Biblical Examples of Boastful Men

Posted on September 21, 2026 by Stephen Nielsen

The Scriptures record many accounts of boastful leaders and individuals, which most often led to their downfall, and which we may see as contributing to the difficult times mentioned in 2 Timothy 3:2.

Sennacherib, king of Assyria. When King Sennacherib came to attack the fortified cities of Judah, he sent a message to king Hezekiah through his personal representative. It wasn’t a secret massage. He stood and shouted the message to many people on the wall of the city in Hebrew so they all could hear it. The messenger boastfully mocked the God of Israel by shouting,

‘Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 ‘Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 35 ‘Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand'” (2 Kings 18:33-35)?

Well, after King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah heard of King Sennacherib’s threats, Isaiah encouraged King Hezekiah to pray for Israel’s deliverance. And God heard his prayers (2 Kings 19:1-35). For it happened that night that 185,000 Assyrians were struck down by the Lord (verse 35).

Haman the Agagite. Haman was promoted by King Xerxes as prime minister, making him the most powerful official in the Persian empire next to the king. One day, he gathered his friends and his wife together at his home just to boast and brag to them about the honors and the promotion the king had given to him over all others. But when his wife and friends suggested that he set up gallows to hang his enemy Mordecai on it, Haman was doomed. For when the king discovered what Mordecai had done for him years ago, saving him from assassination, he planned to publicly honor him. Then, as it happened, when the king found out that Haman was planning to hang Mordecai, he, being enraged, had Haman hung on those same gallows that were meant for Mordecai (Est. 3:1-7:10).

King Belshazzar. While King Belshazzar and his nobles were boastfully celebrating and drinking to honor their Babylonian idols, a hand appeared out of nowhere and wrote a message on a wall. The king was terrified and wondered what it meant. He sent for all his wisest men but they could not interpret the message. Then Daniel was summoned and he easily gave the interpretation.

The word Mene means “numbered”—that God has numbered the days of your reign. Tekel means “weighed”—that you have been weighed on the balances. And Parsin means “divided”—and given to the Medes and Persians.

Well, apparently, the king believed Daniel and immediately dressed him in purple robes, hung a gold chain around his neck, and promoted him to the third highest ruler in the kingdom. And that night Darius took over the kingdom and Belshazzar was killed.

The Prince of Tyre. The prince of Tyre boasted that his city was perfect in beauty (Ezek. 27:3), that he himself was a god (28:2), and that he regarded himself wiser than Daniel—that no secret was hidden from him (28:3). Because of his boastful pride, God brought against him and his city enemy armies until he and his city ended in ruin and death (Ezek. 26:3, 20, 21; 28:7-10).

King Uzziah. At age sixteen Uzziah became the king of Judah and reigned in Jerusalem for 52 years. He was a good and godly king and pleased the Lord (2Chron. 26:4-5). Hence, God gave him success in everything he did.

He built towns (v.6-7).
He was victorious in wars so that he became powerful (v. 7-9).
He dug many water cisterns (v. 10).
He had many nerds of livestock (v. 10).
He had many farms and vineyards (v. 10).
He had many well-trained warriors, war equipment and new war machines (v. 11-15).

In all those things he became boastful and prideful, and he thought he could do anything. So, he sinned by attempting to do the duty of a priest in the temple. When he began burning incense on the altar, suddenly, God caused him to have leprosy, which he was plagued with until his death.

Absalom. The story of Absalom, David’s son, began when he turned against his half-brother Amnon when he heard that he had raped his sister Tamar. So, after two years he commanded his workmen to kill Amnon; and then Absalom fled to his grandfather for safety. Well, David and Absalom did not see each other for over three years, but finely they did come together. And apparently, while Absalom was away for so long, bitterness had built up in him, so much so that he thought he would be a better king than his father. His plan was to build up himself (with boasting of his own beauty, strength, and wisdom) in front of all Israel in order to steal the hearts of all the people. In fact, most of Israel followed Absalom instead of David. But in the end, according to God’s will, Absalom was killed in battle, and David’s throne was restored to him (2 Sam. 13:1-18:15).

The Antichrist. The Antichrist is a futuristic figure who will come on the scene during the seven-year Tribulation, or just before it. His boasting will actually be more than the pretend boasting that we find in 2 Timothy 3:2 from the word alazones. The Hebrew and Greek words for his boasting (from the books of Daniel and Revelation) are simply translated as “great.” I guess we could describe it as a boasting in his own greatness. And he will actually think that he is great. In fact, 2 Thessalonians tells us that he will take his seat in the Temple (the coming Tribulation temple) and will display himself as being God.

