By THE TWO WITNESSES OF REVELATION 11, THE PROPHETS OF THE BOOK OF MALACHI CHAPTER 4
Updated 10/28/2021, (PART 2)
Today, I want to talk about apostasy in the church. The reason I am teaching about apostasy is because it is a very important phenomenon in today’s church, You are going to find that among the prophecies that denote, define this time, the prophecies that Jesus the LORD gave to us about the signs before His coming you will find that apostasy was one of those signs. And He said in the days before He comes there would be a great apostasy in the church.
If you look at the bible, the way the bible denotes the prophetic time line you find two things:
- You Find Apostasy or,
- You Find Revival
Because sometimes I would have so much longed that this revival would clean out apostasy. But when I read the bible, I find those were the two signs that were eloquently well positioned to define this time. And so, I also find out later that you can have either one or the other in the church: desolation or revival. In other words, he talks about the great apostasy and then at the same time He talks about the big out pour of the Glory of the LORD.
If you will know what apostasy is you will surely fear it!
Introduction
Bible believing Christians are confronted with a disturbing reality in the church today. When you go out there they all of the sudden run into some very disturbing reality inside the church.
The devil appears to have gotten his way into the house of the LORD and gone virtually unrebuked. The devil somehow has gotten into the Church of Christ somehow totally unrebuked.
Because I strongly believe that the reason he is not operating with that impunity here is that here he stands rebuked! So that is important. The reason that you see the sin out there, for example, women are walking in nudity in the churches because nobody ever cared (enough) to rebuked them! The bottom line is that people come to church to enter into heaven. So if you help them they will always obey you.
Deception appears to be the tool of choice, or deception appears to be the most valuable tool that the enemy has chosen to use in order to target bible believing Christian. I am not talking about any other Christian. The enemy has chosen lies, lying to propel this agenda into the church. It is as though the LORD makes me come and stand from here and observe the church, the happenings in the church.
Son of Man go now and stand at the door of the Temple and observe and watch what is happening there…we will discuss some of this today.
When he looked in there he thought that they were sitting with their backs turned unto the Altar, (instead) looking, focusing through the door to the sun and worshiping the sun…standing here and observing and looking these are the observations I find I come out with.
Deception is the tool of choice. The enemy appears to essentially clothe himself in the vestments (clothes). This is happening in the House. It seems to be generating from the pulpit and being disseminated into the congregation. This is so key, once you are able to perceive the seriousness of apostasy and understand the consequences of apostasy then never, ever will you ever go into apostasy. In fact, you outright will fight it.
To emphasize to you how serious apostasy is our LORD Jesus himself addressed himself unto this phenomenon. To give us an opening understanding even as to how the LORD looked at it and the things he said about it.
Luke 18:7-8 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? (In other words, ignoring them) I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find (any) faith on the earth (at all)?”
This widow kept going to an evil king seeking justice. That king was evil, he never had fear for the LORD and then he disregarded human beings, people. And so this widow kept going to this King seeking justice, “please help me, please help me. My land has been taken look my sons, look my neighbors, injustice please help me.” Until one time this king said, “OK! enough is enough! I will now give justice to this women.” And he helped the woman.
The LORD Jesus is bringing this to our attention that if this evil king can bring justice to this poor widow and woman how much more your God unto his Beloved? In fact he calls them His chosen ones, meaning his holy ones, Righteous ones, how much more Jehovah the Righteous God of Israel!
Then He goes on to ask owing to that because there is another whole conversation going on there, he said time. The time will come, however, when I look at the happenings in the hearts of men surely, surely, surely when the Son of Man comes will he find any faith here at all. I am using this to define apostasy.
1. Apostasy is the falling away from faith.
2. Apostasy is the falling away from true faith.
The LORD himself seeing what would happen at this time in the church and the world here lamented, “Wow, with all that when I come back will I ever find anyone with faith remaining, left here, reigning here, remaining here?”
That should help you understand just how serious this phenomenon of apostasy is unto the LORD. The answer to that question is obviously a negative. Will he find anyone here at all with faith, meaning he will not.
The LORD himself lamented the apostasy of the day. When he saw the inclination of the hearts of men he cried out about faith in the last days. When you look at the phenomenon of apostasy the way it is propelling itself into the church of Christ at the pulpit, at the altar of Jehovah, then you find that the enemy the adversary is using the following: I say vestment, dressed in clothes of lies standing in the pulpit and dispensing it, feeding people with it, administering it.
