2Timothy 4:3-4
For the time will come when they will not put up with sound instruction, but they will pile up for themselves teachers in keeping with their own desires, to have their ears tickled.  And they will turn away from hearing the truth and wander off to myths.

Is this a big deal?
Are people doing this today?
What if I told you this is more common now than hearing the truth?

I saw this meme on Facebook yesterday, posted there by a friend.
My friend is a good and decent guy.
This discussion is not an attack on my friend.
But is my friend deceived?
Is my friend allowing his ears to be tickled?
Is my friend tickling the ears of others by sharing things like this?

Is there a problem with this meme?
It sounds good, right?
It sounds like a compassionate person is calling out others for harsh religious comments.

But is it the truth?
Or is it false teaching?
We can only know the answer if we know the scriptures.

I left a comment for my friend, and he openly admitted that my comment made him angry.
Here is what I said:
“Men think up phrases like this. It sounds really good and it tickles lots of ears.
But is it truth?
We are told in the ten commandments not to bear false witness.
What if I can prove to you, using only direct quotes of Jesus, that this meme is bearing false witness against Jesus?
Do you know the things Jesus said well enough to know He is in violation of this meme?”

I give my friend a great deal of credit.
He was honest.
He told me this made him mad.
But he did not act out in anger.
Much love for that…

But back to the issue at hand.
Does this meme bear false witness against Messiah?
Let’s go to the scriptures and see.
Please compare these direct quotes of Yeshua Messiah to what this meme is saying:

Matthew 7
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Master, Master,’ shall enter into the reign of the heavens, but he who is doing the desire of My Father in the heavens. “Many shall say to Me in that day, ‘Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and done many mighty works in Your Name?’ “And then I shall declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who work lawlessness!’”
We see in this scripture that Yeshua Messiah is going to be drawing some lines.
There are going to be people that claim to follow Him, and yet, He does not know them.
He tells them so, and also tells them to depart from Him.
Messiah puts these people on the wrong side of the line.

What about this in Matthew 5?
This is another direct quote of Messiah:
Matthew 5
“Whoever, then, breaks one of the least of these commands, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the reign of the heavens; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the reign of the heavens.”
Messiah is drawing more lines.
He is drawing lines between the least and the greatest.
There is separation.
There are standards.

What about these three direct quotes of Messiah from the book of John?
John 14:15
“If you love Me, you shall guard My commands.”
John 14:21
“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”
John 15:10
“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”
What do you see here?
I see Yeshua Messiah, our Savior, drawing more lines.
He is drawing a line between those who love Him and those who do not love Him.
What if you are on the wrong side of that line?
What if He decides you do not love Him?

What about this in Revelation 3?
This is Messiah speaking…
Revelation 3:15-16
“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold or hot. “So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth.”
What do we have?
More lines.
Who is drawing these lines?
Messiah is.

What about these words from Messiah in Revelation 22:14-15?
¹⁴ Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. ¹⁵ But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.
Is Yeshua Messiah, Jesus, drawing lines here?
Absolutely He is!!
He is drawing a line between those who get access to the Tree of Life, and those who don’t.
He is drawing a line between those who get to enter the City of New Jerusalem, Heaven on Earth, and those who do not get to enter.
He is drawing a line between those who are obedient and those who are not.
He is drawing a line between those who follow sound doctrine, and those who love and practice a lie.

It is not my intention to make anyone mad, especially people I enjoy and call my friends.
As men, we can have great thoughts and ideas, and we can communicate them in blogs and memes or even church sermons.
But what if those great thoughts are erroneous?
What if we lead people astray, even though we are just trying to say nice things?
What if our compassionate thoughts and ideas bear false witness against our Messiah?
What if our memes make Jesus a liar?

It happens.
Maybe not on purpose, but it happens.
How do we fix it?
We go to the scriptures.
We go and read the things that Messiah said.
We learn to know His voice, so that we might follow Him.

Please do not be deceived by clever and well-meaning thoughts.
Test everything.
Check all things against scripture.
Sometimes false teaching looks really pretty and appealing.
It might even tickle your ears.

I realize this post may make some people angry.
I know I already made my friend angry.
That is not my intent.
Just read your bibles and sort it out please, especially if this makes you angry.
Know your Messiah’s words.
Listen to Him.