The fourth word in 2 Timothy 3:2, translated as arrogance or haughty, (hypereephanoi in Greek), may actually be closer in describing The Antichrist. But since Daniel 7:8, 11 and 25, and Revelation 13:5 describe him as having “a mouth uttering great boasts,” I think we should think of him as being both boastful of himself and very prideful. He will think that he is actually God. And this will be quite reasonable to him since the dragon (Satan) will give him great power and authority, and since the people of the earth will worship him and say to him, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him” (Rev. 13:2-4)? I imagine that he will become quite bigheaded.

Now, I have to say, before we go on to the next chapter, much of what I have given you as examples in history of boastfulness may not be exactly true to our text in 2 Timothy 3:2. In fact, you may find that the characters I have given have a combination of boastfulness (alazones) and arrogance (hupereephanoi)—or, as I explained about The Antichrist, thinking and talking about his greatness (even more than Mahammad Ali).

I think that our best bet in finding the true meaning of boastfulness (from our text) will be to go back to Romans 1:30. In this context one who boasts (as well as all the other wicked things that are listed) come from a depraved mind, which are those whom God has given up to their degrading passions. Boastfulness in this light is one of the things (evil things) that we are seeing more and more in these last days.

And, I guess, as far as looking at examples of boasting (like I have given—and more) if we can see in those cases that their boasting is out of a wickedness and carries the same impression of Romans 30:1 (of a depraved mind), then we can use it and see it as how difficult times are upon us. But sometimes, I suppose, it is hard to see the heart for what it is. Only God can see the heart for what it truly is.

Examples of Boastful Men

Posted on September 16, 2026 by Stephen Nielsen

The meaning of this word boastful, I think, will becomes clearer for us if we can come up with some examples. We will first look at a few tyrannical leaders and popular figures in secular history; and then some biblical figures.

Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.). Caesar was known for his ruthlessness in battle. His famous boast followed a military victory in Asia Minor. In three words he said, “Veni, vidi, vici.” (I came, I saw, I conquered).1

Genghis Khan (1162-1227). “Genghis Khan’s most famous boast is a chilling declaration of divine wrath: ‘I am the punishment of God. If you had not committed great sin, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.’”2

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945). “The Führer of Nazi Germany openly bragged about his ruthlessness, using historical atrocities to justify his actions and declaring that the victor is above the truth.” He said, “The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.”3

Idi Amin. “The brutal dictator of Uganda famously boasted about his absolute power and even declared himself the uncrowned “King of Scotland”. He said, “There is freedom of speech, but I cannot promise freedom after speech.”4

Salvador Dali (1904-1989). “Salvador Dalí was just as famous for his audacious boasts as he was for his surrealist art. He treated his entire life as a performance, famously proclaiming, ‘The only difference between a madman and myself is I am not mad’. Dalí frequently declared himself a genius, boasting about his own superiority and claiming that his art transcended ordinary human logic.”5

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). Arriving at the New York customs office in 1882, the famously witty Irish playwright reportedly made his self-worth perfectly clear. He said, “I have nothing to declare except my genius.”6

Muhammad Ali. “Muhammad Ali was as skilled with words as he was in the ring. His poignant sayings about sports and life figure to remain iconic for generations to come alongside the lore of his historic fights.”

Here are a couple of his most well-known boastful quotes:

“I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was. I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I was really the greatest.”

“Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee. You can’t hit what your eyes don’t see.”7

1 The Best Quotations, at https://best-quotations.com/catquotes.php?categ=0935.

2 YouTube, @ The Art of Thinking 42, July 4, 2023.

3 Tyrants Quotes, at https//www.azquotes.com/quotes/topics/tyrants.html.

4 10 Worst Human Dictators, at https://muc.fandom.com/wiki/10_worst_human_dictators.

5 Surrealism in the Art of Dali, at https://alyakhemji.medium.com/surrealism-in-the-art-of-dali-bf84f7b965d7.

6 Oscar Wilde quotes, at https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0928492/quotes/.

7 Muhammad Ali’s 10 Best Quotes, at https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/id/15930888/muhammad-ali-10-best-quotes.

Boastful – from 2Timothy 3:2

Posted on September 15, 2026 by Stephen Nielsen

We come now to the third evil attribute, boastful, followed closely by the next attribute, arrogance. We may note that the first two attributes, to be lovers of self and lovers of money are directed only to self for self-pleasure. It is a self-idolatry or self-worship. Now, in addition to this self-pleasure and self-idolatry, men also in these evil times take on the evils of boastfulness and arrogance, which is more outgoing—or an evil designed to build up self.

