But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
Evil men and impostors will grow steadily worse, deceiving others while themselves becoming ever more deceived. This belongs to the perilous last days, showing the world is not improving toward universal righteousness but ripening for judgment until iniquity is punished. Against that decline those who live godly lives will suffer persecution for truth while the Lord delivers them, in contrast to the worsening of the wicked. Therefore Timothy and all believers are to continue in the holy Scriptures learned from childhood, which make wise to salvation and fully equip for every good work. They are to meet error firmly with the Word, watch and pray, resist the enemy, and shine as lights while faithfully enduring persecution to eternal life.
Wording and Immediate Context
Evil men and impostors or seducers will grow steadily worse and worse, actively misleading others while themselves being misled and becoming increasingly corrupt rather than improving. This deception does not end but increases, with falsehood confirming itself as it spreads.
The worsening stands alongside and in contrast to those who live godly lives in Christ Jesus, who will suffer persecution for the sake of truth while the Lord delivers them. The opposition pursues a satanic purpose with zeal, putting light for darkness and darkness for light until persecutors sincerely believe they serve God while persecuting His children, a spirit seen in past conflicts. In the last days this includes professed believers who resist the truth.
Its setting is the time when people will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts and desires heap to themselves teachers with itching ears who please them, turning away their ears from truth unto fables. They leave the authoritative truth deemed essential for salvation and turn to human assertion, tradition, infidel or unbelieving literature, and human science disconnected from God. By far the largest class will not receive the precious light of truth but become worse, with blunted moral perceptions, strong attachment to the world, unwillingness to come out and be separate, counting the Sabbath of the fourth commandment too heavy a cross, clinging to custom and tradition, transgressing God's holy law, and making themselves and others believe fables are truth. Some are unruly and vain talkers and deceivers who profess to know God but in works deny Him, being abominable and disobedient, making false statements and claiming religion while acting with a wolfish disposition to tear and devour the flock.
Against that decline Timothy, and every believer, is to continue in the things learned and assured of, holding the holy Scriptures known from childhood. Those Scriptures are able to make wise unto salvation through faith in Christ, and all Scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, to make the man of God perfect and thoroughly furnished unto all good works. God has thus provided the Bible as the armory for successful warfare against evil, with loins girt about with truth, breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and sword of the Spirit which is the word of God to cut through sin. This requires watching for souls as those who must give an account, with warnings and reproof to uncover hidden things of darkness.
The evil men are those who have departed from the faith, connected with the many who stumble and fall described by Isaiah. They have a form of godliness but deny its power, and as false teachers they seek to gain entrance into the church in the perilous times, from whom the minister must turn away.
How Deception Deepens
Deceivers grow more deeply deceived by their own work of spreading falsehood, under the inspiration of satanic agencies to deceive others and themselves. At first they may not believe the ideas they promote, but by repeating their errors they confirm themselves in their theories until they believe the lie. Their course is to turn from truth, misinterpret Scripture, claim new light, and follow false paths. Deception deepens over time and leads further from God, and even those professing to obey His law can be ensnared when suggestions weaken the importance of His requirements. Such a person may claim faith while refusing His holy standard and mistake self-serving plans for His plan, with the delusion growing stronger until lost to His cause.
Those who knowingly choose evil instead of righteousness, mercy, and love of God, and make no effort to reform, grow progressively worse and become agents of evil. This holds especially for those who have received much light yet deliberately choose evil, in contrast to walking in the light as reformers. Unless corrected, natural tendencies prevail as they did in Judas, while renewal of the mind transforms character and anyone without Christ abiding within remains spiritually blind. Deception and self-deception in this manner continue until the close of time.
The pattern appears where a father and daughter deceive each other by accepting false visions as messages from God, leading away from truth rather than toward it. It appears where self-righteousness and condemnation of others leave a man self-deceived and his false ideas spread to his family. It appears at Rochester in siding with murmurers and jealous ones, giving wrong impressions to others by words and deportment while receiving false impressions from sympathizing friends, so that remaining in their circle keeps one's presence to stay and support the whole deception, while standing clear discerns the wiles of the enemy. It appears where influence seems divine but is mixed with human influence and personal perversity, misleading both others and self, as when human and mesmeric influence is mistaken for divine power without strengthening anyone in the work of God's Spirit. It appears even among leading men supposed to be wise unto salvation, when they act childishly by quarreling over trifles and working in an underhanded, undermining manner directly contrary to given light, failing to do the will of God so the Holy Spirit cannot come upon them or their work, counterworking those doing God's work and making faithful testimony exceedingly hard, so that confidence in them is rightly lost.
