Hi Rick,
I think there is a lot in the answers provided here. I will only add that I believe the messengers that Peter and Jude refer to are not the same as the ministers of satan now who are transformed into ministers of righteousness. I think the ones peter is referencing are of a certain different kind, being spiritual in nature, even similar to the evil spirits God sent out in the old testament or worse. Either way, they are chained up, and I believe that includes to this day.
Wherever Peter and Jude got their inspiration from to say those things, besides being from God, we cannot know now. If there was a book inspired of God before which was written, even the book where the arch angel Micheal rebuked satan over the disputation of moses body, these are now lost. All as God planned though.
God bless,
Alex
I respectfully disagree with you, Alex.
It was the shepherds of Israel spoken of through the OT and who Jesus berated who didn't care about the sheep. They just used them and took advantage of them and led them astray. They left their FIRST (most important) estate and did as they pleased.
Ezek. 34
2 "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock?
3 "You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock.
4 "Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them.…
...
Matt 24
45 “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them.
46 If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward.
47 I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns.
48 But what if the servant is evil and thinks, ‘My master won’t be back for a while,’
49 and he begins beating the other servants, partying, and getting drunk?
50 The master will return unannounced and unexpected,
51 and he will cut the servant to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.Matt. 23
14"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore
you will receive greater condemnationMatt. 25
14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants (ministers) and entrusted to them his property (His Word?).
15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
...
24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed,
25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’
26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?
27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.
28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. (Jeremiah 23)
29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
30
And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Matthew 3:7
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "
You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
The Final Judgment
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
44 Then
they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not
minister to you?’
45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Matt 21
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them.