Tell us, when will these things be? Jesus gives us another sense of progression regarding the last days, He says that one of the signs of the last days would be the love of God growing cold in the hearts of Christians because of multiplied lawlessness (Matthew 24:12) This is kind of love comes from the Greek word agape which is a word for Christian love. So the love Jesus refers to is agape love.

It is only the Holy Spirit that can bring God’s love into our lives. This infilling of the Holy Spirit is not a one-time experience. It does not matter how well you know the Scriptures or how well you speak in tongues. If you are not living an obedient life before God, your love will grow cold. God’s kind of love requires discipline and self control. True love is not selfish or self-seeking. Paul talks about this kind of love in 1 Corinthians 13: 1-8 and he considers it the greatest gift.

When lawlessness abounds, the love of many will be squeezed out of people’s hearts. As Christians we must maintain our love for the Lord and for one another if we are to avoid being hardened in our hearts.  Paul also described the kind of behavior that will be prevalent in society in the last days—even, unfortunately, the behavior of many Christians. We should all check our lives against Paul’s list.

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, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.(2 Timothy 1-4 NKJV)

Why would it be so tempting to ‘‘love pleasure rather than God’’? Because pleasure is something that can be controlled; God cannot be controlled. Most pleasures are obtained easily; love for God is a choice and requires effort, sacrifice and obedience. Notice again that this prophecy predicts that the society of the last days will love three things: self, money and pleasure. These are the three main things that cause all the other negative features that are affecting our world today. A. W. Tozer said that:

Our break with the world will be the direct outcome of our changed relation to God. For the world of fallen men does not honor God. Millions call themselves by His name, it is true, and pay some token respect to Him, but a simple test will show how little He is really honored among Christians. Let the average Christian be put to the test of who or what is above, and his or her true positionwill be exposed. Let him be forced into making a choice between God and money, between God and men, between God and personal ambition, God and self, God and human life,  and God will take second place every time. Those other things will be exalted above Him. However the man or woman may protest, the proof is in the choices he makes day after day throughout his life.

You don’t need to look very far to see how this love has been lost even in the Church. The Amplified Version in Verse 3 says it much better: they will be without natural human affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); they will be slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good.

In other words, even the normal love that we expect from parents for their children, for brothers and sisters in a home is being lost at a very fast pace. What is causing all this? It is the love of self and expression of self-fulfillment- serving the trinity of the flesh—me I and myself.

When you love money more than you love God and others, you will be frustrated, because money cannot buy peace or love or joy. This selfishness that Paul talks about is the number one cause of the breakup of our marriages, and when marriages break up, the family is destroyed, and when the family is broken, society follows and in the end society will be filled with violence and hatred, very frightening scenario, but the root cause is self-love.

The list that Paul gives tells us the reason why the Church has become weak.  After Paul had described in detail how the times will be of great stress and hard to bear, he adds that the main reason will be due to people having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! (2 Timothy 3:5)

Paul says there will be no lack of religion, but people will deny the true power. What power? The presence and power of the Holy Spirit. There will be no room for this power that can transform lives, produce peace, love, righteousness and justice. In other words, there will be no sensitivity to spiritual things; no conviction of sin, righteousness or judgment.

We need to ask the Lord to baptize us with the Spirit of love, and this love will burn through every trial and lawlessness. We cannot learn to love until the Spirit of God fills our hearts with God’s love. The fruit of the Spirit is love because nothing but this love can overcome our selfishness in these last days.

Continuing with Matthew 24 discourse, Jesus Christ further warned three times about the spiritual deception in the last days: The Bible teaches us that in the last days false apostles and prophets will become worse as we get closer to the end.

Take heed that no one deceives you.  For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it.  For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand (Matthew 24:4-5, 11,24-25 NKJV).

Peter also predicted:

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them–bringing swift destruction on themselves.  Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping (2 Peter 2:1-3 NIV).

Paul also called them false apostles and wolves:

…False apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:13 NLT).

For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves (Acts 20: 29-30 NKJV).

Prophets Preach Repentance

True prophets must preach Repentance. True repentance is a firm, inward decision and a change of mind. Repentance is an inner change of mind resulting in an outward action of moving in a complete new direction. Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19 NKJV).

When we read the story of a prodigal son coming home after wasting his life in sin and other pleasures, this gives us a true picture of what repentance really means (see Luke 15:11-32). The prodigal son came to himself, when he was lonely, in rags, and hungry, filling his belly with the husks that the swine ate. At this point he a made an intelligent rational decision:

He said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father; I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son (Luke 15:17:21 KJV).

The Scriptures clearly indicate that he immediately carried out his decision. This is true repentance; which is the inward decision; then the outward act of that decision-he turned back to his father and headed home. The Bible teaches that true repentance must always go before true faith. John the Baptist in his ministry begins with preaching a baptism of repentance:

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Mark 1:3-4 KJV).

John’s call to repentance was a necessary preparation for the revelation of the Messiah to Israel. In order for the Messiah to be revealed to Israel, they had to turn back to God in repentance. That is why the first message that Christ Himself preached after John had prepared the way before Him was to repent and believe in the gospel. First repent and then believe. That was the first command.

