In this daily Bible reading Paul writes to Timothy about the end times. Most people will have removed God from their lives. Paul says, “Men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, and disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power.” I believe Paul’s description characterizes the world today. We are there. We are in the last days.
Paul also says that true believers will be persecuted. These are those who live their lives according to the Word of God, the Bible. They are not religious. They are the ones who worship the Lord according to the Word of God. The Bible says that God desires people to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. The Word of God is the Truth. It doesn’t demand rituals or ceremonies. It commands people to love God and to love their neighbors. Love of God is evidenced by obedience to His Word.
Religion doesn’t lead people to read the Bible and obey God. It has the effect of putting people in bondage to their superstitions. As Paul says, ‘the people hold to a form of godliness but deny its power.’ True believers do not fit in with religion. They will be persecuted more and more as the end times approach. However, if they endure to the end they will be saved and be allowed into Heaven.
