The Stephen Syndrome (AKA–The Itchy Ear Malady): The refusal to hear what one does not want to hear. The Stephen Syndrome/Itchy Ear Malady made its appearance long before the earth was formed. Lucifer–light bringer–the most majestic being ever created by God, rebelled against His Words which undoubtedly laid out for him his duties, responsibilities and rewards. According to Scripture, the one who would become Satan the devil did not like what he had heard and, having fomented personal pride, tried to be what he was not designed to be. The result was a war that turned the earth and all the planets into areas of waste and desolation (Gen. 1:2).

No sooner had God restored the earth to an inhabitable place than Adam and Eve emulated Lucifer’s sin by rejecting the Words of their Creator.

Following their fall our parents began to produce a family. As their sons, Cain and Able, grew into manhood each developed his own personality. Abel, characterized as “righteous” (Mat. 23:35), was obedient to the Lord, doing everything exactly as he was instructed. Cain, on the other hand, was the 3rd human to suffer from the SS/IEM. Having substituted what he wanted to hear for what he did not want to hear, Adam and Eve’s elder son offered to the Lord what He had not commanded. Cain’s reaction to God’s rebuke is mirrored by modern churchman’s reaction to His Biblical rebuke–anger, resentment and rebellion.

Both Cain and Abel heard God’s Words of Instruction concerning their offerings to Him. Both were given the opportunity to either obey or rebel. Abel obeyed; Cain had a “better idea.” Ignoring the outcome of his parents’ rebellion against the Lord, Cain committed basically the same sin– INSTRUCTION SUBSTITUTION. He heard what he wanted to hear. And it all made sense. Why, he undoubtedly reasoned, did his offering have to meet God’s exact specifications. After all, an offering was an offering. In the case of Cain, “the lesson” God had taught his parents had totally escaped him. And how did Cain react to God’s rebuke–he attacked his brother who had obeyed God’s instructions. Nothing has changed.

Modern churchman’s reaction to God’s condemnation of his substitutionary “offerings” (religiosity, churhivity, the social gospel, etc.) mirrors that of his spiritual ancestor–anger at the one who obeys God’s Word, which is in reality anger at God the Originator of the Word they reject. God’s Word is the message; His messengers are the vessels He uses to deliver His message.

Noah, a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Pet. 2:5), tried long and hard to get through to the men of his day–to teach them the Way of the Lord. But to no avail. Those he tried to help reacted in the same way God/Truth-denying men do today–rejection of both the message and the one who brings it. Just as Adam and Eve were exiled from the Garden of Eden and Cain was banished from God’s presence– spiritual death–the men of Noah’s day also received punishment–physical death.

And why were they all punished by God: INSTRUCTION SUBSTITUTION–they all suffered from an incurable case of chronic SS/IEM. They all believed that whatever was expedient for themselves would automatically be accepted by God. After all, their hearts were in the right place. So effective is Satan in selling this theology to religious man that the bearer of God’s Truth hears variations of the following from those who insist on defying God’s written instructions: “It’s okay for me to do what the heathen did because I do it for the right reasons.” THEY CLAIM TO HONOR GOD BY REJECTING HIS WORDS AND REBELLING AGAINST HIM. Who else but Satan could sell professing Bible believers on such a theology? “And even if it is sin, we all have to sin. Jesus died so that we could sin and not have to pay the penalty.” After all, they reason, their sins are all for a good cause. According to this theory, the fact that a prostitute supports the church with part of her earnings squares her sins with the Lord. But in His eyes, that she is a prostitute is the only relevant factor. Jesus did not say to the prostitute of His day, “Go and sin no more, unless you share your earnings with me. In which case, keep up the good work.”

Which is exactly what the Counterfeit Church hears her god say. Just as her spiritual ancestors in Eden chose Satan’s have-it-your-way message and rejected God’s My-way-or-the-highway message, modern religionists hear the devil’s any-way-is-a-good-way-as-long-as-you-do-it-for-the-right-reasons message and tune out God’s Truth which condemns her way. And Satan smiles. L.J.