Prophecy of Last Days
The verse belongs to the description of the perilous last days, and every word of that chapter applies at the present time to all churches, ministers, and the world. In that setting evil people and deceivers grow increasingly corrupt, misleading others while themselves being misled, including professed believers who resist the truth and false teachers having a form of godliness but denying its power who seek entrance into the church. Against them the remedy is to wake from lethargic slumber, trim the lamp with grace and let it shine in clear bright rays to a world in darkness, to do the great work of fitting up a people to stand in the day of the Lord, to continue in what has been learned and assured of, and to hold the Holy Scriptures known from childhood which make wise unto salvation and make the man of God complete and equipped for every good work as an armory for warfare against evil.
It shows that evil will not give way before Christ's return to a pre-advent age of universal righteousness and peace, for the world is not improving and the kingdom of darkness remains until the Lord's advent. The worsening continues in the last days until God punishes the world for its iniquity, applied to rejection of Christ and God's law and to the growing deception of those who choose another master rather than Christ. The present time is the antitypical days of Noah and days of Lot, with wickedness, spiritual declension, infidelity, impurity and licentiousness, crime, murder, suicide, divorce, struggle between capital and labor, social impurity, defilement of youth, corruption of age, licensed prostitution and white slave traffic increasing on every side. This hurried worsening is preparation for the harvest of evil and for Armageddon, proving that the earth's present order is nearing its close, that the day of desperate sorrow approaches, and that the voice of warning must now be heard.
The worsening belongs to an intensifying conflict between good and evil, truth and error, Christ and Satan, in which error may appear to overwhelm truth. Most may be swept into idolatry while only a few remain faithful, and by far the largest class under precious light will not receive truth but become worse and worse, with great enmity to the living God making the salvation of many most difficult. Their worsening shows in counting the Sabbath of the fourth commandment too heavy a cross to lift, holding strong attachment to the world and counting it terrible to come out and be separate, turning from truth to make themselves and others believe fables are truth, with blunted moral perceptions, clinging to custom and tradition and dishonoring God by transgressing His holy law, which is the state of the professed Christian world. This worsening is seen in efforts to establish a false sabbath by law and make it a test for all, exalting the false sabbath, trampling God's seventh-day Sabbath, and bringing great suffering and persecution to its keepers, yet those who follow Christ's example and remain true to God's requirements will receive eternal life.
False teachers and false theories taught as truth increase in number now because firm grasp of present truth and Scripture is lacking, unsettling minds, so openness to biblical truth guards against being led astray and error must be met firmly. Those who have heard the truth are in greater danger now than ever before, as Satan leads men and women captive through deceptive reasoning to destroy confidence in God, requiring prayer and watching unto prayer, making the Word of God the counselor, and drawing near to God with the promise that He will draw near. The danger continues in the present and is especially dangerous to the young, as corrupt companions can draw them away from purity and faithfulness to God. It includes one mind exercising complete control over another until it becomes a machine acting out another's will, which God forbids and has given no light or encouragement for, being a mind-cure and science of Satan's working that in its development brings destruction not restoration and must find no place or standing-room in Christian medical work or health institutions, with physicians to see its real character and give the enemy no advantage. As the end approaches opposition grows by attacking the character and motives of those who reprove sin when Scripture cannot be answered, while claims damaging their integrity are readily believed, and the world grows more bitterly opposed than ever to gospel reform as the enemy works with all power to deter souls and extinguish light, yet because many are now in the valley of decision this calls for decided action and sowing beside all waters so the work goes forward.
Who the Deceivers Are
The evil men and seducers are those who have departed from the faith, including professed believers who resist the truth in the last days while those who live godly lives face persecution. They are those who support error by words, writing, speech, or by oppression of upholders of truth, standing on the side of the first great apostate and his agents against those who stand for truth, with all laboring on one side or the other until the end. Their course is connected with those who stumble and fall described by Isaiah, in contrast to continuing in the Scriptures and truths learned from childhood that lead to salvation through faith and equip for every good work. Their rejection of Christ is seen in the choice of Barabbas, which shows what happens when restraining power is withdrawn and people come under hostile control. They choose a master other than Christ, and their worsening continues until iniquity is punished, for the world is not improving. This includes leaders who profess love and zeal yet oppose the law because it exposes sin and refuse light lest their deeds be reproved, deeply deceived while deceiving others. By far the largest class will not receive precious light of truth but grow worse with enmity against God, counting the Sabbath of the fourth commandment too heavy a cross, clinging to the world and fearing to come out and be separate, turning from truth to make fables appear as truth with blunted moral perception, holding to custom and tradition and dishonoring God by transgressing His holy law, which is the condition of the professed Christian world. The same description applies to physicians who departed from divine counsel and principle, whose deceptive course does not profit but leads away from clear authority. This included Dr. Kellogg and the physicians working with him as examples of the deceived who deceive others. The worsening of the world is also seen in violent men who beat and strike others. The wicked will keep growing more evil as the lawful prey of the enemy, through whom he works in every way to perplex and destroy the saints. They corrupt the spiritual atmosphere where they are, and their very influence and breath is darkness. For this reason God's people are to be separated from the world, to cut loose from the wicked and be free indeed, not mingling with them beyond necessity or duty. When company with them cannot be avoided, constant prayer and watching over every movement is required lest their spirit be shared.
Call to Faithfulness
Against the steady worsening of corrupt deceivers who mislead others while themselves misled, those who belong to God are to continue in the Scriptures and truths they have learned and been assured of from childhood, which make wise to salvation through faith in Christ and equip for every good work. They are to heed Scripture and meet error firmly rather than let false theories taught as truth unsettle minds in the perils of the last days. The Bible is given as the armory for successful warfare, with truth, righteousness, faith, salvation, and the word as sword to cut through sin, and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness to make complete. Safety requires making the Word the counselor, praying and watching unto prayer, drawing near to God on His promise to draw near, and watching for souls as those who must give an account, with warnings and reproof to uncover hidden darkness as greatly needed now as ever.
Every word of this description applies at the present time to all churches and ministers, and therefore believers are to wake out of lethargic slumber. They are to trim their lamps with grace and let them shine in clear bright rays to a world in darkness. A great work remains to do and a message to bear in fitting up a people to stand in the day of the Lord, coming to the help against the mighty. Because the world grows more bitterly opposed to gospel reform while the enemy works to deter souls and extinguish light, and because many are now in the valley of decision, this is a time for decided action by doing everything possible and sowing beside all waters so the work goes forward.
All inspired Scripture remains profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness to make God's servant perfect and thoroughly furnished, because the time comes when people will not endure sound doctrine but after their own desires heap up teachers who please them and turn from truth to fables, to human assertion, tradition, unbelieving literature, and science disconnected from God. Therefore the word must be preached with urgency in season and out of season, with reproof, rebuke, and exhortation, with all longsuffering and doctrine. Where needed rebuke is to be sharp that hearers may be sound in the faith, calling sin by its right name and not letting it pass as righteousness, while uncovering hidden darkness. This ministry calls for watching in all things, enduring afflictions, doing the work of an evangelist, standing fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith, and in lowliness esteeming others better and doing nothing through strife or vainglory so that unity, humility, and order are maintained against unruly vain talkers who profess God but deny Him in works and tear the flock with a wolfish disposition.
God's servants are to resist the enemy and refuse suggestions that lead to doubt in an age of apostasy marked by deepening deception. In contrast to those who knowingly choose evil and make no effort to reform and so grow progressively worse, they are to walk in the light and serve as reformers. They should avoid mingling with corrupters beyond what duty requires, because the wicked are the lawful prey of the enemy who works through them to perplex and destroy the saints, corrupting the spiritual atmosphere around them with darkness. When contact cannot be avoided they must pray and watch, indeed pray continually and watch every movement, lest they share the same spirit, and they are to seek to recover both deceivers and those led astray.
Faithfulness will involve persecution, for the worsening of evil stands alongside and in contrast to the experience of all who live godly lives in Christ, who suffer for truth while the Lord delivers them. Opponents with misdirected zeal pursue a hostile purpose, putting light for darkness and darkness for light until they sincerely think they serve God while persecuting His children, a spirit seen in past conflicts and to appear again in the closing work. Deception and self-deception will continue until the close of time, as seen when natural tendencies prevail unless corrected, leaving a person spiritually blind without Christ abiding within. This worsening includes efforts to establish a false sabbath by law as a universal test, exalting it, trampling the seventh-day Sabbath, and bringing great suffering to its keepers, yet the faithful need not fear the outcome, for those who follow Christ's example and remain true will receive eternal life, and the church's struggle amid spiritual darkness will end in eternal life for the true.
