7. BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS The Antichrist, in his bid to rule the world, will have the help of the “second beast,” or the False Prophet, who is described in Revelation 13:11-17. The False prophet’s main role will be to give the Antichrist an appearance of credibility, to deceive the world into worshipping the Antichrist. Little is written in the Bible about the False Prophet himself, but a lot is said about the danger of false prophets in general. As we consider the Bible’s warnings, we can come to appreciate the enormous seriousness of what the False Prophet will do during the last days. 1. Jesus states in Matthew 7:15 to “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” These deceive not by disguising themselves as sheep, but by impersonating true shepherds. They promote the wide gate and the wide way. 2. According to the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 people “will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” Paul here warns Timothy that, in the dangerous seasons of this age, many people would become intolerant of the confrontive, demanding preaching of God’s Word (2 Timothy 1:13-14; 1 Timothy 1:9-10; 6:3–5). Professing Christians, nominal believers in the church follow their own desires and flock to preachers who offer them God’s blessings apart from His forgiveness, and His salvation apart from their repentance. They want to be entertained by teachings that will produce pleasant sensations and leave them with good feelings about themselves. Their goal is that men preach “in accordance to their own desires.” Under those conditions, people will dictate what men preach, rather than God dictating it by His Word. They will follow false ideologies, viewpoints, and philosophies in various forms that oppose sound doctrine. 3. False teachers are described in Ephesians 4:14 as “cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.”Spiritually immature believers who are not grounded in the knowledge of Christ through God’s Word are inclined to uncritically accept every sort of beguiling doctrinal error and fallacious interpretation of Scripture promulgated by deceitful, false teachers in the church. 4. In 2 Peter 2:1-3, the three things false prophets will do are: (a) “They will secretly bring in destructive heresies.” The false teachers parade themselves as Christian pastors, teachers, and evangelists (Jude 4). “Heresies” means self-designed religious lies which lead to division and faction (1 Corinthians 11:19; Galatians 5:20). The Gr. word for “destructive” basically means damnation. This word is used six times in this letter and always speaks of final damnation (vv. 1–3; 3:7, 16). This is why it is so tragic when a church makes a virtue out of the toleration of unscriptural teachings and ideas in the name of love and unity ( 2 Thessalonians 3:14; 1 Timothy 4:1–5; Titus 3:9–11). (b) “They will deny the Lord who bought them.” This phrase exposes the depth of the crime and guilt of the false teachers. This unusual Greek word for “Master” or “Lord” means one who has supreme authority. Peter here warns that false prophets deny the sovereign lordship of Jesus Christ. The false teachers’ basic error is that they will not submit their lives to the rule of Christ. All false religions have an erroneous Christology. The passage is describing the sinister character of the false teachers who claim Christ, but deny His lordship over their lives. (c) “By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words.” The false teachers did not hesitate to take advantage of their followers in order to enrich themselves. Peter observed that the underlying motive of the false teachers was not love of the truth, but love of money (v. 14). They exploited people through their lies. 5. In second Peter 2:12-17, Peter describes these false prophets with strong language: (a) “They are like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption.” The false teachers have no sensitivity to the power and presence of demons or holy angels, but like wild animals, insubordinate, insolent, and arrogant, they charge into the supernatural realm, cursing away at persons and matters they do not understand. False teachers cannot get beyond their own instincts and thus will be destroyed by the folly of those passions. (b) “They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you.” They are dirt spots and scabs, and are opposite to the character of Christ (1 Peter 1:19). The church should be like her Lord (Ephesians 5:27). The false teachers, feigning to be teachers of truth while sitting with Christians at church love-feasts, were behaving arrogantly and immorally even on such occasions intended for Christian fellowship. Though attempting to cover their corruption with religious talk, they were filthy defects on these church gatherings (2 John 9–11; Jude 12). (c) “They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.” The word “trained” was often used for training in athletics. False teachers have trained, prepared, and equipped their minds to concentrate on nothing but the forbidden things for which their passions lust. They are well schooled in the craft of self-fulfillment. The curse of sin is the dominant thing in their lives, and they are damned to hell for their blatant wickedness. (Galatians 3:10, 13; Ephesians 2:1–3; 1 Peter 1:14) (d) “They have forsaken the right way and gone astray.” The “right way” is an Old Testament metaphor for obedience to God (Acts 13:10). Both avarice and lust were the major motivations of the false teachers described here. These two sins are seldom far apart! Peter is encouraging those unstable souls who were easily impressed by the teaching of the heretics (e) “They are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” False teachers have a pretense of spiritual water to quench the thirsty soul, but they actually have nothing to give. They might seem to promise spiritual refreshment, but were all show with no substance (Jude 12). “Blackness of darkness” is a reference to “hell” ( Matthew 8:12; Jude 13). Peter uses such strong language to get across the point to us that these false teachers deny the Lord. Ways in which we can protect ourselves against false teachers: (a) 2 Peter 3:14 “Be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.” When Christ returns, each Christian should be found enjoying the peace of Christ which knows no worry or fear about the Day of the Lord or the judgment of Christ (Philippians 4:6-7). To have this peace means that the Christian has a strong sense of assurance of his salvation and a life of obedience to Christ (1 John 4:17). Christians should have a spotless character and a blameless reputation. These characteristics are in graphic contrast to the false teachers, but like Christ (1 Peter 1:19). (b) 2 Peter 3:18 “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Peter ends this letter with a summary statement of the same instruction with which he began it (2 Peter 1:2–11). Pursuing Christian maturity and a deepening knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ will lead to doctrinal stability and prevent a Christian from being led astray. (c) 2 Timothy 3:10, 14, 17 “You have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance.” Paul draws a sharp contrast between a Christian testimony and the way of the false teachers (vv. 2–9). Doctrine is foundational and must be the basis of discipleship. Experiences can never be the basis. Paul invites close scrutiny of his whole life and ministry. This should be done with anyone who would be followed. “You must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them.” To further encourage Timothy to stand firm, Paul reminds him of his godly heritage. The plural form of the pronoun “whom” suggests Timothy was indebted not just to Paul, but to others as well (2 Timothy 1:5). Remaining in God’s truth is essential for godly living. “That the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” “Man of God” is a technical term for an official preacher of divine truth. (1 Timothy 6:11) He is to be capable of doing everything one is called to do (Colossians 2:10), and enabled to meet all the demands of godly ministry and righteous living. The Word not only accomplishes this in the life of the Man of God but in all who follow him (Ephesians 4:11–13). All Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible, © 1979, 1980, 1982, 1990, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers. ©2013 Kenute P. Curry. All rights reserved.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 20:38:34 +0000
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