Jeremiah was a prophet of God, proclaiming that judgment was coming upon Jerusalem. However, Jeremiah was opposed by the king and the priests who did not want to hear his message In their opinion, Jeremiah’s message of surrendering to Babylon amounted to treason. False prophets, who claimed to speak for God, also contradicted Jeremiah’s message. Jeremiah proclaimed bloodshed, destruction, and judgment when Babylon conquered Jerusalem. The false prophets, on the other hand, said that the future of Jerusalem looked bright—Jerusalem could look forward to peace, not war. The phrase peace, peace, when there is no peace is found in Jeremiah 6:14 as well as Jeremiah 8:11. It is also found in Ezekiel 13:10 and 16. In all four places, it has the same meaning in the same historical context. Jeremiah was like a doctor delivering bad news to his patient. His diagnosis was that, unless drastic measures were taken, the patient would die. However, the false prophets gave a “second opinion.” “Don’t listen to Jeremiah,” they said; “you are going to be just fine.” Instead of radical surgery and a drastic change of lifestyle, the priests and false prophets said a light bandage was all that was needed. The following passage is found in Jeremiah 6:13–14 and repeated exactly in Jeremiah 8:10b–11: “From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.” When the priests and false prophets said, “Peace, peace,” they were denying that judgment was on the way. They were giving the people false assurances. The explicit assumption is that Jerusalem and Judah had not committed grievous sins and that God was not displeased with them. In fact, according to the false prophets, God was quite happy with His people and wanted to bless them. They promised “peace, peace!” Unfortunately, their promised peace would not come. The book of Jeremiah bears this out, and, in the end, Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon, just as God had said. The prophet Ezekiel says something similar: “Because [the false prophets] lead my people astray, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth” (Ezekiel 13:10–11). In the same passage, God says, “So I will pour out my wrath against the wall and against those who covered it with whitewash. I will say to you, ‘The wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it, those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the Sovereign Lord”’ (verses 15–17). There are still false prophets and religious leaders today who issue false promises of peace when there is no peace. The message of peace and prosperity “sells.” Some preachers and teachers today say that the Christian life is all about peace and prosperity, but God does not promise that. There are others who ignore or downplay the seriousness of sin and teach that God is not concerned with their behavior. Others deny that eternal judgment awaits the unrepentant sinner, even though God has promised just the opposite. These are modern examples of false prophets promising peace when there is no peace. Paul tells Timothy to “preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 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 4:2–4). People like to hear good news, and they do not want to hear that hardship may be God’s will for them in this life or that judgment is certain after death. Christians have the job of delivering bad news because the bad news must be embraced before the good news can be effective. God bore witness against the people to whom Isaiah was sent to minister, calling them “rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction” (Isaiah 30:9). Such people have closed their ears to the Word of the Lord, and desire to hear only “peace” even when there is no peace. They say to God’s prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. . . . Stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!” (verses 10–11). You will guard us from this generation forever. (Psalm 12:8) Psalm 12 is a generational psalm. The focus of this prayer is a concern over what the future holds for our children, our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren. Notice how it begins: “Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of men” (Psalm 12:1). The godly have gone. The faithful have vanished! We want our children to be surrounded by godly examples, and models of faithfulness but, David says, “That’s hard to find today!” Evil was being called “good” and good was being called “evil” by the culture. Everything seemed upside down. What hope is there for our children when this is the world in which they are growing up? This psalm speaks powerfully to our situation today. God has given us a prayer in the Bible for times when we fear for our children. What does the future hold for them? In response to this, I want to first offer an analysis of the assault that our children are facing. And second, a strategy for prayer and for action. Analysis of the Assault Our Children are Facing The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4) Notice what we are being told here: There is a particular work of Satan, referred to as “the god of this world” in the verse, to bring blindness to human minds. Satan is always doing this, and the reason he’s doing it is that the good news of the glory of Christ is like a bright light. Jesus says, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12) and Satan has to pull every trick in the book to keep people from seeing his glory. How does he do this? Jesus says, “Satan is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). All lies ultimately have their origin in him. Lies are his strategy for blinding the minds of each generation to the glory of Christ. The lies take different forms in each generation, but the overarching strategies have been essentially the same since the Garden of Eden. Psalm 12 points to three brands of deception, all of which Satan uses to keep people from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. The three varieties of deception are: Vanity, flattery, and blasphemy. Three Brands of Deception 1. Vanity Everyone utters lies to his neighbor. (Psalm 12:2) Several commentators point out that the word translated “lies” here literally means “emptiness.” David has a particular type of deception in view: “Everyone utters emptiness to his neighbor.” There could hardly be a more powerful description of our culture today. There’s great deal of conversation right now about the whole business of spying—the NSA (National Security Agency) listening to phone calls with a view to enhancing security, etc. I enjoyed a satirical piece from a journalist in London who said that the person she felt sorry for is the poor guy at the NSA who has to sift through endless emails, voicemails, tweets, texts and Facebook™ posts, the vast majority of which are of absolutely no consequence whatsoever! Those who are young are growing up, and we are living, in a world of trivia where “everyone utters emptiness to his neighbor.” It’s a world dominated by the next game, the most recent reality show, or the most shocking sound bite. We’re all talking about nothing. The effect of all this is that serious conversation feels really odd. Someone says, “What do you believe about God?” and everyone feels that this kind of talk is too heavy. Satan’s “vanity brand” aims to keep you from ever thinking seriously about life. It is possible to go through high school, college, career and retirement, without ever seriously asking: Who am I? Why am I here? What is life for? And what lies beyond? Satan is in the business of blinding people’s minds so they “cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” It is possible to go to church, hang out with your friends, and never think seriously about the meaning of life. Vanity is one of Satan’s primary strategies for accomplishing this. 2. Flattery With flattering lips and a double heart they speak. Psalm 12:2 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips… Psalm 12:3 Flattery always becomes the spoken language in a culture where people give themselves to vanity. It’s saying only what other people want to hear and hearing only what you want other people to say. Flattery is Satan’s second brand of deception. If you only hear what you want other people to say, then you end up not being able to see the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This desire for flattery runs deep. Isaiah describes God’s people as: “Children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord, who say to the seers, ‘Do not see,’ and to the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things… Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.’” (Isaiah 30:9-11) We just want to be affirmed, so don’t tell us about the Holy One of Israel, because we know that we aren’t holy. That will make us uncomfortable. Our children are growing up in a world where even in church, many hear smooth things, and not much about the Holy One of Israel. Jesus said the work of the Holy Spirit begins with convincing of sin and righteousness and judgment. There won’t be much of that going on in flattering ministries that stroke your ego by saying smooth things. That kind of ministry only leads to a generation of kids who grow up in church and yet cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ! Our Lord spoke about this in John 5:44: “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” 3. Blasphemy Those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?” (Psalm 12:4) This third brand of lying shows itself in defiance. The person who has bought this clenches his or her fist and says, “It’s my life. I am the captain of this ship. No one rules this life but me! I will find my own way. I will be my own lord and savior, my own master, my own guide.” The word to describe that is blasphemy. I looked it up in the dictionary:
It’s putting yourself in the place of God. And this brand of deception goes back to the Garden of Eden. The Parable of the Sower (sometimes called the Parable of the Soils) is a parable of Jesus found in Matthew 13:1–23, Mark 4:1–20, Luke 8:4–15 and the extra-canonical Gospel of Thomas.[1] Jesus tells of a farmer who sows seed indiscriminately. Some seed falls on the path (wayside) with no soil, some on rocky ground with little soil, some on soil which contains thorns, and some on good soil. In the first case, the seed is taken away; in the second and third soils, the seed fails to produce a crop; but when it falls on good soil, it grows and yields thirty-, sixty-, or a hundred-fold. Jesus later explains to his disciples that the seed represents the Gospel, the sower represents anyone who proclaims it, and the various soils represent people's responses to it. Text[edit] "Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." — Mark 4:3–9 (ESV)The explanation given by Jesus. And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parable, so that 'they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.'" And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." — Mark 4:10–20 (ESV) It is always important to study Bible verses in context, and it is especially true with 2 Peter 3:9, which reads, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (KJV). The second half of the verse, “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance,” is frequently used to argue against the doctrine of election. The context of 2 Peter 3:9 is a description of scoffers who doubt that Jesus is going to return to judge the world with fire (2 Peter 3:3–7). The scoffers mock, “Where is this coming?” (verse 4). In verses 5–6, Peter reminds his readers that God previously destroyed the world with the flood in Noah’s time. In verse 7, Peter informs his readers that the present heavens and earth will be destroyed with fire. Peter then responds to a question he knew was on his readers’ minds, namely, “what is taking God so long?” In verse 8, Peter tells his readers that God is above and beyond the concept of time. It may seem like we have been waiting a long time, but, to God, it has been a blink of an eye. Then, in verse 9, Peter explains why God has waited so long (in our view of time). It is God’s mercy that delays His judgment. God is waiting to give more people the opportunity to repent. Then, in the verses following verse 9, Peter encourages his readers to live holy lives in anticipation of the fact that Jesus will one day return. In context, 2 Peter 3:9 says that God is delaying His coming in judgment in order to give people further opportunities to repent. Some of the confusion regarding the meaning of 2 Peter 3:9 is the wording of the KJV translation: “not willing that any should perish.” Not willing makes it sound as if God does not allow any to perish. However, in 17th-century English, willing carried more of an idea of desire than of volition. The modern English translations of 2 Peter 3:9 render the same phrase “not wanting” (NIV and CSB), “not wishing” (ESV and NASB), and “does not want” (NLT). In no sense does 2 Peter 3:9 contradict the idea that God elects certain people to salvation. First, in context, election is not at all what the verse is talking about. Second, to interpret “not willing that any should perish” as “does not allow any to perish” results in the false doctrine of universalism. But God can “not desire” anyone to perish and still only elect some to salvation. There is nothing incongruous about that. God did not desire for sin to enter the world through the fall of Adam and Eve, yet He allowed it. In fact, it was part of His sovereign plan. God did not desire His only begotten Son to be betrayed, brutally tortured, and murdered, yet He allowed it. This, too, was part of God’s sovereign plan. In the same way, God does not desire anyone to perish. He desires all to come to repentance. At the same time, God recognizes that not everyone will come to repentance It is undeniable that many will perish (Matthew 7:13–14). Rather than being a contradiction to 2 Peter 3:9, God’s electing and drawing of some to salvation is evidence that He truly does not desire people to perish. Were it not for election and the effectual calling of God, everyone would perish (John 6:44; Romans 8:29–30). Darkness and light are metaphors for evil and good. If anyone sees an angel of light, it will automatically seem to be a good being, for the correlation of evil with darkness, and of good with light, is a powerful archetype in human history. In the Bible, light is a spiritual metaphor for truth and God’s unchanging nature (James 1:17). It is repeatedly used in the Bible to help us understand that God is wholly good and truthful (1 John 1:5). When we are “in the light,” we are with Him (1 Peter 2:9). He exhorts us to join Him in the light (1 John 1:7), for giving us light was His purpose (John 12:46). Light is the place where love dwells and is comfortable (1 John 2:9-10). God has created light (Genesis 1:3), dwells in the light (1 Timothy 6:16) and puts the light in human hearts so that we can see and know Him and understand truth (2 Corinthians 4:6). So, when 2 Corinthians 11:14 tells us that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light,” it means that Satan capitalizes on our love of the light in order to deceive. He wants us to think that he is good, truthful, loving, and powerful – all the things that God is. To portray himself as a dark, devilish being with horns would not be very appealing to the majority of people. Most people are not drawn to darkness, but to light. Therefore, Satan appears as a creature of light to draw us to himself and his lies. How can we discern which light is of God and which light is of Satan? Our minds and hearts are easily confused by conflicting messages. How can we make sure we are on the right path? Psalm 119 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (verse 105) and “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple” (verse 130). The words of God have power. Just as God’s voice spoke physical light into existence, it can speak spiritual light into our hearts. Exposure to His voice – in His Word – will help us recognize the difference between the good light of God and that which is counterfeit. Satan presents sin to us as something pleasing and beautiful to be desired, and he presents false teaching as enlightening and life-changing. Millions follow his deceptions simply because they do not know God’s truth. Isaiah 8:20-22 describes the darkness that results from ignoring the Word. The people of Israel have been seeking truth by consulting mediums, deceived by Satan’s lie. Isaiah says, “To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.” Darkness is a result of attempting to find truth without the Word of God. Sadly, as Isaiah says, when people do not have the “dawn,” they wander in darkness and often become angry at God, refusing to come to Him for help. This is why Satan’s masquerade as an angel of light is so effective. It turns white to black and black to white and gets us believing that God is the liar, that God is the source of darkness. Then, in our distress, we focus our hatred towards the only One who can save us. Jesus stated plainly that the mark of a true disciple of Christ is that he remains faithful to His teachings. He told the Jews who believed in Him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31–32, ESV). The word know in John 8:32 is translated from a Greek verb that means “to know experientially.” Understanding something with the mind or intellect, often called “head knowledge,” is different than knowing something experientially. We can know that something is bad for us yet still do it. But when we take Jesus at His word and practice “the truth that comes from him,” then we will “throw off [our] old sinful nature and [our] former way of life” and “let the Spirit renew [our] thoughts and attitudes” so that the truth we live by sets us free “to be like God—truly righteous and holy” (Ephesians 4:20–24). We shall know the truth in a way that sets us free from our old sinful way of life when we know Jesus experientially, in word, deed, and truth (see Colossians 3:17; 1 John 3:18). “Our actions will show that we belong to the truth” (1 John 3:19, NLT). Knowing the truth means experiencing Jesus Christ by accepting His teachings as absolute truth and then living in faithful obedience to them. We receive the message of the gospel and the teachings of Christ, and then we abide by them. The apostle John often framed the concept of true discipleship as knowing the truth of Christ experientially: “And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments” (1 John 2:3, NLT; see also 1 John 2:29; 3:16, 24). Knowing the truth is a rock-steady way of life. John 8:32 upholds the biblical concept that truth is the only dependable foundation for constructing one’s life (see also Psalm 26:3). Jesus taught, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash” (Matthew 7:24–27, NLT). If we plant our feet firmly on Christ’s truth and follow the path of His teachings, nothing can shake, derail, or destroy us. Jesus is the personification of truth (John 14:6). Only He embodies the truth that sets us free (Galatians 5:1; Romans 6:18; John 8:36). Those who know the truth are born-again believers who live in fellowship with God through a relationship with Jesus Christ: “And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life” (1 John 5:20, NLT). You will know the truth also expresses the moral commitment of genuine disciples to do the will of God (John 7:17; 14:21, 23; James 1:25). We know the truth in the person of Jesus Christ, who prayed to the Father for us to be “made holy” by His truth and gave His own life as the sacrifice that made it possible for us to live out that truth (see John 17:14–19). Moreover, Jesus asked the Father to send us “the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth” (John 14:16–17, NLT; see also Ephesians 1:13). When Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,” He was telling His followers that obedience to God is the only way to experience true liberation—spiritual freedom from sin. The freedom Jesus offers is restored fellowship with the Father, who is the source of all true life. And the mark of one who has received this life is to remain faithful to His teachings. In Galatians 5:1–15, the apostle Paul discusses the nature of Christian freedom, beginning with an admonition to “stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1, NKJV). Paul contends that Jesus Christ came to set believers free from a burdensome, legalistic existence as slaves to the law. Therefore, Christians must ensure that they stay free and not get bound up again under a yoke of bondage to the law. A yoke is a curved bar made from wood or metal that harnesses together two or more draft animals so they can more effectively work as a team. Yokes were also placed around the necks of people like shackles to secure prisoners in place. Thus, wearing a yoke often speaks of slavery and hardship in the Bible (Deuteronomy 28:48; 1 Kings 12:4; Jeremiah 27:8; 1 Timothy 6:1), and removing or breaking a yoke represents freedom (Leviticus 26:13; Isaiah 58:6). The references to being “entangled again” (NKJV) or “burdened again” (NIV) suggest being weighed down again under a heavy load. When Paul said, “Do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (NKJV) or “Do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (NIV), he was rebuking Christians for their tendency to turn back to legalism, which is the opposite of Christian freedom. One commentator elaborates, “The Christian freedom he [Paul] describes is freedom of conscience, freedom from the tyranny of the law, the dreadful struggle to keep the law, with a view to winning the favour of God. It is the freedom of acceptance with God and of access to God through Christ. . . . In other words, we are to enjoy the glorious freedom of conscience which Christ has brought us by His forgiveness. We must not lapse into the idea that we have to win our acceptance with God by our own obedience” (Stott, J., The Message of Galatians: Only One Way, InterVarsity Press, 1986, p. 132). Paul depicts our former way of life before salvation as slavery to the law. Wearing a yoke of bondage is a fitting metaphor for this slavery because an animal (or person) bound by a yoke must obey its master. Under the Old Testament covenant, the Jews labored under the law in an attempt to be justified or made right before God (Romans 2:13). But under the New Covenant, God’s grace confirmed by the blood of Jesus gives us freedom from slavery to the law and release from sin and death (Galatians 4:24–31). Jewish false teachers had infiltrated the Galatian churches, demanding that Gentiles be circumcised (Galatians 2:3–5). The same thing had happened in Antioch of Syria, where Judiazers taught, “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1, NLT). These legalistic Jews were trying to make Christians return to a yoke of bondage by requiring them to observe the Old Testament rules, laws, and ceremonies, especially circumcision. Paul stood unyielding against these false teachers because the truth of the gospel of grace was at stake: “Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you. I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace. But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love” (Galatians 5:2–6, NLT). Paul contended that under the New Covenant both Jews and Gentiles are accepted into God’s family by faith alone in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21–22; Ephesians 2:8). Before salvation, we lived under a yoke of bondage to the law (Galatians 4:3), burdened by a guilty conscience (Titus 1:15), imprisoned by demands we could not keep (Acts 15:10), and held captive by the fear of punishment because of our disobedience (1 John 4:18). Paul said in Galatians 3:24, “The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith” (NLT). When Christ came, He set us free from the yoke of bondage by meeting the demands of the law for us: “Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace” (Romans 6:14, NLT). There is no longer condemnation for those of us who belong to Jesus (Romans 8:1–2) because He took the guilty sentence in our place: “God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us” (Romans 8:3–4, NLT). The Christian life is characterized by a joyous freedom to follow Christ out of love and not a dreadful life of slavery to following rules. Jesus Christ has lifted the yoke of bondage from our shoulders and placed on them His own yoke, one that describes obedience and discipleship: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29–30). The apostle Paul wrote a warning for the church: “The time will come when men 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” (2 Timothy 4:3). The Greek word translated “itching” literally means “to itch, rub, scratch, or tickle.” To want one’s ears “tickled” is to desire massages rather than messages—sermons that charm rather than challenge, entertain rather than edify, and please rather than preach. The people Paul warns about will have, as one commentator put it, “ears which have to be continually titillated with novelties.” “Itching ears” is a figure of speech that refers to people’s desires, felt needs, or wants. It is these desires that impel a person to believe whatever he wants to believe rather than the actual truth itself. When people have “itching ears,” they decide for themselves what is right or wrong, and they seek out others to support their notions. “Itching ears” are concerned with what feels good or comfortable, not with the truth—after all, truth is often uncomfortable. Paul’s warning is that the church would one day contain those who only opened their ears to those who would scratch their “itch.” Those with “itching ears” only want teachers who will assure them that all is well, teachers who say, “Peace, peace . . . when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14). Where there is a demand for something, the suppliers are not far away. Paul says that not only will there be great demand for watered-down, personalized messages, but there will be “a great number of teachers” willing to provide such pap and steer people away from “sound doctrine.” Evidence today of people having “itching ears” includes the popularity of messages that people are not required to change, as if repentance were outmoded; that people are basically good; that God is too loving to judge anyone; that the cross, with all its blood, is not really necessary; and that God wants His children to be healthy, wealthy, and content in this world. As people turn their backs on the truth about sin and condemnation, they disregard their need for repentance and forgiveness. And a craving for “new” and “fresher” ideas grows—even though there is “nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9–10)—accompanied by a longing to feel good about who they are and where they’re going. Messages that tickle ears can fill a lot of churches, sell a lot of books, and buy a lot of time on cable tv. Some of the early followers of Jesus complained about some of the Lord’s words: “Many of his disciples said, ʻThis is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?’ . . . From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (John 6:60, 66). Walking away from hard truth is easy to do. In today’s postmodern church, we see many walking away from the hard truth. Some churches that once preached sound doctrine now teach as acceptable the very evils the Bible condemns. Some pastors are afraid to preach on certain passages of the Bible. “Christian feminists” deny God as a heavenly Father, calling Him a “she.” “Gay Christians” are not only welcomed without repentance into church fellowship but into the pulpit, as well. The church’s remedy for those who have “itching ears” is found in the same passage of 2 Timothy: “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2). It is a solemn charge, made “in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom” (verse 1). And it contains all the elements needed to combat the temptation to tickle ears: preach, correct, rebuke, and encourage. The content of preaching must be the written Word of God, and it must be preached when convenient and when inconvenient. This takes “great patience and careful instruction,” but sound doctrine is worth it. The church’s quest to manage the comfort level of its audience must never take priority over preaching the Word. The fear of offending people’s sensibilities can never supersede the fear of offending God. Rather, the church should follow the example of the apostles: “We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Corinthians 4:2). The church today, more than ever, needs to re-examine the teachings it endorses. We need to ask ourselves the following questions: • Are our teachings truly from God or simply itches we want to scratch? • Are we standing on solid biblical grounds, or have we allowed the world to influence our thinking? • Have we guarded ourselves from the schemes of Satan (Ephesians 6:11)? • Are we keeping ourselves “blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23)? The truth is, God is not concerned with scratching our itches but in transforming us into the image of His Son (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 4:4). Here are the links to the Fighting for the Fighting Faith videos mentioned: Hearing the Voice of God: • F4F | Hearing the Voice of God Part 1 Hearing the Voice of God Part 2 • F4F | Hearing the Voice of God Part 2 Hearing the Voice of God- The Loose Ends • F4F | Hearing the Voice of God - The ... Here is the full video discussed in this episode • Video https://youtu.be/9K79TEE6vKs?si=al9HzbOzn3ur9BTO https://julieroys.com/?s=church+of+highlands The Man of Lawlessness 10 …10 and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them. For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie, in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness.… The Beast from the Sea Then I saw a beast with ten horns and seven heads rising out of the sea. There were ten royal crowns on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. The beast I saw was like a leopard, with the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.… Governing Principalities mimic (or MIRROR) the Truth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh0wI_5Ej4U&t=4142s https://www.youtube.com/live/Jh0wI_5Ej4U?si=OLjvUZB0NwyYu2Pl Happening Now: The Grand Deception with Pastor Jack and Amir Tsarfati Real Life with Jack Hibbs 1 // NO ONE CAN SERVE TWO MASTERS“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be loved to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” | Matthew 6:24 2 // FOR WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS, THERE YOUR HEART WILL BE ALSO“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” | Luke 12:32-34 3 // ENTERING THE KINGDOM OF GOD“Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” | Mark 10:24b-25 4 // A SEED FALLING ON GOOD SOIL“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” | Matthew 13:18-23 5 // BE ON YOUR GUARD AGAINST ALL KINDS OF GREED“Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” | Luke 12:13-15 6 // BE TRUSTED WITH TRUE RICHES“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” | Luke 16:10-11 7 // SHE PUT IN EVERYTHING“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” | Mark 12:41-44 All of Jesus’ teachings about money remind us of this central truth: money is a competitor for our hearts. Pick one of these passages and dwell on it today as you ask Jesus, “How can I become more obedient to your teachings about money?” Charles Spurgeon said, “Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right.” Today, church planters and even established churches must help people discern the difference between the biblical Gospel and the prosperity gospel. In the urban context of New Orleans, where I serve, one of the primary focuses in our local church is to ensure every person we encounter hears a clear proclamation and articulation of the Gospel. Nine years of planting and pastoring in New Orleans led me to no longer assume people understand or have ever heard the biblical Gospel. Sure, they may know the name of Jesus, or even give the Sunday school answer that He died on the cross, but for many it seems to stop right there. The Apostle Paul gives us a clear articulation of the Gospel in 1 Corinthians. The Scripture states, “For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me” (15:3-8). If we wanted to surmise this passage, we could say, all people are separated from God by sin, unable to save ourselves, but Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried, rose on the third day, and appeared to His disciples. It is by trusting in His finished work that we find forgiveness and are given everlasting life. In short, the biblical Gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. Colossians speaks of the Good News in this way, “He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him” (2:14-15). So this good news of the Gospel even proclaims how Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection defeated Satan. The Good News is robust, life-changing, and biblical, but the counterfeit message of the prosperity gospel is void of power, destroys lives, and is unbiblical. Why, you may ask? Well, the prosperity gospel promises a life of financial abundance, no suffering, health on demand, and anchors people to the world system instead of the Kingdom of God. When comparing the biblical Gospel and the prosperity gospel, we can see a stark difference. First, we can go directly to the Scripture, find the biblical Gospel, and see it clearly defined. Remember, “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). Nevertheless, the prosperity gospel takes Scripture out of context in order to say something it does not. The prosperity gospel or health and wealth message was made famous in the late ’80s by teachers such as Kenneth Copeland, Fred Price, and others. However, it does have roots that stretch back to the ‘50s. This teaching, popularized through Christian TV and radio, has now been exported across the globe and, I would argue strongly this message is now the face of modern-day western Christianity. This new health and wealth message is sly. For example, let’s look at the following verse: Deuteronomy 8:18, “but remember that the Lord your God gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm his covenant he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.” Proponents of the prosperity gospel will say, “See, it’s right there, wealth is a promise from God.” However, if you simply back up a few verses we can see the context of this verse and the audience. God is speaking to the children of Israel and giving them a warning to remember Him and keep His commands when they enter the promised land. In writing on this verse, Warren Werisbe stated, “How easy it would be for Israel to become proud, to forget how helpless they were before the Lord rescued them, and to think that their success was due to their own strength and wisdom—and that they deserved it!” Why bring this up? Well, this promise was not made to those in the new covenant, nor was God directly speaking to those in the church age either. He was dealing directly with the children of Israel, under the old covenant, and declaring what He expected of them in coming into the promised land. How then do we help ensure our people are not deceived in this way? First, teach those you are leading to read the biblical text entirely and in context. Next, encourage them to ask good questions while reading. Questions such as: What do these words mean? What is God saying? What is the cultural context? How does this passage relate with everything else in the Bible? How does this text apply to us today? In the end, we must teach those we are leading to sit and wrestle with the biblical text before jumping to application. Again, looking at the distinctions between the biblical Gospel and the prosperity gospel. The health and wealth message promises the whole world to the detriment of your soul. Fredrick Price, in his