Itchy Ears

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 2 Timothy 4:3

What do you do when the Word of God is too much to hear?  What I mean is, how do you react to the hard truths in the Bible?  Do you push them aside and ignore them?  Search the scripture and dig?  Ask friends?  Or do you seek something that is easier, more palatable.

When Paul was writing to Timothy, he was warning of a time when the doctrines of Jesus would be too much for men.  So much that they would begin to make up their own "truths" that more suited their flesh.  A great example of this is the "God wants me to be happy" gospel.

This is the gospel that glosses over sins (premarital sex, blasphemy, idols, divorce, homosexuality, etc.) because really just wants us to believe He is real, and then make us happy.  Even though the Scripture specifically shows this "theology" to be false, people still follow it.  They follow it because their flesh compels them to.  They follow it because they would rather have a golden calf, an idol, than the real God.  They follow it because they are deceived.

If there are people in the world who are deceived, who will tell them the truth?  Whose job is it?

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? Romans 10:14