False Teachers

A false teacher is anyone communicating false doctrine or doctrine contrary to the Word of God. They may be unbelievers or believers who are negative toward God and negative toward correct Bible doctrine.

Characteristics of the False Teachers

In 2 Peter 2:17, “These” is oὗτοι (houtoi) and refers to the false teachers or false prophets mentioned first in 2 Peter 2:1. They are “springs without water” which refers to false teachers who are without salvation. Water refers to redemption in Isaiah 55:1. Water refers to the Holy Spirit in John 7:37-39 and Bible doctrine in Ephesians 5:26. These false teachers are without redemption, without the Holy Spirit and without Bible doctrine.

“These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.” (2 Peter 2:17, NASB)

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.” (2 Peter 2:1, NASB)

“"Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.” (Isaiah 55:1, NASB)

“Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:37-39, NASB)

“so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,” (Ephesians 5:26, NASB)

These false prophets were active in Jeremiah’s day, in Peter’s day, and are still among us today. In 2 Peter 2:1, “even denying the Master who bought them” refers to their denial of unlimited atonement. They don’t believe that Jesus Christ became the spiritual substitute for all mankind on the Cross and received the judgment for all of mankind’s sins. “Swift destruction” refers to destruction of the soul, scar tissue, cracks in the soul, and brittleness of soul. The false teachers are described in various ways in Scripture. Jeremiah 23 is a whole chapter describing false prophets or false teachers.

In 2 Peter 2:17, “mists driven by a storm” literally means mists that are driven along under the authority of squall lines. If this were in the singular, this would means a fog. In Jude 1:12, the false teachers are the “clouds without water, carried along by winds.”

“These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;” (Jude 1:12, NASB)

You can see a squall line from a distance, but your visibility is limited in a squall. The application here is that the victims can see the false teacher and their teaching (squall line) from afar, but when they have embraced the person and work of the false teacher then their vision is obscured. This squall line is actually the emotional revolt of the soul of a false teacher.

An unbeliever may (not in emotional revolt) hear a false teacher and think that the guy is all mixed up. Why don’t all unbelievers get into cults? Because the world is filled with sane unbelievers who have normal unbeliever souls. Their soul dominates their emotions. They have common sense, moral sense, and know something of the divine institutions. But this same person can hear the false teacher again in emotional revolt and they will fall for the false teaching!

In 2 Peter 2:17, “for whom” refers to the false teachers in the context. “The black darkness” is ζόφος σκότος (zophos skotos) and refers to Satan’s kingdom as in John 12:35. This is the squall line concept, utter confusion, walking around in confusion, thick darkness. Notice in 1 Peter 2:9, that we have been saved from that.

“So Jesus said to them, "For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes.” (John 12:35, NASB)

“But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” (1 Peter 2:9, NASB)

In 2 Peter 2:17, “reserved” is the perfect passive participle of τηρέω (tēreō) and means to store up. “The black darkness” is stored up and refers to emotional revolt of the soul that locks negative volition in place like in Pharaoh’s heart, Herod, and Judas Iscariot.

Why does a believer get into false teaching? Because of their old sin nature and emotional revolt hitting the right lobe of the soul where scar tissue forms and causes the soul to be numbed or calloused. 2 Peter 2:14-15.

“having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;” (2 Peter 2:14-15, NASB)

In 2 Peter 2:14, “enticing unstable souls” means to trap. This is their field of harvest, their victims in emotion revolt. “Having a heart trained in greed” means their soul was once normal, but is now having a frantic search for happiness. “Accursed children; forsaking the right way, they have gone astray” refers to emotional revolt of the soul. There are unbelievers who wouldn’t think of getting into the tongues movement and believers one month old who wouldn’t get in it either. Why? Because of stability!

The Message of False Teachers

In 2 Peter 2:18, “For speaking out” is the present active participle of φθέγγομαι (phtheggomai) and means to speak bombastically. It is used in 2 Peter 2:16 of Balaam’s donkey and means to speak with pride.

“For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,” (2 Peter 2:18, NASB)

“but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.” (2 Peter 2:16, NASB)

The message of the false teacher corresponds with the hearer’s emotional revolt. The words are designed to satisfy the lust pattern of the old sin nature. And when the hearer is in emotional revolt then emotional revolt from the false teacher provides compatibility. The false teacher communicates from a darkened heart and they keep on speaking from darkness. They appeal to the pride of those who hear them. They appeal to a system of legalism, of human works, and this appeals to them. They make them feel wanted and as if they belong. The false teacher pats them on the head, speaks fair words and brings beautiful speeches. They make them feel like they are sinking their teeth into something and accomplishing something. Rom. 16:17-18.

“Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.” (Romans 16:17-18, NASB)

In 2 Peter 2:18, “arrogant words of vanity” an adjective of the accusative plural of ὑπέρογκος (huperogkos) and means over swollen, overweighted words, not loud but lengthy, learned words, a pseudo authority. His authority is his emotional revolt. “Of vanity” refers to the vacuum that creates scar tissue which results from negative volition to Bible doctrine, then brittleness of soul and eventually destruction. He becomes subjective. They “communicate bombastically the swollen words of the vacuum.”

“They entice by fleshly desires” is the present active indicative of δελεάζω (deleazō) and means to allure, to trap, to entice, to deceive. In 2 Peter 2:14, it means beguiling and in 2 Peter 2:18 it means alluring. En plus the instrumental means they trap by means of the lust of the flesh. They appeal to approbation lust. They appeal to those in emotional revolt.

“having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;” (2 Peter 2:14, NASB)

In 2 Peter 2:18, “sensuality” means unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, outrageousness, shamelessness, insolence. This explains Jeremiah’s day and the popularity of the phallic cult. They didn’t just jump into this. They had a false teacher who assured them that it was good and so on. “Those who barely escape” is the adverb ὀλίγως (oligōs) and means scarcely, barely, almost. They are scarcely escaping from these false teachers. “Escape” is the present active participle of ἀποφεύγω (apopheugō) and means to escape or flee from an ultimate source. The first time, they scarcely escaped the false teachers.

This is why the Jehovah Witnesses come back again and again and again. The potential victim at this point isn’t buying it. They hear false teaching and say no because they still have a normal functioning soul. But persistence pays off.

How did you ever get to the Cross and get saved without getting hooked on false doctrine? You had to be sane, you had to be able to exercise your volition, you didn’t get into Catholicism, Judaism, Christian Science, subjectivity, etc. How did Jesus Christ protect you? By sanity of soul! Just being sane and sensible is a protection. Unbelievers can keep their sanity.

Slavery to False Teachers

In 2 Peter 2:19, “promising them freedom” is the present middle participle of ἐπαγγέλλω (epaggellō) and means they keep on announcing or promising liberty or freedom. The very thing the false teachers promise is the one thing they cannot deliver - freedom.

“promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.” (2 Peter 2:19, NASB)

The false teacher cannot free humanity from the bondage of their emotional revolt of the soul. Why? They are in bondage to their old sin natures, to their emotions and they have destroyed their own freedom. Why? Soul slavery.

The believer in emotional revolt rejects 1 John 1:9 and they continue to deteriorate spiritually. He reject the right kind of man or the right kind of woman. They reject the concept of the Angelic Conflict. They reject spirituality. They use their free will to enslave themselves!

There are believers in times past who were teachable and loved the teaching of the Word. Now, they no longer come to Bible class. Why? Emotional revolt of the soul of their own free will! Why are people at one point teachable and at another point not teachable? Emotional revolt of the soul. If you can’t continue to accept the authority of the pastor-teacher teaching you or accept the Bible doctrine he teaches, then you have emotional revolt of the soul!

Such believers run out and get into some goofy movement. They read a book and this leads them to some conference somewhere and then they try to put this thing into practice. Why? Emotional revolt! They have become suckers for false doctrine and practice.

How many of you ladies have had some man promise to love you forever and today you don’t even know where he is? Maybe you were 16 and this guy promised to love you forever. Where is he now? Why isn’t he standing by you when you are now 50 or 60? They promise what they do not have. When a man promises to love you forever, he better have the capacity to love you and have the Bible doctrine in his soul to be your right kind of man.

In 2 Peter 2:19, “They themselves are slaves of corruption” means literally that they keep on existing, not even living it up in slavery as slaves to the old sin nature. The principle of slavery is that maybe you are in slavery and don’t even know it. “By what a man is overcome” refers to the old sin nature in emotional revolt. “By this he is enslaved” means he has been defeated and is now permanently enslaved!

The corrected translation of 2 Peter 2:19 is, “Promising them freedom when they themselves exist as slaves to corruption (old sin nature) for by what anyone has been defeated by the same he has been enslaved.” The antithesis of this verse is John 8:32.

