Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 23

  Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 2 Peter 3:15,16

         Paul's letters receive a lot of criticism from unbelievers or false teachers because they deal with multiple hot button topics like women's role in the church and home, the rapture, homosexuality, church polity, church discipline, spiritual gifts and more. If you can just say, "Well, that's just Paul's opinion" or "He changes his mind from book to book", then you can read the epistles with a "grain of salt" and not treat them as authoritative. The problem with that is Peter calls them "scriptures" and puts them in the same category as the other scriptures that the early church was using which would eventually become todays Bible - God's inerrant inspired authoritative word given to us by which we get to know Him, hear from Him, and discern His will for our lives.

       Peter, himself, admits that some of Paul's writings can be difficult to understand. Note the word "some". That means that most aren't. I once heard a famous Christian quoted as saying, "I'm more concerned with what I do understand about the Bible than what I don't". In other words, there is enough clearly convicting stuff in the Bible to deal with so first get in line with that. Also Peter says "difficult" not "impossible". How deep do you want to dig to understand it? My favorite YouTuber/ Bible Scholar, Mike Winger devoted himself to discovering what Paul's teaching on Women's role in the Church was and once made a 13 hour video on one aspect of this. He desired to understand the difficult and not just say it's impossible.

      Lastly, Peter says that if you distort the scriptures you are ignorant and/or unstable and headed for destruction. I see that as two categories - ignorant; untaught, don't know any better and probably don't desire to know. -unstable; like the house built on sand. Choose the easy way to follow the ways of the world. Either way, you will stand before God someday and have to give an account for your disobedience and He will say, "You have no excuse". God has spelled out His will in the Bible and as we have previously mentioned, it butts heads with our wanting to do what we want to do so quite often we look for ways to distort what God is saying so we can fulfill our lusts.

        Are you reading the Bible in a submissive way and saying, "God, whatever you say, I will obey"? This is the way.

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 22

 ... what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives... So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him... But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.  2 Peter 3:11,14,18

         When I read these verses I'm reminded of a parable that Jesus told of a wedding feast in Matthew 22. In this story, a wedding banquet was going on and everyone was clothed in splendid garments, possibly supplied by the host or maybe just wearing their "Sunday best", in honor of the occasion. However, there was one person that stood out because they came in wearing casual attire. Maybe they were still in their PJ's like they just rolled out of bed. Maybe they were wearing their workout clothes having just come from the gym. Or maybe they were wearing overalls coming from working in the field. Whatever the case, they didn't think the occasion was worth taking time to get dressed up. The host sees the man and promptly kicks him out either because he crashed the party and wasn't wearing the members only garb supplied by the host, or he had disdain for the host as hinted at in context from the prior parable.

        Although I'm not afraid of getting kicked out of the wedding feast of the Lamb because He has clothed me with His robe of righteousness and received His invitation, I do want to be found wearing it when He makes His surprise return. This is hinted at in the parable of oil in the lamps where the groom came in the middle of the night to surprise the bride and she was prepared unlike the bridesmaids. Peter says, since Jesus could come back at any moment, make sure you are dressed for the occasion. What's that look like? Living Holy, Godly lives, being found spotless and blameless, at peace with Him, understanding Him better and getting to know Him better.

        During a time of revival in my life, I was extremely convicted about wasting my time doing things that didn't have eternal consequence. I went to a movie and while taking a bathroom break, I noticed that the toilets were made by a company called American Standard. Have you ever been convicted by a toilet before? Why was I at the movie instead of reading my New American Standard Bible? While that may be dividing the Sacred and Secular too much, or so I was told that I was suffering from dualism, the point is "Are You Dressed For Success"?

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 21

" Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming" 2 Peter 3:12

           How do you speed the day of the Lord's coming when God already knows when it is? Here is the only logical answer. Have you ever had a day at work that seemed to last forever? Chances are it was a boring day where nothing was happening. I recently went to an NCAA football game and got there 75 minutes early - at least that's what the clock ticking down to game-time said. It seemed to last forever. My wife was ready to leave by the time the game started. Once the game started, the clock seemed to speed up. What happened? Busyness and activity seem to make time go faster. How can we speed the day of the Lord's return - by being about His business. Don't be a lazy Christian but go out and labor in His strength for the kingdom. It will make the time go quicker.

