Later, the apostle Peter wrote to Christians, calling to their attention that there “came to be false prophets among the people [the Jewish nation], as there will also be false teachers among you. These very ones will quietly bring in destructive sects and will disown even the owner that bought them . . .

Since “elders” or “overseers” were the ones to whom the apostle spoke, saying, “from among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things,” it is clear that the apostasy would be started by professed religious leaders of the Christian congregation, those ordained or appointed to “shepherd” the congregation of God. They would be “false teachers,” working to “draw away the disciples after themselves,” (making Christ’s disciples their own), thereby creating “destructive sects.” These would be “oppressive wolves,” who would not “treat the flock with tenderness.”​—Acts 20:29, 30.

MODERN-DAY RESULTS

We can observe the religious leaders of Christendom and ask: Who have done and are today doing these same things? Who have, by their religious teachings, disowned the heavenly “owner that bought them”? What religious leaders have been guilty of “loose conduct,” and have condoned it among their flocks, so that “the way of the truth” has come to be “spoken of abusively”? What religious leaders have coveted the things that the people of their congregation possessed and then have ‘exploited them with counterfeit words’?

The spiritual and moral condition of the people in the lands called “Christendom” is evidence that such has been the case among the sectarian religious leaders. And because of their greedy, haughty, materialistic attitude and actions, they have brought the hatred of peoples in “pagan” lands not only upon themselves and their flocks, but also upon God’s Word, the Bible. For this they must answer to God.