The term boastful comes from the Greek word alazones and has the meaning of “empty pretender.” In other words, it is a person that tries to exaggerate his importance or greatness. He is an empty braggart, but tries desperately to convince others of his greatness. The fourth attribute arrogance has a similar meaning: to speak pridefully of themselves; but they genuinely believe they are better than others; hence, this word for arrogance, hypereephanoi, may also be translated “haughty.” While the boastful man tries to impress others with words, the arrogant or haughty person is convinced (by deception) of his own greatness and acts with contempt toward those around him.

Now, let’s concentrate on this attribute boastful. The Greek word for boastful is found only in 2 Timothy 3:2 and in Romans 1:30. In the Romans passage you really get the flavor for its evil. In this passage (from verses 24 to 32) it speaks of those whom God gives up to their degrading passions: those with a depraved mind, who are filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents…”

As you can see, this Romans list is very similar to the list in 2 Timothy. And so, we may conclude that they are both speaking of what people are like in the last days—which are these days, and which are getting worse and worse.

Here are a few more verses on boasting that I found in the Old Testament that may also shine some light on its basic meaning. In all the following verses the word translated boast and boastful are from the Hebrew word halal having the meaning, “To shine; hence, to make a show, to boast; and thus, to be foolish.” This word seems similar to the Greek word alazones; and so, in a general sense of its pridefulness, I think we can use both Hebrew and Greek words for ideas of its basic meaning.

Psalm 49:5-6

Why should I fear in days of adversity,

When the iniquity of my foes surrounds me,

6 Even those who trust in their wealth

And boast in the abundance of their riches?

Here we see the obvious difference in this Old Testament word Halal. Boasting is boasting; it is prideful and foolish. And here it is in one’s wealth. In 2 timothy and Roman it is more in the person of the one boasting.

Psalm 75:3-5

3 “The earth and all who dwell in it melt;

It is I who have firmly set its pillars. Selah.

4 “I said to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’

And to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up the horn;

5 Do not lift up your horn on high,

Do not speak with insolent pride.'”

Here the one boasting is a wicked man. He does not believe in God. He obviously is boasting about his own strength and beliefs, and he lifts up his “fists in defiance at heaven.” (NLT of the Bible). God plainly tells us not to do that; that He is our creator.

God obviously is against the boastful man of these last times. He is boastful because he is an unbeliever and he is rebelling against God our creator. He boasts because he is making himself a god. He is lifting himself above the true God.

Psalm 97:7

7 Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images,

Who boast themselves of idols;

Worship Him, all you gods.

All of us must be ashamed to have idols (things that we put before God). In the end (in His kingdom) all things will be subject to Him—will give Him worship. We must not boast and brag of all those things, and also about all our gifts and talents and strengths that we have received from God.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.

Verse 23 is very close to the boasting of men in the last days. They will boast in their wisdom, their might and their riches. And they will not think about what they really should boast in—the Lord.

How the Love of Money Has Increased Over Time

Posted on September 8, 2026 by Stephen Nielsen

Since the beginning of time this evil has been with us. But we have seen the love of money sprout its evil wings, particularly in the last few decades—with the increase of knowledge, with new inventions, and with our growing economy. Here are eight different causes by which the love of money has increased.

1. There are more ways to make money. With the worlds recent growing economy and technological advances, more people are working, and thus they have more opportunities to make money, to handle money, and to see money. This phenomenon no doubt has caused people to think more about money, thus increasing the love of money.

2. Because of credit cards and bank cards. The first credit cards came out in the early 1950’s. The positive aspect of these cards is their convenience. It is so much easier to present the card then to get out your check book and write a check, or to pay in cash, if you remember to carry enough cash. The negative side is remembering that your card is like money. I mean it comes out of your bank account. So, you have to know whether you have enough money in the bank. If you have a regular credit card, you can get into a lot of trouble—debt, because on most accounts you don’t have to pay it all back every month. This is where the love of money comes in. Since it is so convenient to use your card, people often forget that it is just like cash. And if they don’t have cash they very easily say, Oh I can put it on my card, no worry! And they end up using their card(s) very irresponsibly. And in many cases, they will sort of fall in love with their cards because they allow them to very easily buy whatever they want.

