THE GREAT APOSTASY

WHAT IS APOSTASY?

Apostasy is turning away from the truth; turning away from the faith or backsliding. Can also be defined as defection or an act of refusing to follow, obey or recognize a religious faith or abandonment of a previous loyalty.  Apostasy or turning away, or falling away from the truth of God’s Word, has occurred throughout the history of God’s people. On numerous occasions the Israelites in the Old Testament turned away from worshipping the true God to idols; the New Testament reports similar departures from the truth. Such turning away usually resulted in some forms of judgment by God. Some passages suggest that the last days will be characterized by exceptionally severe apostasy. God issues numerous encouragements to believers to remain steady in their faith and not to turn away. There is disagreement among Christians as to whether is possible for one of God’s chosen children to turn away. Some say a true believer can totally fall from grace, while others cite passages that herald God’s faithfulness in the preservation of every one of his people. Beloved, my prompt prayer for you today is that May our Loving God and Father engrace us and hold us to stand firm in this faith and never turn back in any way. And may the slogan of “forward ever, backward never” be the order of the day for us all; did you know that God does not regard the backslidings? Even if one might have moved mountains, preached the best messages ever, but all will be regarded as nothing and useless waste of time. My dearest brethren my prayer to all today is that we hold on to our faith till the end and nothing by any means separates us from the love of our Maker. Father, I thank and bless Your Holy name for Your word will not return to You void without accomplishing that which You pleases or that which You have send it forth for” (Isa. 55”11).

THE GREAT APOSTASY

In Apostle Paul’ epistle to Timothy, he warns against false teachers, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lie in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanks giving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Tim. 4:1-4). The Holy Spirit, who is the source of Paul’s revelation, confirmed to him that the end time would witness a departure from the faith, that is, from the objective body of divinely revealed truth. Such was not a vague impression given to Paul, but a clear and direct confirmation of the truth previously spoken by the great Apostle’s Lord and Savior who warned His disciple before time saying, “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famine, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My names sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:10-12).  People will listen to “deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons” (v.1). It is necessary to test the spirits… because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 Jn. 4:1). In the case before us, false teaching surrounded the ordinance of marriage and eating or not eating certain foods. According to false gnostic teaching of that day, matter was evil. Therefore the counsel of gnostic was either to avoid contact with physical things, or else to indulge extravagantly because “matter didn’t matter.” Belief always influences behavior. By rejecting the truth of the Scriptures one is on the slippery slope downward toward apostasy.  The psalmist prayed, “You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory” (Ps. 73:24).

CAUSES OF APOSTASY

1.       Influence of deceiving spirits:  This example we have seen from Paul’s letter to first Timothy on the above paragraph; (1 Tim. 4:1). 

2.       False teachers is another cause of apostasy: Paul admonishing his brethren before his departure, “Therefore take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears” (Act 20:28-31). John the Apostle revealed these false teachers in his epistle thus, “But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed for idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolai tans, which thing I hate “(Rev. 2:14-15).

3.       Another cause is human desires: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables”( 2 Tim. 4:3-4).

4.       Love of the world is another cause: “For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica- Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia” (2 Tim. 4:10).

5.       Another cause is hardened hearts: “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your father’s not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayer and murderers” (Act 7:51-52); Paul’s words to his brethren was that the Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers saying, “Go to this people and say; “Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you will see, and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears. Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them” (Acts 28:26-27).

6.       Persecution is another cause of apostasy: “They will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another” (Matt. 24:9-10).

7.       At times, it is a time of testing: “But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away” (Lk. 8: 13). The hearers described by Jesus in our text respond to the Word of God purely on an emotional level. They receive the Word with joy. A religious emotion not grounded in truth is unstable. In saving faith we obey (will) from the heart (emotions) the teaching (mind) brought to us in the gospel (Rom. 6:17). Since there is merely an emotional response to Christ and the gospel, it is inevitable that when affliction and persecution for Christ’s sake come, such superficial “believers fall away” (Matt. 13:21). In hearing the word we dare not to be satisfied with surface impressions; we must ascertain that the Word has penetrated the foundations of our lives. Otherwise the same superficial excitement involved in a swift reception of the Word will also arise to effectively put the Gospel aside.

Beloved brethren, as you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving” (Col. 2:6-7).

“Grace to you and Favor from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen and Amen and Amen.”