Call to Commitment

God saved righteous Lot

False Prophets and Teachers

       1.      But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers            among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who                      bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 

      2.      And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 

      3.      By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. 

 Peter continues to prod the believers’ memory, reminding them of Old Testament stories, which were familiar to them. He warns them that there will be false teachers among them, as there were false prophets throughout the Jews’ history. Paul also warned the Ephesian elders, who met with him in Meletus, before he sailed on towards Jerusalem. I will first point out that Paul recognized the three-fold ministry of the elders, which we studied in 1 Peter, chapter 5. They are elders, but also, bishops and shepherds or pastors: “The Holy Spirit has made you overseers (bishops), to shepherd the church of God” (Ac.20:28).

 He went on to caution them: “From among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves” (Ac.20:30). As long as we are in this deceitful world, we must beware of false people with wrong motives and their false doctrines. Jesus spoke of them in the parables of Matthew 13, telling of tares among wheat, a mustard seed which grew into a tree, leaven mixed into a loaf of meal, and bad fish netted along with good fish. In Matthew 25, He began, “The kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins… five of them were wise, and five were foolish.” To the seven churches in Revelation, Jesus exposed the false doctrines of Balaam and the Nicolaitans, a false prophetess and her disciples. Can we expect less in these days of deep deception?