2 Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
A recent article in our local newspaper told of the new high in mass killings in 2019 and most were committed with guns. Many will look at that and proclaim re-newed efforts to limit, ban or severely restrict firearms by private citizens. Others will look at those statistics and declare that it is due to the president’s policies, sins or whatever else they want to complain about. Yet there are those serious people who read it and are rightly concerned and desire that some remedy be found to either cure the problem or lessen those facts.
In order to understand the problem we must recognize that we are living in a fallen world that has been seriously crippled and affected by the original sin of Adam and Eve. Along with the many diseases of the body, there are also effects on the mental capacity of many people and these can be maneuvered and manipulated by outside stimuli into evil and fatal actions. There are catalysts that bring them to those points and Scripture tells us some serious areas that are prevalent today.
We are told that evil men and seducers shall get worse and worse as time goes on (2 Tim 3:13). Who are these evil men and seducers? Evil men are those who reject God, His word and the principles of Godliness as recorded in Scripture. They not only reject it they also desire (and to some extent been successful) to eliminate all vestiges of God from society. They do not want some “archaic” book telling them how to live. The seducers are imposters (that’s what the word means), those who say they are Christian yet do not possess the fruit or knowledge of being Christian. They declare their relation to God but I their works deny their words (Titus 1:16). They may have never made a commitment to Christ, but as the verse says both of these deceive and are deceived. They deceive others by their fair speeches and worldly logic but at the same time they are being deceived by the enemy of our soul and their own hearts.
Those with weakened mental abilities and instability are easily drawn into the logic of these two groups and very easily coerced or drawn into doing some horrific act thinking they are right and proper – based upon the logic of the above mentioned two groups.
The Bible speaks of the “mystery of iniquity” (2 Thes 2:7 – lawlessness) at work presently. If the laws are weakened by bias or prejudiced to favor one group over another (like liberals desire to do with laws pertaining to illegal aliens) then the weakened state of mind in those vulnerable are seriously affected to do something. When you have leaders defending their lawless and improper actions because of their hatred, then those most vulnerable can be incensed into some violent and fatal act.
Finally, the Scripture speaks of the “reprobate mind” – a mind that has been given over to worthless thinking and reasoning because it has rejected God and His ways and values. Such is spoken of in Rom 1:28 where those spoken of departed from God’s ways even though they knew they were wrong and not only performed them, they also enjoyed and approved of them (Rom 1:29-32). Then when the church that is supposed to be salt and light in this world approve and promote such behavior, those who are most vulnerable are easily led or driven into committing terrible and fatal acts that shake us all.
The need today is not more gun legislation, stricter laws or legislative bureaucracy. What is needed a sin-killing revival in the church so that it returns to God and the Bible and then spreads out into the world bringing the lost and vulnerable into a right relationship with Jesus Christ.