Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 2 Peter 2:9-12 - Should Christians Speak Evil of Demons?

Transcript

2 Peter 2:9-12 - Should Christians Speak Evil of Demons? · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Life Audio. You are listening to The Bible Explained with
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Jen Koukl, a P40 Ministries podcast. Hi, faithful listeners. It
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: is Jen with The Bible Explained podcast. Hope you all
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: have been having a good start to your week so far.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: And I'm excited to dive into our portion for today.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: But before we do, here's a sponsored advertisement. All right,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, I really do appreciate you listening to that advertisement.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and read 2 Peter 2, 9 through
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: 12 together. And as you guys know, I read from
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: the World English Bible, which by the way, I have
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: a lot of people often reach out asking like what
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: the World English Bible is and where to find it.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: You can find it just online, pretty much anywhere. If
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: you go to Bible Gateway, it's actually right there in
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: their list of translations that they have. You just scroll
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: to like the very bottom of the list and there
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: it is, the World English Bible or the W-E-B. All right,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: let's read 2 Peter 2, 9 through 12. Grab your
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Bible and let's jump in. Then the Lord knows how
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, but
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: of defilement and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels, though greater
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: in might and power, don't bring a slanderous judgment against
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: them before the Lord. But these, as unreasoning creatures, born
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: natural animals to be taken and destroyed, speaking evil in
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: matters about which they are ignorant, will in their destroying
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: surely be destroyed. I find it a bit unfortunate that
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: I've had to break up 2 Peter 2 into separate episodes.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: But unfortunately, I kind of have to because if I don't,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: I'll just be sitting here talking about it for many hours.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: But on Thursday, we talked about the first portion of
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: 2 Peter 2 and how Peter starts talking about these
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: false prophets and false teachers that are going to come
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: into the church. It says in verse 1, False prophets
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: also arose among the people, as false teachers will also
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: denying even the master who bought them, bringing on themselves
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: swift destruction. So when he mentions the prophets that arose
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: among the people, he's talking about the Old Testament days
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: where there are a lot of very good and true prophets,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: but there are also a lot of very bad prophets,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: probably even more so than good ones at a certain point,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: because so many prophets were just pretending to be holy,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: pretending to have a word of knowledge from God so
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: that they could get something for themselves, whether it was
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: money or fame or prestige or whatever it might be.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: These false prophets came in in droves in the Old
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Testament days to lead people astray, and they didn't care
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: about the people. They just cared for their own money,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: their own profit. So just as there were false prophets
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: in the Old Testament days, there will be false teachers now,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: all the time coming into the church and trying to
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: lead people astray for their own gain. And so on Thursday,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: we talked about how we need to reject these false
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: prophecies that come in, just as Noah and Lot did
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: back in their days. They rejected what was happening in
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: their time and not just rejected it, but were actively
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: trying to get people to turn away from their sins.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: And God rescued those two men and their families from
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: the destruction he was going to show both Sodom and
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Gomorrah and the world broadly during the great global flood.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: But because these men rejected that sin, they were saved
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: along with their families. So we have to be like
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: these men and turn away from these false and destructive heresies.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: It says in verse 9 that God knows how to
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment. And that
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: goes back to God rescuing Noah and Lot in their
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: time periods. God saved them from the temptation that was
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: all around them. He saved them and delivered them and
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: also brought the world and Sodom and Gomorrah under destruction
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: for all of the corrupt and violent sins that were
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: happening at that time. So God knows how to rescue
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: the righteous while also bringing the unrighteous to judgment is
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: kind of what Peter is getting at here. And that's
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: something that you and I don't have to fear. If
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: we are truly being like Noah and Lot and We
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: don't have to fear the judgment of God. There's a
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: beautiful Psalm that talks about this very thing. Psalm 91.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: And it starts by saying, whoever dwells in the shelter
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: of the most high will rest in the shadow of
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: the almighty. And that is the NIV version. But it
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: goes on to say that, you know, a plague can
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: strike all these people around you. You're going to watch
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: with your eyes as 10,000 around you die, but that
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: plague will not touch you. So God knows how to
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: rescue his people from, while also showing judgment to the
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: unrighteous person. And now Peter goes into what these unrighteous
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: false teachers are going to do. Things that you can
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: watch out for yourself and make a note of, kind
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: of like a red flag in your brain, to see
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: if he or she really is a false teacher. Even
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: if it's somebody that you've known for years and years
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: and years, or somebody that you've been listening to for
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: years and years and years. If they start to show
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: some of these signs that Peter is going to give here,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: then that should definitely be a red flag to you.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: He says in verse 10, that they chiefly walk after
