Itching Ears

"For 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. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."

2 Timothy 4:3-4

"I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."

Jude 1:4

"Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard!"

Acts 20:28-31

Raise your hand if you kind of secretly still read the words in the bible and think since they were written thousands of years ago they can't possibly have any significance today. Chances are, quite of few of you, at least to some degree, agree with that last statement and no line of thinking could be more dangerous. The warnings in the verses above are only three of many urging us (yes... us, as in you and me, right this very minute) to be on guard against those people who even now are distorting biblical truth for the sake of cultural "norms." They are funny and charming and are seemingly harmless because they write Christian-themed blogs and books (no, the irony is not lost on me), they attend and lead Christian-themed conferences where thousands of people attend and their social media platforms are just ripe with Christian-themed service projects and displays of humanitarianism. What is not to love there? And I readily admit, using their platform and semi-celebrity status to fight social injustices and serve needy people is phenomenal! Without a doubt. There's just one itty-bitty, teensy-weensy problem. When they moved away from sound doctrine to appease humanity's itching ears because popularity became more appealing to them than the hard work it takes to remain obedient no matter the cost, they just lumped themselves in with the "savage wolves" Paul spoke about in Acts above. 

Yikes! That was harsh. Yes, maybe so. Because again, I do recognize some good work being done. But does any of that outweigh the cost of leading a group of people astray by telling them that just because their sin is really, realllllllly hard to give up, God will most certainly give them a pass so they really shouldn't be too concerned about it? Read the verse again from the book of Jude above. He calls the people who tell such lies "ungodly people" who more or less advise others that God's grace is a free ticket to continue in whatever immoral lifestyle they see fit. Y'all, we have recently heard any number of these semi-celebrity, Christian-themed writers all but say these exact same words! And it's all under the guise of "Love Wins." Can I just pull every strand of my hair out right now and slam my fist through a wall??? I have read all the arguments that people try to make for justifying sin and please believe me when I say that none of them hold up to two millennia of uncontested, sound, biblical doctrine! For heaven's sake (literally), what we must ALL get our heads around right this very second is that this statement "Love Wins" actually couldn't be MORE true. You want to know why? Because God is love and He absolutely does win. And I just want to stand on a mountain and scream at the top of my lungs that a so-called Christian leader who would stand there and blatantly disregard thousands of years worth of sound biblical doctrine in order to appease the itching ears of her audience is the literal antithesis of love. Do you allow your children to play with fire because they think it looks really pretty and you just can't stand to disappoint them by saying no? How about letting your children play in traffic because they say it looks like fun and you just don't want to be the bad guy and hurt their feelings or let them down? Or maybe you'll just relent and get them that pet Anaconda that they are begging to put in a cage in their room because they just reallllllllly want to have it? Oh, these examples are insane you say? Well, how about your favorite, hilarious, super-cute, top-knot wielding, Christian-themed author telling you to go ahead and continue in that sin that's got you by your throat because she just can't stand to see you in pain without it? WAKE UP SISTERS! THAT is NOT love!!! Placating people for the sake of maintaining popularity all the while completely ignoring biblical truth is heresy of the highest order and even though it isn't the "popular" opinion of the day, we MUST continue to build our houses on the solid rock of truth because the storm is coming and those sand huts are going to wash away.

My pastor recently made a statement in one of his sermons on Sunday morning that went something like this, "Your life MUST be brought into subjection to your faith. It isn't enough to be culturally right if your soul is going to perish." The danger of these celebrity bloggers is that they are gaining more and more and more of a following because in their own eyes they choose what is culturally "right" all the while leading others to act NOT in obedience to God's word, but their own feelings. Sadly, this will lead to the perishing of people's very souls. So, revisiting Paul's description above, "savage wolves" isn't all that harsh after all when the subject matter is as serious as this one is. Telling people they have a license to keep on sinning because God's grace covers it is as false a teaching as there ever was and I fear for those that continue to lead others astray in this way.

I have said it so many times now and will say it again. Sin is so deceitful! And people do not fall into it because it's an absolute drag and the worst possible experience of their life. NO! It's enticing, exciting, super attractive and grandiose. Sin comes packaged as everything you have ever wanted or dreamed about. It is delicious and looks a whole lot like that shiny red apple that you have desired your whole life. But what we don't realize is that there is a razor blade hidden deep inside that apple. That super enticing morsel of "whatever" is actually rancid and brimming with decay. Oh it may take years of eating that apple or feasting on your morsel to reach that blade and that decay, but make no mistake it is there waiting to reveal itself for the truth that it is. Anything... ANYTHING that we choose to engage in that pulls us farther and farther away from our relationship with Christ will over time make us feel like we are wasting away. Read the words from Proverbs 32 written by King David and take them to heart:

"Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!

Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!

When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long.

Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.

Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt.

I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone."

