Read these verses in 2 Timothy 3:

[1] This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
[2] For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
[3] Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
[4] Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
[5] Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
[6] For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
[7] Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
[8] Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
[9] But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.
[10] But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,
[11] 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.
[12] Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
[13] But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
[14] But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
[15] And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
[16] All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
[17] That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Anyone familiar with the Pauline Epistles in the New Testament of the Bible knows that any time the last days are mentioned they always seemed to be right around the corner, even to the people who read these amazing letters from Paul when they were first written. If you read the “Perilous Times” verses from 2 Timothy 3 you can easily see how a reader could apply most everything mentioned in them to the present day of every Believer since Paul’s day. Considering the world we live in today those verses seem to have a lot more meaning, however, we must be careful not to mistake the meaning of this chapter.

Not long ago I heard a preacher say that these verses instructed Believers to avoid trying to win people described in these verses to Christ. He pointed out verse five which includes the warning “ from such turn away.” The problem with his flawed interpretation of this chapter is that it has nothing to do with soul winning and everything to do with following teachers of sound doctrine. Note that the chapter warns people that in the “last days” preachers or teachers will appear who do not teach sound doctrine and display all kinds of deviant behavior. We are warned to “turn away” from their teachings. Paul uses the doctrine he was taught by God and his own behavior as an example of the difference between himself and the false teachers he talks about:

[10] But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,
[11] 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.
[12] Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
[13] But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
[14] But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

False teachers and preachers were present during Paul’s time on the earth, but there appear to be many more of them today: And with resources like instant worldwide communication, they are a lot more effective than anyone would have ever been dreamed possible in the first century. I have always looked at this chapter as one which warns the Believers of Paul’s day to follow and anchor themselves in sound doctrine as much as it does the Believers from that point on and in the “last days”. The failure of people to understand and obey the sound doctrines taught by Paul and found throughout the Bible is the primary reason that there is such a large number of false teachers and preachers everywhere today. They dominate the media with health and wealth gospel messages leaving Christians out of the Will of God and sinners comfortable in an unsaved condition.

Christians are not encouraged to serve the Lord or bring the lost to Jesus; Instead, they are told to constantly search the Scriptures for deeper meaning. If you doubt this ask yourself a question: When is the last time someone visited you anywhere and tried to win you to Christ? Here is another question: When is the last time you tried to lead someone to Jesus? Every time I get lazy about witnessing I remind myself that everyone I meet or come into contact with and fail to share the gospel with is another person headed to hell. It may be that God put that person in front of me to win them to Jesus Christ. If I do not do it, who will? Although I believe in election becaus the Bible teaches it (the teaching that God chose - or knew about - the people who would be saved before the world was made), I do not take the Hyper-Calvinist view that those people will just come to Jesus regardless of our efforts. Anyway, if they are to be lead to Jesus, I want to be the one to lead them!

If we take the view of the preacher I mentioned earlier and simply ignore the list of evildoers described in these verses, who then should we approach with the gospel?

[2] For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
[3] Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
[4] Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
[5] Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:

It would be nice if witnessing was always easy and every prospect we spoke to about the Lord was some nice family person who is ready and willing to hear the truth, but that is not always the case. In these days it is rarely the case! People have turned away from God in record numbers and many easily fit into the descriptions found in the verses 2-5. That is why it is all the more important that we follow sound doctrine and teaching. If we do we will be “perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” Those “good works” include soul winning. If we follow sound doctrine we will have a heart to win the lost to Jesus. None of this will be easy...

Like most of the devil's tricks, false teaching is often disguised and packaged in a way which some Christians and the unsaved will be fooled into accepting. A good example of this type of deception are the Gnostic Gospels. These are a collection of fifty-two writings which date from the second to forth century A.D. These writings present the type of religious views that Paul and others warned against in the New Testament. Some of these so-called "gospels" try to mix the Old Testament law with New Testament grace the same way that the judaizers did in the early days of Christianity. Others represent the type of gnostic (from the Greek meaning knowledge and enlightenment) teachings that would be attractive to gentiles and Jews who follow humanistic teachings as opposed to the spiritual ones found in the Word of God.