Evil men and impostors will grow steadily worse, deceiving others while themselves becoming ever more deceived. This belongs to the perilous last days, showing the world is not improving toward universal righteousness but ripening for judgment until iniquity is punished. Against that decline those who live godly lives will suffer persecution for truth while the Lord delivers them, in contrast to the worsening of the wicked. Therefore Timothy and all believers are to continue in the holy Scriptures learned from childhood, which make wise to salvation and fully equip for every good work. They are to meet error firmly with the Word, watch and pray, resist the enemy, and shine as lights while faithfully enduring persecution to eternal life.
Wording and Immediate Context
Evil men and impostors or seducers will grow steadily worse and worse, actively misleading others while themselves being misled and becoming increasingly corrupt rather than improving. This deception does not end but increases, with falsehood confirming itself as it spreads.
The worsening stands alongside and in contrast to those who live godly lives in Christ Jesus, who will suffer persecution for the sake of truth while the Lord delivers them. The opposition pursues a satanic purpose with zeal, putting light for darkness and darkness for light until persecutors sincerely believe they serve God while persecuting His children, a spirit seen in past conflicts. In the last days this includes professed believers who resist the truth.
Its setting is the time when people will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts and desires heap to themselves teachers with itching ears who please them, turning away their ears from truth unto fables. They leave the authoritative truth deemed essential for salvation and turn to human assertion, tradition, infidel or unbelieving literature, and human science disconnected from God. By far the largest class will not receive the precious light of truth but become worse, with blunted moral perceptions, strong attachment to the world, unwillingness to come out and be separate, counting the Sabbath of the fourth commandment too heavy a cross, clinging to custom and tradition, transgressing God's holy law, and making themselves and others believe fables are truth. Some are unruly and vain talkers and deceivers who profess to know God but in works deny Him, being abominable and disobedient, making false statements and claiming religion while acting with a wolfish disposition to tear and devour the flock.
Against that decline Timothy, and every believer, is to continue in the things learned and assured of, holding the holy Scriptures known from childhood. Those Scriptures are able to make wise unto salvation through faith in Christ, and all Scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, to make the man of God perfect and thoroughly furnished unto all good works. God has thus provided the Bible as the armory for successful warfare against evil, with loins girt about with truth, breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and sword of the Spirit which is the word of God to cut through sin. This requires watching for souls as those who must give an account, with warnings and reproof to uncover hidden things of darkness.
The evil men are those who have departed from the faith, connected with the many who stumble and fall described by Isaiah. They have a form of godliness but deny its power, and as false teachers they seek to gain entrance into the church in the perilous times, from whom the minister must turn away.
How Deception Deepens
Deceivers grow more deeply deceived by their own work of spreading falsehood, under the inspiration of satanic agencies to deceive others and themselves. At first they may not believe the ideas they promote, but by repeating their errors they confirm themselves in their theories until they believe the lie. Their course is to turn from truth, misinterpret Scripture, claim new light, and follow false paths. Deception deepens over time and leads further from God, and even those professing to obey His law can be ensnared when suggestions weaken the importance of His requirements. Such a person may claim faith while refusing His holy standard and mistake self-serving plans for His plan, with the delusion growing stronger until lost to His cause.
Those who knowingly choose evil instead of righteousness, mercy, and love of God, and make no effort to reform, grow progressively worse and become agents of evil. This holds especially for those who have received much light yet deliberately choose evil, in contrast to walking in the light as reformers. Unless corrected, natural tendencies prevail as they did in Judas, while renewal of the mind transforms character and anyone without Christ abiding within remains spiritually blind. Deception and self-deception in this manner continue until the close of time.
The pattern appears where a father and daughter deceive each other by accepting false visions as messages from God, leading away from truth rather than toward it. It appears where self-righteousness and condemnation of others leave a man self-deceived and his false ideas spread to his family. It appears at Rochester in siding with murmurers and jealous ones, giving wrong impressions to others by words and deportment while receiving false impressions from sympathizing friends, so that remaining in their circle keeps one's presence to stay and support the whole deception, while standing clear discerns the wiles of the enemy. It appears where influence seems divine but is mixed with human influence and personal perversity, misleading both others and self, as when human and mesmeric influence is mistaken for divine power without strengthening anyone in the work of God's Spirit. It appears even among leading men supposed to be wise unto salvation, when they act childishly by quarreling over trifles and working in an underhanded, undermining manner directly contrary to given light, failing to do the will of God so the Holy Spirit cannot come upon them or their work, counterworking those doing God's work and making faithful testimony exceedingly hard, so that confidence in them is rightly lost.