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise authority.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: So there's a couple things we can talk about here.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: The first being that they walk after the flesh. What
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: might that look like? Well, I would say this is
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: somebody very lustful or greedy, somebody who is twisting scripture
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: and teaching incorrect truths, teaching a new gospel for dishonest gain,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: whatever that might look like for them. And it actually
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: says that one of the things that an elder cannot
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: be in second Timothy is greedy for money. Otherwise he
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: is disqualified according to scripture. Now that doesn't mean that
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: we can't pay our pastors. That doesn't mean that pastors
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: can't take a paycheck. In fact, there are a lot
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: of verses in the Bible that do say to pay
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: your teachers and your pastors. The verse given is don't
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: make the ox and tread out the grain and and
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: muzzle him at the same time. You can't force somebody
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: to do work for free. Those who preach the gospel
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: and that is their job should be allowed to get paid.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: And there's nothing wrong with that specifically. But if that
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: pastor is greedy and just not content and is doing
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: weird manipulation to always get more money, specifically spiritual manipulation, unfortunately,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: this happens a lot in the church where it's like,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: God will bless you more if you give me money.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: If you want prayer, you just need to pay me
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: $ 200 per prayer and I will, with the power of
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit, pray for you and you will be healed.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Or you need to just sow a seed. That's the
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: big one I keep hearing now. You got to sow
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: a seed. You got to lay a seed at the
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: foot of the pastor or prophetess and he or she
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: will bless your child with good health or she'll bless
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: you with a good marriage if you give him or
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: her money. All these things are spiritual manipulation to get
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: more money for themselves. Jesus actually said, freely I give
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: to you, so freely you should give to others. We're
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: not to demand money from people to teach the good
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: news to them or to heal them or anything like that.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: And money should never be spiritually manipulated out of somebody.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: God loves the cheerful giver. You give out a conviction,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: not because you are forced to or because you're manipulated
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: into doing it or because other people are watching you
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: or for any other reason. That's not a good motivation
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: to give. So we have to be watchful of our teachers.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Are they manipulating people into giving them money? Are they
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: misusing scripture for their own gain? Are they asking people
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: to pay them for healing or for prayer or anything
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: along those lines, things that are just not scriptural. We
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: got to be watchful of that kind of stuff. So
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: that's the first red flag that Peter gives right here.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: The second red flag is that these false teachers despise authority.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: If your pastor or your teacher just refuses to have
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: any kind of authority over them, they say, no, I
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: don't have to listen to authority. I am the authority.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: If they say something like that, if they surround themselves
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: with a board of yes men, or if they call
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: themselves the head of the church, watch out for that person.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: This can look like a lot of different things. This
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: can look like getting rid of the elder board. This
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: can look like ostracizing elders. This can look like just
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: refusing outright to what the elders are saying. This can
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: look like The pastor thinking he is above the elders,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: saying that he has no need for elders, trying to
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: establish a different type of elder board that is not
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: found in scripture. This can look like a lot of
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: different things. But this can also look like pastors that
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: completely despise government authority as well, that try to, you know,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: go out and sort of fight the power and have
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: like a coalition behind them. that riot and cause distress and,
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: you know, vandalize stuff, that's not good either. But probably
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: Peter is talking more about the spiritual authority, like despising... that,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: which is unfortunately what a lot of pastors have a
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: tendency to do. They consider themselves the authority on something.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: And that is just clearly not scriptural. As we've been
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: talking about ad nauseum on this podcast recently, There is
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: no guideline for a head pastor or a head priest
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: or any head guy in the church governance. There is
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: no case to be made for it. It is not
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: found anywhere in scripture. Instead, what you do find in
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: scripture is multiple pastors, rather elders or overseers of the church.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: And there's not one ahead of the other one. That's
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: why Peter himself called himself a fellow elder. He did
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: not put himself at the top of anything. There's not
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: supposed to be a church hierarchy system. In fact, even
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Jesus himself, we talked about this last week on the podcast.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Jesus told his disciples, you're going to be different. You
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: are going to be humble servants of the church. So
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: you can't find any biblical basis for a church hierarchy structure.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: It's just not found in it. Where it came from
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: actually was the early church fathers. specifically St. Ignatius of Antioch,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: who started the idea of church hierarchy around 110 AD,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: which is approximately like 20 years after the book of
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Revelation was written. St. Ignatius of Antioch strongly championed monarchy episcopate,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: which is like a single bishop heading over a local church.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: And he insisted that submission to the bishop was essential
