There is a lot of senseless pandemonium going around these days in respect to both the Corona Virus and the potential end of the world.
In fact, just the other day, I had a neighbor-lady ask me what I thought was coming next. “Is this the end?”
But, as I have been pointing out on my Facebook feed, the Bible makes it clear that there are certain things a person can look to as “signs of the times,” if you will, that indicate the nearness of the Lord Jesus’ return and the end of this current stage in human history.
What is often overlooked amid all the hype, hubbub, and hyperbole over earthquakes, diseases (like Corona Virus), and starvation that are regularly spoken or written about, in terms of the end of all things, is that the first “sign” cited by the Apostle Paul has to do with what is going on within the Christian church; not what is going on outside of it.
Perhaps this is because so many have become disillusioned by faulty interpretation of the Bible that when the real McCoy starts to happen that they will be “raptured” out of this world or that the “sign” implicates them in something that they believe “just ain’t so.”
Therefore, it is easily ignored in favor of more sensational or catastrophic events that are reminiscent of some video they have watched or fairy tale they have read.
Paul, though, makes it clear that apostasy will be rampant in the Christian church during the last days prior to the coming of the Lord and the end of the world. He wrote,
Let no one in any way deceive you, for unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed,
then the day of the Lord will not come (2 Thess. 2:3).
The word apostasy literally means to “stand from,” rebel, or abandon.
It means that those claiming to be “Christians”—since Paul was writing to a Christian church in Thessalonica—will be in rebellion against the very beliefs and doctrines that a Christian must adhere to in order for the name “Christian” to really mean anything.
Writing in the Baker Theological Dictionary of the Bible, Mark W. Karlberg explains that apostasy entails, “Defection from the faith, an act of unpardonable rebellion against God and his truth. The sin of apostasy results in the abandonment of Christian doctrine and conduct.”
Later he would add, “The increase in apostasy in these last days of the church’s wilderness experience is associated with the appearance of the ‘man of lawlessness.'”
The man of lawlessness is the Anti-Christ, who will be engaged in worldwide deception of not only unbelievers toward Jesus Christ, but apostate “Christians,” as well, causing them to believe in “the lie” (2 Thess. 2:11).
From the beginning, “the lie” has always been related to an act independent of God’s command, as was first seen in the Garden of Eden, when Satan deceived Eve into acting independently of God, whereby she believed that by doing so she (and Adam) could become “like God,” or as gods, themselves.
Although such independence or autonomy has changed names or gone by different terms or designations, “the lie” amounts to the same rebellious end that it always has and is ultimately blasphemous!
When a person takes a good, long, hard look at what is being taught in many “Christian” churches today, as is evidenced by their Statements of Faith, “the lie” is quite evident, meaning that apostasy abounds.
All one has to do is ask a few pointed questions and watch the sparks begin to fly—especially when it is pointed out that a person’s “free will” has nothing to with God’s plan of salvation—to know that that “church” is promoting rebellion against God, so that its members can act independently of Him.
Oh, they will deny their autonomy and maybe even quote Ephesians 2:8-9.
But once the religious facade is stripped away, there stands a religious rebel boasting of how he freely accepted God’s invitation, as God stood at bay, waiting for the sinner to make up his mind whether he would do so or not.
Since all beliefs are intimately connected, if a doctrine like salvation is askew, then one may rest assured that the rest of what a person believes will be equally askew, even though on the outside everything may seem orthodox, wholesome, and true.
Although I did not get into the nitty-gritty details about apostasy in the church in the last days, what I did let my neighbor know was that what we are seeing today throughout society—whether in respect to all the hysteria about the Corona Virus or some other “crisis,” manufactured or otherwise—is a direct result of what is going on in the church.
Given all the deceit, corruption, and immorality that is commonplace and often accepted as the “new normal” in the world, it should come as no surprise to find within the walls of most “Christian” churches is the same acceptance of deceit, corruption, and immorality as well.
While God always has had a remnant upon the earth to represent Him, it is clear that present-day Churchianity is in a state of apostasy.
It is just a matter of when the “man of lawlessness” appears and the end of all things draws to a close.
