Many Christians agree that we are living in the end times. Although people have been claiming that His return was near since Christ’s resurrection, the signs today are overwhelming. One of the signs that Paul gave us that Christ’s return would be near, was the change in the church before Christ’s return.
Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 6:3–10 that there will be people who teach false doctrines that do not align with the instructions of Jesus Christ. He goes on to say that these men (and women) have been robbed of the truth and think of godliness as a means to financial gains. In order to find the fulfillment of this prophesy all you have to do is turn on your television and flip through the Christian channels. It will not take long for you to find a television evangelist who meets these criteria. It saddens me that many evangelists and churches today, focus more on financial gain then building God’s Kingdom. It seems that the modern church has become better at making money then winning souls!
Paul goes into more detail about these people in his next letter to Timothy. 2 Timothy 3:1-9 warns us about godlessness in the last days. “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power”. He goes on to say that these people are “always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth”.
1 Timothy 4:1-7 tells us that “in the end times many will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons”. Again in 2 Timothy 4:1-5 Paul tells us that “the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths”. This has never been truer then it is today. I realized this one day when I was looking for an apocrypha book in a “Books A Million” store. An employee told me that the book was listed in the “New Age” section of the store. The titles of the books found in the New Age section sounded like many of the sermon titles preached in several of the church pulpits today. Examples of some of these titles were, “Power thinking for Personal Success”, “Learning to Attract Wealth, Health, and Happiness”, and “Ask and it Shall Be Given, Learning to Manifest Your Desires”.
An end time church will be influenced by the world instead of influencing the world. This church will be under the same bondages as the people outside of the church. It would be one that is more self seeking then outward seeking. This church will bend its beliefs to match society, instead of being set apart from the world. The teachings of this church will encourage its members to be complacent because, after all, God does not care what Christians do anyway. The end time church would be one that is a lot like the churches that we see today.
The hard part is being set apart and holding onto sound doctrine. Paul gives us the following command, “not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” Hebrews 10:25. He also tells us in 1 Timothy 3:6 that we are to warn the Brothers and Sisters in Christ about these things. Even though it can be very frustrating, we are not to separate ourselves from the church, but be the church to a dying and perverse generation. As a Christian we have to study the Word of God ourselves so that we will not be swayed here and there by every wind of teaching, Ephesians 4:14.
“But he who stands firm to the end will be saved”, Matthew 24:14
God Bless
Jake <><
