to do and whoever you want to be is
okay. The absolute holiness required by
God no longer interests you and you owe nobody anything. You are free to kill or degrade others and
are limited only by the strength you possess and your ability to make others
bow to your will. There are only the
limits you set for yourself and as the days go on they will become less and
less until you have no standards, no rules and no love. You have become a monster.
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false
accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Eventually you will have even turned against nature. A wild animal will nurse their young but a
drug addict will sell their own child into prostitution for a fix. Your word will become worse than empty; it
will become what you used to despise, like your father the Devil. Don’t get me started about the too many ‘so
called’ Christians today who will make a promise and then make excuses why it
is too inconvenient to keep. The Lord
says to speak yes or no only and to keep your word. Once your words are useless you will lie as
quickly as tell the truth. When that
happens it no longer matters if you call yourself Christian, God Himself will
deny you unless you repent quickly.
Christians are supposed to be in control; not our own
control but God’s. Your flesh will always
have it’s own way. It provides all your
mechanical mobility and mental prowess.
The only way to force your flesh to obey God’s Word is to keep it under
spiritual subjection (1 Corinthians 9:27).
This is not a natural state to be in so your flesh will fight against
it. 2 Corinthians 2:17 says that MANY corrupt
the Word of God. Everyone who quotes
scripture is not the friend of God.
Satan himself quoted scripture to try and make Jesus stumble. Step one is to have your mind renewed with
the Word of God. This requires that you
study to show yourself approved a workman who need not be ashamed and rightly
divides the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:15).
If you find yourself trying to invent reasons to slack off
in your studies or to obey the scripture less you ought to be frightened back
into position with God. Yes I know that
God has not given us a spirit of fear but I also know God has not given you a
spirit of ‘I don’t need to work that hard for Jesus,’ either. You do need to work that hard for Jesus. You need to work harder than ever
before. When the scripture says you are
incontinent it means you have no power.
We use it in this country to talk of those who have no control over
their bladders and wet themselves. In
this case it means you have no control over your flesh and sin yourself. It is much more messy and infinitely harder
to clean up.
Unless you wish to live as an incontinent, messy saint of
God you need to continue to press into the Spirit so the Spirit can press into
you and give you the strength you lack personally. God sent His Spirit to be a comforter but
also to strengthen you to be able to stand and having done all to stand, stand
therefore (Ephesians 6:13). Incontinent
saints leave messes behind them wherever they go. Messes come out of their mouths and actions
and the way they lack faith and strength.
Pastors of messy saints are always running behind them, washing them
with the water of the Word of God and trying to clean them up. You can clean up a mess with the Word of God
but only the sick saint can get healthy and stop making messes.
The word fierce means savage and violent. You will attack anyone who tries to feed you
words you do not want to hear no matter how much you need to hear them. You are self righteous and short
tempered. Not even the leadership can
speak to you and God is often forced to release you for the destruction of
flesh until you become too weak to assault others. You perceive humility as weakness and will
not allow it to taint your self righteous demeanor.
It goes without saying that these people despise those who
live to serve and offer service to others.
They are not willing to be so used and will not allow themselves to
become humble and in their eyes…weak.
These consider Christians to be weak, pitiful excuses of humanity who
need a god to order them around. They
will mock you and try to make you doubt your own spiritual beliefs. These people often flock to government and
other offices of power so they can order others around. They are often deceptive, portraying
themselves as the shining leader of mankind.
In truth, they call those who submit to them sheep or puppets behind
their backs and have no interest in helping beyond increasing their own worldly
power.
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more
than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power
thereof: from such turn away.
These are traitors to every cause except their own. They are rash and reckless and will
eventually stumble when their reach exceeds their ability. In spite of this flaw they are highminded and
proud. They do not recognize their own
shortcomings and will press ever higher no matter how limited their vision
might be. Because they believe the world
is theirs to command, they deny themselves nothing. Any pleasure, any gratification they can obtain
they obtain. Their entire life is
focused on today, on this moment, and they will not Give God what He desires
most, their heart.
It can be difficult to recognize these if you are not
discerning but beware. Their arguments
are persuasive, their smiles seem warm and inviting and their love for God and
His people seems genuine…on the surface.
Watch them closely. Do they seem
to be at peace when things do not go their way?
When all night prayer is called do they come? If they come do they form little meetings off
to the side and seem not to enter in with God?
Are they disruptive or disconnected.
All these can be signs of someone whose heart is not with God. If you are in pain and feel life is
overwhelming, the answer is not to give others pain but to cry out to God and
allow Him to heal you.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into
houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers
lusts,
It isn’t that women are less intelligent than men or more
likely to sin. In the natural men
generally hunt and women are the hunted.
In Christ, a man desires a wife, not just a woman. A wife has nobility and strength. A wife is a helpmeet. A wife knows your strengths AND weaknesses
and loves you just the same. You can
trust a wife to keep your heart safe. A
woman without this inner strength is a female looking for a male. She isn’t as interested in a husband as a
man. Perhaps she has been damaged by an
absentee or weak father. Perhaps she was
raised in a home where the mantra was, “Get yourself a man.” It may be that she was or is married to a
weak, directionless man who has no clue how to lead and no idea where he is
going.
A wife will strengthen and encourage her husband to
accomplish great things. A woman will
want what she wants and because she has no inner strength of character will
bring nothing but her body to the relationship.
She may try from time to time to be a wife, but the depth of character
required of a wife is absent in her.
Ultimately she will fail because she does not draw her character and strength
directly from God.
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth.
