(Bob Shillingstad) Do you ever go to bed at night and think that the world is nuts? Do you ever wonder why is this happening? The Bible has hundreds of prophecies that foretell future events and many people are opening up the Bible to get answers. Jesus fulfilled at least 300 prophecies in the Old Testament and over 400 are yet to be fulfilled in the second coming. Many people disregard the Bible saying “it is just a bunch of stories”. I would disagree- it is “One Story” that describes creation through the end time events. Jesus predicted the destruction of the Temple before that generation had passed away but then gave an astounding prediction that Israel would become a nation again and He would return before that generation passed away. Since Israel became a nation in 1948 and my wife and I are “baby-boomers” that is a very interesting statement that grabs my attention.
But there are many prophecies in the Bible that could apply to many times in world history. For example in 2 Timothy 3:1 it states that “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.” That is followed by a list of human failures that clearly mark the parade of human breakdown that we see today. “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, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” Sure that seems to describe our world exactly and we could add some more that describe the crazy times we live.
We read the Bible in an English translation that doesn’t always give us an accurate meaning. The word “perilous” in the above quotation is from the Greek word “chalepos” meaning “fierce, or harsh or difficult”. But this doesn’t get to the heart of what Paul is trying to say in this prophetic warning. What does, in fact, illustrate the power of his statement is that this Greek term is used only once in the New Testament. It is found in Matthews gospel, where Jesus and his disciples sail across the Sea of Galilee and are confronted by two insane men, who are possessed by demons and extremely aggressive. They are described in the following sentences:
When He had come to the other side, to the country of the [a]Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. And suddenly they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”
Here the expression, exceedingly fierce is a translation from the same Greek word that Paul used in his letter to Timothy. Again we find the word “chalepos” used to describe two insane and aggressive madmen coming out of the tombs in a state of horrifying aggression. In other words, Paul is warning Timothy (and us) about a coming age that is possessed by “raging insanity”! It seems that we are already there.
Remember several decades ago that we are told that we had to recognize homosexuality because folks were “born that way” and couldn’t help who they were sexually. Some how this didn’t apply to kleptomaniacs or serial killers – only to sexual proclivities. Now we are told that they were born with the wrong sex. Now they needed us to change their pronouns while they had meatball surgery and a double mastectomy along with drugs to make the transition to the real person they were meant to be. Sounds crazy? Yes it is.
We were told that pedophilia and sexual crimes against children should be punished. Capital punishment, according to a civilized society would be too kind. Now we are including sexual instruction for elementary children in schools and libraries to prepare them for a smorgasbord of sexual proclivities. We now celebrate mentally deranged men dressed up as women reading books to little children and asking them to celebrate with them as they and their teacher decide which gender they are. Not content with grooming children there are groups like LAMBDA who want to drop the age of consent to age 12 or younger. This is raging insanity.
If you want to put in a septic tank on your property – do a perc test and get a permit.
If you want to live in a tent on a city sidewalk and defecate on the sidewalk or street – that is your right of course according to the courts, no permit required. Open borders that allows all comers to come and live in our country is just fine. In just four years this invasion will be a least three times the population of Idaho – maybe four or five. We have no idea. The family definition that we lived by for millennia is gone, the state will take control of parenting. Two winos in a boxcar or a group of mentally ill people living in a tent in the park are defined as “family”. All of this is insane. Predicted by the Bible? In detail. Maybe time to read the rest of prophecy about pandemics, world government, digital banking and control of the population and more. We are going to see more control and insanity. Place your faith in the author and creator.