Prophecy of Last Days
The verse belongs to the description of the perilous last days, and every word of that chapter applies at the present time to all churches, ministers, and the world. In that setting evil people and deceivers grow increasingly corrupt, misleading others while themselves being misled, including professed believers who resist the truth and false teachers having a form of godliness but denying its power who seek entrance into the church. Against them the remedy is to wake from lethargic slumber, trim the lamp with grace and let it shine in clear bright rays to a world in darkness, to do the great work of fitting up a people to stand in the day of the Lord, to continue in what has been learned and assured of, and to hold the Holy Scriptures known from childhood which make wise unto salvation and make the man of God complete and equipped for every good work as an armory for warfare against evil.
It shows that evil will not give way before Christ's return to a pre-advent age of universal righteousness and peace, for the world is not improving and the kingdom of darkness remains until the Lord's advent. The worsening continues in the last days until God punishes the world for its iniquity, applied to rejection of Christ and God's law and to the growing deception of those who choose another master rather than Christ. The present time is the antitypical days of Noah and days of Lot, with wickedness, spiritual declension, infidelity, impurity and licentiousness, crime, murder, suicide, divorce, struggle between capital and labor, social impurity, defilement of youth, corruption of age, licensed prostitution and white slave traffic increasing on every side. This hurried worsening is preparation for the harvest of evil and for Armageddon, proving that the earth's present order is nearing its close, that the day of desperate sorrow approaches, and that the voice of warning must now be heard.
The worsening belongs to an intensifying conflict between good and evil, truth and error, Christ and Satan, in which error may appear to overwhelm truth. Most may be swept into idolatry while only a few remain faithful, and by far the largest class under precious light will not receive truth but become worse and worse, with great enmity to the living God making the salvation of many most difficult. Their worsening shows in counting the Sabbath of the fourth commandment too heavy a cross to lift, holding strong attachment to the world and counting it terrible to come out and be separate, turning from truth to make themselves and others believe fables are truth, with blunted moral perceptions, clinging to custom and tradition and dishonoring God by transgressing His holy law, which is the state of the professed Christian world. This worsening is seen in efforts to establish a false sabbath by law and make it a test for all, exalting the false sabbath, trampling God's seventh-day Sabbath, and bringing great suffering and persecution to its keepers, yet those who follow Christ's example and remain true to God's requirements will receive eternal life.
False teachers and false theories taught as truth increase in number now because firm grasp of present truth and Scripture is lacking, unsettling minds, so openness to biblical truth guards against being led astray and error must be met firmly. Those who have heard the truth are in greater danger now than ever before, as Satan leads men and women captive through deceptive reasoning to destroy confidence in God, requiring prayer and watching unto prayer, making the Word of God the counselor, and drawing near to God with the promise that He will draw near. The danger continues in the present and is especially dangerous to the young, as corrupt companions can draw them away from purity and faithfulness to God. It includes one mind exercising complete control over another until it becomes a machine acting out another's will, which God forbids and has given no light or encouragement for, being a mind-cure and science of Satan's working that in its development brings destruction not restoration and must find no place or standing-room in Christian medical work or health institutions, with physicians to see its real character and give the enemy no advantage. As the end approaches opposition grows by attacking the character and motives of those who reprove sin when Scripture cannot be answered, while claims damaging their integrity are readily believed, and the world grows more bitterly opposed than ever to gospel reform as the enemy works with all power to deter souls and extinguish light, yet because many are now in the valley of decision this calls for decided action and sowing beside all waters so the work goes forward.
Who the Deceivers Are
The evil men and seducers are those who have departed from the faith, including professed believers who resist the truth in the last days while those who live godly lives face persecution. They are those who support error by words, writing, speech, or by oppression of upholders of truth, standing on the side of the first great apostate and his agents against those who stand for truth, with all laboring on one side or the other until the end. Their course is connected with those who stumble and fall described by Isaiah, in contrast to continuing in the Scriptures and truths learned from childhood that lead to salvation through faith and equip for every good work.