Although most of these writings (like the gospel of Thomas or the gospel of Mary) were known to the early Believers and rejected by them, many of these writings have only been rediscovered within the last two hundred years. Recent interest in these writings have lead to heresies like The Da Vinci Code which presents the totally unscriptural idea that Jesus may have married and/or had children with Mary Magdalene. Many heretical and extra-Biblical traditions like that one have arose from these writings over the centuries and mixed with even older pagan beliefs to create falsities within religions like Catholicism. These include mother and child worship, as well as the teaching of the immaculate conception.

The Catholic Church was born out of necessity. Constantine (272 to 337 AD) was a Roman Emperor who saw his empire crumbling under sedition, as well as financial and moral decay. He often found himself threatened on just about every side. Sometime around 300-315 AD he decided to incorporate a new type of religion into the Roman belief system. He decided to embrace a form of Christianity which he created. This belief system took some common Christian teachings and mixed them with popular pagan beliefs that would be attractive to the greatest number of people under his authority. For example: Most non-Catholics do not know that the idea of mother (Mary) and child (baby Jesus) worship was adopted from various mother and son cults that date all the way back to the worship of Nimrod, his mother and her son:

Genesis 10:
[8] And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
[9] He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
[10] And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

Nimrod was a great grandson of Noah. He was called a mighty one or hunter (of souls) and his name means "let us revolt" or rebellion. His mother's name was Semiramis (she was also his wife). After Nimrod died (some scholars say she had him murdered), his mother (and wife) claimed his was god and that he had visited her after his death and impregnated her with a boy who was later named Horus. Because Semiramis wanted to hold on to the power and position once occupied by Nimrod, she insisted that people worship Nimrod, as well as her and her son. This ushered in mother and son worship. According to some sources the false teaching of the Confessional may have also arrived around this time when Semiramis installed priests who insisted that all her followers confess any sinful behavior in the form of rebellious thoughts or plots against her or her son to her priests.

Many other religions had picked up on the idea of mother and son worship by the time that Constantine created the Catholic religion, so it was a no brainer for him to include that in Catholicism. Not only did he institute mother and son worship, but he gave almost deity status to Mary. He took some of the teachings of the Gnostic gospels and introduced the idea of the immaculate conception. Most non-Catholics assume this refers to the fact that Jesus was born of a virgin. However, it follows that idea of Nimrod passing his divinity on to his mother (and wife). When combined with some teachings of the Gnostic gospels, the immaculate conception became the idea that Mary was also born of a virgin and/or remained one her whole life (despite the fact that the Bible says she bore other children). Constantine used the teaching of the confessional (just like Semiramis) to keep an eye on dissenters and rebels. Catholocism introduced the teaching that the suffering of Jesus for our sins is perpetual, thus creating the need for people to constantly confess their sins to priests or risk adding to his pain.

The term "Catholic" means universal: Constantine wanted a belief system that was exactly that. He hoped that a belief system that almost anyone could accept would save the old Roman Empire by helping to usher in a new one. Many false teachers, preachers and religious leaders today incorporate gnostic teachings into their health and wealth gospel message in the hope of attracting the widest possible audience (universal appeal). This is why Christians are warned of "perilous" (or extremely dangerous) times that have existed since the days of the early Christians and will only get worse in the last days. All you have to do is turn on your TV set and watch most of the TV preachers to see perfect examples of false teaching by people who may not even meet the Biblical Qualifications of a preacher or teacher. Many tempt their viewers with the promise of prosperity or claim they can show people how to obtain supernatural gifts that the Bible teaches have long disappeared:

I Corinthians 13:
[1] Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
[2] And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
[3] And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
[4] Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
[5] Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
[6] Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
[7] Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
[8] Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
[9] For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
[10] But when that which is perfect is come (the complete Bible), then that which is in part shall be done away.
[11] When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
[12] For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
[13] And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Again, the term “perilous” means something that is a grave risk and extremely dangerous. Following Jesus has never been a spectator’s sport or particularly easy. Christians should know that in the “perilous times” (mentioned in 2 Timothy 3) Paul tells us that it will be that much harder to remain true to sound doctrine and teaching. That means it will be that much harder to do the work of the Lord. That is why Paul tells us to find a local church where the preacher and teachers adhere to and share sound doctrine so that we can work together to accomplish the things the Lord has commanded us to do:

Hebrews 10:

[23] Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
[24] And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
[25] Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

If you need help locating a Bible-believing church in your area, I invite you to email me at youcantrustgod@gmail.com and request help.

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