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: for church unity. So this guy just like made stuff
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: up and that wasn't even found in scripture. And this
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: is where we get the church hierarchy to this day
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: is from one of the early church fathers. It's not biblical,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: but yet people will look at somebody like St. Ignatius
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: of Antioch and be like, oh, he's a church father
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: that has so much knowledge and so much wisdom from
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. Well, if you are going... completely against
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: what the Bible says, then no, you do not have wisdom.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Because he encouraged the early church leaders to do exactly
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: what Peter warns against right here, to establish a hierarchy
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: where somebody is at the top of everything and that
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: person doesn't have elders to keep him accountable, doesn't have
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: any human authority to keep him accountable. Yes, God is
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: going to be his authority. Obviously, God is going to
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: be his judge and God is all of our authority, hopefully.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: But this sets that leader up for failure and for
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: narcissism and for doing exactly what Peter warns against right here,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: which is despising authority because you consider yourself the authority.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: That is not how scripture commands church to be done.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: But Peter is not just talking about pastors or elders here.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: He's talking about anybody who claims to be a teacher.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: So that would include people like me, I suppose, people
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: who are on YouTube that teach certain things, people who
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: are on podcasts. That could be really anybody who claims
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: the title of teacher, or even if they don't claim
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: that title, somebody who teaches spiritual things. So what about
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: those particular people? Well, first and foremost, you have to
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: make sure that everything they say lines up with scripture.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: And actually, we just talked about this yesterday on the podcast.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: It's so funny how the book of 1 and 2
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Peter is lining up so well. perfectly with the book
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: of Job right now. But we talked about how these
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: people called the Bereans ended up searching through the scriptures
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: to make sure that the teachings of Paul were accurate.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: And they were considered to be noble individuals for doing that.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: So you have to make sure that everybody you're consuming,
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: me included, that we line up with the truth. But
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: even for people like me, podcasters, it's very important that
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: they have some sort of structure that is keeping them
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: accountable with what they are talking about. And if you're
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: curious about me, well, thankfully I do have people that
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: keep me accountable. I have my mom who is very,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: very knowledgeable in the scriptures and takes it very seriously
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: and I have my husband, who was an elder at
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: the church and is very knowledgeable in the scriptures himself.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: He listens to my podcast. And then I have my sister,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: who is also very well versed in the scriptures, not
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: to mention all of you guys as well. I am
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: not opposed to any of you guys reaching out with
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: a concern that you might have with something that I'm saying.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: So I'm not trying to bore you guys with what
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: my structure looks like, but I do have some people
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: that I expect and hope will keep me accountable. And
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: you guys all listening will hopefully do the exact same
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: thing as well if you find me to be off
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: somewhere in Scripture. And I encourage all of you guys,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: don't take what I'm saying as the final authority or
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: the final truth. Scripture is to be your final authority
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: and authority. your final truth. Be like the Bereans and
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: not just with me, but with everybody, everything that is
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: considered spiritual, everyone that comes to you with some sort
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: of teaching, take it back to scripture. That is your
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: final authority. But continuing on in verse 10, he says
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: they are daring, self-willed, and they are not afraid to
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: speak evil of dignitaries. Whereas angels, though greater in might
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: and power, don't bring a slanderous judgment against them before
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: the Lord. This is a really interesting statement that Peter
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: gives right here because he mentions these dignitaries. And if
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: you go to the Greek word for dignitaries, it's actually
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: doxa or doxa. I'm not sure how to pronounce it.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: I apologize for that. I'm going to say it's doxa.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: And this word often talks about divine glory, glorious splendor,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: and also is referred to as celestial beings, which is
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: usually how it's translated in most versions. Whereas the W-E-B
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: just says dignitaries, a lot of times it's translated as
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: celestial beings. So if you read from the NIV version,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: the verse will say, Bold and arrogant, they are not
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings. And because Jude
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: 6 through 11 actually kind of repeats Peter word for
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: word and says something very similar. Actually, let's go over
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: to Jude chapter 1 and read verse 8. Jude is
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: talking about the same thing, like false teachers that defile
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: themselves and slander holy ones. So let's read about that.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: It says, Yet in the same way, these, or false teachers,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: also in their dreaming, defile the flesh, despise authority, and
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: slander celestial beings. But Michael the archangel, when contending with
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: the devil and arguing about the body of Moses, dared
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: not bring against him an abusive condemnation, but said, May
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: the Lord rebuke you. but these speak evil of whatever
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: things they don't know. They are destroyed in the things
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: that they understand naturally, like creatures without reason. Woe to them,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: for they went in the way of Cain and ran
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: riotously in the error of Balaam for hire and perished
