2 Peter 2:1 “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.”

2 Peter 2:2 “And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.”

Hey readers, couple of thoughts from these two verses today! It’s a bit of a rambling unrefined type blog for today (sorry!), so a little different but hope you get something out of it that helps you where you are in your life! Hope you’ve had a great week, it’s late spring here, tomatoes and chillis in the ground, sun shining… good time of the year!

And wow… look at these verses, and 2 Peter 2 is one of the big chapters on false prophets and false teachers in the New Testament… who produce false converts who have a false salvation. They have a false hope and they believe in falsehoods. Do you want the false thing… or the real thing? Read your Bible, get saved by the real Lord Jesus Christ of the Holy Bible today!

So this is a big old “watch out” chapter in the Bible. Beware! This chapter could not be more relevant to today, honestly. There are so many fakes and frauds out there. I’ve been reading Pilgrim’s Progress recently and that combined with the Bible and then you compare that to this modern Christianity going on… and something is massively different… there’s a different spirit, different gospel and different Jesus going on… and they’re being ushered and escorted into a church near you by false teachers. Not sent by God… not with God’s word… they’re wolves, no shepherds. They shear the sheep, they don’t protect and guide the sheep as God’s dear children.

I was thinking recently about when Jesus was talking about the narrow and broad way in Matthew 7… then straight after that Jesus talks about false prophets… why would he do that?

Well, because these false prophets are opening wide the gate to destruction, they’re saying come and join us on the broad way, we all serve the same God, we all praise the same Jesus, we’re all going the same direction! Broaden that strait gate! Make it a bit wider! I see in the Bible that hell enlarges her mouth… but the strait gate hasn’t got one bit wider. But these false prophets widen the gate, they preach a broad gospel and they invite you to Come and join us on the broad road to destruction! And many are turning in that way… most people don’t like the strait gate anymore.

Anyway, the first thing I see from these verses is the reference back to the Old Testament. I can’t tell the amount of times I’ve been told the Old Testament is irrelevant now because “it was different back then”.

Well yes it was… but NO it’s not! The entire Old Testament is given to us and all its stories… because they directly relate to us today! If they weren’t useful or relevant we wouldn’t have them, need them or be referenced to them. And newsflash: humans haven’t changed. Sin is still sin. God is still God. And we still must be saved.

If it’s so different back then why did Jesus say “as it was in the days of Noah” and “as it was in the days of Lot”… and if it was so different, why is Peter about to reference Noah, Lot, angels that sinned, Balaam etc? If it was so different why are we constantly getting referenced back to these stories? Yeah…

Anyway, I’ve been reading Jeremiah recently, and nearly finished the book and guess what? Lots of false prophets back then among the people! Just like it says here! Boatloads of false prophets… oh but they were prophets of “the Lord” of course. But it’s great that we can read Jeremiah and be pretty well instructed to spotting the false teachers of today… and they haven’t changed!

It all still works the same way. The ratio hasn’t changed either. There were TONS of false prophets in Jerusalem telling the city hey everything’s ok, no judgment coming (judgment free Christianity!), the walls will keep you safe, Babylon isn’t going to conquer us, safety in our alliances, peace and love to all… and guess what… the people loved hearing it! Wouldn’t you? If I was in Jerusalem I’d much rather hear that then Jeremiah’s message!

You’ll find that people didn’t love Jeremiah so much. Because Jeremiah had the unpopular message… of coming judgment. But Jeremiah told them God’s word… the truth. And God tell them how to be saved too. There was a way of salvation, they didn’t deserve it… and it was through surrender. Doesn’t that sound like salvation today? It’s a surrender to God. Zedekiah didn’t surrender because of pride and fear of man… same reason why most people don’t get saved and follow Christ today.

But what Peter is telling us here is there ARE false prophets and they will be among us. They’re not out there… they’re deeply embedded within Christendom. It’s not just the Mormons. It might be that guy or gal you really like who delivers messages that really tickle your ears.

Guess what they do and how they do it? Well read along. These guys are smart. And they “privily” bring in their damnable heresies. Privately! Means you don’t see it! You don’t detect it. And if you’re not in the Bible you sure won’t! They’re not obvious. They don’t say we’re worshipping Satan… no, they praise and worship “Jesus”! They’re going to teach you about a Jesus that doesn’t exist in reality though! So much Christianity today… it kinda sounds right, it kinda looks right… and yet something is so wrong. It has a different spirit.

There’s so many false Christs out there these days, just as Jesus said there would be. And who brings these false Christs in? False prophets… false teachers. You know what a false prophecy is? It’s not getting the next president of the USA wrong. It’s telling people they’re going to heaven when all the signs are they’re going to hell. It’s not telling people they need to repent. It’s literally stealing God’s word from people, as has been done and is being done.

Changing the Bible is stealing God’s word from people. God’s prophets weren’t meant to alter the message, edit the message, revise the message, adjust the message, manipulate the message… they were meant to PREACH the message exactly as God said it. And the message was meant to come from God’s word… these false prophets in Jeremiah’s day got their message from every source other than God’s word. But boy their messages sounded good, and they sounded “close” to the truth… just they weren’t the truth.

Look at the word “damnable” heresies. Why is it damnable? Because their lies are “able” to “damn” you… damnable. Believing a heresy can get you in hell. Contrary to what’s going on in the modern church… DOCTRINE does matter! Heresies are errors in doctrine! This modern church focuses on “what we have in common”… yet where we differ is important. Doctrine is important, and good, right, true, Biblical doctrine is essential to salvation.

Where do heresies, errors in doctrine come from? Well, Bible with errors! My Bible doesn’t have your errors… the new “versions” of God’s word do though, even by their own admission. The fact the Bible is without error is vital… VITAL… to salvation! If God can make a mistake in his word… he can make a mistake in your salvation. If he can’t translate his word… how is he going to translate you into heaven? Go to Jeremiah and guess what was going on there? That’s right. Different Bible versions. There were a lot of prophets with different versions of God’s word… and there were in some cases only subtle differences. Well, the differences did matter!

Look at this word here “denying”. That’s what these new Bibles do… they DENY Christ. Go to 1 John 5:7 in your Bible and check out if your Bible denies Christ right there. But these false teachers deny the Lord. They deny him by not preaching the word. They deny him in not telling people how to be saved. They deny him in repentance. They deny him in salvation. They deny him with their lies. They’re denying people the salvation that the Lord paid for and bought with his own blood. That’s serious business. Jesus died for people, it’s a serious thing to thwart someone’s salvation by getting them to follow lies. These false teachers are leading people away from “so great a salvation’… no wonder this chapter comes down so heavy on them.

“Many shall follow” isn’t that the truth! Many do! Crazy but they do! Notice it’s “their pernicious ways”. It’s not God’s way. And thus because it’s not God’s way… it’s not the right way. And you look up that word “pernicious” and it means “destructive; having the quality of killing…”. Guess what these false prophets are doing… they’re destroying people with their lies. They’re robbing them of salvation and eternal life. They’re going to get people in hell. They’re not leading people to life. They’re not leading people to the prosperity, life, blessedness, peace, love, joy that they’re promising them. It’s a mirage… it’s a sad lie, there is no life in their false gospel. You know those false prophets in Jeremiah who all the people loved? They got everyone killed in the end who listened to them… hence “their pernicious ways”. Don’t make Jeremiah your enemy! He was the guy who truly loved the people of Israel.

And then what happens, and this is a phrase I’ve particularly seen to be true “by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of”. Ain’t that the truth! People speak evil of Jesus Christ because of fake Christians. You look at the Roman Catholic church and all the various denominations which have been so strongly associated with money loving and pedophilia etc… and think of the blaspheming God’s name by these religious bodies which don’t even know Christ.

So why follow these false prophets? Follow Jesus Christ. And the true prophets of God will point you to Jesus Christ, not themselves. They’ll give you God’s word, not some augmented, artificial, lying message that sure, you may want to hear… but you don’t need to hear. What we want and what we need are two very different things most times. Don’t let the heresies of false teachers in this modern Christianity damn you… there are many damnable heresies circulating around “Christendom”… remember, doctrine does matter, what the Bible teaches does matter, where we differ does matter… there are fundamentals and non negotiables of the faith. Follow Christ! Get on the “straight and narrow” with him! Have a great week, trust Christ as your Saviour, and if you have, get in your Bible, read it, soak it in, that way you’ll never be duped by all of Pharaoh’s magicians of Egypt with their replica, imitation, counterfeit yet powerless to save Christianity.

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