         That's the logical answer. Here's the illogical answer which could be right because our finite minds can't comprehend much. For example, Q. why pray when God already knows what He's going to do? A. Because prayer changes things. Huh? I thought God doesn't change his mind? Q. Why witness when God already knows who is going to be saved? A. Because God uses evangelism to save people. But if I didn't witness they'd still get saved? So here is the illogical answer. Matthew 24 says Christ will return when all the world has heard therefore let's reach all the unreached people groups and bring Jesus back. Similarly, Romans 11 talks about the fullness of the Gentiles being reached before God brings about revival of the Jews. Therefore, let's go get that last Gentile saved.

         The illogical part of this is that a finite date set by the Lord could be expedited. Yet, David, when being judged for a census, chose 3 days of being judged by the Lord because the Lord is merciful and sure enough, those 3 days were shortened because He relented at Aruanah's threshing floor. Dates and times are fixed, God doesn't change His mind, yet we see examples of both. Paul told the men on the ship that no one would be lost yet as men tried to escape in a lifeboat, he told them if they left, they would die. How could both be true?

          Truly, God's ways are higher than ours. Let's first of all get excited about the Lord coming back and secondly, let's get busy and hurry Him up. After all, it has been 2000 years already!

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 20

 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

         I was recently in a discussion with a guy who rejects Christianity because of the problem of suffering in the world and God can't be a good God and all powerful God at the same time to allow this to happen. I've dealt with this in a blog in detail previously, ( https://thoughtsfromtherightbrain.blogspot.com/2016/06/apologetics-week-2-i-cant-worship-god.html)

but I was thinking of it again as I looked at this verse. If God wants all people to be saved and He's all powerful, why doesn't He make it happen? The reason has to be that He doesn't want to violate people's free will. He doesn't want to make people choose Him because they have to. God, though all-powerful allows people to go to Hell even though He could stop it, in order to let them have free will. I was recently watching a show called Foundation where Brother Day, the leader of the Empire, falls in love and leaves everything, even fakes his death, to be with a woman who he has been spending time with. When he finally finds her, she doesn't want him, in fact she is with another woman and states that she was only with him because she was forced to be and was scared of him. Brother Day is devastated at this news and crushed. Like art imitating reality, God wants our chosen love, not forced love.

 Relating this to the previously mentioned problem of suffering, God could stop all suffering and get rid of all evil in the world, but then He'd have to get rid of you (and me). He would have to step in and violate the free will of people to make choices and He has decided not to do this.

         My other thought on this verse is what led me to leave the Presbyterian church. The Westminster Confession states,  God's sovereign decree actively predestines some individuals to eternal life and others to everlasting death. This is explicitly stated in Chapter III, Section 3, which declares that for the manifestation of His glory, God predestined some men and angels to eternal life and others to everlasting death. How can this be possible if He desires everyone to be saved and not perish, in fact He is delaying His return because of it. If He has chosen certain people to spend eternity in hell and has created them for that reason, how could He desire everyone to be saved and why would He delay His coming knowing that they can't even choose to be saved. It makes no sense.

        God is so "into" free will that He put a tree in the garden, knowing that giving mankind a choice would cost His only Son's life on a cross. He values free will that much that He allows all the suffering we see today. He wants you to choose to love Him and follow Him and find everything you've been looking for - even Heaven. The choice is yours.

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 19

 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 

          As we think about global warming, ozone layer disappearing, carbon emissions, meteoric collisions, etc. it can lead to a panic thinking what is going to happen to our home? Well, first of all, believers need to rephrase that question because Earth isn't our home. We are citizens of Heaven and just visiting this planet as ambassadors for the King. But secondly, we don't need to wonder what's the future of Earth because Peter spells it out - it's going to be burnt up.

