May I scratch your ears?

2 Timothy 4:3-4 (King James Version)
3 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 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

This is a huge topic, much larger than I am capable of covering in a single post, but I think it's important. There has been so much going on lately that I call "ear scratching." I define this as spiritual-sounding teaching or entertainment which carefully avoids the gospel message (basically, Jesus, the sinless Son of God, died for our sins, and that only by believing in Him and His resurrection can we have eternal life and enter Heaven. Forgive me if I haven't phrased that exactly right, but you know what I mean). This teaching is everywhere, not just in church contexts.

For example, NBC has a series, Revelations, which ends tonight. "In the battle for the end of the world, who will win?" NBC is also doing a special on miracles, and another on the Resurrection. Since I have not seen these, I can't say for 100% sure, but I'm willing to make an educated guess that they qualify as ear scratching. How about the series "Joan of Arcadia," or that old favorite "Touched by An Angel"? Did you ever hear the message of salvation on either of those shows? These are the "fables" Paul spoke about.

Now, I am all for the concept of opening people's minds to spiritual things. But only if there is someone who can take that opening and present the Gospel. If there is no one to do that, it becomes meaningless. What programming like this does is to temporarily make people feel good about themselves and their spiritual lives. It puts them, in other words, in a very dangerous place. "Hey, I'm better than that girl on TV, and she's in tight with God. I must be okay, too." They push and push and push the message that all you need to do to get to Heaven is be good. And the truth is, none of us can ever be that good.

As Christians, we can do several things. First of all, promote these shows to unsaved friends and family. Second, take the opportunity to talk to them about what they've seen afterward by watching them yourself and noting the fallacies, if any. And finally, be prepared to share the Gospel with them. If you need help, this is an excellent website. If we do nothing, the ear scratchers win.

1 John 2:21-22 (King James Version)
21I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. 22Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.