Are We Living In the Last Days

Are we living in the last days? That expression "last days" or end times, where does it come from? From a passage in the Bible, at 2Timothy 3:1. There the Apostle Paul relates a prophecy about what life would be like in a time period called the last days. His first expression critical times hard to deal with, does that not correspond to our day? Would you not call a global pandemic, threat of war, loss of jobs, financial uncertainty, social injustice brought about by an abuse of power, do those conditions not fit the Biblical description of critical times hard to deal with? Let's review some of the main distinguishing marks of the the last days. 1. People will be lovers of themselves. Now you could argue that people have always been that way, however think about this, society has changed with the advances of technology, and it now makes it easier for someone to be a self absorbed narcissist. I heard of one teenager who set the world record for selfies taken it was over 100,000 not sure how long it took but to even think about taking thousands of pictures of yourself is narcissistic. What is the cause of much heartache and suffering? Selfishness, and it is rampant now more than ever. Don't believe me, are people content to have a few good friends? No, now they need followers that like them, and it creates such jealousy and envy if someone else has more "friends" (followers). 2. People would be lovers of money. Does money not motivate almost all of the decisions made in today's society? What is the motivating force of the commercial system today, is it not greed or love of money? To illustrate here in Canada last month the news media showed how the dairy industry manipulates the economy. They showed tankers that carry milk, dumping the milk on the ground they did this because there was an excess of milk being produced as restaurants and wholesalers were not putting in orders, so less demand means less sales, so what would logic dictate? Lower the prices right? law of supply and demand right?....no!! They dumped perfectly good milk by the ton to keep prices artificially high. What about giving it away for free to the poor? what about donating it to food banks? No way!! Greedy love of money rules. What about government? are they more responsible? You decide: think about it, supposedly governments pass laws to keep the population safe eg seat belts, speeding, etc, so why are cigarettes not banned? they are one of the leading causes of death, and cause an extra burden on the health care system, why not just ban them and introduce systems to help people quit? Why don't they do it? Money, plain and simple, most governments receive a lot of revenue from taxes on cigarettes so money not health is the motivating force. I could write an essay on each of the bad qualities that were foretold to exist in the last days, but I won't, suffice to say that those 19 characteristics form a pattern or societal fingerprint that definitely identifies our generation as the time period called the last days. Do yourself a favor and read 2Timothy 3:1-5 and see for yourself if it is true. Afterwards meditate on this...what comes after these critical times called the last days? And... are you prepared for what is next? John Derek Hamilton July 19,2020