More On the II Timothy Church

[tulsa 2011]

More On the II Timothy Church

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from
such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive
silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
8. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist
the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith."

Verses 2 to 4 list several personality traits which can be seen to describe
people in what was called the Me Generation of the seventies and
eighties and beyond. The core of this group of personality
characteristics are selfishness, self-preoccupation, self-love,
self-esteem, pride, a desire to serve self and not others, belief that
one has a right to be served by others, that the self is a collection
of "needs" that must be fulfilled, and that one's appearance or image
is all-important.

A personality trait of a correlate cluster, which can be called
the reduction of the self to desires, feelings and conditioning can be
found in Paul's list above. "Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of
God" fits in here. "Covetous" can be a trait that goes along with
selfishness.

But - verse 5, "having a form of godliness, but denying the power
thereof," verse 7, "ever learning, and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth, " and verse 8, about these people being like
Jannes and Jambres who withstood Moses, who resist the truth and are
of reprobate minds concerning the faith are traits of Christian
apostasy. These traits imply that once this Christian community, now
described by Paul in these verses, had the true faith and were
faithful to the truth in doctrines.

In the rebellion against the older American culture - and the
counterculture - there are at least four major strands of rebellion
against the older culture of absolute
truth and morality, based on the patriarchal authority of God. These
are:

l. An Increase in Selfishness and Self-Preoccupation.

2. The Revolt Against Christianity, Especially Opposing Christian Morality

3. The Reduction of the Human To Desire, Feeling and Conditioning,
that is the "killing" of any development of man's third part, which is
his spirit, developed in him by the Holy Spirit..

4. The Denial of what George Orwell Called Objective Reality. The new
culture of Transformational Marxism teaches that there may be no
agreed upon reality outside your
individual mind against which your statements can be checked to see if
you are telling lies or not. In the drug movement the idea that one
creates his own reality was taught by Tim Leary, Ken Kesey, Richard
Alpert and other leaders.

What George Orwell meant by the denial of objective reality comes very
close to the rejection of absolute truth and absolute morality by the contemporary dialectic
mind.

So, as Benjamin Bloom, who wrote the two volume book on the Taxonomy
of Educational Goal Objectives, by which all teachers must be
certified, said "“We recognize the point of view that
truth and knowledge are only relative and that there are no hard and
fast truths which exist for all time and places.” (Benjamin Bloom, et
al., Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Book 1, Cognitive Domain)

"In the eyes of the dialectical philosophy, nothing is established for
all time, nothing is absolute or sacred." (Karl Marx)

More than in the older culture based upon facts and the authority of
the Bible, the new
culture after the sixties and seventies tended to consider many facts
and truths as opinions,
including the Word of God. The availability of so many different
verse wordings in so many
English translations, with two different Greek texts, contributed at
this time in the church to this new regard of the verses of the Bible
as being opinions, and especially any interpretation of verses was
seen as opinion.

Many of the personality traits in verses 2 through 4 do agree with
those traits of the Me Generation of the sixties and seventies - and
later - seen by observers who are social scientists. But - this does
not necessarily mean that Paul's prophecy is just about personality
traits of people in the worldly culture. Since that worldly culture
has invaded the Christian community since the sixties or seventies
and is part of the falling away of II Thessalonians 2: 3, then Paul's
prophecy can be seen to be about the personality traits of people both
in the worldly culture and in the churches.

I John 2:15-16 says "Love not the world, neither the things that are
in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not
in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is
of the world."

A major reason why those in the churches in the last days have many of
the personality traits described here by Paul is because the churches
have incorporated much from the worldly culture surrounding them - and
many in the churches are not born again or changed very much. This
does not mean, however, that the Christian church after the seventies
grew up out of the counterculture, as did the Jesus Freaks, or that
the counterculture somehow gave birth to the end time church. Rather,
some influences in the worldly culture inspired both the
counterculture and the origin of the II Timothy church.

Does not end time Bible prophecy show that there will come a time when
those who claim to be Christians will follow false doctrines?

II Thessalonians 2: 3 says "Let no man deceive you by any means: for
that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and
that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;"

Luke 13: 21 on the leavening of the church says "It is like leaven,
which a woman took and hid
in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." The word till
indicates the leavening occurs over time.

Paul in I Corinthians 5:6-7 warns that "Know ye not that a little
leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
7. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as
ye are unleavened."

He is warning that a little bit of false doctrine will grow and
contaminate the entire loaf, that is, a little bit of false doctrine
will increase over time and make an entire ministry impure in its
teachings.

"And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many." Matthew 24: 11

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and
doctrines of devils;" I Timothy 4: 1

"But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and
being deceived." II Timothy 3: 13.

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but
after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having
itching ears;" II Timothy 4: 3

"And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be
turned unto fables." II Timothy 4: 4

Not only will the II Timothy church after the falling away of II
Thessalonians 2: 3-4 and the leavening of Luke 13: 21, till the whole
is leavened, claim that there are "non-essentials" of Biblical
doctrine that they do not have to follow, but they make up some of
their own doctrines and/or follow false man-made theologies developed
in the 19th century, leaning to man's own understanding. When
the New
Testament uses the word doctrine, it often means all the doctrines
given by Christ and through his Apostles. And Paul was given
revelation by the risen Christ (Acts 26: 15-18) , which Paul wrote as
several doctrines in his letters.