3. Through visual displays of wealth. It was not too long ago that photography and magazines were all in black and white. In the last few decades color has done wonders for our visual appetites, and unfortunately, it has stimulated our lust for wealth. There is nothing like excellent photography that makes advertising profitable; but on the evil side, it gives people a visual display of wealth causing them to fall in love with all that money can buy.

I suppose the temptation of wealth, mainly for young women is the glamor magazines. It will cause them not only to desire to be more beautiful, but to be rich and beautiful. And there are other magazines that sell new homes, new cars, and beautiful vacation spots. Again, these magazines are not only selling their product, but are causing the reader to desire to be wealthy—more than their neighbors!

Visual displays of wealth come not only in magazines but in stores selling everything imaginable. I’m sure you know that most people who shop in popular stores, like Walmart, buy much more than they need. They have been afflicted by the love of money.

4. Status and power. With the prospect of status and power more and more people are seeking job promotions or even entrepreneurship and owning their own business. And the more prosperous they become many are inflicted with greed and the love of money. But don’t get me wrong, promotion and owning a business does not necessarily equal something bad. It could be a blessing from God. However, if you don’t give Him the credit and thanks for it, you will become prideful and greedy.

5. Seeking a wealthy lifestyle. It seems like more and more these days people are seeing and dreaming about the lifestyles of the rich and famous, because of the happiness they think it will bring them. Of course, before the invention of television and the movies people had no such dreams. They had to rely on their own imaginations. But these days, with our computers and with AI giving everyone a boost, and with millionaires and billionaires everywhere, it is not hard to see and desire a wealthy lifestyle.

6. Mega churches. Paul taught that an overseer must be free from the love of money (1 Tim. 3:3); but I think that in many cases the main reason for building a large church is to bring in more people, in order to bring in more money. I have also heard (from reliable sources) that these mega churches follow a secular business model. Hence, in every respect they run the church like a business. I suppose that in some areas that is wise, but it shouldn’t be that way in every area. The churches’ goal should not be to make so much money, rather to minister to people, to teach people the truth from the bible.

7. Sports teams. The four most popular professional sports teams: baseball, football, basketball and hockey, have only been around for about 170 years. When the earliest teams (probably baseball) started the players didn’t make much more than the common laborer. But today superstar baseball players could make more than 40 million dollars in a single season.

Why the big jump in earnings? I have a house painting business and I make more money now, after four years in business, but good grief! I will never make as much as a baseball player. They say that the sports industry is driven by supply and demand. The supply is the few elite players and the demand is the demand for their performance calculated according to the money generated by what fans are willing to pay for ticket sales and for television and internet viewing. So, I suppose, there is a logical reason why sports players and owners are making so much money. But isn’t the demand coming from the fans—what they are willing to pay to see a game and certain players? Those who demand to see a game will use whatever money they are willing to spend on a ticket. They demand it! They demand it because they are lovers of themselves. And they are lovers of money because that money will allow them to pay for a ticket. Hence, sports teams, you could say, feed our lust for money and for our own entertainment desires.

8. Fraudsters. Recently, all over the country, and particularly in Minnesota where I live, fraudsters have been stealing hundreds of millions from government programs. These criminals set up fraudulent, non-profit shell companies that exist only on paper, and then link them together in complex networks to disguise who actually owns and controls them; then they systematically bill state agencies for services never rendered.

During the recent pandemic they organized what they termed “Feeding our Future,” and claimed to be feeding thousands of children daily, but it was all just on paper. They fed few to no meals and submitted rosters of fake names generated by software. They also pretended to make medical visits that were never made and phony healthcare agencies billed the state for the care. Once the government distributed the funds to the fictious companies, the money was rapidly funneled here and there to obscure the paper trail. Ring leaders spent millions of taxpayer money on luxury housing, sports cars, jewelry, and international travel. Hence, in this fraudulent scheme, it is plain to see that their motive was purely self-interest—the love of self and the love of money.

Lovers of Money – 2 Timothy 3:2

Posted on September 6, 2026 by Stephen Nielsen

Those who are lovers of self will also be lovers of money. They will use money to bring love to themselves—to buy things for themselves. Thus, this second evil attribute comes closely attached to the first attribute. We will start this study by examining some key verses on this subject of money, with a view to how the love of it brings evil to us.

Matthew 6:19-21

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Money is what we may use to purchase treasures on this earth. And those things will not last. They give us pleasure only for a little while. It is better to store up treasures for heaven—eternal treasures that will last. If I am placing my sense of value and worth in what money can buy, I am loving money and that will lead to all kinds of evil. Hoarding money and riches leads to the worship of those things; it leads to seeking pleasure from those things instead of God. That is idol worship.

