Due
to my recent scripture reading, I’ve been thinking on the fact that
not only those who deceive others will suffer the consequences to
their wrong actions, but those who are being deceived themselves will
also suffer those same consequences.
In
2 Peter 2 verses 1-3 we read; “But false prophets also arose
among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who
will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master
who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many
will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth
will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with
false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their
destruction is not asleep.”
2 Peter
2:10-13 and 15 reads, “Bold and willful, they do not tremble
as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater
in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against
them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures
of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about
matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their
destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They
count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and
blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you…..
Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray.”
In 2 Peter
2:17-19 we read more of the fate of these deceivers,“These
are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom
of utter darkness has been reserved. For, speaking loud boasts of
folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are
barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them
freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever
overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.”
False
teachers promise great things to those they deceive, but those
promises will never be fulfilled because they serve the Father of
lies, “You
are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's
desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in
the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks
out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies”
(John
8:44).
The
fate of those who are deceived will be the same as
that of the
deceivers (who
for the most part are religious leaders).
In
Matthew 23:15 we read,
“Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and
land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold
more the child of hell than yourselves,” and
2 John 9-11 reads,
“Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of
Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both
the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring
this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any
greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.”
Only those
who serve the living God of the Bible can be assured of fulfilled
promises. As those who “In hope of eternal
life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”
(Titus 1:2), we
know from history that, “Not one
word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of
Israel had failed; all came to pass” (Joshua 21:45);
“For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it
is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory” (2
Corinthians 1:20).
Pray
we not suffer the fate of the
deceivers or the deceived
who serve the Father of lies.
Rather may we be found to serve the
true
and living
God of the Bible who
cannot lie and is working through all things for the good of those
who love Him.
Deuteronomy
10:12 reads,
“..
what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your
God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the
commandments and statutes of the Lord,
which I am commanding you today for your good”?
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