Creflo Dollar - The Behavior and Character of the Last Day Society - Part 1
If you have your Bibles, go with me to the Book of 2 Timothy chapter 3 in the NLT. I'm gonna read all these in the, most of them in the NLT, first three at least. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verses 1 through 9. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verses 1 through 9. Now, the disciples asked Jesus a question, "When is gonna be the time of your coming and what are gonna be the signs of your coming? We need to know what to be looking for when you come". And Jesus gave them different signs. But now look at this, 2 Timothy 3:1 through 9. I'm gonna read it out of NLT. He says, "You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times". One translation says "perilous times" or "dangerous times". In the last days, I guess you have to say, "Well, when is that"? I would submit to you that that's where we are right now. In the last days, there are gonna be some difficult times.
"For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and they will love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that! They are the kind who work their way into people's homes and win the confidence of vulnerable women who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by various desires. (Such women are forever following new teachings, but they are never able to understand the truth.) These teachers oppose the truth just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses. They have depraved minds and a counterfeit faith. But they won't get away with this for long. Someday everyone will recognize what fools they are".
Wow. So, here you see a clear warning to pay attention to the behavior and character of people in the last days. Now, look at 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses 1 through 3. 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses 1 through 3. He says, "Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons". That's already here. I've never heard such crazy stuff. There are religions now that are trying to convince people, "Forget about Jesus. He is not the basics of this gospel". "These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead. They will say it is wrong to be married, and they will say it's wrong to eat certain foods".
We're there right now. We live in a generation right now where the generation think, "Well, you don't need to be married. It's just piece of paper". "It's wrong to eat certain food". I respect all your diets. I respect the vegetarians and stuff, but the Bible said eat meat. In other words, what he is saying is is that there's coming a time where they're gonna say it's wrong to be married, it's wrong to eat certain foods. "But God created those foods to be eaten with thanks by faithful people who know the truth". That's a last-time sign, a signal. Look at Matthew 24. See, you have to understand something. In these last days, people don't care about the Scripture you show them 'cause they don't read the Bible anyway. But I do. This is my evidence. You gonna have to see one day. I don't want to wait to see. I don't want to know I'm going down the wrong road and there's a cliff at the end and say, "Uh-oh, my bad. Oh, I shoulda, I woulda". I ain't doing that.
There's one thing I will not risk and that's my eternity with Jesus Christ. Not gonna do it. Matthew 24, verse 9 through 14. He said, "Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers. And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. Many will turn away from me". I see that. "Many will turn away from me," a great falling away. "And betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many". I see that. I'm amazed at how people can believe some of these things these false prophets say by giving you Facebook prophecies. Go to Facebook, look up somebody you know at the church, and then they know somebody else at the church. Find out what their address is, what their name is, how many children they got. I've seen this. I've seen this with my own eyes. You stand up and say, "There's somebody here with the initials," of whatever you saw on Facebook. "You live at 4125". And then you shout and fall out like it was anointed.
"Many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come". So, the end's not coming until this gospel's been preached. That's one thing I know. That's why, you know, while I want to see Jesus, while I want to see my relatives, while I'm excited about going to heaven, I want to be a part of making sure that this gospel gets preached throughout all the world and then the end gonna come. I'm coming on every available voice, every available voice. If I gotta rock in order to get a word through Tik Tok, I rock. "Get saved today or you gonna die and to hell. Get saved".
Every available voice, cold love. What is cold love? He said that's rebellion against submitting to God. As humanity falls further away from the teachings of Christ, it will become less loving. As they fall away from the teachings of Christ, it will become less loving. They will no longer submit to God. They'll no longer submit to the promises of God. "We don't care what the Word has to say. We don't care what the Bible has to say. All y'all preachers, all y'all want is money anyway. We don't care". All those for excuses to not care and not hear, let me remind you, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.
One more and we'll get started. Let's look at this out of the King James and then verse 12 out of the Amplified. 2 Peter chapter 2, verses 1. Let's read it out of the Amplified. 2 Peter chapter 2, verses 1 through 12. This is this pretty interesting here. 2 Peter chapter 2, verses 1 through 12. He says, "But also [in those days] there arose false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among yourselves, who will subtly and stealthily introduce heresies and doctrines and (destructive heresies), even denying and disowning the, denying and disowning the Master Who bought them, bringing upon themselves, bring upon themselves". God didn't bring them. God's not gonna be responsible for the destruction. When you choose to go these ways, you bring the destruction upon yourself. God is like, "I didn't, I didn't make that happen. You did. I tried to get you to turn every day of your life, but you wouldn't". Verse 2, "And many will follow their immoral ways and lasciviousness".
