2 Peter 3:17-18 (NIV)
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this (since I'm warning you ahead of time), be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless (unprincipled, wicked) men and fall from your secure position (steadfastness). 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Today I want to finish my devotional study of 2 Peter. These are Peter's final words to us. I can't help but stop and think about the life of Peter as we finish out this, his last letter to us. The more I learn and study the life of Peter the more I look up to him as a hero of the faith. Today we look at Peter's last two commands.
The first, "be on guard for false teachers"...
The main theme for this entire letter and others in the New Testament, is warning us about false teachers. This is not just a side note, these are Peters final words! Much care and effort was given to help us discern false teaching. The best way for anyone to detect a false teacher is to know the bible so well, that whenever you hear someone distort the truth of scripture, it is immediately noticed. However, we are not all trained bible scholars, so how do we determine who is false and who is true. This letter helps us to detect these false teachers by exposing the hidden motives that they use to fool people. In the final analysis, the leading culprit is plain greed!
My advice, is to be wary of TV Christianity. Most of what is propagated as Christianity is far from it. There are a few good teachers on TV, but mostly what you see is either the "Greed Gospel" of T.D. Jakes and Paula White, or the "Feel Good/Personal Improvement/Positive Thinking Gospel" of Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer. There are many other deceivers out there, some of the more famous ones are Benny Hinn, Jesse Duplantis, Kenneth & Gloria Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Rodney Howard Browne, Richard Roberts, & Rod Parsley to name a few. As with all false teachers, if you listen to them, you will probably hear some truth mixed in with the error, but this is how these people dupe so many. Here are some photos so you can know who I'm talking about. (They are shown in the order that I mentioned them).
.
How DARE I list names like this, you say?! Because I am 100% sure that these people are not teaching the full counsel of scripture and in many cases have already been exposed as frauds. It's better to avoid them so as not to get lured into their false teachings. My further advise is to get your bible teaching from the bible and trusted commentaries, not the TV.
The second and last command that Peter gives us is, "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ..."
The primary way we do this is by spending much time reading and meditating on scripture. Christ is revealed in the bible and the better we "know" the text, the better we know Him. Also, the better we know the scriptures the more discerning we will be when confronted with false teaching. I believe that we grow in grace as we are transformed day by day into the image of Christ. We do all this because we love Christ and want to see Him receive the glory He deserves, not drug throught the mud by false teachers who abuse His name for financial gain. Please join me in praying that these false teachers would be convicted of their sin and repent and begin preaching the true gospel.
P.S. Sorry if I listed one of your favorite teachers here. I'm not really worried about stepping on toes in this case. I am greatly concerned about how many people are being led into deception by those who claim to be Christian teachers. I feel that I have a moral and biblical obligation to expose false teaching. I would hope that all who read this post will have a renewed interest in checking into these things. After all, it was extremely important to the writers of the bible. I'm just following thier lead.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this (since I'm warning you ahead of time), be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless (unprincipled, wicked) men and fall from your secure position (steadfastness). 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Today I want to finish my devotional study of 2 Peter. These are Peter's final words to us. I can't help but stop and think about the life of Peter as we finish out this, his last letter to us. The more I learn and study the life of Peter the more I look up to him as a hero of the faith. Today we look at Peter's last two commands.
The first, "be on guard for false teachers"...
The main theme for this entire letter and others in the New Testament, is warning us about false teachers. This is not just a side note, these are Peters final words! Much care and effort was given to help us discern false teaching. The best way for anyone to detect a false teacher is to know the bible so well, that whenever you hear someone distort the truth of scripture, it is immediately noticed. However, we are not all trained bible scholars, so how do we determine who is false and who is true. This letter helps us to detect these false teachers by exposing the hidden motives that they use to fool people. In the final analysis, the leading culprit is plain greed!
My advice, is to be wary of TV Christianity. Most of what is propagated as Christianity is far from it. There are a few good teachers on TV, but mostly what you see is either the "Greed Gospel" of T.D. Jakes and Paula White, or the "Feel Good/Personal Improvement/Positive Thinking Gospel" of Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer. There are many other deceivers out there, some of the more famous ones are Benny Hinn, Jesse Duplantis, Kenneth & Gloria Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Rodney Howard Browne, Richard Roberts, & Rod Parsley to name a few. As with all false teachers, if you listen to them, you will probably hear some truth mixed in with the error, but this is how these people dupe so many. Here are some photos so you can know who I'm talking about. (They are shown in the order that I mentioned them).
.
How DARE I list names like this, you say?! Because I am 100% sure that these people are not teaching the full counsel of scripture and in many cases have already been exposed as frauds. It's better to avoid them so as not to get lured into their false teachings. My further advise is to get your bible teaching from the bible and trusted commentaries, not the TV.
The primary way we do this is by spending much time reading and meditating on scripture. Christ is revealed in the bible and the better we "know" the text, the better we know Him. Also, the better we know the scriptures the more discerning we will be when confronted with false teaching. I believe that we grow in grace as we are transformed day by day into the image of Christ. We do all this because we love Christ and want to see Him receive the glory He deserves, not drug throught the mud by false teachers who abuse His name for financial gain. Please join me in praying that these false teachers would be convicted of their sin and repent and begin preaching the true gospel.
P.S. Sorry if I listed one of your favorite teachers here. I'm not really worried about stepping on toes in this case. I am greatly concerned about how many people are being led into deception by those who claim to be Christian teachers. I feel that I have a moral and biblical obligation to expose false teaching. I would hope that all who read this post will have a renewed interest in checking into these things. After all, it was extremely important to the writers of the bible. I'm just following thier lead.
They're everywhere and they are cloning themselves, morphing themselves, dividing themselves and lauding one another for their exploits. There truly is no light in them. The decieve grandmothers, single parents, impressionalbe children, and the needy. I have seen psychological games played on the congregation that are so subtle, no one caught on to what was being done. Videos that would steer epileptics toward convulsion coupled with an audio track right out of the subliminal toolbox and a voice over straight from the churh of Oprah--and this minister had a psychology degree and knew exactly what effect that would have on his congregation.
ReplyDeleteThey all know, I am the laity and know what is going on, they have only form of godliness and finding a preacher to trust for the truth is more difficult than ever.
Pray for me that God will lead me to the right service...
God Bless...
Me