Itching Ears and a Christian Leaders Mandate.
2 Timothy 4:3-5
3For the time will come when people will not
put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will
gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears
want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the
truth and turn aside to myths. 5But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work
of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
Over the last few weeks I have been confronted, again, with
some of the most outrageous excesses of the Christian Church. Where really
silly things are said and done all in the name of building the body of Christ
up.
The late Leonard Ravenhill said "I am told that there are
people with itching ears. That is all well and good, but God has not given me a
mandate to scratch them"
I came across one church that has a Prophetic night every
Wednesday, where people come and practise their prophetic gifting. The
congregation on Sunday morning is about 40 but on these nights the congregation
doubles. The problem I have is that people are coming week after week to hear
from God and live one week to the next on whatever prophetic utterance they
receive. They forget to live according to the word of God. They would rather
have their ears tickled than their hearts changed. The other issue I have is
that the leaders don't seem to discourage from this rather weak and unbalanced
Christian lifestyle, are they really discharging their ministry duties.
The great and wonderful hope of the church is that Jesus is
coming back. It is not the hope of the unsaved, they are not interested. So I
often wonder why preachers spend hours and hours advertising and scratching the
itching ears of congregation members and visitors from other churches, speaking
about the latest interpretation of 'End Time prophecy.'
If you know someone with itchy ears suggest a doctor they
may have an ear infection.
The Bible says; what does it profit a man if he gain the
whole world but loses his soul.
Surely our mandate is to preach the truth of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ.
Food for thought, maybe?
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