End time Bible prophecy clearly shows a departure from sound doctrine.
And so it would not be surprising if the II Timothy Church, or many
churches, would make end time Bible prophecy a non-essential set of
doctrines, and church members might even be discouraged from studying
it.

Revelation 16: 12-14 says: "And the sixth angel poured out his vial
upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up,
that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw
three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,
and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false
prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which
go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather
them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty."


This is saying that demon spirits are released which operate through
the mouth, or words of the beast and the false prophet. But the beast
and the false prophet are metaphoric constructs, and not single
individuals, which is one of the fables mentioned by Paul in II
Timothy 4: 4. In addition, the battle which these demon spirits,
inspiring the many false prophets, are to gather the world to is not a
literal, military-type battle, often called the battle of Armageddon
(Revelation 16: 16). Rather, this battle is spiritual, and is between
the huge number of false prophets or false teachers and that remnant
which is found in Revelation 12: 17, and those called the Overcomers
in Revelation 2: 7, 17 and Revelation 3: 5, 12 and 21. The verses for Revelation Two are seven and seventeen, and the verses for Revelation Three are five, twelve and twenty-one.


And the large number of false teachers which come against the truth of
Jesus Christ is metaphorically called an army in scripture. Jeremiah
51: 51-53 says "We are confounded, because we have heard reproach:
shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the
sanctuaries of the LORD's house. Wherefore, behold, the days come,
saith the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and
through all her land the wounded shall groan. Though Babylon should
mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her
strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD."


Babylon is a metaphor for apostate religion - including Christianity - and the corrupt worldly culture surrounding it. The strangers who have come into the sanctuaries of the Lord's house are the army of false teachers. In the next verse the Lord says he will do judgment upon her graven images, not a judgment limited to Babylon's love of graven images, but to her love of false doctrines and practices as well.

 

[tulsa 2011]

Daniel 8:12 says "And an host was given him against the daily
sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to
the ground; and it practised, and prospered."

The truth is cast to the ground by a host. Host is Strong's
Exhaustive Concordance number 6635. which is said to mean "...a mass
of persons organized for war, an army, by implication a campaign,
company, host, soldiers, warfare."

This is not the only place in scripture where the metraphor of an army
is used to describe a large number of false teachers who "cast down
the truth to the ground."

"Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue
in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free.
33. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage
to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
34.Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever
committeth sin is the servant of sin. John 8: 31-34

The truth, which is Jesus Christ, makes one free of bondage to sin and
false doctrines. But false doctrine puts a person in bondage. In
Galatians 4: 25 the Jerusalem which exists physically and literally,
as being physical Israel under the Old Covenant, is "in bondage with
her children." But in verse 26, "Jerusalem which is above is free,
which is the mother of us all." That Jerusalem which is above
represents being in the truth and therefore being free.

God says in Habakkuk 1: 5, "For I will work a work in your days, which
ye will not believe, though it be told you." God said he would raise
up the Chaldeans to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.

"And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto
the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he
opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as
the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by
reason of the smoke of the pit.
3.And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto
them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have
power....................And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a
voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14. Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four
angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
15. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour,
and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
16. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred
thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them." Revelation 9:
1-3, 14-16

Revelation 9 goes on in verses 17 to 19, in saying "And thus I saw the
horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates
of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses
were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and
smoke and brimstone.
18.By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and
by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
19.For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their
tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do
hurt."

Metaphorically, this is talking about an army of horsemen, two hundred
thousand thousand, who are said to kill a third part of men. But it
says their power is in their mouths, and in their serpent tails. How
can a huge army literally kill one third of all men living then, if
their power is in their mouths?

They do not physically kill one third of all men. Not by what they
say, by what they preach.

 

[tulsa 2011]

Look at Isaiah 9: 11-16 "Therefore the LORD shall set up the
adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together; The
Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour
Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but
his hand is stretched out still.
13. For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do
they seek the LORD of hosts.
14.Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch
and rush, in one day.
15. The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that
teacheth lies, he is the tail.
16.For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are
led of them are destroyed."

Isaiah 9: 11-16 is metaphoric. This text begins talking about what
might appear to be God raising up enemies, the Syrians and the
Philistines, to punish physical Israel. But then Isaiah tells us
about the prophet that teaches lies being the tail, and as leaders of
the people these false teachers cause the people to err, to fall into
false doctrines and practices.

So, if we use Isaiah 9: 11-16 to interpret Revelation 9: 13-19 - the
huge "army" who are said to kill the third part of man and whose power
is in their mouths - the huge "army," two hundred thousand thousand -
is not a military force but something else. The two hundred thousand
thousand in Revelation 9 are a huge number of false teachers, who,
with their mouths, by what they say - and write - slay that part of
man which is his spirit, leaving him with only body and mind.

