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A Hope and Prayer for End Time Lovers of Self
Episode #674
11/3/2019
With Martha Kilpatrick and hosted by John Enslow
This is the continuation of a series of podcasts started in Episode #672.
Paul warned Timothy to walk away from lovers of self. This is an End Time warning and one that we can’t afford to ignore just because we’re uncomfortable.
John:
The verse 2 Timothy 3:5, it just kind of rings true to what you’ve said that, “Having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. Stay away from people like that. Avoid such people. Turn away from such as these.”
Martha:
The Amplified says, “Their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession.” And see, you’ll know them by their fruits. Some people no matter what they do, how good it is, how decent and honorable it is, some people bare fruit that is just poison and death.
John:
We’ve known, we’ve known many people like that, that literally you, you, you think you’re getting one thing and it appears good but then it turns around and bites you.
Martha:
Yes, we’ve had lots of bites!
You’re reading from Chapter 3 of 2 Timothy. It’s when Paul begins to talk about the last days: “Perilous times of great stress and trouble. Hard to deal with and hard to bear.” And then he tells: “People will be…” I noted this morning: “People will be lovers of self, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure.” They’re going to have those three idols. “Lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements rather than lovers of God.” And then they, they are “strangers to the power of the Word.”
The amazing thing here, you read it, John. “Avoid all such people. Turn away from them.” And that’s…
I also ran across a book where a man is saying – and he’s a very renowned Christian writer – he has a book about leaving people who are toxic and how to find out if they are and if they are like this description. And he went through the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – and he watched and he noted every time Jesus simply walked away from people over two dozen times. And in the New Testament, there are 41 incidents, I think I’m quoting him accurately, of where you just walk away. “And oh no, that’s no good! That’s not treating people right.” And yet you will become who you’re with or you will die with who you’re with. It’s very serious. This… I’m not… I don’t know how to put it seriously enough that we know who we’re walking with. I heard a very skilled, wise man say, “You are the sum total of the five people you’re closest to.”
John:
I just heard that in a, in a, something I was listening, too.
Martha:
So it’s, it’s crucial. You can, you can just be annihilated by somebody that has denied Christ and it isn’t obvious. The pretenders are skilled! The liars develop a language. They learn the language, the right thing to say.
So not… This is a warning. This little conversation is a very dire warning and may God give us the grace to look square at it and square in the face of God to see what we need to change.
I laughed and somebody said, “I’ve taken communion three times over one sin!” And she said something similar. And I said, “You know Derek Prince is one of my heroes and he took communion every morning.”
John:
So did Art Katz, remember?
Martha:
That’s who I’m… It’s Art Katz I’m thinking of. I’m sorry, you say it.
John:
Art Katz. He did, he’d take communion every single day. Woke up and he, he started his day in communion.
Martha:
I think it’s wonderful. I’m going to do it.
So my heart, as you can tell, is engaged with this. And I’m just praying that God will give courage and forthrightness to His church that we may look at these things and correct our lives according to the standard. That trustworthy saying, “To die with Him, to endure with Him, to, to die with Him, to live with Him, to endure, and ultimately to reign with Him;” that we will seriously go before God and be examined as to where we stand in this trustworthy statement.
This is an End Time letter written to Timothy from Paul’s prison. Where, and after, after this I, I think is where he said. “I’m going to die. I’m finished my race.” The Lord had revealed to him that he was going to die.
John:
This is what Phillips says of that, that scripture that you got, 2 Timothy 3:5. “They will maintain a facade of religion, but their conduct will deny its validity. You must keep clear of people like this.”
Martha:
God give us the grace and the courage to do that. Sometimes I’ve had people say to me, “Martha, I would have gone to hell if you hadn’t turned away from me.” A number of people! And I… And that wasn’t to leave somebody in this. It is an act of obedience, not of independence. You don’t do this! You don’t just walk away on your own opinion. This has to be a call from God, an obvious word from God is what it takes to do that. And when you do that, your conscious is clear. And I’m never, I’m never doing it for me – only in obedience to Him. I would be afraid to leave somebody that God says has denied Him, if it weren’t for His voice.
Let me go back to 2 Timothy. This is 2:22.
“Shun youthful lusts and flee from them, and aim at and pursue righteousness (all that is virtuous and good, right living, conformity to the will of God in thought, word, and deed);”
That’s the issue! Conformity to the will of God. And then after that it says,
“[and aim at and pursue] faith, love, [and] peace (harmony and concord with others) in fellowship with all [Christians], who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart. But refuse (shut your mind against, have nothing to do with) trifling controversies, ignorant questionings, for you know that they foster strife.”
John:
“Unscrupulous speech and have no control of themselves.”
Martha:
Is that Phillips again?
John:
Yeah. That’s Phillips again. “They will be passionate and unprincipled, treacherous, self-willed, conceited, loving all the time what gives them pleasure instead of loving God.”
Martha:
Oh powerful! That is an End Time passage. And everything that’s End Time we need to be facing and seeing and knowing where it is in our lives.
You know, John, I’m thinking of the people who, that are with us, that are so very in harmony with the Lord and so fruitful and such servants. We are blessed to have with us and friends of near and afar who are genuine, trustworthy Christians. Don’t we?
John:
Um hmm. Absolutely!
Martha:
I just want to say before the Lord how thankful I am that You’ve given us to know such people. I’m thinking of several right now. I won’t name their names. But God… Oh, you know what it says? It goes on. He says, “God knows who belongs to Him.” That was an incredible statement to me.
It’s 2 Timothy 2:19. “But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His.’” We may not know! But God knows. He knows the secret belonging. It’s a matter of belonging. What he means is God knows those who belong to Him who have surrendered to Him. He knows them!
Okay, I want to end on another scripture in 2 Timothy, John. I’ve had this, this particular passage as a hope and a prayer for a long, long time. It’s 2:24.
“And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance…”
That’s what the solution is!
“…leading to a knowledge of the truth.”
That’s a prayer that God would grant repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.
“And they escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.”
That’s a hope and a prayer right there that I’ve had to pray many times. And I’ve seen it happen. And sometimes to confront and sometimes not. It gives the hope that God will grant repentance. And what people that are in this what we described do not understand they are in the snare of the devil. And that sin unconfessed creates deception and deception creates lies and that’s what our life becomes.
The solution is repentance and the truth and then it’s realizing that you’ve been… And someone wrote me recently that she realized that she had taken on Satan’s nature and how seeing that is coming out of it. So that’s our hope and our prayer and knowing that He will answer.
A Hope and Prayer for End Time Lovers of Self – Episode #674 – Shulamite Podcast
Paul warned Timothy to walk away from lovers of self. This is an End Time warning and one that we can’t afford to ignore just because we’re uncomfortable with it. What if separation reaches the lost and ensnared when all else has failed? We dare not stay!
Our God’s holiness is unfathomable and fierce… My ignorance and carelessness a frightfully threat to life… How great is it that His loving mercies never end for we depend on it! Love you all!!
thank you …. there is so much here in these few words …. a lot to ponder and sit with, while waiting for the Spirit to uncover and illumine …..
I am grateful that you have shared this conversation ……