Are We in the Latter Times?

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;”  I Timothy 4:1-2

Are we in the latter times, the days prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ?  It certainly seems so.  Many are placing their faith in everything but the Lord Jesus.  Folks are swept away with every new idea that comes along.  They believe whatever they hear without verifying it by God’s holy word.  In this passage, Paul began to warn his protege, Timothy, of things that are sure to happen within the church as time goes on.  The Holy Spirit made these things available to Paul so that he could warn Timothy and others to be on guard.

Paul sited specific examples of events that would occur in the latter days.  People would be forbidden to marry.  I don’t think we are quite there yet, but marriage is in the process of being “evaluated” by those who believe they know what’s best for people.  More and more couples, even Christian couples, are living together without the vow before God to remain in covenant with each other or the benefit of a marriage license which provides not only spiritual covering but legal as well.  The Gnostics, who were around during the time of Paul, felt that the spirit was good, but all matter was evil, thus the institution of marriage was evil and so was eating meat, another normal activity that would be forbidden.  We are about there now with so many people abandoning meat in their diets and instead going “vegan”.  They also claim that meat is a contributor to “climate change”.  Actually, just about everything is a contributor to climate change in their misinformed views.  Some believe that it is wrong to kill animals for food, but I would not be hesitant to say that these same folks see nothing wrong with killing an unborn baby.  Marriage and meat were both created by God for the enjoyment of His created beings.  Man has perverted both along with many other things.  I suppose the followers of the religion of “wokeism” could be designated as the modern-day Gnostics or Baal worshipers as I have suggested before.

While forbidding marriage and eating meat are signs about which Paul warned Timothy, the more significant aspect of the latter days is departing from the faith and turning to worship of the devil.  That is going on today.  I have been reading online about some schools who are allowing clubs to be set up among the children wherein Satan is worshiped.  When I see those headlines, I wonder how many people have so lost their minds, but then I remembered that Satan is prowling around seeking whom he may devour, and he certainly has been successful!  I must admit that I am a little confused where Paul said that there would be those who “depart” from the faith.  Most, but not all, Christians believe “once saved, always saved”, which indicates that a person who has been truly born again will not lose their salvation.  I have studied on this for some time.  Can a believer choose to stop believing in the gospel?

The writer of Hebrews (6:4-6) stated that for those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, but then turned away from God, have no ability to repent again because he or she has crucified Christ to the cross again by rejecting Him, causing Him to be mocked.  That is a very serious matter.  Most folks would explain it by saying that the person was never really saved to begin with.  However, the verse says that the person shared in the Holy Spirit, thus would not that be evidence of his or her salvation?  I have read online about those who had claimed to be Christians, but then walked away from their faith.  I know that God saves us, and He is the One who keeps us saved, thus nothing external can cause us to lose our salvation.  Considering whether a truly born-again believer can make the decision to walk away from his or her faith or not, my question is why would anyone who had truly experienced the love of Christ and all the blessings of life that entails ever desire to turn against Him?  One thing is evident–the devil is attempting to seduce whomever he can because he knows his time is short.

I am glad that it is not up to me to keep me saved, however, it is up to me to live circumspectly in order to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ and try to help others to see the necessity of repenting and becoming a follower of Him.  I believe that we are in the latter days because of so many people trying to eliminate God from every aspect of society.  If some had their way, they would try to take God’s name out of His own word!  They desire to have no part of God, but one day they will regret that decision.  For now, it is time for all believers to be on guard and looking for that blessed hope–the day Jesus comes for us.  “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:21).