The “last days” spans the centuries between Jesus’ first visit to earth all the way up to today. The event that will close the last days is the Second Coming of Christ. I imagine that every generation has wondered if theirs was the last of the last days. Obviously, we are closer to His return than were the Christians in the first century, but I don’t know when He will return. To help us evaluate the times, Paul has listed some of the characteristics of the last days.
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.” (2 Timothy 3:1–5)
Maybe every generation has seen these things, but they seem more rampant in our day. Have you noticed that in the last 50-60 years, there has been an alarming breakdown of the family, rise of violence in our streets, increasing disrespect for authority, pervasive focus on sex, widespread acceptance of occultism, and diminishing church attendance. People claim to be “spiritual,” but they avoid the God of the Bible.
We are told that “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14) Occultism is his attempt to be mistaken for a benevolent being. But Jesus warned us that the devil ONLY comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Paul sounded a warning. “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” (1 Timothy 4:1) In the last of the last days, some will seek out power and guidance from the spiritual realm, regardless of its source.
A generation ago, no one would have openly confessed that they studied witchcraft, but today it’s accepted to be a witch or a Satanist. Today, Satanists have their own chaplains in the Armed Forces, are starting after-school chapters in our children’s schools, and are protected under freedom-of-religion laws. The occult world of demonic power used to be limited to primitive people. But in our day, more and more people foolishly believe that all spiritual power is good. They believe the dragon (a symbol of Satan) is the source of benevolent power, not a malevolent beast ready to destroy their lives.
Less than a century ago, if anyone claimed to be God, we would have locked him in a padded cell. However, in our day, Shirley MacLean has said that everyone has God within them and they simply need to discover this for themselves. We have also witnessed people who thought Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was a god-man. Mormonism has also risen and teaches that men of good standing in the LDS church can become god of their own universe. Paul was right. People will abandon God and seek power from Satan in the last of the last days.
The stage is set for a charismatic leader to unite the world and bring about peace. Of course, this peace will last only 3½ years. Then Satan will use fear to force people to worship him. “All who refuse to worship the image will be killed. He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.” (Revelation 13:15–17)
On the other hand, God doesn’t force anyone to worship Him. God wants worship from the heart. “The Lord says: ‘These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.’” (Isaiah 29:13) If you have never experienced the love of God and the wonder of the forgiveness of sins, I invite you to turn your life over to Jesus Christ. Christianity is not a philosophy to live by, but a Person to follow. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
I hope you’ll choose to follow Jesus.
Keywords: Antichrist, Jesus, Christ, Second Coming, God, Bible, Satan, devil, demons, witchcraft, Satanist, forgiveness, sins
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