Their rejection of Christ is seen in the choice of Barabbas, which shows what happens when restraining power is withdrawn and people come under hostile control. They choose a master other than Christ, and their worsening continues until iniquity is punished, for the world is not improving. This includes leaders who profess love and zeal yet oppose the law because it exposes sin and refuse light lest their deeds be reproved, deeply deceived while deceiving others. By far the largest class will not receive precious light of truth but grow worse with enmity against God, counting the Sabbath of the fourth commandment too heavy a cross, clinging to the world and fearing to come out and be separate, turning from truth to make fables appear as truth with blunted moral perception, holding to custom and tradition and dishonoring God by transgressing His holy law, which is the condition of the professed Christian world.
The same description applies to physicians who departed from divine counsel and principle, whose deceptive course does not profit but leads away from clear authority. This included Dr. Kellogg and the physicians working with him as examples of the deceived who deceive others. The worsening of the world is also seen in violent men who beat and strike others.
The wicked will keep growing more evil as the lawful prey of the enemy, through whom he works in every way to perplex and destroy the saints. They corrupt the spiritual atmosphere where they are, and their very influence and breath is darkness. For this reason God's people are to be separated from the world, to cut loose from the wicked and be free indeed, not mingling with them beyond necessity or duty. When company with them cannot be avoided, constant prayer and watching over every movement is required lest their spirit be shared.
Call to Faithfulness
Against the steady worsening of corrupt deceivers who mislead others while themselves misled, those who belong to God are to continue in the Scriptures and truths they have learned and been assured of from childhood, which make wise to salvation through faith in Christ and equip for every good work. They are to heed Scripture and meet error firmly rather than let false theories taught as truth unsettle minds in the perils of the last days. The Bible is given as the armory for successful warfare, with truth, righteousness, faith, salvation, and the word as sword to cut through sin, and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness to make complete. Safety requires making the Word the counselor, praying and watching unto prayer, drawing near to God on His promise to draw near, and watching for souls as those who must give an account, with warnings and reproof to uncover hidden darkness as greatly needed now as ever.
Every word of this description applies at the present time to all churches and ministers, and therefore believers are to wake out of lethargic slumber. They are to trim their lamps with grace and let them shine in clear bright rays to a world in darkness. A great work remains to do and a message to bear in fitting up a people to stand in the day of the Lord, coming to the help against the mighty. Because the world grows more bitterly opposed to gospel reform while the enemy works to deter souls and extinguish light, and because many are now in the valley of decision, this is a time for decided action by doing everything possible and sowing beside all waters so the work goes forward.
All inspired Scripture remains profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness to make God's servant perfect and thoroughly furnished, because the time comes when people will not endure sound doctrine but after their own desires heap up teachers who please them and turn from truth to fables, to human assertion, tradition, unbelieving literature, and science disconnected from God. Therefore the word must be preached with urgency in season and out of season, with reproof, rebuke, and exhortation, with all longsuffering and doctrine. Where needed rebuke is to be sharp that hearers may be sound in the faith, calling sin by its right name and not letting it pass as righteousness, while uncovering hidden darkness. This ministry calls for watching in all things, enduring afflictions, doing the work of an evangelist, standing fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith, and in lowliness esteeming others better and doing nothing through strife or vainglory so that unity, humility, and order are maintained against unruly vain talkers who profess God but deny Him in works and tear the flock with a wolfish disposition.
God's servants are to resist the enemy and refuse suggestions that lead to doubt in an age of apostasy marked by deepening deception. In contrast to those who knowingly choose evil and make no effort to reform and so grow progressively worse, they are to walk in the light and serve as reformers. They should avoid mingling with corrupters beyond what duty requires, because the wicked are the lawful prey of the enemy who works through them to perplex and destroy the saints, corrupting the spiritual atmosphere around them with darkness. When contact cannot be avoided they must pray and watch, indeed pray continually and watch every movement, lest they share the same spirit, and they are to seek to recover both deceivers and those led astray.
Faithfulness will involve persecution, for the worsening of evil stands alongside and in contrast to the experience of all who live godly lives in Christ, who suffer for truth while the Lord delivers them. Opponents with misdirected zeal pursue a hostile purpose, putting light for darkness and darkness for light until they sincerely think they serve God while persecuting His children, a spirit seen in past conflicts and to appear again in the closing work. Deception and self-deception will continue until the close of time, as seen when natural tendencies prevail unless corrected, leaving a person spiritually blind without Christ abiding within. This worsening includes efforts to establish a false sabbath by law as a universal test, exalting it, trampling the seventh-day Sabbath, and bringing great suffering to its keepers, yet the faithful need not fear the outcome, for those who follow Christ's example and remain true will receive eternal life, and the church's struggle amid spiritual darkness will end in eternal life for the true.