The Lord had revealed to Peter that his death was eminent (2 Peter 1.14) and Peter, in light of this, is passing on what he believes is most important and pressing to Jesus-followers of his day. Obviously, that makes the content of this letter important to us as well. What may be surprising to many is just how much time Peter spends addressing false teachings and their teachers. Nearly half the letter exhorts, exposes and warns believers about those who would lead them astray and overcomes the objections such men raise against their faith – objections that continue to this day.

But false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. These false teachers will infiltrate your midst with destructive heresies, even to the point of denying the Master who bought them. As a result, they will bring swift destruction on themselves. And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because of these false teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation pronounced long ago is not sitting idly by; their destruction is not asleep.

After enforcing the teaching of the old prophets, Peter rants about the modern false prophets. There are some key characteristics of false teachers, the first of which Peter reveals is that they are purposeful. They aren’t good people with mistaken ideas, they “infiltrate” the church. That’s military language and Peter doesn’t use the phrase lightly. The teachings of false prophets are an intentional assault against truth, intended to “destroy”.

The second key to identifying false teachers is they once claimed allegiance to Jesus. Peter doesn’t provide details on this matter, perhaps they followed the teachings of Jesus and gave it up for another path. Like Jesus’ parable of the seed that fell on a rock and could not take root, or the seed that fell among thorns and was choked out, these are people we once considered a brother or sister in Jesus. Making a conscience decision to embrace other teachings, they try to pull others into the same.

Third, instead of living a holy lifestyle they follow one of debauchery. When we hear that word, debauched, we likely think of drunkenness and pursuing sensual desires – which is certainly one way it may be defined. There is another definition, however, that is the more likely fit here. It can also mean seduction from duty, allegiance or virtue. A false teacher was seduced from following the truth to another lifestyle – one that focuses on pleasing themselves rather than God.

Finally, they exploit and deceive Jesus-followers out of personal greed. In this sense it may be greed for money, but it can be an excessive desire for nearly anything. In 1848 John Humphrey Noyse started a commune called the Oneida Community, inviting people to submit to his teachings and enjoy a certain lifestyle. On the surface it appeared to be religious. He taught that Jesus had already come (sound familiar) and that we were now capable of living perfect lives and bringing in the millennial kingdom. This was the bait used to temp Christians into replacing their faith with a lifestyle of sensual desire. You see, the commune practiced free-love and especially encouraged older men to teach the younger women about lovemaking, and older women the same with younger men. They had nothing to do with the kingdom of God and everything to do with satisfying their own sin nature. This is the way of the false teacher.

After revealing how to identify the false prophets among us, he warns of their impending doom. That sound a bit dramatic, but it isn’t. Their condemnation, Peter says, is not idle or asleep but awaiting God’s judgement. There is no mistake about this judgment, when it comes it will result in swift destruction. On the surface this appears to be a warning to the false teacher but in truth it is to all who entertain the notion of following them. For you see, the destruction isn’t just for the false prophet but also for all who follow them.

In the 1870’s the Oneida commune started to fall apart. It’s teachings weren’t able to stand the test of time. It was still financially viable, having a manufacturing business of silverware among other goods. It was the members. They wanted to return to traditional marriage and other fundamentally Christian beliefs. There was also a division regarding the age children should be initiated into sex. Truth about sin was winning out. It was during these pressures that Professor John Mears of Hamilton College met with 37 ministers in the area to protest the community. This brought attention to what was happening behind its walls and lead to an arrest warrant being issued for John Noyse on charges of statuatory rape. He fled to Canada to escape prosecution and while this was initially successful, he died and stood before God for his reckoning on April 13, 1886.

In 1879 the community disbanded and sold off all its businesses but one, Oneida Limited, which continues to manufacture cutlery to this day. The company moved to Europe in 2004 and no longer has any association with its founder’s beliefs. The false teacher, and his teachings and followers have all fallen away.