THE LAST OF THE LAST DAYS. 2nd Timothy 3:1-9 As the apostle Paul reaches the final part of his letter, he predicts the future and encourages Timothy to remain loyal despite the approaching apostasy. The signs of the last days were evident even in the early church and are still widespread today in private, home, social, business, political, and religious spheres. Timothy was instructed to intentionally "turn away" from all of these. These issues do not come and go like temporary fads.
There are characteristics of the last days that have come upon us now in a unique way and are here to stay. The foreshadowing seen in apostolic times is now fully evident. Warnings were given ahead of time to prepare us for what we now face in the Lord's work. These are dangerous times we live in. The powers of darkness and the god of this world are now openly doing their work.
Humans in my lifetime have fallen into a deliberate darkness that is openly immoral, to the point that even Christendom accepts darkness as acceptable. Our educational system begins with trying to control how our children think when they are young and has lowered the standards of human living to the level of animals and plants. When animals were given names, people started to assign them a sense of personhood, and now names are given to trees.
The pressure is on everyone to conform to popular social norms and adopt the lowered moral standards to fit the lifestyle accepted by the majority. Some believe the last days began on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was sent from heaven to dwell in God's people. There is undoubtedly evidence that we are living in the “last days” now. Many believers are experiencing tough times simply for being Christians. Some are dying, and others are being imprisoned. Yet, we pray for those in authority so that we may live "quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty."