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THE APOSTLE PAUL WROTE TO Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:1-9 about the character of the world in the last days...and it is not good. The Apostle used the word perilous to describe these times. In the Greek the word translated perilous means difficult, dangerous, furious, and fierce.

How will these times be dangerous and fierce? Here's how the Apostle described these times to his son in the faith:

The nature of people will be that of moral anarchy to such a degree that the following will be considered normal and those who are people of the word will be despised and even considered enemies of society...

  1. ...lovers of themselves (3:1)
  2. ...covetous (3:1)
  3. ...boasters (3:1)
  4. ...proud (3:1)
  5. ...blasphemers (3:1)
  6. ...disobedient to parents (3:1)
  7. ...unthankful (3:1)
  8. ...unholy (3:1)
  9. ...without natural affection (3:2)
10. ...trucebreakers (3:2)
11. ...false accusers (3:2)
12. ...incontinent (3:2)
13. ...fierce (3:2)
14. ...despisers of those that are good (3:2)
15. ...traitors (3:4)
16. ...heady (3:4)
17. ...high-minded (3:4)
18. ...lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God (3:4)
19. ...having a form of godliness, but denying the holy spirit (3:5)
20. ...sexual impurity (3:6)
21. ...love learning, but never comes to knowledge of truth (3:7)
22. ...resist truth for own philosophies (3:8)

The twenty-first century has perfected this moral anarchy to a sophistication where we no longer discern these as defective traits. It is no doubt that we are the generation living in the last of the last days of our present age: that age when even the strongest of Christians will find it difficult to reason against the sin of the age.

THE WITNESS OF MATTHEW TWENTY-FOUR

The Apostle Matthew wrote in Matthew 24:1-13 of the conditions throughout the world during the last days and the effect these conditions will have upon Christians. There will be...

 1. ...a great increase in false Christ's (24:5)
 2. ...a great increase in the number and intensity of wars and rumors of wars(24:6)
 3. ...a great increase in ethnic groups fighting against ethnic group (24:7)
 4. ...a great increase in the number and intensity of one country warring against another country (24:7)
 5. ...a great increase in the number of people affected by famines (24:7)
 6. ...a great increase in the number of diseases (24:7)
 7. ...a great increase in the number of earthquakes (24:7)
 8. ...Christians will be physically persecuted and martyred (24:9)
 9. ...Christians will not like what is happening and give up Christianity (24:10)
10. ..."Christians" betraying and hating Christians (24:10)
11. ...Christians will be deceived by false prophets (24:11)
12. ...Christian's love will grow cold because of all the sin (24:12)
13. ...Christians will be required to endure the hard times to be saved 24:13)
14. ...Christians will preach the gospel as a witness to all (24:14)

Scripture gives witness that the days prior to the coming of Christ and the end of our present world will not be pleasant ones and will be filled with great pressure. How do we handle these days? What do we do?

We will look at our response to the last days in lesson seven.

Hold fast till Christ returns!