Weather warnings are a common feature of life here in the South, or in ‘Tornado Alley.’  Particularly in the spring and fall (especially the months of April and November) we are quite used to the threat of big, spinning thunderstorms that often spawn tornadoes. Thankfully, most communities now have loud sirens that sound when a threatening storm is approaching.

One hidden danger that we might not even be aware of is ‘warning fatigue.’  This happens when we unconsciously become immune to the announcements of the weather warnings. We hear them so often that there is the very real peril of ignoring them, which could prove deadly.

This very thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago.  I had heard that violent storms were passing through the area, and that warnings had been issued.  Yet, I simply dismissed the threat and the alerts and thought nothing more of the danger, after all we have had so many this spring.  Rather than making preparations for what could happen, I tuned the TV to a cable network and became engrossed in a crime drama.

After several minutes of watching the program, I received a text from our daughter Brooke, who was on the other side of town, that our neighborhood was in the bullseyes of a tornado, apparently on the ground!  Mercifully, the storm did not hit us, nor did it do any damage to our area.  Yet, I learned a most valuable lesson as to what could happen and the to need take all warnings seriously.

In 1 Timothy 4:1-2, the Apostle Paul sounds a dire warning to Timothy and his Church in Ephesus.  It is a warning that we find frequently activating in the New Testament, first and foremost from the lips of our Lord Jesus Himself.  Paul’s language is nothing short of frightening. He declares that, “in the later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.”

However, we’ve all heard this before.  It’s almost impossible to read any New Testament Epistle without running into such a dire word of caution aimed directly at the Church. If we are not very careful, we might very well suffer from ‘warning fatigue’ and be caught off guard in the middle of a demonic tempest of false doctrine.

On Sunday, we will examine the ominous words of 1 Timothy 4:1-2.  And as we do, we will see that there are, for sure, massive storms approaching. This is not a drill!  The alerts are about a very real and present danger!  We cannot afford to ignore them if we are to remain faithful to our Blessed Redeemer and King!