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.