Lasciviousness means without restraint. It's like you get involved in some addictive behavior and you don't know where the brakes are to stop it. One more time becomes one more time becomes one more time become one more time. "I really mean it this time, but it needs one more time". That's lasciviousness. "Many will follow their immoral ways". I see that. "Lasciviousness doings; because of them the true Way will be malignant and defamed. And in their covetousness". Now here covetousness is greed. "In their greed and lust, they will exploit you with false (cunning) arguments". Wow. These false teachers, in their greed and their lust, they will exploit you. "From of old the sentence [of condemnation] for them has not been idle; their destruction (eternal misery) has not been asleep. For God will not [even] spare angels that sinned".
So, when those angels got on Satan's side and sinned against God, he cast those angels into hell. He said, but he cast them into hell. "So God did not [even] spare those angels that sinned, but cast them into hell, delivering them to be kept there in pits of gloom till the judgment and their doom". So, that gives you a little description of hell. See, hell was created for the devil and his angels. But if you're gonna follow them, you're gonna end up in hell in a place with that wasn't even created for you. And so God says, they didn't get away with it. There was a consequence for what they did. And they're being held in captivity in hell until that day of gloom and doom. "He spared not the ancient world, He preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven other persons, when He brought a flood upon the world of ungodly [people]. And He condemned to ruin and extinction the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing them to ashes [and thus] set them forth as an example to those who would be ungodly; And He rescued righteous Lot, greatly worn out and distressed. So, Lot was distressed and worn out by the wanton ways of ungodly and lawlessness".
So, he says in this day and time, it'll wear you out. Some of you kind of worn out. You can't hardly look at news anymore because it's just too much. It's like, why look at the news? The only thing I do when I look at the news, I want to get informed, but instead of getting informed, I'm heavy. Somebody shot somebody. Somebody raped somebody. Somebody stole something. Somebody did that. Somebody did that. Somebody did that. And oh, by the way, everybody dying. "For that just man, living [there] among them, tortured his righteous soul every day with what he saw and heard of [their] unlawful and wicked deeds. Now if [all these things are true, then be sure] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly out of temptations and trials".
You know what God said? He said when all hell broke loose with Noah, he saved Noah and those who were with him. He said when all hell broke loose in Sodom and Gomorrah, and it was so bad, the perversion was so bad in Sodom and Gomorrah, even the angels were being hit on in Sodom and Gomorrah. It was that bad. But God said, "You know what I did"? He says, "I saved Lot and his family". And then he says, "All right, so prepare yourselves for similar things. And I have to assure you like I saved Noah and like I saved Lot and them," he said, "I know how to rescue the godly out of temptation and trial". So, regardless of how heavy it seems, put this in your mind. God knows how to take care of me. "And how to keep the ungodly under chastisement until the day of judgment and doom".
Now, look at verse 12. This is interesting. I want you to see this. "But these [people]! Like unreasoning beasts, mere creatures of instinct, born [only] to be captured and destroyed, railing at things of which they are ignorant". Ignorance is the biggest enemy you'll see. You'll see this society operating like it operates 'cause they're ignorant. They claim to have knowledge but they don't have it at all. What you get in your university cannot compare to the wisdom that God gives for life. And if you neglect this Word over what you get in universities, you ain't, I don't even want to finish the sentence. Okay, let's just, "Born [only] to be captured and destroyed, railing at things of which they are ignorant, they shall utterly," look at this, "perish in their [own] corruption [in their destroying they shall surely be destroyed]".
So God says, "I'm not the one that's causing the things that's gonna happen to you". He says every choice they make, there's a consequence, and they, through their own corruption, their own corruption. It's hardheaded people who, through their own corruption. Somehow, you're not in the Word. You don't study the Word. There's no commitment to the Word. And somehow, you've been deceived into thinking, "I know better". You can't even figure your own life out and yet you know better. And you don't listen to nobody. And you don't want to hear what nobody got to say because you heard what such and so said on Facebook. And you heard what such and so said on Instagram. And you heard what such and so said, and such and so, such and so said this. And most people believe that. And America believes this. And that people believe that. No, no, no. You're deceived in thinking you have knowledge. And you're about to be destroyed because of what you don't know. And you're not listening to the wisdom that could save you.