Matthew 19:23-24

And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

It is very hard for a rich man to become a Christian. But Jesus said (in verse 26), “with God all things are possible.”

Why is it so hard for the rich to be saved? Because the love of money is the root of evil (1 Tim. 6:10). Riches tend to deceive a person into thinking that this is really the life, that there is no other way to live than to have the pleasure of things: new homes and cars, and all kinds of conveniences, and endless entertainment, and nice friends gained by my lifestyle, and the best foods and vacations. And when all these things are acquired and the heart is strangely satisfied, it is very hard to give it all up for a different kingdom that we may not know about. In that case, God will have to do a work in that heart to let that person see what all his riches will eventually amount to—nothing.

Luke 12:13-34

Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 14 But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” 16 And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. 17 “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”‘ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ 21 “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”22 And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. 23 “For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 “Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! 25 “And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span? 26 “If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? 27 “Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 28 “But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith! 29 “And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. 30 “For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. 31 “But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. 32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.33 “Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. 34 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

In these verses Jesus tells a story to a man who was greedy for his inheritance. He wanted his brother to divide the family inheritance with him immediately. In the story Jesus was teaching the man what real “life” was. Real life does not consist of earthly possessions. It is more than food and clothing—things of this life. Real life is eternal life in which he would always be satisfied and never have to worry. The life of this world has an end, and when you die, even though you are very rich with earthly things, you will have nothing left for eternity. Jesus urged the man to sell his earthly possessions and give to charity so he would have treasures in heaven.

The greed that the man had for his inheritance was a love of money. And that greed compelled him to hoard it and spend it on more and more riches, which became for him an evil lifestyle—because he had saved everything for himself and nothing for God’s kingdom.

Colossians 3:1-5

Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.

The word “greed” in verse five, I think, is close to the meaning of the love of money. It carries the idea of having and desiring more. When we love money, we always want more and more of it in order that we may have all the things that money can buy. This term (greed) is also related closely with immorality (sexual sin), impurity (evil thoughts and intentions), and passion and evil desires (sexual lust). So, we see here the family of those who love money. It is a detestable group to God. And I would say that when we love our money, we definitely let all those sins into us.

Now here in these verses, Paul is speaking to any that are believers. He tells them that they must consider the members of their earthly body (with their sins—those I just mentioned) as dead. That is, they are not to give life to them by feeding those desires. Instead, Paul reminds us that if we have been raised up with Christ (been saved to new life) we must keep seeking things above (things that belong to our new life). Then in verse two he tells us to “set your mind” on things above—which amounts to the process of thinking or meditating on scripture (Josh. 1:8).

1 Timothy 3:2-3

An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money.

Paul writes to Timothy that an overseer (or an elder or pastor) must be free from the love of money (which characterizes false teachers). His love should be for God and the people in his church. This godly quality, along with the other nine that are listed, is what it means here to be above reproach or blameless. Certainly, the love of money, since it is true of false teachers, is a grave reason not to enlist such a man for the pastor of a church.

1 Timothy 6:8-11, 17-19

If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

11 But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.

17 Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. 18 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.

It is a good thing to want to work for the necessities of life: for food and clothing. And Paul tells us that we should be content with these things. But beyond that; that is, to want to be rich, is foolish and destructive. In fact, verse ten tells us that “the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil.” So true! I like the next phrase too. “And some by longing for it [money] have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” And, of course, this is because no one can have two masters. If we love money, we have put ourselves in the camp of the devil and we can no longer serve God. If we really want to serve God and make Him our master, we must give up our desire to be rich and be content with only God wants you to have.

Now in verse seventeen, Paul addresses those who happened to be rich. It is not wrong to be rich, but we must not place our hope in our riches. All our hope must be in God. He will give us all we need, and will even allow us to enjoy what He gives us. However, it is not the will of God to hoard riches in order to please ourselves. It is always better to serve others and give to others. In this way we will be building up for ourselves a solid foundation for the future—our heavenly rewards.

Titus 1:10-11

For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.

In these verses Paul warns Titus about the Jewish false teachers in Crete. Paul had left Titus there to appoint elders in order that they might build up the church. But first he must deal with the Jewish false teachers “who,” he said, “must be silenced.” They were rebellious, empty talkers and deceivers. And they were teaching things “for the sake of sordid gain.” I don’t know what they were teaching, but it must have been something very interesting that would draw a crowd that was willing to pay money to hear their stories. Sordid gain implies something sleezy or repugnant. No doubt it was lies told about certain people. But whatever it was, they intended to make money from it—from people who would pay money to hear about it. So, in this case these false teach were so in love with money that they were willing to lie and deceive people in order to get it.

2 Peter 2:1-3, 14

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

14 having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;

Here is that word again (in verse 3 and in verse 14)— “greed”; which, I think, shows us the love of money. These false prophets and teachers were taken up with greed that they would do things that no Christian (if they were) ought to do. They “introduced,” and taught, “destructive heresies” in order to get rich. And they also used “sensuality” in their teaching. I have no idea what they were saying. Verse fourteen tells us that they had “eyes full of adultery,” and they went around “enticing unstable souls.” So, they were using their sexuality and their false teaching to get their money. Money and the things that money can buy was that important to them.

How Our Self-love is Getting Progressively Worse

Posted on August 31, 2026 by Stephen Nielsen

From the time this letter to Timothy was written until now (nearly 2,000 years later), our self-love has gotten progressively worse; with, I suppose, dips and rises along the way. In evil times self-love increased, and in times of revival it decreased. But overall, I think in our near 2,000-year time span, it has gotten much worse. Here are seven areas where we can see the progressive worsening of self-love—particularly in the last fifty or sixty years.

1. Social Media. When computers came out, then cell phones, and then all the different social media companies (like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, X, and Pinterest), people (mostly young people) sort of vanished from normal person to person communication, even from telephone conversations. They instead buried their heads and minds into social media technology. We will have to admit that many social media platforms are quite helpful in making yourself known and selling a product; but it doesn’t do much for your character. In fact, social media is all about building up your self-image. And in a strange way it tends to make people self-centered and will build up for them a pedestal for their own idolatry.

2. Pornography. Pornography, in one form or another, has been around for a long time; and in the last fifty years or so it has exploded. It can be seen in books, magazines, and videos, anywhere on the internet and even in social media.

I think this is one of the most deceptive evils there is, because the devil tells us, and our flesh tells us that porn is such a loving act; and when we view it, and also act on it, we feel the love—we feel that we are loving ourselves. But when it is over we feel betrayed and guilty. And it is highly addictive (read 1 Corinthians 7:18-20).

3. Gluttony. Gluttony is overeating; but it is also eating only what tastes good to us, with no regard to what is good for the body. I heard one person, in all honesty, say, I eat only what tastes good to me, not what I think is healthy. Sometimes when I go grocery shopping, I notice what other people buy. I see some carts loaded down with mostly chips, cookies, soda pop, ice cream, and cakes. They have no vegetables (fresh or frozen) at all! I also have noticed that these people are quite obese. Now, I don’t mean to be judgmental. I’m just telling you what I see.

Gluttony has always been a problem for most people, especially in rich countries. It was a big problem with the Roman Emperors—who were rich. But I think it is especially a problem with the rich countries of today—like America, that have grocery stores everywhere, and where people can buy whatever they desire. Many of us see no problem with buying and eating all that we desire—all that tastes good to us. But when we do, we are guilty of the evil of self-love.

Interestingly, when the bible talks about gluttony it puts it next to drunkenness. And its result is poverty (Prov. 23:20-21; Deut. 21:20). I suppose that is because those who are guilty of it eat and drink all their profit away. Also, in Philippians 3:19 and Galatians 5:16 we may notice that those who do not walk by the Spirit and are enemies of the cross, their god is their appetite. This gluttony is the evil of self-love.

4. The Decline of the Family. God created the family to be a blessing to each other and for love. But when sin came the family began to slowly break down, and the good and healthy love of self was corrupted into a selfish and self-centered love. I heard the other day that the average child rate in a family is now 1.5 children per family—an all-time low. In 1950 it was about 4.5, and a few centuries before that it was much higher. In fact, in the family of John Wesley, he had seven sisters and three brothers. Likewise, the family of Jonathan Edwards was also large. Then he and his wife also brought ten children into the world. Those days are pretty much gone. And what is the reason? I would say that part of it is selfishness. Certainly, the women do not want to go through the pain of childbirth, and for the damage of her figure. As a couple, they may think a large family is just too hard.

But there are other points of selfishness that cause the decline of the family. From 1950 to the present, divorce has increase drastically. Abortion is also on the incline. Bringing a life into the world is just too hard. All in all, because of self-love the family suffers.

5. Self-image. In these wicked days, because of self-love there is more emphasis on self-image. Never before has there been so many beauty creams, treatments and surgeries to make ourselves look beautiful and handsome. And there are countless weight-loss pills. And when those don’t work, we can always spend hundreds of dollars going to the gym. But most people will not stick to that.

