(This is taken from Book 1, Satan’s Fall, in the series The Rising Of The Sons Of Dawn.
Also see chapter seventeen in The Resurrected Bride.)
In 2 Peter 3:14-18 there are a few powerful Greek words that warn Christians to be on guard against falling away from Christ. Peter says, “Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things [Peter is speaking in this passage of the coming “day of the Lord” and the events surrounding it], be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable [“vacillating”] distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, beloved [this is an obvious reference to other Christians], knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest, being carried away by the error [this is the same Greek word used for “delusion” in 2 Thess. 2:11] of unprincipled men, you fall from your own steadfastness [the NIV says “from your secure position”], but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
The phrase “carried away” in verse 17 comes from the Greek word sunapago [soon-ap-ag'-o] which means “to lead away with or together; to experience with others the force of what carries away.” This implies that you can be swept away, or seduced, along with those whom you are associating. Satan does not want us to understand that Christians can also fall through rebellion from our position in Christ as angels did (see Jude 1:6-7 and 2 Peter 2:1-4).
In order to solidify this deception in the minds of God’s children he introduced the doctrine of demons called “eternal security,” or “once saved always saved.” There is eternal security in Christ, if we continue abiding in Him (John 15:6, Romans 11:22, John 8:31).
Basically, these doctrines state that a person who has received the salvation knowledge of Jesus Christ, and then turns away in rebellion without repentance, will still enter heaven. They say that a person can never fall from this condition. These verses alone say otherwise.
Another important word to define is “error.” The Greek for this is plane [plan'-ay]. It is described as “a wandering, one led astray from the right way.” Metaphorically speaking, it speaks of “a mental straying; an error, a wrong opinion relative to morals or religion.” This describes those who wander from the paths of righteousness (see the article Shelley’s Dream which was a three-part dream my wife had over a period of one year). They are led astray by deceitfulness or fraud.
Paul also warns us in 2 Peter 3:14-18 to be on guard from being swept away by the error, or lies, of “unprincipled men”, causing us to fall from our secure position. The Greek for “unprincipled” is athesmos [ath'-es-mos]. It denotes “one who breaks through the restraint of law and gratifies his lusts.” In other words, he is a man of lawlessness, a son of destruction (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
Peter is clearly warning Christians to be careful lest we wander from the truth, fellowshipping with those walking in lawlessness, and fall from our own steadfastness, our “secure position” in Christ. Understanding this truth will give us the reason why we need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12-13). There is a definite tendency to neither fear nor tremble if you believe you can never fall away with an apostate heart like Judas.
The word for “fall” is ekpipto [ek-pip'-to]. It means “to lose, to fall from a position, to fall off, to fall to the ground.” Revealing a New Testament example of those who fall away from Christ, I wrote in my book The Plague Of Abortion~ Babylon’s Guilt Of Bloodshed;
“In Acts 8 we are given the account of Philip proclaiming Christ to the people in the city of Samaria. As they heard and saw the miraculous signs which he was doing in His name, many believed and were baptized. Acts 8:9-11 states, ‘But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, ‘This man is the great power of God.’ And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time.’
The word ‘astonished’ is taken from the Greek word ‘existemi’. It means ‘to put out of wits, to throw out of position, to displace.’ It is taken from two other words that denotes ‘origin (the point where action or motion proceeds), out of, away from,’ and ‘to set, to make firm, to stand.’ The two words imply a moving out of, or away from a firm position [see the Bible study The Door]. This defines the fruit of Simon the sorcerer’s so called ‘power of God.’
He represents the deceived, false prophets of Babylon. Through their sorceries, or witchcraft, God’s children are led away from their firm, secure position in Himself. This is the ‘error of unprincipled men’ spoken of earlier in 2 Peter 3:17. The result of their teachings is the numerous amount of covenant breakers that now make up the church in America.”
Within the same portion of the book I share another insight the Lord revealed to me in regards to falling away from Him that I think is also worth repeating here. It concerns those who, like the “unprincipled men” described in 2 Peter 3:14-18, break through the restraining barrier established by the Lord. I wrote;
“Deuteronomy 22:8 states, ‘When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.’ According to Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, a parapet is a railing, wall, or latticework around the edge of the flat roofs of Palestinian houses, required by Mosaic law as a protection against accidents.
A responsibility of someone building a new house was to place a railing around the roof to protect others. If you did not, you would be guilty of innocent bloodshed. You may say ‘That’s not fair! I didn’t push them over the edge. They fell off because of their own carelessness.’ Yes, they will be held responsible for their own choices, but this reinforces that we are indeed our brother’s keeper.
God holds His family responsible for one another’s welfare. In God’s eyes we are guilty if we are not watching out for our brother and sister, making it more difficult for them to ‘fall away’ from God’s house through the establishment of a railing of truth. In Philippians 2:3-4 Paul admonishes us to ‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.’
This is why judgment begins in the house of God. The world is deceived, being held captive by Satan to do his will. The church on the other hand, is held to a much higher standard. We have been given revelation by the Holy Spirit concerning God’s standard. Therefore, to whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48).
I believe this represents an important building code for God’s house. We need a ‘railing’ [of truth!], so to speak, around the periphery. If someone gets too close to the edge with nothing set in place to restrain them, they may fall (away) to their demise. It is our responsibility within His house to build according to the plans laid out for us in His word. Paul warns us in 1 Corinthians 3 to be careful how we build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ that he laid. He says in verse 13 that ‘each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.’
The wall around the edge is the restraining force of truth God wants us to [re]establish...”
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