2Peter 2:3 - Sheep Shearing 102

3. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

Peter tells us a little of how false prophets and teachers actually work. They don’t come with a great big sign on their chests that says, "Beware! False prophet!" They come with deceptive words. They sound good and they look great. They have "niceness," ease, loving words and countenances. They have scriptural words. They may be inspired singers or musicians. They dress well. They praise Jesus and say, "Glory to God - Glory, glory, glo - ree." They say, "Amen" a lot. To the casual glance, and sometimes even the careful look, they appear to be the genuine article.

To keep you off guard they will misquote scripture for their own purposes. "Touch not the Lord’s anointed" is a favourite, designed to prevent you from having or expressing any criticism of their beliefs and actions. They often minimize doctrine because that is the very place where they are vulnerable. They do not want you to test everything against the Word of God, as the noble Bereans did. If you do they will call you a Bibliolator. They will mock you and disdain you for your lack of the indwelling Spirit who, according to them, will impart all the truth you need through experience, and largely apart from sound teaching. Their arsenal is as endless and inventive as the human soul is depraved.

Back then, as today, the true motivation of the false prophet and teacher was found in a wicked and ungodly heart. It was either to control for the purposes of power or to control for the purposes of riches - or a combination of both. There are preachers today who advise people to stuff the pockets of the wealthiest preacher they know with money, so that they themselves will get a financial blessing. That is about as far away as it is possible to get from any semblance of the character of Jesus Christ our Lord as anything on the face of the planet. Yet because it is gooped all over and slathered with Biblical terms and liberal sprinklings of the Name above all names, then the unwary are just taken in.

Why? Why does God sit by, apparently idle, while these blasphemers sully His Name? He has His reasons which are explained in chapter 3. Meanwhile He turns their intended evil to good for His true children. By such things they are tested and purified. They may be tempted, but He is able to deliver His own. The delay in the demise of the false prophets does not speak to God’s lack of judgment, but their ultimate destruction is simply stored up in God’s wrath. He can delay a little. If they take this to be approval of their blasphemies that simply adds to their condemnation and their eventual miseries. Judgement is certain, as history illustrates...