📖Scripture:
“For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”
2 Timothy 4:3–4
“Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron.”
1 Timothy 4:1–2
🔎Examination:
Paul’s diagnosis is surgical. The crisis is not lack of teachers but the wrong motivation for the wrong kind of hearing—ears that itch for entertainment, affirmation, and novelty. “Sound doctrine” (ὑγιαίνουσα διδασκαλία) is healthy, life-giving teaching rooted in the pure, unmixed gospel of the sufficient Scriptures. All alternatives fall into the category of “myths”—fabricated narratives that flatter the flesh and displace the true Christ. To abandon sound doctrine is to abandon Christ Jesus who meets His people in the WORD as the WORD. To chase myths is to seek presence elsewhere—ecstatic technique, secret gnosis, and personality cults... all of which are abominations to God.
Paul unmasks the spiritual source: “teachings of demons.” There is only one “Jesus” of Scripture (2 Cor 11:4). Islam denies the Son’s deity and crucifixion; Mormonism introduces an exalted man-god and additional scriptures; Jehovah’s Witnesses demote the Son and recast the Spirit; Rome binds consciences to magisterial traditions and heretical doctrines that frequently eclipse the sufficiency of the written Word; the NAR substitutes “fresh words” and apostolic pretenders for the closed canon, often promising power divorced from the cross. These are not alternative flavors within Christianity; they are the teachings of demons... false gospels and myths that cannot mediate God’s presence because they reject the eternal Son as Scripture reveals and proclaims Him.
The remedy is neither acceptance nor outrage, but immovable ministry: “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season” (2 Tim 4:2). True saints endure reproach by clinging to the divine Scriptures that make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (3:15–17). They are the genesis of all holy knowledge, wisdom, and correction. Sound doctrine is not arid; it is healthy because it unites us to the living Christ and nourishes the church’s life together. It WORD forms people who love truth, confess sin, embrace church discipline, and refuse platforms that reward selfish ambitions, slander, and envy (1 Pet 2:1). It trains the saints to spot counterfeit gospels organically: anything that adds to Christ’s finished work, subtracts from His deity, multiplies mediators, or divides Scripture’s sufficiency is demonic math.
This also alerts our ecclesiology (who we are as the church). Our covenanted body is a guardian of the TRUTH (1 Tim 3:15). Entertainment satisfies the itching ears of goats. Only the WORD satisfies Christ's true flock. Programs, politics, and personalities cannot keep consciences from being seared; only the Sword of the Spirit can. Therefore, the saints gather not to be amused or affirmed, but to be anchored... to worship God the Father in Spirit and Truth. The ELECT, those truly born again from above, we crave the Word, test the spirits, and devote our redeemed lives in gospel community under pastors/elders who meet biblical qualifications... because we prize holiness over hype. Perseverance in sound doctrine is not optional seasoning; it is survival; it's worship.
🤺Action:
What teaching do I crave and desire? Does it flatter me and my desires, or does it exalt the crucified and risen Christ? Both of those things can't be true.
Read Galatians 1:6-10; 2 Corinthians 11:1-4, 13-15; 2 Peter 1:16-21.
The Holy Spirit's challenge is this: Will you endure in the sound doctrine of the WORD in authentic gospel community by rejecting all the competing myths of Hollywood, autonomy, family/cultural traditions, peers, political affiliations, and social media?
🧠Reflection:
The itching ears of those who reject sound doctrine are easily satisfied by the teachings of demons. Will you devote yourself to a church focused on entertainment and affirmation, or where the Holy Scriptures rule, Christ is exalted, the Father is worshiped in Spirit & Truth, and where holiness is expected? Christ Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to steady and guide the steps of the faithful into all righteousness!
Click the following link for a short video version of today's post:
https://youtube.com/shorts/xLFKDbZ0674?si=HVoZ2II4CqufNgls
Blessings & love,
Kevin M. Kelley
Pastor
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