“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 2 Timothy 3:1-7
The apostasy in the church is becoming rampant. All the things Paul wrote to Timothy in the above verses are true today, in all liberal churches and many conservative churches. I praise God that my church is one of those conservative churches – if it wasn’t I’d go find a church with sound doctrine.
Today, I’m going to address some of the latest trends in apostasy.
First, I want to define apostasy as the abandonment or renunciation of a religious belief, rejecting sound doctrine, and corrupting orthodox doctrines by attempting to adapt them to the depravity of our world.
Second, I want to address a few of the apostasies that are permeating Christendom, and then finally provide some concluding statements.
Christian Wicca or Trinitarian Wicca: This is a melding of Wicca (witchcraft) with a pseudo-Christianity that rejects sound doctrine. They believe in a trinity consisting of the father, the mother (holy spirit), and the son – Three gods working together as one, among many gods. They believe practicing good witchcraft is just fine, even though the Bible condemns all forms of witchcraft in Deuteronomy 18:10-11. In Wicca there is no concept of original sin, salvation, heaven, hell or Satan. Those that practice this false Christianity ask their members to keep their beliefs to themselves and continue to appear to be Christian – bearing false witness. Many teens are falling into this apostasy and their parents are oblivious to it, because they show the countenance of Christianity, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof”.
Christian Psychics: These are professing Christians that claim that they can see the future, converse with spirits and provide counsel from the Holy Spirit. This is apostasy, blasphemy and nonsense. They cite the fruits of the Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12, but, to the best of my knowledge, fail to heed 1 Corinthians 12:3. If their prognosticating and discerning of spirits does not reconcile with scripture, and the clear teachings of Christ, then they are wrong. Discerning of spirits in the Bible always refers to knowing if a spirit is unclean or evil. It has nothing to do with conversing with or acquiring advice or information from a spirit. Psychics are not compatible with Christianity.
Contemplative prayer and “Sitting with God”: In contemplative prayer you focus on one word or phrase and say or think it over and over again in order to illicit an experience of being closer to God – In other words, transcendental meditation or Hindu mantra. In “sitting with god” you focus all our mind, heart and soul on the presence of God while sitting in silence – a kind of Buddhist meditation that instead of focusing on breathing, you focus on the feeling of getting closer to God. Biblical meditation involves reading, studying, memorizing and sharing scripture. We should not meld eastern religions with Christianity, because in the end, they are incompatible, because you are adding new elements into Christianity that do not belong – similar to God’s proclamation through John in Revelation 22:19. We are not to take away or add to the 66 book revelation of the Bible. Focusing on feelings, experiences and mantras is not Christian, and leads those seeking these things to be “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” who fail to follow sound doctrine.
Concluding statements: We should not meld other religions into Christianity. Christianity is clearly set forth in the Bible, any addition or attempt to accommodate other religious practices and adopt those practices is an abomination to God. The Bible is the ultimate written authority on earth. No other religious writings are holy, ordained by God or suitable for instruction in righteousness – None! We must steadfastly hold to Biblical Christianity, Biblical Creation, Biblical Meditation as defined by God’s Word alone or we are no longer Christians. If it doesn’t come from God’s revelation to us through His Holy Bible then we must reject it. We must not allow the sin and apostasy within 2 Timothy 3:1-7 to permeate Christianity! The single most devastating apostasy in Christendom believes that the Bible is not the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God, and that it was written by men for mankind. That is not only apostasy, but heresy and blasphemy! We cannot allow this! Our only hope is in Biblical Christianity and the leadership of the Holy Spirit as defined within Biblical scripture.
I pray that the almighty God of the Bible blesses each or you, and if you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, please click on the salvation button on my website for more information.