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel (Mark 1:14-15 KJV).

After His death and resurrection, Jesus told His disciples to go out to all nations preaching the gospel and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem (Luke 24:46-47 KJV).

Then after the resurrection, Peter quoted from (Psalm 16:8-11) and explained that David was not writing about himself because David had died and was buried (Acts 2:29) instead he (David) was writing prophetically (Acts 2:30) of the Messiah who would be resurrected. Again the emphasis is that Jesus’ body was not left to rot in the grave but was, in fact resurrected and glorified. So after Peter’s powerful Spirit filled message, the people were deeply convicted (though they were still unconverted) and they asked:

 Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? (Acts 2:37)

To this inquiry, Peter replied and gave a definite answer:

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:38).

Here again it is repentance first; after that, baptism and remission of sins. Fast forward when Paul was speaking to the elders of the church at Ephesus, he also outlines the gospel message which he had preached to them.

And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:20-21 KJV).

The order of the Paul’s preaching message was the same: first repentance, then faith. When you read and study the basic foundation doctrines of the Christian faith in (Hebrews 6:1-2), the order is repentance from dead works, then faith, baptisms and the rest.

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment (Hebrews 6:1-2 KJV).

Throughout the New Testament, repentance is the first response to the gospel, and true repentance must always follow true faith. The Gospel contains a central core of revealed truth that has been accepted and upheld by the general Church throughout all generations which may be summed up as follows:

Jesus Christ is the divine, eternal Son of God, who became a member of the human race by virgin birth. He led a sinless life, died on the cross as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of humanity, was buried and rose again in bodily form from the grave on the third day. He ascended into heaven, whence He will return to earth in person; to judge the living and the dead. Everyone who repents of sin and trusts in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ receives forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life.

There are three main weapons that the Christian has been given to defeat Satan and temptation. The Holy Spirit, the Word of God and Prayer. We take the sword in faith, and the Holy Spirit gives us the power and the wisdom to use it. It is the Holy Spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness for a long and difficult time of testing and He may also lead us and allow difficult situations.

The Holy Spirit is the source of power and strength in times of persecution. Without out Him no Christian can stand. Christians who have experienced persecution testify to the absolute necessity of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Before Pentecost the disciples were afraid of the Jews. After they had been filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the disciples were changed from being fearful to being fearless and full of courage.

If we are surrendered to the Lord and experience His power while we are still free, the Holy Spirit will guide our lives now and also in the future. In times of persecution the Holy Spirit is the Comforter.He does not prevent all problems which might come our way, but gives strength despite problems, so that we may endure.

The power of the Holy Spirit as promised in Acts 1:8 will be needed to provide courage. Whoever is ashamed of the Lord in times when Christians are not threatened is more likely to deny Him in a situation that may end with loss of freedom or life. That is why the Lord said …..Then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. (Matthew 24:10) In his book, Persecution: It Will Never Happen Here? Jan Pit says:

Only Christians who draw their strength from the Holy Spirit will be prepared to live and suffer for God and will remain steadfast. They will refuse to serve the world government and world religion; even though they know that their obedience to God will mean persecution, suffering, and perhaps even death.

If a person’s pastor or spiritual leader is taken and that person becomes a leader of a group, he will need the discernment and wisdom of the Holy Spirit to lead others. Wisdom will also be necessary just to make decisions day by day which could have life or death implications. Individuals should ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the gifts and strengths that they can contribute to a group of believers who are meeting without an official leader. Jan Pit wrote that:

Leaders in Laos said, “we made the mistake which is so often made: We appointed capable leaders as elders instead of spiritual people. We accepted people who could read and write. (In Laos eighty percent of the nation is illiterate.) When the communists took over Laos, many “capable” leaders denied the Lord. The spiritual people (who were grounded) are the ones who remained faithful.

David Wilkerson received a vision in 1973 regarding the future of the United States. He said that there will be….

Worldwide recession caused by economic confusion”; Nature having labor pains”; “A flood of filth and a baptism of dirt in America”; “Rebellion in the home”; and “A persecution madness against truly Spirit filled Christians who love Jesus Christ.”

His last blog post stated the following:

To those going through the valley and shadow of death, hear this word: Weeping will last through some dark awful nights,” he wrote, “and in that darkness you will soon hear the Father whisper, I am with you. I cannot tell you why right now, but one day it will all make sense. You will see it was all part of my plan. It was no accident.

It’s been rightly said that a courageous person dies only once but a coward dies a thousand times. In fact Jesus Christ says “…the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”(Revelation 21:8)

Richard Wumbrand once wrote: “A man really believes not what he recites in his creed, but only the things he is ready to die for.” In other words Christ should be obeyed no matter the cost. We must obey God rather than men (Acts 5: 29) The Lord will help us to stand for truth, with courage, consistence, grace, and humility against the gathering darkness and persecution like the disciples did when they were filled with the love and power of the Holy Ghost. That is His promise. He said He will never leave us nor forsake us.

Jesus tells us that every Christian has to carry his own cross. Each must endure his allotted share of suffering and rejection. But each has a different share: some God deems worthy of the highest form of suffering, and gives them the grace of martyrdom, while others He does not allow to be tempted above that which they are able to bear. (see 1 Corinthians 10:13) But it is the one and the same cross in every case.

Another decision may be how visible we are in a persecution scenario. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was imprisoned and hanged and his close friend Eberhard Bethge was very secretive about his faith and actually ended up serving in the army of the Third Reich. Yet God used them both, as Bethge was the recipient of Bonhoeffer’s letters from prison, which have been published and benefited millions of believers.

We have to make up our minds whether we openly stand up for Christ, with potentially harsh and painful consequences, or do we work underground to further God’s Kingdom in that fashion? Some will be called to the former, some to the latter. Having searched our heart ahead of time may be valuable. In his book The Oak and the Calf Alexander Solzhenitsyn who sustained long years of imprisonment and exile in Russia writes that:

I could have enjoyed myself so much, breathing the fresh air, resting, stretching my cramped limbs, but my duty to the dead permitted no such self-indulgence. They are dead. You are alive: Do your duty. The world must know all about it…There is only one way I shall ever be able to rid myself of this stain: and that is if my words someday start something else, this time in our own country…The [KGB] could take my children hostage—posing as “gangsters,” of course. (They did not know that we had thought of this and made a superhuman decision: our children were no dearer to us than the memory of the millions done to death, and nothing could make us stop that book)…

Yes some of us might make be called to make superhuman decisions as the time grows more urgent. Of course some of us will run for our lives. The believers of the Jerusalem church began fleeing the city due to the waves of persecution they faced because of their testimony for Jesus Christ. But what the enemy meant for evil, God used for good as the scattering of the apostles led to the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria.

And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles…..Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.  Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. (Acts 8:1-5 KJV)

It has been said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Thousands of Christians have stood in persecution, but tens of thousands have fallen. Even in the days of great Roman persecutions only a small fraction of those who had professed Christ stood true to the end.

More Christians have suffered for their faith in twentieth century than in any other time in church history. Why are some able to stand? They have learned how to sink their roots of faith deeply into the Rock, Jesus Christ—to take unto you the whole armour of God that may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13)

You cannot be informed about every scenario of persecution that might happen. Why? Because there so many technological devices that are available today to track individuals, in so many ways which wasn’t possible in the last 50-70 years. Besides people don’t value human life anymore that is why talking about the reducing the population doesn’t bother people anymore.

The late Dimitru Duduman was asked how he handled the fear when he was going to be arrested or beaten by the Romanian secret police. He acknowledged that he had some fear prior to an arrest, but when the event actually happened, that the Holy Spirit took his fear from him, gave him a supernatural peace, and also gave him words to say.

During Pastor Martin Niemoller’s trial in Nazi Germany on February 7, 1938, an officer gave him a word that sustained him through his trials. It is reported that in the morning of that fateful day, a green-uniformed guard escorted Niemoller from his prison cell and through a series of underground passages toward the courtroom.

Niemoller was overcome with terror and loneliness. What would become of him? Of his family? His church? What were the tortures that awaited him and his colleagues? The guard looked without any sensation or emotion; he totally looked undisturbed and silent as a stone.

But as they left the tunnel to move upwards the final flight of stairs, Niemoller heard a small voice like a whisper. At first he didn’t know where it came from, for the voice was so low that he couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Then he realized that the officer was breathing into his ear the words of Proverbs 18:10:

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe.

Niemoller’s fear was gone, and the power of that Scripture sustained him through his trial and his darker years in Nazi concentration camps. The officer never knew how those words were to be anchor to his soul in the days ahead. Another account is from the “Hiding Place” the classic story of Corrie Ten Boom, she emphasizes that there is no need to fear death before it comes:

 Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed. “Corrie,”he began gently, “when you and I go to Amsterdam—when do I give your ticket?

            “Why, just before on the train.”

“Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows we’re going to need things, too. Don’t run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need—just in time.

Although praying, fasting, and memorizing Scripture are important, a person cannot depend upon these or other preparations to help him endure. His strength must come from the Holy Spirit.  Richard Wumbrand was  asked which Scripture verses helped and strengthened him the most during his persecution and his answer was:

No Bible verse was of any help…..When you pass through suffering you realize that it was never meant by God that Psalm 23 should strengthen you. It is the Lord who can strengthen you, not the Psalm which speaks of Him so doing. It is not enough to have the Psalm. You must have the One about Whom the Psalm speaks.

Two main points of Satan’s character are deceit and fear. Remember fear is false evidence appearing real. The devil will misinform, confuse, and deceive believers in every way possible. But the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Truth, can expose all his lies, if we seek His guidance.

It is natural for finite man to fear…Satan knows this and plays on our fear, especially the fear of the unknown but Christ tells us to get our priorities straight:  And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)

The point is; make sure your trust is in the Lord and not your own preparedness. Pattern your preparedness according to the guidance of the Lord. Listen to what the Lord puts in your heart—don’t use only your reasoning power.

Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. (Luke 12:11-12 NKJV)