Haughtiness

261, - Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 2Ti 3:1-4, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, ” (2 Tim 3:1-4) Some of these terms seem to be repetitive, I mean what's the difference between someone who is proud and someone who is haughty? The word haughty here literally means “smoke!” And one might rightly ask here, “What's the connection between smoke and pride? I think Jonathan Edwards said it best in 1737 when he wrote, “The first and worst cause of errors that abound in our day and age is spiritual pride. This is the main door by which the devil comes into the hearts of those who are zealous to the advancement of Christ. It is the chief inlet of smoke from the bottomless pit (See Rev 9:2) to darken the mind and mislead the judgment.” Pride is the main handle by which he has hold of Christian persons and the chief source of all mischief that he introduces to clog and hinder the work of God.” There's the connection! Haughtiness, is an inlet for all that rises out of hell, and this “smoke” darkens and obscures the mind, thereby blinding discernment. Whereas pride rises up and causes us to consider ourselves better than others, (Remember the Pharisee and the tax collector?) haughtiness opens the vent that allows the very smoke of hell to rise up in us and causes us to think we know better than God! This was of course at the very heart of the rebellion of Satan. Classic examples start with Eve in the Garden, and include other biblical characters such as King Saul who thought he could skip the instructions of God and offer a sacrifice to the Lord without Samuel. King Uzziah did the same thing in 2 Chr 26:16, “But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the LORD his God by entering the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.” Both Saul and Uzziah thought they were above the Lord's instructions and this same kind of strength sapping haughtiness will plague the church throughout the Last Days. We have seen it in history and we see it on occasion today when church leaders will overstep their bounds. Never mind what the Word of God says, it is what they say that really matters, and all sorts of ungodly behavior and actions are spawned. Did God really say? Is the mantra of the haughty as they lead people away from righteousness and into sin! Beware of any who would lead by questioning the absolute authority of God's Word

Headstrong Part 2

260, - Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 2Ti 3:4, But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be.... headstrong, (2Ti 3:4,) I want to spend one more day on the problem of being headstrong. There is a certain “rashness” to the headstrong. Their interpretation of the Scriptures is written in stone and they zealously defend what they believe and if you disagree with them, well, it's my way or the highway! It's not that zeal for the Lord and doctrine is a bad thing, in fact we are given the example of Phineas in Num 25:11, “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal.” Ro 12:11 charges us: “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord!” The problem is MISGUIDED zealousness fueled by false teaching! Many such false teachers arose in the early New Testament church one such zealous false teacher was Diotrephes written of in 3 John, 9,10, “but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. 10 Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.” This was one headstrong, my way or the highway dude! People who know me, know that I can be very zealous, and though I hate to admit it, sometimes my zealousness was misguided! But by the grace of God I have learned to unlearn some of my wrong thinking. I won't go into details but there have been times when God brought me into situations where my beliefs were rightly challenged, and I was forced to see things in a different, more biblical light. It was one of the best things that has happened to me in my spiritual journey, because as I looked at the issue with a teachable spirit, and took the correction from the Lord, it opened up so many other portions of Scripture to me! Mt 13:12 "For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Bottom line is I choose to admit that I don't know it all and won't this side of heaven, therefore I will seek to ever be teachable, knowing that God corrects those whom He loves! The Aramaic Bible in Plain English puts it this way: For whomever the Lord Jehovah loves, HE instructs, and draws aside His children with whom He is pleased.” Lord help me to have a teachable spirit!

Headstrong

259 - Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 2Ti 3:1-4, But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, (2Ti 3:1-4,) Next on the list of strength sapping influences and behaviors in the church is that of being headstrong. The King James says, “heady.” Interesting word. In the Greek it is propetes (prop et ace') It means “falling forward” the idea being falling headlong. A synonymn for this word is “rash.” You know the type “Ready! Fire! Aim! Instead of Ready! Aim! Fire! They are marked by impulsive vehemence or passion! A couple of biblical examples come to mind. Samson in the Old Testament, (just read his story beginning at Judges 13 and you will see what I mean) and in the New Testament we have the rashness of Peter, who sliced off the ear of one of the arresting party in Gethsemane. The headstrong act without thinking and speak without thinking and usually no amount of talking to them will change their mind. They are ever right and everyone else is ever wrong. Unless the Lord gets a hold of them, and gives them a dose of meekness, they remain unteachable, unmoldable, and you can see the problems that will cause in a congregation. To be honest, I cringe at some of the posts I see on Facebook from people who claim to be followers of Christ. They take everything they see on line as gospel truth then pass it along adding their own virulent comments to the mix. This has become very evident in the political arena for example and both sides are guilty! Stop it! Respect the authorities that God has placed in office, or have you forgotten: Ro 13:1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. And then in Ro 13:7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.” And before you rashly decide to hit that share button, make sure the story is true! Ex 23:1 says, "You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