Loving ourselves through trying to improve your image is a deadly trap. Sometimes, especially with the youth, it ends up in suicide—because it is very hard to keep up with all the beautiful people we see (in the glamor magazines). It is better, for the sake of your health to just maintain a good diet and a regular, short exercise program in your home. In the end, maintaining your spiritual health and your relationship with God is far better than worrying about your figure.

6. Entertainment. I think most of us these days work hard at trying to love ourselves through our favorite TV shows, the movies we watch and rewatch on DVD, and our favorite sports. This is an area of self-love that has really accelerated in the last seventy years—since we didn’t have television before then. What did people do with their time? This era of entertainment, for the most part, is plain and simple…idolatry!

7. What Professionals are saying. Most doctors and psychologists have been saying for years that self-love, no matter what kind, is good. In fact, they are saying that it is the first step to conquering most mental ills. Now, in some ways it is good—if it is from God’s Spirit. But when they start saying that you need to accept yourself with all your lustful practices, that is when you need to go elsewhere. Sin should never be accepted or practiced in the name of loving yourself.

When our Love of Self becomes Evil

Posted on August 28, 2026 by Stephen Nielsen

As we already said, we naturally love ourselves in a good way because we are created in the image of God. But when we begin to love our old, sinful self so that we gratify our own lusts, and we make provision for them, then our self-love turns evil (turns into selfishness). And even a Christian can fall into this evil. And what is even more confusing is that we may go back and forth, sometimes having a natural, good self-love, and at other times falling into an evil self-love. Here are three examples of how we fall into this evil.

1. Narcissism is to have excessive love or admiration of oneself. In younger people this is especially true as they see their bodies develop; and they spend way too much time looking in the mirror. And these days, with social media, we just love to get plenty of “likes” and comments to validate ourselves. This is plain self-worship.

2. Having a “me first” mentality, or thinking that I am more important than anyone else. Being a loner would definitely tend to foster this attitude, since you aren’t around other people very much and you end up thinking mainly of just yourself. It is always good to try to be around people as much as possible. Leaders may also have a problem in this area if they let themselves think that they are greater and more important than others. Paul, in Philippians 2:3-8, tells us how to act with humility as Jesus did—taking the form of a bond-servant.

3. Having an entitlement mentality. These people are always thinking of their personal rights, and they get upset when they think their rights have been violated. They tend to be self-centered in their thinking and they will cling to political groups or gangs to give them what they think they are entitled to.

Lovers of Self – Part 2

Posted on August 26, 2026 by Stephen Nielsen

From 2 Timothy 3:2 “…For men will be lovers of self.”

Is A Love of Self Ever Good? The answer to that question is yes. If our love for self is not a selfish kind of love, and if we use it to help us love others, then it is good. Here are eight scriptures that indicate that in some cases it is good.

Philippians 2:4. Paul teaches here, “Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” This verse definitely indicates that we naturally care for ourselves. But the teaching here, with verse three, is that we must also, at the same time, care for others. In fact, we must regard others as more important than ourselves. I think Paul is saying to the Philippians, love of self will always be there, but we must push it down so that we have room to love and

care for others. We must not let our self-love be selfish or to end there. We must move on with our love to include others.

Leviticus 19:18, 34. These are the very first verses in the bible that directly tell us that we ought to love others as ourselves. And the following six scriptures that we will look at say the same thing—that we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves—assuming that we do naturally (in a good way) love ourselves. Verse 34 includes the teaching that they were to see and treat other strangers among them just as they wished to be treated when they were strangers in Egypt; hence, they were to love all people just as they love themselves.

Matthew 22:39. Here is what we may call the second to the greatest commandment. Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, and He said,

” ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’

The thought that comes to my mind here is that these are commands from God. We are commanded to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and then also to love our neighbor. But how? Well, if God commands us to do it, I would think He would show us how, and give us the ability to do it. And really, I don’t think one is any harder than the other. He will give us the ability to love. And the love for our neighbor will come when we love ourselves.

Mark 12:31. This verse is of the same teaching as Matthew 22:39. Mark says nothing different. I will, however, add something more here. The reason why Jesus gave the scribe more than he asked for—that is, more than what the greatest commandment was—was because the second greatest commandment is tied to the first one. We can’t genuinely

love God without loving people. If we don’t love our neighbor, we won’t be loving God, because to love Him requires that we love our neighbor.