We MUST stop lying to ourselves! Just like a parent who would NEVER allow their child to do any of those asinine activities listed above because they love them waaaaaay too much to watch them destroy themselves, PLEASE stop falling into the trap of thinking that anyone who would dare quote biblically sound doctrine to you in order to snap you out of your sin-induced coma is really just a hateful person who doesn't want you to be happy in your life. Just like our kids yell and scream and throw tantrums sometimes when we bring them back from that cliff they are about to wander off of, culture is also throwing one ginormous tantrum right now when sound Christian doctrine is used to say, "No, I am so sorry, but that is actually just not okay because you see, it says so right here... and here... and here... oh wait here too." I guess you can label it "hate speech" if you really want to. But from where I am standing, anyone who knows the truth (and if you read the bible, it's all laid out there in black and white) yet enables others by openly endorsing their sin, THAT person is the most hateful of all because not only do they not care about the ultimate destination of someone's soul, they will help them pack for the journey.

I think it's worth mentioning again that sin affects everyone. All of our sins look and feel very different from one another, but there is not a soul on the planet who isn't affected by it's pull daily. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) Whereas murdering someone might be a bit more severe than stealing candy from the store, all sins are detestable to God and may have eternal consequences that are unfavorable. My point here is that I do not write such things as I have written in this blog lightly at all. I am not pointing out the specks in others eyes without having the full knowledge of the log in my own. I struggle every dad-gum day and am definitely NOT victorious all of the time. No one's sin outweighs my own and I am the first to admit it. However, knowing what I know about sin and it's alluring nature, I write these words to warn others who are under the spell that tells them God can't possibly punish them for wrongdoing because in the end that's just not His nature. Friends, do not find out about the reality of God's wrath the hard way. And also please do not mistake God's wrath for some wildly out of control discipline imposed by a vengeful dictator either. God's wrath is said to be in perfect accord with His justice. "But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed." (Romans 2:5) Let's repeat that again... God's RIGHTEOUS judgement. Synonyms for righteous include "very good," "excellent," "virtuous," and "up right." The verse continues, "He will judge everyone according to what they have done. He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness." (Romans 2:6-8) If you still refuse to believe that a day of reckoning is coming, then open your bible and do your own research right now! Do not wait on this one. "And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life." (Matthew 25:46) These are not my words y'all and my writing them in this blog doesn't mean that I hate you and want you to have no fun in your life whatsoever. I write these words in my blog because I love you and would not wish eternal punishment on my worst enemy.

Please stop confusing love and hate by believing the lie that because your celebrity crush says "Yes, girl, just do it!" that they love you and want what's best for you. And stop believing the lie that because someone like me says, "I am truly so sorry that you are hurting, but that sin you are participating in is leading you away from God and you need to stop it now" that I hate you and wish you nothing but pain and suffering. In these two scenarios, the polar opposite is actually true. I care about your soul and I know, I KNOW, that my Jesus is so much better than anything else out there. "Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) Jesus can give you the rest your soul desires if you will just engage Him. He will take away the heaviness and the hurt if you make Him your focus daily. "He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed." (1 Peter 2:24) Jesus loves you so much that He literally carried your sins (that you hadn't even committed yet) in His body and He sacrificed Himself on a cross to get rid of them forever. All you ever have to do to gain admission to Heaven to be with Him forever is to believe it and ask Him to forgive and restore you! There is no celebrity blogger anywhere who did or would ever do that for you. Don't you see, God's plan for you is so much bigger than what this Earth can hold. He has so much more in store for you than what these 90+ years can ever bring you. Believe it my friend because I am talking to YOU!

I absolutely love this quote by Beth Moore and think it is so relevant to the subject matter of this post:

"You will watch a generation of Christians – OF CHRISTIANS – set the Bible aside in an attempt to become more like Jesus. And stunningly it will sound completely plausible. This will be, perhaps, the cleverest of all the devil’s schemes in your generation. Sacrifice TRUTH for LOVE’s sake. And you will rise or fall based upon whether you will sacrifice one for the other. Will you have the courage to live in the tension of both TRUTH & LOVE?"

- Beth Moore

I am mustering up all my courage right now by blogging about the reality of truth AND love. The truth is God wants you to live a morally pleasing life because He loves you too much to watch you perish. The truth is if there is absolutely no biblical precedent for the life in which you are desiring to live (and you are looking to a celebrity to give you the "wink wink, go ahead" instead of looking to God for His approval), you are no less loved by Him, but you are on a dangerous path. It is not God's desire for ANY to perish! He pleads with us to repent! "But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." (1 Peter 3:8-9) Nothing is worth being eternally separated from your Heavenly Father for all eternity! No drink, no drug, no relationship, no activity, no person, no place or no thing can replace being called a son or a daughter of the King of the Universe. Do not be fooled any longer by the false love of fellow, broken, sinful human beings that say you are free to live your life however you see fit as long as it makes you feel happy. God's love offers so much more than temporal feelings, it literally contains the keys to heaven and nothing should make you happier than that.