2002-01-01
Good Morning Friends of Faith,
In my last two messages, I have been sharing Peter’s comments on false teachers. Today, we will continue looking at what he had to say in 2 PET 2: 10b-13. “These false teachers are bold and arrogant, and show no respect for the glorious beings above; instead, they insult them. Even the angels who are so much stronger and mightier than these false teachers, do not accuse them with insults in the presence of the Lord. But these men act by instinct, like wild animals born to be captured and killed; they attack with insults anything they do not understand. They will be destroyed like wild animals, and they will be paid with suffering for the suffering they have caused. Pleasure for them is to do anything in broad daylight that will satisfy their bodily appetites; they are a shame and a disgrace as they join you in your meals, all the while enjoying their deceitful ways!” I have once again stopped in the middle of a paragraph, and have done so because of its length. Please bear with me, as I will finish the paragraph in tomorrow’s message.
While I was reading this description of false teachers, two examples came to mind. As most of you know there have been elections going on in Serbia in which Slobodan Milosevic is running against Vojislav Kostunica, a pro-western challenger, for the presidency of that country in Belgrade. Milosevic has been a cruel tyrant, and the Serbian people want to celebrate his apparent defeat. There have been accusations of vote-rigging and a lack of an official report of final results. Meanwhile, there are charges against Milosevic by the World Court in the Hague (Netherlands) for war crimes and a real desire to try him for them. It is pretty clear that Milosevic has been responsible for many of the deaths of people from other parts of the former Yugoslavia, particularly Bosnia. During the war in Bosnia, photographers revealed pictures of actual concentration camps this evil leader had set up in his program of ethnic cleansing. This is the same man who claims to be a good and caring leader for his people. The people of Serbia really need our prayers right now.
The other example that comes to mind is one closer to home. I’m not afraid to state that government leaders raised in humanism in this country have demonstrated a remarkable hypocrisy in passing legislation that makes it illegal to honor God at public gatherings like a high school football game. Let me share the gist of a message that was sent to me by one of my readers that will illustrate the point. The principal of Roane County High School in Kingston, TN, Jody McLoud, was asked to give opening remarks before the crowd at a football game. [Paraphrased to remain true to her address]: “A recent ruling of the Supreme Court has made it illegal to offer a prayer at this game. It’s okay to approve of sexual perversion by calling it an alternative lifestyle. It’s okay for me to condone sexual promiscuity by dispensing condoms and calling it safe sex. It’s okay for me to present the merits of killing an unborn child as a viable means of birth control. It’s okay for me to designate a school day as Earth day and involve students in activities to worship and praise the goddess, Mother Earth, and call it ecology. It’s okay to use school audio and visual aids in the classroom to depict devout Christians as “weak-minded and ignorant” and call it enlightenment. However, anyone using this facility to honor God and ask Him to bless this event with safety and good sportsmanship has violated federal law. Apparently, we are to be tolerant of all except God and His commandments.” This valiant lady ended by citing AC 5: 29, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”
Paul in RO 1: 18-32 offers us a most accurate description of the mechanism of the devil’s work. I hope you will read this passage over carefully. Let me share the gist of it with you in view of space limitations. Everyone is born with a God-consciousness, i.e. the knowledge there is a supreme Creator. We are also all born with the ability to perceive what God has created. That is why there is no excuse to reject God and place one’s faith in man instead. “Their thoughts have become complete nonsense, and their empty minds are filled with darkness” (21). Now look at the process as Paul describes it in RO 1: 24-26. “And so God has given those people over to do the filthy things their hearts desire, and they do shameful things with each other. They exchange the truth about God for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created instead of the Creator, Himself Who is to be praised forever! Amen. Because they do this, God has given them over to shameful passions.” These are the passions Paul lists as this passage proceeds: homosexuality, lesbianism, wickedness, evil, greed, vice, jealously, murder, fighting, deceit, malice, gossip, blasphemy, insolence, pride, boasting, lack of conscience, refusal to keep promises, lack of kindness and pity, and disobedience to parents. RO 1: 32, “They know that God’s law says that people who live in this way deserve death. Yet, no only do they continue to do these very things, but they even approve of others who do them.”
Peter’s comment in 2 PET 2: 13 about “these people who join you in your meals, all the while enjoying their deceitful ways” brought to mind the example of the Selucid king of Syria sharing a meal the king of Egypt, all the while plotting against him described in DN 11: 25-28. This behavior and the evil of the world is not only nothing new, but it is still in progress. That is what makes both Peter’s words and Paul’s so timely today and in the future so long after they were said. Our only sure defense against this unrighteousness is in being able to recognize it for what it is. Christ’s atonement and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us are the greatest blessings in our lives. When we spend time with God through prayer and study of the Scriptures, He will provide for us the protection and the guidance we need to deal with a the cruel and unrighteous world that is our temporary home. PS 64: 10, “All righteous people will rejoice because of what the Lord has done. They will find safety in Him, all good people will praise Him.”
PRAYER: O Lord, You reveal to us through writers like Peter and Paul the traps and pitfalls laid out before us in this world. Some of these evils are easy for us to see, but You know that others are not. That is why You have given us Your perception through the Holy Spirit. While You have given us the hunger for Your word, it is He that allows us to understand it and the courage to apply it to our lives. When we spend time seeking You out in prayer and in study of the Scriptures, we are made aware of the danger from which You protect us. We are reminded that You alone have equipped us to deal effectively with that danger, and You offer us the encouragement we need to strengthen our faith and remain firm in it. These are the tools that will allow us to be victorious in this spiritual warfare. We humbly offer You our utmost thanks and praise for sacrificing Your Son on the cross, for giving us the Holy Spirit, and for being the powerful, loving, and protective presence in our lives that You are. To You belongs the glory, honor, trust, obedience, worship, and adoration You richly deserve! In Christ’s name, amen.
As promised, tomorrow we will look at more of Peter’s message on false teachers from 2 PET 2: 14-16. He continues his description of them and calls to mind some very revealing Scriptures. Our Lord is our Provider and our Protector. He is on the job twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week caring for and loving us. We need to examine our own lives to measure our individual response to His sovereignty. In the meanwhile be reminded that God loves you and so do my husband, Peter, and I.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn