Laura J. Davis

Read 2 Timothy 4:1-8

In today's reading, Paul charges Timothy to "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction."  Timothy had been left in charge of the church in Ephesus for one purpose; to prevent those who had "shipwrecked their [own] faith" (1 Tim. 1:19) from corrupting the rest of the church (2 Tim. 2:17-18). Paul's charge to Timothy is one we all need to take to heart.  This passage sounds like it was written for the church today doesn't it?

Look at verse 3 - "For 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." Even though Paul was warning Timothy, it certainly seems like his message was prophetic doesn't it? For example, today we have the very same problem in some mainstream churches (whose congregations are dwindling because of their stance)  who have for whatever reason, decided that only some parts of the Bible are valid and others are not. Particularly, where same-sex marriage is concerned, they have adopted a liberal approach, believing that the bible is not relevant for today's people. Not relevant or not what they want to hear?

Some churches that have been started by TV evangelists like Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar and Kenneth Copeland to name a few, have led millions astray by their false teachings (e.g. prosperity gospel, name it and claim it philosphies, we are all gods, etc.).  And lets not forget the Emerging Church movement that has been so deceptive in its teachings that Christians today are not even aware they are being fed the false doctrine Paul spoke of so many years ago. A wonderful article on the Emerging Church can be found here.

Today, Christians need to be proactive in their faith! It is a sad, but true fact that wolves in sheep's clothing have found their way into many of our  pulpits. We are living in the end times and as Paul states in 2 Tim. 3:1 - "There will be terrible times in the last days" and  Peter warns us in 2 Peter 2 that there will be false prophets among the people and false teachers. So, I ask you - who are you listening to?