Over the years I have seen both men and women go to church
after church, Bible study after Bible study and never find the security and
peace they seek. You cannot study the
Bible without faith. Without faith it is
merely an old book. You cannot serve God
without faith and revelation. He must
pour the KEY into you that allows you to unlock a mystery. It takes thousands of keys to unlock the
thousands of doors you will come to in life.
Each one requires a deeper revelation and consecration to God. Scripture says it is the honor of kings to search
out God’s leading and receive an understanding.
It goes on to say we are priests and kings. We have the honor to do so, but we must
exercise our faith to make it happen. It
would be a great shame to memorize the entire Bible and not believe any of it.
8-- Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do
these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the
faith. 9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be
manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.
We should always keep in mind the symbolism of
scripture. On the one hand it is real and
on the other God gives hundreds of examples to prove a point. In this case, Jannes and Jambres the Egyptian
magicians used their magic against Moses until the very end when God finally
slew the first born of all Egypt. It
would do us well to remember that they had real power. They were able to call up frogs but not
remove them. They turned water into
blood but could not turn it back. They
turned their staffs into serpents but Moses’ staff devoured their staffs.
Satan has great power.
The only protection you have against that power is the protection and
guardianship of God’s Spirit in your life.
Sadly, deceived men and women will serve Satan for his power and mock
those who humble themselves to serve God.
Some say that Satan is just a spirit and cannot affect our lives but the
Angel of the Lord destroyed 185,000 Assyrians in a single night. Angels have power and God has more. Magic and sorcery is real and powered by
spiritual wickedness in high places. God
came that we might have life and more abundantly. When will we learn that Satan will lie to you
and lend you power until you are destroyed by it. God will give you His power and life for an
eternity. Ultimately, the meek WILL inherit
the earth.
10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner
of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, 11 Persecutions,
afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what
persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
Paul was all about doctrine.
He sought to plant that doctrine in all the churches he ministered to
and sent his spiritual sons to. We who
have his complete writings in our Bible have no excuse if we do not study those
lessons and live by them. In His day he
sent this one letter to a church and the people of that church based their very
lives on it. How sad is it that we have
become so wise in our own eyes in the past 2000 years that we follow those who
make our ears tingle.
Paul lived what he taught and even rebuked Peter when he
fell back into the Jews religion.
Everything he did was to serve His savior, the God who met him on the
road to Damascus. He made it clear that
HIS purpose was to live as if Christ is life and death is gain. His prayers were not centered on riches or
fame but on grace and mercy. Paul never
stopped believing that God’s life was sure.
With the same diligence and zeal that he persecuted the church, once he
was made aware of his error, he served God.
If you want to know how much he suffered read 2 Corinthians
11. Paul was a man on fire. He dedicated his life and poured it into the
ministry God required of him. There was
no task too dangerous or beneath him. If
the money was short, he did secular work until he had enough to continue the
work of God. He endured great affliction
and loved without measure after he matured.
No matter where he went he was persecuted and attacked but none of that
mattered to him. He would serve the Lord
no matter the cost.
12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution.
What about us? We too
must suffer wrong. We too will be
persecuted for our faith. How can it be
otherwise? Satan is the god of this
world. We are the children of light and
yet we fall short and miss the mark regularly.
Satan constantly accuses us of these crimes and we grieve for our
weaknesses. Paul wept over them
constantly but God simply reminded him that His grace was sufficient. Can you live this difficult life or will you
stumble. The only way to be safe is to
hold tightly onto God. Any distance
between your flesh and God’s spirit will seem like an ocean. Your body will always try to lead you into
sin and you must not allow it. Do not
allow fear to force you backwards.
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and
worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
Evil men and seducers abound around us. They try to poison and defeat us in every
area of our Christian walk. In their
false wisdom they themselves are deceived even while they deceive others. Matthew 24:24 says: For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew
great signs and wonders; insomuch that, IF IT WERE POSSIBLE, they shall deceive
the very elect. If it were
possible? It is absolutely possible
whenever we as children of God reduce our belief in the truth and absolute
perfection of God’s word. It is not a
letter written by a man but a perfect document written by God through a
man. If you do not consider God’s Word
to be 100% accurate you are in danger of falling.
14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast
learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 15
And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
I have known dearly beloved brothers and sisters who began
with or joined me in this way of life we call Christianity and who no longer
walk this path or have lost their zeal.
This entire portion can be told in three words, “But continue
thou.” I have seen pastors, prophets,
prayer warriors and more who because they lacked anchor within themselves or
became angry with others have walked away from the truth of God to embrace mediocrity
and sin. In Matthew 22:14 Jesus ends a
discourse by saying, “Many are called (and I can see their faces), but few are
chosen. Those who are chosen are those
who chose to continue with Him … no … matter … what.
I have been disappointed, lied to, cheated, hurt, felt
stupid, wondered if it all was real and occasionally have tried to chuck it
all. I could not. There was always that touch of God that was
too important to trade for something simple like success or wealth. I can recognize the fight being waged for my
belief and more and more it becomes easier to say, “Not my will but thy will be
done.” I understand the danger of
backsliding. I dare not drop my guard
for a single day lest it begin a landslide of broken dreams and
destruction.
God is real. His Word
is real. His love is real. His promises are sure. I will accept this scripture as true and
final. There can be no changes or
substitutions. It is perfect, it is
Jesus and it is my Lord. If it makes me
a fanatic for believing, so be it. My
God requires I love and not hate, build and not destroy, pray for and uphold my
government and not overthrow. God will
make those changes if need be. My orders
remain forever locked. Love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and thy
neighbor as thyself.
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto
all good works.
This needs no interpretation. Blessings beloved.
Bishop J
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