2Timothy 3:1-9 THE LAST OF THE LAST DAYS As the apostle Paul comes to the last part of his final letter, he predicts the future and urges Timothy to be loyal in spite of the apostasy that will come. Last days characteristics were being seen even in the early church and are prevalent today in private, home, social, business, political, and religious life. Timothy was told to deliberately "turn away" from all of those things. These things are not things that come for a while and then go away like temporary fads. There are characteristics of the last days that have come upon us now in a special way that are here to stay. The foreshadowing in apostolic days is in full bloom now. Warnings were given in advance to prepare us for the things we now face in the Lord's work. These are dangerous times in which we live. The powers of darkness and the god of this world are now doing their work out in the open.
Human beings in my lifetime have sunk into a condition of purposeful darkness that is openly immoral to the extent that even Christendom accepts darkness as okay. Our educational system starts with seeking to control the thinking of our children when they are young, and has lowered the standards of human living to the same level as animals and plants. When animals were given names, people began to give them a sense of personhood, and now names are given to trees. The pressure is on everyone to conform to the social mores that are popular, to assimilate into the lowered moral standards, and to accommodate the lifestyle that is acceptable to the majority. Some believe the last days began on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was sent from heaven to dwell in God's people. There is certainly evidence that we are living in the last days now. Many believers are going through very hard times now for simply being Christians. Some are dying, others are being imprisoned. Still, we pray for those in authority that we may live "quiet and peaceable lives."