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The Way
by Kevin Pauley
But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as these. – 2 Timothy 3:1-5
An incident in Iraq was made much of in the news. Apparently, a group of young soldiers planned the rape and death of a young Iraqi girl. As a by-product of their horrible act, they killed her parents and sister, too.
The army reports that they gave the young man who was the leader in this crime an honorable discharge after serving only eleven months due to a diagnosis of “anti-social personality disorder.” This is a polite way of saying, “The guy is a psychopath!”
When dealing with a person with APD, you need to remember the following mnemonic. The word is CORRUPT and it stands for:
C – cannot follow the rules or law
O – obligations will be ignored
R – remorseless
R – reckless
U – underhanded
P – plans will never be made
T – temper; has one – will yield to it
But before we get on our moral high horses and look down our noses at these young men, we need to carefully examine Paul’s prophecy in the scripture above in light of what we are seeing in society today.
Write 2 Timothy 3:1-5 out on a piece of paper. Go buy a newspaper. Hold the piece of paper next to the articles you read in that paper. Notice a strange resemblance?
We have all heard of Generation X and Generation Y. I am afraid that the new name for this coming generation will be Generation P (for psychopath). Here is the dictionary definition of psychopath: a person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse.
Parents refuse to discipline their children and wonder why they are completely out of control. They lie to them constantly saying “Stop or I’ll do…(fill in the blank).” But they never (or rarely) follow through. Then they wonder why this generation disregards authority. Our children are taught that all sins are merely “alternate lifestyles.” We label sinful behavior as a “syndrome.” Then we wonder why they are remorseless. We teach them that the individual’s highest pursuit is personal gratification. Then we complain that they are reckless. Little children are allowed to stomp their feet, scream, cry and pout and then we are amazed that they grow into adults who are completely unable to control their violent tempers!
God is calling us out of this moral morass. He is offering us something better, higher, purer, nobler. He has our good at heart. But we must trust Him. We must listen to Him. We must do it His way. If we refuse, then we must content ourselves with an entire generation with anti-social personality disorder – Generation P.
Kevin Pauley is a pastor and writer. He lives in Illinois with his wife, Lynn, their five children and two dogs. His internet address is Berea.
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