We all are going to die one day. Can you really afford to be wrong when it comes to heaven or hell? I ain't playing that game. I am not going to be tutored by a fool. So, here you see the behavior and the character of the last-day society. Now, from our text scriptures, there were approximately 22 or more characteristics and behaviors that are becoming intense and becoming more frequent in this last-day society. Look at Mark 13 and eight in the Amplified. I want to remind you of something. Mark 13 and 8. It's not, well, you've always seen that kind of stuff happen. He says pay attention to the frequency and the intensity. He says, "You know I'm coming based on how intense something get". Yeah, that thing has always happened, but not to this degree of intensity. He says, "For nations will rise against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famine and calamities. This is but the beginning of intolerable anguish and suffering [only the first of the birth pangs]".
So, Jesus took the birth pangs of a woman having a baby and he answered the question, "When will that time be when you will come again"? And he says it's gonna be just like a woman who is preparing to give birth. Pay attention to the contractions. Pay attention to, attention to the intensity and the frequency. And like a baby who's about to come and a mother that's about to give birth, when it gets really intense and when the frequency is really intense, get ready, the baby's about to be born. We've never seen the type of intensity we've seen here now. China had a flood that they hadn't seen in a thousand years. We've never seen the intensity that we are seeing right now. I think for a moment that God's allowing these contractions to go this way for people who are not born again to at least say, "Well, maybe I need to pay attention because Jesus said this 2,000 years ago, and here it is happening right now with intensity and frequency".
Now, I'm not talking... yeah, they've had earthquakes, you know, 100 years ago, but not like this. Yeah, they had fires a long time ago, but not like this. Eighteen states now are being affected by fires and floods and weather and hurricanes, and everything the Bible talks about, with intensity. And now the people, over a thousand fights on airplanes. Yeah, we used to have disagreements on airplanes, but wasn't nobody punching nobody. I mean the most we would do is, "Your mama". Ain't nobody punching nobody. They're punching people. They're killing folks. You do something on the expressway or driving, the most we would do is pick a finger. Now, "What"? Pow, pow. Murders every day, mass murders, suicide rate intense, more intense like you would not believe. The number of people who have killed themselves from last Sunday to today. The behavior of people off the hook. Who used to be your best friend betrays you, intensity.
Pay attention. Jesus is coming back. The only peace I can have in the middle of all this stuff, I'm not gonna let this stuff drive me crazy. I'm gonna spend my time focusing more on the Word than on this. And I pray that he come quickly. "Don't pray he come quickly, Pastor, I ain't ready". You better get ready rat now, R-A-T, quick as a rat. You better get ready rat, R-A-T, rat now. So, I'm gonna talk about just 18 of them. Here's what we found. We found self-centered love, lovers of self. We found lovers and greedy and obsessed with money. Boastful and proud. Scoffing at God. Disobedient and disrespectful to parents. Ungrateful, ungodly, addicted to hateful and malicious slander. The slander is crazy now. They will consider nothing sacred, slaves to their desires, haters of what is good and right. They will betray their friends. They'll be reckless. They'll be puffed up with pride. Lovers of pleasure more than God. Lovers of pleasure more than God.
You know, in other words, you prefer going to the club, having sex with anybody, getting high, getting drunk. And God's not even on your radar anymore. You were raised in the church, and God's not even on your radar anymore. You act religious. He said that's a characteristic, act religious, but reject the power that could make you godly, bigoted, and conceited. Those are the 18 I want to discuss. And I want to discuss it in a way to really break it down so you know exactly what it is.
So, if you find yourself in either one of these, you can ask God to help you. I'm not trying to preach condemnation. I'm not trying to tell you what you gotta do. I'm telling you, you're gonna need God to help you. So, if you find some of this stuff in your character, the first step you do is, "God, I need you to help me". And God will say, "I will be your supplier". And he'll take away the old desire you have for that thing and give you a new desire. That's what's gonna happen. But if you walk away here talking about, "I gotta get rid of that, I got to work really hard to stop that," you gonna do it the more. You need God's help. I say, I say you need God's help.