"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away"
(2 Tim. 3:1-5).
The List:
THE FOLLOWING was complied by Rev. Carlyle B. Haynes of the Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1926:
Covetousness
"COVETOUS," "lovers of money," "fond of money," "avaricious." Men today are covetous. There is deep-rooted, ingrained, unprincipled covetousness. There is oppression, robbery, immorality, fraud, and even murder, all for gold. There is an inordinate lust for wealth and greed of gain. There is speculation, political bribery, public plundering, and even preaching for money. Yes, there is praying for money, and singing for money in the church. This is a money-loving age. We are in the last days of a covetous and sinful world.
The Spirit of Self-Praise
"BOASTERS," "boastful," "empty." Wherever one goes today, he finds a spirit of self-praise, a spirit of boasting. Men boast of their skill, of their talents, of their strength, their power, their prowess, even of their criminal excesses, the hearts they have broken, and the virtue they have despoiled. They are willing to give alms only when they can do so amid a flourish of trumpets.
Pride
"PROUD," "haughty," " pretentious," "arrogant." Pride of every kind is prevalent today. There is national pride, political pride, religious pride, and social pride. There is pride in dress, in which honor, reputation, life, and health are sacrificed to fashions originating in the Paris underworld. There is pride of every grade and class. In no previous age have men become so devoted to pride and luxury.
Blasphemy
"BLASPHEMERS," "profane," "abusive," "libelous." This word comes from the Greek blasphemeo, meaning "to speak evil of, to slander, to defame, to revile." In this sense, blasphemy surrounds us today on every side. We hear it in the streets, in the homes, in the stores, in the factories, in the banks, in the offices, in the cars, in the parlors, on the sea, on the land, and in the air. It is printed in the newspapers, magazines, and books. This is an age noted for evil-speaking and blasphemy.
Disobedience to Parents
"DISOBEDIENT TO PARENTS," " undutiful." Obedient children today are rare. There is a breaking away from parental restrictions, a disregard of all parental authority and control, an open disobedience to parental will. This condition especially marks this age, and in this one respect there has been a vast change in the last half century. The children of our times are old in sin, knowing more iniquity at the age of fifteen than their parents did at thirty.
Ingratitude
"UNTHANKFUL," "thankless," "ungrateful." This is an age of ingratitude. Men fail to thank God for His goodness, His mercy, His love, and the blessings He sends upon them. Children fail to honor their parents or to give any return for their love and care. Men who may receive a favor today will tomorrow return evil for good. Trusts are betrayed, secrets disclosed, and confidences violated by pretended friends.
Unholiness
"UNHOLY," "irreligious," "irreverent," "senseless," "profane." This is an age of religion so far as profession goes, but there is very little genuine religion, very little holiness, very little reverence. There is a great deal of outward show in the externals of religion, displayed in magnificent church buildings, stained glass windows, mitered priests, lordly clergy, gorgeous furnishings, pompous rituals, stately ceremonies, eloquent preachers, costly organs, highly paid singers, extravagant music, and much pomp and pageantry; but there is very little real holiness and reverence. Very few of the people of God possess the full powers of undefiled manhood and womanhood. Very few are entirely free from the influence of debasing habits, lusts, and appetites. It was God's purpose that the church should overcome the world, but today the world is overcoming the church.
Without Natural Affection
"WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION," "destitute of natural affection," " callous," "without parental affections," "without family affection," "unfeeling." This Scripture in fulfilled today. Take the testimony of the abortionist, who grows rich in his hellish work; take the testimony of the vendors of poisons sold to pervert the processes of nature; and take the testimony of the victims of these devilish practices. Then read the accounts of the murder of innocent children because they are not wanted; read the records of divorce cases, the desertions, the killing of aged parents by selfish children, and then judge if this is not an age which is callous, unfeeling, and without natural affection.
Implacability
"TRUCEBREAKERS," "unforgiving," "relentless," "implacable," "irreconcilable." This is an age when very little dependence can he placed in the pledged word of men. Lawsuits over broken contracts clog our legal machinery. Treaties between nations become "mere scraps of paper" when they stand in the way of cherished ambitions. Some men cannot be believed on oath. This is an ago of trucebreaking and implacability.
False Accusation
"FALSE ACCUSERS," "slanderers," "scurrilous," "calumniators," "slanderous." This certainly is a characteristic of the present time. There is a spirit of slander, calumny, detraction, and false accusation abroad in the land, and it seems uncontrollable. Falsehoods run through the earth, multiplied a thousand times by the press. In political campaigns there is too much of misrepresentation, falsehood, and slander. But it is not confined to politics.
Profligacy
"INCONTINENT," "dissolute," "profligate," "without self-control." This is an age of moral corruption. Adultery is common; licentiousness is prevalent; illicit love fills the newspapers with tales of "affinities," "soul mates," and "crimes of passion;" divorce is increasing at an alarming rate. This results from the whole course of fashionable life today, from the immoral fashions in dress, from lewd theatrical performances, from intemperate habits of eating, from highly seasoned foods, all of which lead to unbridled lust.
Fierceness and Brutality
"FIERCE," "brutal," "savage," "inhuman." This is fulfilled in the calamities which nations inflict on each other in their conflicts. Should a visitor from another planet look upon the world's battlefields and behold the fire of the great guns, see the mangled and broken bodies of the dead and dying, and witness the pain and misery which men deal out to each other, he would think he had lost his way and had reached hell instead of earth. Today there is a spirit of unforgiving, unalterable, unrelenting hatred between nations of men.
