Jannes and Jambres

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. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. (II Timothy 3:1-8) 

            As we grow closer to the Day of the Lord, things are going to get darker. That’s a generally accepted understanding among at least a good portion of Christians. It’s the opposite view of the Progressive mentality, which says that no matter how bad things get, we can make them better than they were, faster, stronger…. For the last eight years, young folk have been told to go home to their parents and explain things to them. For the previous 50 years, they have been building strength, quietly working in the background, often with our permission. The media is full of this mentality. Worm its way into our houses? We invite it and are angry if anyone suggests that we’re keeping bad company.
            The part of today’s passage that most attracted my attention today is “Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth…” Jannes and Jambres were the lead magicians in the pharaoh’s court. You probably know the story. God turns the water to blood. The pharaoh’s magicians turned water to blood. God causes the Nile to bring forth frogs. The pharaoh’s magicians bring forth frogs. God brought forth gnats…oops. By the time God got to the plague of boils, the magicians were sending notes. 
            I suspect there’s a pattern here. There is an extent to which man can accomplish godlike deeds. Notice, those impressive feats involved making more of what God had already made, which didn’t solve the problem. It explained it. “We can do that!” so it’s no big deal. Just a trick. Eventually, their capacity to replicate and imitate was not up to the challenge. They admitted that it was the “finger of God” at work. 

            In 1850, Origin of the Species was published, providing an explanation for the creation of all life. ^“For the life of a creature is in the blood,” (Leviticus 17:11a) and part of that explanation is that all life originated in and came out of the water, not unlike frogs. I’m not going to pretend that the parallels continue, but those two are amusing. It seems to me that sciencism is now the secret art which is being used by many Janneses and Jamreses. Scientists can replicate some of what God has done. They can explain more, even if they can’t replicate. Those explanations may not be right, but the explanations are accepted because they are scientists, the high priests of the New World Order. 
           And like Jannes and Jambres’ solutions that only made the problem worse, it seems to me that science doesn’t solve as many problems as it complicates them and makes them worse. Plants and animals introduced to solve some problem become invasive species – remember Killer Bees? Our technology not only transports other invasive species accidentally (Zebra mussels in the Great Lakes) but the technology may add to other environmental issues (Global warming) and so our scientists come along with their theories and solutions and we’re expected to say, “Oh, our heroes!” I think I hear frogs croaking.  
           As scientists claimed to be able to explain more and more of the universe according to its naturalistic and mechanistic philosophies, they started talking of the “God of the Gaps,” meaning that God was being pushed out of more and more of the picture, leaving smaller and smaller gaps in which anyone need consider Him to be of any significance. They think they can stuff more and more into their box. As they shove things into their box, other things escape as our understanding grows. 
           We don’t need to worry as we face our Jannes and Jambres. Replication and explanation eventually end in …oops.