"You should know this, Timothy..."

"You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!" 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NLT) 

For many years I've observed what I tend to think of as the spiritual pulse of our nation and of the world - always searching for some glimmer of hope that a true reawakening to the truth of the God who established all of creation and the rules for life, might be coming alive somewhere ... anywhere.  At the same time, I'm aware of what must come in the "end times" as God has declared and warned us. I feel that time is so very close and if it is, then nothing can avert what God has said will happen, but in the meantime we can pray for that reawakening to the truth to occur and that it leads to the saving of a great number of spirits that God has created with loving intention and add to His victory and glory while there's still time.

That search for a great spiritual awakening has concerned my heart for decades because of the potentially mounting cost to mankind in what I fear may be the many, many souls eternally lost as we continue to journey through this place toward what has always been intended to be our actual home. Who of us will actually arrive there is something that only God knows for certain, because only he can see the truth in anyone's heart and rightly judge.

In my observation, I'm not discounting the ongoing work and sanctification of Christ's true Church. Where Christ is, life is always happening and lighting the area in which it's found. But there's an overall attitude and moral conscience that seemingly represents the majority heart and direction of mankind in general and it's dark. It's that essence or spirit of mankind as a species that represents his core and it's sick and failing. It has been since the fall of mankind in the garden of Eden and the progression of mankind's illness continues to overtake him increasingly. The moral compass and wisdom needed to live this life in the fullness and completeness of relationship with the God who created him have largely been set aside by mankind in a pursuit to satisfy his own comfort, lusts, pride, self importance and self pleasure. What so much of mankind doesn't seem to recognize is that those very things that he strives after with such deference and passion are the very things that can poison his heart and cause a decaying cancer within his own soul. 

The wickedness that pervades the halls of much of man's self governance and institutions, the evil of his thoughts and actions against the brothers and sisters of his own species, the divisiveness, along with the dark arrogance of his defiance in the face of the God who created him, all stem from the corruption of mankind's core apart from a living relationship with the God who created us all. I can't speak to the day, the year or the decade of Jesus' return to sort the sheep from the goats and I'm not elevating myself above any other as I write, but I can say factually that judgment is coming and it's closer than ever. 

Jesus will be returning for a remnant of His Church - a people set apart from the rest of the world, not one corrupted with it. I worry about how many are being decieved to think that just saying a few words and acting pious changes anything without actually being changed by what they claim to believe. True belief requires a reaction to what it knows without doubt and self discipline to react according to the core of that belief is the key to putting belief into action - the action in return then providing evidence of belief.

Having and maintaining self discipline to react according to what we claim to believe is a battle that we can't afford to lose and one that we don't have to fight alone. The temptation to subscribe to mankind's fallen nature at times can be a strong one when emotions run unchecked and when accountability isn't maintained. Being honestly accountable to one another as well as to our God and to His words is a path we can and need to walk together with each other and with our Creator as we follow His true leading.

"Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." James 1:19-27 (NLT)

The truth - God's truth, we have possesion of it and we can know it. If we truly believe it, then we're changed by it and live an active response to it. If not, I think we have to ask ourselves "do we truly believe?".

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the LORD your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul." Deuteronomy 10:12 (NLT)

"No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8 (NLT)