Itching Ears and a Christian Leaders Mandate.

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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