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In the Last Days Difficult Times Will Come—Self-Control, Brutal, Haters of Good & Treacherous

March 13, 2006

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Dear Friends

The next three attributes of the brethren in the Last Days are that they will be without self-control, brutal, haters of good and treacherous.

The Greek word translated “self-control” here in the negative (Gr. akrates) is translated in the positive as power or dominion. Almost exclusively it is used in reference to the power and dominion of God or Christ. Based on the principle of letting the Bible translate the Bible and at the risk of being presumptuous, let me suggest that in this incidence, the translators of the New American Standard Bible have it completely backwards. These brethren in the Last Days are self-controlled in that they are controlled by their self or sinful nature. The control that these brethren lack is the control of Jesus and God who are not, in the spiritual sense, exercising dominion or control over their lives. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”(Rom. 8:14) The idea is that these men will not let themselves be governed by God or Christ. They do not respect the authority of God and Christ and as such are rebels of the type described in Ezekiel. “And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me.” (Eze 20:38)

The next trait is being brutal (Gr. anameros) meaning savage or untamed. It conjures images of some long lost tribe that seemingly has more in common with animals than with civilized society. The probable intention of Paul is similar to what he told the Galatians “If ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.” (Gal. 5:15) People are anameros when they attack one another without mercy. The Pharisees attacked Jesus in this way by insinuating he was an illegitimate child, was a Samaritan and was aligned with Beelzebub (or Baal)—the god of the pagan Philistines. Their attacks on Jesus were savage and devoid of common decency.

The next characteristic is that these men will be haters of good (Gr. aphilagathos). The opposite of this occurs in Titus when Paul instructs that bishops or elders must be “a lover of good men.” Why would someone not love someone who was a good person? The answer is easy if we simply wonder why the world hated Jesus. Jesus gives us the simple answer—“The world cannot hate you, but it does hate me, because I give evidence that its ways are evil.” (John 7:7 NJB) Criminals hate the police. Ill-behaved children hate authority figures such as teachers and principles. Anyone who follows the ways of God will be in for their share of abuse by evil-doers. It has been said that there are doers and then there are people who criticize what the doers do. These men in the Last Days choose to attack those doing good rather than reform their ways.

The last quality we will look at this week is being treacherous (Gr. prodotes) which means being a betrayer or a traitor. The thing about traitors is that they have to be your companion and friend before they can betray you. Of course, the subject of being a traitor and the Bible can’t come up without thinking of the story of Judas Iscariot. All of the disciples of Christ were friends of Christ. He had just told them so at the Last Supper (see John 15:15). The interesting thing is that when Jesus told his disciples that they would betray him, they all felt the need to ask if it was them. They all felt that the possibility would exist for them to betray Jesus and one of them, Judas, actually did. In the Last Days it seems that many brethren will follow the way of Judas. We cannot turn Jesus over to the Romans as Judas did, but we can betray him in other ways. We can deny him before others. We can serve the flesh rather than Christ. We can mistreat Christ’s brethren. All of these are forms of being prodotes.

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (Matt. 24:9-13)

Have a great week!

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