SOME OF THE WORDS OF GOD.
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving,” 1 Timothy 4:1-4.
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” 2 Timothy 3:1-5.
“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry,” 2 Timothy 4:1-5.
“This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation,” 2 Peter 3:1-4.
AN EXAMPLE OF THE CONTRARY WORDS OF MEN.
“We must build a better future for our people, those we agree with and those we disagree with.”
(Gregory Campbell, Democratic Unionist Party MP, just elected ahead of the Sinn Fein candidate by 179 votes)
When illness overtakes a loved one, amongst their friends there is the hope and prayer that a recovery will take place and a healing wrought by the mercy of the Lord. But as deterioration continues, it becomes evident that recovery is becoming less likely for, in the providence of God, life’s ‘allotted span’ is coming to an end.
For the child of God of course there is the glorious hope of being carried into the immediate presence of the Lord and the end of all of earth’s woes, trials and sorrows.
It is not so for those who must face death in their sin. For them it is as was the case with the rich man in the Saviour’s account of his death. “The rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments,” Luke 16:22-23. (more…)
