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The Later Times



The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. (I Timothy 4:1-5)

          Progressive philosophy maintains that man is basically good, and that the only thing that keeps him from fulfilling his good nature is the corruption of the system around him. If we can just figure out how to tweak or twerk the system, evil will disappear from the world and everyone will get along and do what is right. Anyone who rejects the system is viewed as ignorant and evil. By not being assimilated, they threaten the very foundation of the progressive hope for utopia. There is a sense in which that belief is true. Unfortunately, it requires that God be the foundation of society and that is the point at which human nature rebels. There is no God, but we have every right to assume that role. 
          “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” When some people hear “later times” they think of the book of Revelation and Daniel’s seventieth week. Perhaps because the Bible doesn’t seem to describe the time leading up to that seventieth week as clearly, we tend to think of things going along fairly well and then all hell breaks loose on earth. In a sense, that’s true. God finally releases His righteous judgments on Earth. The problem is, the only way that God can release his righteous judgments is if there is something to judge. Everything can’t be going fairly well. 
          We’ve been following the teachings of demons since Eden. Those teachings are so endemic to our thinking that the demons don’t need to teach them anymore. We teach them to ourselves. Look around. 
          Don’t misunderstand me. I believe that the Tribulation will come after the Rapture, and that it will be seven years of unmitigated judgment. I just don’t think we that we’ll go from good to bad in sixty seconds or less. We’re already told what we should and shouldn’t drink, what we should and shouldn’t touch. We’ve been told that for forever. The experts and their groupies scream “Crisis!” and assure us that the only way good will happen is if we do as they command. Marching to the tune of “Imagine” they tell us to get rid of marriage (but not sex, and unless you’re homosexual – then get “married!”) They tell us to not eat meat, or wheat, or sugar, or the wrong fats. They tell us to stop doing this, that and the other in order to save our environment. It’s interesting that the “Did God say” has reversed. Now instead of being enticed to eat, we’re being shamed for eating. It’s as if somehow, but not eating, we think we can assuage our guilt and regain Eden. I’m not telling you to go ahead and live an unhealthy lifestyle, I’m just describing the world as I see it. The goal seems to somehow overcome what God has decreed, not by following His law, but by force. Tell me when the last time was that it worked.

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