Hell is a Christian Hoax 55
WHAT "DAMNABLE HERESIES" WAS PETER TALKING ABOUT?
"But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not" (II Pet. 2:1-3)
there were false prophets also among the people
We have seen a list of false prophets of old and some in our day. Notice all the Scriptures where God utterly condemns the prophets, shepherds, watchmen, pastors, and priests over Israel, and then see how many Scriptures you can find where God praises these same religious leaders of His Church.
there shall be false teachers among you
I have shown you the Scriptures regarding "false teachers" in the Scriptures, and I have shown you some of the "false teachers among you" that have lied to the modern Church of God in our day and age.
shall bring in damnable heresies
What "damnable heresies?" Notice the future tense of this statement of Peter's: "shall bring in damnable heresies." What damnable heresies are being taught "among you" today that were not taught in the time of Peter and the Apostles? Well, the most egregious of all is the Christianization of the pagan hell of torture in literal fire, for all eternity. Even as apostate as the New Testament Church became after the Apostles, it never taught anything that can even vaguely be compared to this offensive, obscene and unsurpassable Christian heresy.
Notice that "heresies" is in the plural. To the eternal hell heresy, we could add many more unscriptural teaching in the apostate Church. Here are a few examples: the "immortal soul" doctrine; the "judgment at death without a trial" doctrine; the "man has a free will, free choice, free moral agency" heresy; the "most of humanity will be eternally lost" heresy; the "Satan was once a perfect and beautiful archangel" heresy; the "heaven & earth was created in 144 hours only six thousand years ago" heresy; the "priests can't marry" heresy; the "many desires of God will fail" heresy; the "Jesus will fail to be the Saviour of the world" heresy; the "it's okay to go to war and kill one's enemies" heresy; the "Bible is literal" heresy; the "Jesus never died" heresy; the "God is a trinity" heresy. Etc...
many shall follow their pernicious ways
As always, it is always the "many" who are following the wrong way, the broad way, that is presently leading to "destruction" (Matt. 7:13). So in this case also, whom is it that are "following the pernicious ways" (the broad way, the WRONG way) of the Church? Why it is the "many." Pernicious means, waste, ruin, damnable, destructive, to die.
denying the Lord that bought them
"Lord" means "Master," "Controller," "Supreme authority." So how does the Church deny the Supreme authority of their Master and Controller? By denying that Jesus is the Master, Controller, and Supreme authority send by God, and denying that Jesus will do what He was commissioned by His Father to do: First and foremost: "To BE the Saviour of the World" (I John 2:2; 4:14; John 1:29; John 4:42).
the way of truth shall be evil spoken of
Since most Christians don't know "the way of truth," this one is difficult for them to understand. All we have to do is pay close attention to whom Peter is addressing with this "evil condemnation of the truth." Notice once again, as with the many examples presented in this paper, that it is the "many" members of the Church, not athiestic outsiders, that are speaking evil of the truth. If the Church has the truth, then the "many" members of the Church would not be "speaking evil of the truth." But no, the "many" members OF the Church, IN the Church are speaking evil of those who have "come OUT OF HER" - the apostate Church (Rev. 18:4), and are now speaking and living "the way of truth."
Do you suppose for one second that those two Jehovah's Witness ministers at my front door went back to their church and relayed to them the Scriptural truth regarding man's non-existent "free will" which I showed them?
Or do you suppose they maybe "spoke evil" of my admonition to them?
they with feigned words make merchandise of you
"Feigned" means false. Their words are false and their doctrines are likewise false. They invent unscriptural nonsense such as "tithe money." Money was never a tithable commodity. Tithing was a "law" in ancient Israel (Heb. 7:5), not a "principle" as the Church now calls it seeing that they have done away with the law, yet they cling to tithing like it was the goose that laid the golden eggs.
They "make merchandise" of you, that is they buy merchandise - with your money - tithe money. They need your money to support their lavish and gaudy life styles. Many pastors lust for Rolex watches, Giorgio Armani and Brioni suits (from $3000 to $6000), mansions, yachts, corporate jets, expensive foods and wine, hookers and prostitutes, or anything else their worldly, materialistic, and carnal little hearts desire.
Do you "pay your tithes?" With money? Listen: Tithing is unscriptural under the New Covenant (see my article by that name). Furthermore, "money" was never a tithable commodity in ancient Israel. There is no example of Jesus paying tithe. Why is that? Because He was a carpenter and only those who grew crops or tended live stock gave a tithe to the strangers, widows, fatherless, and Levites. Fisherman did not tithe. The hired hands who brought in the tithe from the fields, did not tithe on their salaries. Potters did not tithe. Wagon makers did not tithe. None of those things were tithable commodities, nor the money they received from selling them.
The apostles never collected tithes from their followers. Paul never ever taught the Gentiles (who never had the law of Moses) to tithe. Some of them did give money and other support, but never did they tithe money. It is a sin to teach New Testament believers that tithing is a law, and that they must tithe money. And one cannot change the "tithing law" into the unscriptural "tithing principal." There never was a tithing principle - only a tithing law, and it never involved money, and it is not commanded of New Testament believers. (See my paper on tithing).
Yet many (not all) churches teach that it is a sin not to tithe ten percent of one's annual salary, and the wages of sin is death (well, they changed that one to LIFE in an eternal hell). I have received a stack of mail telling of senior citizens and poor people struggling and doing without so that they can give ten percent of their Social Security checks to some church or pastor, thus avoiding being tortured in the fires of some eternal Christian hell. It is heresy of the worst kind.
I heard prophet Benny Hinn with my own ears state on international television that there are people that are destined for the fires of hell simply because people have not send in enough money to reach them with their version of the gospel.
Does the lifestyle of those on TBN mirror in any way the sacrifices that they ask (intimidate) poor people to make? I think not. Notice that they use "feigned words." That means false words. Using our tithing heresy example, they want you to think that "God loves a cheerful TITHE-PAYER" (II Cor. 9:7) rather than a "cheerful GIVER." It is not wrong to voluntarily give money to help with Church expenses, but it is a sin to say it is a law, the breaking of which brings death.
their damnation slumbers not
How long will Church leaders get away with their unscriptural and ungodly doctrines? Only as long as any one of them can live. After that, Judgment.
There is coming a resurrection to judgment. No, no one is coming back from heaven to be judged, neither is anyone coming back from hell to be judged. "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God ( for those called and chosen few Elect) : and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" (I Pet. 4:17). Them that obey not the gospel will come up in judgment, and in judgment, the along with the inhabitants of the whole world, "will learn righteousness" (Isa. 26:9). For those who have known what the Scriptures say, and yet flagrantly despise God's Word, judgment will not be a happy time, although it will eventuate in salvation.