God’s Word for You

2 Timothy 3:12-13 Imposters

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Sunday, July 5, 2026

12 Indeed, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

The “indeed” of verse 12 is a progression from verses 10-11, especially the persecutions that Paul faced. They were not unique to the apostle, nor will they be to Timothy. Every Christians who wants truly to follow Christ and live in a godly way will end up on the receiving end of persecution. The world naturally runs from Christ, moves away from him when things get too close. The people of the world are “foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). The unbeliever might laugh at Christ, or might ridicule Christ, but he will always move away from Christ. No matter what he does on the outside, or says out loud, on the inside he is slinking away, crawling for cover, or running for dear life. He wants nothing to do with true godliness. He will talk himself into thinking that to be godly is a fool’s errand, because part of his unbelief is refusing to believe in any of the promises of God—even if they have seen some of his miracles with their own eyes (Numbers 14:11).

And those are just regular unbelievers. The world will always produce the kind of wicked men and women who want to profit from the weak and the gullible; the meek have inherited something that they think they can steal. And so they will come; they will come to rob, to cheat, to steal, and to plunder Christians.

I know of a church of another fellowship, another denomination, whose faithful pastor of many years retired. This was in the village where I grew up. That pastor had been loved and dearly respected by that church (in fact, by that community). Then they hired (this was not a church that believed in the divine call)—they hired a new pastor, a woman with flashy clothes and whose wily words often went over the heads of those wholesome people. They did not know it then, but that new pastor was depositing their Sunday offerings into a private account in another state. “Where it will earn better interest,” she said, when this was noticed after a short while. They believed her. No money was reported as being sent to the denomination (which is usual with almost all churches), but the pastor’s salary was paid, and the pastor’s expense account was paid, and the rest of the offerings kept disappearing, out of state. For more than two years, this went on. Then one Sunday, she announced that she was leaving them. And so she left. Their money was gone, and their pastor was gone. They had been duped by a thief who wasn’t even sneaky about it; who flaunted her thievery in their faces, as if to say, “If you’re too stupid to catch me, you don’t deserve this money you thought you were giving to God.”

I know of another event that took place in another state, in a Lutheran church this time, and not too long ago. A pastor was serving them who revealed himself to be a liar, and a thief, and a false prophet. He had taken the call to their church in order to move to that state, but not really because he wanted to serve them. In fact, he did not serve them. After a year or so (maybe more), he waited until there was a special service during Holy Week, and he cursed them. He read one of the stinging Psalms that proclaims God’s wrath on people, saying, “How blessed is the one who seizes your children and dashes them against the cliff” (Psalm 137:9), and he told them that it was written about them. Then he walked out of the church and joined a different denomination, which had been his plan for a long time. He actually cursed his own flock because they did not believe the way he believed, but he had also done nothing to teach them (if he truly thought that they should believe otherwise), and had done nothing to warn them he was leaving (as even a secular employee would be expected to do), and he showed himself to be a false prophet. For he had taken a vow before them all that he believed in the Holy Scriptures, and that he believed that the Lutheran Confessions truly explained the Scriptures. He was a liar, a thief, and a false prophet.

Sorry to say, I have a third example. But this one isn’t about a false prophet; only about a thief. I was serving a church in Milwaukee, and one Sunday morning I was talking with a few ushers and the organist before anyone else arrived in the entry way (narthex) of the church. A woman all in red burst through the doors like John Wayne walking into a saloon. Her dress was tight, and low-cut, and she was wearing high heels. Her hair was wet (but it was not raining). She told an unbelievable story of being late for a job interview on the other side of the city (on Sunday morning?) and she claimed she needed cab fare. We offered her a bus pass (the bus was the usual transportation for members of our church) but she demanded money, cash, for a cab. When one of the men offered to drive her and she angrily refused, I knew she was lying; then the very men who had taught me about such people in that part of the city—to my amazement, each of those four or five men pulled out their wallets and each of them handed over at least twenty dollars apiece. It was as if they were all under a spell. But the moment she left, the spell was broken. They knew that they had been had, and only because the thief had known that Christians would be generous.

Such things are not only events of the past, of the middle ages, or the “old time” church. Such things happen today, in our very midst. How can we beware of such evil people and imposters? We have said it before, and we will say it again and again. To the Scriptures! Read your Bible, and compare it with the message you hear. “Do not be led astray by strange teachings” (Hebrews 13:9). Most probably, God willing, everything you hear from the pulpit will agree with everything you read in the Bible. Most probably, your pastor will be a great blessing to you and to your congregation. We pray it will be so! But if there is ever anything that you wonder about, ask about it! And remember that when you do what God commands and lead a godly life, you will become a target for the devil and for persecution; “terror on every side” (Jeremiah 20:10). Therefore, pray: “I trust in you, O Lord. I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who pursue me” (Psalm 31:14-15).

And again, to your Catechism! Remember what you have learned, so go back and review it, for your own good and benefit. “Keep my teachings as the apple of your eye,” the Lord commands (Proverbs 7:2). But “if anyone comes to you and does not bring right doctrine, do not receive him into the house or give him any greeting” (2 John 1:10). But if there is nothing false in the gospel you hear, that is something to praise God about! There is nothing wrong, no sin at all, in asking questions of the shepherd who serves your church. And when you find that you are indeed served by a good, honest, believing man, praise God for him, and support him with your prayers.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

Browse Devotion Archive