2 Peter 2:1-3 ESV
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
Who are these false teachers? They can be leaders in our
government, in our churches, in our schools, or in our homes. They are primarily
people in positions of leadership, with much authority, and with enormous
influence over the people, though they might not all be. They can also be just average
ordinary people like you and me, but who are out to deceive the masses.
And, what are some of these destructive heresies they secretly
bring to us? They can be any deviation from the norm, or any opposition to or
rebellion against what is commonly held as a standard of truth and morality. They
can, as well, be anything which goes against God and His Word or which is
contrary to an established form of government and its laws, too.
But, the main thing about these who bring us these
destructive heresies is that they do so secretively, i.e. deceptively, giving
the appearance of one thing while they are doing another, using tricks and
manipulations to try to convince us that the lies are truth and the truth is
lies, which is exactly how Satan works.
And, the secondary thing about these heresies is that they
are destructive (damaging) to us who are the ones who may buy into them, or who
might be taken advantage of through them.
The most destructive one of all is what many call the cheap
grace gospel, for it promises people the hope of eternal life with God, and
heaven as their eternal destiny, but the promise is based on a lie of
human-origin, not on the truth of God’s Word. For, the grace they teach is
based in the flesh of man, thus it is founded in sensuality, not on holiness
and righteousness.
For, they lead people to believe that repentance (turning
away from sin) and obedience to Christ and his commands are not required for
believing faith in Jesus. Thus, what they teach delivers no one from slavery to
sin, but it leaves them still in bondage, and still bound for hell, with no way
out.
2 Peter 2:13b-15a ESV
They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray.
These false teachers are people who are given over to
self-pleasure and to what is considered to be intoxication, which can have to
do with any sinful addiction or anything which captures our hearts, minds and
emotions to the point to where we act stupidly or to where we lose control of
our behaviors.
For, intoxication can also be “overpowering exhilaration or
excitement of the mind or emotions” (dictionary.com), such as when someone
becomes romantically enthralled with someone else, or when lust takes over for
good sense, or when someone watches a video or movie with sexual situations in
it, etc. and they allow themselves to get excited over what they see.
In other words, these teachers are those whose lives are out
of control and who are ruled by their fleshly appetites, passions, and desires,
and who have no (or little) conscience about their actions or how their
behaviors essentially impact others, either. All they care about is fulfilling the
lusts of their flesh, no matter who gets hurt in the process. And, some of them
may actually find enjoyment and excitement in hurting others, too.
They also get excited emotionally about deceiving others,
for it is exhilarating to them to have that kind of power over other people.
And, again, they have no conscience about it, either. For, they are perfectly
comfortable pretending as though they are one of us, or that they believe like
we do, or that they care about us and that they have our best interest in mind.
But, all this is a deception, while behind closed doors they are plotting evil
against us via these manipulations and tricks which are up their sleeves.
And, their goal is to bring us down with them into their pit
of destruction, for misery loves company and so does sin. So, they will try to
entice us to forsake the straight and narrow and to compromise our faith and
convictions so that we will be more like them, i.e. more normal, and so we will
fit in better with society, or at least that is what they may tell us.
But, they serve Satan whose goal it is to trip us up so that
we deny our Lord and so we follow Satan, instead. So, we need to be wise to
their tricks.
2 Peter 2:17-19 ESV
These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
What this describes here can take place on a spiritual level
or it can take place within a government and between a government and its
people. And, that is what I believe is presently taking place in America. For,
most Americans are convinced that the government they see, i.e. the president
and congress, for example, are exactly who they claim to be, and that they are
doing just what they say they are doing.
We are promised freedom here in America, and up to this
point we have experienced much, for which I am very grateful, but to God. But,
our leaders are not all who they claim to be, and they are not all doing what
they say they are doing, either, for many of them are these false teachers of
the people who are out to deceive, for they serve the beast who serves Satan,
and their goal is not our freedom but our slavery to them.
So, it is good if we do not get caught up in all of their
soap opera antics we see in the media, and that we don’t believe everything
they and the news media tell us. For, truly they are united with a one-world
totalitarian regime of the New World Order elite of this world, who are the de
facto government of the USA, and the world, too, in reality. And, their goal is
to bring all of us in unity with this beastly one-world order and its one-world
religion, too.
Yet, on a spiritual level this describes these false
teachers who have secretly crept in among us who are altering the gospel
message to make it more appealing to human flesh. So, they are promising people
freedom from the punishment of sin in hell, while they themselves are still
captivated to sin and are bound for hell, and they are leading many to follow
after them.
They have deceived many into believing that all they have to
do is say some words after someone and then they are congratulated that they
are now part of God’s family and that heaven is their eternal destiny.
But, they totally leave out the part about dying with Christ
to sin that we may live with Christ to his righteousness. They totally ignore
the teachings which say that the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled
in us who walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. And,
they willfully leave out the part that says that if we walk (conduct our lives)
according to the flesh, we will die in our sins, not have eternal life with God.
So, don’t believe their lies. Believe the truth (See: Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 6:1-23;
Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Gal. 5:19-21; Gal. 6:7-8; etc.).
2 Peter 2:20-22 ESV
For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”
The really sad part about all of this, though, besides the
fact that they are leading people straight to hell, or to follow them to their
own destruction, is that they are those who have known or who have professed to
have known the Lord Jesus Christ, and who have the knowledge within them of
what God’s Word teaches with regard to holiness and righteousness.
So, it isn’t that they do so ignorantly, but that they do so
fully with eyes open to the truth, and yet willfully they deny the truth to
follow their own lusts, instead. And, so it appears that their judgment will be
at a more serious level than for those who were deceived, though I don’t know
exactly what that means, but it isn’t good.
I can tell you from personal experience that it really tears
at my heart to see people with full knowledge of God and of faith in Jesus
Christ, who know the truth, then turn their backs on the truth and to do what
their evil hearts desire, instead. And, it tears at my heart, too, to see them
continually resist God who is pursuing many of them still, and then for them to
lie about what they are doing in order to cover up their evil deeds.
It hurts, too, because they are hurting not only themselves,
but many other people, too, in the process, when it doesn’t have to be that
way.
Awaken the Dawn
An Original Work /
January 15, 2013
Based off Psalm 57
(NIV 1984)
O my God, have mercy on me!
In the Lord, my soul takes refuge.
In the shadow of Your wings, Lord,
I find shelter till the storms pass.
I cry out to my God Most High.
He fulfills His purpose for me.
He sent His Son to die for me,
So I could be saved.
I am in the midst of lions;
Men whose teeth are spears and arrows;
Whose tongues are sharp; words accusing.
They spread a net, my feet to catch.
They dug a pit, in hopes I’d fall.
O God, be exalted o’er all.
Let Your glory shine to all men,
So they may be saved.
Steadfast is my heart, O my God;
I will sing of all Your wonders.
Awake, my soul! Sing praise to God!
Early I will rise and praise Him!
I’ll praise God among the nations;
I will sing among the peoples.
God’s love reaches to the heavens,
So we may be saved.
Sunday, January 13, 2019
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