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June 18
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ON FALSE TEACHINGS AND DESTRUCTIVE HERESIES
But false prophets also appeared among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their indecent behavior, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. – 2 Peter 2:1-3
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In this letter, Peter warns the believers of what is going to come in the church and the Christian community. He tells them about being infiltrated by false prophets and false teachers whose purpose is to mislead people from following truth. Peter brings this prophecy to the followers of Jesus so they will be prepared when these kinds of people inch their way into body of believers.
Peter paints a picture of what is going to happen when these heretics come into the churches and bring havoc to the people of God. He exposes their tactics and what will eventually happen as such:
• These false teachers and false prophets will deceivingly get in the churches without the people being aware of them – getting into the sheepfold stealthily will create more damage to the followers of Christ.
• Their main goal is to weaken the unity and purity of the believers by introducing destructive heresies and create confusion and chaos in the body.
• They will persuade the people to deny Christ as their Master in order for them to manipulate and control them leading to their destruction.
• Many will fall into the traps that these heretics will present such as indecent behavior which will lead to the malignment of truth.
• In their greed, they will exploit and manipulate God’s people with lies and false teachings which are devised so cleverly that may not be so clearly seen until the believers have already fallen into their traps.
Despite all these schemes that the devil plans, Peter reminds the believers in verse 3 that they shouldn’t be discouraged because they serve a God who will not let evil unpunished. He is not asleep and he is a God who is just and will surely bring destruction to such wickedness and protect his people.
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REFLECTION
• Why is it important to know how the enemy works as prophesied by Peter here?