at his will. 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." I interrupt here at 3:7 for some comments, if we consider the last days referred to by Paul to be the loss through death of the personal witnesses of our Lord Jesus Christ's life, death, and resurrection, then Paul's warnings and subsequent church and bible history make more sense. As these men died, these who had been forceful and effective in staying the efforts of those who wanted to impose their will, a trend was started whereby the Holy Spirit was listened to less often. There is so much truth in the statement, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." A car that is constantly driven without obtaining fresh oil eventually will quit running. It was this that Paul saw as happening, and was warning Timothy about. "Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest to all men, as theirs also was. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, 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. 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. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you 147 _______________________________________________________________________________ wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand." Excellent and strong advice, not only to Timothy, but to you and I as well. These passages of scripture have been raided for out of context quotations, more than any I can think of. Is it possible that this is because, when taken in context, Satan's war effort is seriously threatened, and he has stepped up his effort to confuse Paul's final statements in our minds? That is not to say that the citations out of context of this passage were wrong. On the contrary, usually they were being used to reinforce a statement on a smaller slice of human behavior. What is wrong is that when this is being done, it is easier to focus on a single issue than on the overall picture. If done too often then it becomes habit; we never read in context, and never hear what was intended to be heard by us. Satan has his cover up, and we have our confusion. The Romans, who were invited by Judas the Maccabee, furthered our confusion by their sacking, razing, and looting throughout the promised land. It was during this time, that the original manuscripts turned up missing. Also, at this time, it is believed the Essenes, or someone, put their manuscripts in jars in a series of caves at Qumram. After these losses, it was necessary for men to recreate the manuscripts from memory and whatever 148 _______________________________________________________________________________ |
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