2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
Paul goes into great detail concerning their depraved conduct in 1Timothy 4. This conduct has certainly caused the way of truth to be brought into disrepute, which was Satan’s strategy. For example the Pedophile priests in the Catholic church have caused the church to be mocked derisively. Televangelists and Preachers of the “prosperity gospel” who are always hawking their books and peddling their prayers are another group that bring disrepute onto Christians. A third group very easy to mock are those who predicted the day and hour of the Lord’s rapture only to be totally shamed. But in this chapter I want to focus on a fourth group that is never brought up. After the rapture there will be many Christians who are left behind. Among those will be those who ignored the Lord’s word and taught others to ignore it as well.
3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories.
Their claim to a ministry is based on a falsehood, a fabricated story. Dig down and you will see their entire house rests on a foundation of sinking sand. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;
This is a direct reference to the Book of Enoch, a prophecy that predated Peter’s epistles and yet did not make it into the Bible. There are several possible explanations for this that fall into two categories. The first is that although it is a true prophecy inspired by God it is not part of our Covenant with God. The Bible does not include all of the genuine prophecies and speakings of God, only those that are part of our covenant with God. The fact that Peter, Jude and Paul reference Enoch tells you they consider the revelation to be genuine. The second explanation is that Enoch says things that can be considered idolatrous. This is a key point in discerning false prophets, the fact that they speak the truth is not evidence that they are true prophets. Just like John said, any who deny that Jesus has come in the flesh are one with the spirit of the antichrist. In 2Timothy 3 Paul tells us we’ll identify the impostors by what they do, not by what they say. Their actions expose who they are. Jesus said we would know them by their fruit, not by their works (leaves).
5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
Noah was a preacher of righteousness and as a result his whole family was saved. There is a big difference between a “preacher of righteousness” and “the prosperity gospel”. A preacher of righteousness speaks words that are salt, killing the germs, and light, shining in the darkness and exposing the creeping things.
6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless 8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—
A righteous man is different from a “preacher of righteousness”. Lot was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless, he was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard. But he didn’t preach anything to his neighbors. We see him being rebuked by the people of the town “how dare you tell us how to live” when they wanted to rape the two angels sent to him. Lot had learned to keep his mouth shut and not cause trouble. As a result he barely saved himself and his two daughters and even then it was a shameful rescue. Some people think “can’t we all get along”? No, we can’t. The Lord is bringing in His kingdom, that means Satan and his angels are going to be judged, condemned and cast into Hell. They are not going to go without a fight. You can’t straddle the fence, pick a side. Either you are with the Lord or you aren’t. Once again, this is the group of false prophets I want to focus on, those that want to blend in with Sodom and Gomorrah and just hope that everyone can just get along but are too timid to be a preacher of righteousness.
9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. 10 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority.
What is he talking about? Go to Youtube and search for “Protests” and you can see videos shot in the last month of people following the corrupt desire of the flesh and despising authority. I can’t repeat what is said in those videos on this blog because ChristianChat would censor that. Suffice it to say they despise authority, they are corrupt, and the deeds I have seen and heard about are lawless. Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings; They are very bold with bull horns, very arrogant, and very abusive. I have heard a lot of four letter words from their mouths aimed at Presidents, Governors, Mayors, Police departments, and anyone else in authority.
11 yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the Lord. 12 But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.
We have seen this as well. Jacob Blake was shot in the back seven times on a Youtube video while trying to get into his car with three kids in the back seat. This provoked a stream of blasphemous comments from people who did not understand why. It turns out that he had a warrant for his arrest because he had not shown up to court on a charge of domestic abuse which could also be understood as rape. In addition, the woman who had a restraining order on him had called the police because he was at her home in violation of that order. Also the children in the car were in danger of becoming hostages. The police had tried to restrain him but he had gotten free and was trying to pull out a knife from the front seat of his car. By the time the truth had gotten out concerning what had happened many had already heaped abuse on the police and started riots and looting in that city.
13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done.
They destroy their own town. The jobs lost will be the jobs that they might have gotten. It will take time but many will be caught, convicted and have a permanent record as a felon as a result of their rioting and looting. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. 100+ days of protests in some cities. Who has the time or inclination to do this? They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.
14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! 15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness.
This chapter refers to Enoch, Noah, Lot and Balaam. These are all fascinating examples, some of which are false prophets. Balaam is the Old Testament example of a false prophet. Every word he spoke, recorded in Numbers was the word of God. A false prophet does not mean “phony” prophet. Balaam was a legitimate prophet, but he was false. He didn’t love God, he loved the wages of wickedness. His refusal to not deviate from one word that the Lord spoke was because he realized his value and worth came from people trusting that he was speaking the word of God. Privately, secretly he taught Balak how to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel. He knew how to bring down God’s people according to the word of God and he had no qualms about teaching that to others for a price. His selling the word of God and the truth for money was what made him false. It was his prophecy that Daniel was able to interpret and know what the sign in the heavens would be when Jesus came. Daniel taught this to the Magi who then brought gifts to Jesus in Bethlehem when they saw His star.
16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
Yes, Balaam could read the signs in the heavens, but was clueless when it came to wrongdoing and chasing after money like a lunatic. Even a donkey, an animal known for acting like a donkey, had to rebuke this guy.