The adversary goes ahead to craft unto himself pastors! He goes ahead and disciples unto himself pastors. Right now, here you can already see the enemy craft unto himself preachers that stand at the pulpit, and they are accomplished speakers. They are very sharp in their speech, beautiful speakers. When you listen to them “wow” you really buy in, right? If you listen to them without probing you will pass them for “this one is sent from God.” He brings people dressed in attire and vestments.
1. Eloquent Liars
2. Eloquent speakers
3. Superb deceivers, excellent deceivers using best examples
If you did not probe them you would think that is it, this man is right. I want to do the same thing. But when you look at the book of Luke then 18:7-8 then what you see there is very clear that the LORD talks about a period of declining faith. Will the Son of Man find any faith when he returns? Which means he was projecting for us, he was telling us that there will be a period of declining faith and morality.
Matt 24: 12-13 Because of the increase of wickedness the love of most will grow cold, but he who stand firm even unto the end will be saved.
So I am connecting Matthew 24:12-13 to Luke 18:7-8. Why?
Because you see the pronouncement of the LORD he was forecasting, foretelling of that dispensation where we are now before he comes. And you hear in that question when he asks, “will there be any faith left at all when the Son of Man comes?”
But the issue is this: He foresaw that dispensation and he was saying from that scripture that dispensation will be characterized by a decline in faith, decline in morality, and then when you now read Matt 24:12-13 which really pronounces and defines that time “because of the increase of wickedness” people will be deceived.
Now we see very clearly that the LORD Jesus in helping introduce this topic to us from Luke 18:7-8 and Matt24:12-13. He now describes this time the lies, the deception that will accrue, eat up into the house. If you listen very carefully to the utterances of the LORD “will there be any”, he gave the background of the widow looking for justice. You will begin to understand that the LORD was underscoring the fact that there would be not only declining morality, declining faith but also persecution.
Matt 25:5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
The church right now is at Matt 25:5, the church is at (verse) 5 and (verse) 6. Because six says that the cry rang out. The announcement came. I have seen the wedding the rings. I have seen the clock of God. I have seen the bride enter! He is saying that when he spoke about that declining faith that is coming and also implying that when he comes back only faith in Christ Jesus will matter. In the scripture, he spoke of those that those that stood firm and persevered, and keep faith even unto the end. That is the message: meaning that here will be persecution.
Matt 25:5 Drowsy and sleepy, and one will come that will call himself the messiah and lie to you. So he saw these things. He saw that at this time there will be a great falling away from true faith.
James 5: 8-9 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
He is talking about the falling away from faith but in the process you begin to understand that there are those that will persevere unto the end, because of the question when the son of man… The same message of standing firm and persevering. Only a few would be able to stand firm and persevere. He is still taking about the same thing. The falling away from faith, but in the process…
Mark 13:13 Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
So the message he brings through is standing firm even unto the end. Man is born to worship, meaning to have faith in something. Men was created to worship and have faith in the LORD. But in the absence if you fall away from that true faith there is a void that normally perpetuates, survives in the soul of man and that void demands that you worship something. It begins to demand that you at least have to faith in something. Either you believe in the true God the LORD Jesus, or when you close your eyes will start imagining something. And that becomes superstition and you begin to believe in another.
What the LORD is saying is big: if they will not have faith in Christ Jesus the Messiah then they will believe in another and that is why we are teaching apostasy in the church.
2 Timothy 2:8-13, Hebrew 10:35-39
When did apostasy begin? Apostasy began in heaven when satan disobeyed God. Do you hear? Apostasy began in the Kingdom of God in Heaven when satan all of the sudden revolted from the LORD and what transpired from there remains as a stern lesson as an admonition to the church today, rebukes the church today warns the church about the dangers of the wounds of apostasy. Apostasy began in heaven when satan the enemy rebelled from the LORD and the consequences of doing that in the Kingdom of God at the throne of God should remain as a lasting warning of the perils, of the dangers of apostasy and hence the consequences and the zero tolerance that heaven beholds about apostasy.
Rev 12:7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
A serious clash, a serious fight, a serious battle ensued, which goes a long way to tell you that whenever apostasy shows up, whenever this phenomena called apostasy rears it ugly head in church shows up in the Kingdom of God the armies of God, the people of God are called into a severe battle. You are supposed to stage a serious fight until you neutralize the devil, until you neutralize the threat: neutralize is the word, meaning finish anything from it that can rear its head again.
