“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Tim. 3:11This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. (2 Timothy 3:1); Paul the Apostle, about 64 A.D.).
“The board feels these are perilous times” (Leonard Reiser, physicist and atomic scientist, 1998 A.D.).
When Paul wrote his last recorded letter to Timothy, it was approximately the year 64 A.D. What were conditions then? Nero was Emperor of Rome. Nero, the worst of the Roman emperors, the one who had his own mother murdered for venturing to disagree with him, had unlimited power over the whole Roman Empire. No life was safe; he had thousands tortured or killed for any reason, or for no reason.
Paul was in a Roman prison and facing martyrdom in the near future. (He wrote, “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.”) Looking down through the coming centuries, he warned Timothy that “in the last days perilous times shall come.”
More perilous than in Paul’s time? Leonard Reiser evidently agrees with that long-ago prophecy when he says, “We are living in perilous times.” If the scientist of today agrees with the Apostle Paul and confirms his early prophecy, it is another indication that we are living in the last days.
What can we do? We cannot change the course of history! With the best efforts of presidents, dictators and the rulers of whatever powers there may be, still the “Doomsday Clock” ticks on. Only individually can we take meaningful action; only individually-one by one-can we accept the Lord Jesus Christ and have our own personal future changed.
It is still true that “God so loved the world”-that includes everyone-“that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever”-anyone-“believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)). But that wonderful “whosoever” must, as always, be applied individually. As the children’s song puts it,
That means me,
That means me;
Whosoever will believe,
And that means ME!
Individually, personally, one by one. There is no other way.