There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Whew! That’s an impressive list, especially if you’re into current events.

But Paul can be dramatic.

Lately anything that can point to these being the last days often does so, and with remarkable accuracy.

All his listed traits are alive, thriving, and highly contagious these days.

None are external events but internal ones, observable in those around us and oftentimes also within us. A list like that allows no escape for any of us.

But an escape was provided by Jesus’ death and resurrection and your choice to accept His forgiveness as an unmerited gift.

As a young boy prone to misbehavior, I fully expected no presents for me under the Christmas tree, but there they were, unearned, undeserved, yet provided to me despite what I’d done.

It always blew me away that dad, mom and Santa all loved me so much that they’d still spent time and money on a terrible kid like me.

I learned early on that the love doesn’t go away because of what I’ve done.

It stays because of whose I am.

No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.
‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭2‬:‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Soldiers are a different breed altogether.

Trained to heed only the one voice of authority and rank, they remain singleminded in purpose and action, not distraction.

The civilian world is quite the opposite.

Are you soldier or civilian?

On the day you willingly enlisted in the army of God, you sacrificed civilian rights in pursuit of higher purpose. All else was rendered distraction from your calling to serve a new Commanding Officer.

So, are you a soldier or still a civilian?

The military minded exist in service of the defense and protection of a nation against those who would eagerly silence, kill, and tear down tenets on which a nation is founded.

It’s a war out there.
Good versus evil.

You may already be enlisted but if you can’t even pass basic training after this long, move aside.

God seeks soldiers who would gladly risk life and limb for their King and kingdom.

There is no higher calling.

If you desire the armor of God,
become the soldier you were called to be..

“One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.””

‭‭Acts‬ ‭18‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Sharing your faith and reasons for your belief in Jesus can seem a lonely act. 

Rejection, ridicule, and repeated reasonings for their continued disinterest and dissent can easily frustrate the best of intentions. 

But you are not alone. 

Through the centuries, well-intentioned believers like you, obedient to the call and able to separate a harvest from a hearing, have continued their mission. 

Since His death, over 117 billion people in history thank you for making an eternal difference in their lives. 

You are not alone. 

Heaven is a busy place; a harvest of angels once lost but now found because you and countless others like you were not afraid and were not silent when it mattered most. 

We have many people in this city who need to stand with you and show the world that you are not alone.

If a widow has children or grandchildren, they should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.”
‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭5‬:‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Abandonment of the elderly is widespread in our nation yet nearly unheard of in so many others.

The fact there even exists scriptural instruction on the topic confirms the problem is nothing new.

Years of helping seniors to thrive and survive has often left this senior citizens warm heart cold and bitter.

Families deliver mom, dad or grandma like a package on the doorstep of assisted living then race home never to be seen nor heard from again.

If you’ve followed me any length of time you’ve read my stories where I was their only ‘family’ present for Thanksgivings, birthdays, and funerals.

I’ve tracked down distant family members more times than I care to enumerate the unanswered emails and disconnected phone numbers of kin who should have been there.

I’m proud to work with a team who sincerely cares and goes the extra mile for a cohort so close to my heart yet so far from those whose hearts should.

If you’re a follower of Christ and have yet neglected to fulfill this clear command, Lord have mercy on you at the hour of His return.

Likewise, like so much of the rest of the world, if you have learned the value of our elders and have sacrificed some things of your own present life to demonstrate it, riches and rewards await you.

Sorry for the rant, but I hope when you’re old, feeble, or infirmed, you get back what you have given when the trumpet sounds.

The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭16‬:‭34‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It must be a wonderful experience to see your entire household follow suit in your faith. 

I lost a lot of family respect early on which otherwise might have had them follow my lead. 

But that was then and this is now. 

Certainly, a strong father can do much in leading his family to Christ, but despite personal history, it is always Christ who does the real calling. 

Thank God. 

That reality has helped to take me off the hook but my prayers and hopes are still alive and intact. 

The jailer in this story very likely was also a pre-conversion nightmare like I had been, yet God blessed him with the desire of his heart. 

Like Jonah, on our own we are all the worst possible evangelist.  

But thanks be to God that in this journey we are never on our own.  

I pray God’s will be done in my household and in yours. 

Never tire of doing what is good.
‭‭2 Thessalonians‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Doing good comes at a price most would rather not pay.

Costs to image, reputation, and relationships are common casualties despite the best of intentions.

But not everyone has the best intentions.

To be honest, I don’t always get it right and when it’s clear I don’t, I clarify or rescind, make my private apologies and reconciliations insofar as it’s up to me, and learn a thing or two for the next time.

I won’t tire of doing what I know to be good, but I also won’t be relentlessly hammered by those whose intentions for me are clearly to be cruel, personally demeaning or destructive.

Fortunately these instances are rare for now but as culture changes, not for much longer.

As my own polarity of beliefs and opinions becomes more enunciated and pronounced, more is at stake.

For centuries, the fields of both faith and politics have been bloody for all the right reasons.

Do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer.
‭‭2 Thessalonians‬ ‭3‬:‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

These days and always, faith and politics are regarded as matters of life and death.

One for the sake of our spirits, one for the sake of our nation.

And while far from equal in significance, both require loud voices to plea their case for what should be.

Paul said Jesus came into the world to save sinners—“of whom I am the worst” but at this point, I should probably ask him to hold my beer.

Speak and do what is good but aimlessly and with love.

So much is still at stake.

Mindless social media scrolling to pass the time is a powerful devil’s workshop.

It might be just a momentary screen pause, a longer than usual glance, or a full stop of the thumb, but platform algorithms quickly learn what snags your glance then feeds you more.

Food, skin, pranks, vulgarity, or just cat videos, the ultimate algorithmic service is to identify, rank, and deliver what appears to entertain you most so you spend more screen time, stumble upon more ads, or worse, stumble into sin.

What begins as a harmless, mindless act has become a not so insidious mindful science, an unwitting study in human behavior to which you provide face to screen consent each time you pull out your phone.

Take every thought captive in obedience to Christ, 2 Corinthians 10:5, and above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23

Coming soon to a future near you:

The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works.

He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing.

They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
‭‭2 Thessalonians‬ ‭2‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Biblical prophecy is coming true more and more these days but unreported by MSM to render anyone’s recognition of it as pure conspiracy theory, “serving the lie.”

Indeed, this is how Satan works.

Believers everywhere, desperate to persuade the world of the Truth they are denying at the consequence of their perishing, are finding fewer and fewer willing to listen, see, and believe.

But giving up is never an option.

Prophecies will continue to materialize before our eyes as the world winds up into a meteoric rise of evil and deception because prophecies were given for the edification and faith-building of believers in these end times.

So continue to testify of the gospel in hopes your words take root in the hearts and minds of men and women who still have ears to hear, hearts to soften, and minds that seek a much better way.

I listened to a podcast episode featuring a friend’s interview about his life after recovery.

He remarked that for him, it isn’t enough to just make the choice not to use, lie, or otherwise break his sobriety.

His standard of excellence was to become a man who didn’t even consider cues to other possibilities that temptation places in his mind.

His goal is to have one thought only, and that being an answer of yes to all the right things.

Answering no to the wrong things is always the first step to giving them the moment–albeit brief–to even be an option.

Wisdom 2.0

Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
‭‭2 Thessalonians‬ ‭2‬:‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Spiritual decline and falling away from the truth are earmarks of this rebellion.

The current state of our nation is a good example, giving rise to curiosities about the emergence of the one who will lead the world into its final destruction.

But hold on.

This letter to the Thessalonians is much more of a warning guarding against being deceived than a footnote about revelation of the identity of the Antichrist.

Whether it speaks about today, tomorrow, or years from now, the command is “do not be deceived” about the coming of the Lord.

Meanwhile, a lot still needs to happen.

So in the interim, how do we guard our hearts and minds from would be deceptors and their highly persuasive messages?

At the same time these deceptions are emerging, notice the numbers of public figures, entertainers, and sports figures coming out of the woodwork for Christ.

Notice the rise in bold defenses of our faith and values at great personal, social, professional, and political cost.

The lines are being drawn and rebellion is in the air.

Read, understand, and live your bible. Gather near to godly people. Immerse yourself in truth and prayer for wisdom.

Act as if tomorrow may not come and if so, that it may increasingly not arrive like we hope or expect.

Guard against being deceived more than being preoccupied with discovering the identity of the man of lawlessness.

His time will come.

Your time is now.