These Are the Men Who Divide You

Jude 17-19 "But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit."

      Lord, thank You for Your warnings: first from Your prophets, then from Your mouth while You were here, then through Your apostles, and now in print for me to read in this age.  You started with Enoch (7th from Adam) and then went all the way to the New Testament apostles and others.  Now over 2000 years since You were here on earth, I am reading these same warnings and the sickness in the church is still alive today.
   Simply by the passage of time, we are more in the "last days" than Jude was at in the end of the first century or beginning of the second  century AD, but when the exact time of these "last days" is known only to the Father.
   Lord, You have told me that Satan's plan has always been to divide and destroy.  He divided the angels in heaven trying to destroy You and Your authority, he did not come to both Adam and Eve, but just to Eve, hoping to divide the first marriage, divided the first 2 brothers (Cain and Abel), divided Noah's family after the flood, divided Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers...and the list goes on and on all throughout our history!  1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."  Lions do not try to prey on large herds.  They charge the group to divide out the very young, sick, or injured ones and prey on them because they are easy.  He is the master deceiver, the Father of lies, and will use those lies to deceive the very young, spiritually sick, or emotionally injured in the church.
      Lord, if I do not gauge all that I hear, even from our dear devoted pastor, by the truth of Your word, I too might be deceived.  I know that is why I must be in Your word daily, studying and praying through these passages, for my own spiritual safety!  I cannot praise You enough for leaving it with me as a guide.  Then You give me the wisdom and discernment by Your Spirit to understand it and apply it in my life.  I am so undeserving, Lord, and wholly unworthy.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR AMAZING GRACE!