Week 4 February 2026, Devotion Part 2

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  2 Timothy 3:1

As Paul pointed out, people are the problem, but in his closing remarks to the self-doubting young pastor, he mentioned only two. In marked contrast, his letter to the Romans concluded with him naming thirty-four as valued fellow workers. To his beloved son in the faith he wrote, “Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me.” A hymn written in 1787 comes to mind, since Paul had also told him, “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” “How Firm a Foundation” in 1898 helped unite a divided army during the Spanish-American war. It occurred soon after the Civil War when tensions still ran high. Ultimately, only ONE name mattered, then and now. “The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose / I will not, I will not desert to his foes / That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake / I’ll never, no, never, no, never forsake!”  On a strikingly personal note, Paul divulged one more name: “Alexander, the coppersmith, did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.”

This begs the question, will He repay the well known proponents of a vengeful regime of repression and retribution? Is God concerned that alleged media collusion and election-rigging are eroding the credibility of democracy? How much longer, some agonize, will He turn a blind eye to xenophobic public figures, who crave adulation as makers of good sense and peace. Worse yet, will God desert America, giving the nod to those who disregard our revered Constitution? Leave it to the prophet who was martyred 700 years before Paul, to stir the pot with an unnerving observation. “Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are as a speck of dust on the scales…” (Isaiah 40:15). He would have liked the “bucket list” of 1 Peter 2:5 that still applies to every believer, namely to prize God’s call to be a “holy nation and royal priesthood.” The biblical realty of our citizenship in heaven exposes the falsehood of Christian Nationalism. It has spawned a bumper crop of false prophet politicians whose “foreign” policy is truly “far off.” Peter would have gone ballistic, but decried the gun violence that silenced a controversial, vocal “big shot.” Charlie Kirk’s small children assuredly did not “ask for it.”   Part 2 of 2

Comment:  Kat Kerr, a frail-looking old woman, saw God reward him with “a quiver of 1000 arrows of light.”  She boasts of frequent visits to heaven and publishes a blog from her “Revelation Zone.” It magically opens up after you donate money. The pink-haired fraudster raves about the “poetry of the Holy Spirit,” and admirers gobble up the visions from her fool’s lips like See’s candy. This is clearly demonic, not just deranged.  In His Revelation 2 letter, Jesus confronted the church in Pergamum “where Satan’s throne is.”  He vowed to fight back with the “sword of His mouth.”  If nations are indeed but a speck of dust to God, we might prayerfully attempt to wipe off “the rod of pride in the mouth of fools” (Proverbs 14:3).  But if we stick with Paul’s bucket list, we run our race of faith with perseverance and finish it on the note of Christ’s forever joy.  2 Timothy 3