Traitors

258 - Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 2Ti 3:1-4, But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, ( 2 Tim 3:1-4) Next on the list of strength sapping influences and behaviors in the church is that of being a traitor. The word means to give forth to the enemies hand. It is found in one other place in Scripture and that is in Lu 6:16 where it is used to describe Judas Iscariot: “Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.” Judas surrendered himself to the devil and the devil used him to give Jesus forth into the hands of the enemy. The enemy (the religious rulers) should be considered as anyone who has the power to do you harm because they perceive you as some sort of a threat. Further, by definition a traitor is someone whom you trusted. Speaking prophetically of that traitor Judas the Psalmist writes in Ps 41:9 Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.” Traitors have been with us for a long time. Think of Delilah as she handed Samson over to the Philistines. And Doeg the Edomite who ratted on David as he fled from the murderous Saul, Balaam who gave the secret to defeating the Israelites to Balak, and of course...Judas. Jesus, speaking of the same end times that Paul is speaking of in this portion of 2 Tim said in Mt 24:10 "And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. As the gospel is preached and congregations are formed, traitors will rise up and turn people in to authorities and over to mobs that have the power to cause them harm. Traitors may do this for personal gain, or they simply may do it because they disagree with what is being preached. Judas was guilty of both. The church's history is rife with people being ratted out by traitors and then dealt with harshly by mobs and authorities, and we are seeing some of this ratting out even in the church in America today, where some member of a congregation may not agree with what is being proclaimed from the pulpit concerning the sin of homosexuality for example, and so they turn the pastor or the church over to the authorities in an attempts to silence them. Traitors will always be with the church, seeking to silence the message and weaken the church, our job is to remain strong, preach the word fearlessly and live out our faith with the love of Jesus!

Despisers of Good

257 - Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 2Ti 3:1-3, “ But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, (2 Tim 3:1-3) Next on the list of strength sapping influences and behaviors in the church is despisers of good.” The King James says, “despisers of those who are good.” To despise someone or something that is good is to look down on with contempt. It's hard to imagine that a church can actually have such people in their midst. How can a supposed follower of Christ look down on what is good or good people? An example of such a person is Diotrephes found in 3 John beginning at verse 9: I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us.” So the first calling card of those who despise good is they love to have preeminence and anyone who threatens their preeminence is not received in Christian love and hospitality! A close parallel of this trait is found in the relationship between the scribes, the Pharisees and Jesus. Think about it. The real reason they sought to get rid of Jesus was their preeminence among the people was being threatened by Him and all His goodness! Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead, a definite good thing, but it was despised by the religious rulers as we read in Joh 11:47,48, “ Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, "What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. 48 "If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation." The chief priests and Pharisees were concerned about losing their place, their preeminence. You can spot these despisers of good by their obsession with having preeminence and it's assorted perks. They are not interested in differentiating between good and evil, only in twisting the Scriptures for their own fringe benefits. They are described to a tee in Lu 20:46,47, “ "Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, 47 "who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation."” These pompous pretenders will sap the strength of the church as they seek to lead it to truth twisting compromise in order to keep their place of preeminence that helps line their pockets and their egos!

Brutality In the Church

The Church and Brutality

256 - Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 2Ti 3:1-3, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal,” (2 Tim 3:1-3) Next on the list of strength sapping influences and behaviors in the church is brutality. This is shocking! The word means savage, fierce, no better than a wild animal! What's shocking about this trait is it will be found in the church! We all know how brutal godless men can be, but the church? The church is a Holy Spirit filled entity that exhibits the fruit of the Spirit, and that fruit is described in Ga 5:22,23, “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Tell me, was there even a hint of brutality anywhere in this list? Yet, there will be times in church history from the time of the ascension of Jesus until the time when He returns, that the Holy Spirit will be pushed aside and the church will be marked by brutality! We cannot deny that the church has some terrible skeletons in their closet as it relates to brutality and savagery. Think of the crusades, the inquisition, the Thirty Years war in Europe which resulted in 8 million causalities, all in the name of religion. The horrific persecution of the Anabaptists, the Salem witch trials, the treatment of American Indians, and I'm sure I haven't mentioned them all! And lest we think that the church today is above this kind of savagery, need I remind you that many mainline denominations in America today are okay with legalized abortion, which has resulted in the death of around 60 million unborn children created in the image of God! Do not for a minute let your guard down against brutality in the church! Our history reeks of it, and even though we can't imagine it getting as bad as the Inquisition, it can and indeed will happen in all sorts of forms until our Lord returns! There really is only one cure, and that cure is to yield one's will to the Holy Spirit because as we have already pointed out, there is not one brutal bone in His person. Mt 12:19,20 reminds us of the gentle qualities of one filled with the Spirit: “He will not quarrel nor cry out, Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. 20 A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench, Till He sends forth justice to victory; Brutality enters the church whenever the Holy Spirit is pushed aside! Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God! Constantly seek to be filled with Him and His fruit, lest your flesh rises up and leads you down to this horrific road of brutality!