2 Peter 2:3

‘And in covetousness will they with feigned words make merchandise of you, whose sentence now from of old does not linger, and their destruction does not sleep.'

The true motive of these teachers is now revealed. They are lovers of wealth. They use believers as though they were so much merchandise, to be manipulated for gain. It is covetousness that drives them on. Paul was thinking of similar teachers when he said, ‘Unlike others we do not peddle the word of God for profit' (2 Corinthians 2:17). Beware of preachers and hierarchies that become rich on the back of supposed Christianity.

And they do this by feigned words. This is in contrast to ‘unfeigned love of the brethren' (1 Peter 1:22). Their words are really a pretence as they seek to manipulate men and women. They invent their own doctrines in order to lead others astray, and thereby themselves profit by it.

The Roman Catholic church practised this during the Middle Ages. And we have a number of examples in the modern world. The leaders of the Jehovah's Witnesses grow fat on the books that their minions sell for them. Other sect leaders similarly make a fortune out of their literature, as well as out of the giving of their supporters. It is rarely that you come across a poor sect leader.

But again comes the warning. God is not mocked. All should keep in mind that ‘Their sentence from of old does not linger.' Just as the false prophets were condemned in the Old Testament, and their proper sentence was death, and in the end they and the people who believed them died, often prematurely, so will these latest teachers also find that they are already sentenced. And the result is that their destruction is not asleep. It will soon catch up with them for it already has them in its focus.