Title: False Leaders / 2 Peter 2:1-2
Content 1. Words that begin
Worse than these scientific errors or lies are untruthful people, especially false leaders. Whether you are a leader of the masses or a leader of the religious world, the most essential virtue is truth and truth without lies. Officials reported property, and almost all of them were reported in large newspapers as unbelievable, and they were also clamoring on TV.
2. False Prophets in the Masses
It has been that way since a very long time. The Apostle Peter, the leader of the early church, said that there were false prophets in the Jewish people in the past. False prophets dream, perform wonders and wonders to make other gods worshipped, speak in the name of God or in the name of other gods, and proclaim victory, peace, prosperity, and the weakening of the enemy's power, the favorite voices of the people. declaring things, etc. But their prophecies were false and vain. In fact, false prophets practiced divination for self-interest and led very promiscuous lives. In a word, a false prophet is a soul hunter who, with a pleasantly sweet sound, leads people's souls down the road to perdition. Diogenes, the great philosopher of the Cynicism, said of the false teachers of his day who use any method to win the praise of the crowd, 'The first characteristic of a false prophet is that he speaks only what people want to hear, and speaks the truth that people need to hear. It is not,” he said.
This phenomenon is not unique to the Jewish or Greek worlds of the past, but is a universal phenomenon that can be found throughout the East and West. However, the problem is that these prophets mainly deal with the general public, and they have fatal consequences for human life and eternal happiness.
Fake food spoils health, false leaders impair character or mental development, false information only damages physical life, but false religious leaders bring on all that to eternal destruction . In terms of quality, the most terrifying sin that a human being can commit is the temptation of heretics, which leads them down the path of eternal destruction. Therefore, God gave a stern warning against such false prophets. Ezekiel 13:3 says, "Woe to the foolish prophet, who prophesies according to his own heart, without seeing in the words of the Lord GOD"; Deuteronomy 18:20 warns, "If any prophet speaks in my name or in the name of other gods, saying anything I have not commanded him to say, that prophet will be put to death." And in Jeremiah 5:31, the prophets prophesy lies, and the priests rule by their own power, and my people delight in it. What will you do in the end?"
Today, there are no people who are not concerned about the overall phenomenon of our country's politics, economy, education, culture, society, religion, etc. Power leak phenomenon, challenge to public authority, Han Chongryon demonstration case, major accident, natural disaster, confusion of values, ethics . Moral collapse, corruption, etc., to the extent that it is impossible to mention them all. But, after all, the most serious problem in our country is the overflow of idolatry.
In the past, the movement against superstition was openly promoted, but now it is openly promoted in the name of folk culture. Prophecies written by shamans or Park Soo-soo are advertised extensively with their faces published in newspapers, they are treated as if they are some great celebrity, and they are aired on the air by making an interview at the broadcasting station.
Not long ago, a middle-aged woman who prophesied under the instructions of her grandfather's ghost came out to a certain broadcasting station and had a conversation, and the host said, "There were some prophecies about the fate of the country that didn't come true." So, what they say is, "A prophecy is just a prophecy, so I don't care if it doesn't fit." So I couldn't help but laugh.
Public officials go up the mountain to perform burials at public events, and when building houses or buildings, even at school sports teams and professional teams, they place a pig's head, that is, a dead pig's head, and bow in front of it. . However, I don't know what it means to say that a huge bridge in our country dives into the river, the houses that have failed construction inspections leak rain, and large buildings like the Independence Hall leak when it rains, and sometimes collapse. And every team bows to the pig head, but only one team wins, right? Well, it's going to be trouble whether it's pig heads or ghosts that eat pig heads. I don't know if it's made the team that bribed their mouths win or not. When I was a kid, I often heard a shaman or a shaman say, “I lack sincerity” at the Gutpan. By the way, why are there so many Baek Un-hak teachers? . They say they are authentic, but I can't believe it. In any case, if you look at the Bible, the national overflow of idolatry has always resulted in divine discipline and chastisement.
3. False Leaders in the Church
Peter, who said that there were false prophets in Israel, the people of God in the Old Testament times, warns that there will be false teachers among you in the same way. The false teachers here refer to the false leaders who were active in the early church, and in many ways they were similar to the false prophets of the Old Testament times. In 'The Teachings of the Twelve Apostles', called the first liturgical book, it asserted that a prophet asking for money or food was a false prophet. The book even referred to such false leaders as 'the vicious merchants in Christ'.
The false leaders of the church were the ones who not only brought in destructive heresies, denied the Lord who bought them with blood, and took the imminent destruction themselves, but also destroyed others. Another characteristic of these false leaders was lewdness. Heresy is not the gospel that says that we are saved only through faith in Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life, as our Savior, but the doctrine and thought that teaches the way of salvation. Thus, a heretic can be said to believe what he wants to believe, instead of accepting the saving truth of God that he must believe.
What happened in the case of the early church was that the self-proclaimed prophets were crafty to persuade people to believe what they hoped to be true rather than what God had revealed as truth. They did not see themselves as opponents of Christianity. It was far from that idea. Rather, they regarded themselves as the supreme fruits of Christian thought, so that men were gradually and skillfully seduced to pass from the truth of God to the private opinions of men. That's what heresy does.
Everyone, please believe that the Lord bought us and offered it to God in exchange for His precious blood. In Revelation 5:9, we read, "And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals. did; 1 Corinthians 6:20 says, "It was bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body."
Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that you will glorify God by knowing that we who have been redeemed belong to the Lord Jesus, and live according to the Lord and the Lord, not ours and ours, but the Lord.
4. Conclusion
Regardless of age or age, false prophets and false leaders in this world can act with popularity and respect. The general public prefers beautiful lies rather than ugly truths, and listens to the voices of flattery and flattery rather than the truth of God. Because I like it more. Most of the time, people want to be told the lie that tomorrow will rise, even though they know for sure they will fail tomorrow.
That is why the world needs more sincere leaders. We need more and more leaders who are armed with the truth of the gospel and who walk in a manner worthy of the gospel. We earnestly pray that all of us will be armed with the truth of the Gospel and fulfill our role as true leaders.