“and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."” (John 8:32, NASB)

The dominant right lobe of the soul is defeated by the old sin nature. In life, anytime a woman enters into relationship with the wrong man, she is defeated and has become a slave. Sex, frustration, whatever leads to emotional revolt. If you hook up with the wrong man and jump into bed with him, you have been defeated! You have been defeated of your own free will.

Another application is social welfare where the entire population is in slavery because they pick up the tab for those unwilling to work for a living. If you have been defeated by something, you have been enslaved by it. That is why we have to be victorious in the Christian life!

The Jews in John 8:33 said to Christ, “We are free, we are not the slaves of anyone.” But they were slaves to their old sin nature, slaves to legalism, and slaves to the Romans.

“They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You will become free'?"” (John 8:33, NASB)

The Pattern of Slavery to False Doctrine

In 2 Peter 2:20, the pattern of slavery to false doctrine is given in a conditional clause. It is made up of two sections. The first section is “if” with the second section being the major part and explaining the first section. This is a simple first class condition in the Greek, “if and it’s true.”

“For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.” (2 Peter 2:20, NASB)

There are three stages of getting into false teaching. For the unbeliever, they are exposed to false teaching and reject it. The unbeliever says no because they have a stable soul. They are exposed to the Gospel and they reject it. They are exposed to false teaching and now acceptance it. Why accept false teaching now? They had a change in the thinking of their soul.

For the believer, they are exposed to false doctrine and they reject it. Now they are exposed to true doctrine, but reject parts of it due to emotional revolt. Now they are exposed to false doctrine and now accept it.

If you are taking in accurate Bible doctrine from your pastor-teacher and you reject it or parts of it, that negative volition causes the buildup of scar tissue in your soul and that results in emotional revolt of the soul.

There are three types of emotional revolt. You have mental attitude sins towards your pastor. The lust pattern in your old sin nature finds something wrong with the message and plans a takeover to satisfy your approbation lust and power lust. You get into human viewpoint thinking so you seek to produce human good.

In 2 Peter 2:20, “For if, after they have escaped” means if they have escaped exposure to and have rejected false teaching. “Escaped” is the aorist active participle of ἀποφεύγω (apopheugō) and means to escape from the ultimate source, to escape from something being presented. This indicates resistance of false teaching from the standpoint of common sense called Divine Institutions.

This action has already happened. An aorist participle does two things. The action of an aorist participle can precede the action of the main verb or it can start a paragraph or a sentence by saying, “this action has already happened.” He has already escaped the false teacher! The heart dominated the emotion. “Defilements of the world” is μίασμα (miasma) and means false teaching that destroys or pollutes the soul. “The world” refers to Satan’s world system. Satan is the prince of darkness. All false teaching proceeds from Satan and his fallen angels or demons. This is the doctrine of demons. 1 Tim. 4:1.

“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,” (1 Timothy 4:1, NASB)

The second part of the conditional clause is “by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” and refers to exposure to the Gospel and rejection. “Knowledge” is en plus the instrumental of ἐπίγνωσις (epignōsis) and may come as a shock because we are not accustomed to seeing epignosis used with an unbeliever. In Ephesians and Colossians, epignosis is used for believed Bible doctrine in the believer’s right lobe of the soul. You understand that gnosis refers to doctrine understood in the left lobe. But here we have epignosis. How do you explain the use of epignosis in relation to an unbeliever? How and about what can an unbeliever have epignosis? According to 1 Corinthians 2:14, how can an unbeliever understand the Gospel since they are depraved, have no indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and have no human spirit?

“But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” (1 Corinthians 2:14, NASB)

The Gospel enters the unbeliever’s mind (nous) and the Holy Spirit makes the issue of salvation clear by “shedding light.” In John 16 and Genesis 6, we have the Holy Spirit convicting the unbeliever of their sin and their need for the Savior Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit converts Gospel gnosis to epignosis for the unbeliever and once the Gospel is fully understood, the unbeliever can act upon it. They can reject Christ as their Savior or they can say yes with faith in Christ.

The unbeliever does not ask Jesus into their heart. You don’t ask Christ into a dung heap. What have you got to offer Him but depravity? Secondly, you don’t know whom to invite into your heart. Thirdly, the heart isn’t open. According to Revelation 3:20, “I stand at the door and knock” refers to divine discipline to a reversionistic believer not salvation to an unbeliever.

“'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20, NASB)

Epignosis of the Gospel forces a decision. The unbeliever can take a good look at epignosis and say no. The unbeliever has no religious hocus pocus scar tissue or very little. But from the time of rejection of the Gospel, they build scar tissue like crazy. Then this opens up “vanity” in the soul which is a vacuum and the Jehovah’s Witnesses drop by and he buys the whole package.

In another realm, take a veteran who has fought for his country and has been decorated. He has some Jehovah’s Witness come by and he listens to their view on the military and he says no way! He has no scar tissue at this point. Then one time he goes across the street and hears some evangelist and this evangelist presents the Gospel information correctly and he says no again! This decision puts scar tissue on his unbelieving soul.

Then the Jehovah’s Witness comes by again and some new ideas are inserted into his vacuum and this false information knocks over his norms and his patriotic viewpoint and works in his soul. Then he goes to a couple of movies and buys the fact that war is terrible. Then, he develops a guilt complex about his wartime killing of the enemy in battle and the false teacher makes him into a murderer. Then, he joins the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The third stage involves exposure to and acceptance of false doctrine. In 2 Peter 2:20, “They are again” refers to exposure to false teaching after turning down the epignosis of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This means emotional revolt of his unbelieving soul making him ripe for apostacy.

“Entangled in them” is the aorist passive participle of ἐμπλέκω (emplekō) and means interwoven, involved. At the point of exposure again, he listens very intently to false teaching because there is a change in his soul’s right lobe due to the buildup of scar tissue which he did not have previously at the first point of rejection of the Gospel message.

“In them” is the instrumental case of τούτοις (toutois) and means by this, literally having been interwoven or entangled in false doctrine. “Overcome” is the present passive indicative of ἡττάω (hēttaō) and means to be constantly defeated. They now have an unstable soul. In 2 Peter 2:14, they are children of the curse.

“having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;” (2 Peter 2:14, NASB)

They were defeated when scar tissue started. They were defeated when they had emotional revolt of the soul. They received defeat and the right lobe of the soul (heart) no longer dominates. The indicative mood is the reality of their defeat. Exposure to false doctrine and rejection of the Gospel because of instability of the unbeliever’s soul. False teachers can only beguile or trap unstable souls.

This rejection of epignosis form of the Gospel produces scar tissue on the left lobe of the unbeliever’s soul. This opens the vacuum or “vanity” through which, for the first time, Satanic information or information from the world system of evil infiltrates the soul. The soul becomes passive through emotional revolt and is overcome by the old sin nature and emotions. The soul is now in emotional revolt and on the next exposure entanglement (involvement and defeat) is the order of the day.

Rejection of false doctrine, rejection of the Gospel, and then exposure to and acceptance of false doctrine causes the unbeliever in the “the last state” of 2 Peter 2:20 to behave as “a dog returning to its own vomit” in 2 Peter 2:21-22. In 2 Peter 2:20, “the last state” is ἔσχατος (eschatos) and means the last in a temporal succession.

“For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."” (2 Peter 2:21-22, NASB)

In 2 Peter 2:22, “vomit” refers to false doctrine and uses the somewhat graphic example of a dog returning to their own vomit. Here, Rover goes out and roots around the yard, eats this and that and comes into the house and vomits it up on the floor. That is rejection of false doctrine, the first principle. Then he is offered some good food and he rejects that (the second principle). Now he trots over and eats his own vomit! He is an unstable dog.

In 2 Peter 2:20, your “last state” is worse than the first because at first you got rid of it and felt better, then you went back and gobbled it up (vomit). You’ve got to be out of your mind, out of your tree, out of your soul. Now the person is in slavery to false teaching, involved, woven in, and defeated. “The last state” means his is open to false doctrine and false teaching.

“Has become” is the perfect active indicative of γίνομαι (ginomai) and means has become with permanent results. This is the active voice, so when he exercises his volition towards vomit, he got there by his own free will! If you are negative toward doctrine, you can’t blame the pastor, your parents, or your friends. You have done this all of your own free will!

“Worse for them than the first” is the nominative neuter of an irregular comparative called χείρων (cheirōn) and means the worst. “First” is πρῶτος (prōtos) and refers to when the believer first said no to false teaching.

The corrected translation is, “For if having escaped the defilement of the world system of evil, by means of epignosis of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, again having become involved by this (false doctrine) they are defeated, the last state has become worse than the first.”

The Disaster of False Teaching

In 2 Peter 2:21, “For it would be” is the imperfect active indicative of eimi, stating a principle about one in false doctrine. “Better” is κρείττων (kreittōn) and means more useful, more serviceable, more advantageous, more excellent. “For them” is the dative of disadvantage and is a reference to the victims of false teaching.

