THE COLLAPSE OF CHARACTER - PART 2

PERILOUS TIMES

Why These Days Are Spiritually Dangerous

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.” 2 Timothy 3:1 

Paul does not merely say that difficult days will arrive. He chooses a word that is far sharper, far more unsettling. He calls them perilous. The word is deliberate. It is not poetic. It is diagnostic.

The danger of our age is not inconvenience, nor is it discomfort. Paul is not warning Timothy about economic downturns, political instability, or social inconvenience—though such things often accompany moral decay. He is warning of an atmosphere that is hostile to godliness, an age that is spiritually violent, corrosive to conscience, and destructive to faith if not rightly understood.

The word perilous carries the idea of something fierce, savage, dangerous, and untamed. It is the same word used in Matthew 8:28 to describe the demoniacs of Gadara—men so violent that no one could pass by safely. That is not incidental. Paul is drawing a parallel. He is saying that the times themselves will bear a similar threat to spiritual wellbeing. Not every danger bleeds. Some dangers erode.

Scripture consistently presents peril not merely as outward hardship, but as inward vulnerability. Proverbs warns that “the simple pass on, and are punished” (Proverbs 22:3), not because danger was absent, but because it was unrecognised. The peril of the last days is subtle precisely because it becomes normal.

Jesus described days like these when He said, “As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be”(Matthew 24:37). The problem in Noah’s day was not ignorance of righteousness—Noah preached for decades. The problem was indifference. Life continued. Eating, drinking, marrying—until judgment came. The danger was not calamity; it was complacency.

Paul’s warning echoes that same truth. Perilous times are not defined by chaos alone, but by moral numbness. When sin no longer shocks, when truth no longer stirs, when holiness feels extreme and compromise feels reasonable, the times have become dangerous indeed.

Scripture reinforces this sober assessment elsewhere. Isaiah lamented a people who had lost spiritual sensitivity, declaring, “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight” (Isaiah 5:21). Wisdom detached from God becomes arrogance. Knowledge without reverence becomes rebellion. That is peril.

The apostle Peter warned that “there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts” (2 Peter 3:3). Scoffing is not loud atheism; it is casual dismissal. It is truth treated lightly. It is God reduced to opinion. Paul’s perilous times are marked not by the absence of religion, but by the emptiness of conviction.

Charles Spurgeon once observed that danger increases not when truth is attacked openly, but when it is softened quietly. He warned of an age where people would prefer a God who never confronts and a gospel that never offends. Such an age, he said, would be far more destructive to souls than open persecution. Comfort can be deadlier than chains.

History confirms this. Winston Churchill famously warned that weakness and delay invite disaster. He spoke of danger not as an event, but as a condition—one that grows while people assure themselves all is well. His words, though spoken in a political arena, align with Paul’s spiritual concern. The greatest threats are often tolerated before they are resisted.

Our own age illustrates this with unsettling clarity. Never has information been so available, yet discernment so scarce. Never has freedom been so celebrated, yet discipline so despised. Never has pleasure been so accessible, yet contentment so rare. Anxiety, isolation, and moral confusion are not fringe problems; they are defining features of modern life. These are not merely social issues. They are spiritual symptoms.

Paul is not describing a world in crisis; he is describing a church under pressure.

Perilous times test faith not by removing it outright, but by diluting it. They tempt believers to blend in rather than stand apart, to soften convictions for acceptance, to substitute sincerity for obedience.

The peril lies in this: when danger becomes constant, it fades into the background. A believer who does not recognise the times will absorb them. Romans warns, “Be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2), precisely because conformity is subtle. No one drifts into holiness. Drift always moves the other direction.

Paul wants Timothy—and us—to understand that perilous times demand alert Christians. These are not days for spiritual sleepwalking. They require clarity of mind, firmness of conviction, and depth of faith. The times are dangerous not because God has changed, but because hearts have.

Yet this warning is not given to instil fear. It is given to cultivate discernment. The believer who knows the nature of the age is better prepared to live faithfully within it. The times may be perilous, but God remains sufficient. Truth is still truth. Holiness is still holy. And Christ is still Lord.

Perilous times do not excuse compromise.They demand conviction.

Paul will now move from describing the age to exposing the hearts that define it. The danger does not float in the air—it resides in attitudes, affections, and choices.

And the first of those exposures strikes at the centre of it all.