2 Tim 4: Thoughts for Today

Paul’s charge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4: 1-2, 5¹ is for all who claim Yeshua as Savior and Lord today. His warning in vs 3-4* is at its highest point to date in history, at least in the USA and in the American Body of Believers. It will get only worse if we don’t wake up! Yes, it will probably get worse as we progress further into the end times even if we do wake up, but at least we’ll be prepared to handle it. The majority of Messiah-followers, and the general public, are not prepared today, nor are the majority of the leaders in the organized church preparing us.

Mankind in general and, yes, those who claim to follow Yeshua, have turned from hearing the Truth and are instead seeking after myths and a watered-down  Gospel that pleases their ears (2 Tim. 4:3-4¹), rather than challenge them. They are more interested in having a good time, than in what is happening under their noses that will change their lives and the lives of their descendants forever if allowed to continue. I pray that I will never be numbered among them, though sometimes I have to wonder.

Paul is calling all believers to “Preach [live] the message, be ready (persistent) whether it is convenient or not” and to “be self-controlled in all things, endure hardship, do an evangelist’s work, fulfill your ministry.”¹ By the way, “Evangelist” doesn’t mean just those who are preaching the Word in a pulpit, nor does “ministry” mean serving as a Pastor or Sunday school teacher, etc.  Both mean serving Him in whatever we do.

The Lord is calling out to all mankind through the pandemic and the social unrest we’re experiencing to wake up and turn to Him—to live according to His teaching. The solution is not in man’s ideas; the solution is not in demonstrations, especially not in actions of destruction. Unfortunately, this applies to those in the church almost as much as those who are not. Too many have allowed themselves to come under the enemy’s spell, under the cloud of deception that hangs over our country and the world.

The solution is in Father God and His Son, Yeshua. The solution is in acting out the Truth, the principles of His instructions in love and compassion. Church leaders especially must be taking a strong stand and teaching their flock to live according to the Word instead of providing entertainment and worrying about numbers. Lord, do not let me be counted among them!

I want to be counted among His disciples who live out the two greatest commandments: “Love the Lord your God and Love your neighbor as yourself”² This doesn’t mean that you and I sit idly by and let those who want to destroy the good in America and around the world have their way. It does mean that we stand up for God’s Truth and not what is politically correct.

If you are reading this and have never accepted Yeshua as your Savior and the Leader of your life, I urge you to do so today. If you are a believer or unbeliever who is following popular myths and striving to be “politically correct,” even supporting subversive movements, I urge you to get on your knees, repent, and turn from your “wicked” ways.³ This is the only way you, the United States, or the world will be saved.

Until the next time…“May the LORD bless you and watch, guard, and keep you; May the LORD make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you; May the LORD lift up His face toward you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).” (Numbers 6:24-26)

Bill

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Footnotes:

1. 1 Tim 4:2-5 (NET): (2)Preach the message, be ready whether it is convenient or not, reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and instruction. (3) For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things. (4) And they will turn away from hearing the truth, but on the other hand, they will turn aside to myths. (5) You, however, be self-controlled in all things, endure hardship, do an evangelist’s work, fulfill your ministry.
2. Mark 12:30-31 (NET): “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength… [And].Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”
3. Read and consider 2 Chron. 7:13-19 (NET): When I… send a plague among my people, if my people, who belong to me, humble themselves, pray, seek to please me, and repudiate their sinful practices, then I will respond from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. Now I will be attentive and responsive to the prayers offered in this place…Do everything I commanded and obey my rules and regulations. … “But if you people ever turn away from me, fail to obey the regulations and rules I instructed you to keep, and decide to serve and worship other gods, then I will remove you from my land I have given you, I will abandon this temple I have consecrated with my presence, and I will make you an object of mockery and ridicule among all the nations.” I believe this applies to America as much as the Israeli people to whom it was originally given.