“And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
Could Jesus have predicted anything else so accurate as the descriptions of the last days? Many shall be offended; they will hate you and deliver you up. I can see that today. I can honestly say for the first time in my life I see hatred everywhere, for no cause.
Many people today are incredibly sensitive and easily offended. They were raised being taught that everyone is a winner, where trying is more important than achieving anything. While trying is important, why are we rewarding the losing team just the same as the winning team? Some kids are almost made to feel bad for winning. They win, but everyone gets a trophy.
People today have been trained to seek out a reason to be offended. If they don’t like what they are hearing, then they demand you stop saying it. They need safe spaces from anything they might perceive to be offensive, and it seems as though everything offends them. Our past generations worried about hunger and disease; today’s generation worries about who likes them on Facebook.
A simple infection today could have, and likely would have, resulted in death in past generations. It was a huge milestone for a baby to be weaned from his mother. It was such a big deal that in Genesis we read of a feast in honor of Isaac being weaned from Sarah.
“So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.”
This was also the day Ishmael mocked Isaac.
Surviving in past generations meant hard work. It meant at the end of the day you were exhausted and glad to be home. Families ate dinner together, prayed together and spent time together. Little boys were allowed to be little boys, and little girls were allowed to be little girls. In years past, boys and girls were told by parents and teachers that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up. Today, boys and girls are being programmed to believe they can choose which gender they are, and make one up if they don’t like their choices.
There are biological differences between men and women. That is a fact of life. In today’s generation, these differences aren’t celebrated or embraced. There is outright anger and OFFENSE taken at anyone who dares suggest men and women are different.
There are schools in Sweden that force boys to play in the kitchen and little girls to play with traditional toys little boys usually are drawn to. If little girls instinctively grab a pink crayon, they are discouraged and a different color is suggested. Fathers and mothers proudly display their sons wearing dresses and makeup at 10 years old.
In California, a bill that will be signed by Gov. Jerry Brown can and will very easily lead to Bibles either being banned or edited to exclude any mention of homosexuality. It’s no longer about tolerance and acceptance; it’s about forcing you to surrender your own rights in order to pacify the few. The problem is, the majority has sat by idly and let these changes take place. They have willingly allowed men to enter showers and restrooms with their daughters.
Schools all over are canceling Mother’s Day programs in the name of fairness and diversity. After all, it’s unfair to the children without mothers. What about the unfairness to those children with mothers? That doesn’t matter. One person being offended is all that matters. This isn’t about a lack of mothers; this is an attack on traditional motherhood.
This mentality of not offending anyone at all for any reason has created a weak and spineless generation.
People are offended at words and actions they don’t agree with. They have the right to be offended; you do not.
Past generations stood for their beliefs, but their beliefs actually meant something. Many in this generation demand the government intercede on their behalf – make all of these mean, offensive words stop. They are offended!
We have a generation of kids that have been raised in direct contradiction to what God said: “Spare the rod, spoil the child.” Spoiled children are demanding and selfish because they are children. That is how children behave until taught, patiently, right from wrong. It’s a parent’s responsibility to raise productive and respectful children who will become productive and respectful adults. But this is not the case anymore. We have spoiled and selfish children living in adult bodies.
They are entitled; they want the perks of having a fabulous job – they like money to spend without actually working. We as parents have given in to every demand, keeping up with the Joneses. There are adults that need coloring books and puppies to help them cope if they hear something unpleasant with their offended little ears.
Our college campuses are filled with angry, offended children—professor and student alike. When a professor can tweet she is happy our former First Lady died, it’s protected under free speech; but why do I have a hard time believing the same would not hold true if this had been about Michelle Obama or Hillary Clinton? In that case, the professor would have been without a job.
At Oxford University, law students are now officially notified when the content of a lecture might offend them. This generation is so easily offended that everything said to them is an attack. It’s a personal affront, whether it directly affects them or not.
In Matthew 24, Jesus goes into great detail describing the last days. Without a doubt, we are living in this last generation.
College campuses are ordering male fraternities to either allow women to join, or disband. Someone obviously was offended and made a complaint. Leftist feminists have now set their sights on NFL cheerleaders. After all, someone must rescue these young women from forced cheerleading. Since they don’t like cheerleaders, NOBODY should like cheerleaders. Colin Kaepernick can create a self-made firestorm that has helped divide this country, and he is a hero. The real problem to them isn’t self-entitled athletes; it’s those evil cheerleaders.
Where does all of this offense come from? It comes from the great deceiver, the only person who enjoys God’s people hating one another and betraying one another.
I can very easily see many in this last generation (young and old) betraying anyone who professes Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. To some, He is the most controversial and OFFENSIVE historical figure there is.
He did not come to change the law but to fulfill it. He specifically told us that in the last days many would be offended. They will hate you; they will betray you. It’s slowly getting to the point of hating you and betraying you for one reason—JESUS CHRIST.
“Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For, from now on, five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
Father will turn against son, and daughter against mother, and you will be delivered up. This is happening all over the world right now in Islamic culture. Women are having acid thrown in their faces, doused with petrol and lit on fire for refusing to renounce their Christian faith and become a Muslim, or for leaving the Islamic faith. One woman, who worked as a domestic servant, was doused with petrol and lit on fire after repeatedly refusing to renounce Christ and marry her Muslim boss.
Women who are being forced to wear hijabs want to remove them. When women are liberated in Syria and Iraq from ISIS, one of the first things many do is remove their hijab; yet, in the West, women are fighting for women to wear it in the name of religious freedom and tolerance.
Jesus tells us He did not come to bring peace to earth as many falsely tell you. These are mockers of God. There will not be peace until Christ returns!
There are a lot of fools among us that are considered the smartest and brightest. We have professors teaching young men and women, not based on fact and reason but on personal political and religious views. Scientists will fudge numbers to prove global warming or explain creation in circles without ever really answering the question, just in an effort to deny the existence of God.
“…but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools.”
Jesus warned us that our fight is with the spiritual world; it would be against the rulers and powerful people. We may outwardly wrestle and fight against one another in the flesh, but there is more to it.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Teaching any gospel different than the one Jesus taught or causing a Christian to stumble is offending in God’s eyes. The offense many in this generation feel, is an offense to God. He is offended at what they find good. What God finds good, they are offended at.
“Being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”
Sexual immorality is something we see in front of us every day. News Headlines read like tabloids of days past of who is sleeping with, impregnated by, or divorcing whom. The churches are filled with divorced couples who called it quits, breaking their covenant with God. Sex outside of marriage has become the norm. An unwed mother raising multiple babies by multiple fathers is now the norm.
There is wickedness all around us. Jesus told us men’s hearts would grow cold, and they have. In 1994, Susan Smith shocked the world by murdering her two sons. Today, you will find at least a story a week where a mother or father murdered their children.
There has never been a more covetous generation. People today want what everyone else has. And time and time again we read in the headlines of someone being murdered because someone wanted what they had.
With social media, there has come a maliciousness by people that was unheard of in past generations. If someone today feels they were wronged, or worse yet, embarrassed in front of their peers, there’s no longer just a fight in the schoolyard. Politicians try to destroy the lives of their political opponents. President Donald Trump is proof enough of that. He is not a full year and a half into his presidency, and the full maliciousness of what his opponents have done is still being uncovered.
Many in this generation are full of envy. People are envious of others because of the glimpse they see on social media. Where people once were happy to be able to pay their bills, put food in their stomachs and have a few extra dollars left over, they are envious of who has more than them.
Since Cain killed his brother Abel, we have witnessed man shed innocent blood. In these last days, we see the most horrific and terrible headlines of mass murder, stabbing, shootings, people mowed down by cars, etc. Earlier this year, a seven-year-old boy murdered his sister for not giving him the controller of a gaming system. He shot her in the back of the head. We were once shocked at mass murder; Charles Manson is a good analogy. Had the Charles Manson murders happened today, would it really be as shocking as it was in 1969?
There are people that live on strife. If they aren’t happy, then they won’t allow anyone else to be happy. They cause constant friction in their home or place of work, arguing or causing dissent within a home because of their own misery or bitterness. There is the old joke, “If mamma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” But God’s word tells us a contentious wife brings strife into the home. His word also tells us that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church.
Deceit was something once frowned upon. Today, if you use deceit to get ahead, it’s almost expected. The courts are filled with people deceiving one another on business contracts. Deceiving someone on social media is just an everyday occurrence.
With all of the signs that Jesus gave us of the last days, evil-mindedness is what many people have in them in order to do most of what they do today. It takes a truly evil mind to murder someone in cold blood, but we see it every day.
People whisper plots and plans against those whom they don’t like – against a political opponent, against the Jewish man with the kippah, etc. A young 15-year-old boy earlier this week plotted with two friends to murder his mother. They attacked her, strangled her and stabbed her to death. They did a lot of whispering and plotting beforehand, admittedly.
This also reminds me of bearing false witness. A backbiter is someone who will viciously attack you from behind. You may not even know it. These people will shake your hand and pat you on the back while readying the knife behind you. In the last days, these are the people you really need to watch for. God told us to hide His word in our hearts and make sure you do.
With all of these signs, being haters of God is what brings the hatred toward Christians. Remember, Jesus said they hated Him first. If they hated Him, they will hate you.
Abortion is not of God, but pro-lifers are attacked with hatred for defending life. Our life here is a constant battle between good and evil. Our spiritual life could be summed up by a criminal court proceeding – Satan is our prosecutor, Jesus is our defender, and God is our Judge. There are also false witnesses and witnesses of God who will be condemned with you.
This has to be the most violent generation. While there has always been violence, today we witness young men and women shooting each other, stabbing one another, and attacking one another over something as silly as a social media post. Our children are raised on violence from video games to movies. There is violence in the home and violence in the schoolhouse. This generation has grown accustomed to hearing about murder, rape, drugs and mass incarceration.
With every downfall comes pride. Where are the days of pride in your country? Pride in your family?
This generation is ashamed of the country that offers them the very freedoms they demand and have grown accustomed to. Our younger generation has been brainwashed to think of rules and consequences as something of days past. Pride will cause the downfall of a marriage, and children not to speak to parents. People today simply can’t acknowledge when they are wrong. They would rather hold onto the lie than admit the truth. They would rather deny God than live according to His will. With pride comes boasting. Nobody likes a boaster.
Lying about someone and inventing evil because of politics or religion is all too common today. In other parts of the world, Christians are lied about, and it results in death. This last generation is in constant search of new, evil ways that go against God’s word.
This generation sees a huge problem with disobedience to parents; and with the disrespect comes an undiscerning attitude. If children aren’t taught to obey their parents, how can they learn to obey God? Kids today are encouraged not to listen to their parents. There is a lack of judgment before action on something. This generation will spread the same fake news story they heard from someone else but will never check for themselves. We are surrounded by untrustworthy and unloving people, having no love for God or for what is right.
God gave the ultimate gift to us in order to receive forgiveness for our sins. He gave His Son as the ultimate and final sacrifice. He forgives us for all of our sins; He knows our heart. While God forgives us, we have a hard time forgiving someone who wronged us. We are unforgiving of the smallest slights against us.
I have been following the story coming out of the U.K. in regards to baby Alfie Evans. The hospital and the U.K. high courts have both denied the parents the opportunity of taking their child to Italy for further tests and evaluation. They shut off Alfie’s life support yesterday. Twenty hours later, Alfie is still breathing, but beginning to struggle. There is no mercy in this. I pray for a miracle for this family.
Proverbs 19:11 tells us, “Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.”
Good sense is hard to find today. Someone not being offended is even harder. Pastors are afraid to teach repentance to their church in fear of being called a bigot, misogynistic or homophobic. They are afraid of OFFENDING someone. If they teach repentance, then they are telling their congregation something they are doing is WRONG.
As Christians we are to repent.
Acts 2:37-39 “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’”
These pastors are not doing their congregation any favors. Jesus did not come to give us riches on earth as these prosperity teachers “preach.” Our riches are not on this earth, but are with God. Jesus didn’t come to save you from your credit card company. He came to save you from hell. He came to save you from your sins. As Christians we profess our sins and are forgiven. The foolish pray to Jesus for a new car or boat.
“That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits” (Isaiah 30:9-10).
The church would rather hear these “smooth” words from preachers like Joel Osteen. He will stand before God and will be more harshly judged for leading God’s people astray. He’s not the only one.
“It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”
THAT is what offends God. What we as Christians love, many are offended at.
There is one way to salvation. It is not by preventing “global warming.” It is not through a one-world government or religion. You will not live forever through Botox and plastic surgery. If you confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, truly knowing and believing that He died for your sins, you will be forgiven.
Don’t worry about what offends the world. WORRY ABOUT WHAT OFFENDS GOD.
In closing, I leave you with Luke 12:49-53 “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
Vanessa Panas