That time has arrived!

(Arthur Pink)

"In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth, and turn aside to myths." 2 Timothy 4:1-4

That time has arrived! Church-goers today will not endure "sound doctrine." Those . . .
   who preach the total depravity of man,
   who insist upon the imperative necessity of the new birth,
   who set forth the inflexible righteousness and holiness of God, and
   who warn against the eternal and conscious torment awaiting every rejecter of Christ,
find it almost impossible to obtain a hearing! Such preachers are regarded as puritanic pessimists, and are not wanted.

In these degenerate times, the masses demand that which will soothe them in their sins--and amuse them while they journey down the Broad Road which leads to eternal destruction! The multitude is affected with "itching ears" which crave novelty and that which will amuse them.

Not only are many of our Seminaries cesspools of spiritual corruption,
not only are hundreds of our pulpits now filled by traitors to the cause they profess to champion,
not only is every cardinal doctrine of the faith attacked and denied by the very ones paid to defend them--
but the evil effects of such teaching from our religious leaders have influenced multitudes of souls committed to their care.

The man in the pew, following the lead of his teachers, has lost faith in the Bible as a Divine revelation, and in consequence, no longer submits to its authority.