       Being premillennial, I understand the future this way. Jesus will come in the clouds, sound the trumpet, the dead believers will rise and those believers that are alive will be caught up in the air and "raptured". We will be in Heaven at the great banquet/wedding feast of the lamb as the bride of Christ. Just like Jewish wedding feasts lasted a week, the feast will last 7 Earthly years and at the end of it, we will return with Christ to an Earth that has been ravaged by the Antichrist and the bowls of wrath of God's judgement on the Earth, and defeat Satan as he has rallied worldwide forces to fight Christ at His return. (Armageddon)

      During those 7 years a number of people will choose to follow Christ, and those who weren't killed will be judged at the "Sheep and Goats" judgement along with unbelievers who remain and be joined with us who have been raptured and given Heavenly bodies on a recreated Earth that is more like the garden of Eden. Those people with earthly bodies who were saved during the tribulation will procreate and after a thousand years, even though Satan has been bound, Christ is on Earth ruling, will choose to follow Satan when he is released and rebel against Jesus. 

      I believe at that time we will all leave Earth and be taken to the gates of Heaven where Satan will be sent to the Lake of Fire along with all those whose names weren't in the Lamb's book of Life at the Great White Throne Judgement. While we are in Heaven, my understanding is that the Earth will be destroyed and a new one created. Matter, as we know it consists of atoms held together by an invisible force. Colossians says that Christ holds all things together. What if He decided to just let go? Would the Earth explode like a nuclear bomb or a ball of fire? And what if then He decided to create a new Earth with a whole different structure than atoms and molecules? Some kind of structure that our Heavenly bodies will be made of with whole different properties. We already know that we won't sleep, die, have pain, and Jesus passed through closed doors, so we get hints of different matter make up.

      Anyway, that's my understanding and even though it's hard to fathom because we are in a period of time where everything goes on as it always has, there will come a time where it doesn't and God steps in and ends the status quo. Have you ever heard the statement "It's all going to burn"? This is where that comes from. Every time you buy something remember it's temporary. Don't make it your treasure. Don't stockpile a bunch of kindling. Store up treasures in Heaven that won't burn up.

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 18

 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.  2 Peter 3:3-6

         Forty-five years ago, when I was doing a rotation in anesthesiology in medical school, the anesthesiologist described his job as 30 seconds of terror followed by 90 minutes of boredom followed by 30 seconds of terror. In other words, a lot can go wrong in a hurry while putting people to sleep and waking them up but keeping them asleep is just turning on the ventilator and gases and reading an Outdoor Living magazine.

        We are living in the ventilator stage and have been for quite some time. In fact, it has been so long that people/scoffers think it has always been this way. Peter says, no, you are deliberately forgetting that before God set this world, the Laws of nature, the rotation of the Earth, the hydrologic system and all the other scientific discoveries that enable us to tell what time the sun will rise and set, the tides will be high and low, and bad weather is rolling in tomorrow at 4PM - before all that there was seven days of creation of everything in unexplainable means like we've never seen before. Then one to two thousand years later, there was a massive upheaval of the creation with the buried waters underneath the surface of the earth ripped open the earth's core recreating and flooding the surface of the Earth and seeding the canopy above causing rain for 40 days and collapsing the greenhouse effect creating the climate differentials we see throughout the Earth today.

       We are in the time when things seem to be going on as always thus, we have problems believing all that Creation Ex Nihlo stuff, worldwide flood with animals 2x2 on an ark, not to mention Virgin Birth, resurrection, walking on water, etc. because we have developed scientific laws that don't allow for that. The problem is that these Laws are for a closed system, but we have a God that periodically "sticks His hand" inside this closed system and blows our mind. Frankly we wish He would do it every time we pray for a loved one with cancer but in His wisdom, He usually chooses to let the Laws He put in place to run their course. But there is coming a day when He will jump into our closed system and we will see Him in the clouds and with the shout of a trumpet, the dead believers in Christ will rise first and we who remain will be caught up in the air to meet Him.

      Don't let the fact that we've never seen something created out of nothing or feeding 5000 people from 5 loaves and 2 fish happen. There is a God who can violate all Laws of Nature and He will soon. Stop scoffing and start believing!

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 17

 3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.   2 Peter 3:3

       When I think of scoffing, I think of rolling your eyes at something someone is saying. The world rolls its' eyes at the mention of Jesus coming back to catch believers up with Him or come down to judge unbelievers and set up rule on Earth. Why do they mock or scoff at that idea - we will see as we move on, but the underlying reason is they don't want to believe it. They are following their own evil desires so they have ruled it out.

