In the Last Days Perilous Times Will Come
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy …
Many prophecies of the Bible tell of terrible troubles that will come on the earth before the return of Jesus Christ. In this passage the apostle Paul lists some of the causes of these perilous times. These attitudes describe a spiraling downward cycle of selfishness, pride and disobedience.
The list of evil end-time attitudes continues in verses 3-5: “Unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”
All this could be summed up as the way of “get.” God’s way, in contrast, is the way of “give.”
Christians must be on guard against these selfish attitudes rubbing off on us. We also must strive to put on the opposite attitudes that reflect God’s thinking—the fruit of God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
For more about these attitudes, see “Staying Warm in a Spiritually Cold World.” For more about the last days, see our section on the “End Times.”
