2Peter 2:13 - Prayer Tents

Lying Religious Leaders

2But there were also lying prophets among the people then, just as there will be lying religious teachers among you. They'll smuggle in destructive divisions, pitting you against each other—biting the hand of the One who gave them a chance to have their lives back! They've put themselves on a fast downhill slide to destruction,G1161G1096G5578G2532G1722G2992G2532G5613G2071G5572G1722G5213G3748G3919G684G139G2532G720G1203G59G846G1863G1438G5031G6842but not before they recruit a crowd of mixed-up followers who can't tell right from wrong. They give the way of truth a bad name.G2532G4183G1811G846G684G1223G3739G3598G225G9873They're only out for themselves. They'll say anything, anything, that sounds good to exploit you. They won't, of course, get by with it. They'll come to a bad end, for God has never just stood by and let that kind of thing go on.G2532G1722G4124G4112G3056G1710G5209G3739G2917G1597G691G3756G2532G846G684G3573G37564God didn't let the rebel angels off the hook, but jailed them in hell till Judgment Day.G1063G1487G2316G5339G3756G32G264G235G5020G3860G4577G2217G5083G1519G29205Neither did he let the ancient ungodly world off. He wiped it out with a flood, rescuing only eight people—Noah, the sole voice of righteousness, was one of them.G2532G5339G3756G744G2889G235G5442G3575G3590G2783G1343G1863G2627G2889G7656God decreed destruction for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. A mound of ashes was all that was left—grim warning to anyone bent on an ungodly life.G2532G5077G4172G4670G2532G1116G5077G2632G2692G5087G5262G3195G7647But that good man Lot, driven nearly out of his mind by the sexual filth and perversity, was rescued.G2532G4506G1342G3091G2669G5259G766G391G1722G1138Surrounded by moral rot day after day after day, that righteous man was in constant torment.G1063G1342G1460G1722G846G990G2532G189G928G1342G5590G2250G1537G2250G459G20419So God knows how to rescue the godly from evil trials. And he knows how to hold the feet of the wicked to the fire until Judgment Day.G2962G1492G4506G2152G1537G3986G1161G5083G94G1519G2250G2920G2849

Predators on the Prowl

10God is especially incensed against these "teachers" who live by lust, addicted to a filthy existence. They despise interference from true authority, preferring to indulge in self-rule. Insolent egotists, they don't hesitate to speak evil against the most splendid of creatures.G1161G3122G4198G3694G4561G1722G1939G3394G2532G2706G2963G5113G829G3756G5141G987G139111Even angels, their superiors in every way, wouldn't think of throwing their weight around like that, trying to slander others before God.G3699G32G5607G3187G2479G2532G1411G5342G3756G989G2920G2596G846G3844G296212These people are nothing but brute beasts, born in the wild, predators on the prowl. In the very act of bringing down others with their ignorant blasphemies, they themselves will be brought down, losers in the end.G1161G3778G5613G5446G249G2226G1080G1519G259G2532G5356G987G1722G3739G50G2704G1722G846G535613Their evil will boomerang on them. They're so despicable and addicted to pleasure that they indulge in wild parties, carousing in broad daylight.G2865G3408G93G2233G2237G5172G1722G2250G4696G2532G3470G1792G1722G846G539G4910G521314They're obsessed with adultery, compulsive in sin, seducing every vulnerable soul they come upon. Their specialty is greed, and they're experts at it. Dead souls!G2192G3788G3324G3428G2532G180G266G1185G793G5590G2588G2192G1128G4124G2671G504315They've left the main road and are directionless, having taken the way of Balaam, son of Beor, the prophet who turned profiteer, a connoisseur of evil.G2641G2117G3598G4105G1811G3598G903G1007G3739G25G3408G9316But Balaam was stopped in his wayward tracks: A dumb animal spoke in a human voice and prevented the prophet's craziness.G1161G2192G1649G2398G3892G880G5268G5350G1722G444G5456G2967G3913G439617There's nothing to these people—they're dried-up fountains, storm-scattered clouds, headed for a black hole in hell.G3778G1526G4077G504G3507G1643G5259G2978G3739G2217G4655G5083G1519G16518They are loudmouths, full of hot air, but still they're dangerous. Men and women who have recently escaped from a deviant life are most susceptible to their brand of seduction.G1063G5350G5246G3153G1185G1722G1939G4561G766G3689G668G390G1722G410619They promise these newcomers freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, for if they're addicted to corruption—and they are—they're enslaved.G1861G846G1657G846G5225G1401G5356G1063G3739G5100G2274G2532G5129G140220If they've escaped from the slum of sin by experiencing our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ, and then slid back into that same old life again, they're worse than if they had never left.G1063G1487G668G3393G2889G1722G1922G2962G2532G4990G2424G5547G1707G3825G1707G5125G1161G1096G2274G2078G5501G846G441321Better not to have started out on the straight road to God than to start out and then turn back, repudiating the experience and the holy command.G1063G2258G2909G846G3361G1921G3598G1343G2228G1921G1994G1537G40G1785G3860G84622They prove the point of the proverbs, "A dog goes back to its own vomit," and, "A scrubbed-up pig heads for the mud."G1161G4819G846G3588G227G3942G2965G1994G1909G2398G1829G1994G2532G5300G3068G1519G2946G1004