The greatest sin of those who reject Christ is their misrepresentation of the truth and the resultant deception. This is a work of Satan. His name means “adversary.” He is also called “the Devil.” This word in Greek means “the Slanderer.” Jesus called him a liar and a murderer. When we are in the battle against those who hate our faith and attack the veracity of the Word of God, there will be a commonality in their tactics.

1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron…1 Timothy 4:1-2 (NASB) 

In these last days, there appears to be a clarifying work of God going on in within the Visible Church. In the early church and in all those historic periods when it was not “comfortable” to be counted among those who named Christ as their Lord and Saviour, the genuine believers were easy to spot. They endured. They may have undergone severe persecution even unto death, but they did not fall away. Since the end of Puritanism, Christianity has taken on a role in the West that ensured religious freedom. Humanism began to encroach upon doctrine and in every aspect of how Church was done. Despite bright spots in this period such as the Great Awakening and then later the ministries of men like Charles Spurgeon, a downgrade in doctrine began to emerge into the Church. Humanism begat Liberal Theology which devastated the Church. A backlash against it called Fundamentalism was born. It was a move away from Liberal Theology, but it’s doctrines bore the stamp of legalism in many areas. This caused a backlash in the opposite direction that begat the emergent church movement and the New Evangelism. 

These movements are even less doctrinally sound than those they are attempting to suppliant. Through all of this there has remained a Remnant of solid Christians who have not bowed the knee to Baal. This ministry is directed at this Remnant. Much of what we do here is teach God’s Word to edify and lead God’s people to live lives of repentance. However, there are times when this ministry becomes part of the battle against the encroachment of false doctrines and heresy. This post is one of those, but instead of looking at doctrine we will look at the characteristics of false teachers and prophets so believers will be able to recognize their characteristics and methods.

1 But false prophets also arose 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 sensuality, 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 (NASB) 

The greatest sin of those who reject Christ is their misrepresentation of the truth and the resultant deception. This is a work of Satan. His name means “adversary.” He is also called “the Devil.” This word in Greek means “the Slanderer.” Jesus called him a liar and a murderer. When we are in the battle against those who hate our faith and attack the veracity of the Word of God, there will be a commonality in their tactics. They misrepresent the truth, they lie, and they accuse God and us of all sorts of things that are untrue.

False prophets are those who claim to speak for God and proclaim salvation to people, but they really speak for Satan to the destruction of those they deceive. This is the epitome of wickedness. My abbreviated and largely incomplete history of the Church with which I opened this post does show that the decimation of the Church began when destructive heresies were allowed to be taught unchallenged. For example, Arianism denied the deity of Christ. It’s doctrines were very similar to that of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. However, the Council of Nicea met and dealt with that heresy to the point that in a generation it was largely dead. However, in the late 19th Century the Jehovah’s Witnesses began and were not dealt with by the Church. They have deceived untold number of people who have followed them to destruction.

Heresies are self-designed religious lies which lead to division and faction. The Greek word that Peter used for “destructive” means “damnation.” These heresies are damnable in that those who are ensnared by them will end up damned forever in the Lake of Fire. In our day the cry from way to many religious leaders is “Tolerance!” This is tragic because it actually legitimatizes that which is heretical within a body of believers.

What does it mean that these false teachers and prophets are guilty of, “even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction?” The Greek word used for “Master” here is δεσποτην (Despotes). It describes a master of slaves or servants and not always in a good light. This word is used only 10 times in the New Testament. On the other hand, Jesus our Lord is called κυριον (Kurios) throughout the New Testament. This word describes one who is a good master or owner. Both words are translated as “Lord” or “Master,” but they have very different meanings. Is Peter using δεσποτην to describe our Lord Jesus Christ here? This Master has bought these false teachers and they are so bad they are even denying him. What does this mean?

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