While we appreciate our true-to-the-Word-of-God teachers, we must also be wary of “false teachers”. This is what the Bible says about “False Teachers”: “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be FALSE TEACHER among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter 2:1, ESV). The ‘man of God’ you listen to Sunday after Sunday – if he teaches hyper-grace, immortality on earth and such salvation-affecting false teaching is a ‘false teacher’.
This verse says, false teachers are first of all ‘secretive’. That means they want to show that they are part of the main-stream Christianity while they are cultic. They vehemently deny that they are cultic (but they are secretly are indeed cultic, because ‘popular opinion’ and not the Bible is their final court of appeal; they don’t mind saying ‘The Bible is not the Word of God’). False Teachers are called ‘wolves’ elsewhere in the Bible (Matt. 7:15). Wolves (False Teachers) have a deceptive appearance. We can mistake them to be Labradors and pamper them (attend their church and support their ministry)!!! Beware! Don’t get fooled!!!!
This verse also says that false teachers bring in ‘destructive heresies’. The meaning? Unless they repent)(2 Peter 3:9), these false teachers are heading towards hell and taking people who follow them blindly also to hell.
In 2 Peter 2:4, just three verses below, Apostle Peter promises ‘hell’ for unrepentant false teachers.In the same chapter (2 Peter 2) – ‘They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!’ (verse 14, ESV).
This brings to the fore two more characters of false teachers: they work up a theology that excuses sin, that excuses the ‘eyes full of adultery’ ‘after all – the grace of God is ALWAYS there’ (to put it in their words) (notice the word ‘entice’). Yes, they use the Grace of God as a license for immoral living as Jude explains (in verse 4).
Not only that. These false teachers twist the Word of God motivated by ‘greed’ (a love for money) as 2 Peter 2:14 says. They preach a God of love but won’t tell you about the wrath of God which the same Bible talks about, lest you get offended and won’t sent them an offering or stay in their church.
They will tell you about a hell, but give you hope that even from hell you can come to heaven, so that your ears are tickled and you feel good.
They tell you that Jesus will never return back to earth, till a generation believes in Immortality on earth (that is not likely to happen, so Jesus won’t ever come back, or come back anytime soon, and so you can live in sin in-effect, according to them).
Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, calls them ‘accused children’ (he knew they were already hell-headed, but he would not simply watch as believers follow them, so he wrote these words primarily not to warn these false teachers but the believers who follow them without second thought)!
Caption:
Wolves (False Teachers) have a deceptive appearance. We can mistake them to be Labradors and pamper them (attend their church and support them)!!! Beware!!!
