The Bible tells us that certain things are going to happen when we get to the end times.
2 Timothy 3:1-4 → 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,
Diagnosis of the coming culture:
Greedy
Lovers of pleasure
Enjoy sin
Hate authority
2 Timothy 3:5 → having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
2 Timothy 3:7 → always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
A generation that is growing in knowledge. They would know more than any other, but get further and further away from the truth.
For as much as we know, we have forgotten what we’re meant to remember
1 Timothy 4:1,2 → Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,
Paul was not generalizing here. Paul was telling Timothy that the Holy Spirit specifically said to tell him.
He didn’t say that the wicked would continue to be wicked. He said that the faithful would walk away from the faith.
The longer the faithful listened to the deceiving spirits and the doctrines of demons, their conscience would be seared. This means that they wouldn’t feel anything at all
We live in a culture today where we have grown numb to the lies that are being shown on every platform and just decided to exist with them
Politically, we are being lied to
If you lie to congress, it’s a felony. But, if congress lies to you, they’re running for office.
In entertainment, we are being lied to
Everything being funneled to our children says that your Christian values, faith, family, and anything that you hold dear aren’t worth having
In education, we are being lied to
They indoctrinate theory as facts
1 Timothy 4:1,2 → Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,
Paul is telling Timothy to pay attention, because this is how you hypnotize a generation
In a hypnotic state, the magician will turn off the conscience and turn on the subconscious. They begin to believe the lie. The hypnosis numbs the barrier between what is real and what is fake
Example of a Hypnotic leader - Adolf Hitler
In power from 1944 and 1945
Placed an entire generation into a trance
Through lies and manipulation, he took Nazism and caused them to murder 11,283,000 people
6 million Jews
The other 5 million were undesirables that didn’t fit into the master race
This number doesn’t include:
5,200,000 Germans who died in WWII
27,736,000 Europeans who died during the Nazi regime because they didn’t agree with Hitler’s governmental plan
He hypnotized them, but lying to them. Hitler got people to line up and willingly get shipped to their deaths. He got German citizens to starve 11 million people, and push them into furnaces to die
Right now this generation in America is being lied to
Social media is a lie. Young people are believing that they need to take the perfect picture to have the perfect life
New media is a lie. If you want them to change their narrative, shut it out
Education is a lie. They have been teaching for the last 40 years that our nation’s history is a corrupt history to intimidate and create a false sense of guilt
Politicians want rapid and sudden change. It is a lie
What happens when you’re bombarded with these lies:
Fall into a trance and become hypnotized
Become apathetic towards the lies
Intimidated into submission
Nuremberg Trials - The Nazis who survived WW2 were brought to trial and testified about what they did and why they did it
Adolf Eichmann was the mastermind. When he was brought to trial, he said that they accomplished of the this because they lied to the people
When they put razor wire around the Jewish neighborhoods, they said that it was a temporary necessity caused by the war that we were fighting with Russia. It was a lie.
When they made the Jews wear yellow stars on their sleeves so that they could be identified as people under German protection, and that there would not be any further restrictions placed on their community. It was a lie.
When they took bribes from the people, they told them that the money they were taking was going to buy them better lands and better houses and safer environments for their children and their grandchildren. They took the money and it was a lie.
He took their imprisonment and spun it so that it sounded like a benefit.
How did Hitler come to power? He told every group what they wanted to hear. He lied!
John 8:32 → And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
2 Timothy 4:3 → For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
Paul was saying that there would come a generation that would not want to be told what they need to hear. But they would long to hear what they want to hear
Right now in America, we are witnessing the hypnotized generation
Here are some lies that we are being told:
[1] For at least 40 years, we have been told an economic lie
We have a complicated budget as a nation
We have complicated tax codes
We have complicated financial structures that are so complicated that a simple person cannot understand it
That’s why there’s so many taxes. It’s a lie!
TRUTH: If our financial situation and tax codes were simple, there’s no way 500 people in the Senate and Congress could take Billions of Dollars from 300 million people in the streets
It's complicated so that they can get money from you without your endorsement of it
So that they can fund programs that you don’t want or need
[2] We’ve been told a historical lie
We’ve been told that our constitution is not adequate to defend freedom and liberty in the complicated world that we’re living in
It was good enough for the founding fathers, but they didn’t know what we would be facing whenever we invented the internet and wifi
TRUTH: The constitution has defended freedom and liberty for more than 240 years and it will continue to do so.
In the past, individuals took responsibility for their own lives. They didn’t expect the government to take care of them. They looked to God and their family to take care of them.
When they took responsibility, the Constitution kept them free
[3] We’ve been told a political lie
We’ve been told that we need to make drastic changes in order to survive
Socialism needs to come to the forefront if we need to sustain ourselves as a nation
TRUTH: The most significant and vital change that needs to take place in this nation is not for a government system to shift and not for a political party to lose power and another one to come in control.
The change needed is for the apathetic, complacent, sleeping Christians to wake up from their deadly slumber
They need to recognize that if we do not begin to use our freedom to defend our freedom, we are going to lose our freedom
John 8:44 → You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
If Satan is the Father of lies according to the scripture, and demons are the ambassadors of Satan, what do you think demons tell? Lies!
They use lies and deceptive spirits to put people in a trance that sears their conscience
What ends a hypnotic trance? The person wakes up
When they woke up they were able to distinguish the truth from the lie
Wake up church! We are not here to whine, but to win