In Genesis 1: 26 God made man in the image of God, meaning that man
was intended to be a three part being. But, as it turned out, man
fell, and it required the Son of God as Christ to redeem those who
accept Christ, and the Holy Spirit, by leading those in Christ to
truth. John 16: 12-13 says "I have yet many things to say unto you,
but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is
come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of
himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he
will shew you things to come." In leading those in Christ to truth,
and to a love of the truth (II Thessalonians 2: 10-12), the Holy
Spirit develops in man man's own spirit. That is, man's spirit, as
his third part, in addition to body and mind, is the Spirit of God and
of Jesus Christ in man. It is this spirit of man that this "army" in
Revelation 9: 16 "kills."

Joel 2: 1-11 metaphorically describes a "great and a strong," "as an
army of horsemen, so shall they run." Joel 2: 7-10 says this "army
of horsemen," sometimes called Joel's army, that "They shall run like
mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall
march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:
Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his
path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.
9. They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the
wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the
windows like a thief.
10.The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the
sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their
shining:"

Yet Joel 2: 20 says "But I will remove far off from you the northern
army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his
face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea,
and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because
he hath done great things."

The "army" of false teachers is called the "northern army."

In Joel 1: 6-7, "For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and
without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the
cheek teeth of a great lion.
7.He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it
clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white."

The vine in John 15: 1-5 is Christ. "I am the vine, and ye are the
branches: He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth much
fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." John 15: 5

The fig tree is in Luke 13: 6-9, "He spake also this parable; A
certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and
sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser
of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on
this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the
ground?
And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also,
till I shall dig about it, and dung it:
And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down."

Luke 13: 6-9 is a parable about Christ's re-creation of physical
Israel into the spiritual house of I Peter 2: 5. Joel's "army" lays
the vine, which is Christ, waste and barks the fig tree, which is
Israel reborn in Christ.

That Joel's "army" operates in the last days, at the end of the age
is seen in Joel 1: 15, "Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is
at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come." And
Joel 2: 2-4 says "A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds
and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a
great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither
shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
3. A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the
land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate
wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
4. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as
horsemen, so shall they run."

Often in scripture the Day of the Lord is described as a day of
darkness and gloominess and of clouds.

 

[tulsa 2011]

Since Isaiah 9: 12-16 begins talking about God sending enemies, the Syrians and the Philistines, against Israel to punish it, and then talks about prophets that teach lies and leaders that cause the people to err, and Joel 1 and 2 describe metaphorically an "army" which in the last days (Joel 2: 2) lays waste the vine and barks the fig tree representing Israel reborn in Christ, then we might consider Habakkuk 1: 4-7 as prophecy about an event which happened, but can also be seen as an example for us, for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come (I Corinthians 10: 11).

"Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. 5. Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. 6. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs. 7. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves." Habakkuk 1: 4-7

Habakkuk 1: 4-7 was a prophecy on the Babylonian captivity, but can also be a prophecy for our time, as metaphor calling Joel's "army" and the huge number in Revelation 9: 16 the "Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation.

Then, Revelation 12: 15, 17: "And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.........And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." In Revelation 9: 16-19 the huge army of horsemen kill the third part of men, meaning man's spirit, from the Holy Spirit. It is clearly stated in verses 17, 18 and 19 that what kills man's spirit comes out of the mouths of this army of horsemen, metaphoric of a large number of false teachers.

Revelation 9: 19 says "For their power is in their mouth." It is their speaking, or preaching, that is destructive of the spirit of man. Likewise, in Revelation 12: 15 the serpent casts the flood out of his mouth, meaning, again, that Satan sends deception, lies and false teachings out of the mouths of his false prophets, who are here metaphorically called a flood.

In Revelation 12: 17 Satan is angry at the woman and with her seed, the remnant, who keep God's commandments and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, and makes war against the remnant. In having the testimony of Jesus Christ, the remnant tries to speak that testimony of Christ into the dialectic minds of the followers of the huge army of false teachers of Revelation 9: 16-19 who are in that strong delusion of II Thessalonians 2: 10-12.

The last verse of Revelation 12, verse 18, says "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." Remember that Revelation 13: 5 says "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast." In Revelation 13: 2, Satan, the Dragon, gives this beast his power, his seat, and great authority. This beast rises up out of the sea, after receiving a deadly wound and judgment (in 70 A.D.).

"And all the world wondered after the beast." Revelation 13: 12 explains that the second beast of Revelation 13, who rises up out of the earth, has two horns like a lamb, but speaks as a dragon, causes "...the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed."

This second beast of Revelation 13 metaphorically represents the many false prophets of Matthew 24: 11, II Peter 2: 1 and I John 4: 1. He also stands for the huge army of false teachers of Revelation 9: 16-19, the flood coming out of the mouth of the dragon of Revelation 12: 15, Joel's army of locusts (Joel 1: 6-12), the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation of Habakkuk 1: 4-7, Isaiah 9: 11-16, "the prophet that teacheth lies," and Daniel 8: 12, the host that casts the truth to the ground.