By David R. Reagan
The Bible clearly teaches that society will degenerate in the end times, becoming as evil as it was in the
days of Noah (Matt. 24:37-39). The Apostle Paul, speaking as a prophet, says that society will descend into a
black pit of immorality, violence, and paganism (2 Tim. 3:1-5). He asserts that men will be “lovers of self,
lovers of money,” and “lovers of pleasure.” People will be “boastful, arrogant,” and “unholy,” and children will
be “disobedient to parents.”
Sounds like the evening news, doesn’t it? In short, we have arrived.
Signs of Coming Persecution
We should be deeply concerned over these developments, not only because we are witnessing the
destruction of our beloved America, but because both Jesus and Paul prophesied that when these things
occur, the church will come under attack and Christians will be persecuted.
Jesus said that as lawlessness increases, “most people’s love will grow cold” (Matt. 24:12). He stated that
many professing Christians will “fall away” and will proceed to cooperate in the persecution of their former
brothers and sisters in Christ (Matt. 24:10). Paul indicates the same thing when he says that people will be
“haters of good” and that they will therefore be “brutal” and “reckless,” reviling those who stand for
righteousness (2 Tim. 3:2-5).
We are watching these prophecies come true today before our very eyes, both here in America and
around the world. As our culture has secularized and paganized, Christianity, the church and Christians have
come under increasing attack as “intolerant bigots.” The attacks are going to intensify, and it will become
increasingly difficult for Christians to stand for righteousness. Jobs will be lost. Careers will be destroyed.
Christians will even be sent to prison for speaking out against evils like homosexuality because such
pronouncements will be labeled as “hate crimes.”
What then are those of us who love Jesus to do as we face a rising wave of ridicule, harassment, and
persecution for our faith? How shall we live for Christ in the end times? Let me suggest a few guidelines.
1. Order Your Priorities – The starting point is to review your priorities and make certain that God is first
in your life. Be honest with yourself. Do not play games. Do not kid yourself.
Most Christians have allowed their priorities to get very mixed up. Usually, job or career is number one,
family is second, and God is third or even fourth behind an obsession with sports or something similar.
Ask yourself this question: If God were to give you the opportunity to make one request, what would it be?
Would you ask for money? Power? Fame? Success?
Solomon asked for wisdom, but David asked for something ten thousand times more profound – intimacy
with God (Psa. 27:4). And, because he put God first, he states in Psalm 27 that he did not fear life (v. 1) or
death (v. 13). It is also the reason that he is remembered as “a man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22).
2. Stand on the Word – The Bible says that the end times will be an age of deception (Matt. 24:24; 1 Tim.
4:1; 2 Tim. 4:3-4). In fulfillment of that prophecy, we are today being bombarded with false but alluring
religious systems offered by the Christian cults, Eastern religions, and the New Age Movement.
Most professing Christians are sitting ducks for spiritual deception because the average Christian is not
certain what he believes. And even when he is able to articulate a belief, he usually does not know why he
believes it.

Anyone can be deceived. If you are to guard yourself against deception, you must get into the Word and
stay in it on a daily basis. Also, you must test everything by the Word (1 John 4:1). We must be alert to the
twisting of Scriptures or the manipulation of verses out of context. On every doctrine, the Bible needs to be
searched from Genesis to Revelation to see what is said about the particular topic.
3. Believe in the Power of God – There is no way we can cope with the evil of end time society in our
own strength. Anyone who tries to do so will be defeated. Our only hope is to turn to a God who is alive and
well, who is still on the throne, who hears prayer and answers prayer, and who still performs miracles.
We must realize that the Bible teaches we can limit God by our unbelief. This is a great paradox. Think
about it – although God is all powerful (Luke 1:37), we who are powerless in comparison can nonetheless
limit His power by our unbelief (Mark 6:1-6). God does not force Himself upon us. If we want to try to cope on
our own, He will let us. He responds when we reach out to Him in faith (Jas. 1:6).
4. Persist in Prayer – One of the greatest blessings God has given believers is supernatural
communication. God cares for us personally (1 Pet. 5:7), and He desires to communicate with us (Jas. 4:8).
Because He loves us, He earnestly desires our fellowship (John 4:23).
The tragedy is that most professing Christians seem to be inclined to turn to prayer as a last resort – only
when all else has failed and the situation has become desperate. Some of this reluctance to seek God in
prayer is due to pride, and thus the Scriptures continually exhort us to humble ourselves (1 Pet. 5:6). Others
fail to depend on prayer because of unbelief. They either think God does not care, or else they think He is no
longer active in history.
But the Bible says we do not have because we do not ask (Jas. 4:2). How many blessings of God have
you left on the table because you tried to handle your problems yourself?
5. Rely on the Holy Spirit – Most professing Christians seem to be afraid of the Holy Spirit. This is usually
due to a lack of knowledge concerning the Spirit. For example, there is a tendency to consider the Holy Spirit
as some sort of impersonal force.
We need to understand that the Holy Spirit is a Person. He is the supernatural presence of God in the
world today. He performs a dual role. For the unbeliever, He is God’s Evangelist. He is the one who works on
human hearts to draw them to the Cross in repentance. With regard to the believer, the Holy Spirit is God’s
indwelling presence to provide us with power and guidance. He is our Enabler. One of His basic
responsibilities is to daily shape believers more fully into the image of Jesus (2 Cor. 3:17-18).
One of the ironies of the Christian life is that we cannot serve God in our own power. Rather, the only way
we can effectively serve the Lord is by relying on the power of His Holy Spirit who resides within us. It is
possible to quench and grieve the Spirit (1 Thes. 5:19; Eph. 4:30).
The Word calls on us to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). Is the Holy Spirit on the throne of your life? Or
is He being treated as an unwelcome guest? There is no way you will be able to withstand the pressures of
end time society without relying daily on the power of God’s Spirit.
6. Practice Tough Faith – Faith comes easy when everything is going smoothly. When there is good
health and prosperity, it is easy to praise the Lord. The test of faith comes when all the circumstances of life
turn sour.
God has not promised believers a rose garden. We live in a fallen world. The rain falls on the just and the
unjust. The wicked prosper. Justice seldom prevails.
It is easy for the righteous to grow discouraged. This calls for the practice of tough faith – the kind of faith
that is not dependent on circumstances. It is the kind of faith that hangs in there when the going gets tough
because of a confident belief that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord (Rom. 8:28).
God never promises that believers will be immune to suffering. What He does promise is that He will be
there to walk through the trials with us. He promises to be beside us when we “pass through the waters” and
“walk through the fire” (Isa. 43:2). And He states that He will be there when we “walk through the valley of the
shadow of death” (Psa. 23:4).
What is the quality of your faith? When life turns sour, do you turn to God, or do you question Him or even
curse Him? One of the keys to strong faith is to learn the promises of God’s Word (see, for example,
Philippians 4:6-7, 11-13, 19) and start claiming them in prayer when confronted with the challenges of life.
7. Keep an Eternal Perspective – We are to be in the world but not of the world (John 17:11, 16). That is
a difficult principle to follow. It is so easy to get our eyes off the Lord and focus instead upon the world in
which we live. The daily demands are so pressing. And one of the greatest of those demands is that we
conform to the world – to the world’s language, dress, entertainment, and values.
That is why we are constantly exhorted in Scripture to consider ourselves as aliens, exiles, and strangers
who are just passing through this world (Heb. 11:13; 1 Pet. 2:11). We are told to set our minds “on things
above, not on the things that are on the earth” (Col. 3:2). And we are warned to never fall in love with the
world or grow comfortable with it (Rom. 12:2; 1 John 2:15-16). In fact, Jesus said we are to hate our life in
this world (John 12:25), and James said, “friendship with the world is hostility toward God” (Jas. 4:4).
What does it mean to hate the world? It means we are to hate the evil world system that prevails in
society. We are to hate a system that glorifies violence and immorality and which depreciates the value of
life. We are to live yearning for the day when Jesus will burst from the heavens to bring peace,
righteousness, and justice to the earth.
8. Look for Jesus – The Bible tells us point blank that we are to live looking for Jesus (Titus 2:13). Most
Christians are so caught up in the world that they live thinking about anything but the return of Jesus. This is
a sad state of affairs because Jesus’ return is our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). And His return is imminent.
Another problem is that most Christians know so little about Bible prophecy that they cannot get excited
about the Lord’s return. How can you get excited about an event you know nothing about? Ignorance
produces apathy. And apathy about the Lord’s return has tragic consequences. It robs us of an eternal
perspective, and it destroys any sense of urgency about reaching lost souls. It also undermines a powerful
motivator for holy living.
You see, when a person comes to truly believe that Jesus is returning and may return any moment that
person will be motivated to holiness and evangelism. Regarding holiness, the Apostle John put it this way:
“We know that when He appears, we will be like Him…and everyone who has this hope fixed on Him, purifies
himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3). Regarding evangelism, Peter writes that the reason Jesus has not
yet returned is because God does not wish “for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).
A Spiritual Mirror
Paul provides us with a spiritual mirror for end time conduct. He says we are to “deny ungodliness and
worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope
and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:12-13).
When you look into this mirror, what do you see? Are you walking in the center of God’s will? Have you
ordered your priorities to put God first? Are you standing on the Word of God, testing everything by it? Do
you believe in a personal, caring and all-powerful God who hears prayers and answers prayers, and who still
performs miracles? Are you relying daily on the power of the Holy Spirit? Are you practicing tough faith,
refusing to allow the calamities of life to overwhelm you? Are you keeping an eternal perspective, refusing to
get comfortable with this world? And are you daily looking for Jesus? Is the Rapture in your heart? Is
“Maranatha!” on your lips?
– Used by permission. David R. Reagan serves as the Senior Evangelist for Lamb & Lion Ministries in
McKinney, Texas. You can find out more about this ministry at www.lamblion.com.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *