One prophecy from the Bible that is very relevant for today is, "The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires" (2Ti.4:3). Just look around and see this happening in various forms. Some preachers offer health and wealth, some proclaim grace that takes away all responsibility from us, some come up with fascinating interpretations of end times prophecy, some market miracles, some promote supernatural experiences, some make their speech very emotional, some peddle pop psychology to make you feel good, etc. It is becoming extremely rare to find preachers who share sound doctrine – teaching that will help the hearers to conform to godliness (1Ti,6:3,4) – who stand personally before the Lord (Je.23:22) and bring out words each time according to what the people need (not what they like) to hear (Lk.12:42).
Can we afford to be without discernment these days? Can we allow ourselves to be awed by the speaker's name and swallow all that he says without checking with the Bible if what he says is true (Ac.17:11)?
These are also times when preachers go astray by demonic deceptions (1Ti.4:1). This can even happen to godly teachers if they are not aware of this possibility and open themselves to all 'bright ideas' that come to their minds. We should not forget that since Satan knows that his days are numbered he is becoming more active, and he uses all kinds of tricks to deceive us. If, instead of sticking to the plain teachings of the Bible and checking if new ideas are useful for godliness, we are aiming at creating a sensation or impressing the listeners with something new, we make ourselves wide open to deception. It is not that demonic doctrines will come along with gross forms of sin because then a godly man can easily recognise them, but they will come with an appearance of wisdom or 'revelation' (see Co.2:23).
It is very sad to see in front of us preachers who began well slip into a tangent, having got bored with the plain and simple Gospel and the way of salvation, going after 'new' and 'fascinating' subjects that will cause their gullible listeners to sit with their mouths open and wonder at the preacher's knowledge and abilities.
But I want to address mainly those who are sitting and listening to preachers or reading their books. Be very vigilant to detect error in teaching or direction. Don't let the teacher's reputation, his charismatic personality or his oratorical skills deceive you. Learn to know the Bible yourself, cross-check with other teachers especially of the earlier century who are known to be godly to see what they have to say about the subject. We need to preserve ourselves because these are dangerous times, and our eternity is what is at stake. Not even our loyalty to our pastor or the church should stand in the way or make us ignore the warnings of the Bible.