¹¹Woe to them! . . . [F]or pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

Christian ministry can be manipulated into a lucrative business, make no mistake about that. Abuses of leadership, such as today’s high-profile TV preachers flying around in private jets and living in mansions, are not new. Jude continues his comparison of pseudo-believers to OT stories, now turning to the infamous Balaam, ostensibly a prophet of God.

Five times the king of Moab, Balak, paid this pseudo-prophet (Num. 22–25) to curse Israel (though God prevented him from doing that). Balaam was willing to cash in on his prophet role, even to the detriment of God’s people, painting the ultimate picture of posing as God’s servant for entirely self-serving purposes. We can see God’s disdain in the follow-up story of the effect of Balaam’s actions on the people of God. In Numbers 25:1, the people of Israel “played the harlot with the daughters of Moab.” The imagery is unapologetically graphic, explicit, and biting: sex for pay!

The pseudo-believers Jude targeted were turning the grace of God into licentiousness (Jude 4)! His words leave us wondering just how far those posers were taking their immoral behavior. One newspaper report recently highlighted a stripper who would preach the gospel to her customers. Certainly, this is not God’s method for evangelism! But once the spigot of justified sin is open, the floodwaters gush forth.

Jude also compares the pseudo-Christians to those who “perished in the rebellion of Korah.” In Numbers 16, Korah led over 250 leaders of Israel in an insurrection against Moses, God’s appointed leader. Weakened by their hardship in the wilderness and driven to self-interest, they challenged Moses’ leadership by accusing him of self-exalting presumption. In the end, God destroyed those would-be usurpers of spiritual leadership. Their followers died in an instantaneously (and miraculously) formed crevasse where they stood as a group. Fire blazed down from heaven and incinerated the 250 leaders who had joined Korah as they were disingenuously offering incense to the Lord.

Jude’s use of the story of Korah suggests that the pseudo-believers were trying to take over the church while perverting the doctrine of grace. No wonder Jude blasts, “Woe to them!” As faithful Christians, we must stand guard against self-justifying, self-centered, immoral living. Pseudo-believers try to pass off such behavior as freedom in Christ, under the name of grace. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Lord, thank You for reminding me to call out distortions of Your grace.