      When we were leading the youth group and kids would start distancing themselves from the group and studying the Bible, we knew something was up and it was usually related to them letting sin, quite often sexual sin, into their lives. Suddenly, the Bible was outdated, not to be trusted, and they became skeptics, scoffers not because of scholarly refute of the validity of scripture but because they wanted to sin.

     I see this in Christian celebrities or famous Christians who "deconvert" or majorly deconstruct. What precedes a lot of it is they get a divorce. Now they know that the Bible forbids most reasons for divorce and "God hates divorce", but in order to "be happy" they divorce anyway. Soon, what follows is a lesser view of the Bible to justify their behavior. Becoming gay affirming usually follows because if the Bible isn't to be trusted on marriage it isn't to be trusted on LGBTQ and other relevant issues like judgement, hell, blood atonement, wrath of God or anything else unsavory.

   Paul discusses this in Romans 1 when he says,

   " The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened..."

     I highlighted in blue all the times they know the truth but they suppress it because they want to sin and over time, to them, the truth of God becomes less and less and their behavior and what they accept becomes more and more wicked.

     So when people roll their eyes at you when you share Christ, don't back down, be ashamed, be offended, or take it personally. Realize that for them to accept the Truth they would have to admit that they are sinful and that the way they are headed is wrong so therefore they choose to scoff and mock the Truth. Their only hope for salvation is that God would break down the walls of sin in their heart and that requires the Holy Spirit so pray that God would release "The hound of Heaven" on them.

      

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 16

 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. 2 Peter 3:1,2

          Social Media has exposed us to multiple ideas, frameworks of thinking, and opinions expressed as facts. For example someone could post how the covid vaccine killed more people than it helped and the government forced it on us, followed by responses to that post screaming the exact opposite. What do we believe? Is it necessary or worth your time to explore the issue and find the truth. Maybe not, but when it comes to finding the truth about God and eternity and why are we here and the meaning of life - these are issues that you have to form an opinion on. This is commonly called finding "your truth." "Your truth" implies that truth is either relative or can't be known so let's all believe what we want to believe and treat everyone's understanding of reality as equally valid so we can all get along.

           Peter would disagree with that and say there are two ways to think - unwholesomely and wholesomely and his reason for writing both epistles is so that we may choose the latter. He says the truth, not your truth but the truth can be found in the Bible. He doesn't mention Bible by name because it didn't exist but he describes it - the writings of the prophets (Old Testament) the Command of Jesus (the gospels) the writings of the apostles (epistles and Revelation) If we know these, when a false teacher or influencer spouts opinions as truths we are able to say, "That's your truth but it's not the truth" and stand on solid ground.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matt. 724:27

      My older NIV states the man dug down deep. In order to "found" something, it takes work - digging, sweating, excavating. If we approach the Bible that way, we won't be twisted by the opinions of man but hold fast to the truth about life because there is A truth and He is knowable.

        In closing I'll give one example. The prevailing "truth" in our culture is that since sex is such an integral part of marriage, the wise thing to do is to see if you are sexually compatible before marriage. God's word calls that the sin of fornication and tells us to wait for marriage. When the storms come, we find out which house stands and studies show that couples who have premarital sex have 3x the divorce rate of virgins at marriage. That's truth. If you know the Truth, He will set you free to live the good life. I saw a person wearing a "life is good" shirt today and I thought to myself, "Yes it is!!"

Elvis Movies Ranked

    Over 2 years ago, I took a job in Memphis and saw signs of Elvis everywhere. I decided I was going to watch all 31 movies he made and rank them according to how good the story was, how cool Elvis was, the quality of songs and frequency of them, the leading ladies and chemistry with Elvis, and other intangibles. This is my list that took me 2 1/2 years to compile. After #18 or #19, I would say don't waste time watching them.

1. Viva Las Vegas - Good music, likeable Elvis, great chemistry with him and Ann Margaret.

2. Fun In Acapulco - Good music. Cool Elvis with good moves and music showing off for Ursula Andress. Entertaining. Decent plot. Good scenery. Elvis without a shirt. (I only mention this because he is in a few beach movies where he conspicuously doesn’t?)

