LEARNING DAILY

 

2 Timothy 4:2-4, Preach the Word of God!  Be persistent, whether the time is favorable or not.  Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage the people with good teaching.  For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to right teaching.  They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever they want to hear.  They will reject the truth and follow strange myths. (from the New Living Translation)

 

Here is the sad reality of what the church will be like in the last days.  The Apostle Paul under the anointing of the Holy spirit was led to encourage Timothy to be consistent in preaching God’s Word and encourage the people with good teaching because a time was coming (the end times) when people would not endure the truth but only want to hear what pleased them.  Perhaps Paul saw the end of time coming in the life of Timothy.  Paul was saying that the standing of the church was not going to get better as the time of Christ’s return drew closer.

 

We need to understand that the closer we get to the return of Jesus Christ, more and more people within the church are going to hire preachers that make them feel good rather than preach sound Biblical preaching and teaching.  Look around you; people no longer want to hear Biblical truth and doctrine.  People do not want to hear, let alone accept, God’s Word when it speaks of sin, repentance, the judgments of God and the necessity of being holy and being separated from the world.  To avoid all that, they turn to those “preachers” who conform to their own self-seeking and worldly desires.

 

In the pursuit of finding one who will “tickle their ears”, people will follow all sorts of myths – that which is literally made up.  If you are wondering whether or not we are at this point in time, let me emphatically tell you – yes, we are!  People do not want to hear or read the truth of the Bible.  They want to be entertained by preachers with a gift of speaking and speaks that one can be a Christian while living an unholy life.  They do not want to hear about living a pure life, following Jesus by denying self because that’s not what I want to do.  When people start seeking truth outside of Biblical truth all sorts of ridiculous teachings and heresy can be found.

 

God’s written Word must be our ultimate guide to truth and practice.  “The tendency within some churches to base doctrine, practice, or new truth on subjective experiences, success, human-centered goals or theories without solid, Scriptural support will be one of Satan’s chief means of deceiving people in the last days” (from the note in the Life in the Spirit Study Bible).  

 

That is why it is so important to me to encourage each of you to be reading, studying, meditating on God’s Word.  You must or you risk the chance of being deceived in these last days.  Yes, I believe the last days are here.  The search for those who will tickle your ears is upon us.

 

Let me close with Paul’s encouragement to Timothy in this same letter. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

 

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