Lions and Wolves and false prophets oh my

[WailingWall]

 

The early Christians should have seen this coming. They were actually givin many warnings about the  bad guys and what they would do. The warnings are all around the new testament. 

1 PETER 5 [8] Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a ROARING LION, walketh about, SEEKING WHOM  HE MAY DEVOUR:

ROARING LIONS!  The bad guys

MATT.7 [14] Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.[15] Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are RAVENING WOLVES.

FALSE PROPHETS! They are RAVENING WOLVES.  “The many” will follow these false prophets and but a few will take the way of life.

ACTS 20 [29] For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous WOLVES ENTER IN among you, not sparing the flock.[30] Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, TO DRAW AWAY DISCIPLES after them.

The GRIEVOUS WOLVES been hangin round from the beginning

EPH.4 [17] This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth WALK NOT AS OTHER GENTILES walk, in the VANITY of their mind,[18] Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:[19] Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all UNCLEANNESS with GREEDINESS.

All these warnings from the new testament are found in one scripture. “Day of the Lord” scriptures are not about ancient Israel. That day has not yet come. Day of the Lord scriptures do apply to christians (those who believe that Jesus came) and these scriptures will come to pass. To see what these ROARING LIONS and RAVENOUS WOLVES have done, simply read and believe the Word.

EZEK.22 [23] And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,[24] Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.[25] There is A CONSPIRACY OF HER PROPHETS in the midst thereof, like a ROARING LION ravening the prey; THEY HAVE DEVOURED SOULS; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.[26] HER PRIESTS HAVE VIOLATED MY LAW, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the UNCLEAN AND THE CLEAN, and HAVE HID THEIR EYES FROM MY SABBATHS, and I am profaned among them.[27] Her princes in the midst thereof are like WOLVES RAVENING THE PREY, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get DISHONEST GAIN.[28] And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, SEEING VANITY, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken

A conspiracy of the prophets. HID THEIR EYES FROM MY SABBATHS! They meant to do it and they sure did pull it off despite the warnings. Up until the printing press, bibles were pretty scarce but even if someone discovered the Ezek.22 scripture Im sure the powers that be would have silenced that someone. So how did these bad guys pull this off? 
 

[Kelly2363]

36 minutes ago, WailingWall said:

 

The early Christians should have seen this coming. They were actually givin many warnings about the  bad guys and what they would do. The warnings are all around the new testament. 

1 PETER 5 [8] Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a ROARING LION, walketh about, SEEKING WHOM  HE MAY DEVOUR:

ROARING LIONS!  The bad guys

MATT.7 [14] Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.[15] Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are RAVENING WOLVES.

FALSE PROPHETS! They are RAVENING WOLVES.  “The many” will follow these false prophets and but a few will take the way of life.

ACTS 20 [29] For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous WOLVES ENTER IN among you, not sparing the flock.[30] Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, TO DRAW AWAY DISCIPLES after them.

The GRIEVOUS WOLVES been hangin round from the beginning

EPH.4 [17] This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth WALK NOT AS OTHER GENTILES walk, in the VANITY of their mind,[18] Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:[19] Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all UNCLEANNESS with GREEDINESS.

All these warnings from the new testament are found in one scripture. “Day of the Lord” scriptures are not about ancient Israel. That day has not yet come. Day of the Lord scriptures do apply to christians (those who believe that Jesus came) and these scriptures will come to pass. To see what these ROARING LIONS and RAVENOUS WOLVES have done, simply read and believe the Word.

EZEK.22 [23] And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,[24] Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.[25] There is A CONSPIRACY OF HER PROPHETS in the midst thereof, like a ROARING LION ravening the prey; THEY HAVE DEVOURED SOULS; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.[26] HER PRIESTS HAVE VIOLATED MY LAW, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the UNCLEAN AND THE CLEAN, and HAVE HID THEIR EYES FROM MY SABBATHS, and I am profaned among them.[27] Her princes in the midst thereof are like WOLVES RAVENING THE PREY, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get DISHONEST GAIN.[28] And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, SEEING VANITY, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken

A conspiracy of the prophets. HID THEIR EYES FROM MY SABBATHS! They meant to do it and they sure did pull it off despite the warnings. Up until the printing press, bibles were pretty scarce but even if someone discovered the Ezek.22 scripture Im sure the powers that be would have silenced that someone. So how did these bad guys pull this off? 
 

“εγω οιδα οτι εισελευσονται μετα την αφιξιν μου λυκοι βαρεις εις υμας μη φειδομενοι του ποιμνιου ‘I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock.”

Acts 20:29 is the most common verse that brethren cite when speaking about the meaning of the term wolf. In this instance, the term used by the Apostle Paul is grievous wolf. The Greek says, βαρύς (barus) - of grievous, which means to press a severe burden on a person. It also means vicious and cruel. Without mercy. It is very different from the term used in Matthew 7:15, where we read of ravenous wolves. The Greek says, αρπαγες (harpage) - of ravenous, which means to destroy, rob and steal. In Matthew 7:15 the Lord warned of false prophets as ravenous wolves. These wolves come into the flocks; they are not of the flock. In the same way, the grievous wolf comes into the flock - he is not of the flock.

Paul also identified that there are men who arise from within the flock. Yet Paul does not call these men, wolves. Those whom Paul said would come into the flocks, were grievous wolves, and in saying “Also of your own selves, shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them,” Paul identifies a different class of men. Of this diverse group of men we see the Greek conjunctive καὶ - where the object is λαλοῦντες διεστραμμένα τοῦ - ‘speaking perverse things.’ The principle characteristic of these men is speaking perverse things. Paul does not call the men who speak perverse things, wolves, but he does identify that they will draw disciples after themselves. The proper understanding of this secondary group of men Paul identifies prophetically, is that they ought to be called heretics, and not wolves. Paul also identified who the grievous wolves would be.

“You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20:18-21

It was the Jews who were trying to come into the flocks of Christ in the first century in order to reassert a full requirement of the Law of Moses upon believers. These Jews were actually opposing Christ Himself in the very same spirit that the Pharisees opposed Christ face to face in Judaea. What characterised those men of Judea was a desire to murder Christ and what characterised these men of whom Paul speaks, is their willingness to murder him. This corresponds with reality, in that Satan was a murderer from the beginning. Just as the Lord told some of the Pharisees that their father was the devil, so Paul recognised that those Jews, whose representatives, were coming into the flocks, were murderers in no less a meaning. In Paul’s case they were literally trying to murder him because he was able to resist them.

Speaking Perverse Things

Speaking perverse things comes from diastrepho (διαστρέφω) and means, to twist or distort. The effect is schisms within the church, and that is the root meaning of heresy [hairetikos αἱρετικός and αιρετικον from αἵρεσιςc]. It is wilfuly causing schisms or divisions by twisting the apostolic teaching. We find it used in Titus 3:10, “A factious man after a first and second admonition refuse αιρετικον ανθρωπον μετα μιαν και δευτεραν νουθεσιαν παραιτου. Heresy is not sufficient to be called a wolf. You have to be a grievous βαρύς (barus) wolf in the character that Paul identified before you can be called a wolf. Or else you have to be ἁρπαγή (harpage), a destroyer of the flocks. A broader consideration I make, therefore, has to do with those who take the name of Christ and pervert doctrines with the effect of drawing men to themselves.

This would be more fully speaking of those who pioneer fundamental changes in the way in which a particular truth is presented. When this happens, the result is always division in the body of Christ. 

Edited September 11, 2021 by Kelly2363
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