3. Loving You - Good music and a lot of it. Early Elvis still trying to fit the James Dean mold but likeable and not dark. Love interest not exciting and minimal chemistry. Kind of an Elvis biography where young singer gets discovered by agent with questionable motives and struggles with conservative old folks not liking his gyrations and girls swooning.

4.Live A Little Love A Little - Not sure what the plot was but great music, Elvis was cool, Michele Carey was a great love interest. If you want to know what misogyny is, watch this movie. Look for the Donald Trump dance.

5. Kid Galahad - Likeable young Elvis has a gift for taking a punch and parlays that into making enough money to start a simple life with his decent love interest. Changes people for the better along the way. Good plot music ok. Best of the dramas in my opininion.

6. Change of Habit - Elvis' last movie takes on social injustices with Elvis being an inner-city doctor who has 3 nuns with nursing degrees come help him as "undercover" nuns doing a social experiment. I'm spending some time on the plot because it has one. Mary Tyler Moore shines and you leave wondering who the bigger star was actually. Not much chemistry (she chooses God over Elvis - or does she?) and little singing but actually a good movie.

7. G.I. Blues - Set in Europe, probably never left Hollywood. Cool, likeable Elvis sings a lot with good chemistry with love interest. Decent plot. His marching swivel hips move in title song is a classic.

8. Girls, Girls, Girls - Good tropical locale. Decent story with some redeeming of angry Elvis. Stella Stevens is somewhat strained love interest. Good music and a lot. If you want to see Elvis physically, at his peak physique, clothes, dancing, gyrating, this is the movie.

9. Wild in the Country- Like King Creole, Love me Tender, Jailhouse Rock, Charro, Change of Habit, Flaming Star, Kid Galahad, this is a serious movie with Elvis acting. Likeable Elvis. Not dark. Hope Lange and Tuesday Weld are good. Very little singing.

10. Blue Hawaii - Likeable Elvis comes home from military to Hawaii but wants to make it on his own not work for rich Dad's pineapple company. Great scenery, decent story, wholesome love interest who he marries at end. Good music with I can't Help Falling in Love With You, which he sings to a grandma?

11. Love Me Tender - Good Movie with an interesting plot. Problem is that Richard Egan was so much cooler than Elvis. I’m sure they never made that mistake again. Good music with great Elvis moves which seemed out of place in the 1800’s. Love interest undesirable.

12. Follow That Dream - Beverly Hillbillies rip off with Elvis playing Jethro character. Wholesome, innocence triumphs over every evil. Sweet romance falls in love at the end. Decent music.

13. Clambake - Good music, good story, likeable Elvis. 60’s beach fare.

14. Jailhouse Rock - Good music, cool but unlikeable Elvis, good story. Somewhat dark

15. King Creole - Dark. Trying to make Elvis into James Dean

16. Speedway - Cool Elvis, average plot and music. Nancy Sinatra as love interest. Fairly realistic stock car racing. Good color visuals. Bill Bixby most annoying actor of the 60’s

17. Girl Happy - Elvis sleepwalks through this one but classic 60's beach fare.

18.  Spin out - Cool Elvis, decent music, lame plot. No chemistry with leading ladies. I don’t think him and Shelly Fabres are a match.

19. Flaming Star - Trying again to make Elvis an actor. Decent plot. No romance, no singing. Depressing.

20. Harum Scarum - Elvis dresses like Aladdin which takes away from his cool factor. Weak plot. Decent music. Pretty love interest.

21. Charro - Elvis takes one last stab at being an actor and fails in this Spaghetti western which could have been good if Clint Eastwood replaced Elvis. Not likeable, not good looking and absolutely no singing.

22. Tickle Me - Cool, likeable Elvis. All girls swoon when they see him. Bad music, slap stick lame story. Beautiful leading lady with good chemistry.

23. Double Trouble- Slapstick comedy with bungling jewel thieves, policemen. Creepy smiling guy. Cool Elvis trying to resist 17-year-old until she turns 18. Decent music. Likeable, attractive love interest with decent chemistry.

24. Roustabout - Unlikeable not extremely cool Elvis with no real chemistry with pretty but forgettable leading lady. Barbara Stanwyck costars. Some good songs. Elvis saves a carnival. Somewhat redeeming ending.