Luke 10:27-37. Here Jesus gives us the same two commandments, but with a teaching to a lawyer. The lawyer asked Jesus what he should do to inherit eternal life. When they agreed that he should follow the two greatest commandments, Jesus next asked him who his neighbor was. If he was to love his neighbor as himself, he needed to know who he was.

Well, I think you know the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the story, which of the three men proved to be a neighbor to the man who was robbed and left for dead? It was the Samaritan who showed the man mercy. Here it is interesting that Jesus reversed the lawyer’s original question of “who is my neighbor,” to bring the idea that we are all neighbors to each other. We all have a responsibility to be a good neighbor—to care for others as we would want to be cared for, or as we would care for ourselves. And here also, we can see the idea of regarding everyone the same, with equal values, and treating everyone the same.

Romans 13:8-10. Here Paul explains that love to our neighbor (to anyone) is a fulfillment of the law. In other words, if we love others, we are fulfilling the law—we will not commit adultery with them, we will not murder them, we will not steal from them, and we will not covet anything that they have. Hence, love does no wrong to a neighbor. And the way we love them (treat them) is to think how we would want to be treated, and then we would love them just as we love ourselves.

Galatians 5:14. Here the idea is to show our love for others by showing them Chrisitan freedom in Christ; that is, we should not only love them if they keep our rules (read chapter 5); we should love them just as we love ourselves.

James 2:8. Here, much like the previous verse, we must love others without showing partiality. We are to love and care for others just as we do for ourselves.

Okay, we have pretty much outlined from scripture that we naturally do love and care for ourselves. The next thing we need to do is to discuss how we do that. Where does this good self-love come from?

We know, or we should know that all of us were born sinners. However, despite our sin nature, we all were created in God’s image. And since God always loves Himself, we discover that we do too. It is a natural God-quality that we have.

Now since God is perfect, with no flaws, His love is vastly different. In 1 John 4:8 it says that “God is love.” Love is central to His character. We could never have this kind of love, but we do have several qualities of love. For instance, we care for ourselves. We find that we are always watching out for our own danger. We instinctively want to be healthy, so we try to eat healthy foods (but we often fail in this). We set for ourselves firm boundaries when we discover things or people that are bad for us.

After we are saved, when we are made “a new creature,” (2 Cor. 5:17), our self-love will be better; that is, since we are in Christ (living for Him) we will care more for ourselves. But since we still sin, we often let ourselves go.

My next post will be on when our love of self becomes evil—or selfish.

Lovers of Self – 2 Timothy 3:2

Posted on August 24, 2026 by Stephen Nielsen

Well, I think it is about time for me to start blogging again. I have taken a little break. Normally I like to blog on what I am writing about in a self-published book. For the last couple months, I have been writing a book which I will entitle, Difficult Times in these Last Days: 19 Attributes that Depict these Days. It is taken from 2 Timothy 3:1-5. I have written about 50 pages in the book so far, and so I will try to keep ahead.No problem, since I will only blog once or twice a week and no more than about 600 words. I will also include an unrelated photo—just something nice to look at. So here it is. The first chapter is on “lovers of self,” and you will probably get about five posts on that topic.

Lovers of Self – 2 Timothy 3:2

The Apostle Paul writes to his good friend Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 saying,

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

Generally speaking, the last days is that period from the first coming of Christ until His return—in which it reaches a climax shortly before He comes.[1] Hence there is no doubt that we are in the last days; and so, the list of nineteen evil attributes in this text are before us now in this present time; and they will get worse before the very end. In Paul’s day, he was looking at these evils as being in the future; but I think, for the most part, we may see them as being now correct to the text in intensity and maybe getting a little worse before He comes. Things were very different a thousand years ago, and a hundred years ago, and in some cases, even twenty years ago. I mean, the same evils were there many years ago, but not as bad as they are now. In these next upcoming blogs, I will attempt to show how they have gotten progressively worse. As Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:13, “But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse.” My purpose in these blogs (this book) is not only to show how evil these days are, but more importantly, to indicate by the progression of evil, how close Jesus’ coming is.

In these blogs, we will go through each point of evil and devote three or four blog posts to each one. I think this first point, that men (people) will be lovers of self, is particularly important as it sets a negative tone for all of them. As Matthew Henry states in his commentary, “Self-love brings in a long train of sins and mischiefs. When men are lovers of themselves, no good can be expected from them…”2 Therefore, in this first point on self-love, eighteen more evils will follow after it.

Stay tuned to more verses in the next blog post.

[1] John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible: (Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2006), John MacArthur’s notes on 1 Timothy 4:1.