Second Timothy 4:3 predicts that, “the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching.” Too often people assume these opening words to mean that one day, as evangelical ministry marches on with expansive gospel-momentum, a blatant, rather foul stench straight from hell will mount an offensive against sound doctrine so sudden and obvious that all who love Christ will cry out in unison, “Damn the heresy!” If only that was the way it worked.
Instead of opposing the truth with blatant lies, Satan does a far greater work in the white spaces between Paul’s words. When the Apostle warns that “a time is coming,” we shouldn’t imagine a sudden plunge from the heights of doctrinal precision, but rather a slow, imperceptible decline via subtle spiritual optical illusions. The enemy knows that discerning shepherds would never allow their sheep to suddenly deny truth and turn aside to doctrines of demons. His tactics have to be implemented over long periods of time, introducing slight, unnoticeable deviations to the truth. So just exactly how was the enemy able to bring us to the place where we no longer endure sound, in-depth preaching and teaching, and yet celebrate casual conversations with false teachers?
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