25.Paradise, Hawaii Style - Hard to like self-centered womanizing Elvis whose character flaws cause multiple problems to everyone around him without a clear change at the end. Travel promotion for Hawaii. Average music. Kid actor. No clear love interest.

26. It Happened at the World's Fair - Using Elvis to promote the Seattle world's fair? It should be the other way around. Likeable Elvis with no chemistry with leading lady.

27. Johnny and Frankie - Elvis and Ellie May Clampett. Unlikeable Elvis. Lame. Had more chemistry with Kim Novak

28. Easy Come, Easy Go - Scuba Diving Naval Elvis finds a treasure and races against 2 others to bring it up. Low budget - scenes looked like a Soap Opera. No love interest. Little music and not good

29. Kissin Cousins - Elvis playing 2 roles. Hillbilly Elvis. Bad music. No female lead. Insulting to East Tennessean's.

30.  Stay away Joe - Elvis as a grifter Native American with no leading ladies, bad music, lame plot. 15 minutes of fist fights. Does to native Americans what “ kissin' cousins “ does to Tennessen’s

31. The Trouble With girls - Uncool Elvis, no leading ladies, bad plot, bad music. Elvis doesn’t sing until 32 minutes into it. Painful. Had to fast forward so boring.

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 15

 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.” 2 Peter 2:20-22

          My son's family just bought a puppy and the unfortunate thing is it suffers from coprophagia - it eats its poop. They say 1 in 4 dogs will do it but not only is it gross, it exposes them and those in proximity to illnesses, so you want to stop it. Why do dogs do this?

     1. It is not getting enough food or proper nourishment

     2. Instinct - pack behavior of canines passed down

     3. Modeled behavior - as their mom cleaned up after them as pups, the pups can learn that behavior

     4. Boredom - not stimulated enough

     5. Like the taste

     6. Curiosity

     7. Attention seeking

   Peter compares believers who have been delivered from the bondage of sin by the gospel and yet return to the world and abandon the faith, as dogs returning to their vomit or in my family's case - a dog returning to its poop.

       Imagine owning a steak house and every night you see a homeless person eating out of your trash bin. At first you want to shoo them away but then your heart goes out to them, and you invite them into the restaurant at closing every night to serve them a meal. They do this for a while but eventually stop coming and you wonder why until you see them out back eating out of the dumpster again. Why? They could have a feast with the owner every night, yet they choose to eat garbage. Lest you think this is a rare occurrence, 70% of your youth group will return to the dumpster. Why? Maybe for the reasons of coprophagia.

        What can we do to keep this from happening? First realize that their instinct or old man is drawing them back in. They've developed a taste for sin and they need to acquire a new taste. They need to taste and see that the Lord is good and that the Word is sweet as honey. They need to be nourished with the word and not just fed, although small group feeding is essential, but they need to acquire food on their own. A mentor needs to model how to study God's word to them. Also boredom and loneliness can lead to sin so a group of believers need to hang out on a regular basis to avoid boredom, isolation, or attention seeking from the wrong types. Any discipleship training has to incorporate these things although the devil will definately pluck that young seedling. 

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 14

... they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” 2 Peter 2:18,19

             Let's say a pastor comes in and teaches that s(he) is going to free them from the Victorian sexual mores of the 1600's that people have misinterpreted from the Bible. Peter would say, although that person thinks they are free they are really enslaved to sexual depravity. Let's say a preacher comes in and says that they are going to deliver you from poverty and sickness and show you the freedom in wealth and health. Peter would say they are enslaved to greed.

          No one is really free despite what false teachers teach. Be careful of teachings about freedom and delivering you from giants because the only freedom is found in bondage to Christ, the one master who brings flourishing. Dying to self is the ultimate bondage breaker. Anything that appeals to self is false.

        As we are about to leave this teaching on identifying false teachers let's summarize on warning signs. I'm not saying some of these are wrong, I'm just saying listen carefully with walls up.

        1. Teaching ways to be free from giants in your life

        2. Dogmatic, know it all proud teachers.

        3. People with orphanages or ministries to fund overseas

        4. People who own multiple houses, jets, fly 1st class

        5. People who charge exorbitant fees for their seminars

        6. People who don't have overseers

        7. People who boast of miraculous exploits that seem too remarkable to be true

        8. People with new knowledge or a new interpretation of scripture

        9. Physically attractive people

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 13

 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings; 11 yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the Lord. 12 But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. 14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! 15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. 16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh...

