John Calvin on the Duty of Every Theologian
Whether a Christian is a Calvinist or non-Calvinist. they can definitely agree with the duty with John Calvin's quote on what the theologian's duty is not to tickle ears but to confirm the conscience by teaching what is true, certain and useful. David W. Cloud may be a non-Calvinist while John F. Macarthur and Paul Washer are Calvinists but they certainly agree that tickling the ears is not what a theologian should do.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 says, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." People do not want the bitter truth, they just want the truth that soothes them which results to a series of misleading half-truths. People want to hear God is love but they do not want to hear the message of God's wrath against sin, they want grace without repentance and they would seek worldly pleasure instead of God which allows false prophets to prosper. False prophets will do everything to keep their flock for the sake of money plus they are the judgment of God against the people who refuse the truth.
Jeremiah 5:31 is a situation that still happens that people love false prophets and religious leaders that bear rule by their means. The lamentation is that, "My people love to have it so." Do you know Jeremiah was not popular? It was because he was confirming the conscience by teaching what is true, certain and useful. Any man of God will always be spat out and they should expect their lives to become more complicated than ever. Preaching from the Bible without compromise means getting rejected because people hate the Gospel. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says that the preaching of the cross is foolishness to the unsaved. False pastors get a lot of wealth because people love their false preaching while true pastors of God should expect to live like Jeremiah. Luke 6:26 warns, "Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you! For so did their fathers to the false prophets."
There is the call for sanctification as 1 Peter 3:15-17 says, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing." There is always the reason to be ready, to know the facts and figures, study Church history, study the Bible in context and there is that calling to be ready to answer people in meekness and in fear of the hope that is in the believer.
But as said, there is always that Higher Calling as 1 John 4:4 says, "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world."