“For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.” (2 Peter 2:21, NASB)

What is it saying? It was better for them at first than at last. Why? At first they said no to false doctrine and had soul stability. At last, they said yes to false doctrine and now they have instability and deterioration of the soul. If you are going to hell, you might as well live in sanity and enjoy yourself. You can’t do that if you are unstable. Their latter end is worse than the first because they went from freedom to slavery.

In 2 Peter 2:21, “not to have known the way of righteousness” is the perfect active indicative of ἐπιγινώσκω (epiginōskō) with the negative. They rejected the Gospel and then added insult to injury by going into false teaching. They started to build scar tissue immediately! It is instinctive for an unbeliever who is negative to stay away from the Gospel. But once hearing it lucidly, fully understanding, then the scar tissue forms when they reject. If a person says no to the Gospel, stay away from them. Keep pushing them and they’ll become a monster.

“Than having known it” is the aorist active participle of ἐπιγινώσκω (epiginōskō). The previous “to have known” was a perfect meaning you have known it in the past and understood it so clearly that you knew what exactly you were turning down. The active voice means you do it from your own free will. The infinitive indicates that it is your purpose to say no! Now here, “than having known it” is an aorist active participle. The aorist means that at the point of time when they knew it, picks up the one spot when it became clear. The active voice refers to free will again. The participle refers to the principle of having known the Gospel.

In 2 Peter 2:21, “to turn away” is ὑποστρέφω (hupostrephō). Hupo is the preposition of authority with strepho meaning to turn from authority. This is a strong verb for negative volition. What spurs the emotional revolt? The epignosis in the heart (heart is the authority) and when you turn away from authority you have had it! “The holy commandment” refers to “that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ.” “Handed on to them” is the aorist passive participle of παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi) and means to betray or deliver up treacherously.

The corrected translation is, “It would have kept on being better for them, not to have fully known the way of righteousness, than to have fully known and then to turn away from the holy commandment, having been delivered to them for their advantage.”

An Illustration of the Disaster

In 2 Peter 2:22, “It has happened to them” is the perfect active indicative of συμβαίνω (sumbainō) and is the dative of disadvantage. “True proverb” refers to Proverbs 26:11. “Dog” κύων (kuōn) and refers to the worst type of dog that vomits (rejects), smells some good food, rejects it, then goes back and eats his own vomit.

“It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."” (2 Peter 2:22, NASB)

“Like a dog that returns to its vomit Is a fool who repeats his folly.” (Proverbs 26:11, NASB)

“Returns” is the aorist active participle of ἐπιστρέφω (epistrephō) and means to turn one’s self about, to turn back, to return. His authority becomes the vomit! Before the heart had been the authority, now false teaching is the authority. Insanity. “His own vomit” refers to the initial act of vomiting that is the rejection of false doctrine. The return to vomit is acceptance of false doctrine. The difference results from the changed condition of the soul. God has designed every human soul to have an authority, the right lobe is in command of the soul (heart).

Who knocks out the dominant lobe in command? The false teacher with his false doctrine. The soul vacuum opened up and the dominant lobe responded to false teaching and it fouled them up! When false doctrine was rejected, the soul was stable and the right lobe of the soul (heart) was in charge of the soul. When false doctrine was accepted, the soul was in emotional revolt and in chaos. Vomit is a picture of false teachers and false doctrine. Instability of soul came from scar tissue in the soul that lets in false teaching. 2 Peter 2:14.

“having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;” (2 Peter 2:14, NASB)

In 2 Peter 2:22, “A sow” is ὗς (hus) and is the most uncomplimentary language possible. “After washing” is the aorist passive participle of λούω (louō) and refers to the washing of Judaistic soap. The stable unbelieving Jewish soul hated legalism. They rejected Peter and Paul’s message, then went into wallowing in legalism.

“Returns to wallowing” is eis (resulting) plus κύλισμα (kulisma) and refers to wallowing in the mire or βόρβορος (borboros) and refers to filth. Not only is legalism leaven, it is filth! The picture is of a sow wallowing in its own excrement which a respectable pig won’t do. This is a good picture of what a false teacher can do. It is also a picture of what the negative unbeliever can become when they respond to the false teacher.

The same principle here applies to the believer. When the believer rejects certain doctrines such as confession of sin, spirituality, the faith-rest life, or the Angelic Conflict, that malfunction of the grace apparatus for perception produces emotional revolt of the soul. Scar tissue begins to build in the soul. They then espouse doctrines that they never would have imagined earlier because they have become unstable in their soul.