book High Finance: God’s Financial Plan, wrote: “We need to realize that prosperity is the will of God. It is God’s perfect will that everyone prospers in every area of life. Primarily, we are dealing with material and financial prosperity because it has to do with tithes and offerings.” However, the Scripture teaches, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6:10). The question for prosperity gospel adherents is, “Did Jesus teach that the result of His death, burial, and resurrection was immense wealth, health, and a life free of suffering for his followers?” In fact, this is a great question to those we are ministering to as well, to help them discern between the biblical Gospel and the prosperity gospel. Understand the lynchpin of the prosperity gospel isn’t that Jesus forgives our sins, but the end goal of the death, burial, and resurrection is financial abundance, wealth, and health in this life. However, we see Jesus’ own words to His disciples, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world” (John 16:33). The argument isn’t against having material possessions, but within the prosperity gospel, possessions are the goal interwoven with why Jesus came. On the other hand, the biblical Gospel does not exclude the poor, nor does it promise that the poor will become wealthy in this life. However, as a result of having new life in Christ, according to Ephesians 1:3, every believer is given, “every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ.” Regardless of your context, the way to protect those you lead from the deception of the prosperity gospel is to saturate your preaching, teaching, and discipleship with the biblical Gospel. A large part of your ministry may consist of helping people unlearn an unbiblical gospel which is so common in our American culture. Even so, if your ministry is saturated with the biblical Gospel, it will lead to those who can discern the lie of the prosperity gospel. This chart lays out the clear distinction between the prosperity gospel and the biblical Gospel. The concept of being in one accord is expressed frequently in the Bible, with ten instances in the book of Acts. For example, “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers” (Acts 1:14, ESV). To be in one accord communicates being one in heart and mind. More specifically, the words in the original language convey the inner unity (oneness of heart and mind) of a group of people engaged in a similar action. As such, the expression is sometimes rendered “with one mind,” as in Romans 15:6: “So that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice” (CSB). When a group of people acts single-mindedly, unanimously, in harmony, in unity, and without dissent, they are operating in one accord. In the Bible, the phrase often occurs along with statements about the people, the place, or the activity in which the harmonious group is participating: “Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers, with the following letter: ‘The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul’” (Acts 15:22–25, ESV). In the Old Testament, the phrase in one accord is always used to describe unanimous participation in a particular action. In Joshua 9:2, the pagan kings “gathered themselves together to fight with one accord against Joshua and Israel” (LEB). Speaking of the conversion of heathen nations, Zephaniah 3:9 says, “For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord” (ESV). Here, the phrase translated “with one accord” literally means “with one shoulder.” It likely comes from the practice of yoking oxen together for plowing. The NIV translates the idea with a similar English expression, “shoulder to shoulder.” In the New Testament, in one accord is used to emphasize the internal unanimity of a community. In Acts 12:20, that community is “the people of Tyre and Sidon” who are angry with Herod. In Acts 8:6, it describes the crowd of people who are listening to Philip’s teachings: “And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did” (ESV). It illustrates how the community of Christian believers worshiped, prayed, and fellowshipped together (Acts 1:14; 2:46; 4:24; 5:12; Romans 15:6). Unity in the early church is also expressed by the sharing of material possessions: “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common” (Acts 4:32, ESV). The early church, being in one accord, had “no schisms, no divided interests, no discordant purposes” (from Notes on the Bible by Albert Barnes, 1834). This kind of oneness of heart and soul in the body of Christ is only possible through the Holy Spirit’s enabling (Ephesians 4:1–6). It is a gift of God’s grace (Romans 12:3–13). The Greek term translated “in one accord,” according to the Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon, “helps us understand the uniqueness of the Christian community. . . . The image is almost musical; a number of notes are sounded which, while different, harmonise in pitch and tone. As the instruments of a great concert under the direction of a concert master, so the Holy Spirit blends together the lives of members of Christ’s church.” |
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