Why does false teaching never satisfy people?
False teachers are clouds without water: they pump people up and make them think they are getting into something, yet they cannot meet the inner longing or give inner peace. Like fruit that withers before it is ready, their promise looks good but proves empty.
Les explains that false teachers are like a cloud without water. He recalls the dry 1930s Midwest, when a tiny black cloud raised hope for rain but grew and then vanished. In the same way, false teachers excite people so they think they are really getting into something, but it never satisfies the inner longing or inner peace. Les compares them to trees whose fruit withers before it is ready—looking good coming along, then suddenly not worth eating—and to raging waves that leave only foam, and wandering stars reserved for blackness of darkness. Their promise may look good, but it remains waterless and empty.