In previous verses of chapter 2 God warned church people about false prophets who would enter into their midst for one specific purpose: to draw parishioners away from Him and into various groups centered around each prophet’s particular “revelations from on high.” Their god (Satan) has been ultimately successful in dividing the church into various cults based on their individual interpretations of God’s Word. These cults are known as “denominations.”  Not only is Biblical interpretation a sin (2 Pet. 1:20), denominations are equally evil as the Lord tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:10. “Let there be no divisions among you (the church).” This means that He hates denominations which are based on individual interpretations (editing, improvement) of His Holy Word. The one division within professing Christendom sanctioned by the Lord is the division between sheep and goats, wheat and tares, good fish and bad fish. See The Two Faces Of The Church and The Church, the Gospel and the Goats.

In verses 1-10 the Lord pronounced His condemnation of church sinners. He specifically highlighted His rejection of homosexuals as brought out in verses 5-9. By this time the reader realizes that the early church had the same problems as does the modern church–rebellion against the God she proclaimed to believe and obey. Satan’s false prophets came early and are staying late. Having gained 99% of professing Christendom, neither he nor his messengers will give up as long as there is one true believer left.

Verses twelve through twenty-two: In these verses the Lord, speaking through the Apostle Peter, proclaims His attitude toward the bulk of professing Christendom who unwittingly worship and serve Satan. For proof of the devil’s success check any phone book under the heading of “churches” and count. Without identifying the individual verse where each statement is found, I will simply repeat the Lord’s description of church sinners. In the highlighted verses God says of church sinners–false prophets and their followers–that they are brute beasts who will be destroyed and perish, that they are corrupt, are blemishes on His saints, are self-deceived, are adulterous, that they sin without ceasing, are unstable, are cursed, have forsaken the right way, have gone astray, are iniquitous (lawless), are vain and corrupt, have been overcome (by Satan) and are in bondage (to him). Having come out of Satan’s world and having been taught the right way they, they ultimately refused it. Therefore they are, as Peter so graphically records, like the sow that returns to its mire and the dog that returns to  its vomit.

In verses 20 through 22 the Lord says that because church sinners have known His way and have rejected it (per Adam, Eve, the sow and the dog), they are worse off than they were in their ignorance. Think about that statement. God is telling the two billion plus “sinners saved by grace” who populate professing Christendom, who proclaim that He is their Lord, Savior and guarantor of salvation, that THEY ARE SPIRITUALLY INFERIOR TO ATHIESTS WHO DO NOT BELIEVE THAT HE EXISTS. L.J.