Hatred and Contempt of Goodness
"DESPISERS OF THOSE THAT ARE GOOD," "opposed to goodness," "they will hate goodness," " without love of goodness," "haters of good," "with no love for what is good." It has been a characteristic of all times that the evil hate the good, but hatred of goodness and the good is a special characteristic of the present age. This chapter in Second Timothy from which we are quoting, also declares that "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (verses 12, 13). And as evil men have become worse and more numerous, so has the hatred of the good increased.
Today, as in all previous times, the good suffer persecution. Those who do not serve God, hate and dislike those who do. There are many today who reverence the holy men of old, but for those who live the same sort of lives now, they have nothing but contempt and hatred. There are Christians today who cannot bind their consciences by forms and ceremonies and laws which God never made or authorized, and such men become thereby outcasts and objects of reproach. There are those who will not give their souls into the keeping of some pope or bishop or preacher, but who believe that they must live up to the light which God has given thorn in Christ, knowing that they must give an account of themselves individually to God; and because of this they become a gazing-stock, outcasts from the crowd which follows the way of the majority.
And every thing that religious intolerance can do to oppose them, and make their lives miserable, and fence them away from all fellowship and friendship, is done with zeal.
Treachery
"TRAITORS," "treacherous." This is a day when men who can be trusted under all circumstances are very rare. Trusts are accepted only to be betrayed. Cashiers and tellers abscond, trusted officials betray their trusts, and those in charge of the inheritance of widows and orphans manage to take the largest share for themselves, Even the closest friends cannot be trusted. Traitors are on every hand.
Recklessness
"HEADY," "headstrong," "reckless." This is an age characterized by headstrong, reckless dispositions. Its spirit is that of speed and haste, for when you do not run with the crowd, you get run over. A headlong, feverish rashness prevails among men everywhere. Patience is a virtue long since discarded. Caution, prudence, and wisdom are obsolete virtues; everything must go through with a rush. "The wicked are like the troubled sea...whose waters cast up mire and dirt." Great questions upon which the destiny of nations may hang are settled too often by wild tumults of popular passion.
Haughtiness
"HIGH-MINDED," "self-important," "conceited," "stupid." Men are haughty today and self-sufficient. They are wiser in their own eyes than "seven men that can render a reason." Youths just out of school suddenly make the astounding discovery that they know more than their elders. No other comment is needed on this expression than to observe a group of them on some corner, surrounded by clouds of cigarette smoke, settling the affairs of the universe with overweening conceit; vainglorious, puffed up, given to criticism of those in high places. This spirit of conceit and self-importance also permeates professed Christian people. Many will not accept the authority of God and the Bible. They place their own opinions above the plain Word of God. No matter how clearly God may speak to them from His Word, they submit only to that degree to which the divine requirement may harmonize with their desires and opinions.
Pleasure Lovers And Seekers
"LOVERS OF PLEASURES MORE THAN LOVERS OF GOD," "they will love pleasure instead of loving God," "preferring pleasure to God," "caring more for pleasure than for God." This is an age of amusement and pleasure of every description. Even the churches cannot run without periodical picnics, frolics, and shows. Simple pleasures are no longer sufficient to meet the requirements of this age of speed. There must be something wild, unnatural, exciting, and thrilling. The motion-picture craze has swept all classes from their moorings, and is educating the young in crime and conjugal infidelity.
Dr. Hayne's world was 1926. Zoom up to 2015. I'm sure he would have some things to add. Radio had just come into existence; there were no TV's, no internet, and even "the motion picture craze" he spoke of was nothing like the vileness/violence that is in today's movie making. Now whole churches, organizations, and denominations are SIN-CRAZED beyond recognition. Lies, liars, and deceit cover ALL! There is no sin that we can name that can't be found in and among the church of today.
Today's Churchites live, for the most part, in a MAKE BELIEVE WORLD…believing themselves to be in "grace" when in reality they are "graceless." Formalism and ceremonialism is the vogue in the more conservative churches; rashness and brashness is of the others…life entirely out-of-harmony with the teachings of Scripture. Pride and rebellion is their "thing."
Easy and Sleazy
THIS PRETTY much tells the tale: no spiritual-warfare, no sacrifice, no loyalty, no self-denial—mostly all self-grandeur and high-mindedness (narcissism), not at all devoted to winning souls for Christ, only winning tithes-payers to their churches.
Jesus spoke of the religion of His day, and even gave a blistering indictment against it and the leadership (see Mt. 23). One of the indictments was "Ye make clean the outside…but within…full of extortion and excess" (v. 25). In other words, a fair exterior, but a dirty heart! "Good show ole chaps!," but with hearts that were F-A-R from their God they claimed to know and serve. It was a pretentious religion, lacking the real stuff—very different from that of the true prophets of old; very different from the (future) indomitable, fearless, much-enduring, storm-braving, demon-fighting, militant, aggressive apostolic New Testament days.
Wow! what an emasculated church we have today (the males); what a defeminized church we have today (the females).
The scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' day were militant, but not according to the Spirit of God; it was a "religious" spirit. Jesus found it to be irksome, inefficient and uninfluential.
We have either a cold and dead formal religion, or the extreme—an arm-swinging, foot-stomping, dirty-dancing, cutting-edge church that is moved by the human spirit (with the help of a few demons!!).
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