![\"\"](\"\/Banner-MOG-60.gif\" "\\"Ministry")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
2 Peter 2:3<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Not every message delivered from the pulpit comes from God.<\/p>\n Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The word translated \u201cgreed<\/span>\u201d is the Greek word pleonexia<\/span><\/em>, which means, \u201cfraudulent practice driven by greed.\u201d<\/p>\n The verb \u201cwill exploit you<\/span>\u201d comes from the Greek word emporeuomai<\/span><\/em>, which means \u201cto travel about as a merchant or trader.\u201d The way it\u2019s used here it means \u201cto make merchandise of people.\u201d<\/p>\n The next expression is, \u201cstories they have made up<\/span>.\u201d This comes from the Greek words plastois logois<\/span><\/em>. We have seen the word logos<\/span><\/em> before, meaning \u201ca word or a message.\u201d The other word here is plastos<\/span><\/em>, from which we get our English word \u201cplastic.\u201d This Greek word means \u201cmolded\u201d or \u201cpurposely shaped.\u201d Today we refer to this kind of language as \u201cspin.\u201d<\/p>\n Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n We have been talking about false prophets of the past and false teachers of the present. Peter now tells us what is driving their actions and how they operate. His imagery is that of a snake oil salesman traveling about, taking advantage of uneducated people by way of well chosen but intentionally misleading words so as to make the message sound the way people want it to sound for the purpose of taking their money. These false teachers that Peter is talking about are presenting messages that will inspire and comfort people so that they will give to the ministry and meet the selfish desires of the false teachers.<\/p>\n Their deception is as old as sin itself, driven by the same selfishness that drove Satan to deceive Eve with molded words that may have sounded good but that lead to destruction. Peter tells us (literal translation of the second half of today\u2019s verse):<\/p>\n their long standing judgment is definitely not idle and their destruction is definitely not dozing-off <\/span><\/p>\n In other words, the same judgment that has been given concerning this type of deception from of old will be applied to these false teachers of today without fail. They may think that they are getting away with something, but their destruction is sure.<\/p>\n These false teachers are occupying many of our church pulpits today, delivering homilies and sermons that bless the hearts of the hearers, while leading them straight to Hell. Their messages are soothing and even inspiring, but they are not the messages that God wants delivered. The messages are intended to please the people rather than to proclaim the message of sacrifice, commitment, and submission. These are the messages that church members are willing to pay for. How sad!<\/p>\n Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The next time you hear your pastor preach a message that is straight from The Word, one that pricks your heart, causing you to once again submit yourself to the God of all creation, tell him thank you for taking the road less traveled and being God\u2019s instrument of righteousness.<\/p>\n But, perhaps you go to church on Sunday to be soothed and comforted. If so, you may be buying snake oil!<\/p>\n In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2009 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n <\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 2 Peter 2:3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. Truth to Learn Not every message delivered from the pulpit comes from God. Behind the Words The word translated \u201cgreed\u201d is the Greek […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[271,272,265,273],"class_list":["post-914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-condemnation","tag-exploit","tag-false-teachers","tag-snake-oil"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-eK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"signature\"](\"\/signature.gif\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"chrome:\/\/skype_ff_toolbar_win\/content\/cb_transparent_l.gif\"){kind=spacer}
<\/span>![\"\"](\"chrome:\/\/skype_ff_toolbar_win\/content\/famfamfam\/us.gif\")
![\"\"](\"chrome:\/\/skype_ff_toolbar_win\/content\/space.gif\")
![\"\"](\"chrome:\/\/skype_ff_toolbar_win\/content\/arrow.gif\"){kind=icon}
<\/span><\/span>(618) 614-3070<\/span>![\"\"](\"chrome:\/\/skype_ff_toolbar_win\/content\/cb_transparent_r.gif\"){kind=spacer}
<\/span><\/span><\/span> and leave a message telling us your name and e-mail address or you can send an e-mail to:![\"e-mail](\"\/Will_e-mail.gif\")
<\/div>\n