I saw an image of 2 Peter 2 that is really good. From another blog. Dave Owens https://guamdaveo.blogspot.com/2018/12/devotional-beware-false-teachers-2.html

2 Peter 2:1 But false prophets also appeared among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. ² Many will follow their indecent behavior, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; ³ and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

3 traits identify false prophets or false teachers: 1) Immoral “indecent” sexual behavior, often taking advantage sexually with followers, like David Koresh who claimed that all the married women in his Branch Davidian cult were his wives, no longer to have sex with their husbands; 2) power; they “exploit” you, which implies taking control over followers, a power or pride thing; 3) greed; money is almost always involved; TV evangelists like Joel Osteen net worth $100 million, Joyce Meyers $8 million, Pat Roberson $100 million, Kenneth Copeland $300 million, Benny Hinn $60 million. BTW notice the phrase “even denying the Master who bought them”. Calvinism: TULIP. The L is “limited atonement”: since God only predestined a certain number to be saved, then Jesus only died for them, not for the whole world. But 2 Peter 2:1 says that Jesus “bought” these false teachers with his blood, so he died for them also and “Limited atonement” is wrong. False teachers will be judged and destroyed.

2 Peter 2:⁴ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, held for judgment; ⁵ and did not spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example of what is coming for the ungodly; ⁷ and if He rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the perverted conduct of unscrupulous people ⁸ (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), ⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from a trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, ¹⁰ and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt passion, and despise authority.

The main premise is “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from a trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment“. 3 examples of God judging and punishing the unrighteous: 1) the angels that sinned (when Satan led them in a rebellion against God) who were already in hell awaiting judgment; 2) the ungodly world before the flood; 3) the ungodly people in Sodom and Gomorrah by reducing them to ashes; 2 examples of God rescuing the godly from a trial: 1) He saved Noah and 7 others from the flood; 2) He brought Lot out of Sodom safely; Lot was oppressed by the perverts in Sodom, his soul tormented day and night by their deeds; we have to ask why he moved into Sodom if he was so against their sins; I assume he could get richer faster than living in the land that Abraham allowed him to pick (Genesis 12) but it cost him as he lost all his possessions, his wife turned to a pillar of salt, his 2 daughters got him drunk and committed incest with him.

2 Peter 2:Reckless, self-centered, they speak abusively of angelic majesties without trembling, ¹¹ whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a demeaning judgment against them before the Lord. ¹² But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, using abusive speech where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, ¹³ suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions as they feast with you, ¹⁴ having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having hearts trained in greed, accursed children; ¹⁵ abandoning the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the reward of unrighteousness; ¹⁶ but he received a rebuke for his own offense, for a mute donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the insanity of the prophet.

Again, the 3 traits of false teachers and false prophets: 1) sexually immoral, revelers in the daytime, eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin; 2) power: they revile angelic authorities, abusive speech control of followers, deceptive; 3) greed, money; hearts trained in greed, following the way of Balaam. The story of the prophet Balaam is in Numbers 22-24. He was hired by the Balak the king of Moab to curse Israel as they passed through the land of Moab on the way to the Promised Land. He agreed to go but his donkey spoke to him on the way rebuking him. He apparently would have cursed Israel and received his pay, but 4 times the Spirit made Balaam bless Israel instead of cursing them. The 4th time Balaam even predicted the coming of the Messiah in the distant future. Balaam did eventually get his pay at Peor (Numbers 25) when he advised Balak to get the Israelite men to have sex with the Moabite women which led to God killing 24,000 Israelites. The killing was stopped when Phinehas stuck a spear through an Israelite man and a Moabite woman having sex brazenly in the Israelite camp. Balaam was a prophet for hire just like the false prophets in 2 Peter 2.

2 Peter 2:¹⁷ These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸ For, while speaking out arrogant words of no value they entice by fleshly desires, by indecent behavior, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, ¹⁹ promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what anyone is overcome, by this he is enslaved. ²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹ For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. ²² It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

Another trait of false prophets is that they entice followers to engage in fleshly desires, promising them “freedom” to sin. A great example of this is the David Berg cult The Children of God, the Family Interntional who practised free sex and used sex to draw in new members (flirty fishing). Peter then adds that if someone has escaped from sin (i.e. has been saved) but then is overcome by sin, the latter state is worse than the first (he is worse than if he never became a Christian). In other words, he was once saved but fell from grace and ended up lost again. Does that imply degrees of punishment? Peter says it is like a dog returning to his vomit or a washed clean pig returning to wallow in the mud. That’s a pretty simple example, and yet Calvinists still say that you can’t fall from grace!

The Christian churches has been and continues to be filled with false prophets and false teachers for the past 2,000 years. Joseph Smith of the Mormons; Russell and Rutherford of the Jehovah’s Witnesses; Ellen G White of the Seventh Day Adventists; David Koresh of the Branch Davidians; Jim Jones of the People’s Temple; David Berg of the Children of God; Marchall Applewhite of the Heaven’s Gate suicidal cult; Mary Baker Eddy of the Christian Scientists; the false teachers and preachers of the LGBQT movement; the numerous false prophets who predicted the coming of Christ at certain dates that did not come true; the pope who claims to be the head of the church, who claims that God still gives inspired doctrines through him; the mega church TV evangelicals who are worth 10-100 million dollars. In the church I grew up in, a preacher of some denomination who taught different than my church on some minor doctrines like instrumental music in worship were considered to be false teachers, but I don’t agree with that. Always examine the motives of any teacher. Search the Scriptures to see if what they are teaching is the word of God. Have the attitude of the Bereans: Acts 17: ¹¹ Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”