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: in Korah's rebellion. They're both talking about the same things.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: These false teachers that slander celestial beings, but even angels
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: who are way more powerful than human beings will not
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: slander these celestial beings. And Jude gives an example right
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: here of Michael, the archangel, who was arguing with Satan
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: over the body of Moses, interestingly enough. And something happened
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: there where they got into an argument, but Michael, the archangel,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: did not slander Satan or condemn him abusively, but instead
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: he told him, may the Lord rebuke you. So he
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: left the judgment up to God himself. for God to
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: deal with Satan as God feels best to do. So
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Peter essentially says the same thing in verse 11. He says,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Whereas angels, though greater in might and power, don't bring
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord. But these,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: the false teachers, as unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: be taken and destroyed, speaking evil in matters about which
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: they are ignorant, will in their destroying surely be destroyed.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: So most likely, Peter and Jude both, when they mention
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: these celestial beings, are talking about demonic kind of forces.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: And this brings the question, how do false teachers slander
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: or condemn the demons? And honestly, I'm going to say
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: right out that this question stumps me. I do not know.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: I tried to find answers for this online and could
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: find absolutely nothing. nothing. So I'm going to just give
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: my two cents and we'll see how that goes. But
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: this is not specifically scriptural. This is just Jen's two cents.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: So the way that I think that somebody could slander
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: or condemn an evil spirit is probably either mocking demons
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: and saying that they do not exist or you know,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: slandering them in that sense, being like, no, no, no,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: they do not exist. That is just, you know, fake
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: or demons are just an idea or whatever else they
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: might say, just claiming that they do not exist. False teachers,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: I am sure, do that. Though I've never heard a
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: teacher do that, I am sure many do. Might also
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: look like having confident takes on spiritual or supernatural realities.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Maybe using these spiritual beings for dishonest gains or lying
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: about their ability to control these entities. You know, something
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: along those lines. There's a story in Acts that talks
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: about these men who saw that Paul and other apostles
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: could cast out demons. And they decided that they were
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: going to go out and do the exact same thing.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: But they were doing it not because they believed in Jesus,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: but for dishonest gain. So they started using Jesus's name
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: to cast out these demons. And after a while, they
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: encountered a demon. And the demon said, well, I know
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: who Paul is and I know who Jesus is. but
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: I do not know who you guys are. And the
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: demon inside this man actually overtook these men and forced
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: them to run away completely naked. And that might be
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: something that Peter is talking about here, pretending that you
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: can control these spirits when you actually cannot, when you
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: have no real authority over them. And here's the thing,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: that is very common to this day. People pretending that
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: they can cast out demons, but they're doing it for
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: dishonest gain I mean, you can go onto YouTube right
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: now and look up deliverance, right? and see some sort
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: of false teacher talking about how they just cast out
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: a demon. And these videos get millions of views because
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: people believe it. They're like, oh, wow, that person just
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: cast a demon out of that little boy. How amazing
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: is that? Or that person just healed this other person
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: and cast a demon out of them that was causing
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: some sort of issue in their life. But a lot
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: of times, unfortunately, many of these accounts are fake. These
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: people are just pretending to cast out these demons. because
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: you find out later on that these people were never
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: really healed. A lot of times you'll see people going
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: back for another kind of deliverance, because they're like, oh,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: the demon didn't really get cast out the first time
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: or it came back. You know, no, when God sets
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: you free, you are free indeed. That is what scripture says.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: So I would say that a good portion, unfortunately, of
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: those kind of deliverance ministries are usually false. And we
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: have to be really careful of that because that could
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: be what Peter is talking about here. But the last
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: thing that Peter may be saying is kind of like
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: heaping abuse on these entities. You know, even though it
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: is Satan and we don't like Satan and his demons
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: and we don't like demons, just as Michael the archangel
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: refused to cast Serious judgment and abuse on Satan, though
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Satan was wrong with whatever he was doing, just as
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: he left the judgment up to God, so we should
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: do the exact same thing. rather than casting extreme abuse
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: on these entities. And actually, Jesus did kind of say
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: something like this in Luke chapter 10, 18 through 20.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Here's what he told his disciples. He said to them, Behold,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: in any way hurt you. Nevertheless, don't rejoice in this,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: your names are written in heaven. So even Jesus says,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: do not rejoice over the fact that I give you
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: authority over these spirits. Don't rejoice over that. You know,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of people in certain Christian circles that do,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: in fact, rejoice that demons submit to them. And they
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: might have really harsh condemnation for these demons. But that
