The Rise and Fall of False Teachers
"...the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from a trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment..."
I’ve been stuck in a rut for a few weeks, between my wife having surgery on her foot and having to take care of her, and also her grandmother passing away and doing all of the family stuff that came with that. But all of life getting in the way has actually kept us from being able to make it to church (combination of me working, wife unable to really get out of the house, and having family in from out of town). As such, I’ve got 3 different articles that I’ve started on but can’t seem to find any traction getting over that mid-point hump and finding a good way to finish. Today we were able to get back to church. And almost as soon as we got settled in to our usual seats and idea came to me and I took off writing. So today, we’ll be looking at 2 Peter Chapter 2.
“1 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
Maybe it’s due to my age, but it feels like we’re seeing more and more blatantly wrong and even maliciously misrepresented teachings claiming to be “Christian” or “theological” showing up in mainstream religion. “And many will follow their destructive ways1” has become the norm of late. Of course it has. It’s easier to go along with false teaching than it is to stand up and call it out. Human nature, for most people at least, is to avoid confrontation. The enemy knows that. The enemy of truth and life knows that the way to turn people away from that which is pure and righteous is to prey on inaction and complacency. To put people in positions of power and authority to move the body of Christ away from sound theological principles and embrace the world instead.
You can see it in Catholic seminaries that are filled with non-believers who view it as a sound profession and a steady paycheck (while participating in gay orgies hosted by the seminary itself2). You see it in the prosperity preachers who never say anything of substance but assure your salvation if you just buy this book or send some more money! You see it in the Methodist Church with the progressive leaders who have actively pushed the church toward a rejection of tradition and in to the embrace of worldliness. You see it in those who are associated with the constant attacks on the Southern Baptist Convention (from here out referred to as the SBC) as they try to undermine and chastise the church for upholding Biblical values and pushing back against modernity. And for the most part, the congregations associated with these false teachers go along with it. Not because they believe it’s right or that the Bible had been interpreted wrong and this is what it really meant…or that it’s some living thing that’s meant to change to fit the needs to the world. No. It’s because they don’t have the fortitude of faith to stand up and say “This is wrong!”
“Some people mistake weakness for tact. If they are silent when they ought to speak and so feign an agreement they do not feel, they call it being tactful. Cowardice would be a much better name.” - Frank Medlicott
The Christian church of our modern era is plagued with cowardice. Where are the modern-day Martin Luther’s, hammering a list of grievances to the church door, calling out the wrongs of the church, and calling for something right and better and Biblical? Where are the strong leaders and disciples who are willing, not to face even the threat of death, but just to face the slightest inconvenience of maybe having someone not like what they said? Why isn’t there someone rising up to lead a spiritual revolution?
Well, believe it or not, that courage is there, and it is on the rise. Surprisingly enough, it’s coming from the youth of the nation. As the SBC comes more and more under fire for disallowing female lead-pastors (my thoughts on that topic3) and refusing to affirm LGBTQ+ agendas, there are doomsayers trying to predict the collapse of the SBC because “they aren’t keeping up with the times.” They’ll use stats that say membership numbers are down and the number of congregations is falling. “It’s the end of these backwards, old ways!” Except those numbers don’t tell the full story. Yes, many struggling and dying churches were forced to close due to and in the years following COVID. And yes, with that reduction in the number of official congregations, the number of official membership has also taken a dip. But if you dig further in to all of the stats, what you find is that attendance and offering collections for the SBC has continued to grow. In fact, since 2014 the SBC is the only Protestant denomination that has seen consistent growth while most of the others (especially the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches) have seen significant decline in attendance and offerings. And what’s the common theme? The Presbyterian Church went through a splintering after choosing to affirm gay marriage. The Methodist Church has also gone through the same thing in the wake of the progressive push that has taken place over the past 7 years. But the SBC has stood firmly by Biblical values.
It turns out young people actually ARE attending church (despite mainstream media’s claims to the contrary), but they aren’t attending in the traditional style of past generations. They aren’t big on committing to “official membership” with these churches or denominations. They’ve seen these churches cave to social pressures and they don’t know if they can trust them to remain true to Biblical principles. They’re also flocking to non-denominational, more evangelical types of churches that generally don’t have official memberships and really don’t take roll, they just count attendance. They crave the churches that are preaching and teaching legitimate theology and scripture without “interpretations” that are clearly fabrications of truth to these sharp youngsters who are desperately seeking something true in this world. They’re seeking out churches that stand up for tradition and values and reject modern tropes for popularity’s sake. They are putting their time and money in to the churches that build and serve their communities.
This next generation is fed up with the squishy, feel-good “Christianity.” They’re looking for something real, something true. They will not stand by and tolerate cowardice from those who they are looking to for spiritual salvation. So that means now is the time to be bold as a church. To push back against false teachers and those who pervert the Word of God. To take back our faith and hand it off as a thing of power to those who will succeed us!
2 Peter 2: 2 - from New King James Translation
