Perilous Times and Perilous Men

3 But know this, that ^(A)in the last days ^[a]perilous times will come:

³ knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, ^(A)walking according to their own lusts,

^3 (A)For the time will come when they will not endure ^(B)sound doctrine, ^(C)but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;

The Great Apostasy

4 Now the Spirit ^[a]expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed ^(A)to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, ^2 (B)speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience ^(C)seared with a hot iron, ³ forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

Deceptions of the Last Hour

^18 (A)Little children, ^(B)it is the last hour; and as you have heard that ^(C)the^[a] Antichrist is coming, ^(D)even now many antichrists have come, by which we know ^(E)that it is the last hour.

³ Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come ^(A)unless the falling away comes first, and ^(B)the man of ^[a]sin is revealed, ^(C)the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and ^(D)exalts himself ^(E)above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits ^[b]as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. ⁷ For ^(F)the ^[c]mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only ^[d]He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, ^(G)whom the Lord will consume ^(H)with the breath of His mouth and destroy ^(I)with the brightness of His coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is ^(J)according to the working of Satan, with all power, ^(K)signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰ and with all unrighteous deception among ^(L)those who perish, because they did not receive ^(M)the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And ^(N)for this reason God will send them strong delusion, ^(O)that they should believe the lie, ¹² that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but ^(P)had pleasure in unrighteousness.

^17 (A)But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ:

The Lord’s Reign in Zion^(A)