2Timothy  ◦   Chapter 3

1 But mark this, and mark it well: In the last days, there will be especially horrible times.2 Society will become entitled, the people will be malignant narcissists, completely self-absorbed, greedy, arrogant, proud, exploitive and abusive, rebellious toward their parents, ungrateful, impure,3 without compassion, resentful, liars, speaking evil of others, unable to control their own behavior, cruel and brutal, deriding that which is healthy and good,4 conniving and untrustworthy, impulsive and thoughtless, conceited, addicted to pleasure rather than devoted to God–5 yet they will be religious and have a pretense of godliness, but they will deny the Remedy and God's methods of love. Don't ever let these people into your life!

6 Such people scam their way into the homes of weak-willed women and manipulate them by evoking guilt from past mistakes. These women are vulnerable because they are emotionally unstable and swayed by all kinds of selfish desires.7 They constantly seek help but reject the Remedy and all truth that would actually heal them.8 Just as Jannes and Jambres counterfeited Moses, so these people present a counterfeit remedy, and since they rejected the true Remedy, their minds are damaged and degraded.9 But these people won't get into too many homes, because the result of their foolish rejection of the Remedy will be plain to all who can think for themselves.

10 And I am sure you recognize this clearly, because you know me, and know what I teach. You know the way I live, my mission, beliefs, patience, love, steadfastness;11 you know the persecutions and mistreatment I suffered in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, and how the Lord brought me through it all.12 The reality is that everyone who lives in harmony with God's methods, trusting in Jesus, will be persecuted by the selfish world.13 But the selfish counterfeiters will deteriorate; their thinking will become increasingly warped by their lying to others and to themselves.14 You simply need to continue in the truth you have learned and are confident of, because you have seen the healed characters of those from whom you have learned it,15 and because it is in harmony with the Scriptures you have known from childhood. And you know that the Scriptures teach the Remedy which is able to heal you and make you wise through your trust in Jesus Christ.16 For all Scripture, inspired by God, is beneficial for teaching, redirecting, correcting and training — to promote character transformation — 17 so that God's ambassadors may be exceptionally competent in application of the Remedy and in every other good work.