The Prophetic Gift in the Gospel Church

PERILOUS TIMES

The time immediately preceding the second coming of Christ is presented as perilous, as a time of the working of Satan in mighty power, and also a time in which the Lord’s people will be in a special sense “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:5. Why should it be a thing improbable for the Lord to pour out in a special manner His Spirit to instruct, strengthen, and keep His people from the wiles of Satan in that trying time? PGGC 25.1

In writing to Timothy, Paul says, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.” He then enumerates eighteen sins to be found among a people having the “form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” Of these he says: “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth.... Their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.” 2 Timothy 3:1-9. Jannes and Jambres were chief magicians of Pharaoh, who sought to resist the work of the Lord through Moses by counterfeit miracles. The Lord, by the hand of His servant Moses, wrought in a manner that the magicians could not counterfeit. Exodus 7:11; 8:18, 19. It is seen, then, that as the end is nearing, and Satan works in power, the Lord gives showers of blessings to His people, thus defeating the purpose of Satan. So they are kept by the power of God, and the folly of counterfeit workers made manifest. PGGC 25.2