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: could be crossing a line, crossing a line that both
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Jesus and Peter tell us not to cross. So we
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: got to be really careful about this kind of stuff
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: and just make sure that we don't do what Peter
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: is talking about right here. So now to conclude in
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: verse 12, Peter says, but these, the false teachers, as
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to be taken and destroyed,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: speaking evil in matters about which they are ignorant will
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: in their destroying surely be destroyed. As they destroy other
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: people with their false teachings, these people will be destroyed themselves.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: There's a verse in, I think it's Galatians. I did
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: not look this verse up. It just came to my mind.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Let me just see if I can find it here. Yeah,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: it's Galatians 1, 6 through 9. This is Paul speaking
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: to the Galatian church. He says, I marvel that you
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: are so quickly deserting him who called you in the
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: grace of Christ to a different good news. But there
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: isn't another good news. Only there are some who trouble
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: you and want to pervert the good news of Christ.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: But even though we or an angel from heaven should
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: preach to you any other good news other than that
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: which we preach to you, let him be cursed. As
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: we have said before, so now I say again, if
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: any man preaches to you any good news other than
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: that which you received, let him be cursed. So Paul's like, look,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: even if I decide to come out and start preaching
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: another gospel, one that you did not hear, let me
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: be cursed. Even if an angel from heaven, comes down
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: and starts preaching a different gospel other than the one
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: that you know, let him be cursed. So just as
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: Peter says that these false teachers are going to come
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: in and destroy people, they're going to be destroyed in
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: their destroying because they are going to be cursed for
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: preaching a gospel that is not the true gospel. Well,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, this portion of scripture I think is really interesting.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: And I wanted to get to more of it in
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: 2 Peter. But after I was talking about the first
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: verse for today, for like 10 minutes, I was like,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: oh boy. Yeah, I'm not going to get to the
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: whole portion, I guess. But you know what? It's good to,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: I think, go through these verses and really exegetically look
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: at them, you know, to see what the true context is,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: to see what other passages of the Bible have to say.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: So going through the Bible slowly is definitely not a
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: problem in my book. So I hope you guys stick
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: with me on Thursday as we talk more about 2
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Peter 2 and just more red flags that Peter gets
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: to about these false teachers that are in our church
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: right now. And that started very, very early, even in
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: the days of Peter and Paul. These guys were constantly
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: trying to get heresies out of the church. And that
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: is something that all of us, all of us Christians,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: should be, I think, very diligent in. Because if this
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: is such a big problem where pretty much every verse
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: talks about some sort of heresy, some sort of untruth
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: that kind of creeps its way in, it should be
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: important to us as well. Faithful listeners, I appreciate you
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: sticking with me to the end of the episode. I'm
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: going to let you all go with a happy listening
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: and God bless right after this sponsored ad. I've kind
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: of been fixated on this topic recently, as you guys
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: can tell, because I think that the church has a
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: big problem where we say, oh, because somebody is doing
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: something good, then that means all the things they're teaching
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: must also be good. They have a lot of people
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: in their church because their songs are number one hits,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: because of any other plethora of reasons, because they did
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: something nice for somebody at one point, or they gave
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: a lot of money to somebody at one point. But
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: we have to be really careful about falling into that
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: kind of mindset, because even the Pharisees did good things,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: but Jesus condemned them on a handful of different occasions
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: for the evil that they were harboring in their hearts
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: and the dishonest gain that they were trying to get
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: for themselves. I mean, even consider what Peter talks about
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: in verses 15 and 16 of this passage, which we
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: didn't get to today, unfortunately. But he talks about Balaam,
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: the son of Baor. Balaam, honestly, was a prophet. Like
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: he could hear from God and he never specifically said
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: any false prophecy. But what he did do was encourage
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: people to stray away from Yahweh for his own dishonest gains.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: And that is exactly what a lot of people who
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: seem to be doing good things, who seem to be
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: saying the right things, are actually doing in their hearts.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: And then they're coming into the church and spreading very craftily,
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: I may add, a gospel that is not the gospel
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: we read about in scripture. So we have to be
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: on guard against that kind of stuff. Faithful listeners, have
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: a fantastic and wonderful rest of your Tuesday. I'll see
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: you guys tomorrow morning, bright and early. for an episode
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: in Job, where Job responds to his friend, Bildad. Hope
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: to see all of you faithful listeners then. But until tomorrow,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: happy listening and God bless. I just want to take
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: their partnership with me on the Bible Explained podcast. In fact,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeaudio.com, you'll find dozens of other
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: faith-centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer,
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Bible study, parenting, and more.