Do you understand where the church got it wrong from? It was not meant for handling, “don’t worry I am handling it”, “don’t worry leave it to me I am handling it”, the next thing you know your hands are bruised. Meaning we are supposed to stage an outright battle against apostasy the moment it shows up. And Satan with his angels fought back claiming the Kingdom of God, meaning laying claim, he does not take the fight to hell or wherever, he comes to take the fight inside the Kingdom of God at the center where the throne is… laying claim. But he was not strong enough: Never, never. He was not strong enough, and that should help you as a church that whenever apostasy shows up however ugly you should understand the basic principle here that he was not strong enough.
Rev 12:8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
The consequences that accrue from this kind of rebellion apostasy showing up, thrown out and they lost their place in heaven, the consequences should remain a lasting lesson to the true. Never try never entertain neutralize. It has no place in the Kingdom of God.
Rev 12:9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
That should stand as a lasting lesson to this church: has no place in the Kingdom of God, that is why the brief that sent me was for rebuking sin, and every nation on the earth is always saying, “please may he send his prophet come to rebuke us.” Why? Because has no place, now you understand why I came rebuking? You understand the gravity of apostasy. The consequences should teach us zero tolerance to apostasy.
The consequences of apostasy.
Rev 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
Apostasy began in heaven and in a violent act Heaven was purged off of apostasy. If you ever aspire to enter the glorious Kingdom of God then he says make sure you leave off apostasy, because it has no place, the beholder of it has no place it has no place in the glorious Kingdom of God. The next place where apostasy showed up was the Garden of Eden. We all remember what happened there, right? Apostasy as a matter of fact resurfaced when Eve erred in embracing satanic words and of course that brought consequences death came in and everything else.
Gen 3:4-5 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. (those are the satanic words) 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, (meaning the first sin was lust, lust of the eyes,) and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
You see the beginning of apostasy on earth.
I have come out very clearly on Enoch, the gospel of Enoch. The LORD used Enoch to reassert, to reemphasize, and to reestablish that the blueprint, the plan ‘A’ in the Garden of Eden was supposed to work. In other words it works because it is His plan. But when Adam and Eve would walk in righteousness and obedience with him. That is why you see Gen 3:8 in the cool of day. You hear the foot prints of the LORD walking. God was walking with them in the cool of the day, He walked with them when they were not disobedient. The LORD intended that when man would walk righteous in the highway of righteousness then death would not be factored in. Death had no place in the original blue print of God. But when men fell then death came, apostasy came, then death came. You are beginning to understand that the consequence of apostasy is death. It is not a joke!
When you see somebody coming to church and lying…that thing is not joke the consequence of that is death. That thing you see coming to church with a short miniskirt lifting a leg before the pastor is not a joke, the consequence of that decay is death. They dress their children funny, Christians in short skirt, tight trousers, that thing they do to their children the consequence is death.
When plan ‘A’ failed then you see He used Enoch to prove men wrong. (Gen 5:21-24) You see now Enoch walking with God the way Adam was walking with God but because Enoch was obedient unto the righteousness of the LORD Enoch lived on forever and ever and in fact He says Enoch walked with God and was no more, meaning raptured, taken into heaven there is no death was not in the equation not in the formula. The consequences of apostasy is death unto hell.
Satan has since employed apostasy to destroy the weakness of the believers since the beginning of the world never ever bother to bother to segregate between true believers and false believers. The devil has found that this vehicle, this tool of apostasy is so valuable so key to the extent that he uses it to neutralize to diminish the witness of the church, the testimony of the church is neutralized by the devil when the devil brings apostasy to the church. Why? The world generally. They never have time, they say “that one is fallen that really must be the wrong church let’s look for the right church.”
They always write in the papers the ‘church’. “The church has fallen, the pastors have sinned.” They never say the bad pastors, or the apostate pastors have sinned. The Christians are not able to discern which is the right church, and which is the wrong church. They still go to those churches of fakeness without realizing that on this other side even HIV/AIDS is being healed from the blood at the speech of one prophetic tongue like this.
If they cannot see that this one is going to take me to hell, because the bible says I will judge pastor and sheep alike. As long as you sit under that teaching you meet in another name, oh yes, in different framework! And he is saying that if the Christians cannot do the discerning and stop going to the sick churches of the world and come here then how can you expect the world to tell which is the right church and which is the wrong one?
