THE GREAT APOSTASY
The gospel has been preached since the times of Adam. Do you remember that Abel offered sacrifices to the Lord? Where do you think that he learned that from? Adam? But how would he know how to offer sacrifices to the Lord? Do you remember the skins of animals given to Adam and Eve before they left the Garden of Eden? Where do you think those skins came from?
Adam and Eve were taught before leaving the Garden, "And I [the LORD God] will put enmity between thee [the serpent] and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (Gen 3:15)
After leaving the Garden, Adam and Eve had many "sons and daughters." (Gen 5:4) Cain rebelled and some of the other children. Although Adam and Eve had righteous children, it was not enough to detour the wickedness of those in rebellion. "And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled
with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. (Gen 6:13)
Noah and Melchizedek taught the people after the flood. But as the people spread began to have a disregard for holy matters. Terah (the father of Abraham and Nachor) and some of his forebears were among those that forsook the Lord. "... Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood [the Euphrates] in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood [the Euphrates], and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed and gave him Isaac. And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his
children went down into Egypt..." (Josh 24:2b-4)
As apostasy continued among the descendants of Noah, it began to effect the Children of Israel. The Lord called upon Moses to
deliver them out of Egypt. Then a law was given to them: a preparatory law that would focus their attention upon the Messiah. They also fell into apostasy and Jesus rebuked the people saying, "Do you think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?"
Yet the Lord went forth and establish the gospel again among the children of men. Through His atonement, He did away with the lesser ordinances of the law. "Botting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;" (Col 2:14) He called apostles, seventies, elders, bishops, and other officers to guide the affairs of His Church under His Direction. "And he [Jesus] gave some, apostles; and some prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfection of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of
men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;" (Eph 4:11-14)
But the prophets prophesied that before the return of the Lord that there would be a great apostasy. "Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered." (Isa 29:10-11) "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north ever to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it." (Amos 8:11-12)
This apostasy would begin during the Lord’s own ministry. "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. (John 6:66) Jesus had warned his
followers during His ministry with the parable of the wheat and the tares.
Paul warned: "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. (Acts 20:29-31)
It appears that as time went along, the apostles did their best to address the issues. As they wrote their epistles, they would challenge the false doctrines and rebuke the apostate nature of individuals. "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that
every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" (1Cor 1:10-13) "For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. (1Cor 11:18-19)
Some of the members in the church at Corinth began to teach that against the resurrection. "Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?" (1Cor 15:12)
Paul warned: "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." (Gal 1:6-9)
Paul declared that before the Second Coming of Christ would be a falling away [ie. an apostasy]. "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;" (2Thes 2:1-3)
Again Paul rebukes: "From which some having swerved having turned aside unto vain jangling; desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm." (1Tim 6-7)
By this point, many had rejected the teachings of Paul.
"This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes." (2Tim 1:15)
Paul warns again: "But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymentus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some." (2Tim 2:16-18)
Paul foretells further apostasy: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (2Tim 4:3-4)
Peter was also aware of the heresies in the Church. "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that brought them, and bring upon
themselves swift destruction. And mon shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." (2Pet 2:1-3)
Peter also warns: "Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness." (2Pet 3:17)
John testifies of corruption in the Church. "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, ever now are there many antichrists; whereby we now that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." (1Jn 2:18-19)
John counsels and gives warning: "Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." (1Jn 4:1)
Jude testifies of the corruption: "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." (Jude 1:4)
Later, John Wesley testifies: "It does not appear that these extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were common in the Church for more than two or three centuries. We seldom hear of them after that fatal period when the Emperor Constantine called himself Christian; ... The Christians had no more of the Spirit of Christ than the other Heathens... This was the real cause why the extraordanary gifts of the Holy Ghost were no longer to be found in the Christian Church; because the Christians were turned Heathens again, and had only a dead form left." (The Works of John
Wesley, vol. 7 pp.26-27)
Roger Williams declares that no one has authority to administer the ordinances of the gospel. "American poet and editor William Cullen Bryant, in discussing an early religious group in Providence, Rhode Island, wrote: ‘Mr. Williams continued to be its pastor for only four years, when he withdrew, not only from his official relations, but also ceased any longer to worship with his brethren, having come to the conclusion that there is "no regularly-constituted Church on the earth, nor any person authorized to administer any Church ordinance; nor could there be, until new apostles were sent by the great Head of The Church," for whose coming he was seeking.’" (William Bryant, ed., Picturesque America, vol. 1, pp. 500, 502)
Thomas Jefferson declared: The religion-builders have so distorted and deformed the doctrines of Jesus, so muffled them in mysticisms, fancies and falsehoods, have caricatured them into forms so monstrous and inconceivable, as
to shock reasonable thinkers... Happy in the prospect of a restoration of primitive Christianity, I must leave to younger athletes to encounter and lop off the false branches which have been engrafted into it by the mythologists of the middle and modern ages.--Thomas Jefferson (H.A. Washington, ed.,"The writings of Thomas Jefferson," vol. 7, pp210, 257)
