“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; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4 KJV)
“You’re going to find that there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching, but will fill up on spiritual junk food—catchy opinions that tickle their fancy. They’ll turn their backs on truth and chase mirages. But you—keep your eye on what you’re doing; accept the hard times along with the good; keep the Message alive; do a thorough job as God’s servant.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4 MSG)
“For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine and accurate instruction [that challenges them with God’s truth]; but wanting to have their ears tickled [with something pleasing], they will accumulate for themselves [many] teachers [one after another, chosen] to satisfy their own desires and to support the errors they hold, and will turn their ears away from the truth and will wander off into myths and man-made fictions [and will accept the unacceptable].” (2 Timothy 4:3-4 AMP)
In this modern era we live in, we, as children of God, are faced with a dilemma that grows stronger each day. That dilemma is the uprising of more and more false religions, false doctrines and false teachers. Every passing day, the world is bombarded with new and more radical forms of religion. The problem is that people are being deceived, and they don't care. They don't want to accept the truth of God's Word. They are being taught to feel good about themselves and not to confess their sins. They're being pacified with everything except the truth of God's Word.
Notice here in 2 Timothy 4:3, that the writer was talking about established Christians. He says they will not endure sound doctrine. These are people who are hearing sound doctrine already, but they don’t want to hear it. In essence, he's saying, they just won't put up with it. How many times have we seen people within the Church get upset with pastors or teachers for preaching and teaching sound doctrine? The real meaning for sound doctrine is healthful teaching. They don't want healthful words. They want the poison of watered-down teaching so it won't hurt their sinful lives they're living. Woe be unto those who have itching ears to only hear what they think is right for themselves. And woe be unto those teachers who will pacify them with false doctrines, for every word that is taught by that man will be judged by the Lord God Almighty.
Looking at verse 4 now, we see here that they completely turn away from all truth. Imagine being so self-centered, that unless it makes you happy, you won't even listen to it, and this goes on until you turn away from truth to absolute lies. You can see the pattern here, can't you? Selfishness rules their lives. Their every thought is about their own personal good and happiness. They don't want to hear the truth because it might in some way interfere in their own happiness. Here's some truth. The truth is the Word, and the Word is Jesus! There is no true happiness and contentment outside of Jesus Christ. The first intellectual battlefield that we must face and fight upon as Christians is the battle for truth. Satan is trying to fill minds everywhere with falsehoods, lies, and deceits. He is trying to deceive even the very elect, if possible, in order to have them believe false teachings and false doctrines.
The next intellectual battlefield we will have to face, and fight upon as Christians, is against unbelievers or scoffers. No, not actually fight against them as individuals, but fight against the resistance that they bring against the gospel of Jesus Christ. This intellectual battlefield can be found in Second Peter:
“This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” (2 Peter 3:1-4 KJV)
“This is my second letter to you, dear brothers, and in both of them I have tried to remind you—if you will let me—about facts you already know: facts you learned from the holy prophets and from us apostles who brought you the words of our Lord and Savior. First, I want to remind you that in the last days there will come scoffers who will do every wrong they can think of and laugh at the truth. This will be their line of argument: ‘So Jesus promised to come back, did he? Then where is he? He’ll never come! Why, as far back as anyone can remember, everything has remained exactly as it was since the first day of creation.’” (2 Peter 3:1-4 TLB)
Peter says here that he was stirring up their pure minds by way of remembrance. He was trying to shake them out of their sadness. The early Church strongly believed that Jesus would come back very soon after His ascension to the right hand of God. Thus, Peter was trying to encourage the Church to hang on, that Jesus was coming and not to give up.
In verse three of Second Peter 3, here Peter warns them that there would be those who would mock the Christians because Christ hadn't come back. Peter calls these wicked people scoffers. But I call them ungodly accusers of the brethren. Anyone who will mock you for your Christianity, or because Jesus hasn't came back yet, is used by satan as sure as God is true. Too many times if someone makes fun of us because we serve God, we get hurt and start to feel bad. It's high time that we as children of the Most High God quit taking junk like that from satan and letting it bother us. I say if we're being attacked, then we know that we are on the right track!
“Hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 8:5-8 ESV)
Romans chapter 8 brings to us our next intellectual battlefield that we must war upon and against–the battle of the true Word of God. It is the battle of Christianity against secular humanism. Humanism is the biggest pile of lies to ever confront mankind. Something so terrible and evil that it puts man first, and God last. Do not be fooled into believing any part of humanism. Anything that puts man above God comes straight from the pits of darkness. Allow me to just briefly give to you the definitions of humanism:
Humanism - Way of trying to understand the world by emphasizing the nature and importance of man and his place in the universe.
Secular Humanism - A worldly, carnal form of humanism that totally disregards the deity of God in regards man as being his own and only savior.
In verse 5, the Apostle Paul really summed up the whole concept of true Christianity here. If we are true blood-bought, blood-washed saints of God, we will not think after the things of the flesh, but only after the Spirit. I believe that if a person has been truly washed in the blood of their precious Savior, his every conversation should be Christ centered, even if the conversation is about another subject. And, no, I am not talking about being super-spiritual all the time, where the only thing you even day out of your mouth are hallelujahs and praise the Lord. I am talking about how the truly saved individual will be so full of love and gratitude towards Jesus that he will just naturally want to talk about Him to others.
This is just the opposite of secular humanism. It teaches that you are supposed to mind after the flesh, that you're supposed to let flesh rule and reign because you are your own god. Secular humanism denies God’s revelation in the world and the Bible, rejects the person and work of Jesus Christ, and holds an atheistic worldview. Heresy! If this isn't demonic controlled heresy, I do not know what is.
In verse 6, Paul puts to an end, though, to any thoughts as to whether humanism has any chance of being right. He says “to be carnally minded is death.” No gray area there. That is as straightforward as you can get! What comfort it is to know that God will not put up with anybody placing themselves above Him. For He, and only He, is the One and only true God. He is sovereign, and no one or no thing is above Him or is His equal. We are told by Paul that the carnal mind is enmity (or hostile) against God. Sinful thinking leads to sinful living. The false humanistic thinking man concerns himself with his own needs and desires, without regard for God. This way of thinking is hostile to God. Paul mentions here that the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God. How can it be when humanism teaches that man is a law unto his own self?
The next intellectual battlefield I want to mention to you is the battle against conformity to the world. We are constantly being bombarded with attacks from both satan, and the people of this world, to conform to its ungodly standards.
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2 ESV)
Notice here how the apostle first tells us to “present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God” then he tells us not to be conformed. He has shown us the clear way to avoid being conformed to this world–being holy first. In the original Greek, conformity to the world suggests the idea of being poured into the mold of this world. Christian warriors are not to be molded by this world. The Bible clearly tells us that God is the Potter and we are the clay. We are supposed to be molded and shaped only by God.
We are called of God to be transformed, not conformed, to be a changed person with thoughts and ways different from the world. As transformed people, the thoughts and ways of Christians should always reflect Christ. We must let God be supreme in our lives and not have room for anything else. We must give him supreme rule and reign in our lives if we are going to be victorious on this intellectual battlefield.