So the devil exploits that gray area the fact that the world is not able to say “ah, that is the right one.” Then apostasy starts with one church and it goes all over the churches. The witness and testimony of the church is diminished, is reduced. The best way to tackle the menace of apostasy in the church will come from first of all clearly defining what apostasy really is.
The definition of apostasy.
Apostasy comes from the Greek word apostasia which means the following:
1. Defiance against an established authority.
2. Defiance against the established authority of God.
3. Rebellion from the LORD.
4. In that case then, apostasy essentially becomes a condition in which a believer, a Christian believer openly rebels from Christ Jesus the LORD.
5. Apostasy is defined as the abandonment of true faith in Christ Jesus.
You can’t fight apostasy unless you know what it is then you will tackle it. Apostasy therefore becomes a breach of faith, as in a breach in security, or a faith breach has happened here.
1 Apostasy also becomes a revolt against established authority of the true gospel of the Cross of Jesus. Where do you run to then?
2 Apostasy then becomes a defection from true worshipping of Christ Jesus as LORD. Defection means not slowly, defecting from allegiance as in deserting from Christ Jesus as Messiah. A deserter means in military terms you have joined the enemy camp, not that you have gone home.
3 Apostasy is the staging of open resistance in true faith in Christ Jesus. So how will you enter heaven?
4 Apostasy also refers to an uprising and disobedience, or most extreme and highest form of insubordination unto the authority of Christ Jesus the LORD. This is just the introduction, but imagine what is inside. The expression of the highest order of insubordination of the authority of Christ Jesus the Messiah.
5 Apostasy also refers to an insurrection.
6 Apostasy also means giving up.
7 Apostasy therefore implies a renunciation for one to openly renounce Christ Jesus as LORD.
8 Apostasy stands for relinquishing or to forgo faith in Christ Jesus.
9 Apostasy implies a situation in which one disowns Jesus as LORD.
10 A place whereby somebody decides to literally discard, dissert, leave reject and shun true faith in Christ Jesus.
11 Revoking or revoke one allegiance to the authority of Jehovah God almighty.
12 Described as a situation in which one dismisses the blood and the cross of Jesus at Calvary.
13 Also be described the nullification of faith in Christ Jesus.
14 Becomes a condition in which one attempts to controvert the gospel of Jesus.
In order to fight apostasy Christians must understand the following:
1 The boundaries of Christian lifestyle as defined by the bible.
2 The various forms of apostasy.
3 The traits that characterize apostasy.
4 The doctrines of apostasy.
5 The preachers of apostasy, in other words its preachers in order to fight them
Once understand what the bible says about dressing, about preaching, about, food fasting drinking. Because the LORD asked “The way I see you walking wayward when the Son of Man comes will he find any faith left on the earth at all?”
Forms of apostasy
1 The falling away from true faith, falling away from the true doctrines of the Holy Bible into false teachings that proclaim themselves to be true is the true definition of apostasy. This is the condition now where someone receives the LORD in church and then all of the sudden just relinquishes and enters another faith.
Matt 24:1-5 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. (apostasy) For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.
The LORD was saying that another type of teaching was going to come. This is one form of apostasy when one submits to another type of teaching that would come, another faith and deceive many. This is what the Messiah warns here, how mighty!
And look at what he says here about this apostasy that would come as the sign of the Coming of the Messiah in these days. He says that when these teachings come they come from another one–another one–you all know him. He will pretend to be Christ and he is not, and so the people that would submit to those teaching will have essentially submitted to another one, the devil, there is no middle ground with apostasy.
Roman 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
When submitting to sinful teaching, sin takes dominion over your fiber, and your mind, and your soul and then you must obey. We know of one who had to obey: Eve… and Adam. When they sat under the teaching they had to implement those words in their lives. Apostasy is sin.
2 Thess 2:3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness[a] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
This is the LORD talking about two things: 1) The rapture of the church, and 2) the end of the age. We hear him talk about the revealing off the antichrist, but the revealing of the antichrist as we all know happens after the church is taken away. Why? Because he says the spirit of antichrist is already here.
“And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way that he may now be revealed.” 2 Thess 6-7
And he that holds him back is the Holy Spirit and we know that the Holy Church is the holy temple of the Holy Spirit. When the rapture happens the Holy Temple is taken away and the dispensation of the Holy Spirit is over the dispensation of grace is over.
Shalom