Hello Friends!
Here are some thoughts to consider in these "last days" as our culture, church and nation slips further and further away from the Word of God...
Apostasy in the Last Days
Apostasy has been a part of every generation since the fall of mankind. Scripture tells us that it will culminate in the last days when the Antichrist is revealed. His religion will be an apostate Christianity - the total antithesis of biblical Christianity. It will accommodate all religions. Although the apostasy will not be fully realized until after the Rapture of the church, its development has been ongoing from the time when sin entered the human race. Furthermore, down through biblical and church history, many true believers, either in ignorance or because of the weaknesses of their flesh, have contributed to apostasy. Solomon seems to exemplify this. As a believer, he was used of the Holy Spirit to build the Temple and to write much of the Book of Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes, yet he also married many pagan women, which was contrary to Scripture. These women turned him to idolatry and he built temples for them to worship their false gods.
The sin and apostasy of mankind, will greatly increase in the Last Days, and will be complete when the Antichrist rules this earth during the seven-year Great Tribulation period. Therefore, as the world moves toward the apostasy's total fulfillment, all Christians will be vulnerable to its destructive seduction. So what is the antidote? How can we keep ourselves from succumbing to those things that would draw us into the apostasy? Let's start with the prevention program presented in Psalm 1:
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornfull”.
The psalmist gives instructions for a spiritually fruitful life in the Lord. These instructions are centered upon our being strengthened by God's Word and begin with the admonition that we are not to follow the counsel of the ungodly. This doesn't mean avoiding counsel only from those who are obviously evil but rather rejecting any counsel that does not conform to what is taught in the Word of God.
A major factor related to the apostasy's subversion of the evangelical church is that fewer and fewer professing Christians really believe in the sufficiency of the Word of God for "all things that pertain to life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3). Instead, evangelicals are turning more and more to the ungodly wisdom of the world. The evangelical church is one of the leading referral entities for psychological counseling services. The shepherds are turning their flocks over to professional psychotherapists, who are, in a sense, the biblical equivalent of hirelings. In addition, they are attempting to increase the numbers of their flocks by turning to marketing techniques, which the Church Growth Movement gleaned from the world. These have proven deadly to biblical faith.
The psalmist then shifts from what believers need to avoid to the primary preventative measure they need to incorporate into their lives:
"...his delight is in the law of the Lord [meaning the Law, the Prophets, and the Testimony], and in his law [the Scriptures] doth he meditate day and night" (Psalm 1:2).
The main reason that apostasy is spreading so quickly among evangelicals today is that many are functionally biblically illiterate. These means that although nearly all “Christians” have Bibles and are able to read, too few do read them, and those who do don't make it a practice that guides their lives. This is one of the reasons for a shocking response revealed by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. It published a survey of more than 35,000 American adults and found that 57 percent of those who claim to be evangelicals believe that "many religions can lead to eternal life."
In our day, biblical absolutes and an exclusive way of salvation are viewed by the world as the epitome of intolerance, an accusation that many evangelicals can't handle - especially those who don't know the Bible well enough to give a biblical response. Meditating upon the Word continually is the obvious solution to rectifying such a condition. Furthermore, there is both encouragement and help from our Lord. Consider His prayer to the Father for believers:
The crux of the spiritual battle is over the Word of God. The adversary's strategy is to discredit the Scriptures in every way and by every means possible. As we noted, it began in the Garden initially by the questioning of God's Word, followed immediately by the denial of its truth (Genesis 3:4-5). Those who do not recognize that they are in such a battle may have already been captured by the lies of the Adversary. The Apostle Paul wrote that we are not to be ignorant of his devices (2 Corinthians 2:11) and used military metaphors for more than a literary device; he underscored the reality of the spiritual warfare taking place and sets up the believer's defense:"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy Word is truth" (John 17:17).
Jesus wants us sanctified, or set apart, as those who, regardless of what the world thinks and says, are confident that His Word is the truth. He said, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31-32). Part of that freedom is a confidence to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3). One cannot "contend" for something of which he is mostly ignorant. Defending one's faith can only come about through a disciplined study of the Scriptures.
“Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”. (Ephesians 6:13-17)
Our fight is the good fight of faith, remembering that our weapons are not carnal but spiritual (2 Corinthians 10:4). It is "warfare" over the truth, with the goal of being "able to withstand in the evil day." Our victory is simply to stand for God's Word.
As the battle intensifies, which Scripture indicates it will prior to the Lord's coming for His saints, we need to be "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Ephesians 6:18). We need to circle the wagons with other believers for fellowship and spiritual protection, for counsel, for encouragement, for correction, for comfort, and for ministry to one another. If such things become our practice while we wait upon the Lord, even though the Apostasy dries up the spiritual environment around us, we shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever we do shall prosper in the Lord. Amen and thank you Jesus!
Shane <><
Lighthouse Publications <><
"Dedicated to the Never Ending Search for the Creator's calling within You" (TM)
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