THE SEXUALLY COMPROMISED DECEIVER
2 John 1:7-8 (NIV 1984) Many deceivers...have gone out into the world…. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for….
Jude 1:11 (NIV 1984) Woe to them! ...[T]hey have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error….
John warns against the deception of false teaching concerning the humanity of Jesus, but this specific deception is not the only deception that scripture warns us about. Jude personifies three different abuses in Cain, Balaam, and Korah.
Balaam is a second type of deceiver that Jude mentions. He used his prophetic influence to entice God's people into sexual compromise (Num 22:4-20; 2 Pet 2:15). He was paid to curse Israel but couldn’t do it; tried as he did, the Spirit seemed to keep interfering; therefore, he instructed his employer to seduce Israelite men with Moabite women. The project would take time, but it would eventually cause Israel to break fellowship with God through sexual sin, and God Himself would do the cursing. The book of Revelation connects Balaam’s sin with the sin of the Nicolaitans and Jezebel, who did the same thing (Rev 2:12-25). We see the fruit of this kind of influence in today’s theologically liberal protestant churches whose messaging of the gospel changed decades ago from the blood atonement to social action; one result has been their replacement of biblical sexual morality with worldly sexual deviance. The grace that liberates from sin (Eph 2:8-9) became the grace that gives license to sin (Jude 4). With lesbian pastors draped in LGBTQ+ (rainbow) attire lecturing their congregants on the ethics of “gender-affirming care” (i.e. experimental puberty blockers and radical sex change surgeries for minors), we have a real-time visual aid of the utter devastation this type of deception has inflicted on the church. This is the deception of Balaam, and evangelical churches that drift this direction will no doubt end up in the same place. These deceivers lead God’s people into moral compromise.
Whether it is theological liberalism that promotes sexual deviance, or evangelical conservatism that shrouds it, the result is devastating to the church and the individual. When sexual sin flourishes, God’s people lose ground in their faith. If we find ourselves in a church culture that is not dealing with sexual compromise graciously and definitively, we must take the warning John gives seriously and make some difficult decisions, our very walk with Christ depends on it. Attending a church or ministry that knowingly platforms people who are living in sexual compromise is dangerous to our souls. If we know this, and we do not leave those churches or ministries, we are not taking John’s warning seriously and assuming we are stronger than we actually are. His warning could not be more clear.
