Text: 2 Tim 3: 5-13
“They will go to Church, yes, but they won’t really believe anything they hear. Don’t be taken in by people like that. They are the kind who craftily sneak into other people’s homes and make friendships with silly, sin-burdened women and teach them their new doctrines. Women of that kind are forever following new teachers, but they never understand the truth. And these teachers fight truth just as Jannes and Jambres fought against Moses. They have dirty minds, warped and twisted, and have turned against the Christian faith. But they won’t get away with all this forever. Some day their deceit will be well known to everyone, as was the sin of Jannes and Jambres. But know this from watching me that I am not that kind of person. You know what I believe and the way I live and what I want. You know my faith in Christ and how I have suffered. You know my love for you, and my patience. You know how many troubles I have had as a result of my preaching the Good News. You know about all that was done to me while I was visiting in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, but the Lord delivered me. Yes, and those who decide to please Christ Jesus by living godly lives will suffer at the hands of those who hate him. In fact, evil men and false teachers will become worse and worse, deceiving many, they themselves having been deceived by Satan”.
You cannot disarm what you have not discerned. One of the reasons why many people get into captivity is because they failed to discern the traps that were set on their path; they just walk into the trap or captivity. One of the things we need desperately in the world today is the gift of discerning of spirits. It is one of the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives us to enable us navigate this world successfully. You should be able to discern the spirits that are in operation in your environment, in your family and in your relationship with others. It pays to be able to discern promptly and accurately.
The Spirits of the Age (Contd)
- The Spirit of Violence. There is violence all over the nations of the world on a daily basis. True holiness is not just loving God, it is loving God and going out of your way to hate what God hates. You cannot be holy and yet frolic with evil. God is angry with the wicked.
- The Spirit of Immorality. The level of immorality in the world today is stinking. People now abuse their body which is supposed to be the temple of God the Holy Spirit. The extent of degeneration is appalling. Who would have ever thought that there would be a time when Bishops will gather to deliberate on whether a gay can become a Bishop! Some world leaders have become the apostles of this abomination. This only goes to show the level of perversion that has taken hold of man’s mind. Man is now no longer satisfied with having intercourse with fellow human beings and has even resorted to bestiality. If you remove the word of God from your life, you can never be wise and if you follow secular education, you will become Godless and every Godless person is a fool because the Bibles says, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God”. Prov. 14:1.
- People will be rough, coarse, they will enjoy coarse jokes. They will talk and act anyhow. There will be no restraint, no modesty, it is as if the rougher the better.
- There will be Cruelty, Wickedness. This is the spirit of the beast. It takes a cruel person to take a knife and kill a fellow human being. Today, this is so prevalent.
- False Accusers. Some people will just look at you and start cooking up things against you. It can sometimes be the people who you have good plans and intentions for; people who you are planning to lift that will suddenly turn against you. They will build up things that you know absolutely nothing about.
- Betrayal, Traitors. Some people will betray at the slightest opportunity because it is all about survival of self. The worst thing that can happen to anyone is to have your enemy mark your script. Pray – Heavenly Father, make it impossible for my enemy to mark my script, do not allow my enemy to have the upper hand in anything that concerns me, in the name of Jesus. We saw how people who followed Jesus manipulated things and how he landed into the hands of his accusers. The judgement was ‘crucify him’ even when Pilate said he could not find any fault in him. Pilate even made a proposal of releasing a prisoner as was the custom so that Jesus could go, yet they opted for Barabbas who was an epitome of everything that is bad. They crucified the King of righteousness. This is one of the reasons why we need to be very careful. Don’t ever follow the direction of the crowd, be discerning. Always follow the leading of the Holy Spirit if you don’t want to make mistakes.
TO BE CONTINUED . . .