2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
The next section of Peter’s letter to the dispersed early church that we will examine takes up the subject of false teachers. He had a lot to say on this subject, so we will take it passage by passage to fully appreciate the blessings in his “God-breathed” words. Today’s passage is 2 PET 2: 1-3, “False prophets appeared in the past among the people, and in the same way false teachers will appear among you. They will bring in destructive, untrue doctrines, and will deny the Master Who redeemed them, and so they will bring upon themselves sudden destruction. Even so, many will follow their immoral ways; and because of what they do, others will speak evil of the Way of truth. In their greed these false teachers will make a profit out of telling you made up stories. For a long time now their Judge has been ready, and their Destroyer has been wide awake!”
How appropriate and lacking in era-specificity these words are! I have often said before that the very best way to know the truth is to know the Scriptures well. JN 8: 31-32, “So Jesus said to those who believed in Him, ‘If you obey My teaching, you are really My disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” I am virtually certain that what Christ meant by “free” can be defined, at least in part, by with the discernment to recognize the truth from a lie by a thorough knowledge, understanding, and faith in the word of God. That is real freedom!
One of the adversary’s favorite places to plant lies is in seminaries and with people who have access to a large group of others. Please don’t think that I am castigating all seminaries; of course, there are many wonderful ones. The young seminarians are often idealistic, enthusiastic, anxious to get started with their careers, and very inexperienced. Their minds are open to learning, which makes them an excellent target for the adversary if they and those running these seminaries are not alert to the adversary stalking them. One such example of this danger is a certain seminary in Texas which was using a Zondervan published text book teaching replacement theology. You will remember that is the false idea that God has given up on the Jews, and they have been “replaced” as God’s chosen people by the Gentiles. A lot of spiritual damage can be done by believing and spreading a false teaching such as this. I know from personal experience that there have been some seminaries who had allowed people wholly unsuited to the pastorate to graduate and go on to cause enormous pain and disruption in the churches to which they are later assigned.
Another way that the adversary does his dirty work is through churches that take Scripture out of context and apply it to man made constructs that fit the human agendas upon which these churches are founded. Let me give you an example of this from my first hand experience with just such a church. To make this clear, let me cite EZK 37: 19 from the KJV Bible, “Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: ‘Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel His fellows, and will put them in Him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in Mine hand.’ “ This church (to which I refer above) interprets this to mean that the peoples of the new world (the Americas) which they feel is the “stick of Joseph” will be reunited one day with the peoples of the old world which they feel is the “stick of Israel” (the middle East) to become one people. The entire citation has been taken out of the context within which it was written with this interpretation. What God inspired Ezekiel to say and mean here is that one day the divided nation of Israel and Judah will be reunited into one nation. Now read this same citation in modern English: “Tell them that I, the Sovereign Lord, am going to take the stick representing Israel and put it with the one that represents Judah. Out of the two I will make one stick and hold it in My hand” [from the Good News Bible, American Bible Society, NY, 1976]. When one realizes that Ezekiel was in captivity in Babylonia preaching to the Chabar river settlement, the later construct is the true one. We know from our view of past history that Israel was divided into two nations just before the captivity and was reunited into one nation when God ended the captivity. Bear in mind DT 18: 21-22 which makes clear that the prophecies of a real prophet come true and those of a false prophet do not.
Making a lifestyle out of telling lies bears dire consequences. In 2 PET 2: 3, Peter reminds us of that. Some suave, affable, personable, seemingly scholarly, and charismatic leaders have risen from obscurity to become very effective tools for the devil. The Lord Jesus taught about these people in MT 7: 15. “Be on your guard against false prophets; they come to you looking like sheep on the outside, but on the inside they are really like wild wolves.” The greatest evil boaster of them all will arise sooner than we think, and we must be prepared. I refer here to the antichrist spoken of by John in 1 JN 2: 18 and by Daniel in DN 11: 36-39 as well as many other places in the Scriptures. These false teachers do not have the Holy Spirit, and they do not deliver God’s message. Retried Episcopal Bishop Spahn, whom I’ve written about previously, is an example of a false teacher who did much spiritual damage to young, impressionable minds in his career. God through Paul in writing to his young assistant Timothy revealed a responsibility we all have. 2 TIM 1: 13-14, “Hold firmly to the true words that I taught you, as the example for you to follow, and remain in the faith and love that are ours in union with Christ Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Who lives in us, guard the Treasure entrusted to you.” That treasure if the Gospel. We have been told to carefully study the Scriptures, have faith in them, not add or subtract from them in any way, and to share this faith with others willing to listen. When we do that, we will have the discernment necessary to recognize false teachers when we are confronted with them.
PRAYER: O Lord, You know that part of the challenge of our earthly lives is being confronted by false teachers. These liars and deceivers are under the leadership of the adversary. You need to know that we will make the choice to seek out Your guidance in dealing with them and live by it. That is one way we can exercise the free agency You gave us. Because of Your love for us, You have not left us unprotected to be eaten alive by these “wolves in sheep’s clothing.” You have sent us the Good Shepherd Who told us that His sheep will know His voice and that He is willing to give His life for them [JN 10: 14-15]. Christ died on the cross, which is proof of the love You have for us. You have given us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, so that we will hunger for the truth of Your word, understand it when it is taught to us, and have the discernment needed to recognize lies from the truth. We dedicate ourselves to remaining in Your word and to spreading it with accuracy and profound faith. We promise to reject the false doctrine and false teachers to which we are subjected. You equip us in this way to be victorious in this type of spiritual warfare, one of many pressing reasons why You deserve our eternal worship, adoration, thanks, praise, honor, trust, and obedience. We humbly offer these to You. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will continue looking at the section of Peter’s letter which deals with rescue for the Godly and punishment for the unrighteous, 2 PET 2: 4-10. In the meanwhile, we need to meditate on the profound love that God has for us all and our need to respond to that love by remaining firmly and accurately in His word. When we do this, we will be effectively protected in doing battle against the liars and deceivers of this world. My husband, Peter, and I send you our heartfelt love.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn