“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come”
Are you serious? You want to call these perilous times? You’ve got a roof over your head, a family to love and food on your table every night and you think things are rough? Perilous does not mean your riding mower might get a flat or your boat might not hold all your friends. Most people is western societies have little or no concept of perilous times. Perilous does not mean they might not sing your favorite song on Sunday. It does not even mean you won’t feel good about being in church.
The perilous times Paul was talking to Timothy about meant that for the sake of the gospel his life might be forfeit. It meant that your friends and family members would turn you in for praying or preaching or saying Jesus is my Savior. Perilous means for the simple choice of being God’s child you can expect to be beaten, bloodied and bruised. Perilous means that in those times naming the name of Jesus the Christ will certainly result in tormenting, trials and torture. Perilous means food will be scarce and even when it is available you will be denied access to it. Perilous times are times in which everyone is in it just for me. Their constant perspective is “what is in it for me”.
Oh yes, we have seen some people act like that but in those times everyone who is not a Christian will demand their right to have everything the way they want it at the expense of everyone else. Times are coming in which the selfishness displayed today will appear as sainthood. In fact Paul proclaims everyone, even many who have acted like they are believers, will become so self-centered that they will have no room in their hearts for compassion or kindness nor any desire to benefit anyone other than themselves. That day is not today but it may be close at hand.
The peril is that they will have lost every moral compass to be able to even consider that there is a God to be reconciled to. Truth, God’s truth, will be foreign to them. Faith and faithfulness will be unattainable. Grace and mercy will be the condemnations slandered and cursed upon the righteous few just as “Christian” was at Antioch. These will be days of corrupt minds and reprobate hearts. There will be no moral reasoning, no spiritual comprehension nor consideration for the Godly values of Holy men and women. Then, in those Perilous days, then the evil will appear to triumph and the good and Godly will appear to fail. We are not there yet. In fact even though we may feel a swelling of this sentiment in our communities, as did Russian Christians, and as did Chinese Christians, so did the crusaders of the middle ages, so did every God fearing people since the resurrection of Christ when evil raised its ungodly head to obliterate the Godly seed.
And yet, the end is not here; not yet…