          As we get back to false teachers/prophets and how to recognize them we see a couple more warning signs. First is they despise authority. I love non-denominational churches because in an ideal world of Christianity, we shouldn't be demarcated by our differences but by our unity. I'm not saying denominations are bad because they have become necessary in our fallen world. Paul says to the messed up church in Corinth,

 'I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval."

      There are so many wrong interpretations of scripture out there, that if a church is aligning themselves with that, say for example "name it and claim it", they need to be labeled so you know what you are getting when you enter the door. But getting back to non-denominational churches, they do attract or are started up by pastors that don't like people over them and being under submission to a board. In fact, one such preacher in our area as he faced criticism compared those questioning him to the 10 spies and those not questioning him to Joshua and Caleb and saying "which do you want to be?" They like to be in control of everything especially where the money goes. Watch out for preachers who aren't under authority or have a "puppet board" for show.

        The second diagnostic sign of a false teacher is that they are arrogant. Humility is not necessarily something that draws you to a teacher. We are drawn to confidence, boldness, boastfulness of accomplishment, appearance, followers on social media, and we think that this person must bear listening to. A true man of God realizes that he is no better than anyone and the only thing he has worth saying comes from the Holy Spirit who has given him the gift of teaching. I don't even bother listening to cocky preachers any more even though some of them are very good. Am I being judgmental? Maybe - but give me humility any day.

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 12

 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless 8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment  2Peter 2:4-9

 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Matt. 24:24

                I've always wondered about that Matthew (and it's repeated in Mark) verse. Is it possible to deceive the elect? Would it be possible for true believers to fall prey to false teachers? My answer would, I guess, be yes, however, in time they would see the light and be rescued as God exposes the false teachers which he will do.

           Currently there is a vast exposing going on and people are hopefully being drawn out of these ministries. Taking these verses to another level, like in the times of Noah, Lot, Genesis 4, this world is going down the drain in ungodliness and people have been predicting the rapture is near. Although people have predicted dates for years, the most recent being Sept. 23-25,2025, the cool thing is they are looking for it. Jesus warns that the end should not sneak up on us unawares and we should always be ready and busy, not lazy. Scoffers of the rapture, which surprisingly are in greater numbers Christians, say it was a theory not developed until the 1800's and the early Church didn't believe in it. I don't know about that, as I wasn't around then, but as I understand scripture, I believe in the rapture and this passage gives me two Old Testament illustrations.

          Noah was righteous in a time so decadent that God was going to have to start over with global judgement. Rather than have Noah go through the wrath of God, he was lifted above it to float over the top of it in a boat. Sodom and Gomorrah were so evil that God was going to wipe the whole city off the map, but it had one righteous person, Lot, inside and he was taken out of the city before God's wrath. Likewise, when the prophetic time clock of seven years starts ticking and God's wrath will be poured out on sin, Satan, the Antichrist, the false prophet, we will be rescued like Lot and Noah. Now whether that's at the beginning or sometime in the middle, we don't know but I believe it to be at the beginning, but it will happen!

        I don't have a problem setting dates for the rapture. So many people are blasting the latest guy for doing it. His heart is in the right place. He's looking forward to the return of Christ. Are you?

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 11

 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.  2 Peter 2:1-3

           There are five common features about false prophets or teachers listed in these three verses. Peter warns us, there won't be a time where there isn't one out there. That's why we always need to be on guard; we always have to have our antennae up. We need to be watching for these hints that their teaching is false.

        First, they will introduce heresy. There is a lot of variations in what Christians believe the Bible teaches but there are certain non-negotiables. That's why things like the Apostle's Creed were written or Confessions, to make sure no matter how far we drift, these are our anchors that moor us. One of these Peter lists, which even by the way he phrases it, he suggests that this is somewhat mind boggling to him, is they change who Jesus is. We have discussed cults in the previous blogs whose common denominator is to say Jesus isn't God and deny the trinity. Gnosticism, so present at this time, denied the bodily or fleshly Jesus come as a man.

         We also see, with this mention of heresy, "the Lord who bought them". Currently, the progressive church, which has arisen from among us, denies the penal substitutionary atonement of Christ and the need for Him to die for us. This has even been described as God committing cosmic child abuse against His Son which could not be in the character of God. This is heresy because this is the gospel, "that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin." The fact that there is the Devil, the great liar and deceiver out there, assures us of the fact that there will always be a deceitful attack at our core beliefs until the Gospel is a gospel that doesn't save us.

        Secondly, their conduct will be depraved. This is tough because there have been so many true teachers out there that behind closed doors, who have been found to have concealed sin. This must be exposed and their place of leadership forfeited but their teachings should, in my opinion, not necessarily be discarded because they taught truth. However, a common denominator of false prophets/teachers is that they have depravity going on. I think of once again Joseph Smith who was stealing other men's wives and compiling a harem, or David Koresh, or Jim Jones or even Muhammed. If you can get into a place where people are following your teachings and hanging on every word you say and worshipping you, you can start taking advantage of them.

          Third, they will bring Christianity into repute. I see this as these teachers will be so fake and hypocritical that the world who we are trying to reach will reject Christianity on the basis of these false teachers as they lump us all together. Groups like Westside Baptist, Ku Klux Klan, Bob Jones University, Bill Gothard, White Nationalism, MAGA, QAnon have all been associated with Christianity and Satan loves this because it is just another tool he uses to keep people away from the Gospel that will save their souls.

        Fourth - greed. Follow the money. If they are charging admission, filling huge auditoriums, selling merchandise, taking love offerings, on television, founding orphanages in foreign countries that need to be supported, it doesn't mean they are false but alarms should be going off in our heads. Be discerning.

       Lastly, exploit you with fabricated stories. They make up stories to make them seem more Godly or separate their ministry. Many years ago there was a man named Mike Warnke who had a ministry based on him being an ex-satanist. Turns out he made that all up. Julie Green currently is prophesying that the big transit systems like Amtrack are transporting illegal aliens into our country and they will be exposed. God, she says has told her this. Todd White, a minister from California who is very buff states God gave him special knowledge on what to eat to make him that way yet has used steroids and had liposuction according to those that know him. And there are so many others being currently exposed for lying to get a following. Not surprising since Satan was a liar from the beginning.

              Peter says watch out. Don't follow people, follow your Bible. If you don't want to or don't enjoy reading the Bible but you want people to read it for you and tell you what it means, then you will be susceptible.

Thoughts from 2 Peter - Day 10

 ...you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 2Peter 1:19

      Even with all these arguments to convince people to believe the Bible is the truth that we have been discussing such as multiple eyewitnesses saying and experiencing the same things and testifying to its' veracity by dying for it, prophecies written thousands of years before being fulfilled exactly by Jesus, archaeological proofs that these things really happened, testimony of outside sources and more - the intellect has to be superseded by a spiritual awakening where the Holy Spirit comes in and like the "day dawning and morning star arising in our hearts" illuminates and convinces us of the truth. John says about this 

" Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.  Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us."

    There is an Asian guy, currently on social media, who claims to be the smartest person in the world. His documented IQ is 279. The cool thing is he is a believer and therefore is using his status of being smarter than everyone to convince people to become believers, too. In other words, "If I'm the smartest person in the world and I say it's true, to not believe is dumb." Although I appreciate his heart, the problem is, in the end, the things of God are spiritually discerned. Peter experienced this once when Jesus quizzed the disciples on who they thought He was. Peter declared, "You are the Messiah". Jesus doesn't commend him for assessing the data and using his mental prowess coming up with the right answer but just the opposite. In effect Jesus tells him that his brain didn't come up with the right answer but it was revealed to him by the Spirit and that confession by faith through the leading of the Spirit is what the Church or bride of Christ is going to be founded on. That is going to be the key into the kingdom. That is going to be the cornerstone of the Church.

      Have you felt the Holy Spirit tugging on your heart saying, "Jesus is the Truth. Follow Him. Surrender your life to Him"? If you have, you have the assurance in your heart that it is true. If you haven't you will always wonder if it is true or not, and when you stand before Him someday, which we all will, you will realize it was true, but then, sadly, it will be too late. Receive Him today!